The Sevan Podcast - #157 - Corey Allen

Episode Date: October 2, 2021

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It's my show. We do whatever the fuck I want. Hey, that's a, your camera, your camera might be worse than mine. Your picture quality might be worse than mine. I like that. Uh-oh. It's perfectly okay. It makes me look good.

Corey Allen, owner of bat cave crossfit god it's good to hear that that place is still in existence congratulations thank you sir not a lot of gyms can can say that i i heard some crazy stat that more than 30 percent of all restaurants in the state of california have permanently shuttered their doors in the last two years i mean that's my those numbers are mind-boggling to me yeah that is that is crazy it's like when they tell you a blue whale its tongue weighs uh two tons or whatever or or the female blue whale uh its vagina is large enough to park a van in or you know like you hear some of these like you're like what wait what but yep that's the blue whale for you and then and as remarkable you ever and as remarkable as that is uh gyms that are able to

stay open um you are open right i mean you're wearing the shirt my wife said she she talked to you the other day and you're still open yes sir uh how many how long have you had your gym uh it's been three years a little over three years now at least really yeah oh man for some for some reason i thought it was longer than that holy cow so. So you basically opened your gym, had your first year, and then bam. And then bam. Punched in the face, right? Yeah, that's incredible. If you guys don't know about mine and Corey's relationship, how we first met, you should go back and find the episode on the CrossFit podcast.

You will not be disappointed. Corey's story is remarkable. you will will will not be disappointed uh cory's story is remarkable and uh and it's just a testament to hard work perseverance and believing in yourself opportunities from great people so right right right um how so tell me so tell me where is your gym? What, what city, what state? York, Pennsylvania. And your gym and your CrossFit gyms are going three years and you're still affiliated. Yes, sir. And how many members are, have you are hanging on through this whole thing?

We're a little over 50 and I have a few on ramp. So hopefully once they graduate, uh, increase, we've been holding steady for the last few months and we were 19 members at one point so oh shit okay so that so that's a that's good news so base and where were you at before um this whole i don't know this so called pandemic hit uh membership was yeah we were hovering like right around that 60 member mark. Okay. So you're almost back up to that. Yeah. Um, but we have, we've changed some rates. So even with the shortages, uh, we're, we're, we're doing a little bit better financially than we were before. What, what's the Instagram account of your gym uh it is crossfit bat cave at crossfit bat cave yes sir so can you kind of give me um your version of what happened

of of how your city notifies you like like basically what i'm asking for is the story of what happened when they start telling you, hey, you need to close your business. When the government starts telling you to close your business. How did that how did that come across your plate? Well, here in Pennsylvania, an order came down from our very beautiful governor that all non-essential businesses had to close. And of course, gyms were like at the top of the non-essential businesses had to close. And of course, gyms were like at the top of the non-essential list for some reason. Yeah, so we got that information.

And initially, probably like most businesses, we wanted to do what was right because we had no information. So, yeah, we shut down and then they switched to like a color scheme for which businesses get open based on like if the state is in a yellow or red or green, red meaning no one can open except like McDonald's and Walmart and, you know, some of the other bigger companies and essential like hospitals, of course. And then yellow, they started to open up the doors to some other things like hair salons and stuff like that. And then the gyms, we had to wait till last. We had to wait in green. Do we know who decides that?

Who says that Baskin Robbins is essential and CrossFit Batcave is not essential? Do we know who makes that decision? It's above my pay grade, and I'm still not entirely sure that anyone knows. I know the governor works with maybe the attorney general or someone on their committee. I have no idea, Seve. It seems like it's it is crazy it seems like it's a worldwide like um

assessment like it's the same story in every country every state every city that gyms fall below baskin robbins and the reason why i use baskin robbins is because i would drive by baskin robbins you know every day and it never closed yeah and from from what i know and everything that i've been told about this supposed pandemic the only people who are at risk are the people who are chronically or obsessed or addicted to baskin robbins and when i say baskin robbins i mean not necessarily their specific food but their their quality of food the food that makes up what's in ice cream yeah so so it's it's nuts it's it's um it's it's nuts to me it's like it's like if there was a giant fire and instead of um closing down all the shops that sell fireworks you close down all the shops that sell fire

extinguishers and you, and you leave the fireworks doors open. It's just bizarre. Not a great metaphor. I know not one of my best. It's only 7am here. I apologize. Actually it's fitting. So, so you come out of this, did you ever consider that you were going to lose your business? Yes. And what's that look like? Like your landlord's asking for rent your electricity

bill company can you kind of paint that picture to me like as it is what the stress feels like where it comes from uh well it everything i've worked for everything i've been focused on for the last six years of my life since you you know, obviously, you know, and those that know my story since getting out of prison. The one thing that has kept me going and focused was my dream to, you know, open up a gym and everything that I've sacrificed. The time, the energy, financially, relationships with family, even my children to some degree. Everything that I've been pushing and striving for and all the people that I've been able to network and help. To have to, you know, think about the possibility that that comes to an end. And then I'm stuck with what the hell do I do now?

But what would cause you to what specifically would cause you to go under? How many kids do you have, by the way? Seven. Yeah. And your youngest? Five. Five. So is it like you're – do you see, I'm picturing it like this.

When I lost my job at CrossFit, you right away look at your savings account and then you see, and then you look at your, basically your mortgage, your monthly nut. And you're like, okay, how much runway do I have? If my mortgage is $3 a month and I have $30 in the bank, then I know I have 10 months of runway. Is that how you see it? Is that how you think of it too? You're like, oh shit.

months of runway. Is that how you see it? Is that how you think of it too? You're like, oh shit. They shut down my gym. I lost 30 members and I only have $8 in the bank and my rent here is $2. That means I only have four months of runway. Is that how you, and then, and then, then what the fuck am I going to do? Is that how you start thinking? Yeah. But in my scenario, I had no runway. Um, right. At that point, my business was, we were just getting through our first year. Right. At that point, my business was we were just getting through our first year. So all my eggs, you know what I mean? So so literally you're you're you're month to month. People pay their memberships. You see that money land in your bank and you buy toilet paper, pay your landlord and.

Yeah, and try it. OK, and so so what happens? How did you stay open? Who helped you? So there was a, and you know, I don't like politics and stuff, but there was a local organization here called Reopen York. Very conservative organization, which was a little bit awkward for me at first. But they were trying to convince businesses to, I shouldn't say defy the governor's orders, but to find a way around it. So some local politicians and groups, people in the community wanted to help small businesses keep afloat. Because we went from, and I don't know how things went out west, but here we went from, I don't I don't know how things went out out west but here we went from hey it's only going to be a week to maybe another week to maybe two weeks to

like indefinite we have so then you're you're sitting there and you're not making any money and bills are still due you're you know for me my kids still need things that doesn't stop, you know, and I had to do something. So I got aligned with this group through some friends on social media. And like I said, it was a little awkward at first because politically, you know, I tend to be in the middle. I don't get in the middle of all that nonsense um yeah but i after meeting with some of those ladies and gentlemen and even other entrepreneurs who had like chosen to stay regardless um i i felt i'm not feel like they gave me resources to help me choose to you know to open up at limited capacity but i I would only do, at the time,

I was doing one-on-one only. So, and then for any of my members, they could follow programming online, but then I would make times for people to come in. If it obviously was like a married couple or a family, they could all come in together. But, you know, I tried to keep everything separate because we didn't know if, are they going to come kicking in the door and arrest everybody? Like we had no idea what the consequences were in here. They were trying to sue some businesses for staying open. Crazy, crazy. Yeah.

Yeah. So the government is just people, you guys, that that's, that's something we always need to remember. There really is. There's a Taoist saying there are no demons here. You have to realize that at the end of the day it's just people so when we refer to the government those are our brothers and sisters those are our brothers and sisters which makes me think of ricky gerard all the people who are

being mean to him what if that was your son what if your son took steroids why are you talking shit about someone on the internet like that stop Stop doing that. That's someone's son. Anyway, sorry. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. So, so you, you, there's a conservative organization and, and, and when you say you had to align with them, what did you have to do? You had to say the pledge of allegiance.

You had to vote for Donald Trump. You had to put up an American flag. They made you grab your ankles. I made you grab your ankle. They made you grab your ankles. They made you grab your ankles. No, but I just started to network with people whose political interests weren't necessarily things that I agreed with. And I did some speaking.

They would meet and I would share my story and what I was going through. I connected with other entrepreneurs and tried to see if there were ways that we could help each other out, like Quid Pro Quo. And even they were, they helped, I think some of the business owners that were getting sued at the government lost all those suits, by the way, but they helped get, get attorney and resources for people that needed, you know, some help with, you know, with legal resources and such. So yeah, I became, um, partners, I guess, with some of these people. Um, and so they asked for anything in return. No, man, only to, you know, when they had their meetings, if, if I could please share my story and if I knew any other entrepreneurs that were struggling and maybe needed some help, could would I be willing to, you know, to tell them like, hey, there's this group that meets. There was no there was no exchange of anything.

They didn't expect anything other than like, hey, we want to help you guys, you know, be open. And they didn't ask me to vote for anyone or anything because. How did you how did you find them? Like I said, social media, man, I had a really cool friend, Kristen on social media who, uh, he does, uh, like graphic design work. Kristen's a dude. Kristen's a dude. It's a lady. Oh, okay. Yeah. She has like a design company. It does a lot of things. Uh, and she's design. I mean, it does a lot of things.

And she's like a political advocate and she does a lot of different things. But she saw me. I think I posted something about, you know, how much it sucked to watch everything I worked for. Fall apart at the seams. And, you know, I was very angry at the time with these decisions, who's making these choices, And, you know, I was very angry at the time with these decisions. Who's making these choices? Who's telling me that my business, which provides for me and my family and other people to be healthy and combat sickness? And, you know, like who's who's saying that McDonald's or Walmart has a better service than what I'm providing? And why is it making these choices and decisions and so she reached out to me and said hey there's a group this meeting um we're trying to help entrepreneurs out you can come down check out a meeting so that's what i did i just went to they did like town halls i went to the town hall and i got to hear some of the other business owners and it felt good to know like i'm not alone you know what i mean i don't mean this in in any malicious way, deceitful way. It's not conspiracy theory.

And I know it's just used so often, but I want to give a couple of examples I've given before. Really, the people with the most money are in control. And right now, the people with the most money – most money is not even the right word – with the strongest business, with the business that's in the largest demand. We vote with our dollars. And right now, that industry is pharma. People who sell pharmaceutical, whether it's everything from wheelchairs to pharmaceutical medications, they are in control.

And why is that? Because they make the most money. The perfect example is if you show up to a hotel, and I've used this example before, and every person you see if you give a 20 bill within three hours they'll all be working for you because you pay them more than their hourly weight that the hotel pays them and i've seen it done um and the same thing is true like in mexico is a great example um the military went in to um to get the the the guys who were growing um marijuana and cocaine and whatever the shit

they were growing out there in the fields and the cartel has more money than them so they told the military to go away not only do they have more money they have more military horsepower but i guarantee you it wasn't a fight like we have more machine guns than you it was like hey we've paid off your generals and so when you have someone you have 15 000 crossfit gyms who basically trying to make people better, and you have this pharmaceutical company that's trying to make people better. The pharmaceutical company gets – everyone has to go down the pharmaceutical path because they make more money. I mean it's really that simple. Whoever has the most money is in control. And, man, it sucks. i mean it doesn't suck i

it's just in this particular circumstance it's it's frustrating i i don't have a problem with like the guy with the most money being in control like i like it that bezos and and those guys are going to space you know i like amazon but in this particular circumstance, it's not good. It's not good. And why is that? Because pharmaceuticals aren't really a solution to this problem. There is no cure for bad diet, except for changing your diet. And then doing what else Corey offers you is a community to support you through one of the hardest things you'll ever do in your life, which is changing your diet, right? Right. Did you, did you have,

did you lose any clients? Did anyone at your gym die from SARS-CoV-2? No, um, no, no one. Now there have been like, uh, extended family or friends. I mean, that's happened, but for the most part, uh, we were, we were fortunate. Um, we didn't even have to have any quarantines for contact stuff. Like we did, uh, things have, things have been pretty good here. Um, I I've heard stories out there, but as far as in my community, in my gym, uh, we, um, I, I guess we dodged a bullet, but we were lucky. I don't know. Have you had COVID? No, no, my mom did.

My mom, my grandmother, my aunt, four of my kids. So a little bit, but not me. I've had to quarantine, I think, two times for contact tracing and all that stuff. But my test came back negative. I've been around people. Your four kids had it, but you didn't get it? Yeah, well, my kids don't live with me. My kids live out of town, and then my oldest two kids are in college.

Okay. I had it last week, although my family tells me I can't say that since I tested negative. But my whole family was sick, and my wife tested positive, but I tested negative. But – That's how that works, right? Yeah, it's amazing. And she lost her taste and her smell. You're a better man than me.

I know this upsets some of the listeners, but, like, I didn't do anything. Like, I just kept – I mean, I just kept doing my life, like, the same ways if I had a cold. I just still worked out, still went to the gas station, still drove my kids around to the skate park. I was just like, all right, I'll just roll with this. But I'm also a CrossFitter. And at the bottom of our foundation of our pyramid is diet. So I watch my diet very closely. I follow that follow that that

protocol that greg glassman laid out so do you know any crossfit gyms where and they had any members die from sars cov2 not here do you know of any anywhere in the world have you heard of any i haven't heard of anything yeah isn't that? I've heard of one very early on. In the first month, there was a gentleman who was an Italian gentleman, overweight, who lived in Belgium. And I guess he's the only one that I know. Isn't that – it's fascinating, right? Yeah. These people all train together, spit on each each other breathe on each other roll around

in their sweat together high fives and hugs yeah yeah where's all and and there's even there was a gym in uh montana crested butte where every single person got it well i i think i heard that story yeah i think i think i spoke to the owner on some affiliate call back when I was employed. Okay. So they help you out. And so do you actually keep your doors open and do the police ever? No police ever came. Um, so we just started, you know, more and more, we just started to open things up. And then eventually the state went into green,

which meant that we were allowed to open but i at that point i've been open i don't know two two months or so um i just yeah i didn't have another choice it's either watch everything i work for die or not and i feel like that's an easy choice for anybody to make so basically you if you didn't open your doors prematurely, you would have gone out of business. So there was no loss in opening prematurely. There was nothing they could do to hurt you. Like, okay, so if the police come and shut me down, all right, well, the other option is I just shut myself down. So I might as well just roll the dice and keep helping people. Bro, we had 19 members who wouldn't be allowed to come to the gym. They were gracious enough to keep paying their membership fees because they love the gym so much. That's the power of community. If that goes, if they don't see an end in sight to not being able to come, especially as they don't know what's going on with their financial situation, I don't think that people could justify to keep being so gracious to do that.

But I felt I had a responsibility, man. I set out to pay fitness for fitness. I guess it's changed my life and saved me in a lot of ways. But for combating sickness, disease, it's the recipe, man. I'm the doctor, right? CrossFit is the prescription. If I don't do that for people, I'm not doing my job. I'm not doing what I set out to do. And oh, by the way, I can't take care of that.

I feel that way about my kids' jiu-jitsu gym. Like under no circumstance can I lose that place. It's my kids' community. It's like where all their friends are it's where their teachers are it's like that place can't go out of business and i'm sure it sounds like those 19 people feel that way about your business they're like holy shit what would we do it's like if all of a sudden someone's threatening to like take away your bathroom no no you can't i need that well when this is the best one hour of your day i mean like people people need that man for mental health physical health people need it say that again say who am i to deny them of that you know yeah tell me about this commitment that

you haven't that you that you sort of alluded to that you've you've made for yourself into your into your group that basically about paying it forward well that that's our mission you know fitness for me it's it's about mental health being able to deal with my mental health and and to be fortunate enough not to need medicines not to say that people don't need medications and those things i've tried them I've been prescribed them for some like I deal with depression and anxiety um so I know how it helps me I know when I'm not eating right and I'm not working out I know the person that I am on the shell of myself and my mental health deteriorates so I've always wanted to be able to help others in that way. And also with empowering people who felt helpless or people didn't feel great about themselves because that was me. That's that's my story. And I'm not going to get in all that.

I mean, people could watch the other episode because we kind of we talked about all those things before. But this is rescuing me and I want to save as many people as I can. That's my mission. just rescued me and I want to save as many people as I can. That's my mission. Are any of the guys that you were in prison with, are they out also? Yes. Um, so there, and it was a bunch of guys, but the main group of the core group of guys that, you know, I aligned myself with, uh, they're, they're all out minus one who tragically overdosed on heroin uh two years ago uh but while he was in jail he OD'd in jail no no no no um he just he was in jail for crimes associated with addiction and then he just he maintained that addiction in prison

and then and then when he got out he just he just got a hold of some bad stuff. And, you know, but I hadn't been in contact with him at that point. But some of the other guys I'm still in contact with, they're doing great. I think Steve just bought a house. He's starting an asphalt company like Aaron does, like Powerwall. Yeah. So guys are guys are doing pretty well, man. They you know, they have that that belief in themselves where they didn't have it before. And they're doing well. Contrary to you can screw up in life and it can happen to you.

Did you by any chance see the episode where I interviewed the guys who are in prison who are doing CrossFit and the one guy's in there for life? Did you see that? I did not. I'll send you a link to it. That was a crazy episode. from who are in prison who are doing CrossFit and the one guy's in there for life. Did you see that? I did not. I'll send you a link to it. That was a crazy episode. I love that episode, actually. Yeah, I wish I could remember his name.

I feel like maybe it's episode 74 or 77. But basically this guy contacted me. I feel horrible for not remembering his name. But he basically said, hey, I work with a prison program where these guys do CrossFit in prison. And these guys, this program in this one prison, and a couple of the guys were in there for either life in prison or some crazy amount of time, like 500 years. So it was basically life. And he said they got so good. They made this program so robust and so positive, and it grew so fast in this one prison that this unprecedented thing is happening. And I go, what?

He goes, they're going to take these prisoners who started a CrossFit program in one prison and move them to another prison to start another CrossFit program. So they did that. And now they have – I think they're in a handful of prisons now, and they basically have this competition network going between the prisons where they hold competitions in the prisons. But it was probably one of the most emotional things I've done in the last couple of years interviewing – oh, that's right. Matt Sousa says it's Peter Ducker. It was probably one of the most emotional things I ever did was interview guys who were in prison for life because it's a weird conversation, right? Yes. Like – hold on.

I just had muted myself while I yelled at my kids. Quiet down, boys. How many kids did you say you have? You have seven? Yeah. That's amazing. So a bunch of other guys – and do they know what you're doing do you're did the guys that you're yeah and what do they say about it man i mean they're you know just that they're proud um they remain inspired i mean just glad

that you know i chose to stick to the path i told them that i would you know seven eight ten years ago so how did you find crossfit cory remind me about that how it first came across your plate in prison in prison but but how were you watching tv someone told you about it so a friend of mine steve who i alluded to earlier starting an asphalt company bought a home loves to ride motorcycles by the way shout out to steve casen uh steve was doing a workout routine steve was doing a workout that workout was annie um and you know i was just watching him and i had questions i asked him about the workout and he said oh i'm doing this crossfit stuff like well what is what is CrossFit?

And then he introduced it to me. Chris was the guy who overdosed, actually. Chris had some literature. Inside the Box, I think, was by C.J. Murphy. And then I can't remember Rich's, Rich Froning's first book. I can't remember the name of that book. Gave me that book gave me that book read that stuff and then we started to write things up on the on the uh whiteboards in our unit and some of the correction officers saw it and then some of them had been doing crossfit before and they started to bring in workouts

that we could do body weight stuff so yeah and then obviously i wrote the letter to that your wife got and and here we are. Yeah, crazy. So you wrote a letter to Greg Glassman basically asking if there's anything he can do to help you get more instructional materials, equipment, and whatnot. I was more, we more kind of wrote it just as like, hey, thank you. This thing has helped change us. It's inspired us to think that we could do better. And it's funny you mentioned the program.'s what that's what we were trying to do we wanted to start a you know a program but none of us had a level one or knew what a level one

was so we just wanted sources to like how could we get into coaching how could we start like a pilot program in the state of Ohio at the time to help guys? Because it was working for us. That's what we set out to do. We weren't able to make it happen, but I mean, I've gotten a lot out of that experience. Yeah, it's crazy. When you say that you see fitness as, I don't know if you use the word cure, but as part of the solution for mental health, I'm helping with mental health depression. Do you ever even just dose yourself just like, hey, I don't feel good.

I'm going to go work out for 20 minutes. Every day of my life. Yeah. Can you walk me through what that looks like? So like you've already maybe you've already done one workout in the morning and now it's seven o'clock at night you don't feel good or can you tell me sort of how that goes for you so and it it it varies because again right in anxiety they're two separate entities but wait say that again what are two separate entities depression and anxiety they're okay not the same um okay so just with dealing with being a can't calm my thoughts down

my mind is racing can't sleep can't focus that prescription to to not think to know that hey i'm going to do insert whatever why do you want whatever i can come up with i'm going to do this and then the feeling that i get, the feeling of accomplishment afterwards helps calm me down. When it comes to depression, that feeling of being defeated or not being myself, that workout helps boost me up. Adrenaline rush is something that I need. And without it, you might not hear from me for four or five days at a time because I've disappeared. Because that's what it does to me. I never know when it's coming.

But I've gotten a lot better at when I start to feel not me, I know that I need to move. In my 20s, I think that's why I stopped smoking weed. I used to smoke a ton of weed and uh i think it gave me anxiety i um because my is anxiety when you say is that when your thoughts are so loud like you can't even think yourself it's like it doesn't even matter what your thoughts are whether they're good or bad it's just they're so fucking loud and you can't get away from them you're like what the hell going on? You feel like you just want to run. Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah. I know that feeling where you just want to run. That's a shitty feeling. That's it. Yeah. I've explained that before. Yeah, literally, you just want to stop whatever you're doing and just run off in a certain direction.

Like the Bob Marley song, you're running and you're running and you're running away, but you can't run away from yourself. Yes. And, and, and then, um, and then, and then they're, they're basically quick fixes. They give you, they give you immediate reprieve, huh? Yes. So you just get, you get on an assault bike and you ride it for 10 minutes and

the depression and anxiety are gone or – Once they're gone, it helps. Helps. Yes, it helps. And the thing is also is that sometimes the thought comes during those workouts that kind of does cure it until the next day right like you get like like you unlock like you unlock a key like a like another thought comes in like neutralizes it kind of like how you would imagine like yeah it's a trip it's a trip do you have a lot of good thoughts when you're working out uh i don't know if you call them good thoughts depending on what the workout is.

Sometimes I'm questioning why the hell am I doing this? But no, but it does help me get to a positive place because I'm doing something for me and I'm working towards something which I need goals. I need things to work towards without them. things to work towards without them feel lost so it does help me kind of working out and i start to think about things that i can improve on whether it's fatherhood whether it's as a gym owner or relationship stuff like i i am able to channel um some productivity with my thinking process is your gym gonna survive yeah man we're doing we're doing i mean it could be better i could be double or triple those members um but we're really focusing on dialing in our systems um place establishing roles and tasks so i could run a more efficient gym and go from working in my business to working on my business and, you know, get that role of being a CEO.

What, what, what advice do you have for other people? What's working for you? This hat, man, Chris Cooper, two brain business. That's what's working for me. Okay. And they're not paying me to say this guys. I pay a lot of money for my mentorship, but having a mentorship, having someone that holds me accountable and gives me some knowledge and expertise done it way better than i have on a much grander scale the things that changes that i make and implement to see those you know attractive metrics and understand the the business aspect of wanting to gym say hey sebi i love the fucking workout it's awesome let's open up a gym and like everybody can sweat but then what happens behind the scenes

like understanding leads lead generation uh member retention tracking metrics so you can understanding your customer avatar these are things that that, you know, I had no idea. I just loved fitness and wanted to help other people. But with TubeBuy, I have a lot more structure. Things are a lot more organized. So now that I have older members who had quit two or three years ago coming back, and it's like, for them, it's like night and day. Wow. They even see the difference? Oh, my God, yes.

Okay. So let's go back a second so um government's telling you to close down you go through this pretty hard year or two years how when does chris cooper and two brain business come into your life it's so funny that that that's your where you're at because that's the only reason why i have a podcast is because when i did the crossfit do you know that story no what chris did tell me that he knows you though yeah so so it's pretty so i had chris cooper on the crossfit podcast many years ago matt souza had a gym in livermore california that was suffering he heard the chris cooper podcast he started reading chris cooper's books his business

took off and was and and now it's a tremendous success. He's got CrossFit everywhere. And he's like you. He lives and breathes CrossFit. And it's like, he just wants to make people better, just make people better. And so his business is exploding. He's super duper inspired. And I hadn't talked to him probably in a year or two. And I hardly knew Matt Souza, the owner of CrossFit Livermore. We just knew each other from social media. And I'd met him a few times at CrossFit events. But basically, he contacts me about six months ago and he says to me, hey, Sevan, this is Matt Souza. Why aren't you doing your podcast? And I said, oh, I got fired from CrossFit. I'm just chilling. I'm just raising my kids and I'm just kind of like, I don't know what I'm doing, but I'm just raising my kids.

That's all I really want to do. He goes, well, I think you should start your podcast. I'm like, well, cool. That's nice of you. Thank you. And then he says, well, why don't you start it? And I just said, I told you I have kids and i don't want to waste the time of finding people to interview for my podcast and he says i'll do that for you and i said what and he goes yeah he goes i want to pay it forward to you i'm like what do you mean he goes i just told you that my business was failing you had chris cooper on and now and it helped my business so two years later i'm reaching out to you to tell you i want to help you now i'm like no thanks dude i don't need any help but thank you so i get off the phone and my wife's like, hey, Sevan, you're always preaching that. And I

tell my wife the story and she's like, hey, you're always preaching that the universe is, thank you. My wife just told me, conspiring to help you. That's like one of the lines I use. Oh, universe, I'm the luckiest man alive. I live a charm life. The universe is conspiring to help me. And I really do believe that, um, is uncomfortable as it makes me feel. And she said, well, here's the universe conspiring to help you and you're ignoring it. So I call Matt Sousa back up and I go, listen, dude, I don't really want to do this, but you, you will make, you will find people and get them on the show for me. He goes, yeah, I'll do all that. I'll do all your scheduling. I'll give you one of my employees to do all of that and produce the show for you. I was like, Jesus. So kicking and screaming, he gets me to do the that. I'll do all your scheduling. I'll give you one of my employees to do all that and produce the show for you. I was like, Jesus.

So kicking and screaming, he gets me to do the show. And so after we do like five or ten shows, like, you know, and I call him every day now. He probably hates that. And I say, hey, I'm going to try to do 500 shows. I'm going to make them the best shows ever. I'm going to make every show a little better than the last show. And I'm going to fucking like try to take over. I'm going to try to like be like uh peers with joe rogan right i'm going to try to fucking like do this so every day the show gets

a little better it gets and so we're doing it now but the funny part is it ties back to chris cooper this fucking guy chris cooper and i and i and whenever there's something like i it's it's funny that I just barely scratched the surface. And as soon as I say, as soon as you brought up Chris Cooper, your whole energy changed, not that it was down, but you're pumped. But I had Chris, I had Chris Cooper on the show a few months ago and I'm still like, fuck you, Chris, there's no fucking way. My business is hurting and I got five grand in the bank. There's no way I'm giving you that five grand to help me. I'm shutting my doors and like holding onto my money as tight as I can.

So that's, I'm so excited to hear now from you. How do you do that? Like, how do you, how do you have a business that's struggling? First of all, how did Chris Cooper come on your radar? Tell me, tell me that. Like, and how do you make that leap? Like, aren't you like, fuck you. How can you know better than me?

I heard him speaking on an interview and I'm not sure if it was maybe morning chaka okay um okay and this is a few years ago um even before i started a gym like i was this is back when i was like having boot camps out in the park or training people in a one-car garage so i just started following you know two brain and looking at all the free tools you can download and um listening to the podcast it came out with a two brain radio and i would listen to that on my long commutes home back and forth um but and i had even made like you could do like the free help call made the call and then even in the free call i made some changes that were beneficial with just with rape stuff at the time.

The person I spoke with can't recall who that was. But so I somehow friended Chris on Facebook and he's got to be. Man, Chris was like we were messaging back and forth on Facebook because he saw me on your podcast. was like we were messaging back and forth on facebook because he saw me on your podcast so yeah so wow wow i mean like hey how can i help you and then he like sent me some of his and you know and he never was tried to sell me anything and obviously i know now like this is what you do you help first um but he never really i never had to sell me he was just giving me some information passing along and that's when he told me he knew you before from hq or whatever yeah and one like in about to lose my business last year i made the call they let me choose a mentor i chose matt van choik and matt has been phenomenal actually Chris helped me to add nutrition

coaching to my business and Matt's their gym final call they're doing really well nutrition so they've been helping me implement some of those things in my gym and without it man and I got to give credit to my community and all the people in the community that have supported the gym but without two brain bro I I had no idea what I was doing versus now. I have a lot more guidance and a lot more structure. And that's the thing that people notice most when they come in. Even when they take myself from some of the other, there's three other boxes in this area. And our systems is what makes us stand out to other people.

So they come here and it's it's completely different can you give me an example like did you paint your walls green or you got a new mat or you kiss on both sides of the cheek now you got you adopted the italian way You adopted the Italian way. So understanding that when people come in, they have a problem and then to offer people solutions to their problems. Right. The prescription our no sweat intros and consultations and what happens before, during, after those interviews, how do we reach out to those people, how, you know, kind of get them on board in what we're doing, I think. And the member would probably tell you that to make sure that they're on track for their goals, whether it be with programming or, you know, tracking their biometrics and stuff.

And I think some of the other gyms are still kind of in that garage gym mentality of just come in and work out. But we know that they need more people. People need more. need more. So having systems in place and then making sure that we are constantly in contact with our members, myself and my staff. We're always contacting them, always asking, can we help you more? What can we do to help you reach whatever your goals are? Keeping track of all those things for them. Things as simple as that. Don't even sit down with people and say, hey, Jim, you joined the gym three months ago. You said that you wanted to lose 15 pounds. How's that going for you?

Something as simple as that. Letting people know you care. And if they haven't, then prescribing them some things to help them change and fix it. So holding people accountable a little bit more than just, hey, come to the gym, show up to class. Well, what happens when someone hasn't been showing the class? Do you have someone who's reaching out to them, making sure that they're checking in?

And I'm not going to, but I just think focusing more on the accountability piece and instead of trying to do a thousand and one things great focus on what we really do well and deliver that to people in a in a system or a process that you know your your your customers are happier your clients are happier they're getting more of the gym are you happy or do you like it or is it like pulling teeth have you lost any of like the freedom or creativity or do you feel fake at all doing any of this? Like, do you feel like it's insincere? Like how does it affect you? Man, this morning I'm looking around at what used to be one of our lowest numbers as far as classes, our 545 AM class, which is now one of our bigger, more consistent classes. And I'm looking at people

smiling and laughing and, you know, pushing it to the limits. We just finished two weeks of assessments and testing. People are doing things that they never thought that they could imagine they're doing. They're telling me that like it's I think things couldn't what they could be better. You can always make more money. But from a from a if my goal or my mission is to pay fitness forward, like the feedback that I'm getting from, you know, my members, clients, and even my staff is that that is what we're doing and people appreciate it. All day long, people want to hug me and high five me or message me and just thank me for, for allowing them to come to the gym, even though they

pay to be here, then they appreciate it so much more than they ever have before. And I don't know if any of that has to do with, you know, being shut down and not being able to attend gyms or any of that. But I think with the way that we handle things, that we actually are centered around helping people. I think people appreciate that more. And it makes me feel good about what I'm doing. Because I'm not some sketchy car salesman trying to trick you into purchasing something i'm actually trying to help people become the best version of themselves because crossfit is the thing that's helped me do that so i'm paying it forward pretty cool man it's it's crazy cool it's crazy cool is there is there a whole mixture of people are there are there um people

we have a little bit of everybody in here so you got that you have the person who's terrified you have the person who's like fuck it i don't care i'll drink that i'll drink a gallon of covid you got the person who's like wearing the biden shirt you got the person who's like fuck biden you got the whole gambit in there a little bit of everybody but none of that matters when you walk in the right and why doesn't it matter when you walk in the door because we're all here to improve ourselves personal shit aside isn't that amazing no one cares where you come from where you grew up look at me man i'm the leader of the gym. I'm a convicted felon, right? Nobody gives a shit. People are here to work. People are here because they're stressed out or they're not happy with where they are, what they look like or how they feel. They want to be better. Everybody has that

in common. No matter what their individual goals are, Susie wants to lose 10 pounds because she's getting married next week. John wants to be able to get up and down the stairs with his grandkids, whatever the goal, whatever the one common is that we all want to be better version of ourselves. And we are very adamant and zero tolerance for bringing any of that divisiveness into our facility. Zero.

I will tell them. And do you tell people that like yo yo chill with that when people sign up and join my gym that's one of the very we are really big on culture here if like if you're if any any type of negative energy i don't mind giving you your money back refund refunding you, because I'm trying to create a space where everyone feels comfortable and is just trying to work on themselves. What you do when you walk out of the gym, I don't care. But when you're here, just be ready to work, know who you're sweating next to, and understand that everyone's at a different point in their

fitness. No judgments. And I know that's really generic for every gym owner says like no judgment, but we try. And we've had one or two incidents where people were not a great fit. And that's something I learned from, you know, two brand firing a client. If people don't fit culture, I can't make them fit. And at that point, it's not worth my time, my money, or even their time, because maybe there's another gym that would suit them better. And I don't mind telling that to people. I'm working on some of that stuff myself. It's funny. It's a little bit different. You're trying to make a place that where the primary focus is make people's lives better, right? The best hour of their day, regardless of what their beliefs are.

Make them better. And I think that that's awesome. I go to a lot of kids' events, like every single day, like one, two, three, four, five events. And so there's parents there from all different backgrounds, right? And I met my kids' tennis practice the other day, and one of the fathers walks up to me. And I've seen him there for the last three or four months, right? And I met my kid's tennis practice the other day, and one of the fathers walks up to me. And I've seen him there for the last three or four months, right? And he always sits away from the other parents. So do I. But he sits away from the other parents. He's always got a mask on, and his kid always has a mask on. And my kid never has a

mask on. This is an outdoor tennis practice, right? So he comes over to me, and my kid really likes his kid. My kid's six, and his son is ten, and his kid's the best kid in the class, like really, really good. And so he comes over to me, and he tells me, oh, my son really likes your son. I'm like, yeah, my son really likes your son. Whenever your son's around, my son gets a little swagger, right, because your son's so good. So he's like, if they're on the same team together, my son gets all puffy-chested. And we start laughing, and he goes, yeah, well, we took a year off from tennis. And I said, why did you took a year off from tennis and i said why'd you take a year off from tennis and he said because i didn't like the protocol that was put in place

to stop the spread of covid here at the tennis academy and i'm thinking in my brain well that's the reason why i brought my kid to tennis because they didn't make the kids wear masks they were allowed to do whatever they wanted right but but i don't say that to them and i was so proud of myself cory because normally i'd be like, what the fuck you talking about? Kids shouldn't be wearing masks. I would have just fucking dug in. But I'm like, you know what? Like like our kids, like this is my kids. This is the dad of my kids, but buddy. And like, I don't need to shove it down his throat. I just need to I was like, oh, OK, fantastic. He's also and so he's telling me we took a year off.

And and and and I and I bit my tongue and I and I and I felt like eventually I fucked that up because like 10 minutes later, he's like, hey, where do your kids go to school? I'm like, my kids don't go to school. And he goes, why not? I go, because I would never put a fucking mask on my kid. But I tried. Before then, I tried. I tried not to say anything. But I see – it's taken me a long time to get to that point because I have such strong opinions about what's being done. But I wonder if it speaks to the fact of what you're doing is sort of transcends all of that.

Like if we're not all healthy, we can't even have the luxury of fighting with each other's personal beliefs. Absolutely not. Right? So would I rather get along with this guy and have a guy to talk to or would I fight with him and make him feel bad and we go – and for the next five years, we're at kids' events together but we don't talk to each other? That just sounds not fun. It's like fighting with your neighbor. but we don't talk to each other. That just sounds not fun.

It's like fighting with your neighbor. It's like if you're, your neighbor's dog always shits on your lawn and you have to at one point like decide, like is it worth just not being friends with my neighbor? I don't think so. I think it's better to get along and like try to find a way around it. Like be like,

like maybe just like, I picked up your dog's shit off my lawn again today. Love you. Have a great day. You know what I mean? Like find a way. It's not my strong suit, today. Love you. Have a great day. You know what I mean? Like find a way. It's not my strong suit, brother. It's not my strong suit.

So does Chris – that is amazing. I know Chris is extremely busy. He has thousands of gyms that his program is mentoring. I think he is the largest – Chris Cooper Two Brain Business, the largest consulting service of gyms in the world. By the way, I, I don't think he's, I think that that guy's advice could work for any business. You could have a dog groomer, a restaurant. What do you think? I do. I do. Those principles I think can be applied to anything. How is he so smart? How does he know all that? that and his demeanor he's got crazy demeanor right

this is tried and failed man he's been through some things and he's someone who always sought mentorship to improve um and now he has the ability to help other guys and girls become mentors and mentor gyms man he's ch first is sticking to his mission and it's working would you say this is a fair statement that crossfit success is really just like it is all based on the fact is that that it works yes that's like the cornerstone of its or or even greater the foundation of his success is that it works it works so you get a group of people together you get them like-minded in their diet and their movement and you will start seeing tremendous results and then people close to them see results it goes and it grows

that way and so that's what happened to chris. That's why Chris is so successful. Because his business works. Yes. So if he wasn't truly helping gyms, he'd be gone by now. Yes. And I know there's a lot of gurus and stuff out there. Those people contact me all the time. Like, no, no, I'm a two brain gym, man. I'm good, man. I don't need your free marketing tips. I'm good. good, man. I don't need your free marketing tips. I'm good. But Chris, like I said, even for him to reach out to me, that meant a lot to me. And even now, I can guarantee you, if I message him on Messenger, he might not respond right away. But within a couple of days, if I have a question, he'll still answer it, even though I have a mentor and he'll answer you know, at will, but Chris is,

he's that kind of guy that he, he truly does want to help people. So that's why he actually wants to help you. Do you, what are your, what do you have goals beyond this gym? Like what are your hopes for the gym? So obviously I want the gym to grow to a place where it doesn't need me to be here every day and then i'd like to open up additional another location or even more i think every gym owner probably but i feel like this is a stepping stone and what i really want to do which is to speak to troubled youth or men and women who've been incarcerated from

addiction and to tell them that their circumstances can be changed through hard work and dedication. And that while 99% of people won't believe in you, the 1% that do, you have to take advantage of every opportunity you're given and just work harder than the next person to you. I know that for a long time, I believed that because I was a convicted felon, I would never find a job. People would hate me. Society would shun me. And to be at a place now where I can say, I can't speak for everyone, but for me, it just isn't true. It's now where I can say I can't speak for everyone. But for me, it just isn't true. All it took was for somebody to believe in me. And I never disappointed that individual. And every opportunity I've been given, I've taken fully advantage of it.

I'm fortunate enough to to now be in a network of people that are willing to help if I need it. But then in our return, I pay it forward. So do you think that, um, you can flip the script on that or maybe you have, or eventually that happens instead of being like, fuck, I'm a convicted felon. No, one's going to hire me. No, one's going to work with me. I'm never going to be successful to where like you, you actually start to use that as fuel. Like it's part of your story. It's like, look, if i can do it anyone can do it it's like almost like you get a chip on your shoulder like a good one a good chip have you ever heard of ct fletcher yeah yeah of course yes so what he does motivational loss like i love listening to ct

fletcher and I love his story. And I would like to be able to make a similar impact to people like me that have similar struggles like me, because there's a lot of guys and girls that don't believe in themselves based on making choices and not understanding that you can't handle that situation. So man, I really hope that the day comes where I can go out and I can speak to people and make an impact to take, to have people take a step in a different direction and to motivate and inspire them. They just want to be better. It doesn't have to be about fitness. Obviously I'm going to talk about fitness, but it just to believe that no matter what your circumstances are as fucked up as it might be, you can do better. Like a lot of people don't really believe that. I certainly never did. Uh, John George has a question from the comments since we're live. Uh, John, uh, I'll

ask the questions. Keep your questions to yourself, please. Okay. So the question is, who believed in him? What did that look like? That's a great question, John. Is there anyone specifically who believed in you? Yes. So there's a bunch of people, but I'll start from, like, obviously my mom and my grandmother and my brother, they've always believed in me. But that's. Your mom always believed in you?

Absolutely. My mother never. She always hoped someday you're going to turn it around. You know, I mean, mom will never give up on you, man. Yeah. Weird, right? Yeah. Mom's.

Even, you know, my mom's had some struggles and battles with addiction and stuff. And but she's certainly never given up on me. She's always. My mom never gave up on me either. It's crazy. Yeah. But for me, I think in prison, this Sergeant, Sergeant Daniel Moore on my housing unit gave me an opportunity to hold fitness programs in our housing unit to help other people. And that's what inspired me to want to become a coach or a trainer, because I realized that I had a gift for for leadership or people wanting to to listen to me or follow me because I led by example.

I can start there, but I can also start with a letter that I wrote that ended up in the hands of your wife, who I give a lot of credit to and her reading this and actually believing in what I was doing and wanting to help me. And even when things didn't seem like they would allow her to because of prison stuff, I'm even getting out the doors that that's opened up. And by extension, you and people like Gary Roberts, having those types of people, it was crucial for me because I couldn't let you guys down. Right. Like people have invested time and energy and just believing that I could do something when I didn't believe I could do it myself. And how could you let people down? One statement, one question. The statement is this, by the way, when we when I worked at CrossFit and I've talked about this ad nauseum every single person there was like a diehard crossfit it's a crossfitter it's not anything like it is now nothing i mean like we were all fucking fanatics all 100 200 300 of us however many of us worked there everyone

from like the people you know like keever and marston to the people you don't know like everyone was like crossFit had saved their life. And there was a very strong mission statement at CrossFit and a very strong vision. For all the shortcomings that people might think that Greg Glassman has, there was never a shortage of vision. And the vision was very fucking clear. And a piece of that vision was to always do the right thing for the right people for the right reasons. He would pound that into us.

And so my wife was the executive assistant to Greg Glassman, and people would write in handwritten letters. And Corey wrote a handwritten letter into Greg. And my wife, although her job literally was 24-7, 365 for years, I know most people can't even imagine that. They might think it's hyperbole, but on the days that my wife gave birth to my twins and my first son, she still also worked. And I mean worked. And then she worked the days after she gave birth too. Like we didn't compartmentalize our lives

when you took this shit. A letter showed up to Greg and my wife just opened it wasn't my wife could have easily just thrown that shit away easily there was no pressure on her to answer that shit she had other important shit to do for greg but greg always told us to do the right thing and my wife fucking sat down i go what are you doing she's all i'm writing cory back i'm all who's cory so and she had there were a couple dudes from prison she was writing to and she would be like oh they won't let me send the whole l1 book in so i have to send in one page at a time or bounce back and i'm gonna try to send it again this way and there was all and then when cory got out my wife still

kept in contact with them and you don't get paid extra for this shit no one's being your boss no one's telling my wife could have been like fuck this instead of writing cory i'm gonna go get my nails done like easily so you see that this is uh this is like all and my wife's not anyone special anyone would have done this any anyone who worked at crossfit inc would have done this haley's very special to me yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah whatever you're lucky she's just a baby she's just a baby factory she stopped at three i want her to give me three little daughters now so i need six you'll pay for this later bro i can see her in the kitchen right now she's doing the boys schoolwork with them right now she's trying to ignore me um so but tell me about this guard this guy did he tell me about this guard, this guy. Did he tell me what was his name again?

She her name was Danielle. Yeah, Danielle. And what did she do and did she have to do it? You're saying basically she enabled you to start the program there. What's that look like? She was the liaison who we, you know, we approached her, my friends and I, we approached her with an idea and she took it up to the prison administration, you know, assistant warden, warden. You know, you have to like climb the ladder and everything. But they allowed it.

And then there was a point where we were even getting referrals from the prison medical where they referred guys to take our program. We're having some chronic health issues, and they come in and let us do it, man. And that's with no training or coaching or no knowledge or anything. Could Danielle have said, hey, Corey, shut the fuck up and get in your cell? I think it was more of, yes. That was an option to her.

She didn't have to help you. Absolutely not. No. Her job is to make sure that the unit's going great, everybody's secure. She went above and beyond. It was also another sergeant, Sergeant Cruz, who played a big role in what we did, who I'm still friends with him today. Actually, I keep telling him.

No shit. Yeah, he moved down to Key West. I keep telling him I'm gonna come down now to go visit him and hang out work out with him but yeah he was really is that weird it was weird because like you're not supposed to talk to the cops right and i got a lot of flack from that from inmates from my relationships with staff but i didn't care i mean i'm trying to better myself like i'm not you know ratting people out or getting in i don't get any any of that stuff i'm on my own business but i knew that i never wanted to go back again well what's this

guy doing florida is he still a correctional officer no hell no he got out of corrections um he can't be a healthy job right that can't be a good job for anyone, right? Really, physically, it's just a lot. And they didn't appreciate him, man. He was a great guy, and they just really didn't appreciate him. But he does HVAC stuff down there in Florida. Yeah, guarding other humans who are in prison can't be healthy for you. Since we all are just mirrors here mirroring each other

being in an environment where you're lording over other human beings cannot be healthy for your soul it must it's what it's one of the reasons why i don't believe in the death penalty i mean the first part is is i think we kill the wrong people sometimes and if you even do that once you can't have the death penalty you can't accidentally kill people. And the second thing is every time you kill someone, you create a murderer. That's the problem with going to war too. We send these boys overseas and then they come back murderers. I mean murderers, killers.

And that's fucked up. That is fucked up. That's tough, man. That is tough. even if you're a murderer in the good let's say everyone you killed deserved it you did the right thing you still created another murderer and now you got them in your backyard now they live through your neighbor i mean i'm not i'm not surprised at all like you know you know these stories you hear these marines or these these guys who do this bad shit like i, I'm not surprised we, we turned them into that. Right. Yeah. Okay. So, so, so you're in, uh,

just another seven on tangent. So you're in prison, you have, you meet some good guards and, and, and they, they help facilitate something that you were, if they wouldn't have done that, would you still pursue CrossFit anyway? Would you have found a way? I think, do you think that was pivotal? No, I think that, I think that certainly helped with me wanting to become a coach and get into coaching and then eventually owning a gym. But I think I knew the very first what I ever did when I get out, I'm going to join a box. The first thing going, I think it's helped, you know, having that program and keeping me focused and on track.

But I would have, I would have been a, maybe I'm just going to a gym and I'm just a member somewhere at that point. Do you know any other felons who own CrossFit gyms? Ex-felons? What do you call you? How do I label you? How do I judge you, Corey? I mean, my name's Corey. I don't, you know, I don't like all the name tags and stuff. If you want to say compelling or whatever, fine. I have much better accolades than that. Do you know of anyone who's traveled your path who also owns a gym who's ended up in the same spot?

I don't know of anyone personally. I would be willing to bet that there's probably quite a few guys and girls that have been through some shit. But I don't know of anyone personally. It's interesting i i would you have to guess well in the early days one of the things about crossfit and still to this day um it was huge with the first responder community because everyone knew that general physical preparedness gpp was um essential to surviving your job? You didn't want to die because you weren't in shape, and CrossFit was the best way to get in shape.

But on the other hand, you have to know that in mental health, it's the same way, right? Like if you're in prison, there's probably nothing better than you could do than do CrossFit. I remember interviewing Dutch Lowy in 2008. He was a CrossFit Games competitor in 2007. I can't remember. And I asked him, I said, why do you do CrossFit? And he says, well, when you don't know what you

want to do with your life, there's nothing better to do than CrossFit because when whatever you want to do with your life pops up, you'll be fully ready for it. Yes. And that's what you were doing. Did you ever, during the, during this shutdown for the last you were doing did you ever during the during this um shutdown for the last two years did you ever um think that oh shit this is gonna be like what was the lowest you got were you ever like holy shit this is gonna be over not only am i never gonna open a second gym i'm gonna lose this gym and i'm gonna be like i'm gonna have to get a job with the city like being a garbage collector or become a cop or i i met with my my coaches and this is like whenever when zoom was sexy and for that for those three seconds yes for those now

fuck zoom yeah i want to talk in here you know but um yeah i remember talking to my staff who all are. Clients of mine four or five years ago when I first started out, they've been with me through my entire journey when I was just a personal trainer at a at a big box gym to starting my boot camps to, you know, to being affiliates, they all became L1 coaches because they believed in me. And I had to, you know, sit and talk to these people and tell them that I didn't think that we were going to come out on the side of financially. We just couldn't afford to pay any bills. And I couldn't keep going without a wage, living, you know, without money.

So I thought that, hey, I'm probably gonna, if I start selling equipment, I told them they would be the first people that I would contact for that. And you didn't have to do that. You never made it there to that point. Never made it there. Probably right after that moment, you know, things, people just wanted to support small businesses, man. Um, there's like a, a movement in the community for a while. It's since, you know, people are kind of fighting about everything now, but for a while it was a lot of people wanted to help support other, you know, small businesses. And I think I got a little bit of that and it certainly helped me out. Yeah. I, I, I know that mode you're talking about. Like you're freaking out.

I've, I've had to talk with my wife. Hey, what would we do if X, Y, and Z happened? Are you okay if we move into a van? And my wife's like, yeah. And I'm like, oh good. Like, that's all I needed to hear. You know what I mean? Like, oh, reassurance. Oh yeah. Yeah. She's cool with it. Yeah. Okay. Good. Yeah. And maybe I was never even close to that, you know, yeah, she's cool with it. Yeah, okay, good. Yeah. And maybe I was never even close to that, you know? But if in your head you are, you know, sometimes you need a plan B.

Yeah. I know it's important to keep your eye on the target, but sometimes you need a plan B just to keep your eye on the target. Even now, Seve, I can't tell you what a plan B looks like. And I know that's probably not an intelligent thing to say. No, I hear you. I believe so much in what I do that I don't see me doing anything else other than building what I have into something even greater. And then going out there and helping reach other people to teach them that they can believe in themselves outside of fitness do you get reinsurance for that belief every day that's awesome by the way i do man my my daughter who will be going to school she's going to take her

test she's graduating call criminology but she's moving on going to to law school. And my kid tells me all the time how proud she is of me and the transformation that I've made in my life. She now looks up to me and is happy to tell people about her, about her dad that owns the CrossFit gym in little tiny York, PA, which might not seem like much because I'm certainly not rich and famous. because I'm certainly not rich and famous, but to have that from her and, you know, all my kids to some degree, but it's the older ones who kind of know a lot more and they're more worldly and they appreciate it, even though I will always feel guilty about all the time I spent away from them. But they just, they appreciate the version that I am right now. And that validates everything I've ever done. Right. And transformation. Transformation keeps people's hope alive, right? They see someone who's transformed and then all of a sudden you're the hope.

So real quick, Seve. Please. I used to be shy of talking about my past. I carried this heavy weight around. And some people would know little things. I carried this heavy weight around. And some people would know little things. The first time I ever publicly really talked about my stuff was like, your show.

And then all these people from all over the place. I don't know how I have friends in fucking Australia right now. But there's, you know, and all over Canada and different countries and people that like people that I've met, like in the CrossFit community to somehow people like, hey, man, I love your story. I think that's great. People like a good comeback story, especially if you're genuine and you really are trying to to better yourself and other people. And I get that a lot, not only from my members and clients, people here, but people from all over the place that I've never met before. Not only from my members and clients, people here, but people from all over the place that I've never met before or wouldn't have met. I'm fortunate. I'm looking up Corey Allen CrossFit podcast. I'm going to see what pops up.

Just Sebon Podcast 157. That's what we're doing now. How do I? The sebon podcast oh it wasn't the crossfit podcast that it was on no it was it was this podcast yeah it was this holy shit man my brain is mush you were on episode 11 of this podcast yeah so that's when i first so that's interesting. That's when I first started to launch this podcast and then I gave up before I ran into Matt Sousa and Matt Sousa stepped on my dick a little bit.

Kicked me in the ass. He's like, hey, get this thing rolling, buddy. Wow, that is awesome. Okay. So episode 11 of the Sevan podcast. If you want to hear, damn, I should have said that right in the beginning. I'll fuck this all up. It's my show.

I'll mess it up if I want to. And so I guess that circles back to my question again. So something that used to maybe be an insecurity is now actually a tool. Yes. It's a strength. It's a strength it's a strength because i think people look at me and they say i can overcome whatever the thing is that's been holding me back why am i feeling sorry for myself cory went through this it makes it really easy for me to sit across the table someone who has been making every excuse why they can't get to a gym and work out.

That conversation is really easy now. There's a great story that Greg used to tell. I'm trying to remember the guy's name. What's the guy? He owns a CrossFit gym. He has no arms and no legs. What's his name? Kyle. Kyle. Kyle's his name? Kyle.

Kyle Maynard. Kyle Maynard. So, Kyle Maynard and Greg went to, I think it was a Wounded Warriors meeting or something. And he said Kyle Maynard got up on stage and he looks out across this room just packed full of soldiers who have lost their arms and their legs and their faces are burned. He said it was just fucking nuts, just a mess, right? Just all the horrors of war. And he looks out over the crowd and he goes, man, I feel sorry for you guys.

And he goes, I was born like this. You guys actually lost your arms and legs. At least I never knew what it was like to have them and it's like holy shit you know like that's a powerful what a powerful way to grab those dudes attention but not everyone can say that right but the guy with no arms and no legs can say that like straight to you damn i feel sorry for you. And these guys still have two arms and one leg. And this is from a guy who has no – and I just – it's turning your – what did you call it? Turning your weakness into a strength. Yes. Yeah, just – it's fucking brilliant.

I love it. Well, I appreciate your time. I'm so stoked that we circled back after 146 episodes. This is great. I'm glad that you and Chris Cooper have hooked up. I just love the synergy of the world. Just stoked. I'm stoked I know you. Wow, all of a sudden

now your camera looks good. You look good. This is the first time I've been able to see your face in an hour and 16 minutes. Yours is up on my end too, Seth. Oh, I'm sorry. I'm sorry. Imagine. I'm live for 16 minutes.

Let me read a couple comments here before we get off. The fact that you were a felon and spent time in prison could be the very reason you are such a good leader. You've seen the lows, so you probably don't sweat the small stuff. Keep rocking it. Colin Lawrence says, all of us know so many people that need CrossFit, but hardly any of us ever get them to an affiliate. Here, we'll leave you with this question, Corey, to answer this final question. Corey Pulido says where is the gap why do you think there aren't more stories like ct fletcher and yourself i don't

really know ct fletcher's story what's his story oh ct was i guess like power lifting bodybuilding kind of so ct had he's had like a couple of heart attacks and then a transplant. And then every time he's had one of these surgeries, he has to like come back. And there's like an episode where the first time he's going for a run and he's wearing like a stuff because the doctors tell him he shouldn't, he shouldn't be alive. Basically, he shouldn't even live. And then he goes to try to run and falls flat on his feet. He's got like blood and all that. So he goes around and

he he kind of travels and goes to different places and speaks but then he also has like his iron like their gym um he brings a lot of guys in in that like bodybuilder powerlifting world and he does stuff he has like guests on the show stuff like just a really good motivational guy and like when you hear someone who's had a couple a heart transplant and the doctors told him he'd probably be dead wait a sec when you say heart transplant he has someone else's heart in him yes he has someone else's ticker in him fucking nuts nuts and so so what this guy wants to know why do you think there aren't more stories like that like you and him like there's there's thousands of them they just they don't get told right

bring crossfit media back yeah that is for sure all right brother thank you so much um i will uh schedule you um in another 146 episodes. My man. Bam. We're no longer live. All right.