The Sevan Podcast - #117 - Fee Saghafi

Episode Date: September 2, 2021

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Let's go seize the night. That's the powerful backing of American Express. Visit amex.ca slash yamex. Benefits vary by car and other conditions apply. Fus-a-dais. Uh-oh, Brian's laughing again. Right off the bat, we're one minute into the show, he's laughing at me. Fus-a-dais.

You try it, Brian. It's so much more fun to let you try. Fiu Rose. Yes. Wait, how come I don't get a yes? How come I didn't get a yes? Because I thought you knew that it was already great. Okay, good.

Nice. Good answer. Fiu Rose. So if Fiu Rose is like, if I ask her, I said, what did you have for lunch? And she's like, well, um, today was a special day. Cause after I picked my brother up from the strip club, we went to lunch and we got sandwiches. I have to interrupt her. Do you understand that? I have to be like, where'd you pick him up from? Like I have to. Only in necessary moments. pick them up from like i have to only in okay necessary moments yeah so be cool be cool man be cool it's not like i'm like she's gonna tell me her bench press and be like oh today i did brench and i did i did two pounds i'm not i'm not that guy i'm not trying to be that guy at least i'm not one-upping someone i'm not talking to hear myself talk i'm trying to keep the flow going

and i'm trying to listen to the guests and keeping the interesting interesting parts alive the threads I'm excited for this very nice to meet you I'm Sevan I used to work at CrossFit um and that's Brian and he used to work at CrossFit too and uh in the square above that the rest of the world can't see but I think you can can see is Ryan Jevning, and he wants to work at CrossFit. He wants to go to the CrossFit Games. Ah, everyone does. And Fi Rousey. Mm-hmm. Fi Rousey. Fi Rousey.

Yeah. Fi Rousey. She is going to correct me if I'm wrong, but she is a practitioner of the lifestyle methodology called CrossFit. And she accidentally turned into a professional athlete. That's kind of like, I mean, that's the story of my life. Did you ever really want to be anything? No. No, no actually at all at least not in cross not in crossfit no but i mean did you ever have any goals to be like anything like i never had any goals like i remember like when i was a little zombie like what do you want to be when you grow up i'm like police officer firefighter but then once i was

like out of that phase like i've never my whole life i've never wanted to be anything i'm not like well i want to be a surgeon and go to uh africa and help little kids like i i'll take it back then in that case yes in that case many many things let me hear it i wanted to be because my my only real sport that i've i have passion for is volleyball and when i was younger i would you know be watching volleyball usa volleyball on tv and i was, I want to be an Olympian. I want to be a USA Then I wanted to pursue chiropractor. Then I want to pursue physical therapy. It's always been in the realm of health and healthcare and working with people. It continues on. Right now, I figured could i could be okay in crossfit sometimes how old are you i'm 27 are you still teach oh man you look so young holy cow so that's all the most beautiful words i uh last year i was at i was doing um somequisite, some science prereqs that I want to get under my belt

for future goals. But someone had asked me what high school I went to and I told them and they're like, Oh, how's your freshman year going? I was like, well, I'm 26. Wow. So at the time last year, so they thought I still get confused as an 18 year old which is so amazing i love that what ethnicity are you what were your what are your parents i'm uh my mom is mexican and my dad's iranian so half mexican half iranian oh wow this is my mix is is your are either of them first generation yeah Oh, holy cow. How did they meet? Yeah. Um, my dad ended up meeting my mom. He went to medical school in Guadalajara, Mexico. Uh, and he was there for, you know, he had been there for his, uh, medical, uh, for medical school, four years,

then a little bit of residency after. And within three weeks before coming back to the states he had met my mom he met my mom and in three weeks he proposed and he brought her back to ohio he brought her to ohio wow holy cow that's how that happened did your on your dad's side did they basically leave iran during the whole like uprising like what that was in the late 70s right yeah they had left i actually don't know when they had left iran but my grandparents he's a general surgeon my grandma a nurse they had left takran and um they had left they eventually went to england for a little bit and then they came over to the states and they started their life here in the States. Man, the world's such an amazing place.

It's such it's such an amazing place. I wish more people would appreciate how freaking amazing it is. Listen, people, man, these are these are her parents. No one in her life has had it easy. Nobody in her family has had it easy. Nobody in her family has had it easy. Like, I mean, let me rephrase it. Everyone in her family has had it really, really hard. And I'm like, just not that you should feel sorry for anyone ever,

but it's just like those last, miles in a marathon, right? What is a marathon? 26.2 miles. Yeah. Any jackass can do the half marathon. No, I'm very, I'm very blessed and I'm very lucky. And it's cool to come from roots that you, you earn, you earn what you have, right? You, you have to work for what you want and you eventually just earn what you work for.

Um, so both sides, I, I'm very lucky. I'm very lucky. A lot of people, great, strong women and men in my family. I get to look up to. Does your dad have one of those funny Middle Eastern accents like my dad? Actually, no, because he was, um, no, he doesn't. Oh, I'm sorry to hear that. It's great. I mean, I can't hear it, but all my friends can hear it. And I just like hearing them talk about it. My mom has the cutest Mexican accent, though, which Trevor will love. But no, my dad, he actually speaks. My first language is Spanish.

And my dad speaks. He learned Spanish in Mexico. So he actually picked up Spanish and he speaks it like a native. He doesn't speak Farsi? He doesn't speak Farsi? No. Oh, interesting. How old is your dad?

He's 62. Is he practicing medicine still? Yeah, he's a neurologist. Oh, wow. Is he fascinated by what you're doing yes actually he's at first he wasn't i'll say that at first he was very i guess against it he didn't know why i was spending so much time at the gym it wasn't good for me uh the whole like you know too much of weight lifting is bad for the body or the joints. Sure. Sure. And, um, and then eventually what took

it? And I mean, he would always come to like my local competitions. I mean, at the time, you know, it took me a year or two to, you know, sign up for local competitions in Cleveland and he would always come, always support, cheer me on. And then he started to play rugby. He wanted to play rugby with the boys, like 20 year old 25 year old 30 year old um young guns and um he found rugby as a neurologist kind of crazy and he thought well nothing that shit's dangerous that shit's dangerous that's like concussions all the time that's like um but no and then so because of that one of the guys on the rugby team, like they started to use CrossFit for some training and conditioning. And so I couldn't get him to do it. But sure enough, a friend that plays rugby could get him to do it.

And he fell in love with CrossFit, signed up to a gym, and now he does CrossFit. And every open season, we compare scores. He comes home and compares his open score to mine. And we go at it. I know some people are going to find this hard to believe or maybe not even be able to understand this. But I do not think of CrossFit as a sport at all. Like it's not – for me. Like I just – no matter how many games athletes I hang out with,

it's just not a sport to me. When I got fired from CrossFit, I got a text message from Rosa, the new CEO guy, and he said something along the lines, thank you for everything you've done for this sport. And I thought, oh, holy shit. Like Greg would have never, ever in a million years sent a text like that.

He would have sent me a text like, thank you for all the lives that you've saved or thank you for being so selfless and sharing the good word of health. Because that's just where I came in at. I was talking to someone. I'll try to use a less gross analogy than I used with one of my male guests yesterday because I am sexist and I treat men and women differently. I'll use a more gentle, same analogy, but it's more gentle words. My wife and I made three kids, right? We closed the bedroom door and we made three kids.

And although it's like a really important part of my life, I wouldn't consider myself like a baby making machine. It's just something I do, but super powerful and important. And that's how I feel like the CrossFit Games are super powerful, super important, super powerful, super important, the CrossFit Games, but really for most people. And what made me kind of switch to this, it's interesting, your dad's a doctor, and it's interesting that you're doing the games. And it's interesting that your dad said it was, boy, I'm going to connect a lot of dots here. your dad said that he was concerned because it might not be healthy to be doing that non-stop a couple days ago we interviewed josh and jacob heppner and they both said that they basically haven't been lifting heavy weights for i don't know how long they said four months and they feel the healthiest they've ever felt now granted those guys are older than you and we know that doing anything to an extreme is going to put a lot of pressure on the body. But in one of the videos where you're doing an interview with someone, it says, I went to CrossFit Mentality, and Fi was my coach, and she was wonderful.

So there's something – like not a lot of athletes know that both sides and you know both sides you are and you've even posted pictures of yourself working out in 2015 you came to crossfit for the reason that i think of what when i think of what crossfit is and i yeah and then you and then you morphed into the game side do you still hold both like near and dear to you? Oh, oh, it is. And that's kind of yes, yes, yes. And yes, because I did start CrossFit the way that 99.9% of the people want to start CrossFit. And it's to, you know, take ownership of their health and to feel good

and to feel part of something great and positive and uplifting. And that's how I started as a 19 year old. John Carroll, I was going to college, it was my first year. Just a lot of different emotions that kind of led me to CrossFit. But to put it in short, I just didn't feel good about myself, my body, who I was mentally not in a good place, not surrounded by the best crew. A college freshman as a girl, like it was it was hard to just find, you know, where do I fit in? And where can I, you know, feel good? And that's kind of what allowed me to roll into CrossFit. And someone guy I was with at the time, at the time, I was going to a lifetime fitness, elliptical, treadmill, not finding fun, not finding success or consistency. He showed me a video. And I pretty

much was like, this is freaking cool. I want to do this. I want to have fun doing something good for myself. And that kind of led me to walking into my first community, dropping in and just fell in love with just the fun of it. Like I was finally having fun and feeling good and being around people, connecting with people that I had just met. And I'm walking away after the first hour, just smiling and having fun and creating new friendships. And that's really all it's how it started. The first year I wasn't like, you know, going all in every single day at the gym, I would maybe go in three times a week. And the other times I would be at school and maybe just go to my gym over there. And then it kind of pursued into something really really great but it started for

health reasons and lifestyle and um just like anyone else who's john carroll that's the name of the college i just heard you say john carroll and i couldn't play yeah john carroll university is a jesuit school jesuit university here in cleveland cleveland jesuit that's jesuit's like some sort of branch of christian That's like, like a God. Yeah. It's pretty much, pretty much a private. Yeah. Has a big church. Okay. Guadalajara. Guadalajara. That's for you, Christian. The, the, this is live on YouTube fee so people can like talk shit. Like awesome.

So they were saying, they wanted to hear me say guadalajara because you said it so you said it like how like i pictured j-lo to say it and and you said that um you you uh two things weren't you scared to go to a crossfit gym what was the first crossfit gym you went to? And you said you weren't surrounded necessarily by good people. And yet, it was one of those people that took you to your first gym. Yeah. It was, well, the first CrossFit gym that I walked into, it's the gym here in Cleveland or Mayfield Heights, a suburb of Cleveland.

Crooked River CrossFit. And I was with a guy, so my boyfriend at that time. I think I've dropped into Crooked River CrossFit and I was with a guy so my boyfriend at that time I think I've dropped into Crooked River CrossFit before as soon as you said that I was like I think I've been there you've been to Cleveland? yeah yeah I've been to Cleveland many times oh well it's the only Crooked River in Cleveland

so probably maybe so yeah so Cleveland that's the city in the middle of the country where Jakeul's from yes okay yeah the world knows the world knows okay sorry no no no my mom's from cleveland my mom's from cleveland i'm just talking shit everyone's from cleveland um cleveland's awesome and um so yeah so and what i guess you asked, you know, what did it mean? What does it mean by not being surrounded by great people? Just I mean, the people I mean, John Carroll was a great school and the girls and the people that they just weren't interested in the same things that I was.

The partying, the drinking, the weekends, the typical college life, just something. It just didn't make me feel good and i lived that life and um and then eventually i went through a breakup and that just put me in a place where i just i was in a very dark place and i was very depressed and very sad and that led to very poor uh choices and habits and lifestyle and that just you know domino effect there when you say poor choices you mean like ice cream late at night like shit like that or you mean like wrist cutting um not so much that deep but I was definitely in people thought I actually left John Carroll like I remember someone asking me like oh you still go here I thought you left oh wow okay

would try to be inside I would avoid you, you know, avoid people or avoid situations. John Carroll is a very small school. So you see everyone. There's a running joke. It's like John Carroll High School. And I was just very sad. And some things that I wish never happened happened. Some things that I wish never happened happened. And it just kept me very much to myself. And CrossFit helped kind of bring, you know, that life back and brought some really cool people. I get emotional talking about it. So, sorry.

It's good. It's good. It's good for the ratings. It's good for the ratings. It's good for the ratings. Very good part for the ratings. It's good for the ratings. Very good part of my life. She looks like a spunky J-Lo. Racist. Racist. Love J-Lo. So thank you.

That's from Brian. That's from Brian. Just trying to lump all you Mexicans up in one pile. It's not cool. It's not cool. What's your boyfriend's name? My boyfriend? Alex Ferrara.

Italian man. Oh, okay. Because, you know, he kind of, he looks like he could be Iranian, too. your what's your boyfriend's name my boyfriend uh alex ferrara italian man oh okay because you know he kind of he looks like he could be iranian too he looks like he could be related to kalipa i tell him that all the time he has like some like mediterranean arabic um looking mix uh his father is italian and he looks he's just but the milkman wasn't um or maybe the whoever cuts his hair maybe he goes to a persian guy to cut his hair so he gives him like the persian cut like the bias cut like when i would get my yeah go ahead he has that like pretty boy cut though i feel like a lot of pretty boys have the same cut interesting like that sharp fade i thought when i saw him i was like oh this dude's for sure uh related to kalipa and kalipa is iranian right he's iranian

i have no idea i didn't even know he was yeah i mean for sure his dad is his dad his dad sounds like my dad he got one of those funny accents oh my gosh well that's good to know did you ever go to therapy for your shit or just you're working it out through you're just working it out through CrossFit. Yeah. I kind of like during that time, I I there was a point that I I considered and I actually talked to my mom about it. Gosh, God forbid talking to my dad about this, because on his end and this is known kind of an Iranian culture, like school is like the top, you know, top of the top, like it's the most important thing of your life.

And if you don't do it, you are not doing what you're meant to do in this world. So I talked to my mom about I almost took a semester off just to give time for myself. And she had talked to me about it. And I said, you know what, like, I'm not I mean, I'm going to continue for the year. And I used CrossFit and just going me feel like, um, you know, I, I have this purpose where I don't have to be sad and it just, every hour was the best hour of my day. So that's something that I love pouring into. Wow. Emotions fee. Here we go. I love pouring that into people here at mentality. So, and, and I guess I get emotional about it is because it came to me in a, in a very, um, dark moment. And it's cool to kind of use that and journey through it in, uh, so,

so many great ways. I'm sorry. I get emotional. I just love it. I i love it brian you start crying too brian fucking this thing will go down as gold um i'm so known to be emotional over like things like this um so when's the last time you when's the when's the last time you had any alcohol when's the last time you've been drunk let's not alcohol when's the last time you've been drunk? Let's not alcohol. When's the last time you've been drunk? I don't, I enjoy some wine every now and then, which was probably like, uh, actually after, after I realized, um, I didn't qualify for the games. That was an emotional moment as well. After the last chance, I, a couple of our friends, we went out together, we went to some wineries and I think I had three, about three glasses of wine and I was not feeling normal.

Did you cry? No, I get more like happy. I just get like louder and happier and yeah, just very full of life. Listen to this. Listen, listen how fucking crazy the listeners are. She's such a happy ray of sunshine. Dude, she's crying. Listen, that's Gigi Strong. And then Carolina Rocha. I can't believe how cute she is.

Dude, she's crying. Harry, she's so awesome. But you know what it is? I think I know what you guys are talking about. You know when it's raining, but then the sun's up and there's rainbows and shit? That's her. She's smiling while she's crying. We're seeing rainbows.

We're seeing rainbows. I love that. The water works. Well, that just made me feel good. Seven, I want to read you a list. Please. Thank you, Brian. Becky Konzelman.

Do you know who that is? Oh, man. Do I ever. Michelle LaTondra. Catherine Konzelman. Do you know who that is? Oh, man. Do I ever. Michelle LaTondra. Catherine Davidstodd. Okay. Rebecca Voigt. Emily Bridgers.

Christy Adkins. Margot Alvarez. Camilla Solomonsson-Hellman. Wait, who's that? Who's that? How come that's the first name I don't recognize? Who's that? That's okay.

She's from Sweden. She's a four-time CrossFit Games athlete. She's currently pregnant. Oh, damn. Fisa Gaff okay. She's from Sweden. She's a four-time CrossFit Games athlete. She's currently pregnant. Oh, damn. Fisa Goffi, Laura Horvath. I think it's Laura Horvath. Horvath, excuse me. What do you think these 10 women have in common?

They're willing to do the show once and never again. Prior to this year, those are the last 10 24th place finishers at the CrossFit Games. And the reason I want, I just kind of thought that was interesting as I was scanning through the... Wow, those are big names. That's exactly right. Those are big names that have all finished 24th at the CrossFit Games. And people, I think, often lose sight of the depth of the field. And when they talk about the cuts and whatever, that you can go pretty far down the games roster

in a certain given year and you can find some very recognizable names and in my opinion it's important that we have those people and that they have the opportunity to have that placement at some point in their career so they can build upon it going forward what a great combination here I am trying to get you to talk about your deepest darkest moments

in life. And then Brian's like, dude, you're fucking amazing. You look at these names that you share this space with. I love it. Brian, can you word it a little different? I'm so happy you mentioned that. That's something that it's just to kind of go back to your point briefly. You do as athletes, you lose sight of, you know, you have a bad finish and it gets to you and it kind of eats at you a little bit and it's um quota for you to recognize that i would have never known that

and those are names i've i've watched i mean not only have i gotten a chance to compete briefly with some of them but watch them years and years before i even tapped into the sport so thank you for that. That's incredible. Brian, word that a little differently for me so I can get my head wrapped around again. You're saying in their first year at the games, all of those girls. Not necessarily their first year. Just in the last 10 years in order, starting with Becky coming all the way forward to Laura Horvath last year. Those just happened to be the 24th place finishers.

And I was like, Fee's only been to the games once and that was the place she took. So I thought it was kind of cool. I have this spreadsheet that has all the finishers of the games from every year in an easy to access format. And you know, sometimes CrossFit talks about how we're trying to find the fittest. We don't care about

the rest of the rankings. And I completely disagree with that statement. And I think it's important that all the athletes who make the games of the rankings. And I completely disagree with that statement. And I think it's important that all the athletes make the games have opportunity to compete and sort themselves out amongst each other. And that sometimes some of the biggest names in the sport finish way far away from the podium. And that doesn't take anything away from, in my opinion, the incredible accomplishment it is just to finish 24th at the games.

Damn, you know what? I'm going to like, I just gave this show a thumbs up. I just liked our own show. Can I do that? Hey, you know some shit, Brian. What? I mean. He knows a lot of cars, but. Wow.

So where were we? Back to the Deep Dark Seekers. Okay, so in 2015, which is six years ago, you were 21 years old, and you found CrossFit. And what happened? And you were basically using – well, I want to go back to – weren't you scared to go in? No, not at all, actually. I wasn't – I guess I wasn't scared because I really didn't.

I was more excited. I was just I was ready to try something new. And I've always been involved. I've always been more on the tomboy side. When I was younger, I would always want to play with boys, pick up sports, you know, baseball, football, backyard sports, everything. I was always so excited to try anything and everything and that's always kind of how I've been so when it came to CrossFit I never I didn't even know much about the like the competing side of it I just knew that I just saw a video of people doing really awesome things and I wanted to do that too and so I wasn't nervous I was so excited I didn't know what I was gonna get myself into and then and then how long were you there before you ended up at Mentality, Scott Panchik's gym? And when and why did you switch?

Yeah, I ended up, I was there just about a year, just about a year or so. At Crooked Penis CrossFit? At Crooked River. Okay. Yeah, Crooked River Cross crossfit i was there about maybe just over a year um around that time do they have i think do they have a different kind of rope at that gym it's like not the normal rope they have like these wider manufactured like yes yes yes plastic not plastic i don't even know what it is like fiber it's yeah it's yes so you've

probably it's the only gym I've ever dropped into that had that kind of rope and I thought I was you're like I can't grip this yeah anyway wow okay yep that's that that's right um so anyway so I was there just over a year and then so the reason that I was curious about or got I heard that Scott Pantrick, you know, opening up a gym 20, 20 minutes away from my house, 25 minutes away, um, that instantly, um, kind of perked my ears up a little bit. And obviously I knew how great of an athlete he is. And, um, the fact that he was opening up his own community, um, it was kind of around the time that I was, I had done some little local competitions for fun and to kind of give myself time that I was, I had done some little local competitions

for fun and to kind of give myself, you know, something to work towards. And then at some point throughout that year at Crooked River, I saw, I got an understanding of what the Open was, this series of events, competitions, you could go to regionals, you could be at a competitive level. And that's where I would look, I would, I just remember could go to regionals, you could be at a competitive level. And that's where I would look, I would, I just remember watching on my computer screen, like cheering for for women that I had no idea who they actually were, but like, being so supportive of them and excited to watch them and be wanting to be one of them. And, and part of me was like, I could never, I could never do that. I don't come

from some of these incredible backgrounds that a lot of athletes, you know, take into the sport, whether it's a high level gymnastics, swimming, Olympic lift, whatever it is. But then the other part of me was like, well, I'm starting from nothing. And maybe, you know, from nothing, I could build something and we all bleed the same and so then then I told myself well if I want to continue kind of that path I definitely want to follow in footsteps that are following that as well and be immersed in that kind of community and coaching and hopefully you know be led by one of the greater people in the sport Scott VanTek and sure enough I made that move and I remember just walking I did a competition there. They had like a local competition. Scott hosted one of that

at Mentality. And just the community there was so, I mean, I felt like I also made even more friends. People were so welcoming. It was just so warm and welcoming. And that's what I fell in love with there. And then kind of the conversations of wanting to join and checking out the gym. And I did my first open with Scott judging some of my events, which was very exciting for me. Did he know that you were coming there to up your game or did you just kind of creep on him? Like, did you sign up first and then like were a member there like did you know before like long like yeah tell me how that unfolded yeah like i i the conversation where i told him i would love to do the open there

um not with any specific goal in mind but i I definitely wanted to be, I just told him I would definitely have small goals and I want to become a better athlete and things like, I never, I never told him like, I want to go to the CrossFit Games one day. Like it was never the first thing, but he pretty much had an understanding that I just was looking for more coaching and more things to hold me accountable to and a better community and, and then kind of unravel that potential. So and then eventually, you know, within the year, I would take class, I was there, I joined, I took class every single day. I was coached by Saxon Pancheck, Spencer Pancheck, Scott would Um, and I would just take class every day and the next open, I did the open. I don't know. However I placed maybe, uh, 200, 300, something like that. Wow.

Yeah. And so then, and then what year was that? Do you remember what year where that was? Was that 2017? I think that was like 2017. Yeah. what year where that was was that 2017 i think that was like 2017 yeah okay 20 so i would do like a bunch of little local competitions and use the mentality programming to just compete right to do these small competition isn't that amazing like i'm right right if you're top 300 in the

world as a woman in the open like you're the shit right i was just was looking at this so i for you was 2014 your first open it should have been yeah i think so yeah 2014 that's right so on the game side that's what it has but sometimes it doesn't go back all the way so you did the open your very first year of crossfit yeah that's when yeah that was the year that was one year that was my first year also she took 2766 that year i took uh 51 694th wait she took two thousands and you took 51st thousands 51 000 holy shit so she came in good she i i how did she be so good how was she so good already uh was she in like an 18 year old class or a 16 year old class or something like how can you be 2000th in the open your first year of crossfit i don't even know what the the events were that year i just remember there was like burpees in there that i i had some pull-ups

in there maybe toes i don't know i wasn't i wasn't. Good. But maybe the events were just good for that, those five weeks. But yeah, 2014. And then it kind of improved. So we've had the same growth. And we've both improved year over year on the Open. So I was trying to see if her relative improvement, how it was compared to mine. My best finish was this year, 12,000 something. 2019, she was 24th. Not only did she start was this year, 12,000 something 2019.

She was 24th. Her, uh, not only did she start a lot better than me, she also got much better than me. And her degree of improvement is significantly more impressive. You were 24th in the open. Which year was that? That was my rookie year at the games.

That was 2019 where I first qualified. Wow. Yeah. That's incredible. That was it. That year.. That was it that year kind of, it kind of happened. I don't want to say on accident, but I wasn't shooting for the games that year. Um, like 2017 was my first team regionals. And after that team regionals, we, I mean, we didn't do incredible by any means, but I remember being like, Oh, I definitely want to go 2018. Like 2018 is going to be my year individual.

Like I want to make it as an individual for regionals. Eventually, like I started to voice all these things to Scott, to go back to how did this all happen? Um, and he took me on and mentored me and he gave me more things to do. It got to the point where I just needed to work on more things. Um, and I continued to take classes though. I was, I, I competed at 2018 individual regionals by still going to the gym every day and being in classes every day. Um, and then from there, I think I took like a 30 if something finish. It was a very, very low finish.

But then after that, I said, how cool would it be to make it to the games? Kind of in my mind, that would be awesome since the rules changed. And I just remember writing in 2019 before the open, someone asked me like, what's your goal of the open? And then I wrote, I just want to hang with the top girls. So if that meant, you know, top hundred, that would be awesome. Top 50 would be great. And that was the year I was 24th in the open. And we, I made it without actually shooting for it necessarily. If there's, if, if, if there's just as many people outside the United States who are doing the open as, as inside the United States, let's say it's 50% and 50% just for ease of math in 2014, and you took 2000th, and that was the first year you took it, that would mean that there's only – and this is your first year there would i mean you're just introduced to crossfit and and there would be only 20 people in every state in the united states who are fitter than you

as women i mean that i find that just like that's just crazy like i walk into my local starbucks i'm like yeah bitches i'm so i'm fitter than all you but like you could like cross the border into california and be like hey i only i know only 19 of you bitches is fitter than me. Where are you at? I mean, it's crazy. It's just nuts. I mean, because that's all we have. We're human beings.

All we have is our body. The rest of this shit's a lie. The rest of this shit's made up. So cool. Which I think is what makes me so – it makes me compete so excited because you continue to get to tap into potential human potential that you never thought you, I guess, could do physically. And you get to see, you know, the games unfold and people just performing in incredible ways.

And every year it just got more exciting to just, you know, just to see what more I could do and how much better I could get for me, not for any other reason. Cause it was, it's fun. Like it was just fun for me. It was, you know, I was out of sports. I wasn't playing, you know, volleyball anymore. And which I mean, high school volleyball was pretty much the most I ever got to. Um, but it kind of gave you something to work towards, which was really cool. You'd be screwed if you did steroids you would be so screwed someone just wrote in here i wonder if she's ever had a pimple yeah she would be so

screwed if she did steroids we did a podcast we did a podcast with a guy the other day who was just swearing that like you know he's like just so many athletes are on steroids and i keep seeing that over and over and i'm just thinking to myself it's just you probably watched icarus yeah fee got all juiced up for the game she got all juiced up and that's it's it's which i unfortunately it happened like yes it happens to in the world of sport that's something that unfortunately that's people will try to find a way to recover faster and become stronger. Yeah, there's people getting injected with all sorts of crazy shit. All sorts of crazy shit, not just steroids.

I saw the other day that the amount of money – I shouldn't say the other day. This is many years ago I saw this. I guess it's the other day also. That the amount of money Americans spend on sleep aids is, is more money than the entire GDP of Kenya. Sleeping aids, sleeping aids. That's just sleeping pills, sleeping medications.

That's how much, how drugged up this country is. This country is so drugged up. It's crazy. I want to hear about steroids in CrossFit. You shut your face. It goes back to that, like that Quick result, that quick fix That instant

Relief, whatever that is Yeah, so I drink a lot of carbs I'll do carbohydrates All day Do I attack Brian or do I let that go? You're 27 How tall are you? Five one. And how much do you weigh? As of yesterday, one 31. And is that the heaviest you've been in your whole life? No, no. The heaviest I was, was before starting CrossFit and kind of within that first year uh I was 155 was

my heaviest which is a lot for someone that's 5'1 for me and that and that and that wasn't so like I mean if you were 155 now and you were working out we would know it would be because of muscle but this is pre-CrossFit you're saying yeah yeah this was very this was pre-CrossFit. This was poor eating habits, poor lifestyle, not sleeping much. Yeah, this was not a healthy 155. Brian would love to weigh 155. He just needs to put on 10 more pounds of muscle. Come on, Savan. How often do you update your CrossFit Games profile?

Not often. I don't think often at all. A couple years ago, maybe Not often. I don't think often at all. A couple years ago, maybe? Yeah, I don't think many athletes do. Whenever you did make it, you said you were 5'2", so I was wondering if you'd shrunk at all. Oh. Maybe I was being ambitious.

No, I'm definitely 5'. When you're under 5'5", Brian, you don't understand the under 5'. How tall are you, Brian? 6'? 5'5", Brian, you don't understand the under 5'. How tall are you, Brian? Six foot? 5'10". When you're under 5'5", it doesn't matter what you say. We just say whatever we want. The rest of you all can just jump in a lake.

Well, you know, people ask me all the time, people ask me all the time, what's the ideal height and weight for a CrossFit Games? What's the average height and weight of the women or men who've made the games? And I always say, like, this is what I think, but I don't really know. I mean, Fraser's games profile always said 5'7", but now since he's retired, he's like, I think I'm 5'5". And I'm like, well, obviously if the guy who's regularly in the top 10 or obviously the top one is saying he's two inches different in his height, that's statistically

significant for one person. If everyone's off by an inch or height, that's statistically significant for one person. If everyone's off by an inch or two, who knows? I don't know. And so it makes it pretty difficult. And I always wondered why. The game site is just, you could say whatever you want. I could put that I'm 6'5 on there and no one's ever going to question it. They're just going to look and say, oh, this guy's 6'5.

Wow, he's pretty good at pull-ups for 6'5 or something like that. I wish you would do that. Would you do that? Switch yours to 6'5". Wow, he's pretty good at pull-ups for 6'5", or something like that. Oh, I wish you would do that. Would you do that? Switch yours to 6'5". That's awesome. No, no, because I don't want to be offensive to Carl. I think people just kind of like eyeball, and they're like,

like, no, I'm this. But I think that for the game, I think that it would be, I don't know, I think there's actually some practical application. Once you qualify for the games, you actually get measured and weighed when you show up or something like that, and we can actually keep a tally and say like, hey, over the years, the average height of women has actually increased steadily for the last

five years or the average weight has remained the same or whatever. But we just are kind of arbitrarily guessing at what's optimal based on whatever you guys choose to say. She is too skinny to win the games, though, right? Well, I don't know. I mean, Tia's games profile has always said I think she's 135 or 137, but I don't think that's true. I think she's got to be closer to 145 or 147 at this point. Dude, she's got to be,

Fia's got to be one of the lightest girls ever to be in the CrossFit Games. 130? Yeah, according to whatever is recorded, on most years that would be in the bottomFit Games? 130? Yeah, that would, that would, you know, according to whatever is recorded, on most years, that would be in the bottom three, probably.

Bottom 3%? People. Well, 40, yeah. Also, what's the lightest? Who's lighter than her? Who's lighter than,

sorry, Fi, go ahead. Yeah, I was just gonna say, I just remember my lightest weight was my first year at, because I just remember,

my, I just remember feeling just very like small, teeny and the training was hard and a lot, and I wasn't eating as much, um, which is kind of crazy to say, but I was at one 27. I weighed myself before the games at one 27. Um, and that was almost at the lowest point. And I was like, I have to change something after this season. point and I was like I have to change something after this season what year was that 2019 yeah that is light man holy cow that is light I would I would guess just looking at this year's games roster that of the people who made the top 20 maybe Mallory O'Brien Christy Aramo Emma Carey are probably like the bottom three like right around that that 130, 135 maybe, but two of them are

17 years old. Yeah. That's, it's something where after that year I started to definitely hone in on what, what are the elements of, you know, high performance athletes, like what are they doing? And the one, the, one of the top things is how you, you know you own your nutrition and your recovery. And so I actually ended up getting connected with a nutrition coach, Mike Malloy, from M2 Performance. And he has a lot of games athletes that he specifically works with as well. And that's kind of one of those things where he knows that lifestyle. He knows what the training volume looks like. He knows the stress on the body.

that lifestyle. He knows what the training volume looks like. He knows the stress on the body. Um, and he's just, so as soon as I started working with him and he realized, he goes, you are not eating enough. And it's crazy to say that eating, you know, over 2000 calories is not enough. Um, for obviously for the average person, plenty, but for athletes, I realized that I was probably almost like a thousand calories off from what I needed to be eating. And we started working together after my first year at the games. So and the goal continues to be and I feel like I always I try to stay away from hearing the, you know, you know, articles that are written and comments. But when it comes to strength, I'm usually like right at the bottom. And a lot of it has because I am a lighter athlete, but I haven't, I guess, dedicated the time that I need to build to put on some mass, but also to really hone in on some strength work, which is why this year I am very confident. I'm

very excited for this year. A lot of good changes. Sevan. Yeah, go ahead. Two things, two things. So first of all, I pulled up the stats for the games athletes for this year. You guys tell me if you think that these are accurate.

Tia Toomey's listed at 135. Kristen Holt is listed at 130. Sam Briggs listed at 135. There's no way Holt is 130. You're buying Sam Briggs at 135? No. That's what I'm saying. Her back weighs 135 pounds.

So no one's holding these athletes accountable to update these. So that's why the weights we're just guessing, and it's very inaccurate. Carrie Pierce, 140 pounds? I don't think so. I mean, she's tiny, though, right? I mean, don't get me wrong. She's jacked. But, I mean, is she bigger than Mallory O'Brien? Mall if you still have brian's listed listed at 145 oh yeah okay okay carolyn connor's 133 you might not know her very well seven i don't uh christy's christy

aramos let's say 132 she looks tiny but not 132 tury tury how good daughters let's say at 130 and sasha nieves it's interesting to hear like guys like guess how how i believe i for a fact christy and i are actually very similar when it comes to our size and our composition and um she's but she's she's a muscle hamster but um yeah she's definitely one of those i I would say that Christie is definitely one of the tiny athletes. Kristen Holt, he definitely one of the smaller athletes as well. I definitely, it's,

it's hard. You just never know sometimes. Right. Right. It's hard to guess with weight. So anyway, so just to say like, it's difficult,

it's difficult to say what these athletes actually weigh and how often they're updating that or if they even care to. Daniel Brandon told us on the show that she was eating 1,200 calories a day and that basically she almost – 1,200 on the show. By the way, Ryan, you're killing it by the way on the YouTube. and that by the way ryan you're killing it by the way on the youtube and um and in that and basically she was doing an assault bike workout and she basically i think i'm paraphrasing but fell off the bike like she just crashed she couldn't ride the bike anymore she just crashed and finally one of her coaches like what the fuck is going on you need a nutritionist and i think she did the same thing i think she had to double basically it sounded like she had to triple her food intake i mean basically she was basically starving herself yeah she was eating 1200 she's in she's been an incredible athlete and

1200 i can't i think my breakfast is like 700 calories now right i i can't fathom it i can't fathom it either i mean ate 1200 calories of salami and cheese in a sitting and that's kind of the the life of that side of performance that a lot of people don't see they just see the performance side of the sport or crossfit and um it's easy to under eat just because you're just active throughout the entire day and training is hard. But, um, yeah, it's sometimes, and depending on the person, there's people, you know, I know I went through a period in my life where I was, I was there. I remember in high school, I would jot everything down in this little notebook and I wanted to make sure I stayed under 900 calories every day, like 800 and I, and I just would jot how 900 calories every day, like 809. And I just would

jot how many carrots I ate, how many celery sticks I ate. I would like little granola bar. And I just went through a period like that point in my life. I was, you know, uh, 15 years old, 16 years old. I weighed 104 pounds. Um, and I, and I was, I started to lose my hair. I, um, you know, I started, you know, I started to be always cold. I was freezing. I was very bony. Um, and that kind of point where I was scared of calories and scared of nutrition and scared of, you know, gaining weight. And that at the time I thought was, you know, what I, what would make me feel good. And then, you know, I, then I put on 50 pounds, which is kind of crazy. And so I think it's, it's hard when you have maybe some people, some women, some individuals have a history of maybe restricting themselves to feel a certain way or to not look a certain

way. And you never know. It's, it's definitely a crazy side of the sport and just life in general. I think it's, it's hard. It's a conversation that needs to be had. And, and I think what's powerful is, you know, individuals, women, men of all kinds being like, yeah, like food will fuel you if you do it the right way, if you balance it in the right way, and it could bring life back into your days, right? And as soon as I started to hone in on my nutrition, everything, everything on the performance side and recovery started to elevate everything.

What about did it have any effect on like emotions or mental clarity? It, I mean, when it came to mental clarity, I remember I would just, I'd be yawning at like one o'clock in the afternoon. I mean, when it came to mental clarity, I remember I would just, I'd be yawning at like one o'clock in the afternoon. I mean, I was exhausted. And to go into a second session with Scott, especially like to try to bring that same intensity, same intention and have another long seconds. I was just, I felt like I was just like running on empty and me in my mind, I was eating enough.

And so it helped with the energy and help with yes. Mental clarity. Absolutely. Um, I re I would be, I would just, I remember I would be driving home, you know, six o'clock, seven o'clock, maybe seven and like falling asleep at the wheel. Cause I was just so exhausted and it wasn't because I wasn't sleeping necessarily enough. It was just, I just had no fuel, like my body was shutting down. And when it comes to recovery, I mean, yes, the training is hard, and the days are hard. But I went from like, always being exhausted and tired and fatigued and sore to, I mean, I can't, I mean, every now and then, yes, I get sore like any other hard training session, but nothing compared to just the everyday soreness or everyday flare-ups and inflammation and chronic things that were happening often. What's your, um, you want to talk to Jason Hopper? Yeah Okay let's talk to him I do

When we're done talking to him though I do want to know about your go-to carbs Say hi to Jason Hi Jason Who are you talking to? She's saying hi Jason I'm talking to She says you don't know her

Her name is Firuza Hi, Jason. I'm talking to... She says you don't know her. She says you don't know her. Her name is Firuza... Sagafi. Firuse. Firuse Sagafi. He might know her. You beat my... He says... Wait, wait, hold on.

She wants to say one thing to you. Hold on, Jason. Go ahead. Tell him. I'll translate to him. You beat my training partner at the Mac. Oh, she says you beat her training partner at the Mac. And who is her training partner, Hopper?

Do you know? I have no idea. Scott Pancic. Scott Pancic. Wow. But, Fee, tell them what happened at the game all right buddy thanks for thanks for the guest appearance okay bye um what is your go-to carb like you said you like carbs and it's eating away at my soul. What is your go-to carb? Love carbs.

Go-to carbs, I use, I drink You Can and Eat You Can products. So You Can, it's a super starch. Starch carbohydrate, it's a bigger carbohydrate in your system. So you're actually able to use that energy for a longer, sustainable time versus, you know, any like caffeine, for example, you consume caffeine, you have this very limited window where you're, you know, on this caffeinated high, and then you completely have that crush. So I've been using you can for just over a year. Actually, Scott introduced it to me. And he introduced it to me during the 2020, like 2020 season where like the games were happening and then they got canceled and then things were

happening and then they got canceled. And this was kind of the year he was on team mayhem freedom. And we were just training hard. We were just training hard without actually having some end competition goal. And I just, he introduced you can to me because he needed just, he, he got introduced to it by his chiropractor, our chiropractor. And I just remember going through sessions with Scott and we would go through the second session and he would just be like crushing it, like same intensity as the first session. And for a while I was like, just doing my own thing. and then he eventually gave me some some carbs to drink and i was just like this is insane like the amount it was more what does it

look like is it a powder or is it a goo or is it it's a powder they have a couple they have a couple um their super starch um formula they do it in pow, like energy powders or protein powders. They have an edge fuel, which is almost like a goo, right? If you need that like super like dense kind of goo liquid immediately, just like marathon runners or those triathletes that use similar products, which they have that. They also have bar, like energy bars, granola. They have different products. And I mean, I use all of it. I feel like I have carbohydrates all day, whether I'm drinking, like whether I'm drinking them or eating them in some way. But throughout the training sessions, you and when you're in between training sessions, you're you're you're trying to get fuel in as

efficiently as you can. So I do drink a lot of the there's you can super starch powders. Are you sponsored by them? Yes, actually, I signed with them in April. So you're using their product first and then you signed with them. Yeah, I was. Did you reach out to them and you're like, yo, I like your shit. Hook me up. I pretty I pretty much.

So I was using it for a year. And then my agent Cooper, I told Cooper, um, Cooper Marsh, I was like, we got to connect with you. Can like, I've been using their products. I mean, I've been like, I was using Scott's. So like, boy, he gets at the gym. I was just like stealing away, um, and sneaking some, you can, uh, Scott is Scott sponsored by them.

Yeah. He was actually, he's, he's one of the, he was one of their first CrossFit, uh, male athletes on that side. So yeah, he was, um, definitely. And then he introduced it to me and kind of, and, and, and, and how do you keep us? Do you have to be nice? Like, like, how do do you keep us but do they have rules for you of things you can and can't say i'm i'm i'm honestly curious because like i'm how come i can't get a sponsor i want to sponsor from ancestral supplements i love their shit i use all the time i want a

sponsorship from um the best shoes on the planet victos they're the basically the nano twos only place you can still get nano twos but they're called Vico's Core I want to get the Sogo Snacks Jerky with no sugar You guys, I love your shit Hook me up But it could be just the shit I say I'm wondering if it's just because my mouth is just out of control You know who they sponsor?

Who? Talking Elite, Sean Woodland Who does? Tommy Marquez Oh yeah, yeah. I can't have them. I can't have them. Because carbs disgust me. They're the source of all vile...

They're the reason why humanity's in such a bad place. Refined carbohydrates and added sugar. Refined. This is not a sponsor, but I use their shit too. It's like, yo, sponsor me. Seven, you have a notepad there i do we write these write these numbers down ready okay okay yes yes yes okay four four seven seven fifth fourth fourth seven seventh fifth seven seven five that's five numbers you gave me four four seven seven five yeah and compare those is that her phone number since we don't have it?

Yeah. Yeah. You have to guess the rest of the digits. Okay. Okay. And then compare those five numbers to 11th, first, sixth, sixth,

ninth. Oh, I see what we're doing. These are finishes that she took in a semifinals or a regional. One of them is finishes from five events that she did at semifinal. And the other one is from an athlete who finished fourth at the same competition. And finished in the top ten at the games, I think. And it's at the same competition?

Yeah. So which one of those do you think would have placed higher? God, just from a quick look, the 4-4-7-7-5. Yes. Those are Fee's finishes, by the way. Oh, okay. The other one was Amanda Barnhart. But Amanda Barnhart made the games and Fee did not.

What year? This year? This year? This year. I omitted one event, the first event. So if you add to the bottom numbers, you add a 6th for Amanda and you add 21st for Fee.

Oh, okay. Okay. Now I would pick Amanda's numbers. Because she mentioned earlier that sometimes the weightlifting holds her back. So that first event was the snatch. One rep max snatch. Oh, Nelly.

And the reason why I thought it would be fun to do that little experiment is because I remember two years ago when CrossFit said, well, now we found the fittest, so we'll test strength. And so this year they tested strength at a lot of the semifinals in order to have the opportunity to prove that you were the fittest. So just so that, you know, the, you know, people always ask the ordering of events to the number of events, to the events that are selected matter. And we can see right there,

if we had just, if that one event wasn't there, fees numbers probably good enough to carry her through. Add in one, one event, one test that she's not as good at, and it's not good enough. Fee is hot as fuck north side champ 16 um so um it's what let's just play this game real quick here so um what what is your best best strength event do you have a best strength event like like yeah i would say i guess like raw strength event um i can't say i consider like anything raw strength like 100 maxes is that what you mean

yeah like is weighted pull-up considered a strength event i'm trying to think is there anything i'll do those all day i yeah i know you love a pull-up the thing is true like part of me goes yeah i like what Brian's saying. And I really like like this, this, but the, but on the other hand is like, dude, like can fee actually beat Amanda Barnhart in any strength event? Depends how you test it. I mean to jump in on that because, yeah, those, so training with Scott is something that is incredibly hard. One of the things that we hammer at is a lot of conditioning, a lot of volume, a lot of high skill gymnastics, a lot of, you know, long endurance pieces or longer endurance pieces. And one of the things that he also is great at is strength. And so when I'm following someone that doesn't need to prioritize strength, um, you know, he's fine with a 300 pound snatch, you know, 375 clean and jerk. And, um, he's okay there. And he could probably do that extremely exhausted every time.

And he's okay there. And he could probably do that extremely exhausted every time. And so for these last years, I have always done what Scott does. And what Scott does, it has always been what's best for this is kind of where gears need to shift for me where I need to start dedicating time in, you know, the strength realm, where I just have it. Because of the program that I followed, which was obviously everything that Scott did. And strength was a big thing that I just didn't focus on. And when you don't focus on it, when it comes up, it's just going to be what it is. And that's kind of one of those things that I was clearly exposed at the MAC in the strength event and in the last chance qualifier.

It was kind of one of, I was excited for the last chance qualifier, but I knew there was going to be a strength event and it was just going to be what it was. And unfortunately I took a very low hit on that and I just couldn't make up for it. So I tried, I tried to pull some numbers from last chance to see if I could have a similar

comparison, but really Emma and Christy were so much, so much more consistent than everyone else that like, that's just, I think they were going to make it kind of no matter what. Yeah. I knew I had to take, like, I would have to have taken... More people would have needed to get in between on top of getting first in the last two events would have needed to happen.

But I'm actually... Off-season is going to be looking more towards strength building and putting on some mass. I think it's possible to, you know, weigh 135 and outlift, outlift, lift the same, if not more as maybe a heavier athlete with a good foundation. I don't think it's impossible. I love it how you bring Scott up, by the way. Sorry, Brian, go ahead. No, I was gonna say definitely not. You know, Cody Anderson's a great example of that. Like it's possible.

Oh, that was horrible. You didn't want him to say that fee. Why? I don't know, man. Because his problem still persists. What are you talking about? He outlifts tons of guys that are heavier than him. How about this?

Emma Carey with that 200-pound snatch at the Granite Games. There we go. Very impressive. Ryan, why is Greg Glassman's picture in the fourth square? I'm just curious. Do you like him? Or do you just pay in tribute? I just thought it was funny.

Fine, fine. Yeah, and Nancy W. says, this is hilarious. Do you all see it or just me? Greg's photo. David Alvarez, Sevan with an O, which is fine. You can spell it however you want, Sevan. Why is Greg not saying nothing? He is muted. Tell Brian to – oh, shit.

Okay. David Alvarez again. Sevan, is fee on the picture promos for the advertisement on YouCan? I am looking on Amazon. the picture promos for the advertisement on you can i am looking on amazon do you know do you know if they use your um zitless face for the um promo for that product we um we need to work on some content i'm on i'm not on there yet i don't think so but you can they want her they want her face on a on a jar of the of the poison i mean mean, the athlete performance enhancer. And Stephen Rushing, the shoe is called,

I think it's the Core shoe, and the brand is Victos. And it's just, it's for man feet. If you have wide, if you want your toes to be able to have, not be all smashed and bound like the Japanese women of the turn of the century, then those are the shoes for you. If you want to be like the rest of the Americans who talk shit about Japanese foot binding and yet buying their own feet in the same moment, then just go back to wearing Met cons or whatever those shoes are that

smash your feet. Chelsea Liddy. Hi, Savant acknowledge me. You are acknowledged. This must be so fun. I wish I could see the color. You can,

you can. So, um, if we, so if we, This must be so fun. I wish I could see the comments. You can. You can. I can? If Cooper would have been kind enough to share your phone number with us like we do with most of our guests, we would have texted you, and then we'd be on the same text thread, and then Ryan could text you a link to the YouTube page. page. But the problem with giving us your phone number is then you have to deal with Brian texting you all the time about games data and stats like at midnight being like, I noticed that your weight is not correct on the games page. Yes, yes, yes. He'll be a gentleman at all times, I promise you. Maybe I could FaceTime you like Jason.

That'd be great. i would love it the more people that facetime me the better they've kind of because i really am uncomfortable with facetiming really yeah i feel like you're turning the corner on that thank you brian i'm trying i'm really trying i'm uncomfortable with a lot of things that i do i'm uncomfortable with female guests and um what yeah so this is fun for me oh good okay good good um but i'm just like i'm just i'm just working i'm just working like we got to face our our fears right there's this there's this girl there's this girl i follow i think her instagram is at cf kate and she's pretty kate gordon and down in australia and she's pretty wild man like but

she posts all sorts of yeah she's fun she's fun as shit and she posts all sorts of wild stuff and about basically just her views on relationships i can't tell if like like in her most recent thing is like and i kind of watch her from afar but she recently like posted a picture of this guy and his face is all pixelated and she's basically saying like hey i have an open relationship with this guy and i was never going to tell you his name but now i want to tell you his name and i want to talk about it like it's kind of that's cool like she's like um she's at an age where she's having open relationships and she's exploring and sharing this experience which could be like very intense and emotional right an open relationship with the

world to kind of like watch and i made a comment on there like like what's his fran time or something funny i was trying to be funny or does he squat below parallel i can't remember exactly what i said but then people are like you should have her on the show oh fuck i can't have her on the show i'm terrified of her no no like i wish i would have never what we should definitely have her on there's's tons of great topics. Oh, my God. She trains at Rob Forte's gym. We can make it work. I don't know.

I've never met her, but she seems like I love when – didn't she have a wild clean and jerk experience? She's like getting the crowd all pumped up. I think that's who – Yeah, the Torian Pro. Yeah, it's the same. Oh, she's that good? Yes, yes. she's that good yes yes she's

very good oh I just go to the I just follow her because of the sex talk stuff I didn't know she was that good well and I anyway yeah that's awesome you do all the talking I'll have to do steroids before she came on the show I gotta like prep myself I think I think she would be an entertaining guest and you know yes she does cross it but she's definitely there's some definitely some other stuff we could talk to her about that'd be cool how did you how did you end up with a um an agent why did you get an agent oh my gosh well i actually got connected to cooper through amanda so amanda barnhart barnhart yes super sweet i love we've actually like,

it's been so cool kind of building friendships through the sport and that she's one of them. And she's just a sweetheart. And she thought of me as, um, someone that might need, you know, that help and that assistance throughout the year as things were picking up for me, um, opportunities were coming my way. And I think, um way. And I think she pretty much just threw my name out there to Cooper and she connected us. And Cooper actually, he first started, we chatted, we connected, and he got me the opportunity with Reebok. And he kind of initiated that bridge. And I mean, opportunities have been so incredible and just an honor, but, and that's how we got connected pretty much through Amanda.

Do you have to drink good dudes if you're represented by Cooper? No, I don't have to, but he does send me some really good coffee, which I actually finished that within like, I think a week. I remember when he sent me some coffee, the good juice coffee. Yeah. Do you remember what it was? Which flavor was it? Which, which, which kind do you remember? Was it Roosevelt? No. Oh, it was a name. It was a name. Is there another one? Maybe it wasn't. There's a Roosevelt. There's a Lincoln. There's a Samson. There's a Reagan.

I think it was Roosevelt. Don't forget Patton. There's a Patton. Well, thank you, Patton. Who knows? It must have been, it was a medium roast. I think it was a medium roast. Man, it's good.

It's so strong. I drink way too much. It was months ago. Well, it's funny because I ended up posting a picture of it without, I hadn't known it was Cooper, or Cooper was part of that company or owns that company and i posted it on instagram and he like messaged me or liked it and i was like oh this coffee's amazing um and then he goes yeah fee i'll send you some that's like my company yeah it's i i could be wrong maybe it is cooper's company i always thought it was josh bridges but

it probably is it probably is cooper's company and josh probably just gets paid to advertise it my bad yeah or maybe they have some kind of partnership there but right yeah so that's how anyway it's great it's great coffee um i buy it all the time they should sponsor me too yeah fuck those guys yep I agree if anyone should it should probably be them you probably mention them on 95% of the shows Yandy

Yandy take my mom's name out of your mouth boy don't ever say Rosemary again but yeah Cooper has been so I've been with Cooper Cooper's been on my team since last well it was actually in March since March Cooper has been, so I've, I've been with Cooper. Cooper has been on my team since last, well, it was actually in March since March, February, just around February. And he's, it's been so incredible.

And he was actually keeping me sane at the Mac as well, where I was so sick at the Mac and he was like running around crazy, trying to make sure I was like getting what I needed, medical attention. And just like probably stressed one of the most stressed guys that he was there taking care of Amanda. What ended up being the problem with your stomach? What ended up being? So for people who don't know at the,

at the Mac, just out of nowhere, uh, fee felt like just barfing her brains out. And did you really feel like shitting your pants? And you tell the story, you felt like barfing your brains out. Cause shitting your pants is too graphic?

No, no, no, no. Actually, it was all like, it was all nausea. Okay. And throwing up. Did you think you were pregnant? Did you think you were pregnant? That was never an issue because. Okay.

Yeah, that was never an issue. Okay. Just checking. But I was asked that actually by many people because it yeah I mean that's the question to ask for a woman um when that's happening but uh what happened um well I guess I I don't know exactly why I got very very sick I know it wasn't food poisoning because the food that I was eating I was also like my boyfriend was eating it. Um, and some of, and he wasn't getting sick. Um, I did change something, um, in my routine that I

typically, and I don't necessarily recommend ever changing something in your routine. And I, I got vaccinated, you know, a couple of weeks prior. And, um, that was the only thing that I could think of that have might have caused some sickness, some nausea, some effects, you know, that two weeks after. And I remember I had, I had made sure to talk to enough medical professionals to make me make that choice. And eventually I, that's what I chose. And where um, where again, it's hard to pinpoint why, but it was the only thing that I could really think of. That was the only thing that I changed was two weeks out from competing. I had chosen that. And, um, sure enough that week, uh, it was, I don't know if this is TMI, but it was that time of the month for me, um, as well as competing. And that never happens.

Um, from one day to the next, I was actually, I remember Thursday night, I was in extreme stomach pain, like pain that I've never experienced ever in my life before. Pretty much. Um, it was like cramps times 10. And I called my chiropractor. He was in town. He, he competes, he travels when we compete as much as we can. So I called him, he rushed over, he was doing some treatment. And the entire night I was like sweating. I was up, I wasn't sleeping. And I eventually woke up at like 10, 1030. And I, that never happens either. I'm never waking up that late. And I took a walk outside just to get some fresh air because things weren't feeling good and i just remember a truck just passing by just the smell of gasoline and that was like the trigger and i just threw up um pregnant pregnant pregnant you were pregnant you were pregnant yeah i'm telling you that's pregnant i really want to blame the vaccine i want it yes you're right mitch never too much information for seven i really want to blame the vaccine. I want it. Yes, you're right, Mitch. Never too much information for someone. I really want to blame the vaccine.

But you're fucking pregnant. If a truck drove by. And you fucking wanted to vomit, you were pregnant. OK, so there's a lot to unpack here. I really it's funny because I really I really want to pee and go play with my kids. But you opened up a great a great conversation. OK, so here let me. How did your for starters let's start with the most superficial question how did your chiropractor come where was the mac is it where was the mac isn't that in atlanta where where is it knoxville tennessee what was your chiropractor doing there what was your

work well we were competing so he actually actually, he has. He comes with you? Is it Ryan? Code Cairo, Dr. Chateague. Okay. So she's a real athlete. She brings a chiropractor with her. Why do I know that? Yeah, he was at the game. He's been traveling to the games every season, competitions as much as he can. We try to, you know, we fly him out and support him.

And he supports us and gives, he's there for us and it's incredible what they, what he does. So he was there, he was there that weekend. He was taking care of us and, um, he was, um, doing just some soft tissue work. Things had tightened up in my stomach and he was trying to just maybe relax, help me relax and release. And, um, did you throw up on him? I didn't, I actually didn't. I wasn't nauseous Thursday night.

I was extremely nauseous Friday morning. The competition started Friday morning? No, it started actually Friday afternoon. I think around two or three, maybe one o'clock, two o'clock, somewhere there. What brand of vaccine did you get? Did you get the Coca-Cola brand or the other ones? I got Pfizer. Oh, the Coca-Cola brand or the other ones? I got Pfizer. Oh, the Coca-Cola one.

That's the Coca-Cola one because they got the CEO of Coke is on the board for Pfizer. Isn't that weird that the leading cause of probably type 2 diabetes and obesity is soft drinks and that obesity is the number one correlate for premature death in the world and yet the coca-cola ceo would be on the pfizer board it's it's my mind boggling to me but um okay so and did you get what did you have both shots up to that point or just one i had two that was my second one so that was my second shot. But it was two weeks before. Yeah. So if it was the vaccine, it was a hell of a delay. Two weeks is a hell of a delay. And you're talking to a guy who wants to blame. But, you know, I mean, you know, as well as anyone thing was there's there's information coming out on women, effects on their menstrual cycle after having

the vaccine. Um, so tons, tons, tons of stories, gazillions, countless. And it just so happened to, that was also what I was experiencing. And it was just very, nothing I experienced that weekend was something I ever experienced in general. So, yeah, that was very unfortunate. Well, you're only 27. You've only had about 500 menses. So you're still new to the game. Yeah.

Oh, my goodness. OK. And you know what else is interesting about. Yeah. Wow. I forgot all about that. The menses thing. That is huge.

You're right, and you're saying something you've never experienced before. Okay, I'm fully blaming the vaccine. That's awesome. Are we going to get picked up by the algorithm because I said the word vaccine five times? No, thank you, Ryan. Thank you, Ryan. So – That was unfortunate. That was actually happening like hours before the event and so then i thought maybe it was like a one and done like just throw up once and maybe i'm good and it just

like kept happening and happening and we couldn't figure it out so we were calling like the medical team and do you know do you like when you see the date for the mac do you have a calendar like like do you calendar out your menses no no you just roll with it not at all are they pretty normal are they they're pretty normal yeah like every what is it like every 30 days or 28 days you guys are ready to have a baby yeah kind of like of like, right. Like for me, everyone's so different. And sometimes athletes, there's, I mean, women in sport in general, depending on training, depending on the level of stress of training on their body, some, you know, miss their menstrual cycle and some are pretty consistent and kind of everyone's so different, but mine, I've always

been healthy. I've always been pretty consistent and, uh, feeling good. I don't really get nauseous or cramping or my body doesn't fatigue as much as others. Like I, I really do like, and I trained through it all the time. It's nothing that I'm not used to. So, um, yeah, that was wild. And so the pain come back, I also, I knew I was going to like, that was going to be the time of the month and yeah yeah that's what i wanted to know how long how long out before did you know like when did you know like like when they released the date of the mac are you like oh shit i gotta call seven on the ceo of crossfit and get this shit changed like were you like thinking that no no oh okay because i would have changed that shit for you if you would have called me i knew what i appreciate that maybe next next

competition if that ever happened um no just normal very normal i trained through that i mean that's kind of what you do no different than any other training weekend so are you yeah how is your is your only like is your performance by having your menses during a during performance or during the competition or during training is it only is it is it hindered or improved by it in terms of just your hormones like is it is like is it a good thing except it's just a pain in the ass because you have to deal with it it's one more thing you have to deal with or is it a bad thing all around you feel like more drained and you have to deal with it. No, it's I'm speaking just on my how I feel. The first day is sometimes I get like cramps and sometimes the first day is always the most exhausting, like your energy is kind of low.

But it's never to the point where I can't like train or I have to stay in bed or anything like that. But it is definitely more, you're just more tired for me. I'm more tired. Second day. I feel like I just got a boost of like testosterone is kind of what I explained it as. Um, so I almost like prefer to sometimes like, yeah, that's what I was wondering. Like if you want to time that shit, so you get it. Yeah. Yeah. I remember. And I've, I've definitely had moments where I'm in training. Like I'm like, I'm crushing it right now.

Like Scott's like a couple of reps behind me, like not, you know, 30 in front of me. Um, but yeah, like, and then,

and then after the second day, uh, for me, it's pretty much back to normal. Wow. That's awesome. Do you ever tell Scottott like if you if you do beat him or you feel like you have that a hormonal advantage afterwards you're like hey

dude i cheated sorry yeah i it's funny it's he we've we've talked about weds woman enhanced drugs oh that's probably we could say that that's what it is now. He spends a lot of time with the girls, with strong girls, wife, Kinsley, me, a lot of the women coaches we would train and he would have his girl time. Like we call it girl time and he gets all the girl talk now. And before having Kinsley, I was like, oh, you're for sure going to be a girl dad. Like you have so many girls around you all the time, and he's more emotional. He knows when I have my – he knows when it's the time of the month. I'll like – he just – yeah, he gets all that every day, all the time.

If you're a man and you are not aware of your woman's cycle or whatever you want to call it. I don't know what the PC word is. You're fucking up like like like you like i'm like like you should just mentally be where that means you're not you don't have situational awareness like you you suck at relationships if you can't if you're not aware of that shit now dealing with it and being and managing it is a whole different thing that's like a life is it good enough if like all of a sudden she freaks out and you're like hold on hold on before you go any further is it that time oh yeah great first move hey just say it every day for 30 days anytime she upsets you just come forward with that one are you having your period i'm gary that's a winner oh man you need to write a relationship

book Brian that would be awesome it's like just two pages written by Brian friend and then page two yeah yeah yeah that's some good guy advice Fee 2022

is the goal to go to the games? Yes, yes, yes, yes. It's the goal. No question making it is the goal. No, I did. It was not a fun time doing the last chance qualifier and having to go through that knowing that you're at your last leg of it and it might happen and it might not.

That was not fun so 2022 is is it um better for you that scott may or may not let's assume he's not going let's say he's not going so i have this phone hooked up to the podcast now so people can call in and i guess someone remembered the phone number and was trying to call in isn't that cool we're like a real show now um no you don't get to talk to fee sorry this isn't that show it's just our sunday show we do a live sunday show um so uh did you think it's better that scott isn't going or like is he is that gonna like kind of like pacify and pussify him and like you need to switch to like saxon or something another panchuk who like wants to go to the game still or is it a good thing because then

maybe he can give you more attention like what is the because he's he's changing his shit up right i mean i see he's doing curls and shit and kegel exercises he's definitely taking care of his knee he is he's been in a lot of pain for a very very long time more than I think people realize um so he's definitely out of the training you know and he's taking care of himself um I can't I would be lying if I said I like didn't miss training with him and you know getting excited to go train with Scott and kind of you know push and grind it out together. That's definitely something that I, no doubt in my mind has made me the athlete that I am is because he's been leading me through and I've been able to train next to

one of the greatest athletes in the sport has come to know. So, but I don't, I know I'm very confident. I don't need him to train hard. I don't need him to work very hard and be diligent in what I love and what I love to do at the gym but um and this is kind of where this is kind of that new chapter it's it's he's not holding my hand and he's and I've learned so much from him and one of the things he's gonna I know he's gonna continue to do is mentor me and train with me as much as I can.

Maybe that means, you know, popping in and checking in on a session and training alongside me. That's something maybe a more appropriate for his knee rehabilitation right now. Fitness isn't going away for Scott. He's like way too obsessed and he loves being fit and he loves feeling good. And we'll see where that goes. he loves being fit and he loves feeling good and um we'll see where that goes but this i'm also very much known to like pull people in my gym to join a training session um so i have a really good environment where i'm at there's a lot of people that are very supportive whether it's i just need people that want to work hard with me that doesn't necessarily mean you have to be a

games athlete you don't have to be spot you don't have to be an elite caliber athlete. If, if I could get people that are training with me and they just want to work hard and they're doing things that are appropriate for them. And that still pushes me, then that's the best. That's the best for me. Uh, Chelsea, Lydia said, but heart disease is the number one killer in the world. You don't be tricked by words, Chelsea. I don't know what you're suggesting, but there is no such thing as heart disease or type 2 diabetes. In the picture that I'm talking about, you have to think big picture. There is no heart disease if people don't eat too much added sugar, if people don't eat too much refined carbohydrates. There is no type 2 diabetes.

Don't get confused, man. Do not get confused. All of that shit goes away all of the coronavirus deaths go away no one has died who doesn't eat added sugar or isn't addicted to added sugars or refined carbohydrates

nobody and on that note you're a great person Fi man I'm excited for you I'm excited for you thanks I appreciate it, you guys. I'm excited for you. Thanks for giving us your energy, your time. Thank you.

Brian, do you want to leave her with any, like, stat that... Yes, I'm going to get back to training. Give me something good. As far as I know, I think there are only two athletes who've qualified for Rogue both years via the online qualifier. I think that Fia is one of them and Colton Mertens is the other one. Are you going to give it a shot this year again? I was so hoping they were going to come out with either some backfill qualifier. And I was so bummed.

That was the Rogue invitation. It was one of my favorite ones even though it went online last uh year because i mean okay but they had they just always take so so much care of their athletes and making sure that we had the equipment the resources the judges um i mean they're paying their athletes professionally i would have loved to compete a third year qualifying for it two times in a row was just, I mean, you get to compete with the best. I mean, all the athletes that go there are the best in the game already.

And to be one of them is an honor. And I was very bummed. Wrong invitational. If you want an extra shot, I'm here. I'm ready to do my job. Yep. Well, you beat a couple of them. I did not get invited.

But you did beat a couple of athletes who will be there this year last year so I think it would have been cool if they would have invited you and Colton because you each are the only only the one man and one woman who was able to do that I'm pretty sure of that wait a second so they've already invited who's going to be for the rogue invitational

and no one else can go that's it it's done in the past they had the qualifier and they would have i think 15 invite spots and then five the top five from the online qualifier but it seems like they're not having a qualifier this year and it's invite only which i think is kind of i wish they had like a wild card yeah invitation i had like needed one more spot to have a wild card vote for fee for wild card vote for fee damn how could there be two thumbs down for this podcast how could there be two thumbs down

like instead of turning it off you went out of your way to give it a thumbs down the fuck is wrong with people all right Ryan thank you you were amazing fee you're amazing brian you were like better than amazing like usual love the stats thanks you guys i really appreciate it oh and um and me if you if you would like in the email thread that um you have going if you share your phone number we'll

stay in contact through text um we we do have a have a Sunday show that's going to be basically our news show where we talk about just news events of the week. And every week it's going to be live. And James Hobart will be on the show presenting the news to us. And then we'll always have an athlete or some sort of guest on the show who comments with us. So that's another reason to share your phone number so that we can bug you to be on that show on Sunday nights at 6 o'clock. Who was the guest for week one? It was Danielle Brandon. She did not show up.

And then we were trying to get her back on this week, and she said she'd do it, but then she went MIA. So I think as of earlier today, we were going to have Medaris do it. But who knows? Maybe it will be Fi. Yeah, maybe she's more reliable. Jesus Ramones Ramos. Sevan, why were you fanboying Rich Froning so hard?

Listen to the show, buddy. Like, I hadn't talked to him in three years. Like, I was courting him again. Who doesn't fanboy over Rich Froning, though? Thank you. By the way, that's great. Great guy. Great guy.

Thank you. You got my back great people yes i gotta say is corbin back in here being a debbie downer who's corbin i don't is that one of the i don't know who corbin is uh brandon waddell nah he's quiet today jason i don't know this is all conversation over my head anyway thank you uh you. Thank you, guys. Ryan will disconnect us from the live, and then we will have a 30-second private chat.