The Sevan Podcast - #250 - Jake Marconi

Episode Date: January 3, 2022

Jake Marconi is a CrossFit athlete headed to Miami to compete at Wodapalooza 2022. He is a coach for HWPO and deeply involved with the programming for CrossFit Games athlete Jayson Hopper. Follow Jak...e - https://www.instagram.com/jakemarconi/ The Sevan Podcast is sponsored by http://www.barbelljobs.com Follow us on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/therealsevanpodcast/ Watch this episode https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC59b5GwfJN9HY7uhhCW-ACw/videos?view=2&live_view=503 Support the show Partners: https://cahormones.com/ - CODE "SEVAN" FOR FREE CONSULTATION https://www.paperstcoffee.com/ - THE COFFEE I DRINK! https://asrx.com/collections/the-real... - OUR TSHIRTS ... Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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Starting point is 00:00:28 Conditions apply. This episode is brought to you by Disney's Young Woman in the Sea. Now streaming on Disney+. I've decided to swim the English Channel. A woman? I believe she'll die in that water. From producer Jerry Bruckheimer and director Joachim Roening comes the must-see true story. Daisy Ridley.
Starting point is 00:00:47 I go to England or die trying. Trudy, you don't have to do this. Don't let anyone take me out of the water, no matter what. Disney's Young Woman and the Sea. Now streaming on Disney+. Bam. Bam, bam. We're live. Shit, I have the wrong camera something's not right damn it
Starting point is 00:01:08 i have too many damn it something's not right something's not right how's that i mean you tell me. I think I've seen... That was great. I've seen the clouds open. That's what it is. This guy who was in the other studio, he said, my first time tuning into a live show ends in five minutes.
Starting point is 00:01:35 Oh, man. Sorry, dude. Clearly his fault. De La Pine was his name. You'll learn. You'll learn. Okay, so listen. This is what just happened.
Starting point is 00:01:51 Superman. Hi. I mean, i don't even have a picture of jake on this computer i'm on a different computer this isn't the computer i set the streams up on hi alex hi melissa hi mr mr gearan the third here before heidi word um uh so i didn't have a picture of him so i just thought you know what fine he's superman it's my show i'll call him whatever i want he is kind of like a superman i i thought about putting super jew but i don't know if he's jewish so i didn't want to make a presupposition but he's got that hair if you dig through his instagram oh man i have too many windows open so So I was looking at While We Wait for Him. I saw this. Did you guys ever read 1984?
Starting point is 00:02:31 Long time ago. Yeah, long time ago, right? I must have been a knucklehead when I read it because it didn't resonate with me at all. I mean, I just wanted to party. But I just like it how he nailed it. Education meant indoctrination. Freedom of speech meant approved speech. Globalism meant one world government.
Starting point is 00:02:57 Global warming and climate change means redistribution of wealth. Income equality means redistribution of wealth. Progressive means regressive. Resistance means anarchy just some website that like talks about like some of the topics and why it's so screwed up in 1984 in the book tolerance is really intolerance i mean that that social justice is reverse discrimination that's the world we live in there's this whole i can't believe some of the stuff people are saying these days. Did you see what Boris Johnson said? Hey, I know it's hard to – I'm paraphrasing.
Starting point is 00:03:30 It's hard to exercise and eat right, so just take the drug. Can you imagine sending your kid to a – that's the opposite of leadership. Didn't JFK say something like ask what you can do for your – don't ask what your country can do for you. Ask what you can do for your don't ask what your country can do if you do for you ask what you can do for your country it's like take like and we're a complete opposite of what jfk said everyone's just doing what their country wants them to do hi jake i apologize for oh bye will jake are you jewish no do i look it is that what you ask i yeah i mean you got just the thick mane and you got the bun. And then I saw a picture of your mom on Instagram and I figured your mom could,
Starting point is 00:04:09 your mom looks like, like, you know, like a psychology major, like some major college, like professor. That's really funny to say that she's a, she's a horse farmer. She's a horse farmer. Wow. There was a, the, the operations officer at CrossFit Inc. Bruce Edwards used to be a horse farmer. He did those little tiny horses, those Icelandic ones.
Starting point is 00:04:34 We did not have, I had a pony and when I was really young, it died in eighth grade. I'm sorry. It's okay. How did your, how does a pony die? I'm sorry. It's okay. How does a pony die?
Starting point is 00:04:45 Colic? Most horses, if they die spontaneously, die from colic. So their intestines just twist around. They can't untwist, and then they rupture and become toxic. Is that like stomach torsion? Yeah. I had a great Dane, and that happened to him when I was in college. Yeah. I had a great Dane and that happened to him when I was in college.
Starting point is 00:05:06 And I used my mom's, I rushed him to the hospital and used my mom's credit card to get the surgery. It was like $7,000. Can you imagine trying to explain it to my mom? Yeah. We weren't rich or anything either. Yeah. And then,
Starting point is 00:05:18 and then the dog got cancer and he had to have his leg removed. And that was like another five grand. I used my mom's credit card again for that. I wonder if my mom remembers that shit. i mean i feel like she definitely remembers 11 grand she i don't know she's her memory is slightly worse than mine uh do you know um brian friend i do i do we were supposed to play some frisbee golf but we didn't get to. Yep. Neither of our fault, really.
Starting point is 00:05:48 No, it's not our fault. What happened? That's a good point. Someone else dropped the ball. We'll just let it be. All right. We won't call them out. Like your Uber didn't show up? Pretty much. Yeah. Yeah, I guess. Yeah, let's call call him our uber yeah he didn't show up
Starting point is 00:06:06 he didn't want to come jake how old are you 24 and you've been doing crossfit since you've been 16 yeah pretty much since i graduated high school well probably towards the end of high school and how and how does someone like how does a 16 year old find uh crossfit shouldn't you have been like smoking weed and hanging out at taco bell i wasn't i wasn't no no i started working out really early in like seventh grade i was a fat kid oh me too yeah were you really fat or you just just a little bit fat i was just a little bit fat i was too short to be really fat i was like 5'3 but maybe 150 pounds so i was i was pretty circular i have 5'3 160 pounds at the age of 13 yeah that's in my notes hey but you had a deadlift at 15 of 400 pounds you do your research yeah i did and i was like
Starting point is 00:07:03 150 pounds that was my first power lifting meet so got into, I got into working out because my dad, my dad's just like a. I want to say, I don't believe that by the way. Don't believe what? 400 pound deadlift at 15. There's a video of it. Clearly, you didn't research enough. It's on YouTube. Serious? Yeah. Will, are you on that yeah i'm on type in super jew 15 years old
Starting point is 00:07:32 400 pound deadlift and see so i see i put superman in your title we and did you see that and i'm way too short to be superman but now you're superman if you're deadlifting 400 pounds at 15. Maybe eight years later, he's only deadlifting 405. No, no. We're up there. You're where? Where are you now? Up above 500. I haven't tested it in a while.
Starting point is 00:07:56 I don't max out that frequently. Do you think you're going to beat Colt? Fuck, we're coming in hot. Do you think you're going to beat Colt Mertens at Wadapalooza? Is he competing? I don't even know if he's competing. Oh, you fucking know he's competing. Don't you know exactly?
Starting point is 00:08:08 I don't. I don't know the roster, genuinely. I don't know the roster. You're terrified of him and Taylor Swift. Do you want to know the roster? Do I want to know the roster? If you want to know the roster, then it's going to be a dicey game for you. That's you at 15?
Starting point is 00:08:28 I was going to say, you look more like a man at 15 than I did. You were Mexican when you were 15? You look like The Rock at 15? That's my buddy, Ago. I don't even know if I'm in this video. Well, Ago is Jack. Yeah, right there.
Starting point is 00:08:42 That's me. Is that you? Hold on. Before you play that, now do you know why I guessed you're Jewish? Let me. Because of the hair. So funny story. That was like I would get bullied all the time.
Starting point is 00:08:55 I use that term really loosely, bullied. Dude, look at your back at 15. My God. Yeah. Okay, go on. Sorry. Bullied, 15. No, people would just call me jufro and make jewish jokes and it was it wasn't funny to those who that were actually jewish but to me like i'm not jewish i'm italian so it it was all for not they didn't get much of a reaction out of me. Can we see him pull the 400?
Starting point is 00:09:26 I want to see that. Let me see if I can find it. Jake, you're going to have to direct me on the video. It's not that one, right? Jufro derogatory? I think it's just long, curly hair. That's a jufro. What is a jufro?
Starting point is 00:09:44 When my hair grows out, it gets long like that and curly i just don't want to use anything derogatory just kidding do you remember what the work or what the video is called jake oh okay so according to jta if you just type in jake marconipound deadlift, it should be the first video. Jew is not a derogatory term, so why do so many people avoid saying it? As Jews around the world prepared for Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year, President Trump wished his Jewish brothers and sisters a happy holiday. Okay, I quit.
Starting point is 00:10:22 Anyway, he's not Jewish. He's Italian. You're just a marconi moving on yes yeah seven you know on the on morning chalk ups confirmed athletes page they have jake marconi listed fourth and colt merton's 16th is there any uh do you think that's an omen or it's in ranked in order of who they think is going to win or what's is it alphabetical no nope it's just it's random or we could just say it's projections. Wow. Okay.
Starting point is 00:10:46 Let's watch this. This is it. You did it in a meet? Yeah. It was in a powerlifting. It was my first powerlifting meet. And what's your previous, and look at, it's steel plates. Steel plate.
Starting point is 00:11:01 Yeah. It was a powerlifting meet. They don't use bumpers. They don't still to this day? No, I competed in powerlifting for a couple of years at the front end of high school. So like eighth grade, ninth grade, tenth grade. Did you ever do PEDs? No.
Starting point is 00:11:18 You don't have to do those to be in that? I don't look like I did PEDs. I have no idea. AGO maybe. Yeah, AGO was jacked. We did not do PEDs. I have no idea. I go, maybe I'll go was Jack. He did not do PEDs. That was my, my best friend growing up.
Starting point is 00:11:30 We were like brothers. He lived at my house for a little bit. We worked on the farm together. What was your previous PR before that? Before that lift deadlift. I have no idea. I don't remember. I remember going in. so we had a little
Starting point is 00:11:46 uh that first video pulled up was the gym in my basement my parents basement and i remember i was playing so i started playing lacrosse in eighth grade because my gym teacher was like hey you're too strong and too angry not to play a sport because i i didn't play any sports i raced bmx but i had quit sports when i was you were a fat kid that raced bmx yeah that's weird okay i was fast i had strong legs okay all that weight um so i played lacrosse and then i started doing insanity you know the like p90x shanti videos and then i started going into the gym after insanity and just trying to pull as heavy as i could off the floor and then we had like uh i asked for christmas for
Starting point is 00:12:32 power lifting like a rack with spotter arms in it and then i would set the spotter arms up around like my knees and do rack pulls as heavy as i could and i started pulling like pretty far over 400 pounds and decided that I was going to try to pull it in a meet. So signed up for a deadlift only meet and went and did it. That's crazy. Were your parents there? Yeah.
Starting point is 00:12:55 My parents have gone to pretty much everything I've ever done. Oh, that's cool. Yeah. Would you still do those rack pulls? I haven't done them in a really long time. This is an old video. How old are you in this one?
Starting point is 00:13:12 I think I'm 18 here because this is at full range where I train now in Providence. So I would be in college. I'm definitely a freshman in college here. At full range is where you train now? Yep. Full range is where you train now? Yep. Full range fitness. Dude, you got to update your CrossFit Games profile. What's it say?
Starting point is 00:13:34 I know no one updates it, but this is where people go to, you know, who don't know anyone to find information. And it still says that you're training Ocean States CrossFit. Oh, okay. to find information and it still says that you're training ocean states crossfit oh okay so what happened there is full range unaffiliated last year i'm gonna get a whole rash from savan for this but uh full range unaffiliated last year and so a neighboring gym here in rhode island is ocean state and so i did the open there and then just competed under that name for this season, this past season.
Starting point is 00:14:07 I approve. The thing is, if someone like me sees Ocean State CrossFit, I know a lot about Ocean State CrossFit because they've got a little bit of a history at the games, or the team, the regionals.
Starting point is 00:14:22 They've also had several good athletes who would compete on teams of three at Guadalupalooza's good athletes who would compete you know on teams of three at wadaplusas type stuff like this um those teams yeah and so you i mean i know you know all those guys but and then of course you know ray and ashley had a little setback hiccup thing this year well end of the career basically for them anyway so why what happened there that sounds good uh they failed the drug test oh he had kind of a he didn't think he thought his competition days were over and he was like really open about it he started taking pds because his pursuit his pursuits were different at that point
Starting point is 00:14:55 but then their team did really well he stopped taking them but you know he still failed the test yeah when can you see this porn hub site open over here in this other window no in my glasses nope it was open from last night because we were talking about porn hub in the show um what peds was he taking i can't remember but it's documented uh on the game site and on morning chalk up somewhere if you want if you really want to know oh if you're doing peds don't don't um don't get caught don't do the games it's making it hard to argue with people who think like
Starting point is 00:15:35 crossfit is full of drugs you're making it hard for me to argue because like i really believe it's not full of drugs do you believe it's not full of drugs jake. I do. Yeah. Yeah. Me too. Do you believe it's not full of drugs, Ryan? I think that, that there's a majority of the athletes competing are not doing that and are even taking precautions, like sometimes extreme precautions to make sure that they don't accidentally even fail a drug test. But I also do believe that there are people who are so close to making it and they're like so frustrating close
Starting point is 00:16:06 to make it that they are motivated to try a cycle of that here or there um because you know it's almost like nothing to lose like i'm not going to make it anyway like if and if i can get over that this is how i always thought about if i can get over that hump get to the games once and and get away with it then i might have a chance to get a sponsor. Then I might have a chance to extend my career, to quit my job and actually focus more on this. Like I think that mentality can creep into some of those that are really close to making it, but just not quite good enough.
Starting point is 00:16:37 I mean, if you're making, if you're like speaking into the games and taking bottom of the field, it'd be pretty tough to make a career out of it anyways. Well, I think that in some ways that's changing because of the way you can leverage that into, maybe not the athlete being the main focus, but into creating a business that could, you know, within the space that could be profitable or something like that.
Starting point is 00:17:03 Yeah, it's certainly changing. Like it's changing even from a couple of years ago. How these girls who, who have like 800,000 followers and they're barely squeak, they don't squeak into the games. They just fall outside the games. Um, and their whole account is just thirst picks by thirst picks.
Starting point is 00:17:20 I mean, shots of them in bikinis that you're wondering like, how is no pubic hair showing? Um, uh, are those people making a living are those full-time athletes they are yeah how much do you make any money off your well go ahead who knows if they're making a lot of money or a living but it certainly looks that way yeah it does if they are great power tool yeah yeah yeah for sure yeah yeah, yeah. No judgment.
Starting point is 00:17:45 I'm just trying to figure out. We had Snorri on. Do you know who that is? Snorri Barron? Yep. And I didn't ask him on the podcast. He was on with me, but I watched one of his other podcasts, and he said he thinks there's about 20 athletes who are full-time CrossFitters, meaning they don't have other jobs. meaning they don't have other jobs.
Starting point is 00:18:08 He's probably a little more plugged into who is actually making a living out of it than I am. But I feel like that number is a little low. Uh-huh. Me too. Me too. I would say that if that number is low, then people really shouldn't complain because I don't think the UFC has like 570 people on the roster.
Starting point is 00:18:19 And I, and I, I would, I would be very surprised if, if half of them were full-time fighters and that they didn't have other jobs. And, man, that's a big organization compared to CrossFit. 570 people on their roster? I think so.
Starting point is 00:18:32 Can you look that up, Will? Or just tell me to fuck off and I can look it up. Go ahead, Ryan. Well, I don't think you have to speak louder for Will to hear you, first of all. Oh, sorry. will to hear you first of all sorry and second i think that that might be like a number of people who are you know making x salary annually because of it but i think there's a like maybe another 100 or 200 that are doing it full time but it's kind of like they're just waiting to for the breakthrough financially and they have a fixed window of which to wait or to try for sure are you how do you do
Starting point is 00:19:08 you have a day job jake yeah i work full-time for hwpo and is it just you and matt who do hwpo uh no there's a bigger team but as far as the programming side goes yeah it's me and matt and then we have a couple of others sammy is a huge part of the company um and then we have like a photographer and then a couple other people that we hire out to what's the photographer's name eric castano oh yeah is he new new to photography or new to hwpo new to hwpo uh no we've been with him since the games i was gonna say it feels like it's been at least four or five months yeah he's good incredible work he's really good yeah he's really good i agree he's good jake do you do some of the media stuff too uh no i don't i
Starting point is 00:19:59 are you asking because of my instagram there There's some of my photos up there. No, I just remember that I feel like they've just been cycling through videographers in the offseason. It feels to me like they haven't found one that's stuck. No, so it's been mostly Eric. Oh, he does the video too. Okay. He does a lot of the video. When we go to – so at the games, Vakey was with us.
Starting point is 00:20:28 He did a majority of all the video there. And then when we go to different events, there are just times where we bring in people who are available to help out. Like in Austin, we had a guy who was local to Austin who helped us out the whole time. Yeah. Oh, what was the guy's name you said who helped at the games? That's the old dude from Africa, right? He's from Australia. I don't know how old he is i don't know he's old and he's not from africa but his name is vicky yeah that's the guy i'm talking about that's the guy okay i'm clear
Starting point is 00:20:55 listen australia south africa it's like that's pretty different down there down there and what i mean he's not? How old do you think that guy is? That guy's 45 easy. I have no idea. He might be 40. Maybe. He's good too, by the way. Yeah, he crushes it.
Starting point is 00:21:14 Yeah. Is he a hard worker? He's everywhere. He has a different style. He does really good work. I find that a lot of the creatives in the crossfit space i mean that's mostly where i have experience uh are exceptionally hard workers like they are grinding uh just so you know everyone can eat a dick he's south african living in australia
Starting point is 00:21:36 thank you point seven thank you volts seven you definitely knew that you didn't get luckily bailed out on that one. Yeah. Oh, when you first deadlift, how much do you deadlift? Like, I remember the first time I deadlift, I deadlift like 95 pounds. And it was some guy in a global gym who taught me he was deadlifting. I'm like, can you teach me how to do that? Honestly, I feel like it depends on how old you are. The older you get, the more scared of deadlift.
Starting point is 00:22:02 Most people become. I'm terrified now. But I mean, when you were 14 and how old were you started deadlifting when you were 14 or 15 or 14 yeah okay only five six and did you do you remember how much the the weight the very first time you deadlifted was yeah i want to say the first time that i ever tried to put as much weight on the bar as i could it was like maybe 285 300 wow yeah It took me years to build up to 300. I didn't deadlift till I was like 34. I remember it took me a month to get to like 135 and I was so excited. Do you think that was because you were trying to,
Starting point is 00:22:35 I wasn't trying to do it like perfectly well for the record. Like there was no, there was not a lot of attention paid before. No, I was just weak. I was just weak. I could have never just pulled 185. What was your bench at 15? My bench was not great. At 15, it was 225.
Starting point is 00:22:56 Okay. What's your max bench ever? 305. It hasn't grown that much. I don't train it super frequently, though. I mean, in proportion to everything else that we do. Yeah. 305 still crazy. Do you like 305 Ryan? For bench press?
Starting point is 00:23:12 Yeah, man. I'm so bad at bench press. Yes. 305 would be amazing. I got to grab my charger real quick. I'll ask you the question anyway, while you're gone. Jake, what kind of cream rest do you use well um do you are you how do you are you do you want to go to the you have games aspirations or are you pivoting to being um part of the hwpo uh conglomerate are you is that it like how it seems like a lot to be working for someone like matt who i know will expect a lot out of you and being a games athlete we've had a couple people on the show who want who work who've tried to help with the show who want to be games athletes and it's not it's not they can't even they can't even hang in the show yeah um i've always done something else as i've been training and so
Starting point is 00:24:06 i do have games aspirations i want to make it for sure um i've talked pretty openly about this whether or not i want to make it and make it like a career that's not the focus or the goal at the moment the goal is just to make it and to be completely truthful i compete because i like to train so much which i feel like is a lot of is a case for a lot of athletes i think there are more and more athletes coming into the space that compete because they want to be athletes and compete um but i've just always really loved to train and so i'm going to train so much i might as well go compete yeah i kind of get that. I think that's how it would be for me too.
Starting point is 00:24:47 I think there's a lot of people like in the jiu-jitsu space. It's kind of more just a place to face your fear or use all the hard work you put in. Yeah, so I mean I fell in love with the gym early because I realized this in hindsight, but this is why I really enjoyed it. It was like – Hot chicks. No, I trained in my basement with this is why I really enjoyed it. It was like hot chicks. No, I trained in my basement with a bunch of dudes.
Starting point is 00:25:09 All right. Hot dudes. Sorry. Yeah. Hot dudes. Physically, we were sweating a lot because the room was not that big. It was a good spot to learn a lot of lessons in life that like you could mess up and really there was no consequence, right? The gym is a really good lessons in life that like you could mess up and really there was no consequence
Starting point is 00:25:25 right there's the gym is a really good analog to life especially if you're using it in a way where you're consciously trying to get better at things and you're you're putting an effort on specific things that like you have decided that you want to get better at you learn a lot of life's lessons along the way there without having to learn them out in the real world so we got a lot of that experience i say we me and all the guys that i trained with when i was really young were really good buddies in my area and they were buddies that like we otherwise probably wouldn't have really been doing anything so it gave us a space to do something productive with our time and it gave us a space to like really grow together as a group and so i still talk to a lot of those guys and all of them are still into fitness and
Starting point is 00:26:12 it's probably the primary hobby that they have um so early on i just saw that it was a really productive thing to do and fell in love with with the actual aspect of chasing numbers and trying to get better at stuff but but also with the people. So I've coached at full range for the last six years. And as far as like getting your push breath better, I don't know how much I care about that, but if I can give you a really good hour of your day and we can have some type of productive conversation where you leave feeling better than when you came
Starting point is 00:26:40 in, like, that's what I really like about fitness. I wonder why you haven't opened your own gym and and i'm and i think it's more than just what you're saying maybe and um because you went all the way to dubai to compete you know what i mean like if you were just doing local competitions be like yeah but there's maybe i think maybe it is more serious than what you're alluding to uh maybe i didn't make it sound serious. Like when I compete, I compete to do well and I enjoy competing for sure. It's just not the primary function of my life.
Starting point is 00:27:16 Right, right. And what would you get rid of if it was your primary function? Would you get rid of like, you have a girlfriend, right? Yeah. Would you keep her yeah do you live at home or do you live at home with your parents no i moved so my parents are in connecticut i'm in rhode island and i moved out after high school and never lived back at home wow just so people know i love my parents but yeah you and your mom you and your mom are crazy close right yeah my mom and i are really close so my dad and i but
Starting point is 00:27:53 you have siblings i do 40 and 50 year old brothers oh shit old dudes like me. Oh my gosh. Yeah. 40 or 50. My dad's 74. Are you an accident? When I moved out, he was like, Hey, uh, I love you, but you're never living here again.
Starting point is 00:28:15 Oh shit. Wow. So are you an accident? No. So, uh, different mom. They're half brothers.
Starting point is 00:28:27 Okay. Okay. And how old's your mom? 64. Oh, so your dad went for a younger woman. Yeah. Yeah. Good dude.
Starting point is 00:28:36 Smart dude. Not smart dude. When he was 18. He what? Had his first kid when he was 18. Yeah, that's nuts. So I'm looking at this map here. These are basically neighboring states.
Starting point is 00:28:48 I mean, how is Rhode Island even a state? Yeah. So see where it says Harper there? Oh, yeah. Right in the middle. Yeah. Right in the middle. I'm a little bit above that.
Starting point is 00:28:59 Bradley Airport. Okay. Windsor Locks. And Fraser lives like up here somewhere like even like how far he's like north way north oh no he's just a little north of you no no burlington see where that black dot is in the lake in vermont where compared to montpelier oh yeah yeah yeah i see that's where he lives yeah i'm going there Oh, and how long will the drive be? Four hours.
Starting point is 00:29:28 Oh, it's not bad. No. How often do you go up there these days? I've been going once or twice a month recently. What's the main purpose or function of those trips? It's different every time. Sometimes we're doing programming. Sometimes there's an athlete in town that we're we're training with and and doing stuff with whether it be building content or
Starting point is 00:29:50 like they're just there to hang out um but it's different are you super are you super excited to go up there like are you like oh i'm gonna go up there it's gonna be awesome there's a great gym up there matt's gonna be up there i'm gonna see sammy oh we're gonna make some like are you like, Oh, I'm going to go up there. It's going to be awesome. There's a great gym up there. Matt's going to be up there. I'm going to see Sammy or we're going to make some, like, are you pumped? Like, yeah. Yeah. Is the thing you would look forward to the most of the food? Yeah. I mean, I really enjoy Sammy's cooking, so it's, it's nice to go up there. I like to cook a lot too. So I eat well when I'm home as well,
Starting point is 00:30:23 but Sammy puts a little extra love into her food have you ever said to her sammy i got this one uh yeah i've helped her out she's open to that yeah she loves helping she doesn't give you the side i like i don't know about this i've seen matt cook i don't know if i trust guys in the kitchen no no no yeah she loves helping the kitchen nice how tell me how you met matt uh through sammy so sammy worked at full range years ago uh and when i was kind of coming into four and she was heading out and i had taken over her classes and so we just kind of became friends through the gym and that was right around the same time that she had started dating matt and so she would bring him to the gym to
Starting point is 00:31:05 train or just like i remember he came and watched an open workout one time and so our circle of friends are like so sammy myself you guys know cooper cooper was at full range um we all just i always think if cooper's a west coast dude. Cooper's an East Coast dude? Cooper is an East Coast dude through and through. Okay. Yeah. Maybe we should get him on here, Savant. I've thought about it. I think at one point he was scheduled to come on and something happened maybe.
Starting point is 00:31:36 We lived together for three years. No shit. Is he your agent? Yeah, and he's also one of my closest friends. What a small world. You were one of his first athletes, right? Yeah. Okay, but Matt's pretty guarded.
Starting point is 00:31:55 If you're just some dude who's at the gym who teaches classes there, how do you build a friendship with him? Do you play hard to get? Do you make the first move? How does that work work wouldn't you say that's accurate he's pretty guarded matt i think you think that he's pretty guarded you just got to talk to him oh i also think that people often try to talk to and this goes not just for matt but goes for anybody with any type of notoriety they try to talk to him at the wrong time i also never was like he's gonna be my friend like we just we were in the same room training and so like any other
Starting point is 00:32:32 human being we would just chat and through that have become friends we realized that we had a lot of similarities and we like enjoyed a lot of the same things. And so we just became buddies. Is it, um, I'm, I'm kind of curious about just your history of programming or like, you know, you know, for, for him, it's like, I can get it. He, he trained under Bergeron. He trained, you know, he did his own stuff. He worked out with some of the best athletes in the world for a while. Obviously you've had to have some experience, but like for you to be the guy that he's kind of consulting
Starting point is 00:33:08 with on programming or trusting with some of the programming is pretty big compliment. So how did that happen? Yeah. So that's a question more for him where he's at with that. But my own experience with programming is so when I started getting really into working out and started competing in powerlifting, the internet was a little smaller. And so I don't know if you guys know the brand Elite FTS. Sounds familiar. They're an equipment company. They're similar to Rogue, but they operate far more in the powerlifting space.
Starting point is 00:33:40 Like that is their niche. They had a Q&A forum that was really active with all of the best power lifters in the world like i'm talking the absolute best power lifters that were competing at the time you could go in there and ask them any questions that you wanted and they would respond because it was just smaller right like the internet was a little bit smaller you could talk to whoever you wanted like these guys weren't making a lot of money and didn't have a ton of followers so they were really open with the knowledge i had so i spent a lot of time there i spent a lot of time reading book sets so jim wendler like everybody knows 531
Starting point is 00:34:13 had all of his ebooks chad wesley smith are you guys familiar with uh juggernaut strength training yes he's one of that's for all power lifters in recent time. And we use the Facebook message back and forth. I was an annoying 14, 15 year old that would just pepper him with questions, but he would answer all the time. Um, and so I got a lot of mentorship through that online and I had a power lifting coach pretty early. His name is Clint Darden. He was also a big, uh, early his name is clint darden he was also a big uh elite fts guy and a really good power lifter and so i had a lot of mentorship there and learned the basic tenets of programming and then when i moved to full range adam adam alano and his wife alicia owned four inch together and he started coaching me and he's not like a big name in the space. I was his only athlete that competed, but he was really legit and really good.
Starting point is 00:35:08 And so I learned a lot through him as well. I want to show you this rig that they got. Do you do lap pull downs? Not super frequently, but if there's a lap pull down machine, I will. I want that. Yeah, it's pretty sweet. I haven't done lap pulldowns in years. That used to be just the go-to. Now I just do pull-ups. I turn into a CrossFitter.
Starting point is 00:35:31 It's all fucked up. Lap pulldowns are underrated. Machines are underrated, in my opinion. Yeah, I miss it. I enjoy it. I don't know if it's good or bad for you. I just really, really enjoy a hotel room, a hotel gym. Jake, how would you feel about this?
Starting point is 00:35:45 Like you could become over dependent on machines, but if you are training for like functionality in general, it is a way to supplement some of what we would consider CrossFit training that's a little bit less stressful on the body. Yeah, I think 100%. I think that we look at, I say we, the CrossFit community, we look at what we do and we stamp functional on it as though it directly correlates to picking up our groceries. And
Starting point is 00:36:11 there's some correlation for sure. Picking up a kettlebell is a little bit more akin to picking up your groceries, but being generally strong is functional in my opinion. So if you're using machines to do that, I think that's fine. Especially if you're using machines to do that i think that's fine especially if you're using them for bodybuilding and accessory work is um there was is mallory o'brien part of the hard hwpo now that's a good question for her you don't answer i asked hopper the same thing and he wouldn't answer that question you guys don't answer that question you should have her't answer that question. You should have her on. It's her personal business.
Starting point is 00:36:47 Yeah. You should have her on. Let me ask you. Say that again. I think she'd give you an answer. You should have her on. Sousa, will you DM her right away and beg her to come on, please? Thank you.
Starting point is 00:36:59 I mean, we've been asking her for like eight months. I think you're right. I think we haven't. Beg her again. Beg her again. Beg her again. She may even have me blocked. Don't worry. Can anyone can sign up for the HWPO training?
Starting point is 00:37:19 Yeah. The pro is closed. The pro closed right after we opened. And how many people are in the Pro? Can you tell us? I think a couple hundred. And is Mallory O'Brien one of them? I don't know. You'll have to ask her what she does for programming. And why is the Pro closed? Just because you can only offer so many people the detailed service that you're offering there?
Starting point is 00:37:48 No. So pro closed because it follows the season. So the other, if you went and signed up right now, you would sign up for flagship or 60 and you start on day one, cycle one. Right. So, and if Brian was already in it and he was on day 30, cycle two, you guys aren't going to wake up. Everybody starts on day one. With pro, day one was December 3rd or whichever day of the week that was.
Starting point is 00:38:17 But it was the beginning of December, and it follows the season. So it's written specifically for the CrossFit season. It's written as though you are somebody who's trying to either make it to the games, like you're for sure going to go to semifinals, and you're going to try to run at the games, or you're definitely going to the games. And so the way that it's written follows the season. Or you're just delusional.
Starting point is 00:38:39 Like someone delusional could sign up, like me, right? Like I'm not going either, but I could be like, I'm signing up, I'm doing it. You could, yeah. So there was no vetting process it wasn't like an application and you guys were like well yeah this guy did place this last year so yeah we'll let him in anyone who wanted to pay and was on time could do it uh pretty much but there was a a list of standards so it was the onus was on you to say right but that was on me if i looked at the list and i was like well i got I got half those, whatever.
Starting point is 00:39:06 Yeah, you could have signed up. Like you would say like, hey, to get the most out of this program, you should already be proficient at the deadlift, have a six minute mile, like shit like that. Yeah. Okay, gotcha. And when does that start again?
Starting point is 00:39:19 When does that open up again? December 3rd of next year? Yep. Wow, that's fucking awesome. That's really cool. Is there, are there any other programs that do that? Not that I know of. I'm sure there might be, but not that I know of. Man, that is awesome. Um, do you feel crazy pressure programming for all these people who are headed all? I mean, it's a mix of men and women, I assume, right?
Starting point is 00:39:43 it's a mix of men and women, I assume, right? Yep. Um, do you feel any like, uh, yeah. Do you feel pressure? Just all, you're managing this whole herd of bulls? No, because if I write a workout and I look at it and go, well, well, one Matt and I together are looking at the workouts and deciding whether or not they're good. So if I pitch it to Matt and he's like, yeah, it's terrible, then it doesn't get put in. So there's no stress on me to be the one making that decision, one. And two, if I am writing something, the odds are I would do it myself and I trust myself.
Starting point is 00:40:25 It's a program for me and like i'm writing the we are writing the program in a way that it's written for guys like me and girls like me so if it would work for me it'd probably work for most of the people and you're doing it you're doing the pro programming i don't mean like writing it i mean actually doing it yeah dude you is your life just awesome right now yeah it's pretty hectic. It's funny. People used to be like, I'm so busy. No, you're not. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:40:49 I'm pretty busy. Yeah, I'm pretty busy. And is your girlfriend cool with all this? Is she happy for you? Or is she like, dude, how about some time? No, she's cool. She's also super busy. I'm sure if that woman did nothing then yes but she doesn't so how much um how much longer do you see the end of the road for your career i know you're only 24 and you're young
Starting point is 00:41:16 but do you see like okay this other thing is going to become like just overwhelm me sooner or later for myself competing in crossfit yeah i'll stop when i stop having fun with it okay and you're nowhere near that it seems like no when it stops being fun i'll be done you um if shit like this keeps happening you're just going to keep getting reinvigorated well right yeah so i mean i mean literally it's like you get a brand new car and then you got a lift kit on it and then you get tires on it. I mean, you are on kind of like something from the outside. It looks like you're on the perfect trajectory for a CrossFit life. You started young. You have loving parents. You get you. You're a good athlete. You get hooked up with Matt Fraser. Then your business with Matt Fraser.
Starting point is 00:42:04 Then you're now 24 encroaching on making it to the Fraser. Then you're in business with Matt Fraser. Then you're now 24 encroaching on making it to the games. You're friends with Matt O'Keefe. And then fucking you're on the Sevan podcast. It's like holy shit, where can you go from here? I like that little cherry on top of the Sevan podcast. This is the pinnacle. That's what he's trying to say.
Starting point is 00:42:20 It's just crazy. It's like, it's just crazy. It's like the, it's cool. It's just crazy. It's like, it's like, it's just crazy. It's like the, it's cool. It's fucking unbelievably cool. to actually make money like how am i going to how am i going to in five years be a lot further along than i am right now um and then covid kind of happened we got a break from the gym i got reinvigorated because i got some time away i was working full-time at the gym training full-time um got some time away and then came back and decided that i was just gonna compete again this year and see what happened and then yeah, yeah, things kind of fell into place. Matt retired. I told him that I wanted to do his program and then he asked me to test it. And then through that,
Starting point is 00:43:13 we developed a relationship where he asked me to start helping him with programming and work for him. And yeah. So to look back now, two years ago, I was was going to be done with a CrossFit life, as you put it. It's interesting you say that because a lot of times I look at people like you who've been in the sport for six to eight years, maybe four to eight years. And I kind of look like what I'm really looking at is what is their competition history? And when I look at your competition history, I think that especially for someone who's as young as you are, it's a very responsible competition history. You're not doing five sanctionals a year, even in 18 and 19, when you were pursuing, you were still like motivated to try to get to the games before you had that little setback. Obviously you're back there now. And it's everything that you keep saying is just like, it seems incredibly mature for
Starting point is 00:44:07 your age, the decisions that you're making, the way that you answer or don't answer questions, these types of things. Is that true about like, like, why'd you only do one sanctional year? And where do you and how come you have such a mature perspective on some of these things at such a young age? I think there's a few things going on there. One, I attribute a lot of my thought process in life period to the fact that I had older parents. They were really, really level-headed and they balanced each other super well.
Starting point is 00:44:38 My mom was very soft and she wasn't on things that she shouldn't have been, but she was very nurturing, very caring. This episode is brought to you by PC Optimum. If you like a curated playlist, why not try a curated grocery list? With Swap and Save, the new feature in the PC Optimum app, you'll get PC Optimum's best price for your grocery items. Simply add products to your shopping list in the app, and it'll show you similar items at a lower cost. Add coffee to your list, then swap it for one that's cheaper. Craving chips? The app will suggest some on sale.
Starting point is 00:45:10 To get started, just open the app. It's as easy as that. See the PC Optimum app for details. And my dad was really hard. And not hard in the traditional sense. I guess he was a little bit, but not unreasonably hard. He didn't use the buckle end of the belt. He just used the leather end. Just the leather. It was more his hands. But yeah, no, he had a lot of really good ideas on life and like hard opinions on things. Yeah, there he is. That's a pretty good picture of who it is that he is. So I had some really good parents, fortunately.
Starting point is 00:45:56 And then as I competed or as I started competing in CrossFit, like I said, I got a lot of my training background from powerlifting. And Chad Wesley Smith specifically, I remember reading one of his articles and he was talking about not getting hyped up for every single lift you did as a 15, 16 year old high schooler who's taken like crazy amounts of pre-workout that boggled my mind. It's like, why would you not do that? But he explains that if you do that all the time, then you've got no extra gear for game day. And so I kind of took that to competing in CrossFit. That's the three of us getting our christmas tree
Starting point is 00:46:25 you have a you have a pretty uh um you you come across as having equanimity you have a pretty slow cadence to your speaking yeah you that you explained that well that was a great question brian asked you explain that well you're you were raised by old people so you're chill as fuck yeah i guess i guess that's the old people talk so you're chill as fuck. Yeah, I guess that's the – Old people talk slower. They got their anger under control a little more. They're like in an earthquake, an old person just kind of looks around the room. A fucking 16-year-old fucking jumps out of bed and goes running outside.
Starting point is 00:46:59 They're just chill. Yeah, they are chill. They're very chill. The situation with your dad in particular is fairly unique. Like not only do he'd already taken your siblings through like the total course of their childhood. And then so he was doing it like literally for a second time already with the experience of doing it the first time. And so many, you know, you talk to almost any parent and there's, I'm just figuring this out as I go. He'd already done it all, had a chance to reflect on it even for a decade or something like that.
Starting point is 00:47:29 And then you come along. Yeah, no. And my brothers and I, we talk about that a lot. Like all, each of our experiences with our dad was very different because he was in a really different stage of his life. So when he had my first brother, he was 18 and it was like everything was about just trying to set them up for success, like his family and himself. Right. He's my age. Yeah, it's crazy. And then when my other brother came along, he was pretty established. And so things were about balancing work and fun.
Starting point is 00:48:01 So my middle brother, Jason, who I'm the the closest with it's like a staunch skier skiing is is his number one thing because it's what my dad and him did together and then by the time i came along my dad was in a new phase of kind of his career that he's a carpenter uh and so he was working a lot and so for me I think about my dad and think about work. Oh. Yeah. Yeah, so we all have pretty different – Were you spoiled? Were you spoiled?
Starting point is 00:48:32 No. Growing up, no. Yeah, like by the time the last kid comes along, I figure just the parents are like, fuck it. Do whatever you want. Well, my mom's first, so. Oh, right, right, right. Yeah. Right.
Starting point is 00:48:44 And then being an only kid though can be a little weird too you know because you don't get that um that benign neglect you know what i mean you have someone like you like she can give you all her attention she certainly does she's like pretty doting yeah yeah it's kind of a it's kind of a running joke. Have you ever seen, have you seen Seinfeld? I have. Are you like pretty familiar with it? No.
Starting point is 00:49:11 So Jerry's mom is always like, who wouldn't like you? Who? That episode is a classic. He didn't like you. What do you mean? He doesn't like you. How could anyone not like you?
Starting point is 00:49:22 And it's just like, believe it or not, not everyone likes me. Yeah. That, that that is is my parents my mom yeah that i always get concerned if my mom tells me i look nice i'm like that's not a good sign that's that's so jake jake after this past season like you know, 2020 was kind of weird. 2021, you actually had a chance to like go through the season up to the semifinals. You did okay there. I would say 12th place is very respectable. You had a good quarterfinal performance.
Starting point is 00:49:54 You obviously had a couple of, maybe not everyone knows. You had a couple of really good workouts at the semifinal and a couple of really low workouts, like bottom five workouts. So what's that like what's the mindset for you first of all do you like the season format are you happy that it's unchanged for the most part this year at least for individuals and what's the mindset you're carrying into this season like as an individual personally as an athlete yeah no i do like the the season format the open quarterfinals deal i feel, is a little bit of a pain.
Starting point is 00:50:31 We talked to one other athlete who said that they wish there wasn't the week in between. It was just the three weeks, the top 10% advance, and then there's two more weeks after that. Yeah, I mean, quarterfinals is just a weekend, right? They could have just done it right after and make it four weeks straight through. You have to figure anyone who's making it to the quarterfinals is going to be okay with that. And then it's less invasive or in, or of an interruption into whatever training they're doing leading into semifinals.
Starting point is 00:50:57 I think they lose the fans during all of that. I just tune out after the open. I just tune out and then I, and then there's the semifinals. I think the fans all just tune out after the open. just tune out and then i and then there's the semi-finals i think the fans all just tune out after the open yeah i mean there's not a lot of incentive for quarterfinals there's also not a lot of incentive for the open if you know you're going to quarterfinals right i mean yeah i i feel like what do you mean by that how would you know you're going to the corner
Starting point is 00:51:22 finals before you do the open well seven let me just put this in perspective. I made the quarterfinals last year. Jake is not worried about making the quarterfinals. Oh, okay. Okay. Right. Like, yeah, if you know you're going to the quarterfinals to compete for a spot at semifinals, you're not very worried about making quarterfinals.
Starting point is 00:51:40 Okay. I'd put that backwards. If you think that you're competing for a semifinal spot, then making the quarterfinals is an afterthought right yeah that's a that's a good way to put it and then even quarterfinals like if you know you're competing for potentially a top five spot at semifinals the quarterfinals is also another step that is not as big a deal now that being said being said, anything could happen, right? They could throw out some crazy workouts that don't allow some really good athletes to qualify.
Starting point is 00:52:11 But for the most part, under normal circumstances, that's the case. How many workouts are the quarterfinals? There were five, right, Brian? I think there were five, yeah, and then there were four at the last chance qualifier. Sometimes I get those confused. But I think they could five, yeah, and then there were four at the last chance qualifier. Sometimes I get those confused. But I think they could make that transition from open to quarterfinals a little bit more exciting and better for the elite athletes.
Starting point is 00:52:33 What I think could be cool is if you have the three-week open and then the fourth week of what would be the open is the quarterfinals, like I said, the volume is not going to be an issue. Elite athletes don't need that two week period in between if anything i think that they might have that there that buffer there for video review but they need to tighten up that process in general so that it's not you know this this big delay then they can make it exciting like going into the last week of the open they could have some kind of a show that says right now this is the cutoff for north american men north american men north american
Starting point is 00:53:05 women european men european women to get into quarterfinals if you're close to that bubble right now this is the type of thing you're gonna have to do and then they could boom next week they could say oh quarterfinals are coming here's where the cutoff line is and then just feeds right into it the story tells itself yeah yeah i agree with you um Beyond little things like that, though, I don't mind the open quarterfinals, semifinals game structure. I like it. Where do you do the quarterfinals at? That's just everyone does that shit in their own gym and you have to film it and submit it.
Starting point is 00:53:35 That's the whole thing. Yeah, last year I flew to Vegas to do them. Who did you do them with there? With Danielle Brandon and Carrie Pearson? Yeah, the underdogs crew. And why did you do that? there with Danielle and Carrie Pearson? Yeah. The underdogs crew. And why did you do that? Cause Cooper was going out there. And so, Oh, I just enjoy doing like qualify.
Starting point is 00:53:52 Coop comes to any competition that I do. So he'll be a lot of. And that's where I started the rumor. I think that's why I started the rumor that you were dating Danielle Brandon. Yes. I saw, I think I saw you there with her. And then I saw you on a boat with her and then i saw you on a boat with her her on a on a yeah on a on a raft oh my jake are you the one that justin just tossed off the raft like a rag doll yeah yeah i am how was that i would say the camera caught a vulnerable moment yeah like that but yeah no he tossed he was a wrestler like just prior to that you were
Starting point is 00:54:32 taking his virginity and then all of a sudden he bucked you off if that's a way to put it but uh no i'm pretty sure he he won the wrestling match out of everybody but him and tola were legitimate wrestlers like very very good wrestlers. Very, very good wrestlers. So was Colton Mertens. I know you don't respect Colton. I have no shame. I don't know. You're pitching us against each other. I met Colton maybe
Starting point is 00:54:55 twice. They were both at Granite Games last year. I've never met Colton. Do you know the... I apologize for pitching you against him. That's not what I meant. I just meant to be funny. That was not cool.
Starting point is 00:55:10 Strike that from the record. Colton, Jake loves you. Do you know the – what is it? Is it called rodeo? The sexual position rodeo? Sexual activity rodeo? the sexual position rodeo, sexual activity rodeo.
Starting point is 00:55:28 It's when you're having sex with your girlfriend or wife or significant other doggy style. And then you yell out like her sister's name. And then you try to stay in her for another seven seconds. You never, you never heard that, that one. It just made me think of it when we were, when I was just picturing you and,
Starting point is 00:55:41 um, yeah, wrestling. Yeah. Oh yeah. Yeah. actually eight of the eight of the top 12 guys from granite games are competing at guadalupalooza this year eight out of the top 12 guys at granite games are competing at guadalupalooza and you were 12th so that's seven guys you got to hunt down here in miami if it weren't for those those bottom five finishes
Starting point is 00:56:08 hunt down here in miami if it weren't for those those bottom five finishes um well that that what do you think about that that group of dudes at wadapalooza i mean you're i would figure all you guys are stoked i mean it's significantly more um impressive than the women's women's class i mean the men the men are going to steal the show right there and you get to prove yourself no am i am i not accurate on that no for sure i i don't i again haven't looked at the men's or the women's field so i don't know what they look like compared well you can pull up the wadapalooza confirmed list if you want i don't think he will can so you don't really care who you don't really care who the competition is is that is what i'm getting like you have to focus on you and and you yeah i mean especially for this one i no i don't care it is a it is a it is a i think it's a good field
Starting point is 00:56:53 of men i think it's a great opportunity for the guys that are competing there as a little like pre-season check-in how's the body going especially for someone like you and there's a lot of guys like you that made it to the semi-finals and we're five to 10 spots away from making it to the games that haven't done any off season competitions yet or any big ones. This is like, okay, it's been seven, eight months.
Starting point is 00:57:12 I've been working hard. I want to see how I feel. I want to see, even though there's guys that did go to the games that did compete at rogue. So maybe they haven't had a full training cycle. Like I've had, where, where do I stack up at this point?
Starting point is 00:57:24 And how's my train? Like, it can be a good, a good, like, I guess that's it. haven't had a full training cycle like i've had where where do i stack up at this point and uh how's my train like it can be a good a good like i guess that's it check in prior to the season yeah no that's exactly what i'm using it for this dude it's a it's crazy alex vigno ricky garrard tim paulson cole sager dude this is a nut dallin pepperin Pepper, Phil Toon, Spencer, Spencer and Saxon, Velner, Jake Marconi. It's a, man, it's a, did I say Jason Hopper's in there? Do you see Jason a lot? Do you talk to Jason a lot? We talk every single day.
Starting point is 00:57:57 You do? Okay. And does he get something more than, is he a HWPO athlete? Yeah. And is he, so he gets something more than just the pro he's like yeah it's completely personalized to him okay and do you have any other athletes besides jason no he's just the one right now wow interesting and do other people have other people approach you wanting that we i don't think we're like super approachable in that sense we don't put out a vibe like you can come to us and ask um so no we haven't had a lot of that certainly athletes asking for guidance for sure right right what's the relationship between hwpo and and justin madera's like i know he's up there
Starting point is 00:58:47 with you guys a bit yeah i think it's just a friendship him and matt are buddies they drink podium together on on saturday nights yeah yeah they rip shots of pre-workout yeah how do you how do you bet shots of pre- pretty great how do you balance the fact that you want to make it to the games with the fact that you're coaching a guy who's already been to the games uh so i'm surprised it took you this long to ask this question uh we have we've had a decent amount of conversations about this so when jason first came on that was one of the stipulations is i was i told you i told him i was willing to be his kind of everyday coach so matt guides his programming for the most part and i talked to
Starting point is 00:59:32 jason day to day and jason and i have become really good buddies now but uh yeah i am in a coaching role with him and so when he came on i told him that i was still trying to make the games this year and that I was willing to coach and be as helpful as I can to him as long as he was okay with that. And I asked him if he was okay with that. And I told him that I wouldn't be offended if he wasn't because that was a unique situation. And he was okay with it. And I think that the more that we've trained together and spent time together the more okay with it he is and we both are kind of we're excited to compete against each other at wata kooza and have some fun with that i don't understand the question and i apologize because you're like uh what give me an example of what conflict there could be what are you saying like
Starting point is 01:00:22 uh brian like that that there could like jake's not going to give it his best to help jason because he's his student or what are the implications there you're asking me to clarify that yeah like i don't like is that what you're saying i mean i've always thought it was i've always thought it was you know kind of kind of interesting when they were you know originally, originally when I thought of, when I thought of CrossFit, I think when Glassman thought of CrossFit games as a, as a potential thing, he's like, man, these guys are all training all over the world. I know there's some guys doing the CrossFit.com program. And I know there's a ton of other guys who think they're the best guy on earth. They're doing their own thing. Let's bring them all to one place and find
Starting point is 01:00:59 out. And obviously that's evolved over time. And think the first kind of uh instances of this were rich froning with the different guys that kind of came through and trained with him they might not say he was their coach they might say he's a training partner but really they were doing his programming you know anyone who's been to cookfield knows he walks in he writes on the board you do it and you go and so is easy muhammad and dan bailey and these guys just cycling through that were his also they were trying to beat him they were trying to beat him. They were trying to catch him. But I mean, did they ever really think they were going to beat him when he was beating him every day in training? I don't know. But did they think that maybe they could get to their highest potential by training against him,
Starting point is 01:01:36 even if they never thought they could beat him? And so this has taken a totally different shape now, of course, with the evolution of training camps and the way people coach an athlete. But it's very unusual to have someone say, yeah, my coach is Jake Marconi. And then the next week be on the competition floor saying like, shit, that's my coach in the lane next to me. Before you answer that, Jake, I want to ask you guys, I want to throw in one more thing. Is that the same thing as like Shane or training both Tia and Brooke Wells? There's some sort of conflict there? Or that Shane wouldn't see them as equals and he'd be kind of manipulating Brooke to be Tia's training partner? I still don't get it. Wouldn't Jason...
Starting point is 01:02:20 I don't get how... I think that with Tia and Brooke, their coach is Shane, right? Right. Tia's not coaching Brooke and vice versa. I can see how from the outside, it looks like there could be some temptation to not give it your best,
Starting point is 01:02:40 but it would be really hard not to. It would take somebody who like you'd have to be coaching somebody who doesn't have a lot of wherewithal to really mess them up right because if you try to give or if i try to give jason something really silly he would go that's dumb right like there's a there's a fail safe in that sense and then in the other it's just i was okay with it because in powerlifting a lot of the guys coach each other right yeah i wasn't expecting it to be something that was really an issue for you guys just kind of you know see where it's at because i you know you could certainly see someone
Starting point is 01:03:20 who is watching the competition and suddenly they hear a commentator say and uh you know this is a you know we got lanes five we got jason hopper in lane six we have jake marconi is actually jason's coach by the way and people would be like how does that work you know it's kind of a win-win for jake though right what's that it's a win-win for you yeah i mean i really enjoy it and like i mean if you lose and he wins it's like yeah i coach that motherfucker if you win and he loses you're like yeah i coach myself it's like it's like having chips on red and black yeah i guess so i mean now he's like a built-in really good training partner and we've become really good buddies yeah he's easy he's cool what was it like with him and danielle at uh
Starting point is 01:04:06 at um in miami because when we had him and danielle on the show there was man she she like really just she really just pokes him she's do you know what i mean by that loves poking him yeah does she do that to everyone or that's just jason just gets that i mean she was working him on the show that's working him dude he's just jason takes it well he takes it really well yeah especially from her but in miami it was just like that they had just met we all just met i didn't know well i had known danielle but i didn't know jason and so the three of us spent a lot of that trip together, mostly just poking each other. How would you describe Jason? His personality? He,
Starting point is 01:04:57 uh, one of the first, I hope he's all right with me telling the story. One of the first interactions we had is I made a joke to him. And like, with me telling the story one of the first interactions we had is i made a joke to him and like it was definitely a joke that i said and was not sure if it was gonna land or not and he just looked over at me and he goes we don't know each other well enough for you to say that oh wow oh shit that's awesome i can't see him saying that when I interact with him. He's just he's like a kid at heart. He's like a 10 year old. He loves fun. Being with him, hanging out with him. He like he'll look at things that you would just kind of pass by like and go, is that so cool? That's so cool. Let's go do that.
Starting point is 01:05:41 Yeah, that's the kid in them, right? cool let's go do that yeah that's the kid in them right i don't know if you saw the story this was it was on instagram a while ago keith had put it up of me and him and eric playing ninja it's like i saw it i thought we're supposed to be going to bed and matt and sammy had already gone to bed so we're trying to be quiet and jason is is tempting us to play ninja and he's doing like full do you know the game oh so you set up in a circle and you put your hands out and you try to slap each other's hands and so like once i slap your hand i've got to keep my hand where it's where it landed and then you try to slap my hand and if you hit my hand i have to take it out okay and so we're playing this at like 11 o'clock at night because jason really wanted to he's a
Starting point is 01:06:35 ton of fun to be around oh and he plays board games and shit too right yeah he loves board games he loves monopoly deal you know i've i told him a bunch of times when he posted about Monopoly Deal that I actually created a variation of Monopoly Deal that I think is far better than the original game. And he's never pursued that. Just shut it down. Send it to me. I'll send it to him. What's the photographer's Instagram? Eric, how come I can't find?
Starting point is 01:07:01 Eric Castano? Yeah, Eric Castanos. Oh, Eric, how come I can't find Eric? Costan Costano. Yeah. Eric Costano. Oh, cause I know. Oh, is this him? Is he a 5,000 followers? Oh yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And he's got that blurry picture. Oh yeah. Like as his, um, as his, uh, avatar avatar yeah look how um cool his dad looks oh man his dad is a legend yeah his dad is his dad looks like a movie star he does doesn't he yeah totally yeah he's good looking when i
Starting point is 01:07:43 looked at that that's how i picture like I'm going to look like in five years. You can only hope. You keep doing CrossFit. Yeah, I just keep dreaming. I'm doing more. I'm doing more. Oh, look, he's got a picture of Josh Bridges in here. Have you met Josh?
Starting point is 01:07:59 Yeah. Through Cooper? Oops. Yeah, we worked out at his house. Oh, my goodness. I'm going through all sorts of crazy shit. I can't be showing you guys this stuff. What's going on here?
Starting point is 01:08:11 Get me in trouble showing that last tab. Yeah, sorry, sorry, sorry. I apologize. Sorry, I apologize. That was all my secret research of the athletes leading into Guadalupalooza. Oh, my goodness. Hopefully someone screenshotted it they can just they can go back and just pause it they can just go back and pause thankfully i sent
Starting point is 01:08:30 seven all the uh mostly irrelevant information and not the actual important stuff and hey i think i had um anything you don't want to say don't send it to someone that's good advice i think um uh i had the names blocked out. You did. All right. I should have just clicked the tab that says Jew isn't a derogatory term. So you'll go to Wadapalooza and then what's next for you? Then it's just buckle down and just focus on all Steam, all focus on the games like that's it yeah so i'll go to wadapalooza and then i've got to handle a move in the two months in between that in the open or like the month in between that in the open i'm moving up to vermont oh shit yeah so i'm like moving moving like you'll
Starting point is 01:09:18 get rid of this place no this place i'm in i own so i'll rent it okay but you'll move up but you'll move all your shit out of there yes you're 24 and you own a place yeah wow how did you do that saved up that's crazy you and matt are like you guys both trained in a basement you guys both save you're both frugal with your money uh he would probably argue that I'm not frugal. It's a sliding scale. Actually, every time we're on a trip and we buy something, we like stuff. So when we're at the coffee shop, we'll just buy like little trinkets. We always feel really self-conscious.
Starting point is 01:10:00 We're like, what's Matt going to say when we get home? Daddy. So do you move into the property or do you just move in near him? No, I'm going to move into an apartment, hopefully in Burlington, like proper. So in the little downtown area of Burlington. And then so you'll be there. And is Eric there? Is Castanhos there?
Starting point is 01:10:21 I think he's going to do a lot of extended trips. Who else will be there besides you? That's it. Matt and Sammy. Is Mallory going up there? I don't know. I genuinely don't know. Gotta catch him slipping, Brian. Gotta catch him slipping. You're moving up there is kind of serious. It's like now taking, I mean, not that everything's not serious already,
Starting point is 01:10:50 but it's one more level into HWPO. For sure, yeah. We've been talking about it for a while, most of the summer, really. And it's just kind of taken until now logistically to make it happen. Have you worked on the barn at all no the the barn that matt has posted on his story a bunch of times yeah no i've been to it i've never worked on it um i've i watched that whole entire thing have you watched that whole entire thing it's like fucking a thousand little it's like little dots oh oh what is it like
Starting point is 01:11:25 a story highlight of his yeah yeah he's got it like saved and you can actually watch it it's nuts no i've never watched the whole thing yeah it's not it's not i'm trying to actually answer your question after the move or savon your question after the move yeah it's uh full steam ahead for the season and i've been doing a lot of traveling so like i've been a little bit in the washing machine of just kind of training in different spots and and not quite having my typical routine which has been great to be honest like as frustrating as it can be at times to not have your typical routine and training it has like broken a lot of habits and and forced me to change some things which is good um but it'll be nice to be settled in live in vermont full-time that'll eliminate a lot of the travel because a lot of the travel has been
Starting point is 01:12:16 to vermont which isn't that far but four hours in the middle of the week in a car is not my favorite activity so sounds horrible um being more settled in will allow for a bit more routine and training i know i'm nowhere near the uh the level of the the games athletes but i can tell you this this this fall i canceled all my trips just with all the craziness going on i didn't want to deal with it and so i've had the most like the least interruptions in my own training this past, since the games basically that I've ever had
Starting point is 01:12:50 in the last three or four years. And I'm getting way stronger, you know? Oh, yeah. And it's, and that's the thing that I need to work on. But I feel like that's,
Starting point is 01:13:01 that's a, like it's a personal lesson for me, but it's a good lesson. That's like, if you're watching athletes and you're trying to figure out who's going to be, who's that's a like it's a personal lesson for me but it's a good lesson that's like if you're watching athletes and you're trying to figure out who's going to be who's maybe has a chance to make a move make that jump in the year to come look at what they did for the last eight months especially people who are so close in the semifinals if you go and look and you see a guy
Starting point is 01:13:18 who's competed eight times since semifinals i don't think he's gonna do any better next year than he did the year before but if i look and i see a guy who did zero or one competitions and i know he's been working consistently and uh i'm much more likely to see that guy keep an eye on that guy this year yeah so you that brings it back around you asked that question earlier about why i only did uh like one competition a year and that was why why. Just because for a long time, my weakness was strength. Then it just takes uninterrupted training to get stronger. And so it didn't make sense to try to go around and compete a ton. I like how you said was.
Starting point is 01:14:02 Yeah. I mean, I'm certainly always working on but it has it has come along much further that seems like to me that would be like the hardest thing to get your head wrapped around um i mean strength i think that's the easiest thing to to get better at uh but what i mean get your head wrapped around i mean um when you hit a wall at least for me you think that you can't imagine ever get doing more like yeah i think like someone hits a 410 pound well someone hits a 400 pound deadlift and they're like and they're 17 years old and then when they're 25 they still have a 400 pound deadlift or it went down you know i mean it just seems like there's
Starting point is 01:14:42 a lot of that like people hit walls and they just can't i mean i've certainly had movements that that's happened to me in um but the nice thing is that the path is pretty clear to get past that like hitting a wall in say ring muscle-ups near max like 20 that's a little harder to pinpoint exactly what's happening that you need to get better at or hitting a wall on your, your Metcons. Like there's so many variables that it's a little more difficult to say, Hey, this is the thing I need to get better at. And that path is less clear. But when your back squat stalls out, there's a hundred ways that you can bust through a plateau and like continue to program and train around that. And even if your best does top out, right? So say you, say you hit four 50 and you can't go any higher than that.
Starting point is 01:15:34 You can still get way better in that range below it, right? Your technique can get better. You can get stronger at cycling. Like maybe you can't squat higher than four 50, but you can do four or five for way more reps than you were able to before. There's a lot of different variables in strength that you can continue to get better at. I would argue that's going to be more valuable in both competition setting and in real-life application. People are asking me all the time because i i have been getting stronger and people are paying attention and they're asking
Starting point is 01:16:09 well when's your next test max when you're going to max out next because obviously your new one or max is going to be higher i'm just not worried about that right like that'll come when it comes i want to move weight well and if i can move more like if i can move 185 well instead of 175 well I feel good about that yeah we talk a lot about the the goal in training is to move up your daily minimums right so like not your all-time maximums but your daily minimum what you could walk in the gym and hit any day on whatever a snatch or a clean and jerk or a back squat if that's higher like without testing your one rep you know that that's probably going to eventually be higher hey that's that's that's really cool i can remember like being able to do i don't know how many reps it was but when i was bench
Starting point is 01:16:56 pressing a lot like in high school or in college i remember i could i never was able to do 225 but my 135 would be like 27 reps and when i first tested it like it was like 12 reps right and even though my max never got better like my 135 was crazy and i was just beating dudes who could bench you know over 300 pounds with my 135 max and i never fucking understood that that's really cool to hear you say that that makes me feel better about myself a lot and like look at the leaderboard oh that's awesome that is awesome i do move a lot of people that's kind of the thing here in providence all of our friends ask me and another buddy to move them will did you make that wow that's well that is the best that's the highlight of the uh podcast right there
Starting point is 01:17:40 seriously that is so good thank you so glad i glad I could help. Yes, thank you. You see that a lot. If you look at the leaderboard for take the CrossFit Open event, every year there's a strength event. There's a strength event. Never do the dudes with the highest one rep max win that event. Ever. Well, it depends. Only in 2015, 18.
Starting point is 01:18:00 Oh, well, it depends only in 2015, eight, 18. Yeah. Where they, they had like the one rep after the Metcon. Yes.
Starting point is 01:18:10 But if it's any type of, Oh no, no. Like when you have to earn the snatches, earn the clean and jerks, but there's a little bit of gymnastics or aerobic movements built in. Yeah. Yeah.
Starting point is 01:18:20 They don't win it. The strongest guy doesn't win it. No, no, no. That's like, those are the workouts that the fittest will win. Yeah. Yeah.'t win it. The strongest guy doesn't win it. No, no, no. That's like, those are the workouts that the fittest will win. Yeah.
Starting point is 01:18:27 Yeah. That's awesome. And it's, it's different, a little bit different sometimes for the women, because Tia is also so strong and so fit. Yeah. I think so different than the men's field.
Starting point is 01:18:41 Yeah. Jay, I have one final question. Do you you and then i'll let you say what you're gonna say brian and then i'm done uh what do you think about what would you tell someone who wants to be a crossfit games athlete like is that is that a is that just like anyone should try to do that i asked ben berger on the same thing should no okay good because i feel that way too that not just everyone should be doing it to try to be an athlete what advice do you have for someone if they're let's say a 16 year old boy wants to be a crossfit games athlete uh this is
Starting point is 01:19:15 tough i don't know i would it's hard right it is hard because they're really hard there almost needs to be more context right like because there are some people that you would look at and be like, you're not going to be. And I think that there's a camp of people out there that are like, no, anybody can be anything. It's like, sure. But that five foot four dude is probably not going to play in the NBA. Like maybe, you know, like maybe you telling him that he's not going to is going to make him like go on this resent-fueled journey
Starting point is 01:19:51 where he's going to Rudy his way into the NBA. But for the most part, they're not. And I don't think the CrossFit games are necessarily different in that case. Like if you're 16,
Starting point is 01:20:04 I think it's too young to tell i would tell them to train strength and conditioning for the next five years until they're 21 and not compete that often and then once they're in their 20s start competing and you'll find out pretty quickly if you're going to have the ability to become a games athlete or not i think that crossfit is unique in that you have to be able to blend this this combination of strength and ability to to uh do these conditioning workouts that are pretty absurd for even like elite athletes on either end of the spectrum,
Starting point is 01:20:47 whether they be endurance or sprint or strength or whatever to have that full package. I think that there's a physiological component that you're born with or you're not. How about a mental issue? How about like a pathology? Like you have to have something like that you're servicing some issue. The example I'll give is with is with Fraser of him selling that saying that every morning he'd wake up and sell a soul to the fucking assault bike. Like, I never do that. I'm terrified of that. That that vomitous feel like I never do that.
Starting point is 01:21:20 Yeah, sure. But what else? What other things in in your life you were you spent some time homeless right yeah totally different what i mean by that is like it's not like you you put yourself into some level of discomfort right but but but i mean specifically around crossfit um it's not just that you have to be strong you have to be willing to go to this really fucked up place on the reg. Yeah. I think that there are a couple of things there. Like one, people might,
Starting point is 01:21:52 that place never gets comfortable, right? Never. No, it's not so bad anymore. You can get familiar with it, but it's always pretty uncomfortable. And it also really depends on like how conditioned you are to that feeling right like you can train yourself to
Starting point is 01:22:06 be more okay with that feeling you can also will yourself to go there i think in the early days of crossfit guys were just willing themselves yeah into this place that was just absurdly painful i think now when people are peaking for a competition so when we're training for a competition like we are touching that feeling on purpose often to become okay with it so i've had time like sweeney went there when he tested that open workout you saw that right i did see that yeah yeah that's fucking hurt that make i want to get nauseous when i think about going there do you see velner's comment about that? No.
Starting point is 01:22:45 What did he say? Dave said, you know, this, it's going to be painful. And Vellner said, it can't be more painful than these announcements. Oh my God.
Starting point is 01:22:58 That's this. That's the Daniel Brandon. Just prodding the beast. He's just like prodding the beast. Wow. Oh my God. And you know, Dave's going to respond to that beast. Wow. Oh my God. And you know, he's going to respond to that shit. Okay.
Starting point is 01:23:07 Sorry. Go, go, go on Jake. So, so, so when you, it's funny that you say a five,
Starting point is 01:23:10 four, because we had been Bergeron on and I go, um, can Colton Merton wins the games? And he goes, how tall is he? And I go five, four.
Starting point is 01:23:17 And he goes, no. And then, and then in the comments, we saw Colton Merton's comment. We'll see. Isn't that a great shirt too? We'll see. I think Colton, i've listened to your podcast with colton he's a good example of that i don't i have
Starting point is 01:23:32 no idea how well colton can do over the course of his career he's done pretty well so far but he sounds like somebody who takes what people say like that and goes, all right, cool. I'm going to show you different. Feed the beast. Completely, yes. It's coal in the fireplace. Yes. The more of that, the better for him. Jake, earlier you said that if I see a strength limitation, I know how to address that.
Starting point is 01:24:00 It's a little bit more tricky if it's a limitation within a Metcon. It's a little bit more tricky if it's a limitation within a Metcon. I'm sure that there's been periods over the last six, eight years that you've been doing this where you felt that about yourself. You're like, damn, every time there's this and this in the workout, I just can't seem to get it. And I'm sure you see that with some of the athletes you're coaching now. Do you, I guess what I'm asking is about coaching yourself compared to coaching other people. Like, is that something where it's, you think it's, it's easier if you saw Jason struggling with a certain,
Starting point is 01:24:30 let's just say there's a certain couplet and you were struggling with a certain couplet, do you feel like you'd have more potential or success to maybe help him with that than you would with yourself? So there are a few sides. I think that I'm probably more willing to program something for myself that I'm not sure is going to work to test it all right like i'll take bigger risks for myself because i can look
Starting point is 01:24:52 to myself go yeah i made that decision like no one made that for me but it's it's harder to program something that's going to be really shitty for yourself right when you know it's going to be a really and even if it's not necessarily that painful but even just like a frustrating combination that's much harder to program for yourself that's much easier to get from somebody else so i didn't program for myself for a long time for like four years from 2016 to end of 2019, Adam who owns full range program for me. And we were pretty collaborative,
Starting point is 01:25:34 collaborative with it. But now what I'll do, because I've been programming for myself for the last two years is I'll just go to somebody else and say, Hey, this is what I think the problem is. You write the specific pieces. They're specifically addressing that.
Starting point is 01:25:49 Oh, give me an example of that. Like, hey, my running is lagging when I do thrusters. Give me a workout that fixes that. Like that? Like that's the problem and then ask them to fix it? Yeah. And is the problem with – wow, this is awesome. And is the problem with programming for yourself? Let's say, let's say you want to do a Metcon and it's going to be five snatches,
Starting point is 01:26:11 200 meter run, five rounds. Okay. And, and you'll choose a weight that you think is low enough so you can do the snatches unbroken, but really you should do the snatches heavier and there should be a hiccup in there, but you won't personally give yourself that hiccup yeah add that extra is that is that where you start being a bad coach to yourself yeah it goes both ways right there are times where you over program it and you get in and you're like there are times where you over program it to something that is just not realistic and then there are times where you make it too easy and then there are times because you've had both of those experiences where it's programmed correctly and it's just really hard. And so you start going,
Starting point is 01:26:53 is this over-programmed? Should I, should I back it down? And then there are times where you're like, well, is this too easy? Should I, I bring it up? There's just a lot more questioning with itself. I typically like far out from a competition those questions don't bother me at all um so if i do a workout and i thought it was going to take me 12 minutes it takes me 25 minutes because i over programmed it that's fine like it it's neither here nor there i can make that adjustment i have a lot of time a couple weeks out from competition i just turn my programming over to somebody else and say, here, you do it. And you must have a shitload of notes, though, too.
Starting point is 01:27:29 You must have tons of data. You're like, OK, I did Helen here and I doubled the running and I got this result here. I cut the running in half. I got this result. And so you can start like you must have shitloads of notes. Yeah, I do. Yeah, that's awesome. Do all your athletes journal? that part of hwpo everyone
Starting point is 01:27:47 has to be keeping their shit yeah jason journals a lot and he's the only athlete so then yes it's all of them right yeah he he puts oh we don't know we gotta find we gotta get mallory on to find out if she is we're not we're not we're not we're not sure if mallory is or not we gotta ask her yeah jason is a detailed note taker um is he gonna move up to um is he gonna move up to um vermont i don't think so oh he loves greenville he's got a good set up there one of the first podcasts we did with him we asked him if he would ever move and he basically said that's the he that he's not willing to make that sacrifice and at that point i knew he'd never win the game so i was like all right yeah but that might not be what's best for him like he might move and and having a uh environment he enjoys less may make
Starting point is 01:28:41 him worse right i was just trying to say something in the podcast that would fuel him, you know, like Colton Mertens can't make it to the game. Jason's got plenty of fuel. Do you have any, any final thoughts for Mr. Marconi? Do you,
Starting point is 01:28:56 what's your prediction? Will he finish in the top 20, Brian at a water Palooza? We will see. I actually haven't done really an analysis of the athletes compared to the workouts yet i'm just that's kind of a on my list to do this week actually i haven't i haven't right now i think there are 43 men so he's basically asking if you'll finish in the top half but like there were 13 there's 13 guys I think that competed at the games this year and a bunch of
Starting point is 01:29:27 other guys that were really close. So it's a, it's a good field, definitely a good field, but I'm also kind of just, you know, there's a lot of international guys coming. And so we'll see about, uh, if, if everyone's able to make it. Dude, there are some crazy names on this list. There are some crazy names. Oh yeah. Brian is smart. If he'd answered the question about questions about Mario Brian, I might've answered that question differently.
Starting point is 01:29:49 Oh wow. Yes. Yes. Punish the guests. That's good. I don't think the list we have is, is not an official list. I don't think we're supposed to say anything, right? Brian, the one that you sent me, I'm not supposed to like, just be like, Holy shit. I can't believe this person is coming? You can do that. Everyone that you would recognize has already been announced as competing. Okay. Well, Samuel
Starting point is 01:30:11 Cornway is going to be there. Yeah, it's nuts. That's the one name you wanted to put there. I forgot him earlier. There's just all these crazy games athletes going to be there. Guy's going to be there. there's just all these crazy games. Athletes going to be there.
Starting point is 01:30:24 He's going to be there. Um, uh, Dallin, I can't, I'm excited to see Dallin pepper compete. Who coaches Matt Torres from group? Oh, that's right.
Starting point is 01:30:34 What do you, do you mean you like him a lot? Is it good guy or do you like him as an athlete who could potentially break through? Oh, both the guy. Yeah. He's definitely a good dude.
Starting point is 01:30:47 Seven was unable to uncover us. Even a single skeleton in his closet yes he's like 20 years old married you're not gonna uncover in skeletons and talk about there was nothing it was it was probably seven's most disappointing podcast personally no he was i i like alan i'm gonna be a dalen pepper fan i just i need him something i need i need something to i need a story of like how he pooped his pants in a competition or something there's got to be something he's still digging he hasn't given up but you ever do you ever power lifters poop their pants a lot right jake that's like a i don't their nose bleeds a lot i don't know their pants they don't okay did ever poop? You ever shart yourself in a competition? No,
Starting point is 01:31:28 no, no. I'm sure I've come close. Yeah. Well, I'll say this, Jake, if I'm happy that you're competing again,
Starting point is 01:31:39 I'm happy that you found that desire because I mean, I even remember watching you in the 2018 regionals and obviously very young then, but you know, a lot of potential, a lot of good, good training environment. So I wasn't sure with the HWPO stuff, if you'd want to keep doing that, but I'm happy that you are. Appreciate that. Savan, do you remember 2018 regionals? You came up to me with what is his name? McCoy.
Starting point is 01:32:05 That was in Albany. That was in Albany. That was in Albany. I remember, I watched the podcast you did with Christian Harris. And is that guy, the guy's named Joe? Yes. I watched that podcast last night or a couple nights ago. And I heard you slightly mention it in there. And then I think I saw some footage of it.
Starting point is 01:32:23 But no, I don't remember. What did I say? It was less you. It was mccoy you came up and so that year the only goal was just to make it to regionals right checking it in i'm nervous it's my first time and you guys were like you're going top five right you're gonna make the games both of us were just accosting you like that yeah and i think i said. That's not the intention at all. And you were really surprised that I had said no. That seems so aggressive. That doesn't seem hard for you?
Starting point is 01:32:54 No, not at all. I'm a very gentle soul. Was that just right at the entrance, like at a table? I was sitting down, and they were writing my number on my arm yeah i remember hanging out there um where they were writing those numbers on the arm and the number on your arm was kind of like your seating spot coming in there right so like whoever was one was like the best athlete yeah that was cool how they did that that was really cool do you miss the regionals yeah i mean I only got to go that one time.
Starting point is 01:33:27 Yeah. They were cool. I don't want to say it's better or worse. Cause I don't know what the fuck's going on anymore, but man, that was so great. I think they built their story around regionals. He didn't like, he didn't like the way he talked about regionals. I'm on a podcast here, but you can do that. Oh, I think that's maintenance. Is that like condo maintenance, apartment maintenance? Yep.
Starting point is 01:33:55 Do you feel safe alone? Because I'm about to get off the podcast. Are you okay? Yeah, I know the guy. He's a good guy. All right, good. So what were your thoughts about regionals? It was what? Oh, more stories about it.
Starting point is 01:34:07 I think that the media was more centralized, and so there was more story built around it than there is semifinals. You know, when we had Snorri on the other day, he was talking about how much more CrossFit can do, and then I realized he didn't come on until 2016. Yeah, in the heyday, man, I feel like we wrote the book on how to promote shit from 2008 to fucking 2015. It wrote the, the, the book on how to promote shit from 2008 to 2015. Everything.
Starting point is 01:34:28 It's going to, I have a feeling that there were, I mean, there's gotta be some evolution of that. And I, and I, on one hand, I feel like.
Starting point is 01:34:35 Dude, it's only the buttery bros. They are the only fucking dudes out there who did the, this sport is so fucking lucky. They have those guys for all the shit. I fucking talk about them. This sport without them, there's fucking nothing. And their lucky. They have those guys for all the shit. I fucking talk about them. This sport without them, there's fucking nothing and their quality.
Starting point is 01:34:48 They have no peer, not in the UFC, nowhere. Every fucking one of their videos is so fucking good. I want to go there and, and like, like the one they did, I was so disappointed in the one they did with Justin and Matt,
Starting point is 01:35:00 because I thought they were really going to compete. And yet I still watch the whole fucking thing and liked it. I was like, damn it. I'm not supposed to like this. I mean, it's – yeah, sorry. What were you going to say, Brian? I don't think it's going to get better.
Starting point is 01:35:13 No, it will get better. There's no one at HQ doing that shit. There's no one promoting it. There's no way to get to know the athletes. And the other people in the space who are promoting it – sorry, Brian – are promoting themselves. Like you? Yeah, exactly. I just want a couple of Jake's followers.
Starting point is 01:35:29 Everyone's just promoting themselves. It's just like at least from the beginning to the end, the Buttery Bros are pushing some sort of get to know the athletes better. No, I don't – I disagree, man. Okay, tell me who. It took – no, stuff like this. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. There are stuff and there are guys regionally. I'm on a whole other level.
Starting point is 01:35:48 No, and there are guys regionally. We've talked about Life of Josie and what he's doing for the European athletes. Vicky is doing stuff for the athletes in Australia. Fair, fair. And, I mean, look, it was building to 2018. Everyone knows that. And then it was just – the bottom was cut out and everyone had to just like find their life raft and figure it out. And now for this, this is the COVID was a problem.
Starting point is 01:36:10 The response to COVID has been a problem and continues to be a problem. And I think that on one hand, people are using it as an excuse. That's a bigger, it's not, it's not actually as big a problem in this regard as it is sometimes painted to be. is sometimes painted to be. But I think that if this structure is like the backbone and there's just minor tweaks year to year for the next two, three, four years, that there will be people who realize that there's a big opportunity to tell more athlete stories and more stories about the season's progression as a whole than we had last year or maybe even this year.
Starting point is 01:36:44 Yeah, I mean, we lost the whole year in 2020 that doesn't exist yeah it's so fucking expensive to do like so i apologize to josie um uh and uh and wiki like you're right they are they are doing their part but to to do what this shit has to be subsidized by crossfit if it's going to be back to where it was before to like like someone needs to be at jake's house and see that all he has is polka dotted underwear because it reminds you know what i mean like like there's there's no one doing that because that for research jake there's there's no one doing that besides the buttery bros going out to eat with these people sitting down with them i mean this is this even this is just a poor man's just shit
Starting point is 01:37:22 show this is just like we got some software and we call people. I mean there's no one else in the space. It's easy pickings. It's just like everyone's like, okay, cool. I can get on a fucking podcast and fucking help promote this fucking thing and push it forward. I don't know. There should be a constant, constant story going all year round of just the athletes. It should be a series, like the embedded series of the UFC.
Starting point is 01:37:43 This should just be constantly going. And the thing is that people will watch anything because there's so little shit yeah especially if it's quality content yeah but even if it's not quality content i mean it's like you become desperate i don't think ufc's embedded is really that great each one is just the same shit over and over but i'm a a UFC fan, so I watch it. But like, you know. Yeah, well, I mean, that's the deal with CrossFit too, right? CrossFit fans will watch it if it's about a CrossFit athlete, no matter what. Right.
Starting point is 01:38:14 But I do think the Buttery Bros keep pushing it. Like, I don't think their shit is stale. It's not my cup of tea. It's a little too much Pee Wee Herman for me. But man, it's fucking good. It's like, there's movies that i don't like that are still amazing like i always use requiem for a dream as an example like what a great movie i'd never fucking watch it again like no thank you or like scary movies i like you watch say that
Starting point is 01:38:37 again you watch all the buttery bro stuff i don't watch it all but if but like if i'm going to have someone on the podcast and they've been with the buttery bros they're my go-to guys like that's where i'll start doing my research there but i don't watch it the the this this i i get uncomfortable i get i get uncomfortable watching them you know what i mean like i feel like i'm watching peewee's playhouse like i i'd like i get a little um embarrassed for them sometimes it's just just me it's my own shit it's my own issue. But every time I watch it, it's like the whole half hour blows by, and I'm like, holy shit.
Starting point is 01:39:11 These fucking dudes are amazing. I'm never like – And then he turns around, and his kids are doing that litter box move. He's like, fuck. And my kids can do the litter box. Yeah, they can do it. Fine, fine fine fine and they and i know them also and like they're like we were talking before their their talent and their hard work is like like you were saying about like all these guys wiki life of josie like no one's these are people don't realize how hard these
Starting point is 01:39:36 people work what heber and marzen are doing is not easy no not even there's no there's no glory their life is nothing like it looks like in the video they these motherfuckers grind yeah i was with them in utah a couple weeks ago yeah you're yeah you're done eating the pancakes and you go home and these guys go home and start editing it's like thinking thinking Matt Fraser and Tia's life is this. Yeah. It's not, right? Yeah.
Starting point is 01:40:12 So, all right. Well, thanks for coming on. Thanks for having me on. I appreciate it. Well, if you talk to Mallory O'Brien, will you just give her a little nudge and be like, hey, those guys aren't so bad. I won't do any, like, she's young. I won't do any, like, rodeo jokes or sexual position jokes with her.
Starting point is 01:40:28 I'll be chill. You're pretty tame. I expect you to be less tame. Well, you're pretty chill. You're pretty chill. It's like talking to an old guy. I think that's a compliment. I'll take it as such.
Starting point is 01:40:39 It is a compliment. You're going to be a good dad someday. Hopefully. Brian? That's it all right peace all right thanks guys so i need to keep this open for a minute kick ass i don't think so

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