Mind Pump: Raw Fitness Truth - 905: Hunter McIntyre

Episode Date: November 19, 2018

In this episode, Sal, Adam & Justin talk with the colorful super-athlete, Hunter McIntyre about his wild life of addiction, modeling, winning grueling competitions and more. Coming out of the gates HOT!! Being the life of the party, his trip to rehab and the drugs he used to partake in. (2:26) How did exercise become his drug of choice? (5:35) Something to pass the time…How he got into wrestling and where does his strength come from? (7:25) Is drug use common in the logging industry? (9:00) How he got into obstacle course racing and what was his major breakout? (10:34) If you want to beat people you don’t necessarily have to outwork them, you have to outsmart them. (13:42) How he became enamored by the sport of CrossFit. (16:50) How has the change of focus to Olympic lifting been going? (20:17) Has he measured himself around other top CrossFit athletes? (21:55) How passion is the most important thing in the universe. The art of trash talk and psychological warfare. (22:57) What are the strengths he will bring to the CrossFit Games? (27:54) How does he construct his programming? (29:49) Has he suffered any injuries throughout his career? (32:22) What are practices he has to maintain his health/wellness? (35:08) Why does he feel he lacks empathy for others? He opens up about his relationship with his family and his childhood growing up. (36:45) How it is intelligent to understand what is coming tomorrow, but it is more important to have the focus and the drive to own today. What aspirations does he have besides the CrossFit Games? (39:44) Living in a fishbowl in his brain. The crazy amount of drugs he was on as a kid, the misuse of them & what age did he start/stop. (43:27) If he had to get a job now, would he work for himself or someone else? (50:25) How he didn’t need anything but food and weights. How he got to the level where he is today. (51:56) Does he ever feel like he is living in a video game? The crazy paths life has taken him and his stint as a model. (56:58) Does he take a scientific approach to his nutrition? (1:04:41) If you play the game, you can make a killing. The money he has made doing various reality shows. (1:10:05) How Joe De Sena is Carmen Sandiego and defines #busy. (1:14:12) Does he have any sleep/meditation practices? (1:16:09) What is he reading right now? (1:18:27) Has he rubbed anyone the wrong way or have any nemesis? (1:20:06) How he aims to stay relevant and have fun with it. (1:23:42) What is his proudest moment? Least proud of?(1:24:40) How he was court-ordered to rehab. (1:30:52) Did he ever have a moment for he felt compelled to write out his feelings to his parents?  Do they keep in touch and support him now? (1:32:49) Does he have a time frame in mind for his goal of getting to the CrossFit Games? (1:35:20) Featured Guest/People Mentioned: Hunter McIntyre (@huntthesheriff)  Instagram Jacob Heppner (@jheppner66)  Instagram Mathew Fraser (@mathewfras)  Instagram Ben Greenfield (@bengreenfieldfitness)  Instagram Amelia Boone (@arboone11)  Instagram Joe De Sena (@realJoeDeSena)  Twitter Paul Chek (@paul.chek)  Instagram Robert Killian (@robert_killian)  Instagram Links/Products Mentioned: November Promotion: MAPS Anywhere ½ off!! **Code “WHITE50” at checkout** MAPS Fitness Products Hunter Mcintyre - Broken Skull Challenge Record Run How Greg Glassman is Reshaping the CrossFit Games Inventor of ADHD’s deathbed confession: “ADHD is a fictitious disease” Peak Death Race Heavy duty – Book by Mike Mentzer The Poliquin Principles – Book by Charles Poliquin Ultimate high - Book by Göran Kropp Endurance: Shackleton's Incredible Voyage – Book by Alfred Lansing

If you want to pump your body and expand your mind, there's only one place to go. Mite, op, mite, op with your hosts. Salda Stefano, Adam Schaefer, and Justin Andrews. Dude, can you do like a Rick Flair, you know, like sort of real where you're just like hyping yourself up? That would be rad. The greatest thing to happen since Slicebred to gay goobay. The big maim, how to make a towel, twist Steel and Six Appeals, stay in front of you right now.

Six foot two, a lean two, a half. Yeah. Man, that was a fun interview. We've been looking forward to having Hunter in the studio for some time now. He's caused all kinds of waves in obstacle course racing tough mutters. You can have to take names. And we got a chance to meet when we were up in Tahoe for the Spartan race.

Oh, we loved you right away. And instantly we all fell in love with this guy. Well, I was like, what did you have? You had a cowboy hat on and like an American flag tank top. Yeah, with a needle on it. And I'm just like, okay, I like this guy. Instant friends. Yeah, right away, right away.

This guy's a winner. This is our people. It's got to know how to do it. But we had a great conversation with you. We talked about your obviously competitions in OCR. Your modeling background is fascinating by the way. Being sexy professionally. He was a professional model at home point.

You're childhood, we've got into your childhood and what that was all about. Talk about drug addiction and rehab. We got into all kinds of crazy stuff. I'm a drug enthusiast. Right. It's a touch. We're not promoters.

Yeah, great. Now you can find him on Instagram at hunt the sheriff. That's a nice name. Where'd that come from, by the way? The sheriff badge tattoo. Oh, I see that. That's cool. Yeah, I'm here to party.

Very cool. Check him out on Instagram. You guys are gonna love this episode Yeah, and I do want to remind everybody that this month maps anywhere is half off maps anywhere Of course, there's our fitness program that gets you in shape anywhere doesn't require any equipment So you could do it at home. You could do that work. You do it on the road It's half off. I gotta do is go to mapswhite.com and use the code white50WHITEEE and the number 50 without a space for half off. And of course, if you wanna find out about other maps for our programs, just go to mapsfitinistproducts.com.

And that's it, you wanna say anything before we start your episode? Nah, man, I just hope you guys listen, hit me up if you enjoy the party. Excellent. So without any further ado, here we are interviewing Hunter McIntyre. Rock'n'roll!

Yeah! You guys should put record on. Everyone just hit Salvia one day. Are you crazy? No, wait! That'd be your top rated podcast. Have you done Salvia? That's what I started on.

Well, well, well, well, well. You started on the most powerful of this energetic. Well, dude. We didn't know. That was the problem. So one of our friends Andrew and middle school, like his dad dad like divorce family His dad kind of gave him everything he wanted. So he found out in smoke shops

There's this thing called salvia so his dad would buy him like bulk bags of the stuff his dad would yeah Leave us his legal by that had no clue So we'd go into the backyard and we had no we didn't know where to get rolling paper So what we do is we take sticky notes fill them with salvia We'd roll them up because I had that sticky thing and we'd smoke them and we were fucking we were destroyed. Oh my god You lose all you lose all sense of reality. Oh my god last time I did my head hit on the couch like this and my face was Melting into the couch and up because I was laughing so hard. I was like no losing my face. Oh my god This shit you do that's so damn, that was early on.

You were hard. I don't even think I knew what Salvia was back then. If you were middle school is when you fucked your eye on that? Well, we didn't, it was just kind of introduced to us. Yeah, we had no clue what we were doing. And, yeah, she's like an herb. Yeah, no, that's a little bit sold ass. And I think that's probably got to be one of the most dangerous drugs on the planet.

Like, you think about bathroom stuff? You cannot drive on that's probably got to be one of the most dangerous drugs on the planet like you think about Bathroom drive on that. Yeah, you can't do anything Yeah, I've seen I've seen the videos. Yeah, I'm cool. I've seen some page jump out of the window Sometimes if I smoke too much weed I freak out. So I'm cool with the I can't smoke weed at all anymore. Why? so I want to rehab 2007, oh man, it's sad. Oh, no, no, no, it was a great time. Honestly, it was such a good time. It's like imagine if you like to do drugs

and there's like five other kids in your schools or you like to do drugs. Now imagine you go to a sleep-boy camp with everyone who likes to do drugs. So you're like, you got great stories too. Yeah. You know what's funny is that the success rate on those are very high because of that exact reason right there.

I think my cousin went to rehab like eight times. You just ended up meeting first. Exactly what he just said. It's like camp for all your buddies that like to party to drugs. They keep on kicking you out of the rehabs because I kept on telling him. I was like, you guys know that right when we leave here we're going to do the same exact thing. No 12-step program is going to change us. We're all going to meet up and we're going to get met. You cannot say that to other children. This program's gonna change us. Like we're all gonna meet up and we're gonna get in it. Like Connor, you cannot say that to other children.

This program will work for them. I was like, no, it's not. How long ago was that? 2007. Oh wow, what was your, what was your drug of choice? What was it that you were in there for? I mean, there's everything. I mean, as I said, like, you know,

Salvia was like the first thing introduced to me. So like you just started at this incredibly high point. So your point of entry was like, imagine your first car was a Ferrari. Like you had to keep on finding other things that were similar to that kind of stimulus. So, um, I just kept on partying, drinking, smoking, doing cocaine, doing pills, and we just did it every day and I kept on getting arrested for like stupid things like smashing mailboxes, having fun as a kid, but you know, I guess the court system didn't think it was so funny.

And by the end of it, they're like, dude, you can either go to jail or you can You can go to court for I mean a rehab for you and I was like that's an obvious choice Yeah, I'm gonna go ahead and rehab. So did you is that one exercise and fitness and performance? Did that replace the drugs and become your your drug a choice? Luckily my program officer at the time so I I got to rehab and I was in college and it was basically this kind of thing. Sorry. It was this kind of thing where I got to college for the first time ever,

and though I don't do any drugs, and I was like, of course, I'm gonna do drugs. So everybody was getting high and I kept on failing everything. So I got sent to a second rehab, which was a nature rehab, like you're out in the woods for three and a half months, basically like sleeping in a sleeping bag in the dirt all day long. I got out of that one, you know, like, I'm gonna like you've got one more chance before you go

to jail and I was like, all right, I need a job that's gonna be so exhausting. I cannot get high. I'm too tired to do it. I'm gonna put it in. What a great approach. I know. So that was my only attempt. I was like, what can I do that will prevent me from getting high? I'm like, I got to have my hands full. So they contacted this guy who used to work with the program and he was a logger. So I got a job as a logger and I was like, you know, an 18 year old kid and they put me in the high woods of Montana doing like a lot of dangerous job. It was insane.

It's also one of the most physical jobs you could possibly do. It was, I got so jacked. So I went from 165 to 215 in eight months. Holy shit. I got these bare paws for hands, and that just made me, I remember I could walk into parties, I couldn't drink the beer, so what I would do is party tricks, I'd pick full-peck kegs up,

and I could throw them around the party or walk around with it with my shoulder, and right then and there I was like, I'm a fucking beast, I was like, I'm gonna start. I was like, I'm gonna start doing this. That login strength. So when I got out of rehab, I was like, I'm gonna start. I was like, I'm gonna start doing this. The login strength. So when I got out of rehab, I was just a monster and I went to college to go wrestle

and I was like so much stronger. And I was just like, holy crap, like I gotta learn how to lift weights. So basically, I still was getting high all the time, but I knew like my journey was fitness. So. Wow, so now you were you wrestling up until this point? Yeah, yeah. I wrestled all the way through high school,

middle school, elementary school. It was all the kind of thing where it was like, you know, just like a recreational soccer or anything. Like it wasn't so dedicated to it that I wanted to be like an Olympian. Like some kids wake up and like they're like every single day in high school. They're like, I'm gonna be an Olympian or I'm gonna be a world champion. Like I was just like, I'm gonna toss people around on the mat and you're just good at it.

Yeah, it was something to pass the time. Like, my parents gave me an ultimatum and was like, either you do yard work, get a job or you compete. So I just compete it. Wow. Would you say that that's part of the secret to your performance?

Cause you have this, we were watching some old videos of you. What was that? You just have a motor that doesn't scroll. Broke it, broke it, broke it's y'all, baby. And by the way, you were watching some old videos of you. What was that? You just have a motor that doesn't scroll. Broke it down, baby. Broke it down, baby. By the way, you were smaller in that video than I said, then you were now. But your strength is silly.

Yeah. It's your very, very strong pound for pound, it seems. Would you say that the wrestling background was your secret? You know what, it wasn't wrestling didn't make me that strong. What made me strong was climbing trees. Really, like it's crazy. I used to climb trees that were 50 to 100 feet high

every day for hours on end. And we would just get high and climb up to top of trees and make tree for us. It was so hysterical. We'd pack our backpacks and rope up two by fours and stuff and with hammers and nails and we climbed trees, just gnarly segments. And then we just smash the nail into the tree

and with a two by four and like sit there at the top and get high for a bit. And we're like, all right, we conquered this one onto the next one. Now, is that something that's common? I would never even thought about this because I know it's a dangerous job. And you gotta be kind of a badass,

probably a thrill seeker a little bit. So is it, our drugs common in that circle? Oh, in the walking industry? Yeah, dude, everybody. So the guy who got me the job was a heroin addict and a meth addict, and he had recovered, obviously. And the guy who was,

I was what was called a hooker and a not bumper to pretty sloppy names. So a hooker is the guy who, so imagine this is a hill right here. There's a crane at the top. You go down and you go down and they run this line down the mountain and they've saw, like all the guys who saw down the trees have laid down lines of trees. You have to align them, wrap a big heavy cordage of metal around it and make the call and

then they pull it up with the crane. So, and then the not bumpers, the guy at the top who unlocks the chains and then they pull it up with the crane. Okay. So, and then the not bumpers, the guy at the top who unlocks the chains and then solves them down and makes the law completely just like a straight pull. And the guy who is my partner for both of that, there was a 29 year old, so he was 10 years older than me and he still was like getting fucked up constantly. And so I think it's just like a high adrenaline job,

high, like you know, you're either getting high, you're crushing your job, or getting girls. Like those are your, that's the lifestyle. It attracts, it would seem like it attracts like a dopamine junkie, somebody who needs a thrill, a constant thrill, and you fit that category. Yeah, similar to like, you remember those like,

those shows where the guys are like lobster cravers or whatever, and they go out there, they crush it for three months in the high seas, then they come back and they go to like tick clubs, gamble and like do math. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, it's the same thing. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

We just did it on a daily basis. Wow. Do you work now or is your full-time job competing and being a sponsored athlete? This is full-time. The circumstances this, like I, I kinda got into Spartan race back in 2012 and I told my parents I was like, I'm gonna become the best mud runner in the world and they're like, you are not gonna do that.

Like, you go back to college. Everyone laughed at me and I was like, I'm gonna make this work, it's gonna be awesome, trust me. And within three months, I had a sponsorship from Spartan race and then another three months I had a sponsorship from Reebok. So it was kind of like the perfect way if I caught it and just rode it into the beach.

And since then, it's just been kind had a sponsorship from Reebok. So it was kind of like the perfect way if I caught it and just rode into the beach. And since then it's just been kind of a circuit of whether it's making money from the championship or making money from a sponsorship or whatever the one-off deal was, it just grew. Was this before or your first after your first show of Broken Skull? Broken Skull was probably three years into the career. Oh, so you had already got sponsored, already kicking ass. I thought it was the other way around. I thought Broken Skull kind of catapulted you.

No, no. I actually was really lucky. Within two years of doing Spartan race, I got contacted by Esquire Network and they hired me to host a television show with a couple other people traveling around the world doing the hardest endurance vents. And that just was like kicking the shit out of me.

And that is exactly the same time I got the call for Broke and Skull Ranch. So I was an ultra-distance athlete who got hired to do basically the World's Deadly a show, which is like more of a macho man up television show, Broken Skull. So at that point, I was kind of converging to insanely different worlds and had to meet into the center and still be able to uphold my job, which was being this hosted, like a endurance event that could last three days long, or something that could last 15 seconds

in a sandy pit in Southern California on Broken Skull. Oh, wow. So you had to maintain two different levels of fitness. Yeah, so that's where I'll admit, one thing that made me, two things that made me the beast of that show was I decided to take my bicycle and take all the gears off it and turn my bike into a single speed.

So my legs just built, were like tree trunks. They were as hard as this table. Like you couldn't touch them and not hurt your finger. So I had built this insane engine of strength and endurance through doing that. And then from there, I started doing a lot of sled drags. I think you'd be so surprised. Like you don't need to squat deadlifts or do bench press. If you do sled drag, it's heavy as you can imagine for like half an hour to an hour at a time. Oh, that's going to build

tremendous strength. Yeah, it's functional as fuck. Yeah. Cause at some point like in the strength endurance came from the logging to at some point, like, and the strength endurance came from the logging too. At some point, I think like, all you guys could probably put four or 500 pounds on your back for a squat, and you can hold that tension for probably like 10 to 15 seconds. But after that's done, like your power output drops it severely.

Right. And in all of these events that we would do, it's very similar. Like I may go up against a guy who has a stronger deadlift, bench, pull, whatever it may be. But after he dropped off, like every 30 seconds maybe drop a small percentage, whereas they drop 25, 50, 75,

and now they're just like a shell of themselves. Did you make that connection right away or is it like an evolution of like, oh, I'm starting to pick up that a lot of these dudes are not training maybe the right way, and I figured this out, how'd you put that together? I started, one thing I learned really, really young

is if you want to beat people, you don't necessarily need to outwork them, you need to outsmart them. Now outworking somebody is very key attribute of being a good athlete, but I just started reading as many books as possible. So, like, I've read well over 100, 200 strength and conditioning books. So, I was doing strong man research when I got the call for Broken Skull Ranch. I watched a couple episodes, I recognized the time domain of the

the exertion, and I was like, you need to be able to hold maximum intensity for 30 to 90 seconds. So I did the research on it and I recognized that if I just put myself under time under tension for that long, I would be able to break it. Yeah, we were talking about this earlier that you were, you know, a bit lighter like on the show and then you decided to go all into the strong man.

It's type training and then you gained a lot of weight. How much weight did you gain? I was 178 when I did the first broken skull and now I'm 208. So I fluctuate between like two, eight, two, 15 right now. What's your best competition weight? Have you identified? 192.

That's where you feel just overall the best. Well, if I was gonna do an OCR, I'll do it 192. Like you guys went to Tahoe. That right there, I'm probably a'll do it 192. Like you guys went to Tahoe. That right there, I'm probably 188, 192. 192, I feel a little bit healthier, 188. Like if the day is right, I can still feel good about it. And like that's where your body fat percentage like rides between like six and nine percent.

I would like to be like around seven to eight. They have official rankings for OCR or is it just each organization? Each organization's independent, they keep on trying to find these systems where they cross section each other because they're all independent companies under one industry and they all don't like to play

by the rules together. For some reason, they're just like, you guys are so similar, but for some reason, you can't agree on the fact that- Well, because one organization's gonna want one, they're a guy to be the champion. Yeah, yeah, so. So there's like, you know,

there's a couple of us that are always winning. And so, you know, there's one guy, John Albin, who pretty much cleaned up this year on everything that was long distance. So, like, he would probably be the highest ranked guy right now. Where are you on that? I haven't competed in that circuit in about a year and a half, but anything that's under 30 minutes,

under 60 minutes, I'd probably be number one or two. Anything that's under 30 minutes, I'm number one by a large margin. Now I can imagine someone like you who loves the novelty, loves the competition. Are you getting bored with this kind of competition now that you've been just kind of dominating it or is it still exciting for you?

It's still exciting. I think competition is something that defines me. I think I need to, like, I'm starting to get a little bit more involved in CrossFit and trying to get involved in just, like, some more one-off opportunities. But the reality is, like, I'm still very passionate about my project. And until I will follow and pursue something to it, it's very, very end. And then I will know the day it's done. Like, I'm not the kind of person who's like,

oh I think I'll still try another one. Like I only compete knowing that I can have the opportunity to win. So CrossFit, tell us about that. What are you trying out with them? This is such a crap shoot of information. But so I decided, like I've always talked about being good at CrossFit because it's something that I

continue to add into my strength training routine all the time because it's very versatile and it's something you don't get bored at. The five by five system is something that I just can't live by. So the approach of CrossFit has always been something I've been like enamored by. Let's try something today that's 10 by one

followed by a circuit that's like three rounds of X, Y and Z. And I was like, okay, that's actually really cool. So I've been doing it for five years but I've also been running professionally. They're two very different things. So then the announcement of TMX, which is our one mile championship for Tough Mudder, has been around for two years,

and it's just like CrossFit, but it's always running forward. So you're always running to the next circuit and doing the next challenge. And professional CrossFiters have come in and I was just dentin' them up left and right and I was like, I can fucking kill these guys. That was right. I was like, I know I can beat them.

So if you look at CrossFit, CrossFit's the score of, the open is five workouts. And you have to be very good at these five workouts. You don't have to be the greatest as a game of averages. So you have to be in the top percentile for all of them. Now out of those five workouts. You don't have to be the greatest as a game of averages. So, you know, you have to be in the top percentile for all of them. Now, out of those five workouts, I will get three or four of them,

really top percentages. And then one of them, I will shit the bed. And the one is always Olympic lifting. So I decided, I just recently, I was like, that's it. So after my recent championship, June 9th with TMX, I was like, I won the thing. I know I can win it forever if I want to. I was like, that's it. So after my recent championship, June 9th with TMX, I was like, I won the thing, I know I can win it forever if I want to. I was like, that's it, I'm done running.

So I haven't run in four months now, and I'm just going to Olympic lift. So now I am all in invested on CrossFit. Now admittedly, I'm a little bit heartbroken. It is like within two months of me announcing that, CrossFit announced that they are completely dissolving their linear approach to get to the CrossFit games. I mean, it's the open, the regionals, then the CrossFit games.

It's a very systematic thing that's been going on since 2008, 2007. How do they change it? What is it now? So now there's this whole new thing where every single country in the world that has a CrossFit gym through the open, if you are the top person in your country, whether it's the United States, the most dense country in the world for crossfitters, or your Yugoslavia where there's probably three crossfitters, every single country takes one person forward to compete at the crossfit games.

Now there's a second opportunity where there are 16 to 18 sanctioned events around the world that you can go compete at But you need to win them to go forward to the CrossFit game So that's the two options now the reason why I'm sitting in front of you lovely gentleman right now is option number three It is the wild card now This is supposed to also be known as the blow hard card and that is the card where if you're a hot shot And you think you can fuck them up and you say it loud enough and you represent yourself well enough they will give you one of these four cards and that is what we are doing here. I think we can get you a shot. I swear God I'm gonna blow a hole through those guys so right now that is what I'm designing myself to be

and I have to say at this point right now If you put me in the CrossFit games, I will not be the champion But am I training to be that champion? 100% I am and I would not be here speaking as loud as I am right now if I did not believe in that opportunity Wow, how's the Olympic lifting God tell me about that? So if you had to look across the board Let's say the standards for being a world class power lifter would be maybe a thousand, now let's say heavy weights just so we can get it across the board.

A thousand pound, like 900 to a thousand pound squat, deadlift anywhere from high eights to 1000, I think they're pulling 1,100 now but it's like one random guy. And then bench press is like 700 to high eights. So in CrossFit, if you went down, if you went to Olympic lifting in CrossFit, which is so much lower than the standard for like world class guys, you're looking at a snatch of like 315 being the top, you're looking at the clean and jerk 315 being the top, you're looking at the clean and jerk being around 375, 380. Those guys are usually good at one thing and then

they're kind of like, you know, in the trash with other ones. I'm at 240 snatch and 300 on the clean and jerk. Okay. Now this has all been developed over with like four months of dedicated training. Four months. Four months. Now you still got a lot to go. I got a lot to go. Now I'll be totally honest, it's just like if you guys were all recreational golfers and you played you know, once or twice a month and you swung and you just did your own thing

like you could play a game of golf. But then all of a sudden you decided you're like, I'm going to go to a tournament with all my friends at work and I want to prove to my boss that I can stick it to him. Like that's, and you went like four or five days a week to the driving range. That's where I'm at right now. And like I'm dedicated and I'm ready to crush. Now, have you kind of tested yourself

and dropped in some CrossFit locations and just seen how you measure up against a lot of these people? Oh yeah, yeah, constantly. Whenever I get the chance to go up against like anybody who's a high level cross-fitter, like I'll just be like, hey, you're around, you wanna do it and we just beat each other to the death. Oh yeah.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. And I'm right there alongside of them. But then all of a sudden, like if they decide to pull out that one sword, which is Olympic lifting, they will beat me. But not too long ago, I decided on my own accord to go to my friend, Jacob Heppner. You guys would love this guy.

You should definitely have him on. He's probably the fittest man in the world, I would say, but he just hasn't got the accolades to back it up. And I went and did the regionals from last year at his barn in Kansas. And of the five workouts, I set the world record on one, took third in the world on another one, and then I was middle of the pack on the last three. So there's a couple things right now that I am really, really at the tip of the spear four, and now I'm just kind of sharpening the rest of my tools, getting ready for the

next thing. How big of a role does the psychological factor play? I can imagine you're the kind of guy, if I were to compete against you, you'd fuck with me. 100%. Yeah, is that your game? Is that part of your strategy? Well, I let you know that the reality is that I'm going to crush you. It's just a matter of time.

And I think a lot of people don't understand this. It's like competition is something that is beautiful and it needs to be respected in the way that you need to be a sportsman, but at the same time, you also need to have your passion behind it. I think passion is the most important thing in the way that you need to be a sportsman, but at the same time, you also need to have your passion behind it. I think passion is the most important thing in the universe. I think it's the highest level of energy to dedicate towards anything. I don't, I think people like, you know, they're like, love, love is the most important thing in the universe.

I'm like, no passion, passion behind the love is the most important thing in the universe. And like, you know, passion behind your pursuit and whatever journey you have is the most important thing. And what I do is I let people know how passion I am about it by trash talking them to their face. And I'm not the kind of guy who will talk badly about someone behind someone's back. Like I straight up will tell you as soon as I know

and whether it's on social media or to your face. And it's not because I disrespect you, it's just because like I know what I believe in and I'm just making sure you heard me. Hey, as long as you back it up, right? Yeah. And that's what you see, the Conor McGregor, or something like that,

that's really good at the trash talking, but can back it up. Yeah, but also builds your brand. I mean, this guy right here is like, you're a network TV dream. I mean, I know, right? So I would feel like they should give you a card if they want ratings.

Do you have anybody in your crosshairs? Anybody you want to compete against more than others? Well, the thing that I hate the most, and I swear to God, hand in my heart, I have nothing against this guy because he is an incredible, he is what everyone should look up to and aspire to be as Matt Frazier. He's won the games the past three years. And only reason why I want to beat him is not because

I don't care about the money. You could keep the money all donated to charity, if that's what an opportunity. But I hate people who win so easily. And while I say to other athletes, I was like, if you guys just sacked up and did something about this and recognize, it's not a game of you against him,

it's all of you against him. So what it is, and someone mentioned this, I can't remember the interview, if everybody did a little bit better, it would pull off of his performance. And like, that's what people need to recognize. And if it needs to, if I need to be the iceberg that takes down the Titanic,

I will be, like I don't care, I just wanna get in there and I like beating the best. Do you see any cracks in his performance or his arm or what are his weaknesses do you think? Well, I think the probably the biggest thing that I've recognized is he hasn't ever had anybody really rubbing up against him. He doesn't have like somebody every single workout

pushing him, he's good at trash talking. He's good at the sport and he's good at just, he's calm, cool and collected. He never has that. So what you need to do in a sport like this with somebody who's such a hot shot is you need to take the air out of their tires a little bit. And what you need to do is you need to get in front of the camera before he does. You know, get out in front of him a little bit or be behind him and let him know that you're right there.

And now I'm not saying specifically him, he's just a really easy example because he's been the three-time champion. With somebody like that, that's how I would play this sport. I would go in to an event and I would destroy the first one as hard as I could and I'd burn them to the ground, like everybody and they'd know. They're like, fuck, this is the guy that they talked about. And then after that, I would let them know the next one, even though it wasn't my strong suit, I'm like,

hey, you know what I'm gonna do? Is I'm gonna take a nap during this one, and I'm gonna let you blow out your tires, and then I'm gonna fuck you up on the next one. And what you do is, it's strategy. It's not trying to be a pig of an athlete. It's being a person who is, you know, it's a game of strategy.

I always play things like chess. You have your pawns, which are the ones you can just dish to the side, and there's suckers to go after pawns. I always play things like chess. You have your pawns, which are the ones you can just dish to the side, and there's suckers to go after pawns. I love suckers. It's psychological warfare. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. And then you have your cross game.

So you gotta always be looking at angles that people aren't paying attention to. And then you just have your, your, your bull, you know, where you're gonna drive for and you're gonna smash people. And like, you gotta have that approach. So like, when I do Spartan races still, what I do is there's the running aspect, which is not necessarily essential.

You can be a front runner, you can scare people, but what I do is I make sure when it's time, I will do the bait and switch. I'll make sure that I get, pretend like I'm tired just before a heavy obstacle, and then I'll get behind them and let the person get ahead of me, and they'll pick up something super fucking heavy, and I'll blast it super hard,

and just fly right past you, and they're like, shit, hunters got so much energy. I've heard you basically rub up against people through elbows out there. Rubber's racing, physical. I have literally put a man into a tree as hard as I could, because he wouldn't get out of my way. He was one of my best competitors,

I was like, Matt, get out of my way, He was one of my best competitors. I was like, Matt, get out of my way. And he was just blocking me and I just slammed him. But yeah, these are all strategies that I've been exercising for years. You talked about your weakness being Olympic lifts and now you're focusing on them. What are your strengths? What are you going to bring to the CrossFit stage that you think you'll just kill people at? Oh, dude, engine.

If you think about it, so if you looked at the CrossFit Games, usually the design is 12 to 14 events, I would say a third of them are cardiovascular-based, like, in its entirety. So like last year, they had an all-out cycling event. They had, and they had a marathon row in the first day. So those are completely metabolic, like, you know, just like long distance, easy going things, easy. Then they had an obstacle course event where while wearing a weight vest,

like, you know, that's my specialty. So that's three things. Then they had a swim paddle run. That's four things. Then they had a, gosh, what is it? They had this thing, it was called chaos, which is basically like going across a football field while going through like exercises like they had swings, sled drags, everything like that.

That was even though it's breaking it up, doing different kind of like tasks. It's still a metabolic thing. So what it is, is what I told you guys before, what I've designed my engine to do, and a lot of athletes have, so I'm not trying to say this is gonna be an easy battle by any means, is you find your level of sustainability, and what your goal is to have your maximum level of horsepower, but then being able to be a fuel-efficient beast

at that horsepower, because if you think about those drag cars that go down the strip as fast as they can, their gas tank will be empty at that same rate within minutes. Now, what you need to be able to do is you need to be able to be like a Formula One car. Like, you need, know that you have to do lap upon lap upon lap. And if you have to go in and get fuel, you're going to break down and people are going to pass you. So what I've done is I've just, I just keep on taking these percentages, which are 100% and I find how to ride 90 as long as I can. How does your training do that? What does your training look like when you're doing that?

I mean, I know you're doing a lot of skills with the Olympic lifting, but to keep building or working on that engine, how do you construct your routines? Well, I've built a base from just years of doing this kind of stuff, so that's a pretty easy thing. Just like I'm sure you guys have all been in the gym for so many years. Like you know that you can put 225 on the bar and do bench press no matter what. So that's there. Most importantly, what I've done is I've started to go back through my research and you guys ever heard

that Arthur Jones. Yeah. So like I invent from Nautilus equipment. Yeah, so I've been doing research and I just started reading, I read it years ago, but Mike meant. Oh, I have to. I'm a do least equipment. Yeah, so I've been doing research and I just started reading, I read it years ago, but Mike meant, Oh, have you been doing? I've been doing? Yeah, so I started reading that book again just recently.

And I'm trying to find ways, like I've always been, I always knew that time under tensions, the number one way to develop endurance and strength and like, you know, being able to be fatigue resistant. So now I'm trying to find ways inside of a strength set, which might be a typical thing to you guys, like, five by five, and then you know what cluster training is.

So cluster training is another breakdown of it. So I'll use sets like that. But now I'm trying to find ways of doing these, like, kind of, like, A-B sets, where A-Set will be five, like a cluster set. And then what I'll do is I'll take that same next set and I'll just put the weight on the bar and I'll go up and down as many times I can at 90,

80, 90%. So let's say like I'll do a set of five and then I'll go and try to get anywhere from like nine to 14 on the next one. And then I'll do like a slow tempo version of set of five and then I'll go back again. And it's much more exhausting, but what I'm understanding now is like there's always different levels of breaking in your body.

Like you may get really tired in that front rack position, and the reason why you break down is your lower back, but your legs and your shoulders are totally fine. So find ways of finding more tension in that position in your back. So like, that's the kind of strategy I'm doing right now. I do have a coach, but I'm just kind of taking my scientific knowledge of myself and the world

and putting it into my training. Yeah, you seem to have a really, really fast ability to regenerate energy. Ben Greenfield talked about this for himself. He said that his ability to regenerate energy is what made him initially good at what he did. And it sounds like you have that natural ability as well where you don't have to rest very long between sets

to get your strength back. No, I mean part of it's training, the other part of it's genetic. Like there are some people who are just never going to be able to do some of the things that I do and there's some things that I'll never be able to do that other people can do. Right, right, right.

Now what about injuries? Have you had, because this kind of training is very high risk, obviously. Yeah. Have you suffered any injuries throughout your career? No, not really. Wow, really. That's crazy.

Super bearable. You know, it was super shitty. Just recently back in April, and this was just six weeks before the TMX title, and I was racing a stadium race, which is pretty much like a very small thing on the totem pole of racing when it comes to priority. I jumped down a stair set and had to cut right and my ankle just rolled over and snapped and I popped the ligaments on the left side of my ankle. That's probably been the most devastating injury in my career because it was so bad that it came,

if you think about the ankle joint being right here at Torral, the ligaments down at the side, the right side of my right ankle, which just pronates out to the right, and it was so bad that it came back into the joint and the ball, like the, well, basically the bone socket of where the ankle meets the foot,

and it was like just traumatized. Like I couldn't flex back or forth at all. So. Did you get surgery on it or heal on a time? No, I'm a big believer in not going to the doctor. You didn't get to check that at all? No, I did. My family brought me in and they got so upset with me

when I walked out of the doctor's. They told me I needed to be in a boot for like eight weeks and I couldn't run at all. And I was like, listen, I was like, I have my world title in six weeks and I'm going to race it. And it's not gonna be in a boot, so I'm taking it off.

Did you race? I did race. And I won. I won. I'm out of here. This guy. But. Give this man a wild card.

Give this man a wild card. Give this man a wild card. No, no, no, no, no. It's a reality in my situation. Like if there's a bone hanging out of my flesh, like I'll be like, wait a second, this isn't natural. But if it's something that is somewhat sustainable through physical therapy, that's when I, like I've never had such a major injury

where it's like an ACL tear or anything. And I have my fingers crossed, but also it's because I'm very diligent in what it takes to be healthy. Like I'm not the kind of guy. Like I learned it at a young age. I'll never forget. I ran a 10K all out in 2013.

And then I came in to my gym and did this workout called King Kong, which is a CrossFit workout with heavy dead lives, heavy cleans, ring muscle ups and handstand push ups. It's basically, like, it's your max weight. And I decided that I would do that right after running full speed and I threw my back out. And I knew right then and there was like, there's just some things you cannot do in the same day.

And I've, like, basically, a lot of what I do is kind of like risk reward at this point. Do you, what are your some of your health practices to maintain your health? Like do you have a stress management protocol? Do you meditate? Do you do anything like that? Um, I have a therapist not in the way like a therapist like where I sit down and cry on a couch, but it's more of like a, uh, his name's Divo. He's, he's one of the greatest guys. He works with a lot of people, athletes who have been in rehab in Malibu. Like a lot of these guys, Malibu's like just stacked

with rehabs for some reason. Yeah, what is that? I don't know. Well, if you want to, Is that a good old Hollywood guy? If you want to recover from being an addict, might as well do it on the beach, I guess. Yeah.

So he and I knew each other for years, and I was like, you know what, dude, I would like it if you helped me out. So we took our friendships and turned it into a little bit of a more of a convenient business relationship as well. That's been something that's been very helpful for me because I'll admit, probably the hardest part of being a very driven person is running over people.

You literally run people over, whether it be your family relationships, being a very driven person is running over people. You literally run people over whether you be your family, relationships, I'm so bad at being a boyfriend, just because I do not know how to emotionally put myself and you before me, and not because I'm an asshole, it's just because I just don't see emotions. When someone's like, oh, I had a really hard day at work, I'm like, what was so hard about your day at work?

Like, you had a bad conversation like, it's your job. Stop complaining. Like if I complained about like, oh, I had a hard day at the gym today like, well, go get another job. Like do something else. So like things like that are very difficult for me. So like having a stress relationship. What do you think that comes from? You use that? Does that go all the way back to childhood?

What's your relationship like with your parents? Like where does that, I lack empathy for a lot of people too. And that's an issue I have, but I know where it's rooted from. Would you know where yours is rooted from? Probably my dad, like my dad and I are best friends, but I think when you have, I'm one of four boys and like everybody's super successful. My dad was, you know, graduated top of his class from Harvard, his father.

Didn't even go to college, but then, you know, started his own business. Was the head of, he was the head editor of the equivalent of like the Detroit times. And then started all these other businesses, my other grandfathers had the orthopedic surgery for all of New England. And like everybody was just a boss. So to be in the room with all these people and all my brothers who were successful as well, you have to just fucking be.

Yeah, I'm the youngest. So that is, man. Oh my God. So you had to, now it wasn't like I had a chip on my shoulder. It was just like, all right, I'm four feet tall. Everyone else is six feet tall. Like I need to say something or do something. And I think really when you're in that kind of testosterone

driven room, there's not room for crying. Cause if you start crying, everyone's like, fuck, leave Hunter alone. Yeah, let's just ditch this dude. So yeah, I think maybe that's it, but I'm not gonna say I had a bad childhood by any means. Like I don't have like a sob story where I was like beating their left in a dark closet.

I think there was some really high expectations and being the youngest though that you had a lot to live up to them probably felt like a lot of pressure on you, yeah? I did nothing. I never did any school work. I was only, I was a good athlete. I was fun to be around,

but like everybody was top of the class. A couple of my brothers are Ivy League people and say they're successful, doctor, lawyer, hedge fund guy, and then there's me, the mud run champ baby. Yeah. So that's a lot of pressure, because if you're gonna choose a path like that,

like it's, it almost is like, you gotta be the greatest at it then. Like if you're gonna, you're gonna hang with all the brothers, right? Yeah, I guess so. I don't, I really don't know how it all came together. We have a unique circumstance where everyone was actually really supportive.

There was never a point in my life where if people were like, if you don't win this, you're not worth as much to us. Like it never felt like that. So I don't know where the drive came from, but I think it was just a very well-designed circumstance where our family was all high achievers and it just seemed natural to do the same. Is everybody have charisma like you?

My dad does, my brother Ash does, my brother Garrett and Baxter, they're more kind of reserved, but they're also very intelligent. If they were sitting here right now and you're asking questions, they could talk just as well as I do, but I don't know. My mom, my mom was very, she was very good at laughing.

I think that's where I learned to laugh, probably the most. So she gave me that and probably my dad and my brothers, they gave me more of the confidence to talk a lot. Now, you obviously have your sights on CrossFit, but are you also looking beyond seeing how you can grow beyond that? Do you have aspirations for anything?

Out of that, are you just looking straight at CrossFit for now? Yeah, well, weren't you also working with the WWE and the... Oh, gosh, yeah. I wanna, yeah, I wanna talk about that. That would be my dream job. Okay.

I did have the offer for it. Really? I'll give you guys the immediate. I think it is intelligent to understand what is coming tomorrow, but I think it's more important to have the focus and the drive to own today. And I'm not like, I didn't read that from a book

and I'm not trying to be trendy. I think it's just really important to understand how important it is to be great at what you say you're gonna be great at and never give too much of your energy towards something that is a potential. Like a potential that is outside of what you want to be your reality. Sure.

So I know what I would like to have in my future. You know, probably most importantly for me is to have a successful family. Oh nice. Yeah. Like I is to have a successful family. I think, yeah, I want to be as hard working, I'll wake up, get on a flight, come see you guys, and go back home, and go about my day, and I will do that until it is time to start a family. I'm on planes all over the country, if not the world, every week, just because I'm chasing opportunity. Outside of that, if you, let's say everything worked well

in my sporting career, I completed everything I wanted to do an obstacle course racing. I completed the opportunity of going to the CrossFit Games and representing the fact that our sport and athletes like myself are fit enough to be on that stage. And I felt confident in that. Like I didn't have to look behind me and have regret. Probably the next thing I would like to do

is have the opportunity to explain to people who are in my position, the path, and the easiest way to go about it, not only in the physicality, but also the emotional response. Like me being a kid who was so destructive in a way that I didn't understand how what I was doing was probably not best shaped for my time. Now, like I woke up in the morning and I got high

and I made jokes in class and I never assembled myself to have a successful future. I just ended up aligning the way I wanted it to and in its randomness. I'm so lucky that I have this opportunity right now because most kids who didn't have the family to afford it or didn't have the people surrounding them with the positivity would never be in my shoes right now.

Because I was arrested four times, I was in front of cops well more than that. I was expelled from multiple schools. I was, had the grade point average that would not even get you into community college. And I'm a little bit heartbroken knowing that there's a lot of people who did the same thing. Mostly also because I was pump full

of so much prescription medication at a young age that like it was ridiculous now that I look back on it. Like, you can't just take a kid and give them for extremely powerful drugs and expect them to be like a well-rounded human being. When you have uppers, downers, and in-betweeners, trying to basically, you know, sedate the kid. So I would like to be able to take the platform

that I built and help kids out in that regard. Oh, yeah. So, see, it's like on one hand, your cocky as hell, and then the other hand, you're humblesize the heart. Yeah, well, I got a good heart, like family and friends first, but I would not be able to do what I do at the level I want to, unless I worked hard enough. Like, you know, to afford being able to take my friends out

to dinner or be able to get people good, you know, put my kids through college, things like that, you do need to work hard. And if you don't bark as loud as you want to bite, then no one's gonna pay attention. So that's why I have to be who I am. You talked about prescription drugs as a kid. Was it like 80-D medication?

I'm just guessing. Dude, it's ridiculous. They had me on like 120 milligrams of things that like if you took a 10 right now, you guys would feel high as a kite. And for some reason, they had this like inverse idea that like if he's so high and then we try to bring him higher Potentially he shall crash I don't know what the fuck they were thinking and then they had me on tranquilizers

They had me on bipolar medication. Holy shit. Yeah, dude. It was nuts Dude, so what I learned to do is I would get Panfuls of pills and I could somehow roll them towards my fingers and lock them in and go like this and pretend like I ate them. So, and then my parents would be like, okay, and I'd throw them out. Because I knew at a young age I was like, this shit is not good. Like, I remember in my fifth grade, I lived in like a fish bowl in my brain. Like, everybody, like I could see everybody, but I couldn't communicate. Like, I was so twisted out of my brain from this medication, and I also gained this really

word twitch where I would just scratch my head constantly. To the point where I'll never forget, I scratched a hole through my head. I scratched a hole through my head into a bald spot. I woke up the next morning and my hair was just filled with pus and they'd created this massive scab. I was like, this is fucked up. So I stopped taking the medication, and God, I look back at it now,

and I think to the kids that are still being put on this medication, like I'm not gonna lie, two days ago, I talked to somebody, and they had told me about some article or something they'd watched, where the guy who had founded the idea of ADD, realized on his deathbed, mentioned that it was basically just a farce.

Like he had created, it was like kind of like a psychotherapist who'd kind of like created this like pseudo categories. Like, well, this child must have attention, death is to disorder. Let's give him some math. Yeah. We shall give him a few things.

Yeah. So it's funny too because the same characteristics that you were medicated for as a kid are the same characteristics that you're displaying right now as we're talking to you. And it's probably some of the same characteristics that make you give you the ability to hyper focus on your sport,

have the drive that you have. They also contribute to some of your charisma which is probably gonna help you succeed even more in the sport because it's face it. have the drive that you have. They also contribute to some of your charisma, which is probably gonna help you succeed even more in the sport, because it's face it, these are commercial brands and having somebody who's a champion

who also can get on camera and do all that stuff. That's a big win for them. Those same characteristics when you're a kid, they don't want them. Here's some drugs, sit in the corner, be quiet, write down your homework.

It's a crazy thought to think that, you know, you need to wake up in the morning and leave your room and then go sit down in a room the size of this that we're sitting in right now with 20, 30 other kids and be quiet for eight hours. And like in reality, kids do need to move and express themselves. And what they've done is they've turned us

into caged animals. Like have you ever seen a dog that's been in a cage all day long? And then they get out and they freak the fuck out and they're turned us into cageed animals. Like, have you ever seen a dog that's been in a cage all day long? And then they get out and they freak the fuck out and they're like jumping on top of people. And you're like, why is this such a bad dog? Like, no, it's not a bad dog. Like, you've treated it, you basically treated it poorly

and now it just doesn't know how to react in its situation. Like, you've given it a little bit of freedom and it's gonna act out. And that's what ended up happening with me. And I'm not gonna say that, you know, I'm an angel, but I think if things were designed a little bit differently and I hope that I can help pursue and give people the opportunity where it doesn't have to be like that for them. Now, how old were you when you first were getting

medicated and then at what age did you like say, fuck this, never taking this shit again? God, it had to have been third or fourth grade that I started taking like high levels of medication, like patches, pills, fucking everything. Wow. And I recognized probably 10, 11, 12, that like it just didn't make me feel good. Um, guys, they were powerful drugs. Like I wouldn't eat ever.

I wouldn't eat and then I would binge eat because like you'd be so high and sweat all the time. You're like, yeah, yeah. She was super fucked up. And God, dude, I was court mandated when I was going through that year of rehab and then the year after rehab to be on the same amount of drugs. And like that's crazy to think that you can court mandate

people to be on drugs. So it's like, that the government can say take these. Or take these. So I just, I recognize, but dude, as soon as I stop taking these things and like I understood how to channel myself, as long as I wake up in the morning,

move a little bit, and it settles me completely. I can sit on a plane, I can read emails, write anything, like, whereas before, like, they put me in a room and I immediately started like twitching and kicking because like, you just can't do that to somebody. Did your brother's experience the same thing, growing up, did they have to go on medication? Uh, Garrett had dyslexia and like, had to just go to a school

for a little bit and figure things out. And Ashley, he had a little bit going on, but I mean, everybody kind of conquered it in their own way. I think I probably was the farthest off the spectrum. I just had the most energy, I guess, and a different approach to going about the day than they did. But no, I definitely was the black sheep. Looking back, now that you have that hindsight,

what do you think would have been a better approach? Or let's say you have a kid who's identical to you and you're recognizing these things, like how would you approach their day or their schooling? I probably start my homeschooling my kids for a while. I think being able to create that bond and also I'd selfishly learn how, I'd read learn a lot of the things

that were going on through school. I think it would help create a bond between myself and them and I think I just have to have my own self experimentation of learning what the kids are actually going through, because myself giving away my kid for the entire day and then allowing people to give me reconnaissance information on how they've been acting without me actually watching,

like what was going on in my circumstance is probably not the best way. Like I should probably watch my kid go through it on my own. So that's probably my first approach. Also just understanding that there's probably going to be schools that are better designed for people like that. And whether I have to be somebody who helps create that

or find those things, that's probably my next step. Do you think activity would have helped you? Like if you're... Oh yeah. Like I went to military school and I actually got really good grades at military school because they had us moving around a lot and then going to like study hall and then like going to like the pool and doing pool drills and then going to like, I didn't do the weightlifting, but kids were doing weightlifting classes and stuff.

Like, it was, there was like all this regimen of not necessarily negativity, like some regimen can be associated with, but it was just like systematic in the way that you had to like, get up, go in the morning, go here, go run, go do this, go do that, go to class, go do this, go do that, and I think that was even better for me, even though military school is a rough place on itself, it was better, at least in that degree. If you had to get a job now, do you think you'd want

to be an entrepreneur or work for someone else? Because I have a guess. I guess that I feel like you'd be unemployable, not because you'd be a bad employee, but because, and by the way, I identify with this. Okay, not because you'd be a bad employee, but because you'd want to have the autonomy to do your own shit. Yeah, is that, am I hitting it? Okay, not because you'd be a bad employee, but because you'd wanna have the autonomy to do your own shit.

Yeah. Am I hitting it? Yeah, no you're right. I always thought it'd be super funny if I could be in office though. I would be just, I would wanna be a... That'd be like the best sitcom ever. I wanna be a CEO.

Like my dad used to mess with the employees so much. We grew up in his office. So I thought to myself, I was like, I would have so much fun fucking with these people. Like stealing. That's his drive to become a CEO so we can fuck with his office. So I thought to myself, I was like, I would have so much fun fucking with these people stealing. That's his drive to become a CEO. So we can fuck with his employees. Like steal their keyboard, take wheels off their chair. Like porn on people's computer. Exactly. Can't do that anymore.

Yes. Well, whatever. I would do it. Yeah. I thought that would be a blast. I'm hoping that I become successful enough that I do have employees that I can continue that like a idea with But yeah, I would like to be on my own I Think I'm always gonna have to be my own boss because I think I just go to the beat of my own drum I know that my ideas and my drive will be Intense enough that I can pursue it. I'm not like kind of like those whimsical person like well

Maybe I'll try this today or this or this like yeah, I'm not like kind of like this whimsical person like well, maybe I'll try this today or this or this like you know, I'm so creative I'm not gonna be that person So yeah, I think if I can get through this whole athletic thing I'll have a good path ahead of me and I'll be my own boss now How far do you have to get in order to be able to be a full-time Obstacle course racer where your sponsors are paying you enough money that you can have a livelihood. Like is it lucrative? Is it something that you had to? You have to win a certain amount of race. Right, did you have to work for a long time before you got to a point where you didn't have to? Well, ironically, I had built up my career to be exactly what I wanted.

To be, I was a personal trainer in Malibu. I was teaching at Soul Psycho, which I don't know if you guys ever tried one of those, which was fun. I was teaching there in Malibu. It's too hard. No, I haven it to be. I was a personal trainer in Malibu. I was teaching at Soul Cycle, which I don't know if you guys ever tried one of those, which is fun. I was teaching there in Malibu. It's too hard. No, I haven't done it. It is very hard. That's why I loved it.

That in the way. He's not like to wear the tights yet. I had, I- I dress like I do Soul Cycle, but I don't take the classes. Yeah. I had, I was working for them, and I never collected my paychecks for them.

They probably owe me like a good like six grand. Wait a minute. You showed up to work and then didn't- I never collected my paychecks for them. They probably owe me a good like six grand. Wait a minute. You showed up to work and then didn't pay my paychecks. Why does that make sense? I don't know, because I was just like, I was like, I'm just having a party. Hey, you're forgetting something. I was just having a blast.

So I was working there for a while and I started doing this. Like I was just, I don't even know if I had that much money in my pocket when I started. Like I was really just, I would go to the store and I'd buy a whole chicken and a couple things of coconut water and that would be like my lunch. Like I was very cheap because nothing, I didn't really need anything other than food and weights.

So in the beginning, yeah I was dead broke and I would just have people start buying me flights. So like, hey Hunter, do you want to go to this race? I was like, yeah, and then I checked my email box. I had a flight So it just happened really quickly to the point where I don't really know I could not map out how to pursue what I did It's pretty honest Yeah, and then gosh it increased so much to the point where Starting to make a lot of money and I was like wow like I don't even know how this started

So like I'm not trying to brag and say I'm rich by any means. It was just like, it went from being a kid who lived in like a little apartment, was dead broke. I didn't have a car, didn't have anything to all the sudden, like winning things within a year and a half. Like I was winning things like Broken Skull Ranch, which immediately gave me $50,000. And then winning like these other championships,

like when we first started like winning $500 was a big deal. And I was like, I'm a fucking beast. 500 log. Did you see this big cardboard check? Like, and now it's a lot of it's relies on the sponsorship. But if I could backtrack it and just try to pinpoint where it started and where it is now, I'll say at first, it was success.

Like you do need to be successful. There's the Instagram booty model approach where like you just take your clothes off, take pictures and hopefully people will send you checks to where they're thong or t-shirt. It's a valid model. It is, it is. I think I might go back to it.

Adam tried it from me. Yeah, listen, I didn't work out so well for me. I'm not going to crack on it because I may still go back. There's that approach, but then I tell people there's the approach of just success. You have to own what you're involved with. So even if it's not even the biggest race platform ever, like you're just doing some of these small OCR events, like if you start winning and showing like you're relatable to the crowds and that you are relevant in the industry, you can slowly start to pick up on that. And I think that can be across all platforms, whether it be, you know, being a bodybuilder and like, you know, some kind of small supplement industry wants to

support you, whether that be a cross-fitter, you know, a track runner, whatever it is, that's how you have to do it. You know, win small and focus on that. And then what I did was I kept on growing past that and started to get into bigger platforms. And I think it was probably just the way I talked and the way I walked where people wanted to start sponsoring me,

like, Reebok immediately, I was their first sponsored athlete. Amelia, who you guys know was like, soon after she was sponsored with them. So they started to come in and pick people up. And I can't tell you like, I think about how crazy I am. I think I told you guys this earlier. I don't know why people sponsor me.

Like, if you walked down the street, I mean, you see what I'm wearing right now, they're like, that man has to. Reebok's pissed right now. Yeah, they're're like this motherfucker. We can't get him in our gear. We sit in free shit all the time. I'll never forget to magnum P.I.

This is a 23rd world championships for Spartan race. We had an athlete panel that was in Vermont and like it was sponsored by Reebok and it was a very big deal for them to have like their athletes be there on that panel. And I showed up in my muddy combat boots and like a flannel shirt at the thing. And the guy just looked at me up and down, like I could just tell he was like, fuck.

I was such an idiot. You're like, and I was just chilling there. They took my shirt off and put a re-box shirt on. And because you couldn't see below the table but I was wearing muddy combat boots. So I think I'm lucky to have people believing in me. I would probably say that at best

because I don't know if I would sponsor me if I was a sponsor. Do you ever feel like you're living in like a simulation like you're a video game character? Because only because I'm listening to your story I'm like this sounds so crazy, but it also makes sense at the same time. Yeah.

Everything like this is just not real. It isn't real. I'll tell you guys a crazy story. So the way it kind of started me coming out to California, it was I went to college, and I recognized, I was like, I was basically paying all my friends and beer to do my homework,

and I would just sit next to them and drink while they did my homework for me. And I was like, this is, I was like, I don't wanna do this stuff. So I was like, let's just hang out,, I was like, I don't wanna do this stuff. So I was like, let's just hang out and I go to the gym and lift a lot. I immediately learned I was like, this is not my life.

So I was like, I'm gonna get out of here and go do something. And then my friend, I was at a party and I was really ripped at the time and I popped out of a door in my underwear. And this person looked at me and was like, yo, you should be a model, Brown. I was like, fuck yeah, I should be a model.

I should, I was like, so then within a couple of months of that I had a modeling contract. I was like, I swear to God. And then I went down to Miami, I got signed by modeling agency and then I was up in New York, taking pictures, then I was out in Barcelona living, like being a model over there. And then I quit that industry and then I came over here

and I was like, I wanna be a professional mud runner, bro. And then next thing, you know, like this happens. So it does feel like a video game. Like you have like these two paths, like which way do you wanna go, Hunter? I'm like, I'm taking the left baby. Like, it ends up working out. And I can honestly say the only reason why I probably

have come as far as I have is because when I start something, I don't stop talking about it and I don't stop living it as hard as I can until I've just, I'm done with it. Wow. What did you model for? I know. It was usually like, Abercrombia Fitch was the first big company that got me. What was that world like?

What's that whole model? What was your signature pose? I would like, purse my lips and pretend like I could smell bacon across the room. And I'd say great, it's a great visual right there. I flare my nostrils a little bit. Yeah, that was usually the look. I'm so glad we're recording this on video. So you know what, it was interesting because my understanding of a physical body looked

like was shredded. You had to be a fucking twisted steel and sex appeal. And a lot of these guys were like so and drudgenists, like they were like, they were like skin scarecrows. They were just like these like super angular lean bodies. Like if you looked at them right now, like I don't know how anyone would be attracted to that, but they're getting these humongous contracts.

And I would walk in there with like an eight pack, like veins from toe to my forehead. And I was like, give me the fucking job, bro. I'm here. I'm here. Look at this. Look at this. Do you not see this?

I, so it was very interesting. And like getting to travel around and meeting all these models and everybody has their own personality and their own thing. It was very fun. Like my favorite story about modeling was I moved to Barcelona and this kid ended up being my roommate. He was my first time ever meeting an Australian person.

His name was Brent McCormack and I didn't realize that the word Kant meant bro to them. Yeah. Oh, you've been loved from that. What you fucking doing out of your shit, Kant? I'm like, did you just call me a shit, gun? I was like, I'll stab you in the forehead. Say that again. He's like, come back me bro. He's like, fucking Kant dude. He's like, come back me bro. He's like, fucking, can't dude. He's like, where's my fucking protein shake and you shit can't. I'm like, that's it again.

You call me a con. It's going down. So, I hated him at first, but then I recognized that he was just being a bro, calling me a bro. And I just had to learn, that was my first introduction to the outside world of Connecticut and New York, where we're just super vanilla bean people. And I had to get thrown into these rooms

with people I had never met before. And it was a very competitive environment as well or what? Well, I made it a competitive environment because that's all I understood. You made it a beer rug. Yeah, exactly. So the thing was, it's an interesting industry, where I'm sure it's just acting,

the way to win is not systematic. It's very like, who you know, what you got going on, right place, right time, and I was like, I don't have time for this shit. I was like, I just wanna be a beast, and I thought that that's how you won, but it wasn't. So, I'll admit, I met so many cool people, one of my best friends is still an agent that I've worked with for years. Like I got, I got contacted the other day. I posted

like last year, I had Longblonde hair. I'll show you guys my license. I look ridiculous. I posted a picture like me and my underwear in the mirror with Longblonde hair. L'Oreal immediately contacts me. They're like, we're flying you out to Spain for a photo shoot. I was like, yep, like it was, it was it was ridiculous. So there's so many cool things came out of it, but in reality, it's something I probably won't pursue still, because being a model is just weird. It was. There were some points that looked, I felt exactly like Zoolander. We were doing Zoolander. There was a lot of orange crepes in there. Yeah, feel weird about yourself for a while. No, it was just weird. I'll never forget. So that apartment in Barcelona had this guy named Adam Hamilton.

And he was like the most best looking person you've ever seen in your life. Like, he would spend like 45 minutes brushing his teeth every night, like, had to like make sure it was perfectly pearly white. Would do his lotion every single night and like walk around with masks and like, you know, being his PJs.

Like, we'd look just like the Zoolander guys. And then Brent, my roommate Brent, he was just like a total, just don't be upset Brent. He was always ripped on cocaine. And always gambling. And we'd just be like, hi, book a big job,

come back, blow all his money. And then there was me who was just like a, basically like a Labrador or a Treaver. I was just like, I was like, let's lift weights, like let's go do this bro. I was just like, I was like, let's lift weights. Like, let's go do this, bro. Like, let's do, like, you know, it's like, let's go subway surfing.

Let's go bang with chicks, bro. Like, it was, it was just like a humongous cocktail of people that was very interesting. How old are you at that time? 19, 19, 19, 19, 19, 19, 19, 19, 19, 19, 19, 19, 19, 19, 19, 19, 19, 19, 19, 19, 19, 19, 19, 19, 19, 19, 19, 19, 19, 19, 19, 19, 19, 19, 19, 19, 19, 19, 19, 19, 19, 19, 19, 19, 19, 19, 19, 19, 19, 19, 19, 19, 19, 19, 19, 19, 19, 19, 19, 19, 19, 19, 19, 19, 19, 19, 19, 19, 19, 19, 19, 19, 19, 19, 19, 19, 19, 19, 19, 19, 19, 19, 19, 19, 19, 19, 19, 19, 19, 19, 19, 19, 19, 19, 19, 19, 19, 19, 19, 19, 19, 19, 19, 19, 19, 19, 19, 19, 19, 19, 19, 19, 19, 19, 19, 19, 19, 19, 19, 19, 19, 19, 19, 19, 19, 19, 19, 19, 19, 19, 19, 19, 19, 19, 19, 19, 19, 19, 19, 19, 19, 19, 19, 19, 19, 19, 19, 19, 19, 19, 19, 19, 19, 19, 19, 19, 19, 19, 19, 19 2021 wow yeah and like going to castings think about how ridiculous it is walking around with a gigantic like Bolt like a like folder like hardcover folder with pictures of you inside of it like walking around the city Like hey check this out bro. Like there's me in a sweater There's me in my you like there's me in my underwear, but come over a couple more pages There's another one me in my underwear if you don't like that one like

It's a navy blue. I know, I was like, I think back on it, I was like, God, you're such an idiot. So that was the money good, was the money good. I mean, it's, it's good in the way that you, you were always kind of like waiting paycheck to paycheck and then like if you did hit it, you hit it big. Like one of my buddies, Brian Chimansky

has been the cover of Chanel for years and that guy, he was patient, he was always, he was a super handsome guy. Like he always wanted it, Brian Chimansky, he's been the cover of Chanel for years. And that guy, he was patient, he was always, he was a super handsome guy. Like he always wanted, like he was on a lot of big jobs, but he waited a couple of years, his name went up the ladder, and then all of a sudden he booked that job. Like I'm sure if you waited,

and like I had waited a long time, maybe things would have opened up more for me, but you know, best job I ever booked was probably 10,000 with a couple like residuals following it. Okay. Yeah. Do you pick up any skills for modeling that have benefited you now?

No. There's no redeeming quality as you're being a model. It's like, you know what? Like, I don't know. You're never gonna be something. It's gonna be something. It's gonna be something. It's gonna be something.

It's gonna be something. It's gonna be something. It's gonna be something. It's gonna be something. It's gonna be something. It's gonna be something. It's gonna be something. It's gonna be something. It's as a mom. Yeah. Yeah. Absolutely. It sounds like stupid. It was just listening to you.

Yeah. So all I say is I got to experience life. Like, I'm very happy that I got to do the drugs and do all the stupid things at a very young age because I was able to check that off the list. I think a lot of people in their, like, a middle-aged person will, like, look back on their life in this crisis and be like, I didn't do enough and they'll buy like a sports car and divorce their wife and start dating a woman with double details. I fucked up. So I had all that stuff at a young age and now I've just gotten tension like I just want

to crush what I want to crush. Wow. You take a pretty kind of scientific approach to your training or like that. Are you like that with your nutrition as well? Macronutrients, pretty die hard on that. I remember I was just listening to you talk about adding vegetables back. I don't like vegetables at all. Not at all? None.

I just had a really bad gas station sandwich with a little piece of lettuce in it. That's pretty much the most greens I've had. How are you doing right now? Right now? I'm pretty good. Take another step of this thing. It might be different.

Yeah. So what macros you're trying to hit every day? Just your regular balance. I have a whole breakdown on my phone. A good day with three to four hours of training is like 5,000, 6,000 calories. 600 to 700 grams of carbs, 240 protein and like 140, 60, great.

Those are my competing macros right there. They're damn near right around the same. Yeah. Yeah. It's interesting, man. Like, I trained for years and as soon as I started really hitting my macronutrients, like the muscle density and strength came up significantly. Sure.

And I think, which macro was it that you were missing before? Do you be so surprised how hard it is to get the amount of carbs you need? Sure. Like, 700 grams of carbs is just like sitting there like trying to like be a mathematician. You're like, where the fuck am I going to get these numbers?

Yeah. I drink a ton of sugar. Like, I take down so much honey. Hobie call is probably the greatest competitor in our sport and history. And he takes like a gallon of honey down a week. He's a beast. Really?

Raw honey. So he taught me about that. Maple syrup, pancakes, pancakes, Kodiac cakes, lots of orange juice, Gatorade, like just shitty stuff. Stuff, stuff. I'm thinking of orange juice, gatorade, like just shitty stuff. Stop, stop. I'm thinking to myself, like, I'm gonna say, tell him, do I need to tell him?

No, he knows, he's a sure. If I stop doing what I do right now, it's hard to get out of many calories. I have like both kinds of diabetes within a week. Oh yeah. Yeah, it's not good, it's not good. Well, you're full throttle though. Yeah, so you have to be.

I don't think, I don't think the diet, I would never prescribe my diet to anybody unless they were just so full on in. Sure. But the reality is like the more I eat, the leaner I get. Like right now I haven't been really counting my macros and been paying attention

because I've been on two jobs recently where I just like, just will eat anything I can during the day. And it's hard to like look back like quarter of a brownie. Like whatever. So I actually probably gained a couple pounds of body fat. But if I started eating more sugar, like you'll start seeing like veins coming out of my stomach and like just-

I wonder if it's just as you're fueling muscle. Do you build muscle real easily? Yeah, yeah. I'm lucky. I don't know how, like some people like you're lucky to gain five pounds of muscle in a year. Like if I get on my steak rice and sugar diet, which is like my, it's gonna be a book coming out.

Sting rice and sugar. Yeah. Chapter one, lots of steak. Chapter two, rice. Sugar, sugar, sugar, sugar. Chapter three, sugar. And yeah, it just, it helps build really quickly and the numbers go up.

So I could say to anybody who's probably in the gym right now is saying that they've tried every plan, everything. I'd be like, look at your nutrients and I bet you you're super far off. Like I've hung out with a lot of high level crossfitters and I just make fun of them. I'm like, you eat like a bird. Like you don't eat enough.

Like you're in there having your rules. Oh, it's ironic that a lot of them follow the paleo diet and so I've had just this first thing. Does it make any sense? I don't think the high level competitors even do that anymore. That was the thing for a second. But paleo, you ain't gonna have the energy.

No. No, I think it'd be pretty disgusting. Like, I usually, so a day looks like this. I'll wake up in the morning. I usually have Greek yogurt and a lot of honey. Then when I'm working out, I usually take in, like I just put in a bunch of like aminos, creatine, and either like some kind of like, it's either with orange juice or something

like that, and I mix that up and I'll drink it while I'm working out. After I'm done with working out, it's usually steak and rice or like eggs and toast, and like a shake with four bananas, four scoops of protein, not four scoops, two scoops of protein, lots of maple syrup, and carbohydrate powder mix. Then I'll rest for a bit, I'll have steak and rice, and then during, I'll have a shake before workout, coffee and honey, or some kind of pre-workout stuff. Then after working out, another ribeye and rice,

and then usually like a lot of shitty ice cream. Ice cream and stuff before bedtime if I'm missing macros, and I wake up the next day and I'm like, you're stage ready. Yeah. You do realize that you obviously work your ass off, but you're also genetic freak.

You realize that, don't you? Sure, sure. Yeah, there's things going on. My brother Garrett, he, he won't train for six months and I'll be like, all right, we're going for a 10-mile run and he'll do it. It just doesn't do it, it's amazing. I'll put three 15 on his back

and he'll just keep on squatting. He's like, I don't know if I can do this. I'm like, shut up, just put it down. I'll get you out of there. And he does it like three to five times. I'm like, dude, you don't ever train. So we got some good stuff in our system. That's definitely true.

Yeah, like if you looked at some kind of like body chart, it'd probably be like a pretty cute, like a nail done, like messo morph if you want to categorize it. Yeah. Yeah. He just did the model face right there. Yeah, that's a skill buddy. Yeah, that's fun.

So the broken skull, I didn't know that the Broken Skull kicks back 50 grand every time. So did you get that every, because you're eight time champion, aren't you? Yeah, more than that. And three years, I made a 195K. Oh shit, just from them. Yeah.

Oh yeah. So I'm, dude, it's an interesting industry. If you play the game, there's so many shows that we have going on. Like American Inge Warriors, probably the biggest one, but it doesn't show out money because almost no one ever wins it. But there was things called like the Spartan

All-in-Chain Challenge, that's 50k per win. Broke it's tight. Mm, tight games. Coming out. I blew that, I didn't go on that show. No, I should have. Oh, you killed that. Well, the casting director called me,

he's like, we want you on the show, and I was like, can you tell me what it is? Cause like, I don't want to go on that show. No, I should have. Oh, you killed that. Well, the casting director called me, he's like, we want you on the show. I was like, can you tell me what it is? Because I don't want to go on like a reality television show where I'm like hitting my friends with nerf bats. Like, I want a fucking rage. Like, I, and they wouldn't give me any information that all of a sudden it comes out. And it's like, I actually went and watched some of the filming

and I was like, fuck, I fucked up. Yeah. So Broken Scull Ranch was another really big thing. I just did a television show. They'd shoot me if I said the title of it, but there's a huge cash in that. So there's all these reality television shows that shell out a lot of money.

And then in our own profession, we'll circuit, you know, 25,000, 100,000, 10,000, 5,000. And then if you really bust your ass, sponsors are there. What's the biggest purse that you've won? Broken skull, 75K. Yeah.

75K in like a month, that was pretty good. I'm trying to think if there's anything else, did Spartan doesn't put out that much, do they? They don't, no, they have a lot. They have a lot. And I don't, I keep on telling the owner of the business, I was like, what you should do to get this more coverage is you should take out every weekend,

there's like five races that are giving out $500 for first place, like 300 for second and 100 for third. And they do that both on the male and female side, all over the world. And if they did was they just condensed it down and beefed up a couple of the big ones, you'd bring in more media, you'd bring in more athletes. So I don't understand why they don't do it.

Well, tell Joe, we have him in two weeks, I think he's back. What he likes to do is he likes to build these like insanely ridiculous ideas. Like if you get 100 miles in Iceland, you'll get $100,000. And it's not feasible. Like he always picks things. He always makes things that are impossible.

And so, people are like lemming. Say like don't look, they're just like, I'm going and they just like, just send it. And they always end up just getting trashed in the process. I learned from a very young age, because when I first started Spartan race, I moved in with Joe. It is a ranch in Vermont.

Did you really? Yeah, in 2013. He's a maniac too. He's insane. What's that race? He's a maniac too. He's insane. What's that race? He does a death race. Death race. And I witnessed it happening while I lived there

and I was like, this is the craziest thing I've ever seen. He got these idiots to pay a thousand dollars a piece and then build him a staircase out of rocks bigger than this right here, a 1,500 feet up a mountain. A staircase you could take. Every step you'd never touch dirt. You just walk straight up these stones

that people built. They paid to build him a staircase. And they're like, and somehow by the end of it, he's like, what you did was amazing. Like, you know, he's like, you proved it to yourself that you had the strength to do that. And I'm sitting there, like, he ran Joe's like, I got my fucking stuff.

That's the ultimate ninja move right there. He's like, how the hell could you believe that? And they like, me and Ralph Joe's like, I got my fucking stuff. Yeah, that's the ultimate ninja move right there. Ooh, it's like, how the hell could you believe that? And they like wear the metal around for like six months afterwards. I was like, God. It's like, you just take that shit and you eat it all day. And it's amazing to me. But he's incredibly clever in the way that,

I think people don't have anything to identify with. And if you can identify with him, then you can identify with yourself and the community that surrounds it. It gives you ownership of at least something in your life. So I think it also gives some people meaning in a world where things are so easy. They're so fucking easy that you never challenge yourself.

Then you go do one of these races. You feel like you're almost dying, especially if you compare it to your normal, nine to five job. And you share that stress with the people around you and, you feel like you're almost die, especially if you compare it to your normal, you know, nine to five job, and you share that stress with the people around you and then you bond and you're like, yay, life has meaning now. It's insanity. Have you and Joe become good friends?

Yeah, yeah, Joe, I mean, Joe and I saw each other every day when I was living out there in Vermont, he's an incredible guy. At this point, he's kind of like Carmen San Diego meets, there's gotta be another better comparison. But Carmen San Diego in the way that you can never find out where he really is like you're always like you got Get him for a second. They like disappears on the helicopter He's like ah next time hunter

I'm like good old apple to eat reflex there He he's such a big vessel now that it's hard to keep up with his momentum. He used to be just this simple person where you'd meet him in the general store which is this like a little grocery store in his town. Sit down and have a cup of coffee with him. But now, like when I stand by him, like he has a microphone and a camera on him at all times, like you started getting swept up in it, like it's just, it's amazing. So, I don't know how he does it. Anything you learned from him while you were living with him or anything you've picked

up from him? I would say the greatest thing I learned from Joe is just non-stop intensity. I learned that when I, what I thought at the age of 23 was like a high level opera, a bad, operator badass dude, like he had woken up before me, done a workout, had a couple meetings, was having breakfast with me, and was able to like hang out with his family, do things, have breakfast with me, and then had the entire other day, like the full day lined up,

and the next like six months lined up of meetings. And I think people like to use the word busy, like whenever someone tells me they can't meet up with me or do something, I just send back hashtag busy to them, is like an insult, I'm like, yeah, yeah, you're so busy, bro. I can't pick up my phone call, so busy.

He defines busy, and if you want to have a full day, make it so, don't talk about it, be about it, and he was just that kind of guy. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, he had so many business deals going on all at once, and he could be talking to you and three other people at the same time. It's pretty incredible.

That's awesome. What about like sleep or stress practices you meditate? How's your sleep? Do you sleep well? Are you like a five hour night? Let's go kind of person. Gosh, I don't really believe in sleep as much as people talk about it.

Like I probably, Malibu was on fire all last week. And I was up there fighting the fires and we didn't sleep at all. I probably, Malibu was on fire all last week. And I was up there fighting the fires and we didn't sleep at all. And then I had to go back and film a show that was being filmed every night from 4 p.m. till 4 a.m. and we were like going all out during that. And I would sleep for like three, four hours and then go to the gym for two, three hours

and then go back and film the show and then fight fires. Like it was just like hours and then go back and film the show and then fight fires. Like it was just like back and forth and I'm still fine. And I'm standing here in front of you guys. So sleeps never been something important to me. I just closed my eyes and then I opened them. I guess that's my formula. How old are you right now?

29. My dad. No, my dad's the same way. My dad never sleeps. It's crazy. I enjoy it. I'm king of cat naps. My dad, no, my dad's the same way. My dad never sleeps, it's crazy. I enjoy it, I'm a king of cat naps. Like if you guys stop talking right now,

I would just pass out for five seconds and come right back up. That's important, like being able to find your little microrests. I think the biggest thing that gives me energy is quiet time, like I actually like being around people all the time, but I always make sure I go back up the mountain

to my place in Malibu or find a spot where I can read for a bit, take a quick power nap and then get back out there. That's my super food, I guess. Is that kind of how you unwarr- I would imagine a guy like you that's full throttle all the time, also likes to probably shut down everyone's in a while.

Is that what you do as you go away somewhere read or what are you normally doing when you're not training to be a badass? Uh, just, every day between the hours of like two and four, that's it, that's like my me time. Other than that, like I surround myself with people. Sometimes I do like the whole Paul Check thing where I like I get naked and I'll like go out

in the woods and stack rocks. Like every once in a while, I think it's important. I try to get away from my phone as much as possible, it's impossible with social media, my books, my emails, everything on that thing. So I just try to go places where there's no cell phone service and like make sure that I spend time like that by myself every once in a while.

That's really powerful, but other than that man, like it's just those two hours a day, it's pretty good. But other than that man, like it's just those two hours a day. It's pretty good. What are you reading right now? That Mike Manser book, justly at LaReeding, like the 50 strength training principles from Charles Pollacken, RIP, bra. Yeah, just a couple of strength training things. And I'm also reading the ultimate high about this guy named Goran Krop. He biked all the way from Sweden to all the way from Sweden with all of his gear and then climbed up Mount Everest with no oxygen or anything

and then came back down and then biked all the way home. Yeah, holy shit. Yeah, I think things like that, like when I can read things like that, it makes things that to me, like, where some people like, I can't believe, like some people are telling me, like I can't believe you're getting on a flight and then coming right back here, bro makes things that to me, where some people, I can't believe, some people are telling me, I can't believe you're getting on a flight and then coming right back here, bro,

like that's insane, one day. I was like, I got in a car, I sat on a plane, and then I came back on a plane, then I got back in a car, I'm like, I didn't do anything. But what it does is it gives me, I like to read books like that. Like, Shackleton Durance is a great thing.

Everyone should probably read because he'll just tell you to shut the fuck up and stop complaining like that that story about him going into the pole getting surrounded by ice as ship gets wrecked he keeps all of his men safe for like I think a year and a half or two years and then gets them all out safe and saves them all while not having any kind of resources of modern day man. And I always like to read things like that, and I was just reading Napoleon's book, like his biography, so things where you realize

that what you think is incredible is really, really on a small scale in comparison to most people. Like some people, it's like those things where I'm just strength training in like reading books like that. And having blasts. Now you've been outspoken for quite some time now, and you're not afraid to tell anybody how it is So like those things where I'm just strength training and like reading books like that. I'm having blasts. Now you've been outspoken for quite some time now

and you're not afraid to tell anybody how it is. Have you rubbed anybody the wrong way and do you have anybody that is kind of like your nemesis or an enemy or someone who doesn't like you very much? God, you'd be surprised just recently, like in the past two weeks or a month, like two guys that I just kind of had beef with, like Robert Killian, he's a champion in our sport and Isaiah of a doll like there.

They were both like high level competitors against me and we compete at such a high level. It's like sometimes hard to keep friendships. And I would just talk shit to him constantly. And it's like sometimes I just recognize I was like, you know what, I either have to shake their hand or fight him. And I just decided to shake both their hands. And yeah, I definitely rub people the wrong way. A lot of people, since I've been talking about this CrossFit stuff, just people I don't even know who are high level CrossFitters just saying things. It's more exhausting for them to log in and then hit me with negativity than it is for them to just shut the fuck up and do their own thing.

So they'll just come at me. And I've always been the kind of person where I use the term butt hurt. Like people just get super sensitive with these things that I say. And I don't take it back. I think the only thing that I'm a strong believer in is if you have an opinion about someone,

like you say it to their face, I really don't like it when people talk about other people behind their backs. I can't wordly. Unless you can, if you say something right now, I'm like, well, that guy's a total asshole. I'll never forget, someone spilled beer on me at a bar one time, my buddy Joe.

And he was such an asshole, and I was like, I'm tired of calling this guy an asshole. I gotta go punch him in the face. So I just walked, he just spilled beer on me and laughed at me, and then I walked over my friends, I was like, he's such an asshole, and I was like, shit, I gotta punch him in the face. So I just walked, he just spilled beer on me and laughed at me. And then I walked over my friends, I was like, he's such an asshole. And I was like, shit, I gotta punch him in the face. So I just walked over and just punched him in the face

as hard as I could, and then walked away. And I was like, that's how we gotta do it for now. And that's the code, right there. And I'm surprised, like if you can just get that stuff off your chest, I'm not trying to condone violence by any means, but I'm trying to say that you should, you just gotta stand up for yourself. And if you do follow through those kind of words,

it will make you own it or make you all of a sudden be like, oh gosh, I can't keep on saying this stuff. I gotta change my mentality. And that's why when I kept on talking shit to those two guys I just mentioned, I was like, I don't really dislike them that much. I just like the couple things that they did. And I went over and I squashed it with them.

And I just said, hey, look, I'm super sorry. I've been saying things about you and To you I was like, you know what? I don't really dislike you that much. I just probably got upset Well, that's good very evolved. Yeah, I'm trying to be evolved Be a big man. I think it's it's hard this day and age to With like the social media crisis of having identity and also being, just an actual human being. You're creating these stories and you're not really identifying with that

because you're just doing it in the moment and then writing a quick story and then going back to your regular life. Like, what the fuck am I gonna post today that's gonna sound like it's cool to these 40,000 people to follow me? Absolutely. And gosh, I'm not gonna lie,

you're kind of a slave to it a little bit. Like I'm sure you guys, you're gonna probably do so many more interviews like this and at some times you're probably gonna double back on things that you said and believed in just to kind of fill the void of the room. I've been caught up on that before and you don't want that. So it's kind of intense. Because I do these interviews all the time and I have to always make sure I come into

the room and don't say the same exact thing because nobody wants to hear it over and over again, but don't make something up just because you're trying to, you know, be in the moment. Have you repeated the stories you told us today? Have you told some of those before? Yeah. I think sometimes, like, it was funny going through that whole model thing. Like I try not to talk about it too much because like, it was such a small part of my life

but everybody when I bring it up, they're like, oh my God, tell me a little bit. It's hilarious, but I didn't, it was just such a small period of time so I just told you guys some fun stories. But usually I don't talk about it because like so many people like will have like some kind of negative

connotation of it, like, did you have to do a thing with that guy or something? I'm like, no, but thanks for bringing it up. And you must have, he totally did. I think so. So people, I don't remember. I actually backed out. So there's sometimes where I just don't bring things up

because it's just, sometimes it's not necessarily sensitive to me. It's just like, I feel like if I bring it up, then it's gonna open up just like a closet of shit that you don't, you kinda just put behind you. And it's not like I have anything to hide. It's just, you know, I try to stay relevant and have fun with it.

You've done so much and accomplished so much. What's your proudest moment? Fuck. You know, it wasn't the greatest thing, but it was probably my happiest moment. We won the team world title at World's Toughest Mother, which is a 24 hour race and a five mile lap in Las Vegas. And we had no clue what we were doing.

Like we showed up just like, I don't know. It was such a, we were so unprepared. Like we had done Spartan races and stuff. It was my first tough motor ever, and it was 24 hours. We had done Spartan races that were eight miles. All you have to do is have short shoes and maybe a t-shirt and a water bottle. So we brought the same equipment to this 24 hour race

and we got annihilated. But we ended up winning just through pure grits and we were all such good friends. Four of us going through my best buddy, Shit is Pants and he wanted to take his wet suit off. He's like, I got a poop. I was like, you can't poop. I was like, you got to poop your pants. We have to keep on running to win this race.

It was moments like that where, and I had to like pick them up with my shoulders and I know that he was filled with shit like afterwards. Like, it was like, we were just doing things and one of my buddies was scared of heights and we had to jump off this 40-foot cliff to keep on getting to the next second or you do this huge penalty lap.

And he'd be crying and I was like, I've got to suck the fuck up. I was like, this is a 40-foot cliff. It's our world title right here. And we overcame so many, so many of our little battles inside. Like I got hypothermia, like I was having like a fucking beef with my girlfriend, like, you know, the person pooped his pants,

and the person I had to get over heights. We had all these little micro battles, but we went forward as a team, and I never compete as a team. And it was like, it was my first success ever as a team, and it was like my first success ever as a team and I was like, God, that was way more gratifying than winning on your own. And I think about it to this day.

It's like I understand the team approach now and why it's valuable to have a good team. That's awesome. That is cool. What about the least thing you're proud of? Leasing I'm proud of trying to think of something that I just blew. Uh, I don't know, I would probably say the thing that I'm least proud of is some of the, some of the ways that I treated my family and my friends probably in my earlier years,

like, you know, through the whole drug, drinking, rehab, arrests, things like that. It wasn't like I was lying in the way that, you know, I was dealing from you or I was lying in the way that, like, I needed to mislead you so that you could, you know, fall for my tricks. It was like, I just was not necessarily a genuine person in my day-to-day actions.

Like, it was just more me-centric. It took so many years to get past that and be a little bit more evolved in the way that I can see other people in the room rather than myself. I felt bad. Most painful moment of my entire life was when I was in rehab, we had these, I don't remember the word for it, but basically it's kind of like a letter that your parents write to you, each of them independently, write a letter to you, where they tell you how it is. And we're sitting around the fire

in the middle of nowhere in the woods, like straight up woods, not like, you know, a little bit, like a couple feet off a beat and like an actual path, like it was, we were in the thick of it in the woods and the snow around this fire, and I'm not giving a fuck about what the rehab people are telling me, and they give you this letter, and then I could time for you to read,

and I read my mom's, like it was just like a newspaper article or just like some kind of fiction novel, it was like whatever, stupid. And then I read my dad's, and I at the time hated my dad, like he and I would have like death threat conversations, I was like, I'll burn down your house. Well, you're sleeping in it. And I read that thing and it tore me up.

Like that kind of guttural cry that you can imagine. It's like, you know, when you, like a mother's lost a child kind of thing. Like I was so like, ha, ha, ha, ha, like gargling in my own tears. And by the time I was done reading that, I was like, you are a beast of a human. Like you, you have ruined people's lives,

and you don't even know it. And it took me like another couple of years past that to actually start to act upon those things, but I'll never forget that. What did he say in it that hits you? Oh, dude, it was just like, it was like, here are all the things that you ask for, and here are all the things that you demand of us, and here are all the things that you ask for and here are all the things that you demand of us

and here are all the things that you do and return that might even like slightly, like what makes you think that you deserve any of these things? Just because you popped out, doesn't mean that you deserve anything that you ask for. And like, I was just an entitled little shit. Like we were a well to do family, growing up in like, you know,

white town USA where like we had no problems, no, like you know, there's no issues with our life. And I just was like, this kid gets this car, this thing, like I want that, I want, you know, I want to go here, I want to go like on this, I want, this is what I want to do with my time, I don't want to do this, I don't want to do that. And at the time, like you just, for some reason, I didn't know, I don't know why it was, it seemed so apparent, but like, I was just getting fucked up.

And when I would get arrested, I'd be like, I didn't do that. I didn't do that. You have to trust me. I didn't do that. I was just lying to their face. And he's like, how could you think that we, you didn't do that?

You're on camera doing it. Right. And it was crazy. So it was very entitled. Yeah, it was very entitled. Like I think it just, I never had to deal with the ramifications other than being spanked and put in time out.

Most people when they screw up, they truly, they got to deal with the deed. And I hadn't ever faced that. And at the time, I was in rehab that cost $20,000 a month to have me at, which was basically a glorified camp. And I still was at the peak of existence. Like, who gets to pay that kind of money to be in trouble, to be in the woods?

Like, I still was in that moment and I couldn't see it. And they just kept on giving me more rope to hang myself with. And I'm not saying what they did was wrong by any means, but I probably should have tasted pain, like, you know, a little pain in suffering a little bit earlier on. Was there an intervention or did you willingly go to rehab? No, no, I was court order. Judge said, Mr.

That's right. This is Adaline. That's right, that's okay. I'll never forget. I would go into the courtrooms and I'm in Bridgeport, Connecticut, which is a pretty bad ass town in Connecticut, meaning like there's a lot of bad shit going on there. And these people are being like, you know,

basically brought up in front of the judge for like grand larceny and, you know, assault with a deadly weapon or murder, just fucked up things. And these people would just be processed and sent throughout. And when I got up, the family that I just most recently got in trouble with the woman would get on the microphone And she would just be like this boy has torments in our family for years Like I can't sleep at night the devil is in my brain and like that it was messed up in the whole room would look at me

I'm like oh gosh like but at the time I didn't even care so It took years, I went through that whole thing and then I went through college and party to lot. I had like an overdose moment that kind of kicked me back into realizing that drugs and this whole professional racing career was ever gonna be, I couldn't do both at the same time. So just like looking back at that stuff now and seeing the way I was, like I just tried to make sure

that I designed myself to be as far away from that as possible and also make sure that I can always recognize who I was and how I can be better than that. And I always like the reason why I say I go to a therapist a lot is because I wanna make sure that I always keep that person in check. Because as you become a tidal wave of a human being, like you don't understand the amount of momentum

and energy you have behind you, like what you say right now, people will listen to and then follow in your footsteps or like, you know, the people that you don't pay attention to, you're just kind of trampling over. And that can happen with my family, my friends, my competitors, people who like, you know, the businesses that I'm involved with. So I always got to keep that in check.

Did you have a moment where you felt compelled to come back and say something or write something to your parents? Have you had that conversation like since all this? I think in the years it's kind of happened organically in the way that I didn't like have to like sit them down and say it. I think it's I had had had Conversations with them, but I think just overall I try my best to just be the best son I can be at this point and I had to write letters back and I had to have like you know They had to come out into the woods and have like a moment with me and my counselors and stuff

so probably as a as a grown man now I probably could do something but What I do now is I always make sure that every single time there's holidays or anytime there's a moment like I'm there for my family and I give every effort that I have to be the best person possible. I don't think I'm not a huge believer in grand gestures just because I think sometimes when people do grand gestures

they think that they can then all of a sudden ride off that for a long time. So I just try to be consistent, be a good guy. So that's where I'm trying to do now. Do you think they're proud of you now? Oh yeah, it's pretty incredible. I can say that my dad and my dad's my biggest fan probably because he really will just, he'll fly out for almost any race.

That's cool. That's cool. Nice. He's there. Everybody in my family is on these email chains and they're really involved. My mom makes sure that she's just constantly calling me up, staying in check. My friend Lucy said to she saw this, this, this.

Like they're super excited. And my grandfather, somebody I haven't mentioned at all, he probably was the person who kicked this whole thing off. That's my mom's father. He was a master of Olympian and World Champion and in track and field and that dude was like the most humble and amazing person you've ever met. Like I just, he's still alive,

so I can't say you could still meet him if you want to. But he kind of was the reason why I started getting to athletics, he pushed me so much to be part of it. And I think the more I involve the sport, the more they can see that I'm kind of carrying the torch forward in our family like that. So everyone's really invested. That's very cool.

That's awesome. We're excited about it. Well, you're a cool guy, man. I'm trying to be. Yeah, I appreciate you coming on the show. We're gonna fight for you to get that wild card, dude. Yeah, baby. I think you would push it forward. I think it will be smart. I think it will be smart on their hat on their and to put you on because you're, I mean, you would bring media. You know what I mean? They need a comment. I'm talking media. There we go. Now, are you,

is, is, is there a, are you, I mean, have you given yourself a time when we talked a little bit off air? And I was sharing with you like before I even competed in bodybuilding. I wanted to build my, build my frame, build my physique so I knew I could potentially win. You said that you alluded to the same thing that you're kind of going through that right now with a lot of the Olympic lifts and training for CrossFit. Do you have a time frame in mind like I'd like to be ready by the games of next year or year after. 2020 is 100% the year.

It's either make it or drop it. I'm gonna do that. And basically at this point, it's either the wild card this year. I will do a couple of submissions of doing some of these contests that they have, but at the same time, I'm not gonna lie to myself and I'm not gonna go at bark in someone's face

and say that I can beat them unless I know I can. So I'll be totally honest, I'm not ready. So I like to be ready and I like to be intentional with my design. So it's gonna be a quiet year for me in competition. I'll still do some things, but I'm just gonna go and dojo mode, like I'm behind enemy lines and I'm just doing my research.

I'm excited man. We do, man, well good luck. For sure to, yeah, we'll be seeing it. For sure, yeah. Excellent, thanks for coming on, man. Sweet, thank man. Yeah. We do man. Well good luck. For sure. Yeah. We'll be seeing it. For sure. Yeah. Excellent. Thank you. Thank you. Rock on baby. Thank you for listening to Mind Pump. If your goal is to build and shape your body, dramatically improve your health and energy and maximize your overall performance, check out our discounted RGB Superbumble at Mind Pump Media dot com. The RGB Superbumble at MindPumpMedia.com. The RGB Superbumble includes maps on a ballad, maps performance, and maps aesthetic. Nine months of phased, expert exercise programming designed by Sal and I'm in Justin to systematically transform the way your body looks, feels, and performs.

With detailed workout blueprints in over 200 videos. The RGB Superbundle is like having Sal and an Adjusting as your own personal trainers, but at a fraction of the price. The RGB Superbundle has a 430-day money-back guarantee, and you can get it now plus other valuable free resources at MindPumpMedia.com. If you enjoy this show, please share the love by leaving us a five-star rating and review on iTunes and by introducing Mind Pump to your friends and family. We thank you for your support and until next time, this is Mind Pump.