The Sevan Podcast - #58 - Danielle Brandon

Episode Date: June 29, 2021

The Sevan Podcast EPISODE 58 @daniellebrandon7 @brianfriendcrossfit @sevanmatossian The Sevan Podcast is sponsored by http://www.barbelljobs.com Follow us on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/therealsevanpodcast/ Sevan's Stuff: https://www.instagram.com/sevanmatossian/?hl=en https://app.sugarwod.com/marketplace/3-playing-brothers 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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Let's go seize the night. That's the powerful backing of American Express. Visit amex.ca slash yamex. Benefits vary by car and other conditions apply. I was 20, like, I was like just under the reckless driving speed. So I think I was 23 over, 22 or 23 over. Isn't over 20 over reckless? reckless no i think it's 25 okay so you were doing 45 in a 20 and you're doing 45 in the 25 in like 100 and it was like the speed limit no the speed limit was like 70, 65, 65, I think. I was going like 90 or 95.

I forget. Wow. What kind of car? It was a Volkswagen Jetta. So, oh, cool car. What year is that? I have a 2020. Is it stick shift?

Yeah. Who buys a Volkswagen? You bought that yourself? Yeah. Have you ever owned a Volkswagenkswagen before no wow i didn't even know the jetta was still made yeah that's incredible did you know it was made ryan uh no i don't don't do a lot of research on cars uh how old how old are you, Danielle? 25. What car did you own before your Jetta? I had a, what's it called? A Rodeo Jeep.

Uh-huh. I forget what year it was. Like mid. Huh? That was probably fun. Yeah. Yeah, it was a cool car. I see you more as a Rode jeep gal yeah yeah but then the jet jet is a little faster it just it does it just gets great gas mileage

and i drive a lot so and and so you you you were in sacramento is that home for you was that formerly home for you is that where you're for you? Is that where you were born? No, that was just where I went to college. Okay. And where were you born? I was born in Idaho. Oh, wow. In Lewiston, Idaho. Very small. But grew up primarily in Tri-Cities, Washington. Okay. And then you never lived in California except for college.

Right. And then how did you end up at, you went to Sac State? Yeah. And how did you end up there? In high school, I didn't really look at college. I didn't really want to go. But then my best friend went to Sac State, who's a year older than me, on a gymnastics scholarship. And he was like, yo, you need to go to college like you're not you're not not going to college with all of these like scholarship offers

so we like reached out to Sac State's coaches and we're like hey can I come there and they were like yeah here's the scholarship. Was it as easy as you described? Was it really like that? Basically like emailing back and forth. Yeah. Holy crap. And this guy, this gym, this guy, it was a guy who went there for gymnastics, a girl, a girl. Okay. Who's the guy in your Instagram? It's from many, many years ago. He's a brunette. He gets like six or seven pictures in there. He seemed like you were really close to him. You know who I'm talking about?

I should have wrote his name down. I don't know if you spoke to him by name. I think he's one of the only men who gets to appear in your Instagram. It was probably my ex. Oh. Go ahead. Was it Tyler? He had like the big chest tattoo.

God, I don't think so. He looked, from what I remember, I was looking at it either last night or the night before. He looked more like one of the Backstreet Boys. Like less tattoo and more like soft features and. Oh. Who? Like years ago. Years ago.

Maybe it was my, it was probably my college boyfriend. So you're 29? 25. 25. So it's amazing looking at your Instagram because you started in 2012. So how many years ago is that? That's nine years ago. So you were 16 years old when you made your first post.

Dang. Do you have to ask your parents at that point, hey, can I have an Instagram account? No. I don't even remember. I don't even remember how I started it. Why did you get into sports? Why did you get into track and field in high school?

So I had been a gymnast like my whole life. I started in like third grade and I got to a point in high school? So I had been a gymnast like my whole life. I started in like third grade and I got to a point in high school where I was really burnt out and just like done with gymnastics. Like I just had like a lot of life going on and then being doing gymnastics eight hours a day. Just I just one day I was like, I'm like, so I'm done. So I randomly and then I was like okay I need to do other sports so I tried track and field and swimming and diving and how old were you when you did that 15 15 or 16 no 16 or 17 probably and are your were your parents are your parents still together no were you were you raised by your mom or your dad? Oh, I was actually raised

by my aunt and uncle. Oh, wow. Your whole life? Yeah. So, well, in like third grade, third grade to through high school. And so your aunt puts you, your aunt and uncle puts you in gymnastics? Yeah. I think, I think it was more my grandparents' decision. And, and then, and then how many years were you pursuing it at this crazy intense level? Prop from middle school, middle school, we would do like two days and then, and then, yeah. So for five, at least five years, four or five years. Damn. You got a good, you got a good grandma, huh? Yeah. They, they thought it'd be good for me. Keep me out of trouble.

Did it keep you out of trouble? Did it really did. Um, so, um, what did they say when you quit? So when I quit, I mean, they were fine with it. Like they were like, okay, cool. Like, you know, are you sure? Are you sure you want to do this? But my best friend who like was just my teammate at the time, the one that went to Sac State who I followed literally showed up at my house every day to come pick me up for practice. She's like no don't quit this is stupid but i really want to do so okay and so then you get into track and field and what do you and did you say diving

too yeah i was a swimmer and diver too so that's like you climb up on a high ladder you go out on the end of a board and like you jump and do some flips and try not to make a splash three meters i think again i think it was three meter so we we have diving board. I think it's three, three or five meter. I forget. It's like not very tall. Okay. So you're doing diving. And then what was the, what did you do in track and field? Oh, in track and field, I did 400 pole vault relays, like four by two, four by one, four by four. And four and um how do you get into pole vaulting like what what is someone seeing you is pole vaulting one of those sports where like oh shit we don't have anyone to do it no one wants to do it yeah like every like you have like 30 people on the runway

who are like i want to try pole vault because it's cool and then by the end of the first week you have like five people left because they're like i could see that way harder and like way scarier than i thought so how old how old are you the first time you the first time you probably do a pole vault practice about 16 like i was yeah i think i was i was either a freshman or sophomore in high school i I think I was a sophomore. And then by the time you got to college, you were setting college records. Yeah. Yeah, I sucked in high school too. Like, I was okay.

Well, you must have been good enough to get a scholarship to Sac State. Yeah. But I was better at the 400. Like, they wanted me for the 400. Okay. Oh, Sac State wanted you for the 400 yeah did you do that also I yeah so I was training for the 400 and then they knew I did pole vault and they basically literally looked at me and they were like this chick is athletic and she should pull for us and so like first practice was terrible I cried so much because at pole vault practice because I didn't know how to do anything like I knew no drills they were like where's your step like what what size pole and I was like I have no idea it's like

I don't know any of these things I just went went for it in high school. But, and then they, the coach was like, okay, you're really talented. You're really athletic. We could turn you into something. And they did. Wow. And they groomed you. What was your coach's name? Do you remember the one that had the most influence on your pole vaulting? Yeah. Isaacs. Daniel Isaacs, I think. And you spend a lot of time with that person. Yeah. Wow, that's incredible. Yeah. I, many years ago, there was a woman, I can't remember her name, but she was in the Beijing Olympics. Actually, I think she was, what's that called when you don't actually make the team?

She was the backup for the Beijing Olympics. Oh, yeah. Alternate. The sprinters. Alternate. Thank you, Brian. Brian uses the big words. And it was either for 200 or 400. I can't remember. But so she saw my wife and I and some other people training CrossFit at the park. She said, hey, can I jump in with you? And I said, sure. And so we started training with her like we probably trained with her for like six months. And she hated, hated everything that was outside the two to four minute time domain.

Oh, yeah. So tell me about that. Because you were, I mean, as a gymnast, you were in the two to four minute time domain, right? Yeah. As a track and field athlete, you were in the, I mean, I'm assuming you stopped doing the 400 and strictly focused on pole vaulting now we're in like the I mean how long does it does a from a go to where you land on the cushion last 15 seconds 15 seconds yeah yeah so how how is that transfer to uh crossfit I mean in high school I did I trained with a cross-country girls for like a summer

and then and they really wanted me to do it but I was just like this is so boring and I was actually I only did it because I wanted to beat one of my really good friends like I was like I just want to beat you and prove to you that I can beat you in this sport and actually my aunt and uncle were like no Danielle that's not healthy they were like you're like you're too competitive you're not doing this for the right reasons and so I was like okay I'll be swimming and diving instead so then I did swimming and diving but I never hated the longer the longer things I don't know why probably because I just have always wanted to be really good at everything so it was just it was you know being in sports you just you have to want to do everything in it so when I started CrossFit I was like okay this is just

something yeah good at CrossFit you know seven you, okay, this is just something you have to get at CrossFit, you know? Seven, you want the data on your question? Oh, please. Yes, yes, yes. That's classic. Last weekend. Six-minute workout, second place. Three-minute workout, second place.

One-and-a-half-minute workout, first place. Of course. Fourteenth place. Ah. minute work place one and a half minute workout first place of course 14th place danielle i'm gonna ask you a tricky question here do you know who katie henniger is i don't i don't think so she won won the CrossFit Games in... Katie. Katie Henniger. No. She won the CrossFit Games in, I want to say, 2008. Okay.

And now she's the owner of Rogue Fitness. You know them, right? Oh, yeah. Yeah. Good person to know. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Wow. Her life was not Henniger when she won the games.

That's why Danielle didn't know. If you said Katie Madder. Let me ask you again. Yeah. No problem. Madder or Madder? Katie Madder. Sorry.

Oh, my. Now what? Anyway, so she, that was like kind of, and I was never an athlete, so I didn't know. I just found CrossFit and I just liked the exercise part of it. But when she won the games in that year, when she won the games, I think all of the workouts and Brian, correct me, were sub four minutes. Yeah. Cause it was, it was every second counts here. So like the top is like 16 minutes. Okay. And, um, I think it was her who explained it to me. She was a collegiate basketball player at a D1 school.

I think she maybe even played in the WNBA. And she basically said, yeah, in basketball, every four minutes, no matter what, there's going to be some sort of break. So I have four minutes of just fucking go. Right. And then after that, that's not where I ever trained. And that made me wonder. And then I had that experience with that track athlete, that's not where I ever trained. So that, and that kind of, that made me wonder. And then I had that experience with that track athlete who is a 400 runner or 200 runner. I mean, she detested the 800.

She would literally throw a temper tantrum when we would work out. It was nuts. Yeah. She detested it. Longer. Like that's, I don't hate it. I don't despise it, but it's funny when I first did start in CrossFit, the longer workouts, what I would do

is I would go really hard and then like take a like short break and then like go really hard and like take a break. Like I never knew how to just like do a CrossFit, like 20 minute AMRAP or like, you know, 15, 20 minute time zone. Like I never knew how to just like go. Do you know now? Yeah. I'm like way better at it now, but I used to like, just like burst and then like, you know, take a 10, 20 second break and then go again. When you, you, so you lived with your mom and dad until the third grade and then you moved in with your aunt and uncle. Is that what happened? Yeah. So actually I never knew my dad. I don't know my

dad. And then, but me and my brother, we lived with my mom until about third grade and how old is your brother older than you no he's he's like less than a year he's like two days from a year younger oh wow same mom yeah is it called irish twins when it's less than 12 months i think so yeah something like that it was funny i was um today when i was walking the dog in the backyard i was actually thinking wow wouldn't that be incredible if she had a twin too like brooke wells had a twin and or like just what a great marketing right scam that brooke brooke and her sid and her sister a scam's not fair but i just love the fact that they're twins and I love the fact that Sydney's now jumping in the mix.

It's crazy. It's a gift to all of us. And she freaking beat me on the ruck run. Sydney did? Yeah. And she has the same background as you too, right? She ran around the field in college? Okay.

Yeah. I'm not sure. How old is she? Is she like younger? No, they're right around your age. I think they age. I'll check, but I think they're 26. She's three years older than Brooke. No, they're both 26. Thanks, I'm not sure.

He said, no. Crazy incubation period for Sydney. So you never knew your dad, your mom raised you. This, and this is in Washington state. Yes. And then, and then why move in with your grandparents? Was your mom in drugs or? Yeah. Yeah. But so my dad was an alcoholic, my mom, alcoholic and into drugs. And so in third grade, they were like, I mean, where are we going? You know? And my aunt was like, I guess we'll take him. And is that, do you remember that?

I do, yeah. How old is someone in the third grade? Maybe like eight. Like, yeah, eight or nine, I feel like. Yeah, my kids will never go to school, so I won't know any of that shit.

So... yeah my kids will never go to school so i won't know any of that shit um so so that's so you do you still talk to your mom i do now so actually yeah i mean like throughout the years like i mean it's kind of crazy like we would go like live with like I think in like sixth or seventh grade she like came back and then we like lived with her but then she like relapsed or whatever and then like we went back with my aunt and then like I think it happened like one more time and then um and then I didn't talk to her until I think after my freshman year of college. Did you seek her out? No. So she would actually write us letters, but my aunt would hide them. So she wouldn't give it to us.

So we didn't really have any connection for years. And then I think she reached out like after my freshman year, like I went home to visit and like saw her. And does she look, does she look like you? Like when you see her, like, yep, that's my mom. Like people, people tell us that we do. And how old is your mom? Does she have you young? No, no.

She had us older. Like, uh, she's like 58. So she's like, she, I don't think she was going to, we were like both surprises. Oh, okay. Yeah. Surprise children. So she's 58 and you're 25. She had you when she was 23. Yeah. Right. So that's really good at third at 30 yeah he is no that's actually not right that's not right that's not right she's 28 she had you when she was 28 sorry 28 28 um and that's three can you imagine having kids in three years no no right i can't imagine having kids now. And I have three.

When that goes down, when you're in the third grade, it's interesting because when you're an adult and you look back at it, you're like, shit, that shit must have been traumatic. But when you're a kid, what your life is just normal. Right. So like whatever's happening to you, your dad's beating you on the weekends. It's just normal. It's not until you get older that you have to unpack that shit you're like wait a second exactly yeah have you reached an age where you're where you look back at that and you have to unpack any of that shit for sure i mean like i've never like i don't trust anyone in my life especially

like being raised by my aunt and uncle we were not treated right like my because we had how many others my cousin we had four four other kids in the house so there were six kids so my aunt and uncle having to deal with their kids and then like two kids that were kind of like put on her you know like i get it but we definitely like weren't treated right so yeah i have to unpack a lot of that and then like still still like dealing with that but it's fine i mean ryan ryan can you see her face because i cannot see her face brian can you see her face yeah oh i this is it is like I'm interviewing a neck. It's awesome. Really? It's okay. As long as someone can see your face.

I can see from like the lower way up to six inches above her head. Danielle, did, were you protective over your brother? Kind of, we would go through like phases of where we'd have to like protect ourselves and then like we'd protect each other but i would say i was much more protective over him than he was but you know he was like he was a little younger and it was kind of like fend for yourself were you guys competitive athletically at all is he no not at all so we were like the two opposites i feel like like i was put in sports to like stay out of trouble and like he was the kid like very typical in a situation like that, like got into trouble, like, you know, vandalism, like drugs, skipping school. Is he in jail now? No. So he's actually

doing really well. He's actually, um, works for Amazon and he's very smart and does, um, what do you call it? A lot of like computer coding. What do you call that? Yeah. Sounds good to me. Yeah. So like he's created for Amazon. He writes programs so we can talk to you, to his sister over the internet from a thousand miles away. Yeah.

Using Amazon servers. He uses Amazon. Yes. It's, um, I, I don't know. I,

this is a blanket statement. I don't know if I can say this for sure, but I don't think that it's a blanket statement. I don't know if I can say this for sure, but I don't think that – it's interesting that you had this upbringing that had these challenges in it, and you look at other games, champions, and people who do well. Well, imagine like a deep well and you had this experience that like happened at the bottom of the well. And now you live your life at the top of the well and you do CrossFit and you put yourself through this long pain, through this long discomfort that really can't be found anywhere else to sort of touch that pit to keep a tether to that old you. Do you know what I mean? So that you don't you're not going to you're not going to let it go. Right. And, you know, there's there's tons emotional down there that do you think do you feel that that that really who you were as a child makes you puts you in this position to oh yeah fucking grind yeah a hundred percent i think that's yeah i mean i don't know where like the competitive part comes in because I'm like stupid competitive, but yeah. I mean, especially when it comes to like growing up, I just like did things because that was what I had to do. Like I had no other option. Like I wasn't, I don't know how to explain that but like yeah you just do the work because that's what you're supposed to do like survival like survival yeah exactly like there's

no other option my my friend travis bajan who's a professional arm wrestler um i did a documentary on him called pulling john and uh basically as he lived he grew up in west virginia and they didn't have running water at their house so if he wanted to shower he had to go to a friend's house so he got into sports so that other parents would like him and invite him to his house so that he could bathe oh my gosh wow yeah and although and although that story might not be completely like apples to apples there could be some apples to oranges right like you needed to add value to who you are and like yeah it was like your business like I was like I want to be good at sports and I want to like make a lot of friends so I'm never

home but when did you realize you don't trust anybody how old were you um I didn't realize it until I kind of went to college and people were like you know people would be like let me do this for you or like I'm always going to be here like I have your back and I'm just like do you because for me like everyone always talks about like fan like their family has their back no matter what and the thing was like my family didn't have my back so I'm like if family doesn their back no matter what. And the thing was like, my family didn't have my back. So I'm like, if family doesn't have my back, why is this random like friend or teammate or coach gonna have my back?

Like they're not my family, you know? So I think it's just from that perspective, like everyone else's family always had their back or, you know, like all the people, a lot of my friends had a pretty normal upbringing as far as having a family. And like, when my have my back, I'm like, okay, so who does, you know, family's supposed to have your back. You're supposed to be able to. And because you're in that situation, the people around you kind of have an uphill battle to climb because they like. They it's like maybe like you're almost looking for them to betray your trust, right?

Mm hmm. Yeah. All the time. Yeah. yeah all the time yeah but i had i mean i had a good conversation with um i feel like i shouldn't name them but they're a your face and they had kind of a similar upbringing and as far as like family under drugs and all that and really not being able to trust your family like he's like he's like you don't necessarily need to trust people like you you can have your own back at the end of the day and I think people in my position we're like people are always like you need to like learn how to trust you need to like break that wall you? And so it's like constantly me just like trying to trust people randomly when like, that's just not how it works.

So I don't know. He just, he explained it in a way, like have your own back first always. And then like, you'll find people that will understand you and hopefully you'll be able to trust them eventually. The thing, the thing is, is you put, you, you've put people people and it's not you it's all of us do it to each other we put ourselves in a really hard position because no one can be trusted so at some point at some point we have to be like okay it doesn't matter i accept the fact that that yeah we can't trust each other and i still love you for it it's it's a it's a fucking mind fuck right but if you want

to be happy that's the way you got to go sorry go ahead like everyone's selfish you know like you're gonna do what's best for you ultimately first usually you know in the end yeah yeah i mean push comes to shove you see i mean in in the most scary conditions you've seen that there's this um there's this book i was reading it's called mouse it's like a graphic novel it won the pool of prize and it's basically the story of the holocaust and you're you're seeing these people who were really tight together the jews were so tight so tight but then when it came to just start killing they every it was fend for yourself you know what i mean it was like fucking throw anyone under the bridge as long as they didn't take your baby and kill your baby right exactly do you think about having kids i thought

about it i want to pass on these athletic genes that's it yeah go girl that will be an interesting one for you too because with the trust thing because when you have a kid it kind of doesn't matter what they do to you you let them fucking trample right over your heart and you'll be like yeah no problem yeah i have a dog and i let him do whatever uh yeah i it's pretty cool you have a dog and that you um rolling yeah um when you started the um thank you, Brian, by the way. I owe you a huge thank you. Just for letting me run around in Danielle's head. I'm sure you have like a million questions and you're being so cool.

Well, on the back, talking about. Damn it, I shouldn't have thanked you. Is this community that you're in right now, like one of the most supportive communities you've ever been a part of? Yeah, with, like, Justin. Yeah. Yeah, with underdogs or whatever. Yeah, I would say. I mean, I still am not there yet with Justin.

I mean, he talks to me all the time. He's like, you can trust me. Like, I love you. You know, I have your back. We have your best interests at heart um but yeah totally like i've been at two other gyms kind of when i was going to the games and stuff and i felt like they they just liked me because of how good i was at crossfit and what's wrong with that what's wrong with that CrossFit. And what's wrong with that? What's wrong with that? Nothing's wrong with that, but don't act like my, don't act like you're just my friend. Right. So who's Justin? Tell me who

Justin is. He's, uh, our coach. So he's, he runs like the underdog program. He programs for us, does everything. And when you say our, who are you referring to? Carrie, Bethany, Tola, Matt. I think that's all of us. Nicholas was there for a while. Listen, you dumb fucks who write that I ask questions that I already know the answers to. I do that for two reasons. One, so we're all caught up and understand the story.

And two, you fucking morons, even if you think you know the answer, have a little bit of humility to let people fucking answer for themselves because maybe you're wrong. Close parentheses. Sorry, that was just a little commentary. Cool. So how long have you been training with Justin? Because I've seen – that's the guy on your Instagram. Like you'll be doing squats and he's sitting against the wall like studying you and I just imagine he's like, Hey, deeper or faster or explode out of the bottom. Or he's just like talking shit to you. Yeah. And how long have you been there? Uh, I moved there in, no, I moved to Vegas in November and I think he, we like fully started doing his program in like December. No, like January, January. Holy shit. Isn't Brian. I'd like to hear your opinion too. So you've only,

you haven't even been there six months. You've been there six months. About, yeah. Isn't that a little, well, where did you train before and why did you leave? And then, and then the follow-up question is, I'd like to hear your opinion on this too, Brian. Isn't that too close to the games to be switching coaches? Well, I didn't have a coach before. Oh, all right. I was at ASAP Fitness, which was my ex-boyfriend's gym. And I met Justin at the virtual games in 2020, right? I think that was in August, I think. No, July.

I forget. 2020 virtual games in July met Justin Bethany Justin came to Sacramento to do the games with me met him and you know Cooper Cooper with lab management who is all of our agent was like hey DB you should look into getting a coach I think Justin would be a good option. Had a phone call with Justin. Everything we wanted like aligned, you know,

as far as from like an athlete perspective, our goals and all that. So called him. And then one day was in Sacramento and was like, I need to move to Vegas and packed myself and and drove to Vegas and you just only got one speeding that's me I got in like February of 2019 but because of COVID I like didn't have to pay it for like two years and like the whole I didn't have like a California license. So I had to like get a California license and then just like all this shit.

Do you have a job? Do you have a day job? No, not anymore. So I graduated coaching. I coached full time and worked at a GNC. That's it. Right when I graduated. Correct me if I'm wrong, you guys, but I think when I looked at your Instagram

before the semifinals, you had 111,000 followers. And I think I looked this morning. Oh, before semifinals? Yeah. And I think I looked this morning it's so hard me to for me to find everyone because i unfollowed everyone because i'm trying to get unshadow banned okay what's that explain to me what that even is that's gonna happen to you soon if you

don't keep your mouth shut um you see if that's when you tell people anything bad about vaccines not even bad about vaccines even if you tell people good things about vaccines if you read stuff off the cdc website about vaccines uh mr zuckerberg will you want what you want to get shadow banned love it when people come after me on the gram um so now you have 156 000 followers you have uh uh what did that did you see that happen? I did. Yeah. So tell me about that. So you like, you go to the semifinals, you have 111,000. And then all of a sudden, four days later, you look at your Instagram and it's just, does that drain your phone battery? Just like all those.

So I actually turned off my notifications and then which was nice so i went to zion a couple days later and i actually broke my phone so i broke my phone so like the screen didn't even work so i couldn't even like do shit on my phone and that's why it took us a week to be able to talk i was just like fuck. I can't really talk to anyone. And so I didn't. And then I was like, okay, I have to get a new phone because people want me. Had you been there before to Zion? No, I had never been there.

It's one of the memorable places I visited in the country. I really liked it there. What hikes did you do? I can't remember. I was with a friend of mine and we were playing collegiate soccer. We were pretty fit and we were willing to put it to the test.

So we did the longest ones all on the same day. It was a long day. I feel like the Narrows is really long. The Narrows is where you walk through water the whole time. I don't think we did that. We wanted the ones where you would go up. We did Definite Angels Landing, and we

did it at the end, and we were racing the sun to get back down. Oh my gosh. Yeah, Angels Landing was pretty... It's not that intense. Honestly, it was just annoying because there's so many people, and so people were really scared to climb the ropes and go up the mountain or whatever.

Do you have a girlfriend now? No, I don't. I would say yes. Maybe I should keep this going. Oh, yeah, yeah. Definitely keep it going. Yeah. When I moved to Vegas, my roommate Mel, we just told everyone we were dating.

And, uh, did you just meet her? Yeah, I just met her. So I want to talk about how you move. So you, you, you're, are you living somewhere and you're paying rent in Sacramento? Yes. And then you just said you give them your two week notice and you're out. Ex-boyfriend. OK, so he still got the place. So you're like, hey, bro, I'm out. Yeah. And you what is it like? Do you have a bad choice in men?

No, I don't think so. You choose good men. He just, you know, he had his own issues. I was like, I can't keep up. So peace. just you know he had his own issues i was like i can't keep up so peace um because i would think to be with someone who's pursuing the goals that you're pursuing they have to be very supportive the right word flexible i think we just like lived too much of a similar lifestyle because he was the gym owner and then I was like the gym goer

and then like he was super chill but he was just like too chill like I'm chill but like he was like too chill didn't didn't understand what I was doing yeah I don't think yeah I think you guys are in a really unique position the the hundred of you I don't think anyone understands what you guys are doing. I mean, we think we understand what you're doing from the outside, but we really have no fucking clue. Yeah. Um,

so that's why we do podcasts with you. Oh, you, when you canceled the first podcast we were gonna do with you, you canceled it three 50 AM. So I just imagined, I imagined when I heard that, I imagined. I'm like, oh, she's just popped two hits of MDMA and is still at the party.

And is like, fuck this. I can't do this at 10 a.m. Was that the, oh, that was the Buttery Bros one? No. Was it that? Yeah, maybe it was. I love it. Yeah.

Am I accurate? I was still up. I love it. Yeah. Am I accurate? I was still up. So how is, how is it? Did you, so I'm assuming you have, you had, you drank some alcohol that night. Yeah. You're 21 years old and you're 25 so you can partake in adult beverages. You're 21 years old and you're 25, so you can partake in adult beverages. So how is that? Is that like after you put in all that work, is it just like one sip of alcohol and you're just crushed because you're so dehydrated? No.

Wasn't one sip. Do you turn into a lightweight when you push yourself that hard for a weekend i don't i don't i'm not a lightweight when i drink but that night probably was a little bit of a lightweight which is fine yeah totally fine yeah yeah totally it's totally fine especially if you water your drinks down so you can stay up all night and keep it going. But it's not fine if you're not if you're not aware of it. Next thing you know, you're in the bathroom puking in the toilet. Right. That's never good. So you so then you see you pack up, you end this relationship, you have Vegas to go to, you know, they're going to go. And then so you just how did you find Mel? You found her on Craigslist? No. So actually, whenrie was training for the games like that two weeks leading up to the pierce yes carrie carrie kp when she was training me and

bethany were like hey like let's go let's go train with her and so we did and then there was these girls at the gym and they were like hey her name is mel that's my roommate's name she's like hey i'm mel i know you're here if you want to like come party with us like i'm i'm extending the offer you know like come party with us and so i was like okay well i'm not training for the games so they were like we're going to the pool and i was like i want to go to the pool so i went to the pool with them we like had some drinks and she's like i actually actually need a roommate. And I was like, no way. That's crazy because I'm trying to move to Vegas and I need a place to live. So she courted you. She courted you,

got you drunk, seduced you and brought you into the lion's den. She took advantage of me. That's awesome. I love it. I heard you were DB and Carrie is kp do you guys call bethany we actually don't and it's so funny because someone was like why don't you call bethany yeah i only go by db because that's what cooper calls me it's just easier

oh i did have his name written down here it was tyler tyler wilcox oh that's hilarious yeah that's my ex yeah he seemed like he was a good one he was he really was yeah it didn't end on a bad note you represented him well yeah there's a video of you on your instagram that i hadn't seen before maybe brian's gonna laugh at me because i because me because everyone's done it. But you do a handstand walk forward. And then backwards. And then backward, which really backward is forward and forward is backward. But for, yeah. Ryan, have you seen that video and have you ever seen anyone do that?

On an obstacle? Up and down over a flight of stairs. Sorry, go ahead. Sorry, go ahead, Daniel. No, you're good. I think I've seen some people do it. I think mostly it's gymnasts, like former gymnasts that can do that pretty easily. Who else?

Yeah, get him, Daniel. Get him. Get him. I feel like I saw it. Ryan, can you show us that? Yeah. You've said you've seen it before. So I want to know who else is doing it. Ryan, can you show us that? Yeah. You said you've seen it before. So I want to know who else is doing it.

Oh, yeah. This guy. Ryan's going to hook. I feel like I saw Joshua Alchama do something like this recently. No. Let's see. Blow that up. Blow that up, Ryan.

Don't be afraid. Zoom in on that girl. Zoom in. And in the full video, I actually... Look at this shit. Look at this shit. This is crazy. Say that again. In the original video that I posted, this was just like a different ad one. I went forward, backwards, forward.

Because everyone was like, go forward. backwards forward because everyone was like go forward no I don't think I've ever seen anyone do that completely like that before but I would maybe maybe

I'm sure Alex Smith could do it it's hard to impress he's so just like so that's pretty impressive would you like to see that at the games that would be really one more time i cut you off yeah that'd be sick i mean if they did cool dave cash is looking out for me but i doubt it i doubt we're telling me about your relationship with dave so tell me like you you were on the demo team can you tell me like how that happens? Like you're just sitting at home and like Wilson text you or what happens?

I think I want to say it was Wilson, but I'm not sure. Yeah, I literally was chilling in the gym and getting email and they were like, hey, Danielle, like I know it's really last minute, but like, do you want to I think it was like that weekend. They were like, hey, do you want to come this weekend to be on the demo team at the crossfit games yep at the crossfit games and i was like oh shit and i was like yeah let's do it and they i actually drove so i was like they were gonna fly me but it's like del mar is how far from sacramento? Like an hour or two. So I was like, yo, can you guys get me a rental car? They got me a rental car and I drove down there and we did it. Is it because you didn't want to? I didn't want to fly.

You don't want to wear a mask on the plane? Probably not. Yeah. Well, and like flying would have taken, right? You get there an hour before then you have like an hour flight and then you're like in the airport it's just obnoxious versus just like putting your shit in a car driving and then you're there i agree so like let's see if we can drive i have on my perrier at 44 minutes i couldn't i couldn't wait. Seven, I sent of Joshua

doing a handstand trick. It's not quite what you had done. I love it how you shit on our guests, Brian. I'm trying to open them up and love on them. Look at this. Oh,

you can do that. Yeah. That was thinking. You can do that. No problem. Yeah. Oh, that was cute. Can you do that move, Danielle? Yeah, I can do that move. So I found out that apparently he used to do. That's where he. But I'm saying there's like a lot of athletes in the sport that have the.

I guess break dancing gymnastics. And once these. I feel like these tricks come up every once in a while. Like someone was doing the muscle ball with the ball between their legs and then everyone was doing it. And so I wouldn't be surprised if a couple of people end up doing this,

but I think it's going to be less than I originally expected. Yeah, especially, it's not that cool. I mean, it's cool, but. It's unique so you get to del mar you uh is that's not where the games were were they no aromas you mean you come to aromas my bad okay so you come to aromas you drive down there which is super close from sacramento and then, um, so you check into your hotel, which hotel do you stay at? It was like right by that sports field. I forget. Okay. And, um, who did you know? Any of the people on the team? Had you ever met Dave before? Tell us about just

the whole vibe. No detail is too much. I'd never met. I think it was Saxon, right much I'd never met I think it was Saxon right I'd never met Chandler and the thing is I was like where's the other girl I was like why is there no other girl to athlete this is like what the hell like I know literally no one but at least I could like vibe with a girl you know Saxon Chandler I don't know and uh oh and I had to pick I forgot I had to pick up Chandler from the airport like they were like hey you're renting a car like go pick up Chandler on your way and then like meet us here so I like pick up Chandler who I'd like I don't think I'd ever met him oh I met him once I met him after the games in 2019 i met him at games we were like partying that's the only time i've met him and then uh pick him up it's kind of weird i was like yo i

don't really know you and but we're like in this car ride together we show up and there and then we have to like get covid tested and all this shit so that one and so there was never another girl on that team no and maybe that was because they could only have so many people you know what i mean because they were supposed to be christy or ramo but then she like she couldn't for some reason she backed out she got pregnant yeah probably no but actually funny yeah, since I like didn't really know Dave, the whole time he's just like, he like, he acted like he didn't know who I was. Like he was like, Oh, you got like 10th in 2019. Oh, you want to CrossFit Games event? And I'd be like, Yeah, I did. Like, you actually like gave me a high five after I won an event. And he's like, Oh, okay, like, cool, cool, cool. gave me a high five after I won an event. And he's like, Oh, okay, like, cool, cool, cool. And then before I was on the demo team, I would look at who looked at my story. And I saw Dave Castro was like, creeping in my stories, but like, didn't follow me.

Like, Hmm, like, this is weird. And then they asked me to be on the demo team. And I was like, okay, this makes sense. But at one point, he's like, Hey, what's your Instagram? And I was like, don't act like you don't know my Instagram. I was like, I saw you creeping in my story so many times. And he's like, Oh, I found you. And I was like, that's what I thought. So I'm going to tell you what a cool guy David, he actually, he actually told me, I don't know if it was that night, but when the next time I talked to him, he's like, damn. He's like, you got to meet this girl, Danielle Brandon. I said, why is it? She schooled the fuck out of me.

I go, what do you mean? He's like, she saw me creeping in her story. She called me out on it in front of everyone. He was so proud of you. He loves that shit. I mean, he's a seal. He wants to be, you know, he wants to like box. Oh, yeah.

Yeah. So, like, you know, so many people talk trash on him. And to be you know he wants to like box oh yeah yeah oh like you know so many people talk trash on him and so you know so cool you called him out on that why aren't you scared why weren't you scared you said that like hey i saw you creeping to my dance you told me that exact word you said i was like damn i was like i saw you on him i didn't even know my instagram like don't act like you don't uh i don't know he said you mentioned someone else's name creeping in your instagram too in that sign he said two people do you remember that matt fraser was yeah he said you called him and mad alfred creeping but i saw that shit especially like they have the check mark it's hard not it's not hard to

miss i'm dying um why don't you have a blue check mark is that like standard like does um does lab management refuse to um allow anyone to have a blue check mark right is that the cooper only represents people if they get a blue check mark he kicks you to the curb right like why can't i be validated out here what the hell yeah but i know dave then and then got to know him really well so that was interesting did that break the ice when you called him on that did everything kind of did you feel everything changed at that moment yeah and I really liked his dog too so so kind of helped you know and I was you know making moves and it probably helped too when we were just talking trash I was talking trash on Chandler I was like calling Chandler out because Chandler didn't want to do do a workout and I was like, why not? Like, that's what we're here to do. And he probably just saw that and liked that I like to talk shit.

He is serious as a heart attack, and he's very curt, especially when he's at the games. It's almost like I'm sure he was even more curt when he was a SEAL and they were in battle. But there's no wasted words. He's not like to the demo team, hey, would you guys mind coming out here for a minute? It's like, go stand on the 20-yard line. Literally.

Yeah. If people can't handle that, they're fucked. Oh, yeah. Yeah. I mean, even like, okay, we're going to do this workout again. Like, I don't know. It's after you finish it. You know?

Oh, I'd be like, okay okay we're in front of the athletes now it was like oh shit okay that's awesome yeah yeah and and uh and he likes people who show up and um yeah and handle their business take their responsibility seriously don't complain and don't don't be a weenie you can say the other word don't be a bitch it's fine don't be a bitch don't be a pussy Danielle you made that

post it was just in your story it was just really quick about something about not being vaccinated and I got really concerned for you because from the from the, from the, I think I saw on the,

on the president's Instagram or something, or it came from somewhere, the U S government, it was saying that young people who aren't vaccinated are having trouble dating because no one wants to date them. Have you been struggling finding dates? No. You said that?

No. Okay. I was really scared. I was like, like dude dudes must just be throwing their nose up in the air to this girl dude i think it got more i think it got more traction after saying that well the thing is is that for the most part the people who aren't getting vaccinated don't care if you get vaccinated but the people who are vaccinated are hating on us so you gotta you kind of have to stick together it's like we don't want to hate on

you but like leave us alone it's not like yeah we don't want to hate on you but if you attack us we kind of got to bond together and start like throwing some rocks back at your shit i actually got it so in zion is this is fucking crazy in zion the only place you have to wear a mask is on the shuttle buses so like the shuttle buses take you to like the stops of only place you have to wear a mask is on the shuttle buses. So like the shuttle buses take you to like the stops of whatever hike you want to do. Right. And that's the only place like at the bars, everywhere you're eating before you're even on the shuttle, you don't have to wear a mask. So I get on the shuttle and I'm like, I like wore my mask, but then I like took it off. I like took off my mask and just like

this random ass lady I couldn't even I didn't even know who said it was like and I was with my friend and they were and we both didn't wear a mask and she's like can you put on your mask and I was like who the fuck just said that and I was like whatever I'll put my mask on then a minute later I was like fuck this I was like nobody's gonna tell me to wear a fucking mask like no so I like took it off and just like face forward the whole time we were getting off the bus stops she's like a round of applause for the two assholes that couldn't wear their masks like like oh my god like are you serious i was just like i was like have a great day and they like turn around and we get off the bus and they all take off their masks immediately and i'm just like, I was like, have a great day. And they like turn around and we get off the bus and they all take off their masks immediately.

And I'm just like, what is the fucking point? Just like they're probably in their 50s and they're just like throwing up middle fingers at us. And I'm like, I hope you guys feel so good about yourselves. Like, I don't understand. Like, I don't. National Park. Yeah. Middle fingers. Yeah. Like, like, you guys look really good. like I don't National Park yeah middle fingers

yeah like like you guys look really good like I don't even want to ask about what their fitness looked like

oh I we wanted to just be like you're fat but we refrained you should have just said hey you look unhealthy

we don't want to be mean I just oh it's so funny don't want to be mean. I just... It's so funny. Stefan, you want to hear the best? Yeah. I was walking around and there was a person on the sidewalk wearing a mask, drinking a Coke and eating an ice cream cone

and struggling to figure out how to eat the ice cream cone because their mask was on their face. The Coke and ice cream cone because their mask is on their for the coconut ice cream cone no oh my goodness and by the way so those of you who don't know why we're laughing we're laughing because when you eat like shit that's what makes you susceptible to this thing that they're calling the pandemic if you don't eat like shit, that's what makes you susceptible to this thing that they're calling the pandemic. If you don't eat like shit and you I mean, you don't even have to exercise.

You just have to not eat like shit. But just like respect. You don't have to. Yeah. So it's a what is it? A conundrum, a paradox. Look at something just popped up on my screen. Is this a chat that I should be reading in my head?

Did you guys see that something pop up on your screen? No. I'm just going to close it. reading in my head. Did you guys see, did something pop up on your screen? No. Oh, I'm just going to close it. Hey, Ryan, if you were trying to tell me something, do it again. Please let us know what to, oh, it looks like we're having some sort of recording quality issues. God, wouldn't this be a shame? didn't go i think it's going okay good i i'm really concerned because because danielle's on a phone danielle are you on wi-fi or using cell cell service on wi-fi damn high tech is is um do you think you'll ever like connect with your computer or you'll you're just more and more moving to your phone every day?

The computer reminds me of... I only use it for college homework. Everything's just on my phone. Who do you want to meet when you go to the games? Is there anyone you want to meet? No. No one I can think of. No. Is there anyone you want to meet? No, no one I can think of. No,

no. I think she wants to meet the people that hand the big checks to the athletes that stand on the podium. That'd be awesome. But I thought athlete wise. No, not really. No.

And I really want to meet no one i like in fan girling over um are you guys gonna be there no i will brian will be all right brian let's meet there you go there you go cool so so so you're in vegas and Bethany lives there, and Carrie Pierce lives there, and Mel lives there. Do you see Bethany and Carrie Pierce every day? At the gym, yeah. And do you go there seven days a week? Yeah. No, we go six.

Okay. And do you see Justin there every day too? Just about. At least three times a week. And does he do your programming? Yep. And so there must be some trust if you're letting someone do your programming. Yeah, because I never had a coach before. And was that hard to change, to shift to that?

The only hard shift was to check in with someone you know like and to like track my things you'd be like danielle like you need to write down your times your way it's like you need to write this stuff down and i was just like oh why you know but that's that was the hardest adjustment so he's raising you a little bit. He's like raising you into an athlete. Yep. And it sounds like you're pushing back, but you also know you have to do it. Yes.

And who's in charge of your nutrition? Who do you take nutritional advice from? Now, Mike from M2 performance yeah yeah and that's just like two months two months ago i think because i don't eat enough and so one day on the bike i died like i was like on the bike and i was just like justin my body is like shutting down and he's like all right fucked and yell like is like shutting down and he's like all right fuck danielle like jesus like can we like do something about this so he called cooper our agent was like yo cooper like you need to help danielle she needs to figure this out because this is stupid and then i got hooked up with mike and are you stoked on him i am he because with a lot of other nutrition companies and a lot of other people, they're

just like, okay, here it is. And it's like, here, eat this. And it's like, okay. Yeah. I know. Like I'm an athlete. I went to college for exercise science. Like I started out as a nutrition major. Like I know I should be eating. I know what I should be eating, but Mike is just like on my ass every day. Like, yo, did you eat? Like, are you eating? Make sure to like eat something right now. So he's like, he's a literal nutrition coach in that sense. You know, like he's on your ass every day. Okay. And he's probably once again, taking extra interest in you because you're a fast car on the track yes and he and his boy cooper reached out to you and you're representing his brand here you are saying what you're eating and you and he sure as fuck doesn't want you coming on here being like yeah he called me once

right exactly yeah and do you like the food do they actually send you food to eat or they tell you to go to the store and buy we like talk about like what i should be eating how many calories macros he's like go buy this do this um so he doesn't like send us food or anything but he he tells me literally what to eat and then um facetimes me calls me texts me just about every day because I got on he's like usually I text my athletes every two three days he's like but if you become bad enough I'll text you every day so he texts me just about every day and do you eat all the food that he tells you to eat we're slowly increasing are you at 50 yet yeah i mean before i was eating probably maybe like 1500 calories a day yeah wow it's just i don't know like you know

have you ever like worked out and then you're not hungry i've never worked out in my life once as hard as you worked out like yesterday ever. And I've tried to, but I just haven't. I mean, I tried. I don't know. Yeah. It was just, it was just a bad habit that I was into. And then, um, he was like, yo, if you want to be good, you have to eat and fuel.

So, you know, about like really eating enough is you also have to manage your time well enough to do it yeah to get 3 000 plus calories if you're trying to eat healthy food it's very hard yeah exactly oh what's up i just want to interrupt for a second we have a plumber is in our... Is that Mike? Anyhow, this room here is one of the problems. Okay. You look here. See that little scratch across there? Yeah.

That's what caused the leak. Oh, okay. And anyhow, that's Scotty Workmanship's. Okay. Myra should complain to... Okay. You can tell Melissa. Okay, cool.

Great. I'm back. Did shit pour out of your toilet today did your toilet back backfire today almost now we had a leak we had a leak in our house and it was like under you know like under the house So we had to have like a plumber come find it. I like the image of you just being in here. You are this amazing athlete, but I like this idea of you taking the deuce, flush the toilet overflowing and you having to panic and reach behind and turn it off real quick just to make you feel like more normal, like the rest of us. I am more, I had food poisoning like a month ago awesome awesome i feel better i feel better about myself already um do you ever work out with normal people like you ever work out with someone who like just normal people yeah i actually did the other day uh what was that like

i realized i suck at working out with other people i'm just like fuck like hurry up do you know what's cool about that what you said you're taking responsibility for it you didn't blame them and say they're fucking slow as fuck those bitches you said hey it's me i suck at working out with other people i do i really do accountability yeah yeah it's not them they're just doing it for fun i just realized i suck at being a casual fitness person when's the last time you thought about taking out your nose ring permanently oh never oh okay never see i had a presupposition there brian like i was like some sort of psychic it hurt too bad to get it pierced you know too much work were you like in jamaica when you did

it or thailand or i was in college it was a we wrote this um the toe spacers yes um bethany shadburn got me on them so would you recommend them should i get some yeah it's a it's a cheap investment and it works and when you say it works it like your toes are oh nice brian i think i have those ones she has some really cool ones though brian have you seen hers yeah they like yeah you look cool too though i've never seen those ones the one brian what go ahead sorry i cut you off say that again have some gnarly bunions or what is that why he has those no no i've just known the secrets of of improving my fitness for several years now. Oh.

It starts from... True. Ryan, do you wear those every podcast? Is that like your one hour of like toe spacer time you put those on? Well, not this podcast. I use them. I've had them for probably since probably 2017 and squatting has always been challenging um i like really i think most movements core to

extremity of course but the ground up for most of the stuff we're doing is very important and i knew that i had a significant imbalance on due to an ankle injury from college so i've just used them to try to improve my stability overall over the last three or four years yeah hers are like i have those ones too brian and they're kind of like bulbous hers are like aerodynamic and hold tight to the feet right and yours even have like a little cover as they pull over yeah i've never seen the ones that you guys have do you sleep with those no one time i tried and i took them off my hurt like it was not a good feeling like i don't think you're supposed to sleep in these and what and what brand are those are you sponsored by those people the toe spacer yeah so it's funny because bethany was like she's been wearing them for years i think and she's always like trying to get them to sponsor

her and they were like no we don't sponsor people and then they finally sponsored her and then i was like hey like i kind of wanted i want to like use them and check them out and then i started using them and they were like hey we want to sponsor you so they started sponsoring me and now they're starting to sponsor like like street horner and i'm sure there's other people now but like they just like hopped on they're like these crossfitters and toes facers so they they i don't really need them because i walk around barefoot like i have shoes on like one or two hours a day And a lot of videos I see you and you're not wearing shoes either you walk you cruise in the flip-flops and barefoot and yeah I do

But there but I love the idea of them and when I see people's feet who are all crumpled like that It's like a And you're so unaware of and then they just like bring attention to it and you're like wow this is actually crazy that people's feet like form to their shoe yeah you're you're sitting in the sixth grade and they're talking to you about what assholes the japanese were to their women by binding their feet meanwhile we're in the sixth grade and we're all sitting in there getting our feet bound by our nikes and I'm just like like like

how stupid are we you're so stupid um Brian do you want to talk about anything fitness related or games related yeah you're into the games right Brian yeah

you should update your Instagram you Yeah. You're into the games, right, Brian? Yeah. You should update your Instagram. You should update your Instagram for games. Oh. I mean, I actually have to compete first. That's fair. Look, and he's trying to take Cooper's job. He's trying to take Cooper's job.

He is. I actually like her perspective on it. Some people are very eager to do that. She wants to see it through beforehand. My favorite thing now, it's a cool thing, but the semi-final athlete now. The semi-final athlete.

Does Justin like you guys on anything mindful mindset related to your training? Do you guys on anything um like mindful mindset with related to your training do you guys like have steady to focus that does he give you guys stuff individually so with mindset i mean that was a big thing with me coming in um and so i think what did he he had me he was like he just was like we need to work on self-talk so you know be aware of the things that you're saying to yourself but now I actually just started working with a mindset coach and um I'm blanking on her name which is terrible um she is with like

the driven training mindset. I forget, but I just started working with her. So what if they fuck her up, Brian? What if this, what if this self-talk she has is murder my opponent, just destroy them when it all fucking costs. And they try to turn into some like fucking positive fucking hippie. I told her, so I told Justin, I was like, in college, we would have these mindset talks all the time. And they were just so stupid like that. Right. Like so cookie cutter, tell yourself you can do it and you can do it. Like look yourself in the mirror and tell yourself you're beautiful.

And then you're beautiful. And I'm just like, that is such bullshit. Like, I hate that. Cause for me, I'm fueled by like daniel like daniel you fucking suck like what the fuck are you doing get your shit together and then i'm you know i do better on that and so i i was like i'll talk to her so we had a phone call and i told her i was like i'm not not a cookie cutter mindset person like i'm not gonna just tell myself i'm amazing and that's not how i work so it's one of the more interesting developments in the space right now you know if you're looking at all the games athletes obviously

your efficiency on a muscle-up or on running or on for everyone and there's kind of some right and true practices in terms of you know, improving some of those things on your body type. But when it comes to mindset, the athletes that I've gotten to know over the last couple of years, there's such a broad spectrum of what works in terms of motivating them, like you talk about. That's why I've, I'm kind of been curious as these little coalitions, Underdog and Proven and comp training are starting to form if the mindset is a piece that they're that's going to be more beneficial for athlete or by having you

know maybe a group you know something that's more group oriented yeah i think comp train does a lot of group stuff but i think as far as i mean like car like Carrie, Bethany and I, we're such different athletes that I don't, I don't think one thing would work for all of us at all. So, and Justin probably sees that. Well, that's good. And then you have the opportunity to get your own coach for that area. Yeah. The little bit I've talked to the three of you, not only are you three, you come across as very different just in your presentation, your energy, but you also kind of don't fit the mold for the other athletes too.

I would more easily be able to put them into a batch than put you three into a batch. Yeah, I think so. And I've talked to Bethany the least and I've had, I don't know, probably a dozen interactions with Carrie over the years. Nothing as long as this, though. Nothing as long as this. Great.

Good. When will you train next? Tomorrow. And why not today? I will train today, but it's like just a running workout. Doesn't count. It's like a light day. Sorry, Brian.

Go ahead. No, I just wanted to ask about a couple of the events from West Coast Classic. Kind of in the mindset of, you know, this will be the third time you play the games, but it's most likely going to be the first time that you've made the full CrossFit games that we, you know, athletes participate in when they're trying to make the games.

And if you have some experience, and it's fair to call you not a rookie, but it is also most likely going to be the first year that you've got four years of competition, presumably. And so, So most likely going to be the first year that you've got four competition, presumably. Yeah. And so you haven't seen live competition in a long time.

And you had, in my opinion, three events that I thought kind of stood on the weekend at the West Coast Classic. And so I just wanted to see how you felt about those events and if you felt like they were in any way good preparation or maybe not for for the games this summer and the first one is is the ruck because you did that one at the games i think it's the only one of the workouts from west coast classic that you had previously in my opinion this was a totally different event than the from the games yeah the sandbag was way worse. And, and, and that first lap was lighter. So the first lap was, I think just 10 pounds, whereas at the games it was 20. So the first lap was like, I mean, approaching it at the games in 2019, I think I had the thought, I'm gonna save myself for like the later laps so I but you got to the later laps and like nobody saved themselves like everybody was doing like the same pace so it

was really how that first and second lap went like if you got out hot like if you went out hard enough and basically just maintained like nobody was really passing each other on those third and fourth laps um so yeah last weekend i definitely like tried to push the first two laps because they were lighter and then everyone was going to probably move very similar with the third and fourth lap but and i guess like just just from pretty like your performances and results over the years, you do generally do better on the shorter ones relative to the longer ones. When an event like this pops up in the course of a competition weekend, is it realistic for you to say like, I can't really worry too much about this one. I just have to like not put myself in a deficit for all the rest of them right i mean the thing is i'm not a bad runner like when i did the trail run run at the games like when we tested it i did really good like my time would

have won that's some self-positive talk that's some positive talk right there yeah like i'm a good runner that's the thing so in 2019 when the rough run came i actually had stress fractures in my foot so i like wasn't running and so i was just like whatever this is just like damage control event like we're gonna see how it goes and then yeah when this one popped up i was like whatever this is going to be a damage control event like it's not going to be my best but i'm not gonna like i'm not gonna get last like i you know i know i'm gonna be like middle of the pack um seven do you know what happened to to danielle at the 2019 games or how that we can end up finishing for her no so she i mean i didn't know this thing about the stress stress fractures i don't know if very many people did but she was the

the last one cut before the final 10 and then after the weekend one of those 10 failed the drug oh fuck me and i think i was 11thth, and it went down to a tiebreak. I think it was me and Amanda, I believe. Me and Amanda were tied, and then she had a second, and I had a third, or something like that. That was after the sprint event, so she had to run again on the stress fractures. I bet you can guess what movement was in the event that she won at the game, Saban. No, I cannot.

Think about those. Oh, handstand walks. Handstand walks. Yeah. Look at Brian making me look smart. You're a good dude, Brian. That was softball. That was good, dude.

Hey, this morning before you came on, I got on the assault bike and was just pedaling slow and I put on Arm and Hammer's podcast. Do you remember being on that podcast? Yeah, it was like two weeks ago. And he said something. Well, you can't even remember your coach's name. So, I mean, I'm taking it easy on you. He said something that was fascinating to me.

He said that basically you qualified. And thanks, Armin, for digging this up and sharing it with the world. 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, you qualified for the regionals but didn't go because you were a scholarship athlete at Sac State and you had to pole vault. The NCAAs that weekend. Say that again? We had NCAAs the same weekend as regionals. That's got to put you in some sort of unique club.

Have you heard of anyone else not going to deny it four times, Brian? Times. I think when I finally people thought I was fake. They were like, who's a fake athlete? They probably thought you were all juiced up and like, this is who the fake athlete.

They probably thought you were all juiced up and didn't want to go and get tested. Honestly, probably. I mean, that's what I would think. Yeah, I would think that too. Or you were some sort of like terrorist and you couldn't leave your country because some prior, I don't know. Are there any other pole vaulters besides you and Annie that you know of did you know Annie was a pole vaulter I did know that

I don't think so I have this weird recollection that there is someone else but I can't think of who it is it's really a fascinating I have this weird recollection that I know that there is someone else, but I can't think of who it is. It's really a fascinating – it's really cool. I think people love watching pole vaulting. It's kind of funny.

Like you might not go out of your way to watch it, but if you walk by a TV and you saw it, you'd stop. Yeah. Check this shit out. For sure. You ever had a pole break on you? I did just once. Is that the most common question you get yeah probably and did it break when you were up on it like doing the flagpole thing yeah so i did like i just like flipped i just like did 360 and then like landed and just got like um

fiberglass in my hand so mine was like chill like i've seen some bad pole breaks like a lot of time the pole breaks and it goes flying and sometimes it'll literally go flying and like stab someone oh god how often does that happen that a pole breaks so i mean at least i feel like at least every track competition a broke hey ryan ryan's the producer you can't see him um you should just in your spare time put together a compilation of pole vaulting breaks and put it on our channel we should monetize that shit that would fucking kill oof yeah good but the pole only breaks because typically there's like a Nick in it, which like the athlete does.

So like I, when you go up, right, your shoe like passes it, that front knee that's been, yeah. A lot of times people would hit like spike the pole and then that's when it breaks.

What do you mean? Spike the pole with your cleats? Yeah. With your spikes. Yeah. And do you hear that happen? Yeah. Sometimes you hear it happen. Oh no.

Nice Ryan. So wait a second. So there's times when you're running and your cleat hits the pole. And then for the next three seconds, your fucking butthole puckers up like, Oh God, is this going to be the one that snaps? But then like the thing is sometimes what happened to me is I spiked it. My teammate heard me spike. It didn't say anything. Like she was like, I don't know if I heard it or not. And then I went the next time on that same pole and it broke. And she was like, I thought I heard you spike it, but I wasn't sure.

Could she, if she would have told you, could have you examined your pole? We probably looked at it and then use a different pole. but I wasn't sure. Could she, if she would have told you, could have you examined your pole? Looked at it and then use a different pole. So when you spike it, like I was just watching that footage is the spike, like after you stick the pole in the ground as you're coming up next to it. Yeah. So like either that front knee, when you're like going upside down,

we'll like hit it. It's not good form. Like it only happens if you did something wrong, like wasn't a great takeoff or something. Autumn one will swoop and hit it. How expensive is, or one of those poles? Very expensive.

Like I don't get on Amazon for 39 95 and have it. The guy comes up in the van and I'm no, like very, I at one point was spiking a lot of poles and my coach was like, you, like, you have to quit doing this shit. Like a thousand bucks each, like that kind of shit. Yes. Yeah.

God, Ryan, can you find it? Can you find us? And how, what's, do you know how long do they come in all different lengths? Yeah. Like a 13 or 14 foot pole is what I was on. And do you have any poles? Like, do you have one? No, no.

I mean, I was using men's poles. Say that again? I was using men's poles at one point. Because you broke all the women's poles? No, because I'm bigger for a pole vault athlete. Oh. How tall are you? I have seven.

And how much do you weigh? Like like 150 and what's like a typical pole vault gal i've been like 120 holy cow holy cow yeah well i guess that makes sense you want to be just a stick with super strong arms and legs right i mean you want to be like but i mean it just depends like on your technique like i was just a more powerful pole vaulter nice work ryan oh yeah a thousand bucks yeah damn and they're fragile yeah so this is another thing that i noticed a lot or it seemed to be at different points of their career of recognizing it is you know in the course of a weekend sometimes there's really

I think you had just about this closest finish as you could possibly ever have against Danny in the in the workout that ended with the d-ball Danny Horan Danny Spiegel and first of all I mean it was great I think Ryan's going to have it here at the end of a workout like this how difficult is it on what you're doing compared to

what's going to be that close I didn't find it difficult at all because I don't know. You're just like in it at that point. Like there's no point in worrying what she's doing. And if you are, then you're probably going too slow.

You know, when you see like, and even in track, like if you have time to like look back, like you're thinking way too much and you're not in it. So, but also too, because that was after the chipper right

i think so yeah so the chipper was quite an event a very frustrating event so i think i just saw this workout as like the perfect event to just like go hard as hard as possible it looked like you won it well Well, if you go based off standards, I won. Ouch. It ended up coming down to... Did you cross the finish line first? Well, I stood up

all the way then crossed, but... Watch how she's ahead. So she's saying that it's arguable if Dani's hips open to finish the rep before she advanced with the deep. The chip timer is what they go by. I mean, it's too close by the naked eye. But that's one of the things that I often wonder about. I see people that cross the finish line first with the wrong foot all the time, and then they don't get credit to the. Right.

Yeah. and then they don't get credit to the right yeah and i and too i i mean that's like small things that you just like learn as you compete more surely even bethany there she stepped across with the right leg but her left leg had the chip timer and then a workout like this you know uh one second could be one could be two three places sometimes yeah yeah i mean i think they told us it was like 0.003 like it was like so close it says i think it's 0.35 on the on the okay it was yeah closer than you could ever see with the naked eye yeah are you friends with all these girls like did you get a chance i mean that friends is a little strong did you get to talk to all the girls i got to talk to danny and alexis not really like not not a lot of other girls because you have your crew and you kind of stick with them girls are i i mean you know

people get nervous and they don't really talk and they kind of like stay in their own group which i get i get to i would say like i'm a little more like more talkative and so people don't always want to talk though you know which is fine i get it they're nervous yeah you're quite uh extroverted and gregarious yeah like i like to make jokes and like have fun but not everyone's like that so best for last the west coast classic this is the last event this was crazy seven i'm not sure how closely you watched this but the men did all their heats and then the women

again to finish out the competition and it was really really close for the men like there were five guys finishing within three seconds

of each other in multiple heats and the early women also been kind of close but some people are getting stuck on

the last barbell. And then we come to the last event, and everyone's asking me, they're like, who's going to win this event? And I'm like, I think it's Danielle is. And it wasn't just a win. This was a second. She finished in 90 seconds and beat the next girl by 18 seconds. Wow. Wow. Wow.

I think it's the most impressive and dominating win relative to time duration of an event that I've ever seen. What percentage is 18 of 90? You're the math guy, Simon. That's solid. Did you know you were going to win this event, Danielle? I did. And have you ever watched it? Have you watched it since it happened, or is this the first time? Not like the full thing.

Yeah, and like, I mean, this is like, I'm good at muscle-ups. So they were showing those two girls because they were battling for the last spot that people saw. Everyone else is doing those, and there's Danielle, already a good at muscle ups. So they were showing those two girls because they were battling for the last spot that people saw. Everyone else is doing those. And there's Danielle already a bar ahead of her.

So how did she do it, Brian? She cycled the muscle ups just faster. That's just cycling muscle ups. And unbroken. I don't know if it's unbroken. Probably. Terry probably did. I feel like 15 ring muscle-ups is right at the...

I don't know if they know if they can do that or not. But if you already know that you can, I think there were more girls than just you that did that. But I don't think that any one of them... Like, you were racing the muscle-ups. Like, you were trying to pull yourself back under the rings as fast as you could to get... And she knew she could hit all the barbells. Whereas you'll see a couple of the girls weren't weren't sure about the last bar

yeah do you think we'll ever see you celebrate you cross the finish line you got a smile but no fist pumping or like maybe i don't know it's just so like showy. I mean, like, I don't know. Well, look at your hair. Why did you dye your hair? Why did you pick that? Yeah. It was for fun. It was on a way.

It's showy. It's showy. You're made to be showy. Let it out, girl. It's just like so cheesy. So cheesy to me. Well, when it comes up, I look forward to it coming out naturally. Yeah. That's what I, you know, I don't, I can't force it.

I'm not going to force it. I understand. Have you met Josh Bridges? I haven't. And Cooper works with him too, right? Yeah. What's really cool. Someone made a post and they compared me to him his fight i was felt really good about it it's like that's really cool that's really cool yeah hey look look at look who just facetimed me josh

oh do you know who that is danielle be on your screen put it over how about that yeah you're live right now i know he was at west coast but i don't know if you say the name i'll know it's james hobart it's james hobart oh, I'm joking. No. Go ahead, Mr. Hopper. You're patched in live to the podcast. I'm watching.

You told me to watch the James Hobart, Brian episode. I don't know. It's an hour and 30 minutes. I'm not watching the whole thing. You got to tell me which part to look at. No, no. Don't watch it. Don't watch it. We don't say anything nice about you.

Stop interrupting my... I know you want to be a guest on every podcast. Did he qualify? Did he qualify? Did you qualify? Hey, she has a, she has a question for you, dude.

She wants to know if you qualified. Oh no. Ah, the season's over. She wants to know. Oh, Danielle. Oh,ielle brand oh good jason nice nice rebuttal hey all right i'll i love you i'll ping you as soon as i'm done here i'll tell you if danielle was a better guess than you all right bye that was good he had me fooled for a second i didn't even know he's all Danielle who.

Yeah, he won. Did you know he won or you really didn't know? He won? Yeah. He won. Well, he won the Mid-Atlantic CrossFit Challenge. But he beat Scott Pederos, Travis Mayer. It was a really good group of athletes.

Pretty impressive. That was the first one. Oh, he's that new character. Yeah, he's new, right? Yeah. Wow. And you're not new. You're old, but you are new.

You're kind of weird. You're like the guy who has a super fancy car and he keeps it in his garage and never takes it out. I mean, you got to go to four regionals and you never went you're just like wasn't it you who put on your story you said oh maybe danielle is good maybe maybe i did say that because brian's been talking of a storm about you what people just don't know yet yeah which is fine i don't know either daniel what do you think about what do you think about real quick real quick sorry brian hold on what you just said there's really um important you said you don't know if you're good yet either and jason hopper kind of

told us the same thing he doesn't know he's like he's a fighter who hasn't been knocked out and you guys are just like we don't know we don't have we don't have enough experience yet yeah that's awesome like brian you were saying i don't we haven't had like a legit games you know i'm curious i'm curious to see her to see like obviously you're developing great relationships with bethany and carrie there and i feel like you guys are all learning from each other and improving but prior to the west coast Classic, you know, Savannah asked me about the athlete. Three of you is probably the favorites to make the game spots there,

like the top three that I would pick. But I told him I thought that it was for Danielle to beat the other girls at semifinals, but more likely for her to beat them at the games. What do you think? You think so? Is it, is it a, is there anything that's weird training with them all the time and then going

there and having that just like killer? They're just another competitor today. I think it's a little weirder for me because they're so much more dialed in with like who they are as an athlete. And like, you know, they just like have that showing of like being on the competition floor and like, you know, like they're really good at doing the like really good celebrations. And like they're just comfortable out there whereas i'm not as comfortable and so i think i have more of that like quiet competitiveness whereas like they don't as much necessarily so i think i'm kind of out of the three of them the one that gets more feisty than they do do you feel like you were like i feel like you learned anything when you

competed against tia at mayhem like from watching her or competing against her i think the like little things that i learned from her is like being the first one to like run out on the floor and like like little things like that. Um, you know, on like the muscle up when I was like, I even like, I want to be the first one on the rings. Like I'm going to be the first one on the rings. Like those little moments like matter. You know what I mean? I feel like a lot of people step up to the line and they're like, I'm going to run to my bar casually. Cause like the workout hasn't started yet, but like really it has because it comes down to those little seconds and i feel like she's always the first one like to the equipment like to the rope

to the bar which i think is like that's i feel like one thing that i know i've like learned and seen learned and seen from her but so this is seven this is a cool thing that i think there was tia might have won five of the six events, but the event she didn't win, Danielle beat her in. And that's one of the reasons why I like an athlete like Danielle at the Games is because of her ability to win a final. She won one at the Games in 2019. She beat Tia, the only one at the Mayhem Classic.

And in my opinion, if you're going to place top five at the Games, you have to be able to do that. Why do you think she'll do better at the longer format at the Mayhem Classic. And in my opinion, if you're going to place top five at the games, you have to be able to do that. Why do you think she'll do better at the longer format at the games than she will at the semifinals? Why do you like those chances for her? Well, I think that athleticism is easier to test there, and we've covered extensively how great of an athletic background she has and i generally i feel like the better overall athletes have the ability to to either recover better or rise to the case and wears on and that's where you start to see you know usually

replace on the podium you're up there throughout the weekend talking about the athletes that finish like fifth through ninth they're not until saturday evening sunday morning sunday afternoon danielle each of you get to bring a guest to the games right each athlete gets to bring like a coach and and i'm assuming justin will go who will the other two people be? Will there be a nutritionist there? Will there be like, will you guys? I believe maybe Cooper. And then I think the third one we're deciding probably maybe like a body work person. Okay.

The best body work person if I know who you're talking about. Lenny? Yeah. I haven't had the opportunity to experience yet, but I'm hoping to. Yeah. he was awesome yeah he kept me together the whole weekend so Danielle was this fun

it was it was really fun because we didn't we didn't only talk about CrossFit the whole time which is nice alright well I'm gonna get off here and creep into your story. Love it. I'll see you. And thank you. And we'll bug you again. We're excited to talk to you again. This was fantastic. Thanks for making it so easy. Thank you. This is my favorite one so far.

You settled my nerves in like an hour 25 mark. I got finally settled in. Oh, my gosh. All right. Tell your plumber I said hi. I will. Okay. Okay.

Oh, hey. I'm not sure how this recording is going to go. Maybe, Ryan, do you want to stop the recording and make sure her phone doesn't do anything silly and like not? Will you do me a favor and not erase the app or close the app? Can you do that for like 30 minutes? Not close the app? Yeah. I mean, you can hang up, but just don't close the app or erase. The last time we did this with someone, the guy closed the app and then erased it off his phone and we didn't get the recording oh shit okay yeah i can do that

all right all right guys thank you have a great day okay bye you too bye dang it i'm scared oh he left.