Cleared Hot - Powered By BRCC - Cleared Hot Episode 40 - Josh Bridges
Episode Date: May 21, 2018Round 2 with the one and only Josh Bridges. Josh is a retired Navy SEAL. We met when I was putting him through basic SEAL training known as BUD/s (Basic Underwater Demolition SEAL). Post training we s...erved together at SEAL Team Three. Post military our paths constantly crossed in the competitive CrossFit ecosystem. Josh has been competing in the CrossFit Games since before he left military service, meaning he found the time to train in the limited off time associated with an already arduous job. His best finish at the Games to date has been 2nd place in 2011. Our conversation last year occurred just after his Regional competition, this year it is just before. We talked pre, active, and post military life. Training style and philosophy, and how he dealt with last years competition not sticking to the script he had planned for it. Enjoy.
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Hello, everyone. We made it. Episode 40, the big four zero, same age as I am, at least on my driver's license.
Anybody that knows me would tell you emotionally I'm much younger.
So, some cool things about this episode. One, obviously the guest. I got to sit down with a good buddy of mine, Josh Bridges, who really the only words that could be used to describe him would be badass,
and tiny when it comes to height.
I don't know if he qualifies as a hobbit or a dwarf.
I like to think of him as both of those things,
but he's a badass for sure.
And I'm sure he'll listen to this and get mad at me,
but I'm just joking, Josh.
It's all right.
He's an awesome guy.
I've known him for a long time.
I actually put him through seal training,
and we ended up serving together at Team 3.
So a pretty good history inside the military,
and our paths cross consistently outside of the military.
as well. So that's one great aspect. Now, there's another cool aspect to this particular podcast as well,
actually for the next four. And what I'll say about what I'm going to do here in a moment is that my
litmus test for sponsors of any kind, whether that's in the skydiving world or the base jumping world,
I will not work with brands that I don't actually use. Meaning I'm not going to, if somebody reached out to
me for what would be a good example. In the skydiving world, if they reached out to me and they
offered me a helmet, and it was a helmet that I had tried in the past or something that I had not
used previously, and I had already found a solution that works for me, regardless of what the offer
is that came with that helmet, I'm not going to take it because I don't want to talk about something
that I don't actually use. And I don't want to be involved in a business relationship with the
product that I can't necessarily speak intimately about. Now, occasionally, you get an offer that
comes to you that's, you know, maybe it's a little bit harder to pass up for whatever the
reason may be. And today, or actually you shouldn't say today, recently, I got one of those offers
and it came in the form of a sponsorship or an ad read for the podcast. And for this particular
product, I have zero experience using it. I know a lot of people that have, but I probably
personally have zero experience. But the reality is, I kind of look at it as a once-in-a-lifetime
opportunity or a four-time in a lifetime opportunity. So I'm going to go with it. But I'll
just tell you right up front. I don't have any personal experience with it. I just couldn't pass it up.
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At the red smoke.
To the smoke.
I'm looking at danger close now.
Oh, one minute.
Can't be clear not.
When we sat down last year, had you competed already in your regional?
I'm trying to figure out exactly.
I know we were in Atlanta.
What the fuck we were in Atlanta for?
We were in Atlanta for a regional.
I think you were there for Kilcliffe.
Yeah, so I had already competed then because there was no way I would have went to that prior to.
So is it been over a year?
Because I don't feel like...
Maybe that was...
Was that 16?
No, because you were episode number two, and this one is going to be episode number 40.
I'll release it on Monday.
I've kind of been on the track of like once every Monday for, so I'm like, either I suck and I'm 12 episodes short.
Right?
Or I don't know.
I thought it had to be at least, my regional had to be, because I wouldn't have gone.
Yeah, I didn't think you would have, unless it was a couple months out, which.
So it must have been after my regional.
It must have been like week three then or something.
And so how about this year?
When is your regional?
Next week.
They release the workouts already?
Oh, yeah, yeah.
The regional first week is going right now.
Well, I know that.
Yeah.
So, of course the workouts are released.
I guess I did know that.
It's better when you say it, though, because you pay attention to fitness and exercise,
and I really largely don't.
You're just being awesome now up there in Montana.
Well, I'm so jealous.
Dude, let's just kick off with one of you coming to visit.
After next week.
You have open invitation, man.
You always got a place to stay.
You know them coming up, so.
And you say.
You said you've passed through, but you've never really...
I've been a whitefish.
Yeah.
Okay.
Yeah, that's 10 minutes.
Well, it's not 10 miles from our house.
It generally takes like 11 minutes.
Yeah.
The rush hour will kill you.
Get crushed up there in Montana.
You might get stuck behind like a car.
Right.
Or a razor.
Yeah.
I've ever seen a lot of razors on the road.
You know it's crazy?
In the damn middle of the winter,
I saw a dude rolling into Albertsons and a razor with no windshield,
no covering on the top at all.
Just the thickest jacket I've ever seen, goggles,
and just a beard coming out.
It was frozen.
Just being a man.
I suppose that could be a definition of a man,
or he was being irresponsible or not very smart.
Sounds made up.
Well, you've got to come up, man.
No, I want to.
Yeah.
I love Montana.
So, okay, so there's only been one thing
I've wanted to ask you about since the last time we sat down.
It literally has been bugging the shit.
out of me. Oh, here we go. I need to know more about when you were a telemarketer.
Literally, that's all I care about, because I wish I would have asked you.
Oh, man. I want to hear about the crazy shit people said to you when they called you,
or when you called them, because obviously you had their number.
But what's the, what was the craziest rebuttal or response that you got from somebody when you were calling?
Oh, man. I don't.
There was one where this guy was, I think he was with his lady at the,
time.
His special friend?
His special lady friend, if you may.
And he's like, hey, man, I'm in the middle of something right now.
And I'm like, why did you answer your phone?
Obviously, you don't recognize the number.
So why are you picking up?
Why are you picking up the phone if you're in the middle of something right now?
So that was, and he was like, he kind of got into a little detail.
And I don't know if he was just messing with me or not, but it was pretty funny.
And then that one was good.
there was you know a lot of the they used the old Seinfeld line we're like oh can I have your number
and let me call you back during your dinner time and I was like oh never heard that one you know
except for on your first day when you probably had never heard that one right exactly
I just can't imagine that that's I'm sure I caught you slightly off guard with that question
but because it caught me off guard when you said I was like what and then the whole time
I think about the calls that I get and now after your explanation though of
of, yeah, you know, you're sitting there, and it's dialing for you.
So anytime I say hello, and there's like a two or three second delay,
Insta hang up, straight to contacts, block the number.
That's, I do the exact same thing.
It's like, immediately like block number, block number.
I get like seven a day.
And you just like, you can't block that many.
I mean, I block them still, but it's like, geez.
You know, if you go, go into your phone and pull up the list of block numbers,
and it's just br-or-hmm.
It's crazy.
And it's always from your, like, I don't have a San Diego area code.
almost all of them come from my like 314, like my St. Louis area code.
So what's crazy, so we live in Montana now, I still have the 858 area code.
Almost every call I get is 619 or 858.
Yeah.
And what's crazy is they're calling from their own personal cell phone, I think,
because when you go to the contact thing, it lights up, message.
Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Which, I mean.
And sometimes it'll say, like it when it says maybe this person.
Yeah.
Did you ever get that?
Yeah, because that means you've probably received an email from them.
Okay.
And the algorithm that knows more about you than we probably know about ourselves is.
Yeah, that one trips me out a little bit.
If you want to figure out how much the dark web is paying attention
and how deep they're into your hooks.
So did you get training as a telemarketer?
This is all we're going to talk about for like you.
Good.
I love it.
That's easy.
It was a week-long training.
Stop it.
Yeah, I want to say I crushed it.
Obviously, you know, I finished top of my class.
Yeah, class of one.
It might have been an honor, man.
I don't know.
I was the owner, man.
I was the only person in the class, but I definitely smashed the training.
I was not the only person in that class.
There was like at least 30 of us in this class.
And so you're in a room, you know, and there's basically just computers outlining the walls.
And was this class all for one company?
Or do people?
Yeah.
Okay.
It was all for SBC, the phone company.
Now AT&T, I believe.
Yeah, it was an interesting experience.
I mean, it was the worst hours.
Well, tell me about the training.
I want to know the secrets that they told you.
To be honest, I don't even remember.
It was all about like, you know, just kind of rebuttling and...
Oh, I love the rebuttals.
I like to play with them sometimes.
I mean, it's the rebuttals are straight from a script.
It's not like their own made-up rebuttals.
It's just like, oh, you know, blah.
And you don't even get anything if you, like, make sales.
It's like, there's no motivation whatsoever in these places.
And you're saying you're not even control the phone dialing.
Like it hangs up and it's already...
The moment...
Oh, God.
So you would...
You know what I used to pray?
for, I used to pray people would put me on hold for like 30 minutes and I would sit there and I would, I would deal with it.
And all of a sudden like 30 minutes later, they would hang up.
And I'd be like, yes.
Yes.
That just wasted 30 minutes of my day.
It was crazy.
Or people would, yeah, people would be like, hold on.
I got another call.
Can you hold on for me?
And I'd be like, sure can.
Yeah.
Because then I could actually like sit there and relax.
Yeah.
Because the moment you hit in call because the person hung up or if the person hung up on you, like it was just like, beep, right in your ear.
Beep, another call.
beep another call and you're just like and then you had to actually like dial something into the phone to take your breaks and you only got two 15 minute breaks and if you took any more then you know like after a while you'd get a little talking to yeah it's come out of your paycheck son hey buddy we don't pay you to take breaks right time is money that has to be illegal two 15 minute breaks cannot be and an hour and an hour at lunch obviously but oh that's mighty mighty kind of though right right good dude and you did it for over a year I did it for
a year and a half.
There was one time I did get bumped up into where I was inputting stuff into the computer.
So I was no longer on the phone.
And that was like the best three months of my life.
I was like, this is amazing.
And you were literally just, I can't even remember what it was.
But you were literally reading an Excel spreadsheet and putting it into a computer.
And I was like, this is amazing.
You were just importing data off it.
Yeah.
Oh.
And that was like that was so much better than actually.
telemarketing.
Yeah.
I remember the days when like a strawberry milkshake
was the best thing in my life.
You know, and then you get some more life experience.
You look back and like, you know,
that strawberry milkshake is still pretty good.
But I've got a little bit more perspective now
and things are maybe a little bit better.
Man, I'll tell you what, that job was,
that was an experience.
And I think that every person should do it
for at least a month, a month of their life.
Everybody should have a job
to realize how you never want
do something like that.
You should be forced to have a job that sucks.
Yeah, of course.
That you don't want to do, but you have to do it to pay your bills.
Right.
And then, yeah, because if everything's gravy and you don't have any appreciation for it.
And you can't quit.
You know, like there's no quitting.
There's like a little whining allowed, but you can quit.
Yeah, you can whine to like your friends, that's okay.
That's life.
But when you say, hey, you raise your hand and go, I quit and you go, no, get back in the pool.
No, you can't.
Yeah.
Like the foreign students who used to try to quit during the tread.
And I would say, you can.
quit in four minutes and 15 seconds.
Or I accept your quitting.
I accept your DOR, however, finish the evolution.
Right.
I want to allow you to quit right now, but you can quit in six months.
Oh, my God.
When you have to go back home.
Did I tell you about when they would drop their weight belts?
No.
They would do it consistently, right?
They would always drop their weight belt, and they would try to come to the side, and I'd just
push them off.
I think, well, I need to describe this.
You know what? You described the evolution, because you went through it the most recently,
and then I'll describe what I did to these poor people.
So was that the tread?
The tread.
Yeah, the tread.
Okay.
So basically you have two Twin 80s on your back.
You have a weight belt.
Which are scuba tanks, Twin 80s or scuba tanks.
And you got your fins on, and you have to tread water for five minutes with your hands out of the water.
Yeah.
The crease and the wrist is generally the criteria that has to be out of the water.
and it seems like people either crush it
or they really, really, really don't crush it.
Right, which typically means drowning.
They get close and it's funny.
You know, most of Buds as an instructor
who's pattern recognition,
like, you know, I could tell you
10 seconds before somebody passes out underwater
what it looks like, right?
Because they start the chicken neck, and that's okay.
It's when the bubble start coming out
with the chicken neck that you,
You got about five seconds.
So you see him down there, and they're like,
you're like, all right, you get.
I need to go to the surface.
I need to get a breath because we're about to have a party downstairs.
And you go down and then, you know, start tapping them on the head
because they're about to go out and you know the deal.
You've been through it.
So the tread, pattern recognition, the monkey hand was the first indication that things were going wrong.
And I don't know how to describe what I'm doing with my hand other than flexing every muscle and joint
into like a weird.
It's like a claw.
The claw.
Because most people will start, they have like a nice blade.
hand, their fingers are together, and they're relaxed.
And the smart people, they take a deep breath, they just put their head in the water.
It's not that hard.
No.
I mean, I say that.
I came from a water polo background.
So for me, those evolutions where it was like treading water for me and drownproofing, I was like, oh, God, thank God.
Like I would pop my head over water and hear them going, bad and brad and quiet and quiet.
So that didn't water me, but, you know, these people, they start and they're relaxed.
And you can tell almost immediately.
One, you can tell because you can tell they're sweating while in the pool water
while holding on to the edge.
They don't want to let go and they want to get out there.
But yeah, it starts with the rigid hand,
and it goes from this nice blade and it starts clawing in.
And that is the indication that you're going to have a problem.
And the most beautiful thing you can see is somebody who's sinking down
and their hands go under water because you can't use your hands.
If you bring your hands down to assist, you're done.
So they slowly start sinking, and you see.
see them and they're looking up and they're screaming, but all you see is bubbles.
It's more beautiful than like a sun setting over the ocean.
What a beautiful sight.
During my tread, I remember the first, I actually failed the first time I did it because.
And you get four attempts, so it's not like a make or break.
Yeah, you get four attempts.
And the only reason I failed was because actually my weight belt just started slipping off.
And it just started to come off.
Yeah.
And I was like, gosh, damn, and I felt it to start to go.
And I'm like, I'm trying to like spread my legs out even wider to kind of hold it up.
That ain't going to work well for you.
And it's like, and all of a sudden I'm like, so, you know, I'm at like chin deep, you know, kind of treading.
And all of a sudden I'm like, you know, I'm like up here and I'm like, and all the instructors just like, whoosh.
Yeah.
And then the guy actually, I want to just wire your nipples out of the water.
Right.
The instructor goes down and he grabs my weight belt and he throws it over one shoulder.
just completely.
Oh, yeah, you start listing backwards.
I was like, I started going sideways,
and I was like, okay, this is enough.
So these students, the foreign exchange students,
which we really had no ability to not pass.
Like they were, they're getting the participation trophy award at Buds.
Whether I say they shouldn't be there,
whether they fail every evolution,
our job is to largely provide for them an experience
and make sure they don't die
while receiving the experience, right?
Right.
So most common, they would do the monkey paw, and then, boof, weight belt goes.
And they would start, they're like, I quit.
I want to come to the side and it's like, no, get back out there.
And then I would have another instructor come on.
I'm like, hey, watch this guy for a second, because I'm going to go get the weight belt.
And it's going to go over the back of your 2080s.
Right.
And it's got stuffed down on your shoulder straps.
Now it's not coming off.
No.
And then it gets real.
Then they'd start firing their life jacket, because it has a CO2 cartridge in there.
which is fine
because I know where the manual release knob is
and I would just sit there and look at him
and make eye contact and just
as they slowly
as it started
and at this point they have their hands in the water
they want it out
and I even had a student just come up
full ballistic missile submarine on me
and just bear hugged me
and I have a I mean I had a snorkel
so I just took a breath through it
just like a nice knee breath
just
and let it out
and we just started sinking
and I'm relaxed
I just stopped him.
He grabbed me.
I was like, oh, okay, well, let's go for a ride.
We just started going to the bottom of the ocean.
Halfway to the bottom of the pool.
He did not want to partake in that ride anymore.
Of course you didn't.
I do that with my boys in the pool all the time.
Oh, you want to jump on my back over and over again?
Okay, let's go to the bottom of the pool and hang out.
Yeah, I don't even know how in the hell we started talking about the tread,
but, damn, I missed that evolution.
We were talking about quitting when you did, like, but you couldn't quit.
Yeah, that is exactly what happens.
Finish the evolution.
Yeah.
I accept your resignation, however.
Finish the workday.
However, you're going to go ahead and take about 50 more calls on that telemarking.
Yeah.
So get that call waiting out there, buddy.
Come on.
I tell you what, man, though.
People, I'm sure people ask you all the time, too, about buds.
Like, what's it like?
My goal is to try to express them.
You actually don't learn much.
Right.
It's really difficult.
It's a selection process, and you get taught later.
Like, I taught in the diving phase.
And I'm sure I told your class, like I told every other class,
do not go out diving on the weekends.
You guys don't know anything about diving.
This isn't a diving test.
This is a test about managing stress
and your ability to follow a procedure.
There was something there.
I was going to tell you.
You got it.
You got it.
You got it.
That was in the cave.
I was probably on my pants.
It's funny to me how many people I encounter who think that after Buds, you're a seal.
Yeah, right?
Oh, yes.
And I always say, you know, Bud stands for basic underwater demolition slash seal, emphasis on the B.
Right.
It's like the biggest uppercase 48 font B.
Everything else is like a 10 font italicized, micro small.
You learn so little in Buds.
Which is the point of it.
That's exactly.
No, you're right.
Exactly.
So is.
It's so funny because, like, we,
said like everyone thinks that you're this like you're a bad dude if you know like you're oh man this
dude's a seal after he graduates budge which isn't even close and um and i always tell people like
buds isn't even the hardest thing we do not even close i mean think about back over your career
for myself personally i was way colder after buds than i ever was during ever and i feel like i
was more exhausted from at least a mental processing uh mental acuity perspective later oh my
Way harder and way more pain.
Right.
I mean, the stuff you do, like, even, like, and the deployment's like its own beast, right?
When you do stuff like that.
Just the occupation, the grind of the occupation.
Right.
The workups that you would do?
Yeah.
And I feel like you were probably, I don't know, maybe you weren't ever in a jaco workup.
But.
I would augment.
I went out there with the, like, Zog's troop.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
To give them a little bit of off-the-bench support.
Oh, man.
I'll tell you what, that guy.
I tell people that all the time, I'm like,
like, Buzz doesn't even compare,
like Buzz doesn't compare to one training trip
that we would do during those workups.
You know what I think makes the training trips harder, though,
is the mental, not mentally tough aspect,
but you're required to have skills on top of toughness.
Yeah, exactly.
So your brain is focusing on all the techniques
and all this shit you have to remember.
Right.
And again, I try to tell people about being a seal.
It's the jack of all trades, right?
You're a master of none.
You're constantly fighting with not being current because you'll dive for two weeks.
And they're like, okay, guys, we're going to go jump.
You're like, ooh.
I've done that a year and a half.
How do you practice parachute again?
Right.
And then you're, okay, we're going out to the desert for a month.
And then you're rock solid on your eye ads.
You come back and it's like.
All right, CQC.
Yeah, CQC.
Like, ooh.
Oh, mobility.
Here we go.
Yeah.
You know, it's like, exactly.
It's this constant struggle of staying current.
But that's what makes it hard.
Like, the job is, sure, the job is physically hard.
but if you layer on top of that,
you need to have ability and capacity
and a skill set of some kind,
which in Buds, you don't have to have a skill.
No.
Well, I should take that back.
The skill is don't quit.
Yeah, right.
Can you get kicked in nuts and keep moving?
Correct.
And another thing I constantly tell people
that Buds and the SEAL teams
don't screen for character.
No.
Which is why there's weeds in every yard, right?
Of course, yeah.
Are you paying attention at all right now
to the SEAL community?
Like what just happened on the East Coast?
Which one was that?
Is that the other guy that got hit with?
Ten dudes just got kicked out on the East Coast for drugs.
Are you serious?
Yeah.
And I'm getting that second or third hand, or maybe that's still in the process.
But I would call those things character deficiency issues, which don't display themselves when you have a boat over your head.
Or you're underwater.
People who can manage stress still can be bad people.
It's just every time I ever talk about seal stuff, I always try to reinforce the fact that just because your team guy doesn't mean you're a good guy.
No, exactly.
Very true.
I mean, how about that, dude, that, uh, the guy, he like, they, they, well, the reason he got caught with the whole, like, child molestation thing was because.
Oh, that was here.
Was that the West Coast?
That was here in the West Coast, yeah.
No, I thought it was.
It was on the East Coast, right.
For some reason, I feel like he got, either he got flown here to be tried.
Yeah.
Or it also happened with the West Coast guy.
He was, I think he was a West Coast on the East Coast when it happened because he went through, I put him through CQC training.
Okay.
I didn't remember him.
I remember reading.
I remember the name.
I didn't remember his face.
Yeah. But that story, oh my, I hope, you know.
The pictures on the phone.
Yeah, right.
So, like, and the reason he only got, he got caught with the phone stuff was because
a woman turned him in, right?
A woman, he, he, they think he raped a girl, or a girl basically, like, he had a night
with some girl, and then she woke up and didn't know what happened, and so she went to,
he dropped her off at the front of the base, and then she went and told the guard, and then
they went and like confiscated his phone and went through his phone and then found like him
mushing a little girl or allegedly whatever I don't know if it's all whatever it was crazy
though that story was mind-blowing yeah and again like just like you said you know occupation and
character are not the same thing no not at all yeah yeah be very careful and cautious with who
people put their trust in for sure because there's some snake oil salesman out there for sure
in in good old uniform yeah exactly so let's talk about what you're doing now I've been feeling
moderately, actually, before I talk about what's going on now,
fill me in on what happened at last year's games.
How'd that go for you?
Just great, man. I loved it.
No, I think it's important.
Like, because I, I mean, one of the last questions I asked you,
I think the last time we talked, is whether or not you think you could win the games.
And I know you go in, I mean, you know I've known each other for a while.
I know you take it super serious.
Like, this is you're dedicating your life to it.
And I was out there at the games, but if I'm being completely honest,
not really paying attention to the competition.
I was working with sponsors.
brands.
Of course.
And, you know, the first evolution was a run-swim-run, right?
Right.
Which I don't know if you're any good at those.
I don't know if you've ever done a run-swimmer.
Never done anything like that.
Yeah.
When I think things that are designed for your wheelhouse, I would think running, not a crazy
distance.
No, I was only a mile and a half.
Yeah, swimming right in your wheelhouse and then let's just get right back out and run.
Yeah, it was an interesting.
I was super fired up for that workout when it came out and did some run-throughs here.
and gosh, I was like, okay, I think this is going to be a good time.
And if I would have ran those times, it would have been.
But things changed.
I don't really know what exactly happened.
I never actually got like a final, like, hey, this is what happened.
But so I run out.
I went out a little hotter than I should have, you know, on the first run.
Definitely was running a little bit faster than I was.
Rookie move.
It's totally how I would have totally won the event by doing the exact opposite.
Exactly.
So, had a really brain fart moment there, and I went out way hotter than I should have.
It was just, I think it was just, in the moment, got caught up, and it is what it is.
And this is summertime, Madison, Wisconsin, too.
We've got to tell the stage a little bit, yeah.
And you know, it actually wasn't a bad morning, though.
Yeah, the weather there was a little odd.
It was like rainy that morning.
Rainy, yeah.
Yeah, and so hit the water.
I think I was like third or fourth in, maybe, maybe fifth.
I can't remember the exact number, but.
Front of the pack.
Doing well.
Yeah.
I got in that water and I never felt so uncomfortable swimming in it.
It brought me back to my very first PST test in a pool at a YMCA where I was like,
I'm going to drown on these 500 meters.
I think I was doing brushstroke on that first PST.
And I'm pretty sure I did quite a bit of brush stroking on that swim this year.
And I've been working on my swim.
So it was, I don't know.
What do you think it was?
What caused you to feel uncomfortable?
Yeah, I think I was.
of breath and I couldn't breathe and but I was like I was like all chest breathing I couldn't
get a deep breath and like just like start to I couldn't I couldn't come down from real and relax
which swimming I typically can yeah I can actually get into like a zone and relax and I and I started
to like just gulp down that Madison water and it was delicious and uh it's just like uh Fiji
water right yeah right exactly basically come straight out of a bottle of one of those square bottles
and so I got out of the water and I was so disoriented and
I, I, I, my legs were cramping and it was just, it was the most, it was, it was, where'd you come out of the water?
You went in, like, third to fifth and I, I, I, I mean, I don't know, I got passed by a lot of people on that run, too.
So I'm not sure where I came out of, but it probably like, if I had to guess like 20th or 25th, you know, and so, um, because I think I ended up in like 37th or 6th.
I don't even remember the number, but it was basically almost last. Yeah. And so I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I,
got out of the water and I like like my legs were cramping I couldn't I couldn't run and and then so
you know I finished like whatever I finished like 36 37th and then like after that like I don't know
what happened if it was something in the water if it was something prior to the week I ate or something
but I couldn't get off the toilet and so your body was in rejection mode yeah it was it was just
anything that was like water was going in and it was coming straight out
food was going in, it was coming straight out.
I think between the first event and the second event,
I went to the bathroom eight times, not number one.
Yeah.
And so I couldn't keep anything.
I couldn't stay hydrated.
I was super dehydrated for the second event.
I almost was like in my head, like,
I don't know if I should get on this bike or not.
Because the second event was the second event was the bike event.
Yeah, what was the name of that event?
What's that called that event where you run with the bike over?
Gosh, I should know this.
Cross or cycle, cycle cross.
Steeple Cross?
No.
Cyclecross?
Cycle cross.
Okay.
Cycle cross.
Do you think about getting IVs or anything for fluids?
Or is that even an option for athletes?
I don't know.
I don't think it's legal in WADA.
But I think it is for medical, like for only if it's a medical case.
Okay.
So you probably have to go down for that medical issue, though, for them to throw an IV in you.
Yeah.
Yeah.
So, yeah, it was just kind of like, I remember.
And there wasn't a big gap in between event one and two.
I want to say it was maybe an hour and a half or so.
And so I was just like, well, I'm going to get on the bike.
It is.
There it is.
I'll just say it's mud.
You know, there's something on my leg.
Perfect.
Yeah.
Pre-planning the explanation.
Right.
And then event two, I was actually pretty pumped on because I love biking.
I do a lot of mountain biking and was actually excited about it.
Again, the same thing was happening where I just could not pedal.
I mean, the cramping that was going on in my legs was unreal.
I've never, I've never even felt any.
I've never even had cramping like that before.
Even in all the training volume that you do leading up to all that.
Yeah, nothing.
Yeah.
I've never.
I think I just try to, you know, I stay pretty hydrated.
So, didn't have any issues.
I've never, yeah, I've never really had any cramping issues before.
And then, I mean, it was just bad.
Where'd you net out after that one?
I was pretty low on that one again.
So I was probably like, and so I was sitting in probably like 36 place, 37 place I can't remember.
So it was a great start to the day.
And then we had a.
I like to say I started off week and faded fast.
So my running technique.
I like to start off slow and then just really taper it off from there.
Right.
You know?
So then the last event of the first day was a snatch muscle up workout,
which I was like, this is going to be great.
It's designed for you.
Yeah.
And the, the, like I couldn't breathe.
I felt like someone, I felt like I felt like I was doing the workout holding my breath.
is what I felt like I was doing.
So it was great.
I loved it.
The same thing again.
I remember I had to wear knee sleeves for my,
because it was a squat snatch.
And I remember I went to take off,
I went to take off my shoes afterwards.
And I just went like this and grabbed the back of my heel
with my left foot.
And I remember I thought my calf was going to rip and half.
It was like a full muscle seizure and the cramp.
It was a full like, yeah, muscle seizure.
It was just, I was like, oh, I had to sit down.
it took about like probably 20 seconds for it to go away and now it was it was awful and I was like
well it's going to be a good weekend boys this is awesome it's going exactly as I play it's exactly how
I had it written down so you get done with day one and the reason I asked you about the games is
because I'm curious as to what do you tell yourself going into day two like how I mean because
mathematically right for people aren't familiar with the games how many workouts did you guys end up
do 11.
Was it?
No, it's typically like 14.
So it's a lot.
Yeah.
In three days.
So let's say 15 for even number.
Yeah.
Or not an even number, an odd number.
Mathematically, though, at some point, you know.
Yeah.
Like, okay.
Your chances are slim to none.
Yeah.
You definitely are probably not going to win.
Chances of making the podium questionable.
And then there's a cut too, right?
Saturday.
No, they don't do cuts anymore.
All right, good.
Now you do the full field stays the entire weekend, which is better because.
I think so.
Because then there's actually a chance to make some movement in the leaderboard where
if you make those cuts, it's a lot less likely to have that movement going on.
Yeah.
So, I mean, and again, I ask you because I know you had a plan going in.
I knew where you were the last time we talked.
I know what you thought about the games.
So you get handed at just a massive bag of dicks, right?
It's the only way to describe that.
And I think it's important to talk about because people get handed those all the time to include myself.
So the transition from.
day one to day two and knowing you have to be there the whole weekend you're probably mathematically
eliminated from finishing where you want to right how do you keep yourself in it what do you tell
yourself you know at that point it was just like well you you know you came here um you prepared this
whole time yeah you you uh didn't it didn't go quite as well as you don't know it's not a little
off script to say the list say the least and uh i was just like you know what it is what it is
like i could sit here and pout and feel sorry for myself and and and maybe and you know walk away
maybe just be like, hey, you know, I'm just going to, I'm just going to step out and quit.
Yeah, throw the towel in.
Throw the towel in and be like, you know.
Because you could have said, hey, it's a medical issue.
Yeah, exactly.
Yeah, you got a massive, like, ooh, I have an offering up here.
Yeah, I got handed.
I got handed my excuse.
I got handed my out, and I was like, there's no way I'm taking this, right?
Yep.
And that's, that was really it.
That was it for me.
I just kind of, Reagan.
Go, go.
His dog's attacking.
Yeah.
Go.
Go.
Go.
Go.
I got handed my out, and I was like, there's no way I'm taking that.
Like, that's not the kind of guy, and that's not the kind of guy I want to be.
And it is what it is.
You know, I'm going to go out and I'm going to continue to compete.
Is this something I trained for all year long?
Yeah.
I have a huge support system with my sponsors and, you know, like these people who have traveled here to come watch me compete.
There's no way I'm going to step off this floor because, oh, wait, because day one didn't go so well.
So, and that was kind of how I had to look at it.
You know, I did a little bit of feeling sorry for myself for a little bit.
I kind of just like, you know, I went home that night and I had some food and I was just like, listen, man, like, you know, talking to myself.
I'm like, this happens to people all the time.
Yeah.
Like, this is, this is what it is.
It's just, it happens.
You know, sometimes shit just doesn't go your way.
Yeah.
And so.
Sometimes it happens often.
Yeah, right.
Like you're saying, the excuse that you got presented to you, I think people need to realize that that's a choice, right?
Like, take the, take the excuse.
Yeah.
If you want to.
Yeah.
and don't take it.
Right.
It's a choice.
Nobody's forcing you to take it.
I think the difference that separates people is if you call that an intersection in the road is
the direction that you take on it.
Yeah, for sure.
Because I get those choices all the time.
Yeah.
It's like, I don't want to wake up early.
I don't want to do this.
I don't want to do that.
And then I look, I'm like, well, this is why I do this.
This is why I do that.
So I take, I tell people do the hard thing, right?
Always.
So you have choices in life and every choice has an easier answer and anyone has a harder
answer.
I say, go to the harder one.
Always.
Like my kids.
They don't understand this lesson because they're a little,
shih Tzu's. They like to put toilet paper on top of the toilet paper roll in a vertical
fashion instead of undoing the cardboard and putting a new one on and throwing the other one
away. They're like, it doesn't matter, Dad. I'm like, well, it matters if that laziness impacts
when you go have breakfast and you decide putting your dishes in the dishwasher, you put them on the
sink. And then that decision gathers momentum and then you go to pack your backpack and you weren't
paying attention because you don't really care. It's like, I'm just going to
to wad up my stuff and throw it in my bag and you get to school and you don't have your work.
Right.
Or you decide not to do your work.
Like that's, it's the, I try to teach them about momentum.
Right, for sure.
On the good and the bad side, because both of them build for sure.
The little choices.
I like what you're going with that is basically like, it's the little choices in life that make the big things happen, like make everything work right.
Like just getting up and out of your bed and making your bed.
Yeah.
Like that's just like, okay, well, I got my bed made.
And I have to explain to people when they use, who was it?
It was, not McChrystal.
It was McRaven.
McRaven.
You have no idea how many times people said,
hey, man, do you make your bed every morning?
And I go,
it's not actually about making your bed.
You understand that, right?
It's about doing something disciplined first thing in the morning.
And they go, oh, I thought it was just about making your bed.
Oh, God, darn it.
You're missing the entire point of what he was saying.
Yeah, I mean, what he was saying was so amazing and so impactful, you know?
Small, disciplined actions that gain momentum and will have a macro impact on your life is what he was actually saying.
Yeah.
Like up in Alaska, I remember the cold weather training.
They always emphasize how you packed your gear.
And then when you were out in the field, how you unpacked it.
And if you repacked it and just like, you know, gypsy camps,
they'd always tell you like, you know, the first person that gets shot in a patrol is the guy who has the gypsy camp looking backpack.
Oh, 100%.
You know.
Because he can't find his magazines.
You know his gun isn't cleaned.
Right.
So it's like that always like resonated with me for sure where it's like, okay.
You know, like if you can make these small little things like, oh, just being organized with the way you pack your.
bag.
Attention to detail, if you will.
Attention to detail, if you are in the military, specifically inside of the SEAL teams,
that you are going to hear that in your nightmares.
Yeah.
Attention to detail.
For sure.
So, yeah, no.
So going back to, yeah, making that decision where it was like, okay, I can either
throw in the towel here and give up and for the games.
It just wasn't really even ever an option, to be honest.
It was just like, why would I quit?
You know, because, oh, I got a little stomach bug.
and, you know, shit's not going my way.
Okay.
Literally.
Yeah, right, right.
Exactly.
So, you know, did that.
And after that, I just kind of like,
it was like, oh, I just take it one event at a time and, you know,
go out and do the best that you can.
Do what you work with what you got and do the best you can.
And I didn't feel normal again until about Saturday night.
I think when I took second in the thruster workout.
Yeah, you just, that was inside in the arena.
Yeah, yeah.
And that was like the first moment of the weekend where I almost, like,
I felt like normal again.
That's the performance that you were, I shouldn't say planning on, but expected from yourself.
Right, yeah, exactly.
You know, that was what I, I felt really good going into training.
Maybe not as good as I had in the past years, but, you know, I still felt good enough to go out and at least be like a top five, you know, top eight finish in the games that year.
Where did you finally not out?
Oh, 20.
after they pulled Ricky Girard
and not 29th?
So I watched a portion of the documentary
and his name
came up.
And I love how, of course, they knew the results
as they were making the documentary.
And I'm assuming they probably asked
everybody about performance-enhancing drugs
that they interviewed probably leading up to the games.
But I really love the fact that they spent a little bit
extra time on him having his answer
to performance and enhancing.
I want to say they actually
went out after the games.
Oh, no way.
So they probably knew he was dirty and then filmed it?
Yeah, I want to say that was...
I hope that is actually...
Because that's a little bit more mischievous.
It's better, right?
I love it too, yeah.
So I'll let you kind of explain what happened because you're more familiar.
Yeah, so, you know, Ricky Gerard takes third in the games, and then after the final event,
they basically take the top four to six.
I don't know exactly how many, but four to six people off to a drug testing protocol.
immediately following the final event, you actually get a handler immediately following the event,
and so you can't go off and do something, immediately go into drug testing.
Strap your bag of urine to the inside of your horse.
Yeah, right, exactly.
So, yeah, so then he got drug tested and end up coming back positive.
I don't, to be honest, I don't even know what the drug was he was taking.
I think it was SARMs or something.
I don't know.
From, again, limited knowledge and just watching a little bit of that documentary, he was,
I don't know if it was the,
Because I know there's a difference between, I have almost no experience of this,
but a difference between like the enhancing drugs and then the drugs that you take to hide it, I guess.
There's two different ones or a precursor, or something like that.
There was something.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, like.
It wasn't like Winstrol or some recognizable thing that most people might recognize.
It was almost something associated with a drug taken to mask it.
Yeah, masking it.
Or something you have to take alongside of it to keep your hormonal balance and check.
Something like that.
Okay.
Yeah, like I don't know anything about any of that stuff.
I love it when people always say, oh, a drug test is an IQ test.
I'm like, well, I must be an idiot because I would fail every time because I have no idea about any of this stuff.
But yeah, I remember reading something about it.
I think it was a masking agent.
And so, yeah, so he pops positive.
They end up stripping him of his third place medal.
And then so everyone, you know, shifts forward one.
Patrick Bellner ended up taking third, which is good for him.
Yeah.
Pat's a great guy.
You think it's a good thing or a bad thing that that happened for the sport across it?
And by that, I mean the competitive side of the house, the games.
I think in the end it's, you know, on the cover on the surface, it looks bad.
It's, you know, like obviously you want to hope that every single athlete's out there on the same level playing field.
I hope in the end it turns out to be somewhat of a blessing in disguise.
where it shows that CrossFit is going after,
trying to keep the sport clean,
and they're, you know, it's a tough thing to do, right?
Because the cheaters are always typically ahead of the people testing them.
And that's, you know.
From the pro athletes, I know, yeah, it's basically they have,
they have, I wouldn't say that the pro athletes necessarily have staffs,
but they have like a guy.
Right.
Who is aware of the testing protocol and they're three steps ahead.
Yeah, exactly.
And they'll get a call like, hey, stop that, start this.
Did you ever see the documentary Icarus?
Yeah.
Oh my gosh.
Like that is.
Or just the stuff about Lance Armstrong.
Are you kidding me?
Yeah.
The guy who was the guy who created the test for WADA sat there and said, he's like,
can you catch all these shooters?
And he said no.
He's a guy creating the test.
Like he doesn't even have his faith in his own test.
Yeah.
Like that's what's so terrible.
But, you know, I hope in the end that, you know, him getting, you know,
decued and, you know, getting a suspension for four years.
I wish it was maybe even a little harsher, you know, like a 10-year ban to where it's like, okay, you're never.
That'd be a like.
Yeah, that's a hard stop.
It's a lifetime ban without giving a lifetime ban kind of thing.
Because a decade in your competitive window, you'd be lucky to have a 10-year competitive window.
Right, exactly.
If you have 10 years in you, that's insane.
Yeah.
I just, yeah, because I think then even, that would even make it that much more likely to stop people from doing it.
It's like, okay, if I get caught now, now I'm done.
Like, that's it.
The work you've put in to get to that point, it's squashed.
Exactly.
Everything you've done, everything you worked for, your name's tarnished.
You know, you're in the books, and it is what it is, and you're done.
And you have to go find something else to do.
Yeah.
You know, I think that would be, I hope in the end, you know, that showing, though, that
CrossFit is going after these people and giving them a, you know, a four-year penalty is still a stiff penalty.
Like, that's four years is not a joke.
To have to maintain that level of work and keep your eyes.
on the prize like that far down the road.
Now you're talking like Olympic style stuff.
You know where you're like, okay, my next event is in five years.
And he can't even do like any type of CrossFit competition at all right.
I'm sure he could do like local stuff.
Yeah, I'm sure he could do local stuff.
But he can't do anything to actually get back and go head to head with you or any of the guys.
Unless they went, I guess, to where he is and did a local.
Yeah, exactly.
Like it's just like now he's just training to train for five years, you know.
Dude.
So, I mean, I hope in the end that, you know, people see it.
and it stops them from, you know, trying to get that edge instead of just working hard for it.
I don't know if it will.
I obviously, I don't think it will.
I think there's still going to be people out there who are going to take the chances, the limits, you know, test the limits.
Well, I was going to ask you next.
I mean, just totally anecdotally, do you think it's an issue inside of the competition?
It's a hard question to say.
I don't know if I would say it's an issue.
Do I think that...
Does it exist?
Do I think it exists? Of course.
Yeah, well, obviously, I mean, last year,
proven that it did to some degree.
Right. I think I would be naive to think that it's,
that everyone's playing on the same level field.
I don't think so.
Do I think it's like...
It's rampant that most people might say?
I don't think it is.
I think it's actually, I think more people are probably doing
who don't make games kind of thing.
That's what I was going to say.
I bet you it's more at the periphery.
Right.
From my experience, and again, I have very limited
experience with it, but I, you know, I listen to people talk about it, and it's almost like they
think those types of drugs are, it's like some magical pill.
Right.
So, like, even Lance Armstrong, right, who was, he was doping amongst a community of people
that were doping.
Like, I forgot where I saw it, like, if they stripped everybody who had not pissed hot.
It was like 27th.
Yeah, it was the guy who was three stages behind.
Yeah.
Like, God damn it, guys, I cannot keep up the Peloton.
He got zero TV coverage, but should have been wearing the yellow jerseys.
Jersey, right?
Yeah.
But I mean, you look at Lance's training protocol leading up to the tour, even though he was on that stuff, it was insane.
I mean, the guy was still probably putting in as much, if not more work than other people.
So even in the stuff that you do, you could take that, but if you skip the hard work, you're not getting anywhere.
No.
And that's why I would hypothesize completely out of my ass guess with no insider knowledge at all, that it probably is the people who are right at that fringe, who are willing to be able to do.
willing to put it in the hard work, but they can't figure out.
Like, dude, how to hell do I get across this next line?
So I got a shot at the podium versus being in the crowd watching you guys do your thing.
Yeah.
Or it's the guy who feels like he thinks everyone else is on it.
So he's like...
I think we call those excuses.
Exactly.
He's like, why these guys, if I can't do this, then why, how can they without taking something?
Yeah.
Like those guys, I think.
How dare you be better than me, Josh?
How dare you?
I deserve steroids.
Right.
So I think there's, you know, that aspect to it too, where it's like they just, and then you
then you have, you know, the social media and all the hearsay talk about how every,
wherever you get, every person at the games on steroids.
Which is just not true.
Well, and it's easier to say that than juxtapose your training regimen with theirs.
Right.
And their discipline, like, I mean, I know you go through cycles, what get the competitively.
I'm sure you have cycles with your diet and your training volume,
but you dial your shit in for long periods of time.
Yeah.
And that sucks.
You will sacrifice.
Yeah, your quality of life.
You're going to miss things like trips to Montana, which would be amazing.
I know, right.
Because you're doing thrusters, which you can do in Montana.
That just sounds awful.
Hey, Josh, you want to come to town?
No, I'm doing thrusters.
I got thrusters to do today, bro.
How about Thursday?
Minsteadless day.
Damn it.
No, but, and while I see that with, you know, the younger, like kids in their early,
early teens, early 20 is like they're making that choice, right?
They're putting in that effort, that discipline, and it has a consequence to it.
Yeah.
And for a guy who looks at, I mean, the people who compete in the games, it look ridiculous, right?
Right.
Because of the amount of work you have to put in, it's easier for people to say.
And, I mean, shit, I have judgmental thoughts towards other people, too, who are way better at stuff than I am.
It's like, whatever.
Yeah.
I can do that, too.
It's easier to say, hey, they're cheating as opposed to their work ethic is better than mine.
Their discipline is better than mine.
Right.
They never want to point them to the finger at themselves.
They want to point the finger at someone else being like, they're doing that, they're not doing
that legally because I can't do it.
Yeah.
Where instead of being like, I don't work hard enough, I don't sacrifice enough.
I still drink, you know, on the weekends.
Just on days that end in why, Josh.
Right.
Yeah.
Just on days that end in why.
I still eat, you know, cheeseburgers, hamburgers, and burritos and burritos and pizza every night,
which, you know, I kind of did that for a while.
But it's the difference between taking the easy choice or the hard one.
Exactly.
And you guys, you and the people who compete at your level,
they make the hard choice for long periods of time.
Yeah.
Which is, I think, what eventually gets a lot of people.
It's just they kind of crumble under that weight.
Yeah.
Very true.
So obviously the games didn't go the way you wanted.
Did that, I'm going to hypothesize that that lit of fire under your ass for this year.
Yeah, it got me thinking.
Just know what the kind of guy you are?
So there is some good that can come from that because is it something that you look back on?
you're like, nope, that shit ain't happening again.
Yeah, for sure.
You know, you definitely never want to have that mistake happen again.
But for me, this time, it was, it was, I didn't beat myself up nearly as bad
because I felt like it was a circumstance that I didn't really create.
It was just, or maybe, I wouldn't say that,
because maybe I didn't have my immune system where it should have been or something like that.
There's a lot of variables.
There's a lot of variables there.
So I didn't beat myself nearly as bad as I normally would.
I just chalked it up to like, okay,
I need to make a few adjustments here and kind of see what's going on with my body,
why I wasn't able to fight that off as well as maybe some other people,
because I'm sure other people drank that water or did something else the same as I did.
And there's only like one other person I knew that kind of got sick after that swim.
So again, made a, came home, you know, took a little bit of time off.
My body was really defined that because I'm thinking that meant you like took Thursday.
off. No, man. I actually, this was the first year I took three weeks off. I'd literally did nothing.
You're so lazy. Three whole weeks? You're disgusted me. And I felt awful and I felt worse when I came back. I was like, that didn't do anything. That was no good at all. I'll never do that again.
Do you think it's because of the volume you're used to, though, like your body's used to such a crazy volume and you let it?
I think it was. It was weird. It was just like I didn't like it. My mind was like my mind was, I was losing my mind.
Really?
Yeah, it was just awful.
I would think that almost, even though it might be a painful experience,
it might be like a healthy reset for your endocrine system, your immune system.
I kind of hoped it would, but it didn't.
I still felt really bad.
I wasn't recovering.
I wasn't sleeping well.
So I went and got some blood test done, went and spoke with, you know, like a health doctor, basically.
Yeah.
And they told me, you know, she kind of told me that I was like, because I thought I was dying.
I literally like, I was like, I have cancer, I'm dying.
I self-dict.
I have blood and brain cancer.
I'm going to die on Thursday.
In six months.
I self-diagnosed.
I had six months to live.
I need the treatment immediately at like the platinum dosage to start today.
And so, and this is all true.
I laugh about it, but this is exactly how I was thinking and feeling in my head.
I was like, I'm dying.
I have cancer.
And so.
And so she's like, you're not dying.
You don't, you know, you don't have cancer.
You are, you are definitely going down a path that you probably want to veer off of.
And so, you know, your diet's, I mean, because she like, she's like, I want to see 30 days of your diet.
So she was more like a holistic health professional, like all encompassing.
All encompassing.
But with blood work and stuff like that.
And so she's like, I don't want you to change anything.
I want you to eat like you would normally eat for 30 days.
Yep.
And I want you to take a food log.
And then I want you to.
you know, sleep, sleep durations, how you're sleeping, all that kind of stuff.
And then we're going to take blood work.
And then after that 30 days and after that blood work, we're going to change some things.
And then we're going to show you in a month, like blood work again, like how you're changed.
So it was very eye-opening.
My food log for 30 days is insane.
I was like, I was not, she's like, do not hold anything back.
If you eat one cookie, write it down.
If you eat a pistachio.
She's like, I want, I want, I don't want you to, like, start eating better because you're writing it down.
Yeah.
I want to see exactly how you eat.
Well, she needs that baseline.
That makes total sense.
Right.
She's like, and that's, she's like, that's what happens.
A lot of times people come in and they, I tell them to give me a food log and then all of a sudden shifts.
Broccoli and chicken breast.
Right.
Exactly.
It's like, so I was very honest, you know, I was like, oh, if I had a beer, you know.
So what did you go with?
What kind of things were in that food log?
Oh, dude.
You don't even.
It literally looked like a, it looked like a 12-year-old kid who didn't have parents was feeding a child.
What was your go-to? Like your happy food?
I mean, I was on a solid three-day rotation of hamburgers one night, a burrito the next night, and pizza the third night.
What's wrong with that?
Exactly, right?
And at least having a beer almost every night, probably a few cookies.
Yep.
Lunch. There would be days where it would be like, I always ate eggs for breakfast.
I just always eat eggs for breakfast. I'm not like, I don't know.
I like breakfast and I'll have pancakes or something every once in a while, but not very often.
It's just I'm too lazy to make them.
So it's like eggs for breakfast.
So breakfast starts out, okay.
But that was it.
It was like four eggs and that was it.
Or three eggs, I think.
And that was it.
And then lunch would be a hamburger or a burrito.
Strong.
And then dinner would be a hamburger.
A burrito or hamburger.
A beer, some cookies.
And I'm like, man.
And this, that's not that bad.
It was.
I thought you were going to say, like, lunch, bag of Doritos.
No, I actually.
Side of a chocolate milkshake, you know.
I actually ate some, you know, I ate,
food it just wasn't good food yeah or healthy food i guess you could say and so uh you know that
was pretty eye-opening she's like man she's like this is uh yeah you're you're you're on a bad
path right here like and and she's like you and you don't and all the symptoms that you're telling
me is that your body isn't isn't able to handle uh like gluten and dairy and i was drinking
a lot of milk yeah and gluten and dairy and uh yeah i think that'll help with your sleep and so she
she wanted me to go on a cleanse and I couldn't do it.
Like a juice cleanse?
Not a cleanse, not a, but just like removing, there was a lot of stuff being removed.
Like, she wanted me to remove coffee.
First off, I was like, where did she get her degree?
Lock it up.
Yeah, where did you get your degree?
Online, University of Phoenix online?
Shut your face.
Lock it up, lady.
Yeah, you're fired.
So I used to do two cups of coffee.
I switched to, I've only, since then, I cut it down to one.
Yeah, you were telling me that when we were texting back and forth.
Yeah, so I only do one cup of coffee now a day.
Is it 64 ounce cup?
No, no, no.
It's literally still the same one.
The red nut guzzler from 7-Eleven just folded the brim.
This one gallon junk of coffee.
It's a cup.
So you taped it right on the side.
It says one cup right there.
Sir, that's a gallon.
No, so I do the one cup.
It's only 10 ounces of coffee.
and she wanted me to cut that out, like no sugar.
I don't even think she wanted me to have eggs for a while.
So by no sugar, you mean, though, no refined sugar.
Because obviously if you have fruit.
And she actually wanted limited amounts of fruit.
It was basically leafy.
She just wanted vegetables.
She wanted leafy greens and lean meats.
Did she care about the kind of lean meat?
She didn't care of fish, chicken.
She wanted me to do fish like twice a week and then mainly chicken.
And then, like, she didn't want, like, not a lot of red.
Like that, not a lot of red meat.
Yeah.
And I couldn't, like, full force step into it.
And then another thing that was happening a lot prior to was I was getting sick.
I never, I've never been so sick or sick this many times.
I want to say over a two-year period prior to the 16 or 17 games, I'd probably gotten sick like five times, which in my life, I don't think I've ever been sick five times.
Like, I flew twice.
I got like, bronch, bronch, or what I have?
No, I had a, like, this Christmas actually.
got like hit with like uh uh the beginning stages of pneumonia really um yeah it was crazy
sounds like your immune system yeah so my immune system was not doing well yeah so i made a lot
of adjustments couldn't go on to the strict like none of this everything i still had to have like
one coffee i'm drinking a lot more water and i'm eating actually a lot more and i i removed most gluten
i can't say i'm eating gluten free i would not say that um and i don't do almost
any dairy anymore.
So how fast when you started making those changes, did you feel it?
Man, it was pretty quick.
It was like a two, three week, maybe a month to where all of a sudden my energy levels
were up throughout the day.
I didn't hit that like midday.
2 p.m.
Yeah, like I want to go to sleep.
Didn't hit that.
Well, that's got to be tough for you there too because of the volume of work you're doing.
Right.
I don't understand how you are not napping constantly.
You know, I definitely still get tired a lot.
But I'm like, okay.
I can, now I feel better that I'm not having that second cup of coffee.
Yeah.
That second cup of coffee was kind of like, it just felt like a crutch too.
I know exactly what you're talking about.
Yeah, and now it's like...
The afternoon for one for me is my sixth though.
Yeah.
This second thing is ridiculous.
Yeah, it's like it's...
You need to redouble your efforts.
Don't get me wrong.
I still think about it every day that second cup of coffee.
I'm like, man, I could really use it.
Yeah.
That's actually on really stressful days, I still have it.
Yeah.
That's like my...
We'll cut that part out in case you listen.
It's right.
Right. I don't...
Yeah, so it's like, I'm like, it's so funny how things change in life to where it used to be like, oh, man, I'm having a bad day.
I'm going to go home and have five beers.
Now it's like, I don't even care.
I'm going to have my second cup of coffee now.
You can't stop me.
I'm an adult.
I'm going to have my second cup of coffee.
I will do it, lady.
So the changes came about pretty quick.
Yeah, the change came about really quick.
And just the energy levels came back up.
My recovery, my, you know, it was weird.
My joints started.
to feel better, which was...
I've heard about that associated with the inflammation.
Yeah.
Probably from...
I think, yeah, my body was...
If it was a gluten sensitivity or whatever.
You might have had a sense...
I don't know.
So far from being a nutritionist or understanding.
Yeah.
But I definitely think that, like, the swelling, I felt like there was definitely...
I had some inflammation issues with the body, and I definitely started to feel that go away as
I started to clean up my diet.
And so, you know, don't get me wrong, I still have hamburgers every once and all.
I still have a burrito every once in a while.
pizza every once in a while, but it's not like, I just can't have, I mean, I'm 34 years old,
you know? I mean, I'm a spring chicken. I'm in my prime, but, you know, I don't, I don't know
if I would use those terms. I saw you turn down the master's invite this year, which I think
it's a bad sign if the mid-30s are your transition into the retirement home category.
Exactly, right? I'm like 34. Come on, man. My prime. But yeah, it's just been, it's really,
been really eye-opening and like it almost makes me wish that I would have had someone to tell
me to do this earlier even though you know I enjoyed eating pizza and burritos and hamburgers every
day but it was like man what could I have been because I felt like I you know I was at I was at a
pretty good place you know for a while but I'm like man if I would have cleaned it up earlier like
yeah how much better could I have been imagine if they had people and hopefully they do now
working with the teams like that dialing dudes in I don't know if I mean I hope
Everybody gets a baseline.
It's something going that way, for sure.
Well, it should.
But you have to seek it out, I felt.
Like, even towards the end of my career, it was there, but you had to seek it out.
Yeah.
It wasn't like, because the same way, you know, like, guys in CrossFit, people in CrossFit, you know, they don't eat the healthiest.
They don't, like, you know, some of them do.
A lot of the great ones do.
But they still are, you know, have that, like, young mindset where it's like just shove any kind of food in your mouth and go out and train as hard as you can.
Don't stretch, you know.
I mean, that's how I got into CrossFit.
Of course, I'm same as you.
You know, you go, go put some weight on the bar.
Let's go.
I'm going to start stretching in a couple of years.
Right, yeah, right.
Me too.
I've got it on the calendar.
I really hope I can.
And, uh, incorporate, uh, warmups, cool downs and stretching in a few years.
And then, and then, but then.
It's programmed.
And the team is the same way, you know, like you have these guys who are, you know, a lot of them are
great at athletically and then great at, you know.
They have athletic ability.
Yeah, athletic ability.
Yeah, athletic ability.
but then they, you know, they booze.
Like, it's insane.
And then they, you know, eat like crap.
And, man, like, and so they have that same mindset
where not a lot of, not a ton of them are seeking out that information.
Where if they did, exactly, it could just prolong their careers even longer.
It gets a little tricky.
I'm sure you would agree to, like in the, when you're local,
it'd be easy to roll down to the gym and talk to those people.
And then you go to Nileland for a month, right?
Like, it gets a little tougher.
Yeah, you're traveling a lot.
Then you get overseas.
You're like, bitching, MREs.
My diet is.
completely outside of my wheelhouse.
And yeah, I'm going to eat this one
and then go to the bathroom five days from now.
It's going to be fun.
Yeah, it's going to be great.
That's going to come out looking like a brick.
God, I loved watching people who had their diet, like, so dialed.
They had to have jet fuel.
And then you get overseas, you're like, is that diesel working for you?
Has that working?
Are you taking protein powder out in the field?
Is that while you're out of water?
Because I see where they're making a shake.
It's like, and they crumble.
Right?
Yeah.
So I would say for the military people, it's a balance.
It is.
Get yourself to the 80% solution, but my theory is you have to be able to function on diesel fuel occasionally.
Yeah.
If you need your six ounces of chicken breasts and your protein and your creatine and you find yourself out in the desert hiding under a rock, you might be.
You just might end up screwing yourself.
It's so true, though.
I completely agree.
I remember my last deployment, I had like two of these Stanley cases.
filled with, like, baby food packets.
And I remember I reached out to a baby food company,
because it was like, that was like,
I knew I wasn't going to get vegetables.
And so I just got, like, this.
Oh, you'd get vegetables.
You'd just die if you ate them.
Yeah, right.
Consider these, uh,
Afghanistan rocks here,
vegetables, I guess, yeah.
There's some local turnips and things.
You know, that's fine.
Man, I had, like, yeah,
a whole Stanley case of, like,
baby food spinach packets.
And I'd never even thought about that.
That's a great idea, actually.
Yeah.
Yeah.
I'd, you know, carry those with me everywhere.
And then I remember.
God, I wish I had a picture of that.
Right.
I would just torture you with that picture.
Of course, of course, it would be photoshopped into many other colorful things.
But, yeah, it is an interesting, it is a lot harder in the military where you're constantly traveling.
And with the deployment cycle, too, like, you know, there would be times where you'd probably be separated from those two cases.
I mean, you never know.
You might get searched somewhere.
Like, oh, those are gone.
a month. Yeah, exactly. Yeah. It gets tough for sure. Yeah. So what's next, man? I mean, obviously
you got this year. So now, yeah, the regional is on the, on the horizon here next weekend. I'm
pretty fired up for that. You already tested all the workouts? I think I've gone through every one of
them. No, I think I have one more. I'm kind of doing like a regional's weekend this weekend again,
so yesterday I did the first two. Today I'm going to do day two, tomorrow, day three. But I've done
I've done an event five and I've done event three already.
How do they play into your wheelhouse?
Pretty good?
Yeah.
Yeah, I love this year's regional workouts.
Yeah.
They're all really, like they're all CrossFit.
You know, there's no.
I didn't look at them.
What are they?
Yeah.
So day one, you start on, day one is brutal.
Day one, you start out with a three-k.
It's a triple-three.
Actually, we did the workout at 2014 games.
It's 3K road.
300 double unders.
Did you say 3K row?
3K row?
Yeah, I'm already out.
Yeah, I'm already out.
Yeah, right.
3K row, 300 double unders, and a three-mile run.
At the games, we did it on the street.
At regionals, we do it on that beast right there.
Oh, the runner, the true form?
Yeah, the, which one?
The assault runner.
How do you like that thing?
It's okay.
Yeah, it's, they're definitely different.
I have a true form and the assault runner.
And the true form is, they're both good.
They both have their, you know, serving purpose.
The, you know, you know,
The assault runner, you can run fat.
Like, it kind of turns over faster.
Okay.
So you can run fast.
You can get up to pace.
You can get up to pace.
Yeah.
Where the true form is a little bit more of like, I feel like pushing a sled or pulling
a sled as you run because it's like, it's super, like you definitely activate
hamstring.
I was going to say that could get exhausting pretty fast.
So it's, uh, it's, uh, more like a sand run maybe then?
Like you got that extra resistance or it's just, actually that sand wouldn't even
replicate it.
Yeah.
Because you run different in sand.
Yeah.
I feel like you like Foxshot and sand.
Where, yeah, it's just different.
You still run properly, but it's just hard.
You have to really pull.
Hold on.
What did you just say you do in sand?
Foxstrap, man.
What in the hell is Foxhrodding?
You don't know if Foxx riding?
It's like where your feet,
you kind of run where your feet are kind of in front of you a little bit.
I always run with my feet in front of me.
Yeah, that's great.
Yes, you're a solid runner then.
The last time I ran, it was 2009, I think.
What is this, yogging?
Yeah, and I did a five-mile run cumulatively over the last six years.
It didn't take a lot.
Nailed it.
No, yeah, you run with your feet because you can't drive insane.
I'm just curious about the term fox trotting.
I've never heard that.
Where did you get that?
I think one of the instructors said it at in buds.
Maybe it was made up.
I don't know.
Maybe I'm an asshole.
Fox str.
I'm going to use that term today.
Completely irrational time.
Like their feet.
They kind of just, you know, like pat.
See what I'm doing with my hands right now.
I see.
It's tough on the audio only.
But, yeah, again, he's Foxtrotting.
He's fox trotting with his hands.
It's very difficult.
It's hard to explain.
Yeah.
So you have the triple threes.
It's a new technique.
Yeah.
So yeah, start with the triple threes, and then you go into Linda.
Yeah, the bar bowels of death.
Three bars of the death.
And they use the average weight of last year's competitors, which I think was 190, 195 pounds.
Oh, that's great for you.
Yeah.
You know what's so funny is when they announced that bench, and the weights, the $195 is fine.
but Linda is one of my favorite workout
anytime I get asked what's one of your favorite
what's your favorite like a girl workout
it's either Linda or Amanda
so Linda for people who are unfamiliar with CrossFit
you get three barbells it's
what is it one and a half times body weight
deadlift right for 10 reps
first round yeah
then is it body weight bench
and then three quarter body weight clean right
squat clean yeah and then nine of each eight of each
all the way down to one and it is
it's as hard as you want to make it
yeah it's as hard you can take you
Two hours, and you'd be like, wow, that was a great workout.
You probably do it in like five minutes, which would be a way more intense experience.
Right, right.
No, it's good.
I've done the workout a million times.
I just love the fact that they're actually implementing bench into CrossFit because...
I actually...
It's such an athletic...
Have you seen that yet?
This is the first time.
I was going to say, I was just kind of going back through the roll-a-dex of things that I've seen.
Other than in the team series, they did it one year in the team series, which, I mean, you can consider that.
It's not the cross-it season, I guess.
It's the out-of-season experience.
So, no, I think bench press is such an athletic movement
and that everybody should be able to do it.
And so I bench press at least once a week.
So it's not like a big deal.
And like where I think that's, and for this workout,
that's kind of the determining factor.
You think that's where people hang up?
Yeah, the people who don't bench, like if you can't get through the bench on broken,
you're not going to win the workout.
Oh, for sure.
If you can't get through every one of those movements unboken.
Yeah.
You're not going to win, yeah.
Well, I think the clean you're going to see some people,
I think most people will start with singles and then go into touch and go.
Because it's squat clean, it's not power clean.
Oh, yeah, probably around like seven or six.
They might just start wrapping it out.
I think the guy, the European regional, the guy who did win, though, did do all of it unbroken.
Did he?
And he was a big dude, though.
He weighed 235 or 230.
Oh, so he was at advantage because the body weight stuff was factored off lighter than him.
Yeah, so everything was lighter than him.
But he still, it was a phenomenal, I think he scored like 12 minutes or something like that.
So it was fast.
But yeah.
So that's day one.
So that's a solid two events.
You know,
day one typically is a lot lighter and faster,
shorter than that.
And so it's a good day one.
Day two,
you start off with the handstand walk obstacle event
where you're going to do three rounds of nine muscle ups.
You're going to handstand walk up a flight of stairs down a hill,
up a hill, down a flight of stairs.
And then you're going to do sets of pistols.
On the first set, you're going to do...
Pistols are one-legged squats.
Yes, sorry, one-legged squats.
You're going to do a set of 36,
and then the second round of that,
you're going to do a set of 45,
and the final round, you're going to do a set of 54.
Oh, my God.
And then after your pistols,
you have the handstand and walk back
through the obstacles to the rings.
In the first three years of the CrossFit games,
nobody would be able to complete that.
No, not even one.
Not even a single person.
I don't think they'd be able to get through the first round.
Like, that's just insane to me how much it's grown.
Yeah, it's nuts.
Or evolved, I should say,
not necessarily grown.
Right.
You saw last year, like, I mean, I wouldn't say this is a, this isn't a beginner packet.
Yeah, for sure.
And so you got, you go from, you go from half the handstand walk, 30 feet increments,
and actually you could break it up by 15s to now you have to handstand walk up,
flights of stairs and downhills.
What's the ruling if you lose it on going up the stairs, start all the way at the bottom?
Yeah, you have to go, there's a line.
At the beginning and each, at the beginning and end of each, a little obstacle,
there's two basically little foam sections of the obstacle.
And so you have to...
If you break the threshold, you start at that threshold.
Right, yep.
And so you have to go back to the line.
So what else you got day two?
Then day two.
The second workout is a fast work, a faster workout where it's two rounds of 10 snatches.
They can be power snatches of at 175, 12 burpees.
So you do two rounds of that.
And then you go right into two rounds of 10 snatches at 115 and 12 burpees.
So it's like this, all right, move heavyweight, but you get your heart rate up and then move lightweight and your heart rate.
And just suffer.
Yeah, just suffer.
That second part is just about pained hearts.
Right, exactly, because it's like you should not stop moving.
You're going to want to.
You sure are.
When your legs are like cinder blocks.
Is probably the point of that workout.
Yeah, right.
And so that's day two.
And then we finish off the weekend with, oh, man, Event 5 is nasty.
It is just dirty.
So you got, it's the 50s.
It's kind of the long chipper workout.
Yep.
So you got 50 handstand pushups.
Not really a big deal anymore.
Again, would disqualify everybody.
Probably the first five years now of the CrossFit games.
Have you said 50 handstand pushups?
Yeah, in a row.
So that's the beginning of the workout.
And that's actually like, it's not really much of the workout.
And then you got 50 toes to bar.
And then you go into a 50-Cal bike on the assault bike.
Which feels amazing.
Which is going to be great.
And then...
It's mostly like coasting downhill.
It's no big deal.
Right.
It's basically...
You don't even have the pedal.
Yeah.
And then you're going to pull out this bad boy right here, a 24-inch box, and you're going to grab,
but you're going to have to grab two 70-pound dumbbells.
And you're going to have to go over the box 50 times.
Is there any way you have to carry it?
Can you put it down?
Like, what are the rules?
Can you throw them over?
You throw them over?
No.
Which would get dangerous because they would bounce everywhere.
That'd be awesome.
I mean, I guess the rules are the dumbbells.
can't touch the box and your hands can't touch the box.
So like, I think you can carry them over any way.
I expect you to swing them.
Yeah.
Oh, yeah.
And as the momentum comes forward, jump, jump over the box.
And you just let it rip you over the box.
And never even touch the box.
Yep.
So you got to do that 50 times, which that's basically the workout.
Yeah.
And then you start, and then you end it with, though,
you got to take those 70-pound dumbbells and you got to walk,
you got to lunge 50 feet with both dumbbells up at your shoulder,
but one, I'm sorry, one overhead and one at your shoulder.
Can you alternate or does it have to be?
No, the first one has to be right arm, and then the second one you switch.
The second 50 feet you go switch.
So you've got to do 100 feet of lunging.
I've never even tried that with one arm up like that.
It's not, it's harder than just if you have one dumbbell up overhead
because this one's just kind of like, it's just more weight.
Now you're not, you're lunging with 140 pounds.
And compressing like your chest cavity to make it hard to breathe.
And so it's definitely a little bit harder.
It's not double overhand.
This is awful because of mobility issues.
Yeah, as you can say, that doesn't happen for me.
Yeah, right.
I can do one of two things.
I can get them both overhead or I can lunge.
You're not getting a combination unless they're one ounce each and I can hold them out in front of me.
So that's the end of the workout.
So you got 50 hands hand pushouts, 50 toes the bar, 50 calip bike, 50 boxed upovers,
and then two 50 foot lunges with the dumbbells.
It does sound like that's going to,
That'll play to your strengths.
I love that workout.
I don't mean the whole thing, like the whole weekend package.
The only part is that box is about waist height.
Yeah.
That 24-inch box is a...
I was going to say shoulder, but...
Yeah.
Good dude.
So that's the only thing for me, but it's not an issue.
I mean, I've been messing with it, and so it's good.
It plays a little more strength to the taller people,
but they also have to do 50 handstand push-ups where my handstand push-ups
literally moves probably seven centimeters.
Well, and then you go to snatch stuff,
their lever arms are long.
It all works itself out.
Because you'll be,
you could probably do a rep and a half
in comparison to
a crazy-ass tall person
or just a normal height man.
You know what I mean?
What a dick.
That's all right.
I think you've fallen to the category
of a short person.
I don't know.
I could see it.
Dwarf maybe.
I don't know.
It's hard to say.
And then you'll have some time off, right?
I'm going to say, I'm going to go out on a limb and say you're going to make it.
You're going to qualify.
Well, then we got, we got event six.
Oh, there's more.
There's more.
I'm sorry.
That's not the end of the weekend.
How dare I think that that would be the other?
What else is there?
And so then the last workout is actually, it's another shorter workout, I guess,
where you start with four rope climbs with a 15 foot rope that doesn't have a bottom.
So you kind of have to do a little bit of legless.
Yep.
And you start with four reps.
You do 16 thrusters at 155.
Damn.
Yeah.
Three rope climbs,
12 thrusters at 155,
two rope climbs,
eight thrusters at 155.
Those thrusters are punishing.
155 is no joke.
It is no joke.
But again,
year one of the CrossFit games,
it was power clean,
and then jerk 135,
five reps.
And when,
I think it was either Dave or Greg
pulled the little
ball out.
He was like,
ooh, heavy.
push jerk. People are like, oh God, what's it going to be?
135. And people like,
oh, that's let's out.
I don't know if I can do that.
I mean, like, now people like,
are we warming up here? That's the first warm up with.
Yeah. Yeah. It's
I just wonder if that trajectory
can continue. Like, it has to reach a
point. It'd be interesting. Yeah, I think so.
I think it's going to, it's,
you kind of look at the strong man stuff and
see where that's going where
those, I mean, what those
guys are doing is incredible, but it kind of
feels like it's, you know, it's moving up.
It's such a smaller increments now.
Yeah, they have a micrometer out for their improvement.
Like the dude's lifting 1,000 pounds on death, it's like, goddamn.
And then a guy's like, 1,000.
Gotcha.
Nailed it.
Put the clips on.
Yeah, and that record holds for three years.
Right.
Yeah, they're at the upper limit, I think, of what's possible in that world.
And it's kind of like track.
And I think it's like everything where, okay, so yeah, you're 100-meter dash, you know,
or 100-yard sprint or whatever, 100-meter.
sprint is, you know, it's like 9.7 and that hells up for years.
Yeah.
It's like 9.68, you know, it's like,
we'll stand forever.
Crushed him.
I just crushed them.
So I think, yeah, I think a certain point, you know, where we're 11 years in now.
And so I don't know, it's, I think it'll be a little while before we'll see the,
you know, the taper get a little, get to the smaller increments.
But yeah, I mean.
And then it'll be just based off creativity and how, you know what I mean?
Exactly.
The recipe that you put together.
I mean, that's the thing about CrossFit, too, is it's anything.
You don't even know what you're training for a lot of the times.
You know, I mean, you know, yeah, you know the standard movements, but it's not, it's not like, it's not like every other sport.
Yeah, you know what you're training for.
It's like, we could be going heavy.
Like, you could train all year long.
I could, I could do a 500,000 snatches.
Yeah.
And you won't see one snatch in the whole season.
You know, it's crazy.
Right?
How many muscle ups do you do in your off season?
Zero.
You, obviously.
obviously since you're asking me the answer is zero you know you'll do gosh if I like
count up the number of muscles I do and then you you do 27 yeah you know and that's it
better be good at those 27 right best 27 ever if you want to pay to play right you better be
good at those 27 it's just it's just crazy like how like the training volume compared to like
what you'll see sometimes or like you'll do 200,000 meters of rowing yeah and then you'll see 500
meters. Or swimming too.
Yeah, right, exactly.
Because you know there'll be some kind of component.
You know it's going to show up.
I would say it's the volume of which it will show up.
Right.
But you better train like it's going to be a marathon.
You better train for a marathon and you better train for sprints too.
It's not even like you got to train for both.
That's the thing is like it's always like you can't be a specialist in anything
because you have to train.
You have to be really well trained at everything.
It's like I have to be trained to be able to swim a mile really fast.
But I also need to be able to do 50 meter, you know, 50 yard sprints over and over
over again. Yeah. It's crazy. There's a lot of work that goes into it, man. I sit back and I watch you guys and
just makes me tired. I wouldn't use the term fun at all. I wouldn't even use the term approaching fun.
That's because you get to go shoot animals with your bow and drink. That is fun. It looks fun.
Sometimes you drink after, sometimes you drink before. It's hard to say. Sometimes you drink during.
Depends on whether or not you want to be successful.
Yeah. I'm still, I'm not even out of year yet, a bow hunting. I started this August when I go to
Alberta with Dudley for elk will be the one year.
That's cool.
It's been crazy, man.
I've yet to repeat a species.
Really?
Yeah, I did the most recent hunt.
I was supposed to go hunt Black Bear.
I wasn't able to go.
But before that, we were out in Lanai hunting Axis deer, the most unbelievably beautiful
animal, like the crazy white spots on them, and they're constantly switched on.
And if I had a machine gun, I would kill every one of the doze because they just sit there,
staring it, and you go, meh.
And you're done.
You've been crawling on your face and you hear that noise.
You're like, oh.
Oh, man.
You guys have a nice day because I guess my day's over.
That was awesome.
And then before that, we did some hog stuff.
Where was that at?
Where was the access at?
Who and I?
Okay.
There's like 20-some thousand on that island and maybe 2,000 people there.
Oh, wow.
Crazy.
And then hogs before that, which was interesting.
Because they all had like strengths and weaknesses.
Like hogs, you can't beat their nose, right?
Because their whole body is based around their nose,
but they can't see for shit.
Right.
Just stand still.
Be like, I'm a tree, matriya, matriya, matri.
You'll probably be okay, assuming you're downwind.
And then before that, some deer stuff.
And then there was the, we went to France to hunt shammy or chamois,
which is, I think, a goat-looking thing.
I hunted turkey for two days with a bow.
I saw a blind.
Or I was in the blind and I saw a decoy.
I actually don't know what a turkey in the wild looks like, so that was awesome.
I've like, turkey's hard.
Yeah.
And we were involved.
We were there for kind of like a competition, so you drew the land you were going to be on.
So they were, turkeys were there or they weren't.
Oh, got you.
I have no idea if they were there or they weren't.
I know.
Obviously, if you didn't.
Yeah.
They weren't there.
I don't know.
No.
Yeah.
Couldn't tell you.
Don't know what they sound like in the wild, but I got a really good look at the decoy.
That's what they sound like right there.
Yeah.
But for them, you know, from them, they're saying their strength is their eyes.
Crazy vision.
Yeah.
Exponentially better than you.
you and I. So if they see you, you're toast.
Yep.
And then the elk earlier in the season and then some deer stuff.
So it's been, it's been cool, man.
I mean, I suck at it, which I think is why I love it so much.
Right.
It's hard.
Yeah, exactly.
Yeah.
And then the shooting component is just one thing aside.
Right.
Yeah.
If they should be able to stalk these animals and find them and then.
Which is to our benefit.
And that one, I'm like, oh, okay, I know this game.
I'm going to put this tree between you and me.
Yeah.
I can wear a red flannel if I wanted to right now.
You can't see me.
There's people who do that I think actually.
Like they're basically going out in red, white, and blue ski suits just to prove that if you know what you're doing,
the animals aren't paying attention that much.
I mean, I knew a guy in our training when we went through a scout.
Like, what he would do his stalks in flannels, like bright flannels.
Yeah.
If you do it, right?
You look at me, you look at it and be like, you're an asshole.
Dude, when I was going through the stalking phase, this night of school,
I remember when I learned my really good lesson about dead space.
Oh, yeah.
Because I've been crawling on my face for like 45 minutes.
and I hear just this crunching noise on the dirt next to me
and I look over and there's just a guy standing literally two feet to my right
looking down to me going the fuck you doing
and he just walks off and I'm sitting there like sweating sore
the best ab workout of my life because you know you have your drag bag attached to your foot
you're just doing this knee up to your stomach he just I can't do it anymore
and I just looked over and it's like how are you how are you walking
Oh, there's a really huge bush right over there.
And I just spent the next 20 minutes sliding over.
And then I stood up and I walked.
Yep.
Because I would just, I would say, okay, your time starts now going.
I'd just full back dive.
Oh, yeah.
Full on, just full back dive.
And the next thing you know, like, you're like, where is the picnic table?
Where are they at?
You're right.
I am not in a good position.
And then I learned I would just sit there and I would find them first with the binos and go,
tree, tree, ditch, tree, bush.
All right, let's go.
Yeah, get out there fresh and shipper.
Once you learn how to do it, it's so much.
much easier, yeah.
But first, you must suffer to understand and appreciate the bush.
Exactly.
Well, I'm going to let you work out because I know you got to do some more of the workouts, man.
But there you go.
Episode 2, episode 40.
So I'll get back with you in like another two years because I'll probably mess up the release timing again.
At that point, you probably won't want to talk to me anyways.
Oh, I will.
Oh, I will.
Right on, man.
All right, buddy.
Thanks, everybody for tuning in.
I hope you enjoyed the episode.
I couldn't have had more fun sitting down with Josh,
literally sat around on the floor of his gym and just BSed.
Some of the best conversation I've ever had are environments like that,
especially when you know a guy for as long as I've known Josh.
So I hope you enjoyed it.
Got another good one coming up for you next week talking about a topic that is,
I mean, shit, it's trending in the news.
And it actually wasn't intentional that we had the conversation that we did
about gun control and potential steps to hopefully have an impact.
What else is going on?
I just released the Danger Close t-shirt,
which will make sense to people who listen to the podcast.
Relatively sure it's going to be lost on just about everybody else,
but that's okay because it wasn't made for everybody else.
If you like the podcast, do me favor.
Tell somebody about it.
Share the links when I post them out there.
And if you don't like it, go in or somehow get a hold of me
and tell me what I can do to make it better.
It's obviously not going to be something that everybody listens to,
that everybody likes, but I'm open to any suggestions.
or critiques that you may have.
A good place to make those suggestions or critiques would be on iTunes.
Go on there and leave me a review.
Good, bad, ugly, and different.
Doesn't matter to me.
You're not going to hurt my feelings.
And I think that's it.
And a reminder, this episode is brought to you by bluechew.com, right?
I'm going to get a prescription.
I'm going to have to try this.
Like I said, it's a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.
And how I'm going to do that, I am personally going to go to bluechew.com.
Has the first chewables, right, with the same act of ingredients as by
Diagrincialis. You get your first shipment for free. When you go to their website, you use the
promo code hot, HOT. It's going to cost you five bucks.
Bluetooth.com promo code hot. I want to see some social media pictures with the wrapping.
And that's it. See you in episode 41. Later.
