The Sevan Podcast - #83 - Patrick Vellner

Episode Date: July 21, 2021

The Sevan Podcast EP 83 - Patrick Vellner & Brian Friend @PVELLNER @SEVANMATOSSIAN @BRIANFRIENDCROSSFIT 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 Brian's Stuff: https://www.instagram.com/brianfriend... https://morningchalkup.com/author/bri... 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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Michelle, my partner is, she's a plant obsessed. I feel like anytime we go anywhere, she comes home with plants. So I'm like trying to put a stop because I don't know. There's a limit. Like we've got so many plants that were in the house.

Like, I don't know if we're going to be able to keep them all alive. Did you call her? We got great air. Yeah. Oh, is she your wife? I mean, technically we're not married yet, but we've been together for like seven years. So it

feels, um, weird to call her my girlfriend, I guess. Oh, right. Partner. The wedding's coming up very soon. Yeah. I mean, well, we were meant to get married last summer, but the lockdowns stopped everything. You weren't allowed to have large gatherings, obviously. So we could have just gotten kind of courthouse married, but neither of us have family on Vancouver Island. So we're kind of bringing people over to come and see us. And we just kind of felt like if the, if the wedding's not there,

if I'm just inviting people over to a party, there's a few people. So, uh, we figured we'd just delay the wedding and we post for the summer. So yeah, September 18th is when we're having people. And maybe out of, out of wedlock. We did heathens. Me too. Don't worry about it. I'm sure it'll be fine.

It's so funny. I'm sure your soul will be safe. My kid will ask me, when did you get married? And then I'll show him a picture. I'm like, dude, you were at the wedding. He's all, that's me? I'm like, yeah, you were too. He's like, oh, fuck.

How old are your kids now? Four four i have two four-year-olds and a six-year-old okay yeah so yeah you were there buddy the same for us like he'll be two months old three months old so what's your son's name patrick owen uh, who named him? Uh, both of us, it took a long time. It's funny. We had reached a consensus on a girl's name almost right away. Um, and then, I don't know, I found boy names much harder. And, uh, you know, we were kind of playing with a few, we wanted to make a name that was pretty much, um, the same in French English at least. Um, or, you know,

it would be easy to say in French because we want to try to, uh, have our kids speaking French pretty early. So we kind of abandoned that a little bit for the man, the boy's name, the girl's name was a little bit nicer in French. Um, so who knows, maybe with the next one, we'll have a girl and we'll get to use that one. Oh, and what was that one? Uh, I won't say it because I don't want someone to take it. Ah, smart.

I might've, I might've just zoned out for a second. Did you guys wait on the gender or did you know the gender ahead of time? I think it's sex. I think the term is sex. Gender. It would be sex. People make, people make up gender. Gender is just, you know, I don't know if it was going to be a boy or a girl. Ah, there you go. We, we, we did know. Um, it's kind of funny. We, so Michelle was, uh,

she was a family doctor. She was doing rotations out of town when we got our first ultrasound, I guess the, the second ultrasound. So she was going to find out and then just put it in an envelope. And when she came home, we were going to find out together, but, um, the ultrasound technician basically just put the probe on her belly and it was like full frontal right away, just right on the sweet spot and like a full dick shot. And so they both just kind of looked at each other like, uh, well,

it's boy. And so they just, she FaceTimed me like while there, she was in the appointment and they just showed me the ultrasound and said like, it wouldn't, it didn't seem fair for her to know. And a week before I did. So, uh, she just sort of, uh, signed me in and I got to be a part of it, but I was kind of funny. I feel like some people might not know what they were looking at. Um, but obviously she reads ultrasounds and does stuff like that. So it was pretty evident right away. So yeah, sort of surprise ruined,

but if it was ever going to happen to anybody, it was fine. Cause we, we wanted to know anyway. Your wife's a physician. Yeah. Is she a pediatrician? No, she's a family doctor. She's a family doctor. She does. She has like special interest in, um, she has a lot of obstetrics and gynecology and she does some emerge. When, when we got the ultrasound, um, for my boys, I was like, Oh my God, his dick is huge. And the lady's like, no, that's his nose. I was like, ah, that makes sense. Um, what, um,

when, when did, how long has she been a doctor? Well, so she technically two years, I guess she, she just finished her residency. So, well, so, well, so when we got pregnant, we got kind of with the plan that we would try to have the baby during residency because the way it works here, I don't know if it's the same in the U S but, um, residents have a union. So you're, you're technically an employee and you get benefits and you like, you could get paid for a certain period. Um,

and which I believe is significantly longer in Canada than it is in the U S. But, uh, so the plan was to try to have the baby during her residency window. And we just made it like, basically she delivered the baby a month before her residency was done. And so technically she's still a resident. So she's, she's on, on mat leave as a resident, but when she's done her maternity leave, she'll basically just be done. Like the program has said, you know, you're, you've done all your requirements and you've met all your obligations.

So as soon as you want to come back, you can either have a week or two to work under some mentorship and just step back into it. If you're feeling a little rusty or you can just graduate and be autonomous at that point. So yeah, we've kind of, we've kind of nailed it in terms of timing. So we get a little bit of a top up on Matt leave and then she'll probably go back to working one or two clinic days a week.

Well, I guess after like maybe eight months, she gets eight months of maternity leave. I don't remember the details of it. They don't get full pay and they get like kind of half pay up to a certain point. And then they get a little less than that up into a point. But if you're, if she's not still technically considered a resident, she would get nothing because as a, as a doctor, you're basically a contractor to the government. So you're kind of self-employed, so you don't get any,

any benefits at all. So had we just the window, like had, had Owen been born a month later, she would get nothing. It kind of, it's better than nothing. Pays for some, some diapers and some little bits. Right. So yeah, it's so awesome. And how old's the baby? Sorry. I missed that. He was born on the 11th of June. So he's like, you know, five weeks. Holy cow. And is she breastfeeding? Yeah. So you're just basically, so all you do is just feed her. You're like, you're yeah. That's what you do. Take care of her needs. And we've been really lucky. Cause her, her mom has been here pretty much since he was born.

Her dad's been here for a couple of weeks now too. And they've come in, they've been kind of hanging out on the island going camping, but hands on deck and it's, it's nice to have some veteran parents around and some more experienced hands. And so we've been taking advantage of that whenever we can. And, uh, it's been me trying to help take care of her, but also her parents have been doing a very good job of that, which has been a godsend to be able to train a little bit more and do things

that I this month. Uh, cause obviously him being born like a week before semifinals was was high stress and then the last few weeks it's been uh it's been similar so do you like her parents pardon me do you like her parents yeah I do I I love them they're actually great but it's I think that like any well like any people you just, we have our little things that we don't align on. And so I have found that right now when my training is really high and, and you know, the stress is high, your bandwidth just runs a little thing. And so there's like those little things that are totally nothing sometimes just,

just like irritate me a little more than they should. And so I've had to get a little bit better. I just, you know, taking myself away, going for a walk, doing something to keep my mind fresh because, um, it's, it's energy to have more people in the house all the time. And you sort of feel like you can't really relax. Um, and like, you're, you're kind of on, you're entertaining a little bit. You're doing, you're just, you're just more on, you know, you're walking around on, you're entertaining a little bit. You're doing, you're just, you're just more on, you know, you're walking around with your shoulders up a little more than you will relaxed in your own house. So having that for the last month, uh,

you know, it's just, it's a, it's a little more mental where I'd say, but they're lovely. They're awesome. They're super helpful. Um, it's just, you know, it's different when it's just doing your part. Well, um, it's funny you say that. I was actually thinking about that this morning. Um, in the shower, I was thinking that I, when I do podcasts, I always think that I'm just being so myself. And then the second we like stop recording, then I'm like, Oh shit. And then like, we'll start like, like we'll stop recording today. And I'll be like, okay, Pat, thanks for coming on. Uh, don't close your browser window yet. And then all of a sudden I'm like, no, that's the real me.

The last hour and a half, I thought that was me. And it's not that I'm being fake or not authentic. It's just kind of like, um, I'm more on now, right? We're recording and I have to be exactly the feeling weird, but I, but I never feel it when I'm doing it until it's over. I'm like, Oh, you know what I mean? Yeah. You take a big breath and it's kind of, yeah. Yeah. So it's, it's a little bit of that. Like I love them, but it's the same. My parents have been here for, they were here for kind of four or five days, about a week and a half ago. And it's the same when my parents are here. Like you're just, you feel like you gotta be, you know, a little more engaged, a little more and maybe entertaining them. Or so it's just like, I feel like it's less acceptable for me to just go fuck off the other room, like watch some TV and stretch for like an

hour, even though like some days that's probably what I should do. And they wouldn't care if I did it, but I feel like I can't do it. Um, right. So, you know, you just, you're, you're, yeah, you're doing this. You're doing that. Yeah. Yeah. But there's been a bit of that in the last while. So yeah, it is what it is. Um, another, another thing I noticed with the grandparents and I, and I learned this, it unfortunately took me one kid to learn this, but there's things like, there would be like, my kids would fall down and I would like I would always like let them like if I used to walk Avi a lot in his first two years. Like and I first of all, I love the fact that he crawled and I never wanted him to be encouraged to walk because for some reason I think crawling is the holy grail of fitness. And once you walk, you'll never, ever fucking crawl again.

So I was never interested in like getting things to try to promote my kid to walk. I wanted him to spend a lot of tummy time and I wanted him to crawl a lot. And so then finally, when he started, when I would see people like my, you know, the grandparents trying to encourage him to walk and holding his hands and stuff, it would piss me off the, for the first kid. And then the second kid, or like, and then as he got older, when he would fall down, they would come over and pick him up. And I'd be like, man, you just stole a fucking burpee from him. Like you just stole the fucking whatever that is the concentric movement of him standing back up and I had all these thoughts and finally I was like you know what fuck that I can only control how I do it and everything else how the world treats him you know it even comes with like the way they eat like

if we go to someone's house and they gave him something that I would never feed my kid outside of like soda I just don't or I just don't interfere. Like, OK, you know, like we're at this person's house and they gave him goldfish and I would never feed him that. But I had to by the second and third kid, I let all that go. I only just made sure I the grandparents are going to be the grandparents. And it's never worth it was never worth like fighting with my parents. I realized just to make these little changes, like my kids will know the rules when I'm around versus when the rules, the parent, the grandparents are around, you know

what I mean? Oh, kids know it and they, and they'll take advantage of it and they're aware. Right. But I think that you're right. There's only so much baggage you can carry, right? You got to choose your battles. And I think you'll wear yourself out if you try to, you know, take on every little thing like that. And we've, you've got, you've got kids much like I've only had for a few weeks. Right. But you can see that around. I think that, yeah, I see my, my have a niece at seven and I've seen it with her and the way, you know, my parents spoil her and my brothers are like, Hey,

we know the deal when we send her off. and, and that's, that's what we want. And we want the grandparents to look after her. So that's what works. And when she comes home, she can't do it. And it's the way it works. But she's a vocalist, right? Yeah, that's right. Vienna. Yeah. She's funny. She was here. When my parents came to visit, she came with me or she came with them here so we had her around as well watch a train for a few days and that was fun i was trying to work out and like a seven-year-old just talking your ear off the whole time i was doing like

intervals and she was like trying to get me to watch stuff and i was dying trying to breathe well i said when i was i was just yeah i was just, yeah, I was just going to say to your credit on the tummy time and walking and crawling, um, crawling isn't a very important developmental milestone. Like you can't spit because it's good for like, it's, it's for spine development and, and, uh, you know, motor development. So you're right. You should crawl in like those things. I didn't say, I love trying to have Owen, like he's really,

he's really trying to hold his head up and has been for since he was like two weeks old, quite strong now, but I, I let him hold his head as long as he can. And then when he just conks down, cause he runs out of gas, you know, I love that. Yeah. You know, so it's good. I think it is good to allow your kids to, you know, challenge themselves and struggle a little bit. You don't need to pick them up immediately when they fall all the time.

But again, I'm a very, very green parent. So I'll see, I'll see how my, my, uh, attitudes change over time. I guess I have, I have the best intentions and the best plans, but I don't know how it's going to be when, you know, sometimes you're tired and you need things done or blah, blah, blah. We'll see. My four-year-olds learned how to dress themselves before my six-year-old because I always got him dressed.

Right. And still to this day, when my kids go to the bathroom, I always go to the bathroom with them. Like I take them to the bathroom, but I see kids in the, um, it, it, it, because I've taken that opportunity away from them. And, but I see kids in the jujitsu studio who are three years old to go to the bathroom by themselves. And so you can start seeing these places where you've babied your kid. Um,

and they have shortcomings before it. And I don't mean that in a, in a negative way, but you have to be conscientious of those shortcomings. Like when we would put, I would put Avi down on tummy time and I would set the timer for two minutes. Right. Because after 30 seconds, he starts crying. You know, you know, that as soon as you hear your baby cry, it's like, put everything down and go check on the kid. You just become biologically wired for that. So then I'd be like, okay, I need to just sit by him and take some deep breaths and let another 90 seconds pass. And nine out of 10 times he would stop crying and um and and i did the right thing by not reacting but but it is uh it's a trip you're

in full you're in full all of a sudden just in full protection mode it's crazy you've had so so many things happen to you that are like huge things baby wife going to medical school bought a new house train for arguably one of the most difficult events on the planet um it's it's nuts or do you ever feel like like you're losing your mind like do you ever feel like holy shit this is like what the fuck is going on do you compartmentalize do you is it like, like you're losing your mind? Like, do you ever feel like, Holy shit, this is like, what the fuck is going on? Do you compartmentalize? Do you, is it all just Patrick? Just another year, man. Just another year. I feel like, um, I do think that compartment is how I manage it. It's funny.

I feel like I very rarely think of all the things I have to do or have done or are going on at one time. Um, because it, it seems very overwhelming when you kind of make a list, but I I've done a good job and Michelle is great. And we, we work together in a way that allows us to kind of get the things done that we need to do. And we tend to operate at pretty high efficiency, you know, she's a, she's a doctor. And then like we, we all, we all are busy and we managed to set our lives up in a way that we can kind of all help each other out and steer, steer around each other and help each other.

But, um, it's busy and it just always has, I think it's a slow build and then you just kind of get used to things and they become normal. Right. Um, the last year for sure. Like we've done a lot of adulting, the last year for sure. Like we've done a lot of adulting in the last year, um, getting the house, having a baby, you know, both finishing, like she finished her school basically now. And, uh, we've been working and not for sure. And that those have been big, um, like I said, I feel like big grownup steps,

but prior to that, I mean, we've still been the same kind of busy, you know, when I was at school and I was still going to school for full days and training and doing whatever else I needed to do and trying to find time for friends and social time. Like the last, you know, five, six, seven years in my life have been pretty much the same where you just, it's this delicate dance between where you can get things in and how to, how to keep yourself sane with the busy schedule you're trying to keep. So like I said, I'm fortunate that I have a partner that lives very much the same way and

understands. And we help each other out when we're each at very critical periods. You know, when we went for the quarterfinals, I went and competed in Victoria about kind of 90 minutes away from where I live here. And Michelle was sitting for one of her board exams at the time. And so we basically, I, I finished advanced for the semifinals all good. And then I came home and then she had like three days of cramming that she had to finish and then she wrote her exam.

So it went from her trying to help support me, get ready. I need you to be successful to a full flip where now I had to do that same thing for her and take care of any needs that she had. Right. So I think we understand each other and each other's needs and, and yeah, like I said, if I sit back and look at the list, sometimes you're like, Whoa, and it, it can stress you out. But when you focus in on one thing at a time and you just sort of stay engaged in the task at hand, I think it makes it a little bit more palpable and manageable. Um, you know,

just take little bites, like Johnson with lots of small steps, you travel a great distance, right? So I think it's more about just making the task list, accomplishing one thing, check box, then checking another box, and then using that momentum and just keeping trotting forward. Cause you know, life keeps coming at you. You said adult, go ahead, Brian. I won't forget. What's the, uh, what's, what's the plan for you guys in terms of managing the games this year?

Is she going to be able to travel or is she going to stay back home? She is. So we basically, her and Owen are both going to come. My parents are going to be there as well to help her with the baby doing the competition. And we've had, people are very generous. Like even, you know, Matt and Sammy who are going to be there, they're psyched to see the baby and Sammy's offered to be sit during games as well. So people are very, very kind and generous. Um, but we've kind of set it up in a way that we think work.

I have a separate room during the competition where I'll stay so that I can get some sleep. Um, and yeah, I mean, we, we have, uh, we had to get him a passport almost immediately after he was born. Like the day he delivered same day, I had to file paperwork to get him a passport to make sure that it would be done in time to be able to travel. So we had to jump through quite a few hoops there just to make sure that we would be able to do it.

We had to drive down to Victoria again to just to go to the passport office and drop the documents off in person to make sure it got processed fast. And, uh, it was just like, yeah, a little bit of running around and a little bit prior to we knew that. So labor or anything like that, like we had the, we had the documents dropped up and ready to go. And all that was left was to, to write the birth and like the time, the name and all that kind of stuff. So once we find that we just sort of, um, you know, while we're sitting in the hospital, we submitted the paperwork.

Did you have the baby's name before the baby was born? Not really. So again, sorry, I have a hair in my mouth. How did that happen? I think it flew up from my chest. Not exactly the answer. There's not a lot of follow-up questions to that. We were sort of, so we've had like this last name sort of conflict on for years. So Michelle's last name, she has a hyphenated last name. So we were sort of like, she wanted to preserve some of her name.

And we were just unsure how to do it completely open to it. Um, it just sort of the hyphen thing is sort of has a, a finite range to it, right? Like you can't just keep hyphenating forever. So you've got to drop at least one part of the hyphen. And then it's sort of like, okay, well, we're dropping your mom's name or your dad's name. And it became this, like we talk about it maybe once a year for the last seven years of just like, Hey, you know, if, and when we have a kid, how are we going to do this? If, and when we get married, how are we going to do this? Um, and you know,

I think that in the end we ended up just giving him my last name. She still has her full name. I, I, I expect that as a professional, she's going to still work at Dr. Work and hell. I have no, um, you know, I have no right to that side of it. I think that she, she earned the title on her own and I have nothing to do with it. So, um, but yeah, we ended up eventually, that was why the name wasn't exactly settled until in the hospital.

I feel like that morning we were kind of talking about it. And to be honest, I think the, we basically settled on simplicity. We were like, it'll just be simpler and easier. And there were like, there were some small pieces of it, like, you know, every now and then we'd mentioned, you know, it's hard for me to change my name a little bit when like I have, I have like brand association with my name and things like that. So I think likewise,

like I was going to change my name as a professional or as an athlete and I didn't expect her to change her name as a professional. So it was more about just what we did with one, but we didn't have a middle name or a last name decided. But you did have the first name. You did have the first name. We were like 90% sure. I think. I would already call him Owen when she was in the tummy, she would be like, Oh, Owen's kicking.

No, we actually were, well, we were trying to get better at saying that by the end but very early on in pregnancy we kind of uh we started calling him spec because you know early on it's just like a little spec right and it was just to say we didn't have a copy too yeah we didn't we didn't have a name chosen we didn't i mean this this little spec didn't have an identity it's like a little marula. Whatever. So we just called it speck for simplicity. Is it embryology? I forget, but my wife signed me up when she got pregnant.

She signed me up for like a daily or weekly update where I could read everything that was going on with the kid. Did you? I was so stoked she did that. It was awesome. It's stoked. I was so stoked. She did that. It was awesome. It's cool. Really cool. Yeah. Then you, I figured out when I had to stop hitting her in the stomach, stop punching her. Like, Oh yeah. And then just basically as baby got bigger and bigger, we just kept calling him spec because we didn't have a name picked out. So I would say up until like, you know, 36 weeks, we were still calling him spec and then by the way i

recommend that don't do that pat so do what pat velner did have a baby um but don't because that could stick like well i mean your kid could have been named spec you know it it could have happened it could it almost did probably but i think that you know we'll probably still call him spec as like a nickname and he'll never know why and it'll just be our little secret i was surprised um when my wife changed her name so we had the baby we didn't i don't even he was just avi matosian and but um then after we got married she was like one day she's like oh shit and i'm like what she like, I went down to social security to change my last name. And I forgot, I took my, I forget. I took the marriage certificate on accident instead of my birth certificate. And I was like, what are you doing that for? She's all, I'm changing my name to your last name. And it caught me off guard. I was like, Whoa, you are, you know, don't you got to ask me first. Your name. So that was uh um you said that something that caught my attention because

because it's a it's a term that i use too not exactly like that but um you said you were adulting and uh doing stuff and it's it's it's weird because one of my questions was is like when you bought the house who does the paperwork like you Like you or your wife? And like I don't – adulting is weird and doing grown-up shit is weird for me. I don't particularly – I don't want to say I don't enjoy it, but like somewhere a few years ago, I decided I'd never really want to become an adult. I don't see anyone who I picture as an adult, and I know it's a pretty abstract concept, having fun in life. who's an adult who I picture as an adult. And I know it's pretty abstract concept, having fun in life. And I do picture you as someone who probably doesn't want to be an adult either. Cause you're pretty, you're pretty fun too.

Oh, thanks. But I agree with you. And I think that is the thing about like life in general is everybody's looking around at each other. Like, like someone else has got to figure it out. Right. So I think that when you, when you, when you look around and you say that, like, Oh, you know, I'm adulting or like, this guy is an adult to your adult than me. They know what's going on.

They don't know what's going on. Right. They're not, they're not adulting any better than you do. Right. So they it's sort of this arbitrary point where we think that at some point, like, I don't know, I thought I'd turn 30 and all of a sudden I knew how to build a fence and I had fucking, I understood mortgages and all the stuff and it just doesn't happen. Right. So it is interesting. I think, um, nowadays the world has changed a little bit where some of those skills we don't learn as young as maybe like my parents did or, or my parents' parents did. Um, so I think that we, we maybe lack a little bit of mentorship in some of those areas.

So I just kind of think it's funny. I, and it's, it's a, it's a joke for us because, you know, so stuff like, yeah, like when we bought the house, things like that, to answer your question, Michelle does the paperwork for the house. I don't do any of that shit. She's very much more meticulous with her organization than I am these days. So, you know, I, I do the, you know, I pay the thing or sign the document or do whatever I need to do and tells me, but I think she very much carries the mental load of that and I'm appreciative of it. Um, but you know,

it's the same like when it comes to like kids or things like that, you know, we, um, we hope that somebody else can guide us or help us figure it out, but it's different generationally too. Right. Like we raising a kid now is different than it was, you know, in 1930, like when my, my grandparents were raising kids. Right. And I think that everybody does their best, but you're, you're raising kids in the cons, uh, sorry, in the environment that exists today. Right. So the social and cultural environment has changed. And so because of that, like I said, people's become more heavily valued than others. And maybe you are more likely to emphasize certain things than others.

So it's kind of fun in a sense, because it means every generation, you're kind of reinventing the wheel. There's, of course, some advice and information that is going to transcend all generations. But you know, when I, when my grandparents or my dad tells me some way that we used to do things or they used to is us like it's different now. Cause like every six year olds on the internet and there's this and that, and like the, the social environment is just different. So we kind of have to adapt and focus on different things. And so it's fun in a sense, because nobody knows what the hell is going on.

Right. Outside of that stage and say, aren't raising kids or have already settled their mortgage or have whatever kind of get to sit back and, and, uh, give peanut gallery advice. But sometimes they just don't know what they're talking about. Oh, speaking of peanut gallery advice, the best just don't know what they're talking about oh speaking about gallery advice the best advice i ever got um for when i had a baby was from chris spieler he gave it to me at the games and he said that i'm burping you guys burp your kid yeah i can't believe no one told me that and i had to learn that from ch Buehler of the games. But dude, that there were three.

Oh, you just got puked on for a while or what? Well, yeah, my wife fed on demand for all the kids. And Avi just would always just like throw up after he ate, just like engorge himself. But the three things that work 99% of the time were to swaddle, change a diaper or burp. And almost any time he was crying, if you did one of those three things, it immediately went away. It was, it was crazy, but I was so happy he told me about burping. I don't know who told you about burping.

Well, you know, we're, we're like, we're lame, Siobhan. We don't like, we, we learn things in advance. We read things, we prepare, like we're pretty meticulous. Like I think we assigned Michelle signed up, especially with things. There's a lot of, uh, little like baby courses that went to online instead of being like live maternity classes. So I just signed into some little lectures and, you know, you hear some stuff and it's like, you know, you learn all the things. And then also we had the advantage, like I said, of having parents around for the first little while too.

So we admittedly were not good at birthing for a while. I think we would kind of try and give up because we weren't really, we didn't have this down. And we've since gotten much better. So, you know, we were wearing a little while isn't it that's great for sure i think it helps you better too i'm trying to think what it's equal to it's like um it's like you know when you drink a man what what there's this you know like if you take a shit right before you do a workout it's like there's this relief like oh that's awesome it's like as soon as your kid burps, you're like, Oh, that is awesome. Or it's like every time

right after you change a diaper, there's this great feeling of like, Oh, I'm not, it's going to be two more hours before I have to do this. You know what I mean? I didn't even mind changing diapers, but there's this sense of like, you see time open up in front of you. As soon as a kid, you got the kid on your shoulder and you're patting his back and his burps. You're like, oh, there's this sense of like, yeah. Or like if the mail came and your package arrived. It's just a man. I know it makes me feel like he's really gives me relief as well as him.

I feel like, oh, I feel like he got relief. And I'm like, oh, he's not going to be fussy now for a little bit. Like he's cool. And he's not going to pukeussy now for a little bit. Like he's, he's cool. Um, and he's, and he's not going to puke. He's going to keep his lunch or whatever. Right. He's, he's gonna, he's not going to have to eat again for a little bit. He's not going to be super fussy. He's pretty good. He's like very, we're trying to get better at soothing him without feeding him. Um,

I feel like early on instinct is just to kind of like put them on the boob if he's super fussy and early on, like they just cluster feed like that, but we've started to get them now, you know, he's, he's growing up, man. He's five weeks old. Like he's, he's got to get over that. So we, uh, we're starting to get them more engaged in other things because he's starting to look around and, uh, and pay it, you know, we gotta, like he's got to start reading and walking soon. Like, come on, dude, just tell me what's,

but we're going to be looking at things and more tactile and stuff like that. We actually printed a bunch of like, um, pictures of like snowflakes or like a chess board or things that have really stark contrast, um, in just black and white because babies have their vision is mostly contrast based. They don't have really good, uh, acute vision yet. Um, so just putting stuff like that in front of them, he really stares at it and then sometimes it calms them right down.

So trying to experiment with other ways to sue them and things like that. But yeah, we're getting all right. I've been doing an experiment over here on my own as the only nonfather in the group. I had never heard of the word more ruler before, and i don't know anything about the stages of embryology but velner comparison i think that they um current can be made a correlate to the stages of oh boy okay keep going brian this is good you got us you don't, Brian. This is good. You got us. You don't fuck this up.

This is good. This is a good opener. I think I have them right here. I mean, just the first couple of days after implantation, I view this as the open. And then there's cleavage, which is a meiotic cell divisions. This could be viewed as a quarter finals. You get down to Marula. The cells become a solid ball

and now you have a little bit, actually some people are really contending for the season. Then you have Blastula transitioning into Gastroiola, where you have a clearer picture of what's going on. Okay.

Yeah, okay. We never quite make it that. we never desperate to get into the conversation desperate we never i just feel like we never made it to embryo even but i guess you're just looking at initial stages of embryology well i was not sure more than any athlete like when we're not on the air your name comes up more than any other athlete he talks about you more than anyone and so yeah brian and i are tight you have to understand we've been talking now for 34 minutes he hasn't got in a word edgewise he he's only has two choices either to hate me or to fucking fucking throw hail mary he chose that we'll get off of uh he will get off of uh other shortly i guess and And then Brian can get more involved.

Patrick, you posted something on your Instagram, you doing your first open. And then you juxtaposed that with your current open. Do you have any clothes from six years ago? Oh, probably. I have a hard time getting rid of stuff. I think probably much to Michelle's chagrin. I think I do. I have way too much shit from like way too long ago. There's no way any of those clothes fit you.

I mean, I'm sure I was swimming in it in 2016 or whenever that was, sorry, 2013. That's I can see that. So, so what size clothes, what size shirt is that you're wearing right now? Large. A large size shirt is that you're wearing right now? Large. A large? That is crazy. And you're twice the size of me. See, that's what I mean.

I'm not like that. I don't know. I'm not like an obscene person. I'm not huge. You're very thick. Thick here. I'm like thick in the midline. I feel like thick in the back and the midline. Like when I,

when I was working in clinic, we had to, the clinics we worked at had a more strict dress code than the clinic I work at now. So we'd have to wear a button up shirt. And most of my button up shirts like super tight around the bust right because i just have like quite thick chest back so i'd always be like anytime i'm leaning over to do something i feel like i'm gonna blow a shirt up so i had to get some specific shirts with a little given them um so i'm big there but i'm like i don't know i also think i don't look like i'm that big because i'm quite long like i have long arms and legs so so it stretches me out a bit. I don't have that really stocky look to myself.

But yeah, just a large man. Wear a large shirt and medium shorts. You have to look up my friend John Brzee. Years ago is pretty interesting because I was very selective in my apparel for today's show. This is a shirt. I don't know if you can. Pac-Man. Chasing ghosts.

And I made this shirt myself six or seven years ago. But as a Pac-Man, and it was actually an exercise ref. In my garage alone. And I would chase scores of the guys who got me into the sport. And I would imagine them being one movement ahead or one rep ahead and then try to improve. But now I'm wearing it in honor of the pasty white ghost, Patrick Vellner that I'd be chasing in a couple of weeks. Well, and I mean, Brian,

we can relate to the chasing ghost thing because that's how I've been competing for the last 18 months. Um, so I get it. It's not easy. I appreciate the shout out on the shirt though. I think I should make an updated version that has your, your face right here. Just as the last goat. Yeah. Patrick, I think when I think of athletes, I'm being glad that Fraser's out. There's very few that I think that are not happy. And for some reason, and I don't know why, I think that maybe you're not happy that you actually.

And maybe it's because a lot of people don't think they can beat him. But for some reason, I think that maybe you're like that samurai who's like. You want to beat him like he as much as you like him as much as you have that friendship it's um it's like in college when you when you drop and break your favorite bong it's like it's gone and like he's gone and it's like you're like fuck like he needed to be beaten, and now he's gone. Am I right about that at all? That you're kind of pissed, disappointed?

I'm not mad about it. I think it's disappointing. I think the reality is you're right. I think there is fundamentally something to the whole you gotta be the champ to be the champ thing um and i think no matter what happens this year that'll always be something um and and i think that it's annoying to have the opportunity stolen away from you and i totally get he deserves retirement more than anybody and i honestly am thrilled for him um but it's annoying to not just a shot right like everybody wants to have a puncher's chance and

everybody wants to just like or maybe not everybody but i certainly do um i think that the sport is better with him in it um but that said everybody's athletic career uh comes to an end and i think it's there's something really amazing about being able to make that decision for yourself and go out on your own terms. So I, I talked to Matt reasonably frequently and we're good friends and I, there was nothing left for him in the sport. And I think that he saw that and he is now able to enjoy himself in a way that he hasn't in a long time, but he and Sammy, And I think that that's the best thing he could have done.

Um, selfishly, I would love to have him competing still. Right. I wouldn't. Um, so yeah, I mean, I think most people are glad he's gone. I don't think people think like, I think people see it as an opportunity where you see it as, as like, I see it as a loss on the table and the dog ate your last piece of pizza. And you're like, God damn it. Yeah. I would say that some people might see it as an opportunity. I see it as a lost opportunity.

Yeah. Um, does that fire you? Does it fire you up? Are you able to convert that to motivation? I mean, probably a little bit. I think the, it's funny, the whole conversation around Matt firing and the opportunities that lie in the men's field. Um, I don't think it changes much. Like I think people maybe now can say, Oh, I can, I can a little more tangibly see that goal, but like, I don't think it should, or it should, I don't think it should change the way you've been training. If it does, then you were training wrong to begin.

You should have been doing the things anyway. And if whatever you were going to do to make yourself good enough to win is what you already should have been doing. So him stepping away should make no difference. I guess what I mean is when you win this year, when Patrick Vellner of Canada wins the CrossFit Games in 2021, he's going to win the CrossFit Games, and that's awesome. But if Fraser was in the Games, you would get two accolades. You beat Fraser, and you won the Games. And so it's kind of like the prize money got cut down, which is another sensitive topic.

It's just interesting and i just don't think that i i think that you from just a little bit that i know you and from just following you for the last few last you know eight nine years you've been in the game i i just see you as like that's as important to you as winning the games like you would really have liked to sock it to him i mean it's it's um you're not far off so any competitor who's like really i don't know really worth their salt would want that same thing with rich yeah i'm sure matt had that with rich right he lost to rich and rich bailed and he's like god damn it yeah it's something you got to get over right like you got over it i'm not i'm not thinking

he's going to come back just so i can get a punch in like so it is what it is and in the last two years you know where he lives you can just go get him yeah exactly he's coming to my wedding maybe i'll just sucky him when he shows what he walks'll set up a surprise workout. I'll train all summer and then I'll set up a surprise workout when he shows up to the wedding. Um, I was watching an interview you did with your, is that guy, Nathan,

your, your regular videographer. He was reasonably regular until just recently. He actually just moved. He was living in Vancouver on the West coast of Canada. He just moved all the way to the East coast like a week ago, two weeks ago. Oh, why would he do that? So he and his partner are, they met out there.

He's kind of from out that way. He's from like Eastern Canada. And they split out there and they have lots of family and friends out there. And they just, they had come out West because she worked for Lululemon headquarters and that's where the work was. Uh, so they did a little stint out here, but they just moved out East. It's cheaper to live out East, frankly, like they were just kind of like, you know, Vancouver is this pretty stifling market. Um, and she had great work,

but, um, they were just just she was getting sick of her horse to his chariot you're his horse he's the chariot you're the horse yeah there'll be other things he he's got he's good at what he does and there'll be other opportunities i think he'll be at the games um but yeah i gotta figure something else out because i'm not great with content myself i'm certainly don't have the video editing skills that he does and you're not you're not in Yeah. I got to figure something else out because I'm not great with content myself. I certainly don't have the video editing skills that he does. And you're not in the easiest area to get to. No, I'm probably in the hardest place to get to in Canada.

Where are you? Describe for the people who are listening where you're at. You're on the North American continent on the West Side, way up north? Yeah, I'm in the Pacific Northwest. I live on an Island off the West coast of Canada. And, and, and how far is that Island from the mainland? Is there a bridge? No, there's, you can get there by ferry. Uh, and it's a two hour ferry ride from Vancouver to Nanaimo, or you can get there by like plane and the planes take like, or you can get there by helicopter as well. Um, so they either, you can either go see plane helicopter or ferry and you know, very slow.

It's two hour ferry, the plane, we have an airport. And if I fly anywhere, like let's say I got to go to Waterpool, I have to fly Nanaimo to Vancouver, then Vancouver to probably Toronto, then Toronto to Miami and the Vancouver Nanaimo flight is like 12 minutes, but the ferry is two hours, right? It's not that far physically. The ferries move slow. I think I've been to that Island. I was there in 2008.

I did a screening of every second counts there. And I just realized, I think I went on a water plane. You're right. Yeah. I know your Island. They're cool. I mean, it's cool. It's like, it's kind of like rustic and fun. Um,

but it's fun until you got to get somewhere fast or efficiently. Right. Like my, for me to get to Madison is a train wreck. Um, so it's just the way it is though. You know, you got to plan around it. Didn't that Island used to be like a Haven for motorcycle gangs or something? Uh, I don't know. It's it's funny i i treat in clinic i bought rcmp and drug enforcement agents um but uh there's a lot of there is a lot of like drug trafficking stuff that goes on through there so i think there was for a time a large amount of it there's a little neighborhood town that just recently got like reclaimed by the house angel or somebody. And it's, it was, it's pretty crazy. They like painted all the houses on the block black. Um, so it's pretty wild and intimidating.

But, um, anyway, we don't, I don't, well, I don't like skip through that neighborhood all the time, but it's there. Maybe it would increase your running time if you ran through there. Maybe. I've never seen a house. It might end up with a hole in my chest. I've never seen a house that's completely painted black. I'm trying to think if I've ever seen one. Why don't they paint it black?

Not usually. They're probably regretting it during the heat wave recently. Speaking of heat waves, you have a window when the climate there is more habitable than others, right? The more enjoyable. You go outside, there's a season you look forward to more than the others, I'm guessing? Summer? We're not too bad here, honestly. Yes, yes like anywhere but our winters are pretty mild and it's mostly rainy season like it might might snow here like one week a year maybe um so you get some rain like i

outside at my house in like february and stuff like that like it oh it rains a bit you got you got to dodge the rain but and it won't be like warm like i might warm up with a sweater on and and wear pants when i'm swallowing or doing whatever but i can train outside almost year round so it's pretty good yes of course the summer is like the spring summer fall is pretty nice i'd say anywhere from like april through like or is pretty nice. And you have a rig attached to the side of your house. Yeah. I built one this year during,

during lockdown because I needed somewhere to work out. So we moved into this house in August of last year. And then I was like in the first month, I kind of got into the garage and it's a low ceiling. So I put some stuff in there and then we put a rig on the outside. Just do, you know, mostly everything I need to do. And did your wife get angry that you were bolting a rig onto the side of your beautiful new house? I think she would prefer that I didn't, but I think that she understands the necessity of it. Uh, with the current lifestyle that we live and she uses it sometimes too. So it's not just me.

How do the, how do the neighbors like it? Uh, it's, it's funny. So our neighborhood is like, it's, it's pretty tight. Like people just sort of know everybody's business. Um, which is funny. Like it's, it's not like the houses are right packed in, but it's just kind of a tight neighborhood. Um, and so people just sort of, when we moved in, but he already knew who we were, like what we did. And it was just sort of like common knowledge because I guess the people who sold us the

house kind of knew us and it just sort of snowballed. And, uh, so people already knew a little bit. And when I put that up, like my neighbor, it faces kind of my neighbor's house on the one side and he'll come out sometimes and just sort of sit on his deck and just watch for a little bit and then go back inside. And he's quite old. So it's just, it's, he's got to be in his attendees. Um, so it's kind of funny. Like people are always are our street, particularly, um, there's a path right by it.

So there's lots of people who come and walk their dogs down there. Kids are always rolling around on bikes and scooters down there. So often there'll be like kids ripping by and they stop and watch for a few minutes and then they keep going. And so it's fine. I try not to do anything that's super noisy or destructive. I tend to not play music outside. I don't push sledding on the street. Cause I think it's just like a big grading. And I, I wouldn't want that. It's just like a big grading. And I, I, I wouldn't want that. I don't, uh, I do that stuff at the gym if I have to do it. Um, but it's funny. And I also don't, I don't leave things up. Like I don't,

I take my ropes down and my rings down, like anytime I'm not using them because I don't want to come over there at night and, and, uh, so, uh, but yeah, it's, it's kind of fun. Yeah. I just throw a ladder up and I go in and hook it and I pull it down. It's pretty easy. I just, just basically, I don't put it up unless I'm going to use it. So if I have a workout that's not rope climbs or rings in them, then I put it up and then I use it and then I take it down. So keep the kids safe, man. I know it'll be kids up there swinging on it if I, if I didn't. So.

Do you, do you push harder when the, when grandpa's watching? Yeah, probably. That's cool. I feel like you always push harder when somebody's watching. Yeah, totally. Although maybe, maybe it just depends. Maybe it depends what I'm doing. If I'm on a machine, you can't see the numbers. Maybe not. But if I'm doing like Barma slumps out there,'m like fuck yeah watch me do 20 and i'm like hang on does he know does he know what he's looking at

does he know he's looking at no he must i highly doubt it i've actually a couple times where he's uh he's asked me to come help him with some like legit while I was in the middle of doing something like the bar muscle is a perfect example. I was doing intervals of some kind one day where it was like, I remember what it was like maybe rolling in bar muscle ups. And I was legitimately like doing a set of like 10 bar muscle ups. And I was in the middle of a set and he's, he like walked right over to the front and he's like hey can you help me unload this whatever it was like a bench out of his car and i was like i was answering him while i was doing bar muscles yeah just like if you can give me like five minutes i'll come out i just need to finish like two more of these and i'll be right there so you know i think a little

bit of a he's a little oblivious probably probably hopefully a little impressed, but, uh, yeah, mostly oblivious. I think. I was, I was never training for the games, but I used to train at this park, uh, this school by my house and it had a 400 meter track and pull up bars and we would carry a bunch of shit out there and we would work out and we'd do that five, six days a week. And it w it is kind of amazing. Like people would just come over and just start talking to you while you're in the middle of something horrendous. Yeah. And, uh, again, this is what my niece was doing to me the other day.

I, I guess a seven-year-old maybe, but can you imagine like Tom Brady's out there running drills and like someone like walks out to him, like, Hey, you mind come out into the parking lot real quick and help me unload this, uh, these 400 cases of fit aid. And you're just like, hey, you mind coming out into the parking lot real quick and help me unload these 400 cases of FitAid? And you're just like, it just wouldn't happen to anyone else. Maybe they just don't recognize. I guess most people just don't understand that kind of working out who would interrupt people while they're in the middle of that working out. Yeah, and I think there would be a little bit of, I think in general, the way people often are exercising, there's, there's no real time constraints on things. A lot of the time it's like, Oh,

I could just put down this set of dumbbell curls and yeah, I'll help you with whatever you want and then go back to it. Um, so I think probably people don't really have a, an understanding of like the urgency of what you're doing. Um, so that might play a role in it, but it is funny. Sometimes the track one is hilarious. Like I've, I've definitely run at the track before people who are out walking on the track with their soul, which is great. And I love that they're there doing it, but they're like hugging inside lane and their kids like zigzagging across three lanes. And I'm man, there's like

three of us here at the track who are, who are running. And we would appreciate it if you would just like, even if I could just predict where you would be, but like, you're like swerving. And I was at the park the other day, I heard a soccer field doing just some agility cone stuff. Um, and there's a flat pad right by it. And there were so many parents and kids who just walked and cut right. My little setup. Um, and just, I was like standing or like to run,

or I was in the middle of a run and can, they were just sort of like the parents would just bottle right through. And I was like, man, come on. Like, I get it if you're a four-year-old just rip through and I'm all totally, I'll jump over them if I have to. But if the parents are just looking at you, and then come on, it is sometimes it's, it's obviously just the shift in priorities yeah lack of situational awareness i mean it's it's pretty obvious probably the intensity in which you're working out that there's like a bubble around you that someone who has

a modicum of fucking situational awareness would be like okay don't disturb that it's like someone reading at the library but it's yeah yeah that's how i feel for sure but i know that i'm on the inside right and i but that's kind of how i feel i'm look it's pretty clear that i'm not just like playing here right now i'm clearly doing something uh and like this is clearly a training exercise it's not like i'm just just going around um right or i wouldn't be breathing like this and making these phases, you know? And some people walk up to you and just say to you also, like, while you're resting, Hey, what are you training for? Cause people used to say that to me too. And I wasn't training for shit. I was just exercising, but CrossFit does when people are working out CrossFit hard, other,

you know, athletes will say, Hey, people who don't know CrossFit will say, Hey, what are you training for? Like they think you're training for. Have you heard that? people who don't know cross will say hey what are you training for like they think you're training for yeah have you heard that uh i've had it a few times i wouldn't say super regularly as hard as me maybe you don't push this hard probably probably or probably people just assume i'm training for some sort of sport because i'm still young but whereas you're like 50 year, 40 year old person. Okay. I was young. I was young then too. Um, recently I was talking to, um, Matt and he was mentioning, he was, we were discussing about the prize money, about the semifinals, how it was capped at $5,000. Um, and, and, and I don't, and I don't know the, I don't know if that's, I'm assuming that's true. Cause Matt shared that with

me, but I don't know if it's true. And's true. I think it was kind of part of our discussion when Josh and I and him were talking about why the Rogue Invitational, Dubai, and Guadalupe weren't part of the semifinals because I guess they weren't willing to lower their prize money. Matt Fraser? Yeah. I think he was sharing that with me. Something like that. Don't quote me exactly on that. But then that in conjunction with, I've heard, um, people have told me that, um, you have considered not doing the CrossFit games,

not doing sort of going through the CrossFit loop and just switching to things like focusing on the Dubai classic, Wadapalooza, Rogue Invitational. Is there any truth to that? Have you entertained that idea of pursuing all the other competitions in order to make ends meet as opposed to dealing with all the obstacles that have been in the CrossFit world the last three years? I think it's – I would say, yeah, I've considered that. And I think that a lot of athletes will look at existing that option probably.

And I think a lot of that story will be depend on what happens in this. Um, I think that there, you know, it's, it's combination of doctors because, um, you know, frankly, the, it's a combination of doctors because, um, you know, frankly, the, the CrossFit game season this year, if it stays with this same look and the same prize money at the semifinal, and then, um, there's really only one earning opportunity for the whole year and the season's about seven months long. So that's,

it's really just putting all your eggs in one basket. You know, you, you'd have to finish top 10 to make, you know, $20,000 on the year, um, which is not enough to justify that length of time and that amount of training in my, in my opinion. Whereas, you know, if you compete in an alternative season where say you're able to do things like rogue Dubai, maybe there's another big one in there somewhere. Um,

you can hedge your bets slightly. Um, you can compete in probably a short length season. Um, so have a longer off season of more appearances for sponsors, things like that. You can create more visibility for yourself and your brand partners. Um, there's just a lot more opportunity and you get to travel and do other things from a lifestyle perspective. It's actually a little bit more appealing. Um, and, and, you know, I, I basically did that in 2019,

20, 20, between 2019, 2020, like, you know, I went and did, uh, I did water clues. I did rogue. I did Dubai. Like, so say for example, after the 2020 season, I did Dubai, um, I bought a blues and I did rogue and I, and I came second in Dubai and I went there too. And so I earned the second most income on the season, uh, compared to all the athletes that I competed that year. And I didn't, I, I didn't even make the top five, right. I finished ninth, I think at the

stage one. So it just goes to show that there is a way to, to do that and, and, you know, earn a good thing, um, you know, create high visibility, have really cool marketing opportunities and just lifestyle opportunities without having to be in the trenches of the CrossFit game season, like in those ruts. And if it ends up being, you know, obviously the semifinals was a bit weird this year because half of them were online, but that might change. I don't think that that's going to be the way it is forever. That, you know, those prize money, the prize purses will stay fixed at what they were. I think it's a little bit out of COVID solution. I hope anyway. Um,

but depending on what sort of timelines they announced for next year and what sort of prize money, large competitions announce, it would surprise me all to see some athletes exercise that option. Um, like we've seen precedent for it before. Like I said, my personally an athlete like Sarah Siggins thought her greats beating in sanctionals and then had a hiccup at a game, but still earned a large, like a good living on the year, right?

So there's certainly opportunity there. And really, you know, the more big opportunities and big events that pop up, probably the better for the ecosystem as a whole, because not every athlete needs to be at every event. Um, but you know, more, more injection of, you know, brands and money and those sorts of things and opportunities into the ecosystem, it's just going to be better. It's going to provide growth. Um,

so I don't know. I think there's, you know, I, I'm not, I'm not settled on that, but, uh, it's certainly an option that I would look at. Cause those events are fun, man. And I think that having to focus your year on a seven month season for the CrossFit Games and turn down those opportunities would be heartbreaking and it would be, it would suck. But if you're going to try to win the games after you, it might be almost necessary because you need to exercise that off

season off right um and if you go through the game season say that again you need to what that off season i said you need to exercise that off season option like you need to do you you need to do some building and recovering and if you're competing you know from what were we again in april then again in may then again in july then again in october then again in december then again in february like now you're you're gonna be toast like you've got one cycle of that maybe um and you're gonna be really in a hard place by the time you get back to the open so anyway your body will be beat down. Is that, is that, yeah. And you'll just be tapped like physically, mentally, emotionally. I think that there's a large toll that comes with competing a lot of times and the travel associated with it and things like that.

So, uh, it's hard to balance that, uh, with high performance. So, you know, we'll see him in some athletes might choose one direction and some might choose another, which I would be the coolest situation is, you know, let's say you have 10 people who are top performing kind of games, caliber athletes in an alternative season. And then you've got your top games athletes who choose to compete in the cross a game season. Um, and you've kind of got this like two champions situation and then like these two people who are competing and yeah. Like then what, how do you unify the belts, man? So who's the fittest, right?

Like you could have a legitimate argument for that. The fittest athlete wasn't competing at the CrossFit games. Um, you know, let's say just from thought exercise that Tia decided she would earn more money on the year competing in the alternative season and for, and for when the cross game season, would anybody at the cross game be able to say, Oh yeah, well, no. Like, so this person is the fittest woman on earth now. I think people would probably still think Tia was. Why don't you think anyone's come into the sport? I mean, I mean,

I guess there's maybe one obvious answer that it's not lucrative, but I wonder why someone like, um, fuck, pick your company. Coca-Cola hasn't decided to, um, just say,

Hey, we're going to put, you know, $30 million towards an event, 20 million to run it, 10 million for prize money and take all the air out of the room, run it the week before the CrossFit Games and all the athletes fucking jump ship. I think up to now, I think up to now, it's been a certain amount of respect for CrossFit Games. Like a company like Dubai could certainly do that um but i think that they haven't because they don't want to do they want to him and people want to be a part of the ecosystem they want to suffocate it um but no but is there a chance that that happens maybe um and you know i mean from an athlete's

side like from doing if nike thought that they could sell enough shoes to do fuck fuck nike if mcdonald's thought they could sell enough hamburgers at that event to pay for it back and build brand value i'd have to guess they'd do it tomorrow i mean those companies for things like the olympics right um so i have a fiduciary duty to make money for their investors it's it's an interesting like you know some cbo company that's making someone who's selling joints who's making 500 million a year gets behind the crossfit games but i'm guessing i think it'll be interesting to see haven't done it yeah maybe and i think that it'll be interesting to see because I know, I know that now with Eric Rosa and the captain seat,

there is, he, I think he's a little bit more open to those new parts. And, um, you know, then, then,

then Greg was. And so I think that there might be some opportunity for that, that like new brand partners start to come in and you start to interact in, in new platforms and new ecosystems. So we'll see what that leads to. I think that that was part of his base plan, but obviously things like COVID have changed a lot of the business side because companies struggled a lot in the last couple of years. So, um, I think the next, the next year will hopefully tell more of a story. but interesting for the guys like the justin maderos's and the jason hoppers of the world we're gonna be here for a while um like you know

i make no bones about it like i'm i'm not gonna be competing a lot with that so it'll be what will be and i'm gonna do what i can with whatever's left and i'm gonna try to maybe like i don't know steer things in a direction that i think is good for athletes because that's the world that I live in. But I don't know what's going to happen for those guys in the future. And I hope it's good. I hope it's great. Just on a side note about,

about Greg, Greg was always open to Marlboro or Coca-Cola sponsor games, but he wasn't willing to sign anything that wouldn't say that he couldn't disparage them. So, so I think, I think that way. I don't think companies do that though. No. Yeah, they definitely, that's not really, that's not really being, I don't know if that's really being open then is it? Well, it, he just, he just wanted to like, he was open to Coca-Cola sponsoring the games,

but he also wanted to be able to say, yeah, He just wanted to – like he was open to Coca-Cola sponsoring the games, but he also wanted to be able to say, yeah, Coca-Cola has infiltrated the health sciences and manipulated it and lied. And by the way, if you drink Coke, you're going to get – don't get me wrong. Greg would drink a Diet Coke in a second. I've seen the guy drink 10,000 Diet Cokes. His problem was just that he just wanted the truth around the product. But he was more than willing to take their money. But, yeah, I don't know if it's not open, but he wanted to be transparent. Right.

I can see. I don't think companies love that. They want to take their money and then disparage them publicly. Right. So I can see why they didn't jump at that. Right, right. Pat, I think you articulated well everything surrounding the two different options potentially in pursuing careers in the sport. I'm wondering if something has changed recently.

I think it used to be where to get opportunities with sponsors or brands, you had to do well at the CrossFit Games. And it's really this year that I'm starting to think that that's no longer necessarily the case when I see people like Mallory O'Brien and Jason Hopper who have yet to even floor on the competition or at the comp at the CrossFit games. Sponsorships. Do you feel like maybe there's like he said, you can make the 10th place and get $20,000, but that's not enough 10th place finish. You've,

you've probably attracted enough brands to make some income outside of competition from the sponsors. You don't necessarily have to do that. If you show up to a, even do pretty well there, win that, that already sponsored. Yeah. I mean, you have to look at what, what are sponsors really paying for, right? They're paying for marketing. They're paying for visibility of their product.

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a world that has better visibility for the athletes or you have athletes who are particularly good at branding and marketing, you know, we have athletes who've never made the games, who've been competing for many years, who have a lot of visibility

and notoriety. Take someone like Allison Scudds, who's the captain of the and notoriety take someone like allison scuds who's the captain of the demo team very very visible like very notable athlete and never made it to the games but that doesn't matter like she does a good job of branding herself marketing herself and she's a good athlete so you know there are there are season options like that's what that alternative season could create an opportunity for her instead of only having one chance to compete at a semifinal. And then maybe she doesn't get it. Now you give her three, maybe four opportunities to set foot on a prestigious competition floor with

really stiff competition and strut. Right. And so I think that there's, there are a lot more opportunities in that type of a, of a system, you know, and it would be, it will be ideal if that's kind of what was cool about the sanctional system. I think in hindsight, um, it would be cool if we could create a system that would feed both of those things, but it might be just difficult right now. We have to figure out without,

it would be hard without like going through another really turbulent year of changing the whole system and whatever. And I think that right now, um, another thing people really want is stability and a way to like predict what's going to come next, uh, and understand the sport again and be able to follow it easily. So, you know, there's also that side that you have to service, right. That like affiliates and fans and people want to be involved. And it's hard when the system is really complicated and broad like that.

But you're certainly right. I think that there are lots of opportunities for athletes to market themselves and earn and have fun and compete, right, that don't necessarily involve the CrossFit Games competition floor. It is a little frustrating, though, that Patrick has to worry about that kind of stuff because as a fan, you want all these people to kind of just put their head down and work so that we can see them at their best and that's the and that the people that that that their that their personality you know their, but but their performance also speaks for itself. You know, like I don't think it's it kind of bums me out that Patrick even has to think about that or that, you know, I get why Allison Scudds maybe has to think about that.

But this this is the guy. Why the fuck should he have to think about that? I mean, that's the one place where I'm just like the ecosystem should have some mechanisms in there that reward the people at the top. ecosystem should have some mechanisms in there that reward the people at the top and by reward i don't even mean necessarily financially but like like look what happened to rich we made a movie about him called the fittest man on earth i mean that's brand changing and so there should be there should be mechanisms in there there should be media around him there should be like the sports like like all the other sports or like anything like the the top news anchor in the world or the top you know what i mean like the sports like like all the other sports or like anything like the the top news anchor in the world or the top you know what i mean like the fighter the fighters you don't

even have to be the best fighter but if you're the nemesis of the best fighter in the world you still get accolades so i don't know it i i my words not yours patrick or brian but i but it is a little um and i'm not blaming anyone. Maybe everything's still working itself out. But it would be nice that, like, I mean, look at this guy. You took 544 points in the Atlas Games after the great Brian Friend said that a virtual event would not be good for you. And you demolished the fucking pack. I did not say it wouldn't be good for him i just said he would probably prefer a live competition outside of the fact that he had a kid the week before

you said historically he sucks it you said historically he sucks without a crowd because he can't draw energy from them like uh no i did not say that oh all right that was my interpretation i would say that in a few times, I know he and online competitions before, but I think he's, I mean, I won the open last year. Yeah. I think you'd prefer the live competition though. I would. It's also just more fun, like competition format or points aside. It's just more fun, but yeah, it's certainly lining up next to Jeff Adler and an online competition isn't

sweet. Cause he also was like pretty crushing the open the last couple of years. He's done very well. Um, two things though, uh, seven about your last comment there is for one thing. Yeah. About some of this stuff. And I don't, I don't think that I have, um, I think that it's a bit altruistic for me to try to involve myself or engage myself in those sort of issues, because like I said, I'm not going to compete for a whole lot longer and it's more for athletes coming up. I think we want to make sure that there's incentives there.

Like for example, if you're a 15, 16 year old athlete who has games aspirations and you saw that this year they cut the prize purse for the semifinals to next thing. You have very little incentive to try to get into the sport because you feel like the opportunities and the end game isn't there. We want to try to incentive people to get involved. We want to try to make, make it more attainable. And part of that,

you're right. It's visibility. You know, the more visibility comes with it, the more brands get involved, the more the ecosystem grows. So those things think are hopefully coming, you know, like we usually have a media deal for the games. And now that we're back to another full, full roster for a full weekend of the games, we'll create some cool visibility again. And I think that those things drum up engagement, drum up sponsors,

and it's that kind of just an infancy thing, like very young. Um, and you know, CrossFit's been around for a while, but the sporting side of it is, it's just still very young. And I think that there's a lot of fluctuation and a lot of change and it's just, that's the way it is. It's growing pains. So if kind of climb that mountain and create, um, you know, I don't want to say lucrative deals, but really just like good deals, like create good visibility for the sport as a whole. Um,

I think that there's a good trickle down to affiliates. There's a good trickle down to engagement for people. Like, um, I think CrossFit it's sort of got a two pronged approach where it converges in the middle. Like we have a lot of marketing that targets, um, you know, elderly population and people with movement limitations, things like that as a way to get them back to sport. Right. And then you've also got this other side where it's high impact sport and that really engages the minds of young people who are interested in football,

basketball, baseball. Um, and so I think, you know, those can each service each other and then they kind of meet in the middle and they bring people to gyms and get them to me to try to work towards different goals. But just like, you know, getting grandpa engaged might get, they might get their kids engaged in it or whatever, or just they might start to promote a healthier lifestyle and whatever the same works the other way. Whereas if you get the young kids involved in a sports side, um, you know, like my parents got involved and enjoyed watching the sports that I played. Um, so my, what I did affected them and impacted them as well. Right.

So I think you can work it from both sides. So, um, trying to maintain that marketing and that, uh, those strategies to engage old populations and that, uh, those strategies to engage old populations and like, you know, disabled populations, all that kind of stuff is super valuable. Um, and those are arguably the people who will benefit the most from lifestyle changes, but on the flip side of it, you might get those people engaged by getting their, their family members engaged and the games can really service that those things like Netflix documentaries,

like those kinds of things, um, just expand across across it to to cast a wider net and it reaches more people and in absolute numbers that's what you want you just want more more more eyes on that they're on it the more you can get you know more uh the more the ecosystem grows and that's that's sort of the end game it's just an infancy thing i think a perfect example is uh i had zero interest in tennis i just think it's completely absurd and my kids been playing for a year now and i watched wimbledon this year i watched uh the french open parts of it and on the podcast i've quoted novak djokovic what's his last name brian djokovic yeah no no you got it right you got it right djokovic. What's his last name, Brian? Djokovic? Yeah, no, no, you got it right. You got it right. Djokovic. Yeah, I've quoted him a few times. And so, wow.

God said, you are a classic name bastardizer. Yes. Well, thank God. I don't think I've ever heard someone miss a name more times than you. It's amazing. Patrick Vellner, that is such a a nice name i appreciate just how all the letters just all make sense to me and my and i'll take this shot i'll take this shot at crossfit hq uh viciously throw a fucking atomic bomb on them it was a colossal fuck up in the last 15 months not to hire the biggest fucking media department in the world and put out tons of fucking content while people were trapped at home and netflix was fucking exploding and amazon prime

was fucking exploding and instead there was there's hacks like me building these podcasts and and non-hacks thank god serving the community with the peewee herman version of the crossfit games the buttery bros and if it wasn't for like people like that then then i mean i'm all i'm all for letting the i mean the mma world which is cool has a lot of hacks like me you know in the space but like that that was a colossal missed opportunity those last 15 months not to not to be putting something out every single day they could be really cheap things i mean we did some amazing things like we could just do is they could give you a they could tell you patrick hey we want to pay you five hundred dollars this month just to

show us every meal you eat you know what i mean to get get some buy-in from you they could those series any of those things that they could have done to draw in more people and to bring the community tighter together it just bums me out i agree with you totally i actually while not me the fuck out i was talking to say in hindsight the one the one caveat i'll give them it's easy to say in hindsight and not everyone's a brilliant executive media director like myself in my former life but but they could have hired me to consult them on that idea totally i think that and i, and I, I, to be honest, wasn't paying super close attention to like the CrossFit journal or things like that. But, um, I actually asked Eric Roseau like months ago,

like almost a year ago. Um, like I, I work as a chiropractor and I do a lot of rehab and a lot of things like that. And I was like, Hey, do you want, here's an idea like we could try to create a small channel where we just have stuff for like basic core strength and like basic whatever. And I could shoot some stuff and we could try to do push and things like that out. And he said, Oh yeah. And then nothing ever came of it. Right. Um, and maybe I should have been more pushy on the issue,

but I think that there is a lot, there was a lot of space that there still is. You're right. At a point when we still when media content was being consumed. Yeah. Oh, sit on your pandemic rhetoric. Thank you. Thank you. I don't even know what the word rhetoric means.

I think it's a compliment. So let's go there. So were you training with a mask on? When I was training at my my the affiliate in town i was yeah and that's why partly why i made the gym at home because if certain things it's really really shitty to wear a mask to do um what's the something like burpees well anything super high heart rate you do a bunch of bike intervals with a mask on you're not going to last very long did you did you ever get used to the mask?

Yeah. I mean, they're fine. Like I'll wait, let me ask all day. I don't really care. Um, there's certain things, certain accessories. Like I would just plan my sessions accordingly, right? If I was doing more excessive stuff or weightlifting stuff that was a little bit lower heart rate, it would be no problem. And I really blast my heart. I would do at home or had to have a key to the gym as well. So sometimes if it was things that I needed a space or the equipment at the gym for, I would just wait until after hours. And then I would go in and do it there. Uh, and then just,

um, it's not that bad, honestly, like, I don't know my opinion. People make too big of a deal over masks. They really aren't that big deal. They were, yes, you can breathe. You'll be fine, man. You, you, you, you either have a better mask than me or far more tolerance. Um, but I wonder if it'll change as you have a kid. I wonder if you'll be as okay with masks when your kid's five years old. Oh, at five years old, I think it's it's different like me my kid's an infant i don't think it matters he sees us at home and i face but i do think that given a lot of what happened um and you know

it's been more severe where we are than where you are because it's just lasted longer. Um, but you know, are there going to be, are there going to be social effects? Like likely, you know, we have, we have some friends who've had babies early in the pandemic and they're a bit, they get a bit tense with more people around now. And, um, you know, do you lose, is it easy to become cold and objective as people when you never see someone's face compared to having to empathize with someone when you see reactions in there? Of course.

Like I think that's a totally reasonable expectation as a result of face coverings for a long period of time. Do I think it outweighs, you know, the risks? It depends at this point, probably we're past that stage. So it doesn't really matter. People should just get vaccinated and then it's fine. Um, that's the smallest kindness you can do to your neighbor. But early on, yeah, like I think that there was a bit of that issue and that was, that was a struggle with the mass is that people just become shut out from each other. And I think that

humans crave interaction and we want connection. Um, and it does become hard to connect it. Frankly, like this, you know, FaceTime, uh, zoom, all that, like do it. I don't think it services our needs as humans. So I think that that's really important to get. Yeah. There's safe ways to do it. I think it's, it's worthwhile to adjust your behavior, to be respectful and be, uh, you know, appropriate to the situation and the needs of other people. Um, I just think it's part of, it's part of participating society to my opinion, in my opinion, like when you have certain guidelines put in place, like you should just try to respect them as much as you can and respect the

people who need that, um, as well. Right. So, you know, sometimes it's inconvenient for you, but it's not always all about you. It's sort of this, um, this egoistic altruism is what we need to get through something like a pandemic where you realize that what's good for everyone is in fact, what's good for me, because let's get for everyone is going to get us through this faster. And then I'm going to get back to doing what i want to do sooner and you know we would do well to adopt a little bit more of an approach like that um i won't speak specifically on on on this one but for instance um the procedural

the procedures that are put in place to deal with type 2 diabetes i would argue have in fact destroyed killed i don't know 100 million people basically we we know it's we know type 2 diabetes is diet related and yet you go to the hospital and yet i can't speak for all doctors but a vast majority majority of medical professionals will then put a procedure in place that they've learned in medical school, which basically escorts you to your grave. Whereas by that, I mean, they get you on medication and they start mitigating the damage without asking you to change your lifestyle habits. Whereas if there was a procedure in place or if there was an open discussion about it,

you could actually tell people, hey, stop eating snicker bars and drinking soda and lower your sugar intake and you can reverse this type 2 diabetes. My point being is that you're suggesting that people do things in order to follow procedure. And I guess my thought is that, hey, we have to question the procedure you, at your end game, what you want is what's best for society. And that's what I want too. Right. But if, um, you think pouring water on a grease fire is a good idea, I might be like, yo, Pat, you better not do that. It's going to make the problem worse. Right. Right. So I think so. And then I have discussion. discussion your your biggest mistake is that you think too much in absolutes and i think that anyone who thinks very absolutely um is is is going to have a lot of trouble so i think you understand the um the system you see you know systems need to be in

place but the system currently is this and it it should be this, but it's not. The system is actually somewhere in between, and that's where it should be. So say, for instance, someone with type 2 diabetes comes in. Yeah, they're going to be putting them on some medication that's going to control this acutely because people who end up in diabetic shock can die. And you need to be able to control that in the short term. Yes, the doctors should also be having life patients without a doubt. And the problem in an instance like that,

which we see as well in COVID is people are remarkably resistant to lifestyle change. It is, I would agree with you that it's, it is actually fundamentally one of the best ways to improve your overall health. Even in my field, when people come in with like chronic neck and back, it's often people who don't exercise. They have to make poor lifestyle choices, like, you know, people who carry around a little bit too much extra weight. And those are difficult conversations to have with people. And I think sometimes professionals rush through those discussions. Um, and there should be more time and emphasis put on them for sure. Um, because the issue is, I think we all want quick fixes and it's not necessarily a fast solution. Uh, and it's a hard one to do

from right now. Like I walk in the door, I want to fix right now. And you know, you're telling me, Oh, well, 20 years ago, you should have started exercising and we'll have a hard time with that. But the reality is that, you know, the best time, but the second best time and people have a hard time going, Oh, and then changing their thought and, and, and turning the gears around and getting moving. And some people do a great job of it.

And it's actually the most satisfying thing in the world. When you see somebody really make a great lifestyle change and, and improve their health. You know, you see them cognitively improve, like their attitude improves their affect. Like everything's better. Right.

And it is hard, but that's the thing is it's the same way. Like for diabetes, you're right. We should be doing. I think that to argue that we should only make lifestyle decisions and never medic there are instances you do need to be of course i apologize if it came across like that and your um your accusation of me thinking in

absolutes um is uh similar to my wife's uh um accusation it's dramatic it gets her point across it's dramatic but yeah both you guys um uh that being said i would like to just push back here i'm also not a fan of arguing people's limitations for them and okay and so did you see the connection there i'm i'm putting in like no do you see the connection i'm making everyone can do it everyone's capable i'm not i'm and and maybe there is a role for someone in society or a group of people to argue people's limitations it's just if i have a fault or a something that i'm pretty dogmatic about it's just i don't want to argue anyone's limitations. I think that that's a really, um, uh, I think that's a, a, a sickness of the mind.

I don't want to argue my own limitations. There's this, that was saying argue your limitations and they're yours. And it's like, yeah, sure. It's important to acknowledge limitations. Um, I don't think you need to emphasize them. I don't think you need to have primary focus, but people have certain limitations. Let's say you, you know, maybe diabetes is the right example, but like, I don't know, if you get someone who's paralyzed from the waist down,

like you're not going to continually try to get them to walk up the stairs. Like there are other things that you can do and work towards and other goals that you can use to improve their autonomy, but that's just not one of them. So that's just acknowledging the limitation. And then, you know, you still promote autonomy and advocacy and all these things and make them, um, you know, uh, into a better person overall and towards those goals, but it's just acknowledging certain limits that people have. Or, or, or encourage them to find a different way. I find encourage them to find a different

way to get up this. I think that's totally fine. I think, but I think focusing on capacity versus is a great, great driving place. I agree with you. Have you ever thought about a ponytail like comporter, like, like the Sam, like,

like grow your hair a little longer and pull it up. Like to get the Viking look going pretty soon. I think, Hey, with my red beard and

long, luscious golden locks. I think I, I don't feel like you've experimented very much i don't think you've experimented very much with your hair no you know you gotta get to that and then i have a hard time committing at that point so i i floated the idea to once and she just said nah don't do it so i said all right whatever i'll ditch it really short what about like a, a four, a four guard?

Too lumpy. And my hair is too, like too light, you know? So you can kind of like my hair is so light, you can see right through it. So you'd see like my weird freckled head and I fought, I fell on my head and it would be all bumpy and you know, you need a nice head for that. I don't have it. So that's why I keep the, I keep them up on top. I'm getting a haircut on Thursday for the game. I don't have it. That's why I keep the mop on top. I'm getting a haircut on Thursday before the games, though. I'm happy for it.

Mostly just so they'll shave my neck. Yeah. Isn't that nice when they shave your neck? Yeah. Mine gets bad, too. When the back comes up and merges to the neck, and then it grows around the chest, too, and I just got

a full like tank top body hair beautiful nice body hair though you have nice mine's a fucking mess mine's a mess kind of say so you have do you have the grays do you have the chest hair no i don't have any grays in any like the armpits or the pubes or the chest yet not yet oh really no that's a good look. Keep working. But it's like all my hair is right in between my titties, and it's just like, it's just like, it's ridiculous. Hey, your wife's name is Michelle?

Yes. My wife's name and my coach's. Oh, yeah, I wanted to talk about your coach. Damn, we're running out of time. I just think you should get your hair. I think you should try something really new with your hair this year at the games. You should go for more like an army cut. Like, I just think it should be short. And, like, you're showing up there.

Like, I know you're not asking my opinion, and people are going to always hate it when I do this to you guys. But I think you should show up with a whole new, like maybe like a, like a, the Arnold Schwarzenegger, uh, commando look like cigar in your mouth. Doesn't have to be lit, super short hair, maybe some camo clothing, maybe even a tattoo. I'm not even a proponent of a tattoo, but just a whole new Velner. I think you're just conditioned to have Matt win the games. Matt shows up every year with a buzz cut and a new tattoo. And you're like, that's what you need to win the games. Holy shit.

Why not just show up and just fucking win the games. However, however, take me. Why can't you just love me for me, man? So you're saying that I may be a program drone just like everyone else. I'm just looking for. Oh no. That's right. Yeah, I know. I'm trying, I'm going to try to change it for everyone.

Just have some unkempt, lanky Canadian win it. You are definitely not lanky. Go ahead, Brian. Sorry. How different is the preparation for the games than any other competition? It's significantly different just because you've got a lot more touches you've got to put in. So I think for one thing, you build your volume up a little bit and then you just do other things. I'd say it's more different for me this year than previous years. Um, it's like the last two years because the sanctionals are two events that were maybe a little more gamesy in the way that they were

like someone had really, um, whereas an online format is easy to deal with. So, you know, preparing to compete at the Atlas games, you focus mostly on the types of things you're going to see. And then obviously to train, you started just adding in kind of another level on things like, you know, maybe a little bit of extra length and workout, a little bit of extra like and workout a little bit of extra

like weight vest or something like that mixing in odd objects a little more often mixing in the cycling the running so it's a bit more out it's like often i might do my normal kind of what you said yeah i for an hour to get my legs right that's ready for that like so there's a little more of that. Um, you know, you kind of, you can think of it as kind of tacking on an extra session of just like bits of volume and skill work. Um, you know, I didn't do many pegboards getting ready for this games,

but I've been doing more now. Uh, so it's things like that. Sometimes it's just touching those skills again. Um, and unfortunately in a place where I've done enough of that stuff in the last few years that it doesn't take me long to, to re hone that skill, but you do need to touch it. Like you do need to feel it. You do need to get on it. Even stuff like the pig flip, like I flipped a pig in 2016 at the invitational and I haven't touched the pig since. So, you know,

trying to simulate what that feels like, get some hands on that. Remember what that feels like is super important because efficient in those movements will pay dividends. Right. I think it's for me as like a spectator who's just watching all that. So the year and their careers, something changes. Did they either present themselves or that they're like creating the best physical version of themselves. It's like,

it just, to me, it might be the touch. It's a shift in mindset. It's like, and maybe it's not as six, seven, eight times,

but I think like when I think of the field showing up the games, I'm like every single competitor that's coming here has been putting in everything they can, but they qualified to make sure that this is the best version of themselves this year. And I don't necessarily think or get that feeling from all their competition. Yeah. It's, I think it's challenging though. So I think that there is a mountain because the,

the trap is to always do more and to always think more and more is better and heavier is better. And I got to do this and then do another Metcon. And then I think you can make a mistake of trying to pack too much, be the best version of yourself. It also involves being well rested, well recovered. You know, if I, if I walk into the games and I'm beat to shit, like you're going to struggle if you're coming into the weekend feeling like

that. So, you know, there's a lot that goes into a building phase for something like the games. But then I think your taper is really important. And that's why perspective, some of those skill pieces are really nice to get in as, as lower intense. Sometimes like you put them in certain workouts, but then you do need those pieces where you're getting volume and you're getting movement patterns dialed, but you're not necessarily just like beating up your body more and more and more. Um, because not a state we see often people who come in really, really tired and really flat because their phase was lasted maybe a little too

long or was a little too much, or, you know, I think there's a lot of open communication that has to happen between coaches and athletes. And, you know, you need good coaches. If you have a coach or a team that feels like they're pushed or you're feeling tired and you just kind of keep showing up and keep hitting your head against the wall, it's not going to benefit anyone. Um, so in a certain way, like you have to know your limit a little bit, um, and you gotta go right to it. But if you step over that line, right to it but if you step over that line it is hard i think that you can still win the prep phase but you know you need people to show up to the games feeling ready to to do damage right um i

think that if you show up to the games and you're so tired you're just trying to finish the workouts uh there's a different there's a big difference between that and having the killer instinct of trying to beat people. Is Michelle LaTondra, has she always been your coach since you've made it to the Games? My first year, she wasn't. And I started working with her after that. So in 2016 was my first year as an individual. I went with a coach that I was working with from Montreal.

I was living there. I went with a coach that I was working with from Montreal. I was living there. And that summer, so that was, yeah, 2016. That summer, my partner, Michelle, she was in law school. And she dropped out of law school that summer to go to med school. Wait a second. Sorry, you were answering the question before I could ask it.

She was in law school and med school? Yeah. She only did a school and med school? Yeah. She only did a year of law school. Both her parents are lawyers. I think she kind of defaulted to that. She took her LSAT and crashed it. She's very wired for that kind of thinking, but she just didn't really get it. So she was doing law school in Montreal and then she got into med school. So that summer she dropped out, but she had to move to Calgary across the country for med school. So, um,

I was living with her in the summer and then I ended up homeless really fast. So Michelle LaTondra actually took me in with her and her partner, Fred for that summer for the 2016 games. So she wasn't my coach then, but I was training and living with her. And, you know, I would do some of the stuff, some of was training and living with her. And, you know, I would do some of the stuff and some of the stuff my coach would program. And, um, she very much helped me prepare for the game here. Uh, and then that, then we had the invitational after that.

And then I am just shifted gears to coaching. So as soon as she changed coaching, um, coach time was very much stepping away from it. I think he kind of had his bucket list item. He had some elite athletes for a while and his item was to get somebody to the game. So I went to the game that year and I finished third and he was perfectly content and he had a lot of other things going on and he just didn't have the, the time or energy to, to me at the moment.

So I might talk to him and I talked to Michelle and they were both perfectly happy for the switch. So I started either late 2016 or early 2017. And I've been with her. So it's been, you know, going on five years now that you guys have been working together. And I know other high-level athletes during that time that are no longer under her coaching. Are you the only games athlete she's coaching this year?

She has Ellie Turner from Australia as well. Nice. And, um, do you, you know, in her last 18 months, it seems like there's been more shifting and out of training environment for

athletes than we've really ever seen before shift, changing coaches or shifting and training instead of and you have this kind of consistency you've had her in your corner from from your perspective from my perspective that's advantageous way i think so um i think that the the relationships you build are really important and i think that the relationships you build are really important. And I think that it's even little things like I talked to her, you know, four or five days ago, I was kind of just like at training peak, I was running out of like emotional energy and I was just beat down. I just like had a vent with her and she would talk to her for a little bit.

And we changed a couple of things in training to help like level myself off. I think you get to know each other. Like when I was with her at Waterpalooza, she knows my little tics and idiosyncrasies and knows how to deal with me when I'm stressed. She knows how I communicate my stress. Um, you know, it's like any relationship, like how to speak to me when, and like, I do, I know the same for her, like how to ask questions in a certain way. Um, she knows if I'm asking things a certain way, what that means,

if I'm doing it another way, what that means. So I think you learn a lot about each other. And then by the end of four or five years, like things are very much dialed in. And, you know, because of that, I think that's the only way that remote coaching works well. I've spent long times, period, tons of period with her like months at a time training. So when it is time to be remote, I, I know what she means when she says certain things and you don't need those eyes on all the time. Um, obviously if I could have that, I would, I would love it. But,

you know, I have family and other people in my life that would stop me from just up and really thing to just go train. So that's the best way to do it for me. And I, you know, I think training by myself has always worked for me. I think camps are great. And I think they're a good short, they're really beneficial short term, but I wouldn't want to do that all the time. I think that from my perspective, there's a high risk of burnout with, with some of those training camps where instead of training you, you start to actively compete against your partners every day.

And I think that, uh, you know, you gotta be really cool with that stimulus. Um, and, and again, coaches need to be very aware of it. But you have to really control because people start competing every day. Like imagine being at the CrossFit games stimulus every day for even three weeks, like you would fall apart, right. Certain about injuries and things like that. So that's why I think most Patrick, are you injury free? I haven't got as injury free as I've been in a long time.

I'd say everybody's got little bumps and bruises, but that's the way it works. You know, nobody gets out alive training for the game. So I think, I think the other couple of nuances that are really good for you in this situation is, you know, at the games, things change quickly. You find out an event or an extra event or, you know, just whatever that's presented to you in a limited amount of time to process it. And that experience that you guys can draw on and the fact that there's not a distraction of having four or five different people that are there both of those things probably lend it to have the necessary communication and the limited based on all those years of experience yeah honestly too i think my goal well i i hope that they stop announcing shit

to be honest i hate when they give us all this fucking information it's so annoying it's like i don't know i'll prepare as well as the next guy if i have the information but i i i think a lot like so i drum things around in my head and i you know i visual and i make plans and, I visual every scenario that could play out. So sometimes I need to like turn my brain off a little more. I'm not great at it sometimes. So the less information I have, the less I can do that. And I do have enough experience that I'm confident and comfortable that if I

had to step on the floor and do it one shot, it'd be fine. Um, but you know, when I start to think a lot about every possible outcome in situations just it just takes time to think through all those scenarios so I I prefer that I don't have to do that I've caught myself in various competitions over the years being like dude you just need to like fucking relax and do it so we'll see yeah I hope that they keep it down no you've proven that in the the events you've done bested at the games too are oftentimes the ones where it's it's the person who can react the quickest to the situation you know or not thinking just do yeah i'm trying to follow

my head what's what is the best event in the ecosystem are the crossfit games still the best event in the ecosystem? Are the CrossFit Games still the best event in the ecosystem? They're definitely better. It's great. There's not a lot of events on that same level. I'd say that the... What I've done in the last few years... Depends on what you look at. But Waterpalooza has done really well the last couple of years I've been there where I feel like the competition fields and venues are almost more

immersed in the festival than they are at the games and the games. It really feels like, you know, there's like the vendor area. I've never seen the vendor area and I Madison. So it's so separate from where the athletes go. Yeah. And you're a little bit more segregated. So you don't feel like you're, you know, in the community or involved in the event in some ways, whereas some of you, you really are a little bit more a part of the, you know, the structure of it.

No, don't forget they they walk you through the beer garden one year they've done it a few years that's awesome when they do that you guys are it is all the people alive and you're walking through this you know it's great it's a great juxtaposition like it too and it was funny because depending on how we walked in and out of the coliseum that way so depending on how the event went on the way back you would be like either that if i could do that was like yeah like the shit people be like high five and you just crushed it or you just got you and you fucking just like you're like head down walking through there i was like i was like

walking through the tunnel in the in the away game right people just fucking but i was uh yeah i actually like that too i i don't know if they'll do the same this year but they've done it in the last few years um yeah yeah i thought that was funny yeah the energy in there is really hilarious what's the harshest thing michelle latondra's ever said to you by harsh i don't mean like in in brood or like like would she ever say to you like final event like if you said to her oh this is this is a long day and right before you go for an event would she ever say to you don't be a pussy pat like like does she ever like have to like just step on your dick and like and you're you wake up and you're like oh yeah yeah don't be a pussy go or like i just use that as an example is there anything where she has to slap you around ever she does all the time like she okay and because

and i think because i'm a i'm a bit of a complainer sometimes over little things or i'll be like stressed over small details and so she's just trying to communicate to me how insignificant the detail that i'm stressed about this. Right. And so sometimes there are, sometimes it's in training. I'll ask questions of workers because I think it's like, this is clearly not a program. Like, I don't know what, is this actually meant to write? And she'll just like texting back something like, like, well, I'll be the fittest guy in the world or not.

And you're like, well, like, well, I'll be the fittest guy in the world or not. And you're like, well, okay. Awesome. And she's very matter of fact, like I think one of the best lines ever was like, you know, you do an open workout or I forget when it was maybe like quarterfinals or something and finish workout. And you're like, how to go, ah, you know, like it was fine. I did this and this, I feel like I, I made a mistake here. I could have gone faster here. She'll just say something like, if you could have gone faster, you would have. And then like, that's it.

And at the end of the conversation and you're like, well, yeah, you're probably right. I didn't like, I didn't because I felt like it would be more fun that way. Like, yeah, you clearly were redlining and there's a reason why things went the way they went. So, um, it'd be like, yeah, if you could have gone faster, you would have training period. Like, okay. Sounds like a great relationship. Sometimes I think it's almost a language barrier where like, she's so point blank on the way she said, like, that didn't mean to come off the way it did. But then I remember that she's her English is actually very, very good. Um,

so I think just actually was meant to be communicated the way it was. She knows exactly what she's saying. Yeah, exactly. But again, like that's our relationship and she knows that that's like how I need to hear things. Um, and I don't add that. And I think that to her credit, she's very good at that. Like, like you said, she's had several other notable games athletes. I've seen the way that she coaches and interacts with them.

She deals with her athletes differently based on their needs and their personalities. Right. And I think that that's a hallmark of a good coach that they don't treat everybody the same. Uh, it's not like, Hey, here's my style. If you mesh with me, you can be one of my athletes. Like she, and she understands that athletes have different needs and she's very good at that. So, um, you know, I, I'm used to our relationship. And then I, sometimes I see the way she, she coddles somebody else.

I get jealous, but, uh, you know, it's the way it is. I'm just the old guy in the, in the stable. One last question. I really wanted to ask you before we, is it that Travis Mayer involved in it? It does have Travis Mayer involved in it. Travis Mayer and Pat of 12 men in the games field this year who are 30 years old. And last year, Matt Fraser was the first guy at 30 years old or since 2012. Is this a year that we're going to see 230 plus for the first time in nine years? There's a huge contingency.

I'd be curious to see how, how much that stat has increased in the last couple of years, 12 people this year. Cause you know, I think again, you know, I'm not illusion. Like we are getting older and there are some athletes coming in who are young and exceptional, but in the last lot of years, you know, it's been interesting. Like we've all grown up together. Like since I remember in 2016,

when I first went to the games and finished third, we were all about on the podium and Matt and I were all 26. And then the next year, like, you know, like BKGs like a year young, like a lot of those same names all show up on the podium again. It's like Matt and Brent and I in 2017 Brent's 30 half a year younger than me or something like that. So, you know, and every year it's the, it's,

it's been a lot of the same names who've just been getting older together, but still finishing up near the top of the pile. Right. So eventually it's going to change of course but i joke about it like you know these kids can take a run but we're not getting out of the way i don't know a bkg scott panchik i don't see anybody fucking rolling over for anybody is hopper delusional is hopper delusional talking about first place. I don't know. I've never met him, but I'm going to spin his head around. I bet you this next weekend. And it does, it does feel like we're, we're getting close to 26, 26, 27,

26, 27, 28, 28, 26, 26, 30, 24, 21. Well, that was the last year was a shift, but it was a little different. So this is a telling year to me. Are we going to see Medeiros and Hopper somehow on the podium and the youth movement coming? Or are the Olsens, BKGs, Fikowskis, Vellner, Panchiks, Mayors, got to include Mayer on the list, are going to continue to exert.

And, you know, here's the thing. I'm not going to say, like, oh, it's going to be fucking dominant. Like, we're going to be dunking all over. Justin Madero, they're not even going to know what happened. But the pedigree of a lot of people speaks for itself. And I think that, like I said, those are the exceptions. Jason Hopper's semfinal was outstanding um and like i think what is it but you know i i just have a lot of faith in my ability and the ability of my other peers and i think that it's gonna be uh that's the year and it's gonna be really fun to see but if the question is do i think there will be a two 30 or 30 plus year old

on the podium? I think there's a very good chance. Um, but those, I think that there's also a good chance you see one or one of those guys, at least on the podium, you know, as good as any, like those guys are exceptionally skilled and they have extraordinarily, extraordinarily, but do I think that like, make a big difference no you know what i wish i could see i i so it's a so bummed i can't see it i love the dynamics in the back the pecking order in the back you know where you guys are like warming up or cooling down or at

the ice baths like who's talking to who matt or is this fikowski and velner is it velner and mad is it josh bridges and patrick i loved like seeing like how how sort of these informal clicks like people would hang out and i would love to see this year who gravitates towards you sort of as you being the the new um big dick in town so it'll be interesting it'll start it'll start on monday we have a dinner we have a dinner on monday and we'll see what the table arrangement looks like but a lot of times that just you know right like especially right now when we've seen each other in live competition. You sort of just,

they were trying to rekindle connections with your buddies, but it'll be fun to see. I mean, I usually try to come in with the smallest dick energy possibly can and just throw everybody off guard. But, but, but you know what I mean?

Like you don't see the last place guy over there doing cool like like if i can just see the assault bikes you know and cool down and it would be like uh josh bridges ben smith and matt fraser all cooling down together and and granted right they might have been in the same heats or not but there is sort of a um it takes a different there's a different demeanor around the guys who are in the top 10 hanging out in the corral and then some of the lower rank guys, except for, you know, a few exceptions, you know, there's some people who just seem seamless everywhere, but with the, with the men, I just feel like there is a,

like these are the bulls that are going to get the cow first and the rest of you aren't like, yeah, I think there's a confidence that goes with that. Right. Um, so, and I, I don't see guys like Jason and Dustin,

I think are very confident athletes. So I don't think that they're going to be too bad. Uh, Hopper, Hopper scripted my, um, maybe I'll sit with them. them yeah you guys are just talking about yeah maybe i won't mean i'm sitting at my table oh that would be great i mean girls that'd be

awesome it'll be fine i'm actually really looking forward to the way the landscape of the the competition field has changed because even for me like like I said, it's been 18 months since I've been at a live. So, um, you know, since I've been competed a full game schedule. So the competition field is different, right? Like old, old boys in there and there's a lot of young guys coming up. So, um, it's cool. I think even on the women's side, you know, seeing athletes like Emma Carey and Ella Bryan be so successful is like, it's super fun. But like I said, I don't think this time on,

on race. No, cause I didn't even, didn't even include Cole Sager and Will Moore and Tim Paulson Royce. A lot of guys, 30 plus Roy Gamboa, Jason Smith that are still very. Jason Smith is like 60 plus I love that guy he's such a legend he is a legend I remember so at the Invitational tell a quick story about Jason Smith the Invitational in Melbourne in 2017 we were like it's waiting for dressing I just like got chatting with them or I'll just kind of kill in time until

everybody can go in and pee. And I know he used to, he used to race motocross and just like your friend, Travis, man. Um, but I started just asking him like, Oh, motocross is gnarly. And, and they kind of get comparing injuries. Right. And Forte's got like some, he finished some race, like with a broken egg on his ankle in the middle of the race. And then, and then finished the whole thing. And Jason's like, Oh man, like I've got a few good ones and goes through the list. And he had,

he turned his handlebars in the air and basically like pitchforked himself and he, he ruptured his spleen like completely and had to like go in his kidney and got like a spleen removed in one kidney or something and we were sitting there like wait so you don't think i'm kidding me like whoa like what and he like shows us his big scar he's a gnarly dude and it was just like he's like oh yeah like he oh he loved it he was so sweet but i just completely crushed himself doing water cross. Got like half his organs removed. You can only imagine what his spine looks like after an accident like that.

He's he's gnarly, man. I love Jason. I'm excited. He made it back. I'm pumped to see him. He's he's a yeah. Pretty gritty dude for what is he he 37? Yeah, I think so. She's the oldest man for sure in the field. Probably by a few years. Let's look that good when I'm 37. Me too. I was 36 and had qualified, but he's unable to make the trip.

Roy Gamboa is the next up at 34. Hey, does that does that freak all? So, um, when, when you have a bunch of married couples together, like, you know, like the same merit, like there's six married couples and you guys all hang out together like once a month or, you know, whatever, like you roll in the same circle, same CrossFit gym, whatever. And then one married couple gets a divorce or like the husband cheats on the

wife or the wife cheats on the husband. There's this instability that like ripples through the group. Right. It's like really it's kind of crazy. Like everyone's like, oh, shit. Like everyone kind of does like a check of their own relationship. Is my husband cheating on me? Is my wife cheating on me?

Maybe I should get a divorce. You know, like it opens up this possibilities of ideas. Is it like that in the crossfit community when someone pops for drugs and then they're like they say something like yeah i got i got a bad piece of meat from australia or god my fucking my protein was tainted do you ever whenever anyone tests positive are you like you go in your fucking cupboard and start looking around and be like okay what the fuck am i eating like double down on checking to make sure and like hey i'm not i think it makes you it makes you sit up straight there for a second that's for sure yeah you you know you've been taking it's like it's even tested on

that stuff that's good but then you just like yeah it makes you second guess stuff it makes you just be like oh um you know like did i stuff. It makes you just be like, Oh, um, you know, like, did I eat anything weird or did I, was I any, did I go anywhere weird or you double check your, we have to send our whereabouts for drug free sport. You like double check that to make sure you don't have any like updates that you have, you forgot to notify them about. Um, cause it's terrible for sure. I mean, in the last week or so we've seen like four teams get disqualified.

Um, and it's a shame, like, I don't know, it always sucks to see. And I think it, you know, everybody's biggest fear is that happening to them. So regardless of like how careful you always are, I think you get, you get into you. So I, I, you know, you can, that happens. You can snap to everything. And then you go, okay, cool. We're all good. We're all still good. And then, you know, you carry forward, but it's just,

I still always feel like every time you take a drug test, it's like, you could be as confident as you want, but when you finally get like a, uh, like a notification that your drug test was good, there's a little bit of a lack and you're just like, okay, food. You're like your butt on puckers a little bit. Yeah. It's like getting an STD test. Like I remember the first time I got it, like a, some sort of like age test or std test i can't remember i was a virgin i was probably i didn't lose my virginity until i was 18 but i was i remember being like oh shit what if i have aids and i'm like i can't have fucking aids unless my hand gave it to myself like but still you're still nervous because you can you can get sti

or from you know their action or blood interaction you know, their actions or blood interaction, you know, like there's, there's other ways you can get it. So similar thing, like as much as I, as much as I really feel like a lot of those tainted meat excuses and blah, blah, blah, are really a lot of blowing smoke. You know, it makes you be like a little bit stressed when you're like, I don't know, could something of that happen? Like that happened to me like conceivably, cause it's not really in your, in your control that much. But anyway, it's very stressful.

And I think every time it happens, yeah. Quick you do a quick distance check or you should or, you know, you fired email to somebody at drug free sports and he asked a couple of questions and you make sure everything's up to code. But, um, I, it sucks. I mean, like the, the recent suspensions and stuff, it sucks. We're so close to the games. Like my biggest hope is that they're able to fill the spot who are eligible and

deserve to go. Um, cause it would be a shame to, you know, compete with four less teams at the games because four teams popped a week before the games and then you couldn't get people together to go. They're worse if someone popped at the games and then someone who's supposed to be on the podium didn't get to enjoy

that moment. The best example of that is 2019 when Daniel Brande didn't make the top 10 because one of the athletes from the top 10 tested positive after the fact. So she missed half of her games and wouldn't be in the top 10 as a rookie, you know? And what does that mean for like exposure sponsorships, all that kind of stuff? I was thinking more like 2017 when you didn't get to go on the podium.

That's what I was referencing. Oh, I worry more about other people than myself. You're a good dude. You're a good dude. He's dealt with that. Yeah, that's right. I feel like that so far in the rear view. I got to get ready for Ricky. Is it weird in the back?

Is it strange that you're excited for him to come back? No. I don't think so. Why are you excited? Dude, it adds energy to the event. It adds so much energy to the event. It's great. The reason I'm excited is because I think that even clean competing

in competition, and I want the best guys there. Yeah, he'll be good. I think it'll be dramatic. I'm interested to see what the reception is like I can't wait to do the podcast with both of you on at the same time that'll be fun yeah it will be fun

he still has never said a word to me since then oh he hasn't no send get in Vellner's DMs and send him a DM be like dude sorry I didn't fuck you on the podium. Come on, man. Someone was telling me

the National Golf that Bryson DeChambeau and Brooks Koepka denied first round pairings with you. They have to be in first and second or third and fourth or whatever. They'll have to play together. And that might be you and Ricky next year. Yeah, and that's whatever. They'll have to play together. And that might be you and Ricky next year. Yeah, and that's fine. I'll

compete against them, but I'll be honest, I have no love loss for a cheater. And I don't... It won't be a warm reception from my side. And I think that, yeah, he pees clean and he

just has another shot to come back. But, um, you know, I think particularly given that he is positive test, his brother now has two, one of which was a year after Ricky was just looking for those guys. And I think that they just, you know, I don't know what they're doing, but clearly their priorities are, you know, weird for me I do and it's just I think we'll be friends that's totally fair I think

you will be I do you're a good dude you're the only dude who's used altruistic in you're the only person who's used the word altruistic in one of my podcasts and

so I think I think you'll surprise yourself thank you 1040 how's good you demand you gave us a lot of time i appreciate it i have another huge favor to ask you before you hang up oh man this internet's going out what do you say what is that i don't know patrick say that one more time.

Oh, I said. I said I got nothing but time for you guys this morning because my family. Oh, he can't hang up, though, yet, because we got a little problem. Patrick, whatever you do, don't. I just didn't work out.