The Sevan Podcast - #143 - Jason Smith

Episode Date: September 17, 2021

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We can book your reservation. And when you get to the main event skip to the good bit using the card member entrance let's go seize the night that's the powerful backing of american express visit amex.ca slash y amex benefits vary by card other conditions bam we're live 7 a.m in california 7 a.m that means i've been awake already for an hour when i do 7 a.m podcast i get up at six Uh-oh. better is my microphone on shite how come i can't hear myself external headphones what if i do that now can i hear myself i still can't hear myself. Shh, this is not a good morning. 701, the guest isn't here. My microphone's not working, and I've been awake for an hour.

I get up at 6 a.m. to do the 7 a.m. podcast. Can someone let me know if they hear me? Very frustrating. External headphones built in. Default external headphones? What is going on this morning? Jason Smith is the guest. Yes, I hear.

Thanks, Jim. I appreciate it. When you only have three listeners, it's hard to get someone to respond. So Jason Smith from South Africa was our guest this morning and finished 26th at the CrossFit Games this year. It's kind of remarkable to be one of the 40 fittest men on the planet one of the 80 fittest humans i guess i i wonder if the 80 fittest guys on the planet i want his number is number 38 alexander illin is he fitter than tia to me like can you say it's the 40 fittest people on the planet or it's like are some of the chicks, some of the dudes? Oh, I think there he is.

Well, we could just ask Jason Smith what he thinks. Yeah. I think I'm on. Am I on? You are on. Can you hear me? Oh, awesome. Jason, question for you.

How's it going? Good. How are you? Great. Thank you. Sorry, I'm late. Salutations out of the way. No problem.

You were actually 10 minutes early. That's just how long it takes the signal to go from South Africa to the United States. Are you excited? How excited are you? Over there in South Africa and watching the rest of the world fucking fall apart, you're like, yeah, welcome to my fucking world, guys. Welcome to my world. Like, is a little part of you like a little excited? You're like, yeah, Australia.

Oh, yeah, yeah. Take that lockdown. Oh, yeah, US. We're not that bad anymore. Oh, I know. But you guys have your own problems, but it must be fun to just like watching. Like, oh, yeah, cool. I hope fucking Americans implode fighting about

whether you're male or female i hope you guys really fight that one out i try actually not get involved in all the politics and everything else going on around the world you try and concentrate on your own things you know what i'm saying all right all right yeah i'll believe you but if i were if i was you i've been to south africa a few times there's some scary shit over there if i was over there i would be be like, yeah, I am so stoked. These fucking Americans and Canadians and UK fucks take some of that as they watch us chew on our own arms. Yeah, exactly.

Everyone has their own problems. Yeah, except we're making our problems up. We have it too easy over here so we make up yeah i think the rest of the world first class uh or first world countries they try and create issues yes for the you know for people whereas us third world countries we we have our own issues that we try and box through every single day yes so it's just something that we used to it is it is it is absolutely nuts here uh we live in a weird world on one on one hand like i you know a lot of people are really frustrated with how rich some people are but on the other hand we should be cheering our fellow

man on like holy shits like exactly dudes are launching themselves in this space. How come we can't all be excited for those guys? It's their fucking money. We should be so excited. We should be as excited about Bezos going to space that a 37-year-old geezer can make it to the CrossFit Games. I mean, these are amazing feats. Oh, thanks a lot. Do you even think of yourself as old or no? You don't, right?

I'm guessing. Or do you? I'm getting annoyed by the word old because I don't think 37 is actually that old. Yeah. Well, it's because you hang – no, it's not old. No, it's not. The problem is you hang out with babies, and so it makes you look old. Well, that's the thing.

Yeah, when you're comparing 19-year-olds and 21- and 23-year-olds against a 37-year-old, then I suppose it is old. But in retrospect, 37, I mean, I feel like I should be retiring. But it's actually not that old. I think most men, and I could be wrong, I was a late bloomer, but I think most men are able to ejaculate by the age of 15 and make babies, which then would make it so you could be Justin Medeiros' dad. Yeah, true. How old is he, actually? I think he's 23, isn't he? 22.

If you want to say he's 23 to make yourself feel better, go ahead. Yeah, I'll make myself feel better. And that's the only reason why you seem old. If you were hanging out with me, like on this podcast, no one will fixate on you being old. People will be like, Sevan, you should save that beard. You look like you're 60. Yeah, I still look young.

I still feel young, young at heart. So, yeah, I still look young. I still feel young, young at heart. So yeah, I'm, I consider myself young. From 2013 to 2021, you have held that title of the fittest man in Africa. Yes. Yeah, that's incredible. And I have to, i have to assume you haven't been injury free all of those years right no definitely not so some of those i've had my fair share of injuries it's uh actually this year was probably my worst year from january up until now i've been nursing a back injury quite badly.

I actually wasn't even going to come to the games this year. I was advised by my doctor. I went and saw a specialist, and he advised not to go to the games and compete because of the heavy load and the lifting that you're going to be doing. And the intensity over four days is probably not the best thing for your body. So I actually sent an email to CrossFit support, and I sent the guys an email and said, listen, I'm going to have to unfortunately withdraw.

And I slept on it that night, and I woke up, and I was like, actually, you know what? I've got the opportunity. I've qualified. I mean, you never know what happens next year with COVID and lockdowns and restrictions. I thought, while I've got the opportunity, I'm actually just going to make my way over there, compete, and see what happens. And, yeah, I'm glad I did. Why is your audio better than when I do a podcast with someone who's just 30 miles away from me?

Incredible. I have no idea. I'm glad you can hear me. Are you freaking out in the morning when you wake up? Like, oh shit, I got to unsend that email. Are you like, dear Dave, someone hacked my email account. This is absurd. I would never pull out.

I mean, how do you unwind that? Are you panicking like they may have already given you a spot? To be honest, it actually happens three or four times. Back and forth email back and forth honey i love you honey i don't really love you honey it was actually one of those okay give me the juicy details so what happened i saw a specialist he said he advised not to so that was the day i thought okay let me listen to him he knows what he's talking about so i sent the email then i slept on it and i woke up in the morning i was like actually you know what i'm gonna try and make an effort to come um so please don't post anything because i thought they would go straight onto social media and say jason sm Smith's withdrawn. So I was like, actually, just hold up, please. I'm going to go see my chiro.

And he, I trust with my life, I've been seeing him since 2012. So I went and saw him a couple days later, and he said, you know what? And he was on the same kind of page as me. He said, you've got to look after your body, firstly. And he says, you've done this before, so you don't need to prove anything to anyone. So then I kind of took his advice and I thought, you know what, let me try and nurture this and then make the effort next year. Recover well this year, go back next year. And then, so I sent that email again.

Actually, this was a couple of days later. I said, actually, I'm going to withdraw. This is, you know, I've had my second opinion. And then same thing happened. I slept on it. And I said to my wife, I was like, I woke up in the morning. I was like, actually, you know what? Screw it.

I'm just going to go. If I injure myself, then so be it. I'll just, you go. If I injure myself, then so be it. I'll just see what happens. So, yeah, and I'm glad I went. That's good to hear. For those of you who don't know, the CrossFit Games are – we're not talking about running a marathon. We are talking about five or six days of just complete, absolute physical,

psychological, and emotional beatdown. It's the last two that most people, I don't think, even realize when you push your body that hard physically, the intellect and the emotions start to play massive tricks on you. It's weird. So many people don't talk about it. It's hard to talk about because it's so... I can point to your back and be like, man, your back looks hurt. Or I can point at your shoulders and be like, man, you look buff. But it's hard to be like, man, Jason Smith's emotions, man. It's yeah, it's intense, right? I mean, you've seen those games where you've seen those games in specifically I'm remembering in Madison. I think it's well, it's obviously one of the years Tia won, but you looked around and every single girl on the floor was crying yeah like like they all found out that their boyfriends had just broken up with them yeah it was crazy yeah i know the boys don't do that boys don't cry we have our

tear ducts removed at the age of 17 if you have good parents they just take out your tear ducts and you uh how many speaking to crying how many kids do you have i've, they just take out your tear ducts. Speaking of crying, how many kids do you have? I've got three. Three. Yeah, two boys, one girl. I went on a vacation with some friends one time to Hawaii. All the plans got canceled while we were there, so we ended up just sitting by the pool for like five days,

us and this other family. And the other family um all of their kids were grown up like in their 30s and the the father leans over to me he goes you know one of your kids cries about every eight minutes i'm like fuck you no they don't and then like i was like oh shit they do they do yeah you don't notice that as a parent because there's always an issue either seeing to one or seeing to the other and then someone points something out you're like actually oh you might be right did you want to have kids yes yeah and and probably not as early as we did um but you know uh we thought yeah let's just give it a try and then straight away it was number one yeah and then

and then the others just start coming right and then they just closed yeah so we had the first one which was a boy a second one was a boy that was two years apart um and then we actually thought okay two's enough you know i'm happy you. You also don't want to run into complications like birth or – sorry, that's my phone. Hello. Anything? Jason Smith here. How can I help you? So you don't want to run into any complications and issues.

And so we thought, okay, let's draw the line at two. And then the wife kind of three years later started later started saying you know how's about a third um and i was like no it's you know we out of the nappies we out of the feeding it's out the chair they can look off what are nappies diapers nappies or diapers sorry okay um teach me something so they go to yeah so you know they're kind of looking after themselves and then you got to go all the way back you know, they're kind of looking after themselves. And then you've got to go all the way back to baby stage. And we thought, I said, no, I'm over that stage.

But, yeah, just a little bit of convincing. And, yeah, then we decided to have a third. So for the first two, we didn't find out what we were having. We only found out at birth. And the third one, we also did the same. And I was convinced it was going to be a boy, and I was dreading it because we had two boys, and I was like, oh, my goodness, there's another monster on its way.

And then, yeah, it came out, and it was a girl, and I was just over the moon. That's awesome. Yeah, she's my little princess. My wife threatens me. She's like, if you get me pregnant again, I swear to God, I'll give you three girls. I'll give you triplets. And I'm like, she doesn't understand.

I would love that. She's not threatening me. She doesn't really. Yeah, we were never going to have kids. We never wanted to have kids. And then the same thing, like just one day she was just like, hey, you know, I want to have one. I was like, yeah, sure. Whatever. Let's have one. And then you're really, and then the next two just came and it's just like, yeah, now we have, now we have three kids and I tell her, I said, Hey, you know, I want more.

And she'll say to me, do you really want more? And I go, baby, I didn't want the ones we have. So like, like what's, what's another one yeah you know like yeah yeah let's just actually i actually chatted to uh travis maya he's he's now just had his fourth yeah beginning of this year yeah and um so we both had three and he was like the difference between three and four he said is a huge change he said the one two and three you can handle you know it's just another kid in the house, but he says that switch from three to four is quite a big difference. We're happy with three, and that's where we're drawing the line.

Do you have dogs? We had two. We have now one. One passed away last year. I almost agree with Travis. I don't agree with this and maybe maybe we can team up on them i think one kid is is is doable um two kids is hard and three is not now 33 harder it's a whole it's like because i had three dogs once too and the jump from two dogs

to three dogs is nuts but the jump from two kids to three dogs is nuts. But the jump from two kids to three kids is absolute insanity. Because now all of a sudden, it's like you turn from like a prison warden to a sheep herder. Like when you have one or two, you can just grab them and handle your shit. What are you doing? Just grab them in the car. Yeah, yeah. Three, it's like, holy shit. One's always slipping away.

So I think with our third, because there's, what's the gap? I think it's five holy shit one's always slipping away so i think i think with our third because there's what's the gap i think it's five years four years so the gap four years my oldest is now six years older than my daughter so when we had her he kind of took the role of like you know looking after her and i think with the two boys being older it kind of lessens the pressure on us looking after her like we did with the first two um which helped a lot and there starts to become some like benign neglect each kid you go further you know it's like we had this dog before we had kids and it was like one of us was always holding it or touching it and by the time we had two kids our dog got hit by a car i mean he didn't die and it was like one of us was always holding it or touching it and by the time we had

two kids our dog got hit by a car i mean he didn't die but it was like like no one's watching him i mean you know what i mean he would have never got hit by a car if we had kids if we didn't have kids yeah for sure no i understand um where did you how did you hurt your back and where did you hurt it day so over the years i think from just the heavy lifting squatting training um i think it's just deteriorated the the disc between my l4 and l5 and yeah i always i had a bad back injury in 2013 and i slipped two discs quite badly. And I just think since then, it's just never recovered properly. And, you know, you're always training. And, you know, as CrossFitters, we want to train all the time.

So you just actually never really feel properly. And, yeah, I think it's just taking its toll now with, you know, obviously me getting older and whatnot. It's never going to fully recover. So I'm actually at the moment just trying to lay off the heavy lifting. I obviously still do some lifting, but it's not extreme crazy weights, you know, the 160 or 150-kilo squat cleans and squat snatches. Even with the squats at the moment,

I'm just like doing recovery squats pretty much every second, third day. So I think from now going forward, it's just going to be maintenance. It's not going to be trying to PR every week. You know what I'm saying? Yeah. I'm looking at your Instagram to see if I have to call bullshit on you for the heavy lifting. No, actually, you look like you haven't taken it. And I don't post much, so you probably won't see anything.

Yeah, it's all the way back basically to May 6th before the game, before you posted actually doing any heavy lifting. I mean, you got the bench press, but that doesn't count. You could bench press with no back, right? No, exactly. Remove my spine. That's all I'm doing at the moment. Yeah, just lying down and benching.

Are you enjoying it? What, the training at the moment yeah just lying down and benching are you enjoying it what the training at the moment yeah yeah so i'm trying to do it at least once a week uh once or twice a week just to maintain that strength i think it's pretty good i never used to do it before um and then i think it was in 2018 they had the regional workout was linda the bench, the squat clean. And that bench almost killed me because it's something that we've never really, you know, as CrossFitters, you think benching is more for like the power lifters and the bodybuilders and whatnot. But we never actually threw it into our training. So now I do it at least once a week.

I really, when I used to work at CrossFit every Saturday morning, I'd wake up at 6am and I would do this workout. Um, I would ride my motorcycle. It was an excuse to ride my motorcycle and I'd ride my motorcycle to the office 11 miles away. And I would do this workout and it was, I would basically, I can't remember the exact reps. I think I would do 10 bench at 135 and then I would do a farmer carry over to the pegboard and do one pegboard and i would do 10 rounds of that yeah just a slow you know what i mean just like not for time or anything yeah i'm just you know it was yeah just an old man workout just some pegboard to show off i think i'm gonna try that actually yeah yeah yeah just bench press farmer carry

across you know 20 yards and then pegboard and then and then you got to press, farmer carry, you know, 20 yards, and then pegboard. And then you've got to carry the farmer carry back. Yeah, yeah, yeah. You know your body so well. You've pushed your body so hard. Yes. Why allow a doctor to be involved in the decision of whether you're going to go to the crossfit games so like um my whole family has covid right now and like i don't let anything like i still go

to the beach i still go to the skate park i still yeah um like i'm a little i'm a little you know i've upped my vitamin c intake from zero to 10 to 20,000 milligrams a day. But like I have changed nothing. I treat it just like the flu. My throat gets a little sore at night. I drink some tea. I still drink from the same cup as my wife and my kids. Like I'm given like, fuck you.

I feel great. I'm still getting, I'm still only sleeping five or six hours a night. I haven't changed a thing. I shouldn't say I haven't changed a thing. I sleep in five or six hours a night. I haven't changed a thing. I shouldn't say I haven't changed a thing. Yesterday, I was just going to do 100 burpees for time, and I was like, maybe I won't do that.

But same as if I had a flu, right? I'm listening to myself. Being cautious. Yeah. Why? Yeah. Why? Two questions.

Why listen to a doctor? And when you told the doctor you were going to go, was he like – did he slap your wrist? No. Okay. So he obviously knows CrossFit and CrossFit training, and he knows the intensity that our bodies go through. Right. Or at least he pretends to know. At least he pretends to know like me. We pretend to know.

Yeah. Exactly. So he advised it's probably not a good idea but another reason why i went and saw him was because i wanted to know the severity of the injury so i went for a ct scan to actually go onto my back and see exactly what's going on and he could tell or he could see that you know there's a bulging disc and that's what's causing the pain. It's pinching the nerves. So that was the gist of it, to see how severe it was. Because of, I mean, I'm struggling to sometimes get dressed in the morning because when I bend over, you know, it's that sharp of a pain.

So if there was something serious, then he would be able to pick it up. But with it being not so serious, he advised maybe it's not a good option to do it. But he said, he didn't say no or completely no. He said he advised not to go to the games. But if you do, you're going to have to be very cautious. And if you do injure yourself, it's not going to be life-threatening. So you're not going to be paralyzed if, you paralyzed if something slips or a disc or a bulge or pinching the nerves and stuff. So that's basically why I went and saw him.

And I was like, okay, I'm not going to land up in a wheelchair or they're not going to wheel me off in a stretcher off the competition floor. Isn't that – he told you to be careful at the CrossFit games. Yeah, exactly. Just be careful. Um, yeah, my main, it's like handing your kid a box of rubber bands in some marbles and be like, Hey, be careful. It's like, you're like, someone's going to hear crying in minutes. Exactly. And then you don't know what's coming up. So we didn't know any of the workouts. So now you're like, okay, well, what's going to happen? Workout one might be a max squat clean or max deadlift, and then there's me out the competition.

So, yeah. But also, when I went and saw my caro for a second opinion, he kind of said the same thing, but he also said to me, he said me he said you know marathon runners he had a marathon runner come and see him that's having sore sore ankles and hips and everything so he's actually going for his 10th marathon run which is quite a it's quite a feat because it's a 100 kilometer run and he's going for his 10th year but he's struggling to practice on the road as running so my caro said to him he said well is running the only way you're going to keep fit for this race he said no so he said jump onto a bike lay off the legs you know you don't have to go running on the road to stay fit you can stay fit by other means and that's exactly what i did

so i took that advice and i was like actually you know what he's he's right i don't need to do heavy squats to keep my legs strong i don't need to do heavy weight lifting to you know to stay strong as well with the weight lifting i can just maintain and then i'll be strong enough when if i need to and when i need to then that's when I'll push the body. But, you know, in practice and training and stuff, you don't need to. So I kind of took that advice and I was like, actually, no, you're all right. Let me just go give it a shot.

It's weird being top 30 fittest guy in the world and waking up in the morning and like reaching for a coffee cup and feeling like your back's going to go out, huh? Oh, no, it's terrible. It's a trip. Yeah, but I think obviously that's in the morning when I wake up, but by the time I get to the gym, I do a bit of warm-up laps, warm the back up nicely, I actually start feeling a lot better. Yeah, I'm exactly the same. I literally, like when I get out of bed in the morning, I'm like every morning.

It's not pain. It just feels like my torso is going to fall off my waist. But literally after a cup of coffee in an hour, it's like it completely goes away. You actually feel fine. Yeah. So I think that might be the age thing coming into play a little bit. And I've been doing crossfit since 2008 so you know for 13 years i think it's just taking its toll on the body a little bit are you were you in the military no how did you come across or 2008's pretty early how did you

come across very early yeah so we had a gym i think it was one of the first affiliate. I don't know if they affiliated or not. In 2008, one of the first gyms in the country. And my brother actually convinced me to go through and try it out. I was always involved in gyms. So I went and did like, not serious, but I was doing like just normal bodybuilding training. And then here you are. He eventually convinced me to go to a CrossFit class. Was he in the group? No.

He's younger than me, four years. Sorry, what were you going to say? And then the day you went, you were just hooked? Yeah, so the day I started CrossFit was the same day I canceled my gym contract. It was amazing. It was so awesome. And what city are you in?

In Johannesburg. And is that, It was so awesome. And what city are you in? In Johannesburg. I'm saying Johannesburg. And is that, they tried, the security at the Johannesburg airport tried to mug me once. It was really an amazing thing. Like, I never thought that that could possibly happen, that the security would try to mug me. Like, as I was going through the scanner, I was landing in Johanna. Yeah, it was nuts. He's like, I see your wallet.

And I didn't even know I was being mugged. It's actually the second or third time in my life that someone tried to mug me, and I wasn't aware of what was going on. And if I would have been aware, I probably would have given over my wallet, but I wasn't aware. There was a communication issue. Oh, really? wallet but i wasn't aware there was a communication issue oh really and he had a really small window where he could where he could get me because it was as i was going through one of the scanners it was it was it's a good story anything will happen yeah in job work so yeah he was wearing the whole security outfit he was all professional and then all of a sudden when we had that few

seconds of alone where i was going through the scanner he's like trying to get money out of my wallet and i'm like yo yo what are you doing? They told me I didn't have to. Yeah, it was great. It's a beautiful airport. It's like... No, no. It is very nice. Yeah, you would never think you'd get money.

When was that? What year was that? It could have been... I don't know if it was 10 or 20 years ago. I honestly don't remember. Yeah. That's a long time ago. I used to go to Africa a bunch. No matter... Back then, I don't know yeah that's a long time ago i used to go to africa a bunch and no

matter it's just it's back then i don't know if it's still like that but basically when you wanted to move around africa even if you wanted to go one country over it seemed like you had to go back to south africa because that's where all the flights were coming out of yeah so like if i was going from like kenya to malawi or mozambique or wherever i was, I had to first go to South Africa. Yeah. At least that's the way the tickets were set up. Wow. So 2008 you start, and it's 2021. So what is that? That, holy cow.

13? That's a long time, right? Yeah, 13, 14 years. Yeah. And I've been competing since 2009. So I did the very first, I think they were called sectionals back in the day. Yes, sir. Before regionals, yeah.

So 2009 was my first sectional, and I've been doing them ever since 2009. If Brian were here, he'd be giving you all sorts of, that's the co-host sometimes, he'd be giving you all sorts of fancy stats about yourself you didn't know. Oh, really? Oh, awesome. Yes. Maybe we'll do it again and get him on here. That would be perfect. So you start in 2009.

And by the way, when I'm looking at the leaderboard here, you actually took in a vet. What was event number two? So event number two, yes, was the pig flip. It was the sled carry, the pig flip, the muscle-ups, pig flip, sled carry. Yeah, isn't that amazing? And you did great on that one. I came fourth, I think. Yeah, you beat everyone in the top ten in that workout except for Pat Vellner.

Yeah, that was awesome. It was such a lekker workout. And I was actually worried about that workout because of the pig and my back. Right. And I actually had visions of me bombing out in event two at the CrossFit Games. I was like, this better not happen.

And it actually went so well. And I've never touched a pig before. So that was amazing. Yeah, that's remarkable. I guess that speaks to the efficacy of CrossFit as a training program. Yeah, exactly. I mean, it kind of prepares you for everything. And I love doing different things.

Even the kayak across the lake, it was so awesome. Not so much the swim, but the kayak was amazing. You're the first person I've heard say that. That's awesome. It was painful, and it was so tedious. I mean, I was going through so much pain. But like I said, I just enjoy those different things that you're not doing every day in the gym. You're getting out of your comfort zone.

I love it. What was painful about the kayak so for me i didn't just get on the kayak and put the oar in the water and just try sail across the water i actually had to make up quite a bit of ground because my swimming is so terrible or so shit that i had to make up quite a lot of positions. And I saw the guys, they weren't that far ahead of me that I could actually make up quite a few spots. And luckily I did. I had to push from the start all the way to the end. And luckily I did because I passed, I think, probably about 10 guys.

Wow. So that put me into the top 20, which I was hoping for a top 20 in that event. So, yeah, I'm actually glad I did push. But your body was so sore, my shoulders, my traps. But, yeah, it was worth it, definitely worth it. When you're at the Games, do the other athletes show you any deference or respect because you've been around so long?

Like did anyone or just another guy? No, not at all i think yeah i kind of you know i feel like part of the crew with the guys as well you know i've been around quite a few years i've competed against them at different competitions i.e dubai so you know it's kind of like you with the crew as well they don't see me as well fanduel casinos exclusive live dealer studio has your chance at the number one feeling, winning, which beats even the 27th best feeling, saying I do. Who wants this last parachute? I do.

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Don't let anyone take me out of the water, no matter what. Disney's Young Woman and the Sea. Now streaming on Disney+. At least I don't think, as the older guy, you know? Yeah. But in other interviews, you have said that people don't, especially this year, see you as a threat, right? Like they see you as...

Yeah, I wouldn't think so, but, yeah, I mean, it's a little bit hard. They, you know, each to their own. Maybe they do. Maybe they don't. I think maybe in some events I am a threat. In some events I'm not. But I think everyone's like that. I think I'm not going to go and win the games.

But I think if my body is, I mean, I probably went into the games at 70% this year or less. But I think if I'm like 90% to 100%, I could definitely make the top 10. It's very achievable for me. And if the events go well and everything goes to plan, I think a top five is even achievable for me at this stage where I am now. I found CrossFit at 34. this stage where i am now um i i found crossfit at 34 and when i was 37 um is when i realized that like i really needed to start warming up so like at 34 i could still like just jump into a workout and then at 37 i was like oh shit like i really should be sweating i should be a full sweat before i do something for time yeah like now at 49 if i were to just jump on the

assault bike and go as hard as i could something would happen to me like i would oh yeah for sure yeah yeah definitely are you noticing always warm up pretty good are you noticing like hey every i have to be already fit just to start a workout no i never used to warm up. I'd always just get to the gym, drop my bag, turn the music on, set the timer and just go. But now it's at least 10, 15 minutes, just warm up, get a PVC pipe, loosen up a little bit at least because everything's so tight. So yeah, I can definitely feel it, especially this year. I can definitely feel it, especially this year. Well, if you wouldn't have found CrossFit, what would you have – are you basically making a living with all things CrossFit, whether it's training, your program? No. So you have all sorts of side hustles going.

Yes, yeah, yeah, as much as I can. So I work with my father in a business. We own a company together, and then I work with my friend. We do like shop installs and renovations and stuff. So yeah, there's a lot going on besides just training.

And obviously we own the two gyms as well. And what are the gyms' names? So CrossFit Kyle Army and CrossFit Sunny Hill. Wow, two CrossFit gyms. Yeah. And how many CrossFit gyms are there in Africa, do you know, or in South Africa?

I'm actually not sure. I think the last I heard was 160-ish or 180. Holy shit. Yeah, in South Africa. Yeah. It was, I think at the time, over 200, but with I think the recession and everything not the recession the covid with lockdowns and everything i think a lot dropped off and unaffiliated and then obviously we had that whole thing with greg glassman last year i think a few unaffiliated affiliated after that as well yeah i i'm i don't know how any gyms are surviving in the majority

of the united states i don't know about the or places like france or any of these places with these crazy lockdowns australia it's i really don't know how they're doing it i mean it's hard enough running the gym without being told you can't have any customers. For sure. For sure. No, no. When you're told you can't open your door, it's like, Oh no,

that's crazy. But I think, well, not think, but I'm sure some places at least are getting some sort of compensation. Here we don't really get, well, we don't get,

I know. So yeah, we've actually had to keep the doors open as much as possible. Is, um, is South Africa pretty lenient about that stuff? They are. Um,

I mean, obviously we had the heavy lockdown last year, which was for about five, four, five months, which we were completely closed. Yeah. And that put quite a damper on everything. We lost the majority of our members.

But I think this is obviously worldwide, so it's happening everywhere. So it's not just us. Everyone's going through it. And obviously people are losing jobs. I mean, companies are having to shut down left, right, and center. It's just, yeah, it's actually terrible what's going on. Have you had any members die from COVID? No.

We've had relatives, like fathers and mothers, passing away, but no members. Have you ever heard of any CrossFitters who've died from COVID? No. No, I haven't. Have you? The one, CrossFitters who've died from COVID? No. No, I haven't. Have you? The one, very, very early on. Oh, really? Yeah, he was obese.

Okay. He was an Italian guy who was training out, if my memory serves me correctly, an Italian guy who was training out of some gym in Belgium. Oh, wow. I heard he was a smoker. I mean, you could tell he was obese, but he was beloved by the community because I think he judged a lot of the games, but he fit the profile of the people who were dying.

A private victim. Yeah, but it is fascinating to me. It is fascinating to me that... As grotesque as this sound i would be very it's not that i want to see someone but it's it's it's fascinating to me that that no one who actually practices the crossfit protocol has died sorry that's not what's fascinating to me what's fascinating to me is that it's so obvious what's going on and that the gyms aren't flooded. Like you should have a line out the door saying,

Oh my God, Jason, can you save me? I'm scared. You can be like, well, I can't save you, but I can put you around.

Yes. I can put you around a group of people who you'll see have taken accountability for their lives. And if you copy them and we all keep mirroring each other, I can give you support. You know what I mean? Like I can give you, but you would get hung if you said that.

If you give people the answer, you would be considered, we had a politician here in the United States, and I'm trying to remember her name. Blonde lady shown across the gym. Ionde lady, she owned a CrossFit gym. I think she actually maybe owned a gym with Travis Mayer at some point. But she got vilified. I can't remember whether she said – you don't know what's true in the news anymore.

But I think Marjorie Green. And the news vilified her, and I don't remember if they were saying – they were saying stuff like Marjorie Green says Jews are shooting lasers out of their eyes and starting forest fires. It's just crazy shit like that. And I don't know whether she said that stuff or fires. It's just crazy like shit like that. And I don't know whether she said that stuff or not. But she was posting videos of herself working out. And she was basically saying, hey, everyone should be doing CrossFit, which we know is a nutritional lifestyle program.

And you'll be exempt from dying from COVID. And the media here just like thrashed her. And it's like oh like dude like she she is actually telling the truth yeah sift through your personal disbeliefs or arguments or or like even if the even if like let's say she was the most anti-semitic racist person ever like like separate that and like like get that gem yeah and i'm not saying she is anti-semitic like i i never did the fact check on that but i know it's crazy but that was actually our marketing ploy after the heavy lockdown and the gym started opening okay we we kind of said uh the only not we didn't say the only way we said kind of the way you're going to beat this thing is by staying fit staying

healthy staying active and that was like we didn't put it in that kind of context but you know you know you're going to be a lot better off training and staying healthy than sitting at home and trying to defend yourself from a virus and don't, you know, don't shelter yourself at home while they get out there. So, yeah, it actually worked because our gyms, I mean, once we opened, we lost a lot of members, but I think within the first month or two, we gained probably all of them back. Not the same members. We actually doubled membership, and that was from brand new people

coming through the door. It wasn't even existing members. So you think that there is some, like, holy shit, I don't want to die. I'm going to go to this CrossFit gym. And you know what's crazy? No matter how great you tell people it is, it's even better, right? Because you think you're going to go there and just work out. But really you're going to be around Jason and you're going to see him drinking water

and then they're going to be like, Jason, why don't you drink Gatorade? And then you'll be like, oh, because actually that doesn't increase your electrolytes and that actually damages you. And like, and they learn all that shit, right? Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. It's kind of an eye opener, but it's also the community. They get involved in a community and it's not just going to a gym training by yourself with headphones on and then going home. You know, you're communicating with other people and like-minded people as well. So yeah, it's great. Are you cool as shit? Are you like the nicest guy in your gym? I'd like to think so, but I think I'm also a bit of a dick as well sometimes.

In your, in your gym, do your customers like you? Like do they get excited when they see you? Do you smile? I think, yes. Yes, yeah. I try to be as kind to my members as possible. There's obviously the odd few that you need to just, you know, crack the whip a little bit, but they know who they are. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And they also probably come there for that.

Exactly, yeah. They need discipline. Right. And that's why I'm there. Right. But you're engaged with your membership. Yes, definitely. Yeah yeah all the time we try we've actually started trying to involve ourselves and the members with each other a lot more than what we used to um i've actually said this to many people but i think covert and lockdown the heavy lockdown was probably the best thing for our gym

and actually changed the way a lot of the way that we were working and how we were doing things in the gym and um actually it made our gym so much better both gyms I'm seeing a trend here this is a guy that um the only guy I've heard who said he liked the kayak and he passed 10 people and uh like the lockdown and the lockdown 10 people. And liked the lockdown. And the lockdown made him a better person. This is some good mindset. Yeah, definitely. But, yeah.

Someone wrote in the comments here because we are, I don't know, did I tell you we're live? Oh, shit, no, you didn't. Yeah, you behave very well. Someone said, so glad to see Jason on. He's an amazing athlete and doesn't get enough coverage. It's great hearing the membership of his gym has increased. I agree.

That's awesome. That's awesome. Yeah, no, it's amazing. Jim Klesas says, I agree about the warm-up discussion. I'm 52 years old. I show up for a class 20 minutes early just to warm up for the warm-up. I take – I know that's what i do hey quiet quiet i have to do that no no that's you but i have to do it too i can hear my kid i do this snap the dad snap hey hey get to the room close the door I, um, I take my, um, son to, um, this, uh, a professional skateboarder, um, to train with him once in a while.

Okay. And, um, he's, he's a pretty, uh, pretty famous guy in the area. He's got a huge YouTube channel. His name is Josh. I wish I could remember the name of his YouTube channel. I should plug it. It's like pro skate park lessons or something. Big YouTube channel. I should plug it. It's like Pro Skate Park Lessons or something. Big YouTube channel.

And he's well-known in the area. But it's not cheap. It's expensive as shit. And so I always try to get there an hour early so that my kid is fully dressed and warmed up so that the second the coach shows up there, they don't have to dilly-dally. Yeah, the clock is starting. Don't worry. It's my show. Your kid can yell all they want. warmed up so that the second the coach shows up there, like they don't have to dilly-dally, right? Yeah, the clock is starting.

Don't worry. It's my show. Your kid can yell all they want. Don't even stress. Yeah, they're just shouting in the background. Yeah, just tell me if it's in the way. Nah, nah, nah. You can take a pee break on this show.

You can do whatever you want. Oh, awesome. Very casual. Are you at home? Yes. And what is that painting? that looks more like a painting I'd see at a coffee shop yeah

did you paint that? I probably could have but just decided to fill the wall hey I don't understand that painting. Well, look at it. I only put up artists that I think I can do their work.

Look at the pictures I have. These are the pictures. Yeah, your kids. Yeah, yeah. Awesome. My whole bedroom is full of those. Oh, really? Yeah, I've got them all over my cupboard as well on the inside

matt who's the producer of the show just put a link to the guy my kid goes to for skate lessons in case anyone wants to see who that is okay that's cool that's very cool is there another year in you and how close is the guy behind you? In South Africa? Yeah, the guy who's nipping at your heels, yeah. How close is he, and is there another year in you? I'd like to think there's another year. I've always said that I'll compete as long as I'm able to.

You know, I'm just, like I said, with the back injury and everything, I'm just trying to maintain my training, and I'd like to see how far I can go with that because I think I'm kind of done now with training until injury, which is what I've been doing probably the last year, year and a half. So I'll see how long this maintenance goes. And if I can still level, then I'm able to with the games and Dubai champs and all those

all the major competitions so I'll see how long I can go and I'd like to carry on for as long as I'm able to like I said, the day that I stop competing is probably the day I'm going to lose interest in CrossFit and this and that, so I'm hoping to go for as long as possible

I always said as long as sam briggs is competing i'll be competing as well crazy she's the female side and i'll be the male side so i actually don't mind i'll keep going as long as she does would you um would you do masters i'm not sure i get asked that all the time but but I just, I don't know. I haven't really thought of Masters yet now because I think I'm still, I can be competitive in the individual stage or section. So I haven't really thought about it. I think maybe I would. But also, you know, you don't really get as much coverage as the Masters.

Sponsors also, you know, they want to see you on the main stage where you don't really get the airtime right coverage as a masters athlete so i'd like to stay with the individuals pretty as long as i can you when you qualified this year did you also get a letter saying you qualified for the masters like do you get two invites yeah Yeah. So I got two emails. And then obviously we had to do, as an individual, you do the quarterfinals. And I think the Masters did a quarterfinals a week or two after us. And you just don't do those? I didn't even bother about the Masters because I knew I was going for the individual.

Right. So I didn't even bother. I didn't even accept anything. I just went going for the individual. Right. So I didn't even bother. I didn't even accept anything. I just went straight for the individual. Do you have any other competitions in your sights before the games come back around next year? Yeah, so I saw yesterday, I think, Dubai champs released something. I haven't had a look, but I saw a few comments and stuff that they're going to be running the event in December.

So I'd like to qualify for that. It's always a good event. I actually really enjoy Dubai. It's very similar to the games, actually. You've got, call it, 10, 15 workouts in a weekend, and they're all very different compared to normal training. I mean, you get to run in the desert and next day you're swimming in the sea. I mean, it's amazing.

I love it. But basically, this is all predicated on how you feel. You're not going to push it this year is what you're saying. No, I think with them, I mean, I'll pretty much start training. Well, obviously, pushing it, like like you say i'm not going to go crazy weights with all that but uh definitely fitness wise and everything i'll pick it up a notch and you know obviously try and qualify for that that event for sure and the guy who's nipping at your heels in africa do you know who he is is is how is there a guy or two guys that have been right close to you, stopping you from going to the games?

Yeah, this year, okay, well, it's quite tough because in the Open, he's very good. I think last year, he came second. This year, he won the Open, actually. And then we had the quarterfinals, which I won, and he came second. Who is it? What's his name? Keelan Henry does he train with you no so he actually lives in France oh yeah he went over there I think a few years ago

to he was a rugby player okay and he was playing for the French junior team and then I think he in a rugby accident he got blind in one of the eyes. So he wasn't able to compete, I mean, compete in rugby anymore. So that's when he found CrossFit and started competing with CrossFit. Did a finger go in his eye? I have no idea. I'm not sure. I don't even know if it was from rugby or maybe, I don't know.

Okay. But basically, wow. So then he had to stop the rugby and then obviously started with a crossfit competing i was just talking with someone the other day on the show about that about how i've heard it's interesting rugby has do you play rugby or did you play i used to in school yes yeah and we were talking about how rugby is although they don't have the pads it's safer than american football because just by letting people use their brains. Because they just won't ram their heads into it.

Just trusting human beings to do the right thing. That's crazy. Yeah, I look at those tackles on the American football teams. Oh, my goodness. Some of them survive. I don't know. But I think there's so much padding. But still, it can't be good for you.

Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. It's the same with boxing they they versus mma right they put the gloves on you and theoretically the viewers think that hey those gloves are protecting the fighters but they're actually making everything worse yeah yeah for sure just getting pounded by a blunt object so many times yeah exactly yeah it can't be good for your head my goodness your brain do you did you do any other sports besides rugby and crossfit so in school i played a lot of soccer in primary school or early school and then um high school i didn't really play that much it was a little bit of rugby here and there um but i raced a lot of motocross um so i raced probably from how old was i 14 till i say 20 so i raced for quite a long time and there was obviously that kept me quite busy

during high school so on weekends i'd have races in different provinces and whatnot so you know school sport was kind of left to the side. Is motocross big in South Africa? It used to be, but then things got very expensive. I mean, it was very expensive to race. So it kind of died off a little bit. But I think now, especially after COVID and lockdowns, people are trying to find ways of trying to be a little bit more active and get out there.

So I think the sport's actually picking up quite a bit now at the moment. Would you want your kids to do motocross? I've actually discussed this with a wife. She says no, and I say yes. She says no, and I say yes. But I don't think motocross specifically, but I'd like to get bikes for the kids to ride and just learn that coordination and everything. I think it's very good.

You know, you don't have to do the races and whatnot, but just get on the track or do outrides into the field, and I think it would be awesome. Especially as a family you know you can get the little the little girl a quad bike the wife a big quad bike and then you know the boys can go on their two wheelers and we just rode around for a for a day how old how old your oldest uh he is now nine um i have these little tiny electric bikes that Harley-Davidson makes. Yes.

Yeah, my oldest is six and my youngest are four, but they're pretty cool. They just take a battery that you would put in your drill, like in your quarterstrap. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I want to say they go 15 miles an hour, but anyway, they can practice on them. Yeah, for sure. Cover them up in pads. But yeah, I'm with you. Yeah, pack them away pretty easy. I'm with your wife.

My cousins do motocross, and when they send me pictures and I watch the video, it scares the shit out of me. Yeah. Like, I just think about these little boys, and then I see them flying 60 feet in the air, and I'm like, holy shit. Oh, it's mad. Yeah. So I actually had a bad motocross accident. Oh, that's not helping your argument. Yeah, and that's exactly it.

My wife was there. We were actually dating at the time, and, you know, that's kind of the reason she says, you know, it's actually just way too dangerous. I lost my kidney, burst my liver. I almost died on the track during a race. And then, yeah yeah so that kind of stopped my motocross career do you have siblings yes so i've got a brother and a sister okay and

you mentioned your brother is uh you said younger than you four years younger than me yes and and your sister she's a year and a half well just under two years older than me, yes. And your sister? She's a year and a half, well, just under two years older than me. So I'm the middle child. And do they do CrossFit? My brother does. We own the gyms together. My sister, not so much. She doesn't do CrossFit.

She does her own training. But she does train? Yes, yeah, yeah, yeah. And did you say it was your brother who got you into CrossFit? Who was it who got you into it? Yeah, my brother, yeah. And he's younger than you. Yes.

Yeah, that's a trip. And so that was 2008. How old were you in 2008? Do you remember? Oh, goodness. 25? 20, somewhere there, 7, yeah, 25. And how did he find it?

So his friend actually got him to go through there. They were involved because it was like an MMA gym, and they were doing CrossFit on the side. So my brother was doing the MMA with his friend, and then they started up with the CrossFit, and they were doing both crossfit for the fitness and mma obviously for their training um and for months he said to me come try crossfit come try crossfit and i was involved with the normal gym the globo gym training you know they always go you crossfitters you don't know what you're talking about.

So that was for months. And then the one morning I was like, okay, let me just come try it. And then, yeah, as I said, I mean, the day I stepped in there was the day I canceled my gym membership. And is your brother still doing MMA? No, he stopped that. So it's pretty much full-time CrossFit now. Wow. And did he want to fight professionally? So he did a few fights, K1 fights, which is like kickboxing.

Yeah. Nothing professional, but I think he did three or four fights. And then, yeah, he was one of the trainers for most of the professional guys in South Africa here. He used to help out a lot with the coaching and whatnot. And then when we opened the CrossFit gym, that all fizzled out, and then he was mainly just CrossFit. You said your first competition was in 2009. We're now in 2021. Are the competitions distinct in your mind,

or has it become just one jumbled mess? No, I could probably remember each. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Not exactly or specifically, but yeah, I've got a vague. My memory is not that good either. But you can distinguish doing the open in 2013 versus 2016 like you're like ah yes wow yeah i can actually remember the exact gyms where we used to go um we never had a gym back then 2013 no we opened in 2013 but before that we used to go to

someone else's gym because they were affiliated. We used to enter our scores through them until obviously we opened up our own gyms and stuff. But yeah, I can distinctly remember where we were. It was awesome. Is being a gym owner hard? No, not really. It was in the beginning, especially for myself and Rick. I mean, we competed from 2009. So it was a little bit tricky in the beginning because we opened the gym

and I think the first thing we wanted to do was try and build up athletes to compete. And I think for six months to a year, we actually struggled because we could never find those people to compete or that wanted to compete. And we were always pushing the guys, come on, let's go to competitions and open. And then I forget who he chatted to, but he actually said, he said,

you guys must mustn't look at the CrossFit to try and build athletes. You must look at the CrossFit gym to build a community and help people with their health and their lifestyle. Not everyone that comes to the door is going to be a professional athlete. Just because you and your brother were or are doesn't mean everyone else is going to be. And it kind of changed our mindset completely. And from then it was more about programming for the community and helping people. And instead of just pushing them to go heavier with the squats or run faster

or, you know, so yeah, from that, it just, it just changed, changed everything in the gym, which was awesome. I'm going to type in the word sport here into DuckDuckGo and put in sport definition. It says an activity involving physical exertion and skill that is governed by a set of rules or customs that are often undertaken competitively. Such activities considered as a group. So it's very easy to see CrossFit as a sport, especially if you compare it to marathon running. It's definitely, in my mind, I don't care if someone agrees with me or don't agree with me.

And it's more of a sport than javelin throwing, which is really cool. Javelin throwing is cool, but there's, I just don't see it as a... It's like one discipline. Yeah. And even jiu-jitsu there's um jiu-jitsu guys who will fucking beat your ass on the street and then there's sports jiu-jitsu and they're significantly different and um yeah uh if you're

fucking around with someone's gi um while they're pulling out a knife and stabbing you in the gut i mean you're fucked it doesn't matter if if you're like, there's a difference. So in all of these things, um, there is, um, there, there's different expressions, right? There's, there's CrossFit like that's happening in your gym that the person's trying to save their life. And then there's the expression of someone who's going there who wants to be the, the, the best at the sport yeah and i i truly think

crossfit is a sport but i think crossfit is a sport in the sense that um god in the sense that um a car has a rear view mirror, meaning inside mirrors. Rear view mirror and side mirrors are very important, especially when I drive, I use them all the time. I look in my mirrors almost as much as I'm looking in the front. It's like how you set everything around you. But if you took them away, this fucking thing is still a car. Yeah, for sure. It's still a car.

And so the other day, I know you're wondering where's Sevan going with this. Yeah, for sure. It's so much more than that. Yeah. It's like saying a Sunday is something with a cherry on it. It's like the sport is just the cherry on top. And, but I saw yesterday on the CrossFit Instagram. Oh, it's gone. Holy cow. It's gone. They fixed it. They had changed the handle for CrossFit Instagram to CrossFit Sport.

And I thought, oh, fuck. Oh, wow. They've completely lost their way. But they fixed it. It's gone. All right. Stand corrected. All right.

All right. All right. All right. Maybe someone did a top of it. So much for my angry ex-employee rant of bashing CrossFit Inc. These guys fucking schooled my shit there will be no ranting from me wow that's really cool okay maybe that was just an accident because i saw that they had put on the main handle crossfit sport and i'm like oh man don't

you can't lump this whole thing up as a sport it's an amazing sport and i love the sport yeah but it's a um crossfit is crossfit you know what i'm saying it's an amazing sport and i love the sport yeah but it's a um crossfit is crossfit you know what i'm saying it's it's that's it like the marathon's amazing and all these ironmans and shit are amazing but they're not as amazing as you and your family going out to the lake and swimming across the lake and running through the woods yeah i mean just having fun i mean that's yeah um exactly uh all south africans care about is soccer and rugby and cricket. That's someone putting the comments. Gershwin.

Nagidi Up, fellow South African here. Does it bother Jason that he didn't receive media coverage in South Africa for being the fittest man in Africa? Or am I watching the wrong sports channels? Probably not, no. Do you not get enough attention, you think? What, from our side or from the coverage from the games? Either. Let's pout about everything.

Yeah, the thing is, CrossFit's very, if I can say, very small compared to the other sports. For sure. Cricket, rugby. Those are sports that have been around for over 100 years. And the smallest cricket contract from the smallest professional team in the world makes more money. That's the thing people don't realize. Yeah, of course.

Than all of CrossFit Inc. As someone was, I was just like the revenue of one tennis event in the United States is 10 X the revenue of CrossFit Inc. So people need to realize that. Although it feels massive to us, it's just, yeah, it's a small, small pebble in the ocean.

Honestly. Yeah. So I'm actually not bothered by the coverage that we get. I think people that know me obviously know me. I mean, I meet people out on the streets all the time. They come and say hello. And I think that's pretty cool. But I'm not expecting like TV channels and whatnot to advertise me on the screen and all that. So, and I'm actually not about that. So, you know, the less coverage, I actually prefer just being

out the limelight. So it doesn't bother me at all it is a remarkable amount of effort you put in like for everyone in the sport knows that if you go to the CrossFit games that like you can say it's as small as you want but those top 40 guys truly are the 40 fittest men on the

planet for sure yeah it's nuts um just to put it also in perspective we have um i don't know if you guys have follow american football in the united states but in the united states american football is huge the nfl the national football league yes and yet even with the hundreds of millions or billions of dollars that that is worth i saw a statistic once that on any given weekend, the revenue generated from golf nationally is more than the entire revenue

for the entire football in the United States. And that's because once again, there's golf courses everywhere, right? And everyone has to buy those balls and those clubs and the stupid shirts. And it's like, yeah, I get it. Everything's to scale, right? Wow.

Golf's huge in America though as well. I mean, when you take off from any state or when you come into land, I mean, all you see is just golf course after golf course. You're looking at the plane. This is incredible. And I love my golf. So I was like, this is awesome. You do like golf?

Yeah, I love golf. Yeah, I'm actually really enjoying it lately. Because of your back? You're like, okay, this is something I can compete in. It probably hasn't helped my back. Let's say that. Just because swinging in that club as hard as you can and just getting in weird positions? Exactly, exactly.

But when I spoke to the specialist, he actually said it shouldn't affect your back with training because you've got that compression on your vertebra that's actually causing the problem. So the twist is actually not affecting it. It's that hard impact with the squats and the lifting and whatnot. Then how come when we lay down at night, we've been laying down with no compression on it, we wake up in the morning and it feels like we just deadlifted a thousand pounds? Yeah, I don't know.

It's probably a terrible mattress thing. Yeah, I know. It's so bad. Has your sleeping affected by your back? It was, but it's getting a lot better now. So when it was really sore and niggly, I just, yes, I was struggling to sleep. But I feel it's a lot better now. I actually thought of changing the mattress and all of this, but apparently the doctor said no, it's fine.

That's basically what I'm learning. Just my spine's on fire. And I'm all right really i like i'd like to sleep in 10 minutes my back's like nah it's time to get up yeah it's time to get up and have that and have that first cup of coffee yeah exactly if you knew how hard it was if you knew that the trials well let me start here first we are do you have any plans to open a third gym? I think there are plans, yes, in the future. Wow. Okay, so you really are enjoying it. You've gotten over the hump. Like you said, it was hard in the beginning. You've gotten over the hump. The systems are in place, your understanding of the community is in place, your mission, all of that.

Yes, yes, yeah. And we also partnered up for our second gym. So CrossFit Karlami was our first gym. We partnered with a company, the side, that owns a Globo gym. We partnered with them. They opened a facility with CrossFit, boxing. There's something called like a Sweat 1000 sort of vibe. And the Globo Gym with swimming pools and everything.

So that was our second gym. So we kind of got a partnership with them. And they're opening more gyms. Well, they're going to start around the country. So we'll obviously hopefully with them venture out a little bit more with the other CrossFit gyms, well, they're going to start around the country. So we'll obviously, hopefully with them, venture out a little bit more with the other CrossFit gyms as well. Oh, wow. That's cool. Congratulations. Yeah. Thank you.

Is the Hang Snatch still your favorite lift? I love it. No squatting involved. I can pull very hard. You don't have to squat. It's amazing. I love it. I wonder if that will change as you nurse your back more and more. I wonder if it will switch back to bench press and strict pull-ups. Yeah, probably. But I think the power weightlifting movements, that's pretty much all I'm doing at the moment.

I'm staying away from squat snatches and squat cleans as much as possible. But you're still squatting a little bit. Yeah, yeah, I squat, but I'm probably going to about 50% of my max at the moment. And I'll just keep it there for now. And are you doing deadlifts uh yes but also not very heavy probably also at about 50 percent and very controlled nothing nothing nothing explosive nothing crazy nothing stupid if i get tired in a workout and i feel my form going out of whack i actually just slow down and just completely either stop or just slow down so

i can do it correctly yeah like i said i'm just tired of injuries and whatnot right getting to that stage of my life and my age where i'm i'm kind of i want to be in control with my body and kind of need it to be healthy it's not as young and it's not going to repair or recover as quick as what it used to. Do you ever get concerned that maybe you're doing damage to it that's not worth the trade-off in your older years? Yeah. I just wonder, yeah, I always thought like,

I know CrossFit is very good, but I think at the intensity and the level that we're pushing our bodies as games athletes and how often we train, if it's not more detrimental than beneficial. Right. Um, but I think that what I'm doing at the moment,

it's, uh, it's actually good. Yeah. Uh, not pushing it too hard or too much. I would guess every sports like that. Yes.

Yeah, exactly. Yeah. Could be, could go for anything. Yeah. Yeah, exactly. Yeah, could go for anything. Yeah, anything you do if you want, if you start competing at the highest level. You have to. And there's always going to be issues down the line. Yeah.

Yeah, yeah. A knee, a broken neck. For sure. It's the difference between, I mean, just the difference between doing jiu-jitsu at your local gym versus being in the UFC. Yeah, of course. Exactly. Right?

Yeah, you're just at that level at the top, which is going to be pushing your body to the limits. Yeah. Yeah, definitely. Thank you, Jason. No, thank you. Thank you very much for having me i really appreciate this um i i this was uh one of the best conversations i've had at uh seven in the morning so yeah awesome oh yeah i forgot it's very early there yeah i like getting ready for dinner in bed

oh awesome i like to do it at seven in the morning um because now like i'm done and i can play with my kids the rest of the day. Oh, then you've got the rest of the day. Oh, that's awesome. Yeah. Thank you very much. Thanks for having me and thanks for the opportunity. I really enjoyed it.

And tell your wife and your kids now that we're getting off, they can scream and party. They can carry on with the noise and the mess. Yes, yes. And it wasn't bad at all. Okay, awesome. Perfect. All right, man. Thank you.

Yeah, we're no longer.