Mind Pump: Raw Fitness Truth - 502: Brittany Van Schravendijk- Kettlebell Badass

Episode Date: May 4, 2017

Sal, Adam & Justin speak with Brittany Van Schravendijk, a Kettlebell Master of Sport and a major contributor to the Silicon Valley Kettlebell Open being held at Mind Pump studio this Saturday. Get our newest program, Kettlebells 4 Aesthetics (KB4A), which provides full expert workout programming to sculpt and shape your body using kettlebells. Only $7 at www.mindpumpmedia.com! Get MAPS Prime, MAPS Anywhere, MAPS Anabolic, MAPS Performance, MAPS Aesthetic, the Butt Builder Blueprint, the Sexy Athlete Mod AND KB4A (The MAPS Super Bundle) packaged together at a substantial DISCOUNT at www.mindpumpmedia.com. Make EVERY workout better with MAPS Prime, the only pre-workout you need… it is now available at mindpumpmedia.com Have Sal, Adam & Justin personally train you via video instruction on our YouTube channel, Mind Pump TV. Be sure to Subscribe for updates. Get your Kimera Koffee at www.kimerakoffee.com, code "mindpump" for 10% off! Got a beard? Condition your beard with Big Top Beard Company’s natural oils and organic essential oil blends to make it not only feel great but smell amazing! Get Big Top Beard Company products at www.bigtopbeardcompany.com, code "mindpump" for 33% off. Add to the incredible brain enhancing effect of Kimera Koffee with www.brain.fm/mindpump 10 Free sessions! Music for the brain for incredible focus, sleep and naps! Please subscribe, rate and review this show! Each week our favorite reviewers are announced on the show and sent Mind Pump T-shirts!

Dude, I'm so excited. We're giving out shirts this month. Like you said that before everybody loves fucking shirts, dude. He's a Repi We're giving away so you know it's funny. We do all these giveaways and promos the most popular ones always by far Shirts, bro always everybody wants a rock and awesome shirt Yeah, and an awesome, but we're not just gonna give away or hook you up with one shirt You're gonna get two for almost free. Almost free. Almost free means under a dollar. A hundred dollars. Yeah. Under a dollar. So here's what you do. You enroll in the Maps RGB Bundle, which is Maps and Obolic, Maps Performance and Maps Esthetic, nine months of exercise

programming, or you take it the next level and do the super bundle which includes maps, prime, maps anywhere and all of it is discounted over 30% get one of those two and it's your pick. You can pick two shirts for under a dollar. It's pretty awesome, pretty awesome little discount deal there going on. You find it at mindpumpmedia.com. If you want to pump your body and expand your mind, there's only one place to go. Mind, mind, up with your hosts. Salda Stefano, Adam Schaefer, and Justin Andrews. The official badass joining the team and hosting the kettlebell.

Yeah, she's actually been putting it together with Mike Selemi. That's right. The bad ass. What's the powerhouses of the whole Kettlebell sport? She's at one place. She's a bad ass, so we're interviewing Brittany. Her Instagram page is, what's her Instagram page?

Just KB Fitbrett. Yeah, KB Fitbrett. KB Fitbrett, she's like one of the top female competitors in Kettlebell sport. I know I'm gonna butcher her last name. I'm gonna try anyway. Her full name is Brittany Van Shrevendick. Did I say that right?

Who knows? God bless you for trying. But I call her Brit. And we had a nice conversation with her about the sport, about her own fitness past and whatnot. You can come see her at the competition. She'll be hosting it with Mike. So without any further ado, here's Mind Pump talking

to Brittany Van Trevendick. Adam, I forgot to tell you this weekend, I ran into another dude with a, the same kind of, what is that again? Do we call it porn stash? The kind that you have. Yeah. And you know, his was, it was good,

but I think yours was better and he's had his for a while. So what are you doing? He's working. Well, it's a lot of, it was good, but I think yours was better, and he's had his for a while, so what are you doing? Well, it's a lot of, it's a lot of hell on wheels. I've been watching that show on season five now, so I've got, yeah, plenty. You've been putting the beard oil in there? I have. I've been just a little bit though, doesn't take very much. I see.

What makes one mustache better than the others? It just simply size, like shiny necessarily. You know what, that's a very good question. Let me tell you how this works. So, important stuff. I mean, I think any female size does matter. So, anyone says size doesn't matter, does matter. But really, a lot of men have a hard time connecting parts of beer and stashes. I can't do that part. So. This is one of the hardest stashes to grow. So you have to be the manliest of men. You like to pass a great career there.

It's not to say like Sal's not manly because he can't grow it. It's just he's less of a man. I see. I just, I just, I just, I just, I think it's so funny how, how obsessed guys are with their facial hair. It's great. Wait a second. It's no different than you girls in the highlighting and the curling and the prepping, right?

It's, I mean, really, that's the, it's just our excuse to do that kind of shit. Yeah, if you don't have as much hair on your head, then you need to work with someone else. Oh, we are pre-modernos. It looks, it must be nice. But I can't, yeah, I can't connect, if I try and get that, I end up getting the Fuman Choo,

like the Chinese Kung Fu Master thing, you know what I'm saying? Where you get the long? That'd be awesome if you did that. Yeah, so, but Adam, you said it's hard to grow. It makes me think like you sit there and concentrate on making it grow. They're a technique. Like a chia pet, like formulae, you have like... You have this lucky, genetically blessed, or...

Oh, I wouldn't say that. It took me 30 plus years to get there. You can see. Yeah, it just takes time. It takes time and grit, consistency, focus, caught a discipline, you know, you gotta be good with the razor too. Because sometimes, you know, I'm not gonna lie,

there's some areas where I'm not like, all the way full, but you know, how I cut it, it makes it look like a little bit more. You're training it. Yeah, I'm true, exactly. Are you getting less kisses? No, I think my girl likes it. Wait, I told you, we do a lot of role playing

with the whole railroad thing. The railroad thing. We have the rat that's got the stripes. Do we have the whole ensemble, man? She's just a railroad. That's great. That's what, how long we'll use it? Conductor, conductor.

That's right. It must be real. If she didn't like it, it probably wouldn't be there anymore. Exactly. If it impeded on my bedroom time, I most certainly shaved my face every time. I liked it, you know, we're six years deep into our relationship, I gotta keep her guessing, you know,

I'm saying so, that's one of my strategies. Excellent, I see. Enough about me, talk about the badass chick that's in the room with us. So, you are, from other people, other people have said that you're one of the more well-known kettlebell sport female athletes that competes at a very high level.

And you just had a competition, right? Yes. You're also the first female ever to come in here that's actually stronger than South. So this is also impressive. Oh yeah, but it makes me happy. That's true, you're twice as strong as Adam. I love showing up the guys.

You know what? It's not joke because, let's all not joke around here because the truth is with those kettlebells, she could kill us all. Well, hey, let's start right there because you bring that up. I'm curious. You know, someone who competes at your level, I can't imagine the discipline, the work ethic, the time you've put under the kettlebell or whatever you would say. What drove you to be competitive like that?

You just said, I like to show up to boys. Where does that come from? Where does that stem from? I'm just really competitive. I think it's probably just growing up. I have three siblings and I feel like my dad was just always kind of encouraging us to be competitive. You're old enough.

Whether it was intentional or not. I'm, I have a little sister, an older sister, older brother. Oh, okay. Yeah. Middle child. Yeah, middle child. Marsha, Marsha. So, what, what, how did you get into kettlebells?

Because that's not nearly as common as other forms of exercise. How did you get introduced to them? Were you an athlete before? I used to do track and field in high school, so I was an athlete in high school and wanted to do that going into college, but it didn't really end up panning out. So I actually got an internship at a gym during college

and found Kettlebells through there is that the ice chamber that's up in Richmond, East Bay, and they're super into Kettlebell sport. They're one of the biggest gyms in the US for it. And I had no idea I walked in and I was like, yeah, I know you guys are kind of into kettlebells, which, you know, if you know kettlebells, yeah, you can't say kettlebells, it's like a party foul. So I didn't, I was worried, like I wouldn't get the internship because I had said kettlebell because I was being interviewed and the woman Sarah who interviewed me,

she was like, it's actually kettlebell. Like she corrected me right there and I was like, oh my God, I can't believe I just said that. But luckily they still hired me and I ended up, you know, learning just so much about kettlebells in the sport and having some great role models there who were really into competing in the sport. And so wanting to do that as well. Were you good?

Like right? Because obviously to compete at a high level, that means you train your butt off, but B, you probably were kind of a natural to it. Was that how? Actually not really, my, I guess I never really thought about it until there was this time my coach from my chamber, he wrote an article about me and he said in the article, Brittany was by no means a natural. And she started to get a little bit of, I was like,

coach. I was like, wow, I didn't know that. That was pretty awesome. But it was super challenging at first, but I'm definitely one of those people that likes to rise to the challenge. So I think the fact that it didn't come easy was something that made me want to learn it even more. Could you, for the listeners, explain

one of the basics of the sport, the competition. What does it look like? What do you have to do in order to compete with other people? So typically it's a 10 minute set of kettlebell, of a kettlebell event. It could be the clean and jerk long cycle or snatch or just the jerk.

Now you say 10 minutes, what does that mean? Does that mean you're doing it? It means 10 minutes, no setting the kettlebells down. If you have one kettlebell, you can switch one time, but once you switch, you can't switch back. So it's usually five minutes per arm or just 10 minutes without setting the bells down, which is really brutal.

If you've ever used kettlebells at all, you could kind of imagine, you know, doing, hang on to that thing for 10 minutes. That's insane. Just hold on to a kettlebell for 10 minutes to paint the ass. Exactly. I used to make my members when we give them a tour,

like if someone came in, they were like overweight, I'd give them like a 30 pound dumbbell, and I would just make them carry it around as we toured and then have them put it down afterwards and ask them how it felt to lose the 30 pounds, you know? And so that was a pain in the ass, just to walk around the gym for fucking two minutes. I can't imagine 10 minutes cycle.

Oh, I challenge the listeners right now, grab a couple 20 pound dumbbells and just hold them for 10 minutes and walk around and see how tired your hands get and the rest of your body. So this is literally 10 minutes, don't put them down and then they count every completed rep. And so however many reps you do within that period of time, that's your score.

Yes. Wow. So in order to do that, you have to really paste yourself. Obviously, I have endurance, good technique. I would say good, good technique being the most crucial part of it. So explain some of the techniques that you guys use to be able to go through. Is it just learning how to pace yourself or? A lot of it is learning how to relax at the right parts of the lift.

So if you're not relaxing in the rack position when you're holding the bells kind of up in front of the chest. If you don't have great flexibility in that position, you can't rest your elbows on your hips. It makes it a lot harder because you'd be using your arms to hold the bells there. So that's a lot of times what you see some of the women who are lifting heavier, do better than the guys that are lifting heavier if those guys don't have good flexibility because they're just not able to rest at the right positions and conserve the energy for the right parts of the lift. This reminds me of what Mike was so why he said he liked it because it's kind of this combination of like technique, endurance, flexibility, strength that really encompasses everything, right?

You can't get away with not being good at one of those to be, if you're going to be at the top level, right? Exactly. It's got this kind of strange juxtaposition of where some parts of your body are relaxing, but some parts of your body are working at the same time, which is very challenging for that brain body connection. Now, before you got introduced to kettle bells,

you were pretty active and you worked out quite a bit. And then you started training a lot with kettlebells, and in particular, training for the sport or kettlebell sport. There's a lot of listeners that don't know what the sport looks like, but even more so, don't know how the body changes when you start training that way. What were some of the things that you noticed in your body? What is some, can you pick out a kettlebell sport athlete by looking at them like

you can you know a shop putter or a sprinter or a long distance runner or there's certain characteristics. Sometimes I think it also depends on how long they've been in the sport. So there's like any sport there's some some things that will happen them could be not so beneficial like some of the top lifters have a little bit of like a forward head posture from kind of like pushing their head through the bells or a little bit of rounded shoulders. Some people like me will have kind of what I call like cat elbows, like my elbows kind of bend backwards a little bit, which I think they already had that possession before, but sometimes just the way to the bells can end up pushing them back a little bit.

But definitely really strong like quads, probably some nice boulder shoulders going on. So there's definitely some good musk literature that is built in there as well. So now they allow belts and they allow squat shoes. And so this is, does anybody try it without any sort of supported positioning or like apparatus? Yeah, I think not everybody uses a belt.

Again, it goes back to like the flexibility that people have because a belt is in kettlebell sport is really not really used for lower back support. It's mostly for giving you a better connection of your elbows to your hips so that when you launch the kettlebells on a jerk, you are more efficient. So if you have great flexibility, you can get away with not using a belt or if you're not lifting super heavy, you might not need a belt. As far as the shoes, there's some people that think that maybe you don't need such a hard

shoe for many repetitions over time. And typically the shoes are used more if you have a lack of ankle mobility and range of motion. So if you don't have that, you probably don't necessarily need a lifting shoe. Yeah, because it seems like, I mean, just the swing, it's so technical, there's so many So if you don't have that, you probably don't necessarily need a lifting shoe. Yeah, because it seems like, I mean, just the swing, it's so technical, there's so many different cues and things that you have to learn. You have to have really good body awareness to even pull a lot of these movements off.

You would think that, you know, you'd be hyper connected, you know, going through this already. Yeah. Yeah, it's tough to learn, for sure. Is it a male dominated sport or are there a lot of women competing? I think in the US there's I think there's more women. I feel like a specialty. Oh wow kind of getting into the higher levels For a long time the women were just doing single bell lifts as well, which is a little bit easier to get into with the heavier weights for the guys. It's like if you want to do, you know, for anybody really, if you want to do two kettlebells and get up to a higher weight,

it's not just something you can do as, you know, just a little hobby and spend one or two days a week. It's like, you really have to work super hard at it. So I think that made it a little bit harder for guys to get into it. Plus, it's a little bit hard on the ego sometimes because if as a guy you come in and you get crushed by using two 12 kilo bells trying to go for 10 minutes,

that probably doesn't feel very good. If you come from a background of lifting super heavy and you kind of feel like you should come into this and be able to lift heavy too, it's actually more of an endurance sport really than it is strength, but I think that sometimes gets confused. And for some guys, it's maybe hard on there, you go.

I had no idea. I had no idea. It's a nice way to put it. Yeah, I had no idea. So many women like to compete in it. I would imagine that it would be a male dominant sport, like most weight-based competition type sports. Why do you think women like it so much? I think part of that is also the influence. There was a big

influence from the ice chamber the gemming used to work at. The women that started there, they're known as like the ice chamber kettlebell girls. They were some of the first women. kettlebell girls, they were some of the first women. Say the first girls? Yeah. To get certain, not exactly. To get certain rank, they were the first women to get certain rankings and kind of help influence a lot more participation of women all over the world.

And yeah, I think maybe just having those certain role models and because it's not quite as intimidating maybe as you know the weight isn't necessarily as heavy as something you would do in a power lifting competition. It's more endurance based which you know I think there's a lot of studies that show women are really good at endurance sports. What's your background by the way with fitness? Like educational background or you talked about certifications,

and is this your chosen field still? Do you still work, or is this what you do full time? This is what I do full time. I actually have a civil engineering degree from Cal, which is completely different. I don't really need a degree for what I do now, but yeah, I kind of veered past after I started working at the gym that

I was at during college. And then from there, I got like my CSCS and actually just got my first kettlebell certification last October. I had helped teach certifications. I didn't officially have one for myself. so that was kind of funny. Yeah, I think we were all a little shock to discover the cult surrounding, and I don't mean that in a negative sense. I know, you keep saying that. Well, when I sound bad, when you say cult, what I mean is just that sometimes you find really enthusiastic club. Yeah, sometimes you find like a new thing that starts to grow, but before something gets

really big, there's this like small, passionate group of people that surround it. It happens with every movement, you know, we talk about CrossFit having that at one point. I mean, we were all at some point connected or new of CrossFit, because CrossFit originated around here in the Bay Area Santa Cruz. And we were aware of it before it became really big, but before it became huge, there were like seven clubs or five clubs, and they were all super passionate about what they were doing. And we were really pleasantly surprised to find that Kettlebell Sport has that same passion,

but at this point it's bigger, right? There's how many clubs right now in the US? Don't like 12, 15, something like that? I think there's definitely more than 12 or 15, but some of them are very small. It's still kind of spread out. I get a lot of messages from people who are trying to start Kettlebell Sport, but there's really almost nothing for, yeah.

We're gonna place for them to go. No, we're around. They'd have to drive five, six hours to get somewhere that actually has a Kettlebell Sport coach. So there's a lot of clothes with their small and there's a lot of kind of isolated people that are training on their own out there. But yeah, it's got this like fervor around it. Like when the people who are involved in the sport are very, very passionate. Well, that being said, that makes me want to ask a question. How is, how's like, is there any drama

and like competitiveness amongst the, it's gotta be. There is so much drama. I've got it, okay, come on. No idea. Lay it down. This is what I want to know. I need to know before we have all these guys

in our facility, because I think we have like eight or nine different clubs, which might kind of give you. You want to know the dirt on everybody. Yeah, give me the, give me the 4-1-1 on like, well, I don't want to bash anyone in particular. That's okay. You can do it as PC. You can do it in general. Yeah, yeah me the give me the 411 on like well, I don't want to bash anyone in particular. That's okay We can do it as you can do it in general. Yeah So far I've been great job people have complemented me on my ability to stay neutral So I have to kind of try to keep riding that line

But there's there's kind of a lot of conflicts with different organizations that sort of want to be in charge And are these organizations that run competitions? Is that what you're talking about? Yes. Okay. Yeah, different organizations that are running comps. There's one competition that kind of wants to follow more of the Russian, the traditional way that Kettlebell Sport has always been run in Russia and in Eastern Europe.

And then there's other organizations that kind of want to just try to start something new or realize that the sport is kind of different in America because we've got a lot of amateur lifters. Whereas in Russia, there's just kind of a lot of elite lifters and not really a lot of stuff at the amateur level. A lot of their lifters are guys in the military who compete, like it's their job to compete in kettlebell sport and they just spend like all day training and the, you know, the weightlifting culture is pretty crazy in Russia. So it's very different from what people want to do here. A lot of people that compete have, you know, they have nine to five jobs and they do it for fun and they just want to, you know, they have disposable income and want to spend it on this cool hobby they have. But it's very different. So I think the approach kind of has to be different in terms

of what the market for, you know, competitions is. But there's definitely kind of conflicts between where that should be going. Have you trained in Russia? I've been to the World Championships in Siberia in 2013. Ooh, in Siberia. Yeah, yeah. God, that's hardcore. Now, let's stay on this topic of these guys having different opinions on how to run

the competition. Does this, I mean, does this create controversy when they go to run a competition that you've got? Hey, I'm not going to go if you're going to be running by these rules. It's more created two to three different groups that people that stick to these certain competitions. Some people will only compete under this organization. Some people will only compete under this organization. Some people will only compete under that one. And so it's almost like there's a little bit of a split within the community of kettlebell people, which, you know, what I've liked so far about,

you know, the competition that we're planning in May is that it seemed to bring people from kind of both sides into compete because it's not necessarily One or the other. Yeah, specifically geared towards just one side. So do you find like these athletes are the best in this organization these athletes are the best and this other organization and Now we're getting them to compete against each other. Are we finding some of that? Yeah, I think that's definitely coming together a little bit. That's kind of cool. It's like the early UFC. Now are there any staple moves or things that one does and not the other or that one?

What are the differences? If I was just a spectator who had no idea what organization is which, are there certain things like, oh, that's definitely the Russian technique. Yeah, that's definitely hard. Did CrossFit come up with that swing that goes up really high? Like, what is that? Can you explain that to me?

The American swing? Yeah. I don't, I think CrossFit came up with that. I'm not totally sure where it comes from. I'm not sure. Yeah, I haven't really done much with that swing. Yeah, yeah, I was wondering about it. It's like, this made up.

I did it again. Well, how about that, too? What do most like kettlebell sport people think of like CrossFit? Do they think that you guys are like each other or are you really like most people that do kettlebell sport are not a fan of CrossFit? I can read your smirk right now. You're forming a politically correct answer. Don't be.

That's why it's rocks, all right. I think most people in KELOLAND sport don't like CrossFit. There are a few crossovers. There's actually one of the women who will be competing in May. Tara, she's at OKC and Mike has talked about her, but she's pretty new, but awesome, awesome lifter. She's actually CrossFit her and KELOLAND athlete. So she's got Cross over there, so she's really pretty good at both.

Yeah, pray for her. So let's go back to the different organizations. What are the main differences between them, you know, for the laymen? Well, there's the thing is that there's like a lot of organizations, but I would say kind of the main ones that I'm kind of referring to right now would be like the American Kettlebell Alliance, aka, which kind of follows the standards of the IUKL, which is an international organization that out of, based in Russia. And so they're more focused on like at their worlds its countries.

So there would be a team USA that goes over and competes against athletes from different countries. And then there's an organization that my coach Dennis Faciliev and his coach Sergey Ruchinsky formed, which is a world association of Ketola clubs. And they just did the world championships that was back in February, which is based around clubs. So it's not necessarily by country,

but there might be a bunch of different clubs within the US that come to compete. So it's kind of a little bit different that way. Which is more along the lines of what we're holding here, right? I mean, that's what we have all these different clubs that are coming in that are gonna be competing against each other. I like that. It's kind of like, you know, reminds me of football

or baseball. It's kind of set up more like that. I think that's a more interesting way as a spectator, I think, to watch it. What are some other things associated with the culture of kettlebell sport? Is there like a way that you guys like to eat? I mean, I asked this because every, like I said, every, you know, like rituals and all these things. Yeah, every, everything I see, like bodybuilders like to eat a certain way and like crossfed the zipalia. And do you, is there, do you guys have your own like, you know, things that you do that are

kind of unique to kettlebell sport? I'm sure there are. I know a lot of people, they do this thing called stage five. So it's after a comp it's based on I Think it's some training program. I can't remember who's training program It is but it's based on some training program that has these different stages and the last stage is stage five where it's after a competition You pretty much just see whatever you want so people like to you know on social media after their competition

They're like stage five and they post all these these pictures of all this food they're eating. So that's the other one. Sounds like a teacher. Sounds like a teacher. Yeah, sounds like a teacher. You make totally stage five. Yeah, I like that. I like that.

I wanted to ask you, you kind of graced over talking about being a high school athlete and then wanting to go play college. Talk about what that transition was like for you and that that kind of helped shape and develop your character and what happened during that time that made you do that and what were you going through in your life around there. Yeah, so I had a great high school track and field coach and he really encouraged me to great high school track and field coach and he really encouraged me to pursue becoming a half-tathlete in college. So I really wanted to, I love track and field, really, really loved it. And when I got to Cal, I decided to try walking on to the team. So that was definitely

an experience. Again, I don't want to like bad mouth. Anyone particular, but it just was not a good experience for me. I understand you have to prove yourself as like a walk on at a division one school, but I really had to kind of try to force my way in without much support from anybody. People on the team were not very friendly. The coaches didn't talk to me. I felt like I had a lot to give in terms of hard work, and I wasn't necessarily as talented as the other athletes that were there, but I felt like I was able to really

keep up in training and stuff like that. So I tried it for a while and decided that with all the work I was putting in, I would probably be redshirted for a year or two and maybe get to do a couple of competitions so decided it wasn't really worth it. So that kind of, that definitely influenced me and that I still really had a drive that I wanted to compete in something and prove kind of my athletic abilities

and which kind of led me to discover like kettlebell lifting I think was what helps. So I have a lot I have a lot of buddies that actually went through a similar situation. In fact some of them actually went to a different college just because they didn't want to have to experience that they were you know hey I'd rather just go to a D2 or a D3 or I know I'm going to play a lot like when you when you knowing what you know now and have gone it, does part of you wish you would have done that, gone through a smaller school and then went and kicked ass like you probably would definitely. Yeah. I think I really would have enjoyed it. Being able to compete in college, even, you know, I wouldn't really care what division I was in, you know. Yeah. And I know when you're like a really

competitive person, especially with sports like that, that's a tough time At that age that we're you know, we're in that that 15 to 20 years old and going through like that And that was probably a big dream of yours. Did you feel crushed? Did you did you go through depression at all? Did it motivate you more to do something else? I mean, how did you feel? Or do you remember going through that? I mean, I definitely it was kind of a Up and Down experience as I was going through it for sure mean, I definitely, it was kind of a up and down experience as I was going through it for sure. It was really disappointing, but I was really glad

that I actually had tried, because I feel like if I hadn't tried to walk onto the team and found out what it was like, I probably would have regretted not seeing whether I could have made it. But I think I was fine kind of moving on from it and just deciding to try to find something else. Was there a gap between that and training with kettlebells? In other words, did you just stop working out?

Did you stop being athletic for a second there? No, I just kind of was doing stuff on my own. So at first I just started running more. Like I just started running like long distance stuff and I think I did a half marathon, but kind of decided that was too boring. So I started weightlifting. I just would go to the gym on my own

and start weightlifting. So kind of really started loving weightlifting, I think, when I was just training on my own during that time. So I find this challenge quite a bit with athletes that I've worked with, who are competitively driven like yourself, where they are very, very driven to compete against others or to compete against themselves or a time, or, and that's what keeps them motivated to continue working out. Do you find, you know, for yourself that if you don't have that competition that you find, it's that you have to find a different motivation to work out.

Do you see how that could cause it? Is that cause an issue for you? Are you more holistically oriented now or is it still in that mode? Training for kettlebell sport is definitely the biggest motivation for me to work out. Like I don't do well if I don't have a specific goal to train and work towards. I don't think I would be able to do something like bodybuilding, which I give props to people to do that at a high level because I feel like it takes so much discipline, but to me, it doesn't quite motivate me just from like an aesthetic standpoint. I feel like I would really need a specific kind of athletic goal

to help me. I kind of, you know, I go through times where I'm like, oh, maybe it'd be fun to just, you know, to take a break from kettlebells and just work out. I can just do whatever I want. Just, you know, no rules on it. And then as soon as I kind of start going that direction, I like, I get bored pretty quickly.

I'm like, I don't know, I need to get started getting ready for that next challenge in kettlebells, you know? So that's definitely something that keeps me motivated. Do you find it challenging to keep yourself from over training? Oh yeah. Oh, I think I've always had a hard time with that

because when I first started working at the gym and training kettlebells, I was definitely over training and taking a class and training kettlebells and just too much. So I think I've gotten better with that in the past few years and realized that performance is definitely based on being more balanced and taking more rest and recovery and not over training because especially with kettlebell sport you have to be so mentally motivated going into a long set that if you're physically tired it just you just you won't be able to do it.

How do you balance yourself out now? I train three times a week. So part of that is having a coach that tells me what to do or what not to do and kind of knowing that like, okay, my coach would probably tell me this is not a good idea. So that definitely helps me. So in between days, I'll oftentimes do just yoga or stretching and making sure that I do more recovery that way. So three days a week, that's it. You're at this level of training and you only train like for that three days a week.

Is that purely kettlebells or do you incorporate barbells and dumbbells and other forms or modalities? I used to do more accessory training with barbells, but I think for kettlebell sport, once you hit a certain level of base level of strength, you don't really need a lot of accessory training. For me, I feel like it would be over-training

if I do a lot of additional weight training because there's such a high volume of repetitions with kettlebell sport, which I think people don't always consider. It's so much volume that it's very different from doing lower rep stuff, even if the weight is a lot heavier. It takes a big toll on your body and your nervous system so you have to take that into account. What do you notice gives way as far as when you're going through the competition? What fatigues first?

Depends on the lift. If it's the snatch lift, everybody will tell you it's like it's your grip. So if you're it's all about technique for that lift. So a lot of times, you know, it's so frustrating because if your technique isn't there, you might end your set at a point where you don't really feel that physically tired, but it's this like your form is so pumped that you can't hang on to the kettlebell, which in in that case, it's, you know, just all about the technical efficiency of it. You know, Mike brought this up too. Are you the same way where he may, he's, he told me like once he gets like a minute to three minutes in, he knows what this is going to look like.

He can feel his body and what it's going to be like from like, from that exact point, he says, I can tell if my technique is just slightly off, and if this is gonna be a good round for me or not, right within the first minute to three minutes, it's the same way for you two. Yeah, I mean, I think I think I could tell within the first few minutes, whether it's gonna be an easier set

or just a really tough set, like not gonna set the bells down either way, but you can tell whether it's gonna be kind of like a struggle set that day or whether it's gonna, you know, be kind of more of a PR day. Any overuse injuries, because it's so, so many wraps, so many repetitions of overhead movements. Oh yeah.

Where do you see all the injuries? Usually people get some, at some point during their kettlebell lifting career, they're going to get some kind of forearm pain, whether it's when they're first learning, that they're kind of hitting their form with a bell, or just some kind of sustained longer injury. A lot of people get some elbow, elbow, like tendonitis. And definitely say shoulder.

Shoulder. Shoulder. Well, no low back stuff. Low back probably comes up too, but I think a lot of times it's more like a connective tissue and kind of the small like stabilizing muscles a lot of times. Do you see a lot of growth potential for the sport? Do you think it could get real big? Oh, yeah.

I definitely think it's going to, I don't know if it'll be as big as CrossFit, but I feel like it could definitely be in a similar arena with... What makes you think that compete with it? Well, like you said, the passion of the people that are in it. It has a very supportive community, all the competitions I've been to, it's, people are competitive, but they're super supported, supportive of one another. And it's not to say that I've never been in a situation where people were kind of like Cadi competitive, but most of the time, you know, everybody is supportive of each other's goals while still wanting to do their best as well, which I see as, you know, everybody is supportive of each other's goals while still wanting

to do their best as well, which I see as, you know, an environment that anybody who wants to take part will feel, you know, kind of welcomed and encouraged to learn and do their best as well. Now, you said it might not be as big as like CrossFit or what do you see the challenges of it being growing? Now I know as a listener and as someone who's just been introduced, I've just been introduced to this whole world recently and again I commented on the passion and the fervor behind it.

And then the other side of me, the guy who's the marketing guy who, you know, I'm looking at things objectively, I'm like, got a 10 minute set, that could be boring to watch. Like, is there a spectator? Do people like to come watch, or do you see that being an issue? I have sometimes been surprised by people liking to watch more than I thought they would.

So just even like my family coming to watch, I remember they're coming to watch my first few competitions. I was like, you don't have to. It's really boring. You're not going to like it. They actually thought it was really cool. Really? After a few competitions, they would start noticing stuff about different people's technique.

And like, hey, that person, that doesn't look good, right? That's not good technique. They would start noticing stuff. But I definitely think that there might have to be some changes in terms of what exactly the competition would look like. Maybe it would, you know, be more of a combination of the different exercises with five-minute sets or something. I feel like I would be open to seeing the sport change a little bit and evolve to increase in popularity. I think, like, we kind of touch upon some drama that happens,

I think that there would be a lot of resistance from people who are currently leading some leaders of the sport would really, really be against that. The tourists, right? Yeah, exactly. So sometimes I get worried that newcomers coming into the sport will sort of see some of the drama that goes on and be turned off by it

because some of it is just really petty and dumb. So I get a little concerned about that. But I think as a sport grows and moves forward, people that are against positive changes that are happening in the sport will just kind of get left behind anyway. I see a lot of just from my perspective, like how the sport of Jiu-Jitsu grew, right? So for me is somebody that's really been into like kickboxing and boxing and you know, this whole rise of MMA,

you know, Jiu-Jitsu for me was incredibly boring to watch. Until you get further into it and you realize how technical each one of these moves are and the chess match and the game and what they have to strategize to be able to pull these moves off and all this kind of stuff. I got into that a little bit just watching Mike and how he was able to articulate all these different parts of the movement and the placements. And like when you really dive deep into this sport, you realize how extremely technical.

Well, not only that, but we were talking about, you know, when we first brought this up, I thought the same thing too. I thought, you know, God, 10 minutes, the same move, like, you know, look, I don't know, I don't know if I see the sport being that huge because of that. But then I think, well, wait a second, that's stupid. The number one watch sport in America is a fucking car going around in a circle. The same fucking circle, the same, like about the same speed. But you could die, so it's fine.

It's going for it. Fy, kettle bells, there's definitely a point where you can start seeing either like the meltdown or somebody drops a kettlebell. You know, at every competition you go to, there's some dramatic like the kettlebell flies and almost hits the judge and knocks over the timer. She is what we need. You know, so there's danger.

There's danger. So it's just like that. It's just like that. It's a war of attrition. I think people like to see the body break down. That's what I was getting to because that's what I came to is that, you know, there's definitely things about sports that are exciting that have to do with the

sport itself. And then there's the human element. And I feel like watching someone do this shit and starts to break down and the looks on their faces and then you're like, come on, you can like hold on, keep going. Like it feels like you would see people, like try to go through death. And that seems exciting to watch. There's so many epic sets like at the worlds that was earlier in February. There was so many epic sets in that at the end

of some of them, you know, people are like screaming as they're like, you know, pushing out their last few reps. And it's like, the whole room is just going crazy trying to like cheer and support them. So I think there's definitely some some pretty awesome elements in terms of, you know, spectating for it. And usually what will what that difference is between, you know, the average person competing and the champion is that you'll see that difference of, you know, the average person will start to sort of crumble and fall apart in the champions, the one that's able to keep pushing through to the end, you know, whether or not they're struggling, they're keeping that pace and they're, you know, finishing

all the way and putting it all out there on the platform. So they also have counters, right, above their head. So you get this as a, you know, spectator, I'm watching like, oh, you know, the last minute you see, if a couple of people could be within three, it's mini reps. Within three of each other, I can imagine that getting wild and easier. It's actually surprising, like how often times there's a close contest because the,

you know, the rep range just can be so different. Many times, there's like, I've been in multiple contests where it was rep for rep down to the last second, you know. Wow. So it's crazy. It's always exciting as well. Wow. What are some of the craziest's always exciting as well. Wow. What are some of the craziest things you've seen

at some of these competitions? Well, just at the last competition, the kettlebell flew and the person lifting it fell down, so that was kind of dramatic. And that happens at almost any competition. It's happened to one of the guys I coach, you just kettlebells let fly, you know? So that's always pretty dramatic.

I don't think I've ever seen anybody like, puke? Well, yeah, I don't think I've seen them puke. I haven't seen them drop like a kettle on their head or anything like that, but, you know, just kind of, probably like, they lose their kettlebell over their head and it kind of twists their elbow back

and then they'll fall on the ground. But yeah. What do people falling down? Oh, there's some guys who will just, after they finish their set, they'll just almost like throw their bells and just collapse down on the platform like every time. I like how you said some guys. Oh, there's certain guys on thing of it. It's like there's some action move. One of them being a Sergey Richinski who is a very well-known lifter and coach from Russia.

He has, there's a video someone created on YouTube of his like, faints at the end of his set. So it just goes through one after the other of him. And some of them, it's like, it's 32 kilo bells and it's almost like when he drops them, it's like they, it's almost like he pushed them up and out. And I'm like, how do they, how does he have so much energy to push them

as he's falling down to the floor? It's like really entertaining. It's like the world cup. Are there, are there athletes or coaches that, you know, you aspire to be like, or you look up to, or that you, I just think are amazing. And what they're doing, I know you've named dropped a few people that are really good, but are there a few that you in particular are interested in or you follow or you like to watch? I would say, I definitely look up to my coach, Dennis Facilia, if he's like amazing athlete and lifter. Probably Abigail Johnson would be the female lifter

that I look up to. She just, every single lift she does. Most people in the sport are kind of really good at one and maybe they're decent at the others. She is just the top in every single lift. Single Bell, double Bell, doesn't matter. She's amazing at all of them and her technique is just really, really good. So I love to watch her and aspire to be like her. What would you say your strength is and your weaknesses? I would say long cycle is probably my best event.

Snatch in terms of my numbers, not probably my worst one, although ironically, I'm kind of known for being good at it. I don't really know how this works. I guess I'm like, I'm good at it relative to most people, but in terms of like high level, the other high level athletes, I'm nowhere, I'm good at it relative to most people, but in terms of like high level, the other high level athletes, I'm nowhere near where they're at yet. So that's the one that I kind of need to improve on the most. What goes through your mind towards the end of a long cycle when you're just dying? Depends on the day, like I've had sets where every minute, I'm like, I really want to

set it down. Like, would anyone care if I set it down? This is kind of like, that goes on over. Maybe they won't see me? Yeah, maybe they won't see me. Maybe one will notice. But sometimes it's what motivates me is being close to a previous PR. You know, sometimes what motivates me is the crowd cheering.

Sometimes it's like just knowing that like, okay, if I really don't want to have to do this again. So if I could just get to this number now, then you know, I'm good. So it really depends on the day, but I don't know that at the end of most of my sets is a particular thought that goes through my head, but it's just like, I just know I'm so close to the end

and I've put in so much work already that like, I know no matter what, I'm so close to the end and I've put in so much work already that like I know no matter what I'm gonna finish it. No, but you brought up, you know, you do this now, you're in the gym, this is a full-time gig for you. What's that like for somebody? Is there big money in kettlebell sport? Can you make a lot of money being an athlete or do you have to kind of be a trainer on the side and do other things? What's that look like? There's definitely not, not any money in cuddlebell sport at the moment. So if any listeners were looking to, you know, make it big, that's,

that's not really the case yet. But I, I mean, I coach at a gym. So we, we have a cuddlebell sport team, but you know, I, I teach just regular cuddlebell fitness classes. And I, I'm trying, I think I'm probably one of the people who's closest to trying to make kettlebell sport their career. I have kind of built up my online following. I have online students and trying

to create some different online products. So I think you can make it work for you if you're willing to take that risk. For me, that's something that I think it's good. I have kind of a niche that I'm working in. And most people at this point kind of have heard of me if they're into kettlebell sports. So that's, I think it's challenging to try to make it within the kettlebell world, especially

because it's not that big. But, you know, one of my hopes is that I just will help grow the sport. And then as that gets bigger there'll be more opportunities for people to be able to just do their work within. You must have a ton of ideas then in terms of what you think needs to happen for to really grow. Yes and I'm still sort of discovering it like as I go I feel like it's it's hard to know exactly what will work but I think we're sort of moving in the right direction.

Like I said, there has for a long time in this idea that we need to follow everything that the Russian organizations do, but I'm definitely of the mind that I don't think that's the case, because I don't think that's what's gonna work in the US. Why, because of the whole amateur pro type thing? Yes, it's a very different market.

And just because something has been done a certain way for hundreds of years doesn't mean it's necessarily the right way. And seeing as where Kettlebell Sport is right now, which is not that big, clearly it hasn't worked that well for making it into something more popular. So I definitely think that that needs to change. Now is it because the changes will make it more spectator friendly or because it's more welcoming to people? More welcoming for sure because for a long time,

there's I think there's this whole like mystique about Calibale sport and people don't really, didn't really know enough about it and people are hiding the training secrets around it. So I think that if that knowledge isn't available to people, then how can they even know whether it's something they would like or be interested in. So that's most of what I've done with my website and my social media is just try to put the knowledge I have out there and share it with everybody for free because it's got it should come out there at some point otherwise how can people even train they should be at least

training the right way do you get pushback not really I don't I've had a few small instances of kind of some social media drama, but nothing really related to people being mad about anything I'm sharing. A lot of what I learned I learned from where I first started training the ice chamber, and I had even talked with them about that before I left to go somewhere else. I asked them, do you guys care if I use what I've learned here

to try to grow something else or do something else with it? And they're like, no, I think most good coaches know that if they teach somebody, they're sharing that knowledge for them to continue sharing with other people. I mean, it's not like it's proprietary. So who's your arch nemesis? Yeah, great question. Who's my arch nemesis? Yeah great question. I mean I

Almost a good question. I'm trying to think of who exactly that would she's the bad I mean everybody else I know everybody else I'm squashing everybody Yeah, I'm competitive with everybody like I I want squashing everybody. I'm competitive with everybody. I want to beat everybody. So really, any of the women that are at the high level, they probably sort of know that I want to beat them, whether or not I'm ready to actually do that. I don't know.

Are the Russians dominating? The Russians, yes. So in Russia, women are actually only allowed to do... Where are the Russians dominate? The Russians, yes. In Russia, women are actually only allowed to do snatch. Wait, did you just say allowed? Yes. Oh, yeah. I could see why it's not going to grow if we don't change some things right there.

Exactly. So, women over there don't really compete in any of the other lists except snatch. So yes, the Russian women are better at snatch than anybody else. So there's multiple women over there that have done over 200 reps with a 24 kilo kettlebell in 10 minutes. Did you hear that? Wow. So.

My arm just fell off. Wow. And a lot of them. 200? I think the woman who has the top overall score, she's like 58 kilos and she, like, she doesn't look like, she lifts weights. Where she weighs 58 kilos and she's done 24 kilo,

kettlebell 200 times. Yep. That's fucking insane. Yeah. I don't know if I could press that. That just shows you how important technique is. Yes, it's all about technique. I mean, because, I mean, I couldn't press that over my head 15 times. You know, I was like pressing that over,

I was just strict press 15 times. Well, because you're fighting gravity when you're pressing it, right? When you're using the technique or using gravity and momentum to help you. Yeah. So it makes it. That's amazing.

I don't care, dude. Show us the technique and I think we'll be able to. Oh, yeah, right. Oh, and of course not. So, okay. Now, I of course not well, so okay Now I know a lot of times when I when I meet athletes are you fully immersed in it like this is your this is like your life You're either training for an event. You're either training someone else for an event. You're eating for it. You're sleepy You're hanging. Yeah, you're hanging. Yeah, that's me. Yeah

All kettle all the time. Yeah, so it can be all the time for sure for you. Okay, so now do you ever find that, you know, you have to kind of disconnect, do you let yourself, do that, do you say, okay, I'm not, I'm going to just veg out Netflix and chill all day. Do you do that ever? Like you have like a getaway, what do you do if you do that? I mean, I definitely think. I read kettlebell books.

Yeah. Go on vacation somewhere. Like in in May I'm going to Costa Rica so that'll be like my my little break from kettlebell. Okay, your stage five right on. Yeah. Yeah. I'm going to use that term. How is your nutrition?

Would you classify in particular any particular way in terms of how you eat or do you just eat for fuel and then go train? I mostly just eat for fuel, but I would say that people know me as sort of like a health nut. Like I don't eat a lot of junk food. Like I don't eat a lot of, you know, hamburgs and fries or donuts or stuff like that. I don't really crave it necessarily, but you know, I did have pizza on Saturday night or for my competition. Oh, shit. I mostly just see for fuel.

I don't eat a ton of meat, but I don't classify myself as any kind of vegetarian or vegan or anything like that. Do you feel better not eating as much meat? Is that why? Yeah, I feel a little bit better not eating as much meat. I've read some different books on, you know, the whole factory farming industry.

So that's kind of been something. I try to stay away from stuff that isn't well sourced. Now, if you're all kettlebell all the time, how is that a boat for relationships and stuff? What's that look like? Probably not that well. I feel like that's, I spend so much, all my focus is more towards my career Probably not that well. I feel like that's, I spend so much,

all my focus is more towards my career and towards my athletic performance. So it definitely kind of takes a little bit of a back seat, I would say. Now have you ever dated another kettlebell athlete? Have you ever done that? I don't even know if I should answer that. Why not?

Are you not allowed to? Are you not allowed to? Are you not allowed to? That's start all kinds of rumors. I've never answered this. Well that's what Are you not allowed to? Because that's a yes. Are you not allowed to? Start all kinds of rumors. Remember answer to this. Well, that's what we're here for. Jesus, that's a.

We're here to start where a talk show. You know? So I mean, yeah, have you dated? I would say I have not seriously dated another kettlebell. Is that because you're intimidating? You can you whip on most of everybody? So they're intimidated by you? What do you think?

Maybe. I feel like I have been told That I'm intimidating so that that could be part of it I Mean from my side. I don't know if I would be able to date another guy if he wasn't able to lift more Well, that just narrows it down to like five people Do you all screed so you're at your classic It's so hard. It's so hard. It's so hard. It's so hard. Yeah. Yeah. We're all screwed. So you're classic competitive type A, all or nothing mentality.

And even as I'm saying this, it kind of makes you excited because you kind of feel like, yeah, fuck it, that's who I am. Do you ever think about like, what do I do after? What am I going to do after this is done? You know, am I going to be nothing from all to nothing? I think about that a little bit. Try not to think about it too much. But I, you know, I, I coaching is a big part of what I do as well.

So I feel like because of that, I'm not really like afraid of, you know, when the time comes for me to stop lifting, I'm excited to help the sport grow and help, you know, younger athletes come up and, and be better than I was, you know, because that's what, you know, when the time comes for me to stop lifting, I'm excited to help the sport grow and help, you know, younger athletes come up and be better than I was, you know, because that's what coaching is all about. I really love to coach as well, so I'll be fine with that transition. What's your ultimate dream? It's my ultimate dream.

I'm still trying to figure that out. I definitely would like to have the flexibility in my career to be able to travel or live wherever I want. I would say that having that as part of my lifestyle is a big dream for me. I haven't quite figured out exactly where I would want to live or if I'd want to live in multiple places, but that's definitely. What about your dream for, I guess, Kbell sport? Because you've said several times, where would you like to see kettlebell sport in the next three to five years?

Where would you like to see the sport? I would just like to see it like exploding in terms of participation and competitions. It's definitely grown a lot in the past five years, but I think the time is ready for it to really start growing a lot. So I would like to see it become a big, big, big sport, more like CrossFit that it gets national international attention and that people all over know what it is.

They don't just know what a kettlebell is, but they understand that it's a competition and kind of what it's all about and I would love to be you know it key player in that in terms of like organizing and promoting the sport. Do you feel like that's happening right now? Do you feel I mean someone has been around it for as long as you have? Do you feel like there's a different energy going on right now like in the last maybe six months to a year? Have you noticed that or has it just been kind of a consistent like slow rise? I think I think there's definitely been energy growing around it. I think also the maybe six months to a year, have you noticed that? Or has it just been kind of a consistent, like, slow rise?

I think there's definitely been energy growing around it. I think also the past few years, there's been, you know, women have started lifting doublebells more and that's been something that's, honestly, I think people get the most excited to watch the women lifting the heavy double kettlebells out of anything else in the sport. So as that's grown, it's built up a lot of excitement.

This world championships that I'd mentioned a few times with the club teams. That was the first year for it this year. So I think that built a lot of energy and excitement. This competition coming up in May, I feel like, especially for beginners, we've gotten so many new and different people being interested in it. That I'm really excited to see kind of how that will help also. The interesting thing you said that about the women

competing how people like to watch that. I actually had this conversation with these gentlemen literally before you walked in and how when you see things really explode in fitness, it's usually the, when women get in it and they start doing well in it that it really takes off happened to CrossFit. CrossFit, you know, it was a lot of guys and they start doing well in it that it really takes off happened to CrossFit. CrossFit, you know, it was a lot of guys and then girls started getting into it and then it really started taking off.

You don't think that just happened with MMA. I think that's just because sex cells and women are sexy. I don't. We're not very sexy. We're not very sexy. We're not very sexy. It's cool to watch women do everything. Speak for yourself, bro. No, I think, I'll tell you why. This is what I think. I think women, number one, are the consumers. If you look at who consumes, who goes to stores,

who buys things, who makes decisions on what to do, for whether it's buying stuff for your house, your shampoo, whatever, they have brand loyalty, way more than men do. Like if I ask you guys what kind of shampoo you buy, you could give a shit. They are very, very loyal to whatever they're doing. So when women get into something, they tend to be like, man, I'm doing this

and we're all gonna do this and they bring their friends much more than men do. And it's, the growth potential, a guy doing something, the likelihood that they're gonna share it all over social media, talk about it and bring their friends is lower than when women tend to do it. Plus, let's be honest, to see women do things that involve strength and athleticism is very empowering. And it's empowering in a different way to women than it is for men. So when you take a woman

who she played some sports and you know, maybe not as active now and then she gets into kettlebell sport and she feels like so empowered by hoisting these, you know, these massive, you know, iron, you know, globes above her head or whatever, like that's fucking awesome. It's great. And then it's great to watch too. So that's always, that's my opinion at least. And I would venture to say that the, you've probably seen the growth of kettlebell sport match the growth of the women entering the sport. Am I wrong or? No, I think you're right.

And I think a lot of it is what you just touched upon that last point. It's about breaking barriers, you know, about women breaking these pre-existing barriers, either, you know, if there was an actual barrier, like they weren't allowed to do this, or if it was just going past what people thought they could do, or their own personal barriers, I think that's something that, you know, it can be very empowering to experience or to watch for other people. Now, for somebody who's maybe listening right now, and they're like, you know, fuck, I want to try this. I want to get into this.

Like where would you recommend someone to start? Like, I, you know, I have never picked up a kettlebell before where do I start? You son of a bitch Where do I start? I got offended right there. Well, I would probably recommend them to check out my website or my YouTube channel I feel like I've got I've got a lot of good tutorials and things on there for people that are interested in starting and learning the technique or taking a look at Kettlebell Kings has a great kind of four-week beginner program that Aaron Viviall helped them put together.

So that would be a great resource for people as well. Excellent. Let's talk a little bit about the competition we have coming up here at Mind Pump media It's we we knew it would get some attention. You know Mike is putting it together Mainly very very well. He knows lots of people and Mike's a great guy But we did not we we had no idea that we get this much attention like it's already getting sold out way before the event. I guess Mike says that almost never happens. And we're getting people from rival organizations and why?

Why are we getting all this attention? Yeah, big players are coming in. And our competition is at the prizes. Is it prize money? Is it the attention it's getting? Is it because there's been a need for this? I feel like you're searching for a compliment right now. Well, I don't know.

I feel like it's going to be my- Can you mind-bump-have something to do with the key? I feel like- Well, for a compliment right now. Well, I don't know. Maybe. I feel like it's gonna be mine. Could mine have something to do with it? I feel like. Well, I don't. Definitely. You're pretty, bro. Thank you. No, I mean, like, what do you think is going on?

Because for me, when I see something like, holy shit, there was a need. There was a need in the market for something like this. What is it that's making these people come to compete from different organizations? Yeah, I think there was a need. I think there's enough people involved that, like, I don't think me and Mike as being the main people that are promoting to the people we already know in the sport, I think we're

both fairly neutral in terms of not necessarily, you know, only with this organization or only with this one. So we're trying to reach out to, you know, the different people we know in the sport to bring them all together. I think that it's been, you guys have done a great job helping to promote it and promote people getting interested in kettlebell sport. I think kettlebell kings has been doing a great job with that as well with getting, you know,

finding those interested parties and kind of directing them in the right direction. And as I mentioned before, there's not really anything with kettlebell sport in this like South Bay area. So I think that there's definitely a need for that. I know there's a lot of people that are excited about it being in this area. So I think that's definitely played a role. Well, we're very excited to be hosting it.

We're super, super pumped and we're super pumped to see the, we wanna do it justice too. Yeah, we wanna make sure we have a good time doing it and that feels welcoming to everybody. Oh, yeah, before we, before we hang up on that, we got the chance to talk to Michael out about this, but we're really going all out on this event. I mean, we plan to have food trucks out here, DJ going,

like we want to make this really cool. Is there anything that you can think of that you either want, haven't seen it another event, or you saw maybe at one or two, you really thought was cool and you liked that would be neat to see? Hmm, that's a good question. Well, I think the prizes, which we've already kind of

addressed that are going to be there, but I think that's something that's really awesome because... When you say prizes, and we kind of actually talked about this a little bit, like I was really headstrong about making sure that we had cool trophies, because I feel like when you're an athlete or a competitor, like there's something about bringing home a trophy. Like... Yeah.

And I'd rather have a trophy than a little metal or a little certificate that I hand you like, I wanna fucking trophy. So, you feel the same way? I prefer a trophy zoom out. Okay, okay, okay, good. So I make sure we're on the same page. Because if not, we can save a lot of money

and you can fucking do that. I'm saying it's true. I'm saying it's true. Yeah, certificates, we could have done it kinkos. You know what I'm saying, that would be a lot easier. So, yeah, but I think that's important for you. If there's anything else, let us know that we can include in this competition. We want to make sure it's awesome. I think one of the most helpful things would be, I'm sure you guys are covering this, but getting a lot of great media for getting a lot of pictures and videos and stuff that you can use

then to Promote other competitions going forward Would be awesome because like you said there's a a lot of people that might have great information But they're not presenting it away with today's social media and everything online It's like if it's not really good quality and catches people's attention. They're just not gonna look at it Can we jazz up the uniforms a little bit, maybe? Well, you know, jazz them up. Yeah, sequins.

Make them flash. No, how does that work? I've noticed that some competitions, everyone kind of has like a similar uniform. Is that like, are those rules like you can't wear certain things? Yeah, so most of the time, you have to wear like, spandex or tight fitting shorts above the knee because part of the judging of the competition is that you can see that people like lock out their knees at the top.

And so same thing with the arms, you have to be able to see their elbows. So that's that's requirement. And then besides that people often wear, you know, they're just their club, T-shirts, and things like that. Well, excellent. Well, all right. We are very happy to have you part of the family. Yeah, part of it. Part of the family now. You're part of the family. You're officially been in the cube. Yeah, and we hope to do more things with your Brit. I think you're a good representative and ambassador for the sport. You've got a great attitude. And we personally, our opinion is that we think that there's a very bright future for the sport. And we're looking forward to seeing what we want to support it in any way we can for sure.

Totally. So, but it's been awesome having you on. Thank you so much for having me. Thank you. Hey, listen, if you like Mind Pump, go to mindpumpmedia.com and sign up for 30 days of coaching for free. Every single day you get an email covering a particular topic that has to do with fitness wellness, nutrition, strength, fat loss, all those things. And on that email will be episodes that we've done where we've covered that particular topic in detail time stamped.

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