Massenomics Podcast - Ep.38: Scott McGee of The Wodcast Podcast

Episode Date: December 26, 2016

 In this week's episode of The Massenomics Podcast, Tyler traveled to Los Angeles to sit down with Scott McGee, host of The Wodcast Podcast. Scott and Tyler talk about the history of the Wodcast, how he stays fit enough to be an effective law enforcement officer, and his newest project, The Sisu Way (Click Here to check out thesisuway.com). The Wodcast Podcast was one of the main inspirations for us to launch The Massenomics Podcast, and it was a real honor to have Scott on the podcast now that we've got this thing up and running. Check it out, and make sure you go to our STORE and support the podcast so we can continue to bring you great guests like Scott. Watch this episode in full color video... Or check out the super-high quality audio version below.. Make sure you LIKE the Massenomics Facebook page... If you don't already have a closet full of Massenomics gear, go to the MASSENOMICS STORE and load up on swag... Also, please CLICK THIS LINK TO GIVE US A 5 STAR RATING ON ITUNES... Click this text to follow Massenomics on Instagram... Vote Massenomics for President in 2016... Have your barber shave our logo into the side of your head.. Maybe get a Massenomics tattoo while you're at it.    Or you could sign up for our email newsletter at the bottom of this page. Stay Strong, M

M-M-M-M-M-M-M-Massanomics Welcome to Massanomics, the world's strongest podcast. Find us on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter at Massanomics. Make sure you go visit massanomics.com. There you'll find the rest of our powerful content. While you're there, check out our store and buy yourself some of that sweet Massanomics gear. Welcome to Massanomics. Welcome to the Massanomics Podcast.

That's it. That's a lot of S's. It is, actually. Massanomics. Massanomics. Massanomics. Like economics of hugeness, sort of. Massanomics.

Massanomics. Massanomics. Don't let meeness, sort of. Massonomics. Massonomics. Don't let me forget your t-shirt either. That's in the bag. What? Yeah. It's black. All right. Are we recording or what?

Yeah, we're sort of going. So if you wanted to rattle that off, and then we'll rock and roll. Hi, this is Scott McGee, and you're listening to the Massonomics Podcast. Thanks, Scott. All right, guys, we are here in the harsh, harsh winter of Los Angeles. It's, what, 72 degrees here? It was for like five minutes, and I think it now dropped to a solid 68. So I'm here with Scott McGee.

Scott is host of the WODcast podcast. He is a law enforcement officer all around General Batman, mostly. I thought you were going to say Batman fan, but legit. Well, there, I mean, I was calling you out. He's got the mask here and everything. I got a mask. I got a batarang. I got a bat cave.

I got a mask. I got a bat ring. I got a bat cave. Scott doesn't know this, but Scott is fairly responsible for this Massonomics podcast existing. Basically, I started listening to some sort of fitness-based podcasts, and yours was one of them. And especially early on, you and Armin seemed like you two were just having so much fun tolerating Eddie and, uh, and, uh, and so kind of in that process, you know, when we started doing this thing, I really felt shit. We definitely need to do that.

That sounds like that'd be a good time. So, um, anyway, thanks for existing. That's why we're here. Hey man, it's first of all, 100%, um, our pleasure. Uh, uh, number two, I definitely want to thank you for coming here and allowing me to come on your podcast full circle here. Um, but this type of stuff, and this goes back, it hit me when, uh, one of our earlier episodes with Chris Bell, and this is when we were still at, uh, ADF's apartment on his couch, episodes with Chris Bell and this is when we were still at Eddie F's apartment on his couch like full-on like Wayne's World style of fitness podcasts but then Chris Bell came on who's the director of Bigger Stronger Faster if you guys haven't I'm sure everyone listening here has seen it but it's that it's a really good documentary on steroids yeah well he came on and then as soon

as we finished recording he's like like, wow, this is great. This is so much fun. You don't know how lucky you guys are to be able to do this every week. And it kind of hit me like, he's right. This is a lot of fun to actually sit with your buddies and have fun and get to interview people and learn things and have a blast. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, we've been really fortunate since we started to, you know, we, we launched it and we're, we kind of live in the sticks.

So there's really, we didn't know if we'd ever get to actually interview anybody. We're like, well, this is going to get really old really fast. If it's just us three assholes sitting in my basement. You don't have, you don't have awesome guests visiting the town or not a lot of fitness juggernauts showing up in Aberdeen, South Dakota. So, but we actually, we've, we, we found a handful of people, you know, we've interviewed world champions and many time national champion power lifters. And, you know, with as long as you're willing to pony up and travel, we can, we've, we've been able to do some pretty cool things with it. So, um, yeah, it's

been, uh, it's been a lot of fun, but with your guys's, uh, with the, the WODcast podcast, yeah, it's been a lot of fun. But with your guys' – with the WODcast podcast, the thing that I always kind of like, you know, you guys – it's kind of CrossFit-based. But my favorite thing was the amount of general shit that you talked about CrossFit and CrossFit HQ. Do you guys have quite a bit of backlash about that? Yes. guys have quite a bit of backlash about that um yes early on there was uh the antagonistic attitude and it kind of stemmed from from armin's persona of the naked crossfitter and the blog that he had written that generated a lot of steam and it was basically calling out the bullshit that was happening and bullshit products and stuff that he felt were like ridiculous and he would explain why but then he would say you know you're a dickhead you know he would instead of this wouldn't be the most articulate follow yeah yeah but there was some truth to it and it was

funny and uh eventually started when he started the wadcast there was still that anti-CrossFit so uh now the show itself for a little while was somewhat blackballed by CrossFit and and some guests were afraid to come on because they didn't want to like sever any relationships with with uh or perceived like really potentially sever things or be shown in a bad light. And that was early on. I mean, we're talking 2012, 2013. And some people felt that way. And even Kenny Kane, who was one of the original hosts, felt that kind of pressure. And that was one of the reasons why he ended up leaving the show.

Because he's on the wadcast which is has this antagonistic kind of shit talking show and obviously then he goes to do positivity project you know the polar opposite yeah but but you know in this type of show and obviously armin has come full circle now you know now he you know he's not that guy anymore went full corporate on us he's driving around a headset and a polo shirt somewhere armin armin is fully corporate now at flow elite basically chasing crossfit hq all over the place everywhere that crossfit hq won't go right for the most part well yeah because the places that they're at, they won't allow it. The HQ goes, they won't let them, right? Well, I mean, but he's developed a better relationship.

And the show has as well. Yeah. I mean, we've grown a lot. We've gone through it. But now it's not so much only a show to antagonize. You know, now it's a show telling stories and interviewing. And we've talked to everybody that you can think of in the CrossFit world and anybody outside of that kind of with a link to CrossFit.

Yeah. And I think they've also loosened up a bit with the sense of humor. And that's kind of where the show comes from. It comes from a good place. We're all CrossFitters. We love CrossFit. Obviously, we love talking about it. That's why we have a podcast

that is perfect for your CrossFitter because look, now I get to talk about it into a microphone. All fucking year long. Yeah. So it comes from that. It comes from a place of love.

We don't not... I think it'd be kind of different if maybe we did not CrossFit and we're just sitting there talking shit. But it's also coming from the same type of conversation that was happening in every crossfit affiliate yeah you know just kind of calling out the shenanigans yeah and making fun

of ourselves yeah like how much goddamn money are they making off the open you know that type of stuff yeah um i want to back up just a little bit um what what kind of is your a general overview of like your your training history like what what did you do before athletically that then brought you into where you started doing crossfit well grew up playing sports and then fast fast forward to uh football in college i played wide receiver at davis you're a big fucking wide receiver oh uh yeah but i was i was a little smaller okay i'm actually losing weight now um arman brought that up recently on a show i'm like yeah i've been running in fact i ran right before the show here so if i start laughing and coughing because i

still have that like runners burn yeah yeah because there's something about like running no more than three let's say three miles. Yeah. You go run three miles as hard as you can. I'm not going to do that. Well, you're not because you're like gigantic. Mostly, mostly. But there is something about like your respiratory heart and lungs that you're feeling afterwards.

Just kind of like a Fran lung. Yeah. So if I start coughing, that's why Just kind of like a Fran lung. Yeah. So if I start coughing, that's why. Thank you, LA smog. But so I started doing training in college. I ended up hurting myself a few times, hurting my hamstring and having to take time off. And then eventually one season,

it just completely blew up on me. And I went through like a depressed stage where I started like drinking a lot of beers i started drinking 90 ounces of miller high life before i'd even go out at night and i know that because i would go down the liquor store and get three 30 ounce glass bottles because they were super cheap and uh you know i started thickening up a little bit. I was going to AA meeting for injured athletes that my school offered. Because all my buddies are traveling, playing football. I lived with a bunch of football players that were traveling,

and I'd have to sit home. And I had that crack in identity. You know, you identify as an athlete, and then you lose it. What are you? Especially, you know, if you're playing at a high college level, it's been a very huge part of your identity since you were a child, I assume. Yep. So with that, there's a whole other tangent that I see parallels going on with CrossFitters.

Especially the higher level CrossFit athlete now, like regional level and potentially game level athletes. When they get hurt and they can't CrossFit anymore. Yeah. What are they, right? Yep. You can see the struggle on their social media posts and everything. That's a whole other topic.

The whole cracking identity and how do you recover from that. But I started doing a lot of reading read some books by pat croce who who's a rags to riches story a trainer ended up owning um i think it was a hockey team i don't remember hockey or basketball he was a trainer or an owner for one of these hockey basketball anyways has super positive attitude and he recovered from a motorcycle accident and in there i've kind of learned the importance of personal responsibility for your own predicament and so that hamstring blew and for a long time i blamed the trainers it's like they didn't they didn't fix me yeah, and this is why it keeps coming back. So it hit me like, hey, it is 100% in my control and up to me. And this is an opportunity for me to heal it and make it stronger than it ever was,

come back faster and stronger than I ever was. And that totally lit a fire underneath me. And at that moment, it changed my life forever. It changed how I read a book, like how I take responsibility for everything. And that comes from fitness, relationships, you name it. So I started eating better. I started training harder. And that's what started kind of like the pre-CrossFit mentality.

And I say the CrossFit mentality because typical CrossFitters are thinking about hydration. They're thinking about nutrition. They're thinking about rest. They're thinking about recovery, mobility, fitness. You know, there's I started going to like the LA Fitness out here, the typical gym stuff. But I would run to the gym and I would do like burpees and body weight movements in between like my typical strength movements like your incline dumbbell bench and bench press and all this stuff. And so I was still actively moving. I'm like, I'm not coming to the gym to stand around.

And then I started training people and I started training in a group class and in the group class. And in the group classes, it would be a square. And I still do this to this day. If I need something super quick, I had four cones in a park. And one side of the square was an upper body movement. The other side was a lower body.

Another side was core. And the other side was full body. You spent a minute at each station and then a minute rest so let's say you have upper body push-ups yeah and then it'd be you know uh squats air squats and then maybe a plank hold for a minute and then burpees for a full body and rest a minute and i would do that like four or five times depending on the people yeah and so essentially it was it was a an am, kind of similar to a Fight Gone Bad workout. Yeah. So all the stuff that I had going on at that time was kind of like just unorganized CrossFit.

Yeah. So finally my buddy pointed out this website and I started doing it. And I was like, this is what I've been looking for. It's the same thing I've been doing. Yeah. this is what I've been looking for. It's the same thing I've been doing. Yeah, and I guess that feeling has hit a lot of, I think, a majority of the generation of athletes

around my age, plus or minus 15 years, that were attracted to it because then it felt like a sport. It felt like practice. You go to the gym, you get together the group, and here's the challenge, the physical challenge, and you're doing these things. And there's a warm cool down and jaw jacking and some crap talking. So you had a camaraderie, and it was kind of sport-oriented.

And so that was really all she wrote right there. And where were you at as far as in your law enforcement career at that time? Oh, boy. So I started doing crossfit in 2006 so i was just like a uh a brand new officer okay but prior to that i was still like for a little while i was trying to be competitive in 5ks i went through that phase i went through a phase where i didn't do any cardio for nine months i just power lifted which was a really interesting time in my life because i felt like i could flip a car yeah like walking around feeling like so strong yeah was really really cool but then like i couldn't i couldn't like carry groceries up the stairs without huffing and puffing um so you know what what is the relationship with the way you train to, you know, to your job now? Like how do those work together?

What is your, what are you trying to maintain training wise? So there's been an evolution there of how I train and the purpose of what I'm training for. For a while from my 2010 to 2012, 13- i don't remember now i was being competitive in crossfit uh i had made regionals through the open made regionals and then competed on a team and was training a couple times a day you know snatching doing all the fancy stuff and programming and i'm elite like i need special programming for me i'm not gonna take a i can't take a group class are you kidding working out the corner by yourself yeah yeah all that stuff um but then you know i had it first of all if

you're if you're like good fitness if you're if you're in good crossfit shape you're you're going to be in decent law enforcement shape. So, except there's some parallels in the sense of like you get to learn how to like stay calm under pressure or stay calm under physical pressure. Yeah. Some CrossFitters aren't as good as others in that. You can see it in their face if they're stressing out a lot while they're moving. That's me. I pace around in circles. I pout. I lean i lean on things i get mad i stomp my feet well but no i'm saying while you're doing like a thruster yeah oh i gotcha yeah while you while you're

squatting or while you're doing burpees because your body's going through stress of the work you are asking it to do you don't need to add emotional stress to the movement like let your body do its thing relax yeah like relax your face you don't need to make those stupid looks on your face go neutral face relax your neck even relax your hands a lot of times you see people holding their hands and it tense because all you're doing is raising your blood pressure yeah making the movement that you're asking your body you're just causing more issues making it's like driving way less efficient it's like driving your car with your foot on the gas and then a little bit on the brake yeah that's interesting i've actually never

thought of that oh yeah you can want like you'll start noticing it now like even the middle of a kettlebell swing or even if you get like a lot of movements that have that little tiny space in the flow where you can totally relax where you're not actually doing anything yeah like like on the thruster let's use that as an example as it's as it's passing as it's coming off your shoulder the energy you've already put into the barbell right there you're not doing anything it's floating you're relaxing relaxing and relaxing you stop the bar from going up and as it's coming down you're still you're not doing anything gravity is yeah chill out bam so going back to the law enforcement part um

any of the foot pursuits or fights i've been in feel like a CrossFit workout physically. I mean, as far as like your fitness goes. A couple differences are you don't have a chance to warm up. You're wearing a weight vest. So just imagine you're sitting here right now, and I throw a 25-pound weight vest on you, and we're sitting here. At some point in time, you have to run around the block and then and then um hit a heavy bag a bunch of times all while talking on

the radio and telling people where you are not a chance that's but that's how it is and that's that's the reality of it and that's exactly what happens but most crossfit people can't move quickly without spending 15 minutes warming up either you know what i mean like how does that be because well for one i certainly can't those those instances are very rare right yeah that kind of stuff it's not like it happens all the time yeah but crossfit you need to go to your gym it's a it's a physical therapy center you're there doing prehab or rehab yeah and so whether you're doing this movement you're doing range of motion stuff if you're squatting you're rehabbing your knee you're rehabbing your hips or

you're prehabbing it for a future age issue that you would have if you did not squat yeah and so doing these warm-ups and everything is good for your body. You're improving your range of motion. Like you're going in there physically to improve yourself. So in that sense, it's important. But there is a functional aspect to fitness that's in the real world outside of the gym. And for military, for law enforcement, or really for anybody, there is that functional component of can you do what is asked of you

can you do it well yeah and so that's where the ability to stay calm if you're running to be able to pay attention to like hey what's this person look like what are they doing with their hands what's their clothing how old are they what direction are they going what's the crime what's going on in their car and being able to say all this stuff on the radio calmly while running and then worrying about your safety and everything so there's a lot going on yeah which is a whole other component to crossfit or fitness in general that i like to add in so to do math problems while you're carrying a sandbag in your head to do the alphabet or to stop hey right now do the alphabet start on the 17th letter good lord right no but here's the thing you're not doing anything but it's can you

can you concentrate and can you stay cognitive while you're doing a physical skill so a lot of times you're allowed to kind of check out like hey 50 burpees okay brain you. Okay, brain, you are done. We're just doing burpees now. Yeah. But instead, like, looking around and be like, okay, that person's wearing a blue shirt. Okay, what are they doing over there? Or see my Sisu poster back here. I've read that thing backwards. I've started off all kinds of letters.

I've done all kinds of weird things with that. Just mentally. To mentally stay engaged and keep me focused while being able to do something. While under, like, intense physical physical pressure because that's the thing like you can slow down your mind and your thoughts regardless of what your body's doing yeah you can kind of sort of sort of sort of learn that lesson also in yoga if you're putting yourself in a weird position and and uh you're all goofy you know your body's all stressed out but you have to completely relax your face and your eyes and like go full namaste with it right yeah because you realize hey my body's under stress but that doesn't mean i am yeah so all these things kind

of tie into why crossfit is is good for law enforcement. But it's a short burst. It's an anabolic fitness, not just anabolic. The aerobic and anaerobic part of it, where just jogging five miles every day is not going to prepare me for a foot pursuit and fight. Yeah. It's just not.

So being able to train in all kinds of different energy systems, energy pathways really helps. Do you believe that in law enforcement, at least in your experience, that is there an issue with some law enforcement officers being physically prepared? Or for the most part, do you think, at least in your experience, most of the guys you work with stay on top of that, stay in shape, and are as prepared as they can be? Well, I can't speak for the whole country

because law enforcement is very different across the country. The quality of the officer, the physical skills, the training. The demands of the job are different here than they are where we're at. I would say L.A. itself is generally like a pretty fit city. And the culture going into my department is very, like fitness is a thing. We have affiliate owners in our gym, several coaches, several competitive athletes. And so it's become part of the culture. And not necessarily just CrossFit.

I'm just saying like, while it is popular, but the fitness is important. You know, you have Muscle Beach there, Venice Golds. I mean, there's gyms everywhere. So it's part of the culture. So being fit, or at least appearing fit, maybe I should say that, appearing fit is like – It's got to count for something, right? Yes.

No, it's a huge tool. It's a huge thing. If you show up and somebody like – and you show up looking all nice in your uniform, and then you show up like, wow, you look like could like run or you look like you could hurt somebody if you had to but i don't say hurt somebody but like you look like you can defend yourself well yeah you know and if you're strong and fit you're also going to have some confidence and so this is going to stop a potential, you know, fight or flight situation. Yeah. I completely think so.

But there are guys that don't train at all. And we can't force them to. I suppose because, I mean, are there some sort of minimum standard? But I suppose it's very minimal. Well, you only... Kind of like the equivalent of lifting 50 pounds and on the job description no yeah there's a it depends on some departments have like a physical test as an incentive oh i see like a little bonus yeah but there's a physical test during the hiring process and then there there's a physical test in the academy. Once you are on the department and you're working, with us at least,

and I would say at most, there's no physical test after that. Once you're in, you're in. Yeah. But for us, if you're on a SWAT team, then there's a physical test that you have to pass twice a year. Gotcha. I wish there was, but there is some liability issues. Guys can be training for the test and get hurt, and now they're not working.

Yeah, then they're no good to anybody. I wish there was. I wish there was some type of incentive. I wish guys would just work out, period. Because I suppose, I mean, at some point, it can become your problem. Yes. And I think that's where the issue lies i mean when your job is to protect and serve you should

probably be physically capable of doing both of those things yeah yeah aside from you know it would be the responsibility to your fellow officers as well as you know the community you know to at least be be able to do the things that are asked of you that is a huge drive for me a huge drive i'm not when i'm training or the reason i consistently train i'm not necessarily only like it's not just for me it's like if something's happening or someone's in a flip suit or a fight and they see me coming, I want them to be like, yes. Not like crap. Is there anybody else? We all know there are people like that.

You know, any, any officer will, can think of at least three people in their department where they wish it was somebody else coming. Yeah. But it is for them. And so I'm able to provide be a good partner and also be a good guardian for my community yeah uh it's also for me to be able to recover from injury not just injury or traumatic injury yeah but it's also like you know i think it's also like, you know, I think it was Ripitello that said like, you know, stronger people are harder to kill, right? So I want to be as best that I can with what I can control for my family. Because I don't want to be like, hey, I couldn't run around the block.

I got out of breath and the bad guy took my gun and beat me in the head with it because I couldn't spend 1 24th of my day training. Yeah. And 1 24th of your day is an hour, by the way. Yeah. And you really don't even need that much. You can break it down to 20 minutes. Yeah. Now, I want to go.

Well, let's fast forward a little bit. Now, I want to go, well, let's fast forward a little bit. How did you come to collaborate with Eddie and Armin in the WODcast? How did a law enforcement officer who does fitness things stumble across a stand-up comedian who does fitness things and fucking armin and and the naked crossfitter at that time well i've actually never seen eddie's show by the way people tell me he's a stand-up comic you know he talks about all the time but like you can't confirm i have zero experience with him in that world. To me, he's just Eddie. I do a podcast with him and he CrossFits.

It's fine. I'm going to go to Eddie's show one of these days. So Eddie, if you go back far enough and CrossFit, like 2006 to 2010, there was that period of time where in southern california if you crossfitted you kind of knew everybody that crossfit there wasn't that many gyms yeah and everyone kind of knew each other if you're really into it right um and so i knew eddie because we were both going to paradiso crossfit at the time and I knew Kenny same type of thing he was at CrossFit LA and we met just through the CrossFit circuit because there wasn't many of us training at that time

and then Armin was going to CrossFit LA as well and these gyms are very close to each other so I don't remember exactly when I met them, but we were all connected because we were early CrossFitters. And then I met Armin going out there with my buddy, Matty from Stronger, Faster, Healthier. And the floor, I used to have the floor in here, not this one. The floor I had in before was all rubber matting. I actually bought from Armin and his brother from CrossFit 818 in like 2009. Oh, that's right. Because Armin and his brother from CrossFit 818 in like 2009.

Oh, that's right. Cause Armin, Armin and his brother used to own CrossFit gym, right? Yeah. Yeah. CrossFit 818. Uh, his brother's still there, but so this is how we all got connected. And then we were, we would talk, you know, periodically. And then I came on cause I was close with Kenny and Kenny was a co-host at the time and the show is still fairly new and I was listening to it was a big fan of it and you're getting a talking and they thought it'd be interesting to hear about a police officer and SWAT operator who crossfitted and how those two mingled and related. Because CrossFit was large in the military and law enforcement kind of early on. And it had kind of spread through my team.

We had done some SWAT competitions and were winning the fitness part of that. Talked about how the fitness part helped the job and why you do it. So that's kind of how it got started. I came on as a guest, I want to say like episode 14 or so there in the beginning, and then came back later on again. That's why sometimes people enjoy hearing law enforcement stories.

And then I started guest co-hosting around in the 40s or 50s i guess co-host like 10 times when eddie was gone and then when kenny left it was just like made sense now how many years has the podcast been around is it almost is it four or five i don't even know what number you guys are on here. No, I'll tell you. I think 252 episodes. And it started February of 2012. Wow. We started like the same month. So it's damn near five years. We were the same month as Barbell Shrugged.

Crazy. Yeah. I don't know which one necessarily aired first. Did it go from there being zero CrossFit podcasts to... Two. Two overnight. And then a shit pot within you know how long before it became oh man so because now everyone has a podcast yes I have a podcast yeah you know what I mean like I think um it's funny because well it's kind of like saying like there was two at

some point in time there's two CrossFit affiliates. Yeah. Right. And now 13,000, however many they have, the 13,000 didn't necessarily just spin off of the first two. No. So,

but there are a lot of podcasts that started because of the WODcast. Yeah. Directly like from people that have come on our show and then gone to start one. Such as? Uh, see Mark Bell. You're welcome. Yeah. I remember that. Uh, so Chris, like from people that have come on our show and then gone to start one such as uh let's see mark bell you're welcome yeah i remember that uh so chris goes back to the chris bell when he came on and then he went and told his brother about it um and it was like right away then mark had it right like he was pretty close pretty quick right yeah yeah um i think we joked around with him

about that i don't remember. He's paying you guys dues now, right? Yeah. He sent me a bunch of slingshot stuff. Every month he calls and says thank you. Haven't been on his show yet. Really? Really.

That's the other thing. If you started a podcast because of our show, bring us on. Let's talk about it. That's why I'm here. Well, see? Paying your dues. No. Take notes, Mark. But you know what I think? I think it's because of our show. Like bring us on. Let's talk about it. That's why I'm here. Yeah. Well, see paying your dues. No, take notes,

Mark. But you know what? I think like, I think it's totally cool. Um, that, that has happened. You know, I don't look at it like,

Oh man, another podcast, you know, like, man, that's like cool. Cause more people are having fun doing a product that they're proud of. Right.

And they're happy. You know, if we started something and it was a bunch of people doing stuff that they didn't want to do then I'd be kind of bummed out about it but like we're spreading

like a lot of fun and passion to people that are doing it and I've helped people move it along best that I can because I know the amount of work it takes

to be successful at it and but I think it's cool like I mean some people Best that I can. Because I know the amount of work it takes to be successful at it. But I think it's cool. I mean, some people just flick on Facebook Live now. Yeah. Yeah. And it works. You know what I mean?

It really is pretty much the same product. Yeah. It's shittier. Yeah. For me, as someone who watches that that stuff it's kind of an irritant mainly because i get a notification and there's no production value at all to it and that's what's really frustrating it's fucking selfie camera and someone just talking about god knows what and you can't really plan it and it's funny like one that it goes so obviously there's always there's the thing like you know everyone has something to say yeah um that doesn't mean that everyone should have a platform to do so but if you don't like you just

turn it off like nobody did but it's the facebook live stuff like find a better angle like some people are doing like the upward thought showing the coming down low and going upwards to the chin like have it's like 80 80 nostrils shots yeah man like you could set up a good angle with like a good angle and a little bit of lighting just that's all and i think you can do i think you can still do um i'm not 100 familiar but i believe you can still use like a tri-caster through that so you can still have like a real grown-up camera that's run by somebody it just has to be run through something with an internet connection yeah um which i don't know start there fuck i mean it's not that hard the

other interesting thing though with with there being so many podcasts is we were looking into some of the numbers. Are you familiar with those? What the fallout numbers are for people that start podcasts? It's like an astonishingly high percentage fall off. I want to say it's like seven episodes and then it's 12 or 13 and then I think 23. I think if you clear those, you're very likely to make it two years. But, um, well, that's part of it because people are excited about doing a podcast and then they do a few and they burn out and they already said what they wanted to say.

Yeah. They spend their whole lives developing five hours worth of material and they get it all out there and then there's nothing left. Yep is which is what i always tell people if you're really going to do it you have to be prepared to commit and be resistant and uh tenacious with driving it forward and not sitting on your laurels not getting tired of doing it yeah you just have to keep pushing and pushing and pushing and you guys you pretty much what what is it like for you at least trying to line up guests here is that a you know like how far out are you doing this are you just constantly in contact with people to try to put something together or does a lot of your shit come together last minute i try not to do the last minute thing but i have one i'm lucky that i'm in la i don't know that likes getting you but lucky i'm in la and so people are here um the people that are here

generally like like talking yeah you know and there's also a lot of people that visit and so the pool is like i don't say it's like shooting fish in a barrel but it's easier than this would be the spot to be if you yeah yeah so but it is like because i've been crossfitting for so long like we're talking about i know and i have a lot of connections like deep roots in the community now and i have a lot of connections, like deep roots in the community now. And I know a lot of people, and so I'm able to use that to my advantage. But then I stay on top of it, and I plant seeds early. It's starting to get kind of challenging. Because you've had – We've had everybody.

How many years you've had everybody. Yeah, so – and I try not to always get the same guests. Sometimes I do because they're awesome characters there's always more to talk about and they're fun i would i would guess that there's certain people who you plan on having on regularly forever right like i i would assume that someone like julian yes is somebody that you would have on as often as is available. Julian's great. Hunter McIntyre is always kind of a riot. And so part of it is, do they have stuff to say,

and are they good on the mic? Yeah. Because obviously there are some people that can come on the show all the time, but they're a lot of work as a host. It's exhausting. Yeah. And so you have someone that's self-driven and talking and likes to do it yeah as a host it's exhausting yeah and so you have someone that's like self-driven and talking and likes to do it and it's energetic and it's like cool

um but julian and hunter obviously for a long time dusty highland is always great you know and these are people that like for a long time julian was like hey if you don't have a guest like just give me a heads up like a couple hours ahead of time and i'll come on or something somebody fell through or whatever that happens that happened a few times yeah well he just comes right over um and now look at him fucking julian man speaking of julian uh you guys are also the reason that i got into jacking around their sandbags i think he had he had given you guys one and um basically found Julian through the WODcast. You're welcome, Julian.

But these sandbags are the most awful slash awesome thing, right? Yep. I don't know. What's your take on them? You have a set here. I have three of them. I have 120, 120 180 and 240 and is that 240 just hold hold your floor down do you drag that around much it's it's hard to drag

that's my thing man i've had my even my 180 i've kind of brought it in the gym and we'll take it sometimes we'll load it up in the back of my pickup and take it out to the track and do some shit and it has been in the back of my pickup because i just don't want to fucking carry it into the gym anymore and that's only the 180 christmas abbott picked that up here i think i saw that no was that the 180 or the two the red one she picked up and that was which that was the two that was the 180 the 180 okay the red one only on that is 180. Okay. If you're curious, just Google Christmas Abbey Wodcast. It's on YouTube somewhere. But those things are character builders, man.

I love those things. We've talked about them before, but they're basically like, I don't know. Every time you're engaging one of those, in my head at least, it's just fucking quit, quit, quit, quit. You know what I mean? All I want to do is drop it. All I want to do is breathe. You know what I mean like all i want to do is drop it all i want to do is breathe you know what i mean it's uh yeah they're fucking they're man makers they're a treat you know what i like about them is one they're awkward two you you underestimate them all the time yeah and they're mean but i like that i don't want it to be like super easy and I want it to have a fast effective dose

so obviously in a busy schedule and stuff like they hit me good and fast so I'm getting what I need but I do like to maybe like is not the right word but you're carrying something

that is kind of like like carrying a partner or carrying a human body maybe like is not the right word but you're carrying something that is kind of like like carrying a partner or carrying a human body yeah so that's where i like that kind of training when i i first got ours and i you know i kind of i think i'd even talk to you on on instagram about it and message julian about you know because you know like i said we kind of live on an island in the middle of the sticks so there's no like there So there's nobody who I can go to who's going to say, oh, yeah, here's what you should use these sandbags for. And I start messing around with them,

and I'm getting asked questions from people at the gym all the time, like, why in the fuck are you messing around with this? What do you need a 180-pound sandbag for? How dumb is that? And I'd say a week after I get the thing, at my job I do heating and air conditioning so i end up having to lug a 210 pound compressor just like you're going to carry a sandbag up the stairs up a narrow staircase by myself no roping it up haul one up haul one back down i mean and uh yeah

they're they're the shit i dig them um you can find them on strongfit.com along with all sorts of other neat things. I also like them that they're unpredictable, the way the sand sits and everything. If you try to like clean and press them or clean and jerk them, like just getting one to your chest and then trying to figure out. It seems like every time you get it to your chest is different you know what i mean and sometimes you can snap it overhead and other times it's just it just smothers you and you never had a chance to begin with i like when you're carrying them a heavy one on your chest i don't like that at all scott well stay with me i like it because you start having that that like i can't even do

it right now we can't you're not necessarily able to breathe. Yeah. But again, this is where like I'm, I disconnect from what's going on with my body mentally. I'm like, okay, body.

Like it sounds like you're choking, but just know that you're fine. I can tell that you're getting enough oxygen and just keep going. You're fine. Don't pay attention. Cause the lights are still on. You'll know when it goes dark well if you're making that noise and stuff then air is getting in yeah and i don't know it might not be

as much as you'd like but it's good but it's enough yeah when uh you can look up on on our instagram at uh at massonomics if you go back we did a little video that was this the scene from game of thrones where um he's climbing out of the pile of human of dudes in the big battle scene and we've got that going on while tanner's lugging the sand bag and you can see just right as he drops the bag is right when john oh he comes up and gasp for i always think that's that's that feeling it's like having you know 40,000 men standing on your chest i always picture when you're doing that uh uh arnold schwarzenegger in total recall when he lands on mars and he's like that's what that feels like to me. Obviously, Julian's a pretty kick-ass guest. What are some of your more memorable guests that you've had over the years?

The ones either I'd say the most impactful or just the ones that are anything that stands out. So it's kind of hard to pick guests. So let me see if I can rephrase and pick moments that's good so and the ones that come to mind because i didn't think about this but the ones that come to mind right now are um i don't remember which episode it was but with kenny and i and then we started talking about our dads. And we both, like he had on that show, he recently lost his mother. And we talked about that with like having new, new kids or new babies and your parents passing away. And so we had a full like heart to heart conversation.

There's some moments in our show where, and it's usually me. I just come to think about it. and it's usually me I just come to think about it it's usually me where the other guys take a step back and will move away from the mic and just let us talk

and that was one of those moments with Kenny beautiful moment tears were being shed and everything and another one was with Sal Masakala recently and we started talking about race relations, law enforcement, what's going on in America, and listening to each other. Yeah. Yeah, there was no argument.

It was back, and then it was forth. Yeah. The interesting thing about that episode, too, was that episode, I i think started with approximately 10 minutes of fitness talk or normal talk and it literally was was the the the race relations and law enforcement conversation no that we for the entire podcast no but that started like an hour and 12 minutes into it oh really yeah i don't remember we talked about like maybe that was the only part that i remember well no yeah because i think the part of it was we're talking about sound is relationships and Oh, really? Yeah. I don't remember that. We talked about like... Maybe that was the only part that I remember. Well, no.

Yeah, because I think the part of it where we're talking about Sal and his relationships and CrossFit and froning and regionals and eventually we got into that and then it went... I don't remember how much longer, but we want to do some follow-up stuff with that. We don't know exactly what that looks like yet.

Yeah. But maybe some stuff with just sal and i sal's always he's a sal's always a great guest to have on uh another person i liked uh elizabeth ackin wally comes up you know when we were in boston arm and i were in hotel room talking to her and again it was like heart to heart like actual conversation yeah because sometimes on the show it's just kind of like on the surface everything's glossed over beer and peanuts like joking around yeah um but i like to dig a little deeper and sometimes when you have that dynamic of fun and a lot of people in the room sometimes you can't dig as deep i don't know one of these days i might do a segment or do another i don't know we'll figure it out yeah but those ones um man obviously julian i like a lot but i don't have like a single moment there yeah julian when

i first heard julian i was like blown away you know i mean it was like where the fuck does this guy come from how have i not heard about him before you know it was uh yeah julian is an exceptional guest but there's a reason julian has kind of blown up into where julian's at now so this is kind of where like my favorite parts of the show right let's just say i have these moments and i get to talk to these awesome people on the show but i would say one of my favorite things is to have somebody come on the show and assist them in bringing information out of them assist them in telling a story assist them with some sort of coaching assist them with some thing they have going on to help boost them in that realm yeah because i have this platform i don't want to there's nothing i'm promoting like i'm not a coach you're not going to retire

from law enforcement anyways i'm not a coach i'm not like a salesman i have nothing to sell i have but i have stories to tell yeah and so that's what i like to when someone like julian to come on and like hey world check this guy out. And now see where he's at. The success he's had and the seminars he's done and the other podcasts that he's gone on since then and the sandbags and stuff. Since then Julian has been on every single podcast

in the world. He's a little slut. We have an open relationship. Yeah, Julian has gotten around a lot i mean he's he's really in in demand i mean he's yeah but he should be he really should be and so for a long time so that's that's where i get like rewarded where stuff like that happens and we joke around with this whole wadcast bump that awesome things happen to people that come on our show but that is my reward yeah to sit back and like be able to see all that stuff and just be like have a little bit of like like hey i like help boost them along you know i

didn't i didn't create them i didn't do anything but like i helped them along the way somehow or another to me that's like the best part yeah that's great um well i think the last thing i got scott is i i'd like you to um you also have a new project you've been working on called the Sisu Way. Can you kind of tell us about that a little bit? Yeah. So, oh boy, let's see, where do I start with that? I kind of started a little bit with my, one of the blog titles called for dad and in 2012 my dad was diagnosed with cancer and was fighting it i'm gonna try and speed this up a little bit but fighting cancer and same time my

wife was pregnant with our first child and my dad's first grandkid and then it came to a certain point where like it looked like he wasn't going to make it you know you know he's in the hospital like he's getting worse he does has chemo and he's doing these treatments and surgeries to remove things and then it actually progresses things so it came to a certain point where it looked like he was not going to make it right so and i remember actually the moment where like like i shook his hand and in a way it looked like he was not going to make it right so and i remember actually the moment where like like i shook his hand in a way it was like thank you and goodbye it was weird yeah um and in that moment i had to gather like all my strength and be like hey dad start writing like you're not going to be there for your grandkid you're not going to be there for your grandkid you're not going to be there to watch him grow up playing sports you know which is like painful

because that was his thing it's like you're not going to watch your grandkids play t-ball you're not going to see him throw his first pass or play catch so like right and one day i'll give it to him so he's like okay and then luckily we had the baby and he got to see the kid once in the hospital and then a week after my son was born my mom i'm driving along my mom calls me at a certain time of day, I was kind of suspicious. And all she could do was apologize to me. And she didn't have to tell me. Like, I already knew, like, he had passed. But she was apologizing to me because he didn't finish.

She's like, I'm sorry, he did not finish. And what ended up happening was he was writing on an iPad, and he wrote roughly two paragraphs or so, and then ended up coughing up blood. And that's when he died. And so when I saw the iPad, there's like blood on the iPad and I started, I opened up and I see what he was writing and it was information that I never knew about him and he was a good writer. Yeah. And so there's, you know, obviously he'll, he'll speak to them through me, but there's nothing documented. There's no words.

There's not necessarily any video or guidance or any lessons he's directly going to be involved with. And so seeing that and then also being in a line of work that really in life, nothing is guaranteed at all. You hop in the car and drive to the grocery store and not make it. But in this line of work, like it's dangerous. Things happen. And that motivated me to start writing and like like preparing to not preparing to not be there and start leaving lessons for my kids. And so I started writing. And that's kind of like where the Sisu Way started. Preparing to not be there and start leaving lessons for my kids. And so I started writing.

And that's kind of like where the Sisu Way started. Had you done much writing before that? I mean, was that something you had done a lot of? No. Every now and then I would write something. But random. I would just get overwhelmed overwhelmed with like motivation to write something about something um like a letter to myself try that one day yeah or write a letter to your future self or your past self you'll be amazed what comes out um or write to your kids

that's if you have a parent if you're a parent now write to your kid when they're like 18 or it's like so impressive what comes out so i started doing that i started documenting like If you're a parent now, write to your kid when they're like 18. It's like so impressive what comes out. So I started doing that. I started documenting like the birth. The entire birth process and pregnancy part of my first kid, I wrote all that out to him in the future. So he has that info.

So I started doing things like that, telling the whole story. And I started doing that again with the second kid when we started going through a lot of pregnancy struggles with him and documenting all that. And then that's what really started the Sisu part of being resilient. And that really stems to one moment. The second kid had a blood thing going on with mom where their, their blood didn't match up. And so mom's immune system was attacking his red blood cells and his ability to create red blood cells. And so we found out around week 2022 that this was happening. He had, uh, his heart was like two-thirds the size of his chest. He was anemic.

He had swelling between his scalp and his head, swelling in his abdomen. And all these things are fatal to a fetus. And so we met with the doctor quickly, and we're trying to figure out what kind of plan or what to do. And it turns out the only thing we could do was either eliminate the pregnancy or fight. In the fight, there's a chance of being blind, deaf, development issues, all kinds of stuff like that based on the anemia. And the process for that was you go in and they do intrauterine blood transfusion. So they go through the womb, through the stomach, through the womb,

into the umbilical cord, into a vein in the umbilical cord, which is really small on a 22-week-old fetus. Yeah, that's fucking precise. And then they do a blood transfusion there. And there's only like two people in the United States that do that. Luckily, one was in LA.

So we get this plan to go, and two days prior, she stops feeling a move. She could feel a move. I couldn't feel like he wasn't old enough and sort of stopped feeling a move. So she thought that he probably died already. We finally get to the hospital. We're all like heads down and like defeated. And the first thing he does is get the ultrasound. Hey, look at that. The baby has a heartbeat. So, phew, okay.

She goes off for surgery. I'm sitting in the waiting room. And then once that's done, the doctor comes out with three people with him. And I'm like, all right, that's not good. That's generally for security purposes. So I don't attack the doctor for killing my kid. Yeah.

And he comes out and he tells me, hey, baby's okay. Wife's okay. But his blood was as thin as water and it was clear. We couldn't do the full blood transfusion. We could only do half. And we had to sedate him. And you're going gonna have to come back next week to do it again so we can finish it okay so get my wife we eventually go home she

comes comes out of it we're sitting on the couch at home and the tv's on but we're both kind of have that like thousand yard stare you're just kind of staring off and just thinking and you're sad. Like, I don't, I don't know what was on the TV and, or what direction she was looking, but like, it's like sitting there in quicksand. And then she quickly snaps and grabs my left hand and then pulls it over under her stomach.

And then next thing I feel is like this, boom, just coming right through the stomach. I don't know if it was like a punch or a kick or whatever, but it like, it was just a crack right in the hand. And that was the first time I had ever felt him move. And it hit me, man. Holy crap.

It was like electricity just going through, traveling through my entire skin and just like lighting my spirit on fire. And then I knew immediately, i knew immediately so that's it we're gonna make it we're not gonna feel bad anymore we're driving forward uh we're gonna have strength we're gonna have resilience here we're gonna have an indomitable spirit we're gonna be unconquerable we're making it now is it boom like completely here is a 22 week old fetus motivated me more than anybody I've ever met and so long story short

he did make it, a lot of struggle but that's kind of where the Sisu thing comes from and that is to drive on in the face of adversity with resilience and willpower and strength of will and to not let something like that

define your demeanor. Now, granted it goes back. I also like really love the Rocky movies. I love those stories. No, I mean, that's when you talk about that meeting and,

and cease has been one of my favorite words for a long time because there's nothing really like that in the English language, but that's kind of like, there's been several like birthing moments of the Sisu way. And that's like one of the main ones. And so I wrote about all that, and I documented some of it on the website. And then a big, big issue for me for a long time, and doing podcast stuff helps,

but then was exposing myself to the public, exposing – what's the word I'm looking for being vulnerable yeah you come from like you know sports and law enforcement you know a little you know look at me i'm a tough guy and and not necessarily being vulnerable with feelings and thoughts and and experiences and so i learned by sharing and doing the stuff that i i strengthened others and and brought together bonds that weren't there with other people or that i didn't have that connection with and by doing this stuff i started getting like letters from people from all over the world like emails not necessarily letters like the old days but emails and direct messages of people

that have been going through things and thanking me. Then all of a sudden I felt like there is so much power in vulnerability. And so that's kind of where the Sisu Way has come from and me sharing those stories. And it's not just kid stuff. It's life stuff. And it's all stuff that we all are uh bonded through through struggles

and it's a thought process and it's an it's an attitude it's a way of life and it's a way of living and so really i would say one i want to leave lessons for my kids if something happens to me the internet is a great place to do that yeah i look for a long time of trying to find like do i do i type and print it out? Do I use an app? Whatever. I figure whatever goes on the internet now, that one day they're going to be able to find it.

They'll be able to find it. Yeah. Same thing with social media and the same way with how I treat my Instagram account. Really, I'm talking to my future kids. Not my kids, but in the future. Two, I do it for other people

so we're all like have have a lesson have and are able to lean on each other because i write this stuff and people will write me back and thank me for it and tell me their story and are very grateful for it but then i tell them i was like oh man i'm grateful for you because i feel vulnerable and sometimes nervous sharing this stuff and I'm hearing you are being benefit by it and getting stronger is making me stronger and so we're doing this together and so the togetherness is another reason why I want to do it and then also the goal with it is to eventually grow it maybe start selling some of these posters, these Sisu Wei posters,

making cool shirts, and doing a non-profit and helping support people that are going through a struggle with that unconquerable soul. Whether it's a mom whose kid's in the hospital for an extended period of time, to be able to provide them food. That was one thing that was very beneficial by my power supply when my wife was in the hospital for like a month, the baby was in the hospital for a month. They started hooking me up with food,

their little meals that they would deliver. And it made that process so much better for me and easier. So being able to help people out like that and then also to teach my kids about service, to tie them into it and have them donate toys or go to children's hospitals and

try and support other people and teach them about service and use that as a way to do so. Well, I think that's awesome, Scott. And a lot of those stories are things that I think that's awesome, Scott. I think, and a lot of those stories are things that I think lots of people relate to. You know, I mean, that specific story I have, you know, we have a very similar story with my family, with some, my brother, my nephews. And so it's, that was one that really caught my eye and hit home.

So, well, Scott, I think that about wraps everything up for today. How can people find you other than on the WODcast podcast? I would say probably on Instagram at onescottmcgee. Okay. You can hit me up there or direct message me there. And, um, wildcast is every Wednesday.

Is that correct? Yeah. Yep. Yep. Released every Wednesday morning, but they're always there. They're always there. And,

um, and I do highly recommend checking out the wildcast podcast. If you haven't yet, I know, um, we got a lot of you power lifters out there, um, in our audience, but, uh, but definitely check it out. It's, it, it's a've got a lot of you powerlifters out there in our audience,

but definitely check it out. It's a blast, a lot of fun guests. And make sure you go to sisuway.com. Check it out. I really dig it. If you like some of the stuff that we do, I think you'll really enjoy that. That's going to do it for me today.

I'm Tyler. You can find me on Instagram at Tyler F and stone. Don't forget, go to massonomics.com. You can scroll down to the bottom of the page, sign up for our email newsletter. There you can go to the store, buy some shirts, hats, all that other good stuff. Make sure you go on Facebook and like the massonomics official page. And don't forget to follow massonomics on Instagram. Thanks a lot for having me in your house, Scott. Of course, my pleasure.

Really appreciate it. And everybody listening out there, you just heard the Massanomics podcast. With your ears, you're welcome. Check us out on Facebook. Find us on Instagram at Massanomics, and make sure you visit massanomics.com and buy some of that at massanomics and make sure you visit massanomics.com and buy some of that

sweet massanomics gear from your friends at massanomics studio home of the world's strongest podcast stay strong Thank you.