The Sevan Podcast - CrossFit Games Update Show Ep. 4 w/ Sam Briggs & Chris Hinshaw

Episode Date: July 17, 2023

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That's BetterHelp.com. meeting with friends before the show we can book your reservation and when you get to the main event skip to the good bit using the card member entrance let's go seize the night that's the powerful backing of american express visit amex.ca slash y amex benefits vary by card other conditions apply dude all i have to say is this you you have to before you just like throw the dude off the table you have to kind of at least look at it huh well that's interesting like why is that why is it that they won't let you go down that you go to the north pole why can't you go to the south pole hey i'm like nothing is censored nothing is censored that's true only true shit is censored no fake shit is censored uh well okay no you're right well no fakes i mean hey if what i'm what

i'm saying might not be true but it's a good place to start i am at the place now and it's weird being as old as i am where all of a sudden I look at everything, and I don't just believe anything right off the cuff. Like, oh, this is a thing. Yep, they told me that's real, so that's real. It doesn't matter. It doesn't matter. I will always sit there and go, huh, let me at least see what that is and just take a look at it with an open mind. You have to.

Bill, let me present this idea to you or all you guys. If you took kids when they were six months old before they could walk and you gave them to a school, then the kids would come back. Sorry. If you took kids when they were six months old before they could walk, it would take less than one generation before people believed that kids could not learn how to walk unless you took them to school it would take less than one generation right for that to happen so i mean today i saw four 25 year old guys walk out of jamba juice wearing masks i mean it's just idiots are abound brother it's right so and but here's the thing but they're But they're following what they were told. Right.

I mean, why? And the question is, why would the government lie to you? Right? Why would they lie to you? Sam, are you in your pajamas? No, not yet. Oh, darn. Ladies and gentlemen, we're going to cut straight to the chase.

The champ is in the house. The champ who was on the top of the podium on one of the hardest podiums in the world you could possibly possibly get on and then also ate uh one of the largest pieces look at her look at her jesus why many what is going on here look at her just roll no no shame no humbleness just roll it up uh and um and then and then had to consume one of the largest pieces of humble pie uh at the at the regionals the following year like what the fuck like everyone wanted her at the games and it was a a handstand debacle okay here she is to get one of the the second to last word on uh cuts i had the privilege of uh privilege of, uh, of texting with, uh, Sam. It's late where she's at.

That's why I'm getting straight to the chase with Ms. Briggs here. Ms. Briggs, do you know everyone here? That's, uh, uh, Mr. Spin from the Barbell Spin. Yep. Uh, John Young over there from John Young Barbell. And then the great, uh, Bill Grundler, who's just been around forever, owns CrossFit Inferno, the second best commentator in the history of CrossFit for ESPN,

and, uh, a games athlete. Yep history of CrossFit for ESPN, and a games athlete. Yep, certainly do. Bill, you're supposed to get all pissed off when I call you the second best of all time. I'm just going to let you talk. You're doing your thing, dude. You have your opinions, too. Already, Sam brings in $14.

Sam breaks. What time is it over there sam uh it's just after 9 30 but i've got work tomorrow so i'm going to bed straight after this um sam cuts are they uh are they a good thing or a bad thing what do you what are your thoughts on cuts i had the privilege of texting with you a little bit about the subject yeah I think um as long as the workouts are like correct before the cuts and I don't see the cuts as being a bad thing um I mean what we were talking about was 2010 um they had cuts then and that year they cut to the top 10 to do the final event and i was in 19th so i didn't get to do the final and it was sitting in the stands watching that final event that made me like the realization of like i'm gonna be there next year i'm gonna do everything i can

in this next year of training to be in that final heat it's kind of making it to the games to just kind of be at the games to not making it into that final heat to then be okay i'm gonna make it back to that games and i'm going to be there for all the events. I'm going to not just be a participant, I'm going to be a competitor. If they would have let you in there, real fast, if they would have let you in there, would you have messed up the field that was on the floor that got to take that? Would you have placed high in those?

I don't know. I think the finals that year there were uh good events but i mean uh anything could happen i mean like look at rich fronting he like was falling from the the rope in that in that final event so um i just think as long as the programming's correct, the cuts in 2019, I was on the wrong side of the cuts and didn't make it through the last cut. And like a lot of athletes that didn't make the cut, we all felt like we'd not actually done anything.

We'd not had any chance to kind of showcase what we were capable of and then fast forward to 2021 and I didn't make the cut again but I was completely satisfied with what I'd already done the events that I'd competed in and I was like no no no there's like I didn't I didn't deserve to be in that next level it was like those people that went through deserved to to be there for the next stage um whereas in 2019 it was more like we've not had a chance yet to showcase anything you've made these cuts and there's so many athletes here that actually deserve to be finished in the weekend kind of thing. Were you pissed?

Were you pissed? In 2019, yeah. Yeah. Well, it seems like in 2010, you're like, yeah, it was a good thing. And in 2019, you said it was a bad thing? I think it was more like when the timing of the cuts and the events before the cuts. Because then they did the cuts again in 21,

and the events that they had before the cuts and the timing of the cuts, it felt right. It was like I'd done the events that I'd done, and it was like when i didn't make the next cut i was completely happy with um like how i'd done yes i was drinking a beer in the stand i just think it's great you guys went and got cut and said screw you guys we're gonna go do a triathlon instead so how about that we didn't feel tired. You do all this training to compete at the games, and it honestly didn't feel like we'd done anything.

So we went out and we did a half Ironman. And then after that, it was like, yeah. At a local comp? You guys went to a local comp? After getting cut from the CrossFit Games, you're like, shit, we got some fitness to you, so you went to a local comp and did a half Ironman? Yeah.

Her and Sarah. Sarah who?ah's daughter yeah wasn't annie wasn't annie annie there too yeah no it was me sarah emma mcquid emma and carmen bosman i i would also like to um point out that the year that daniel brandon was uh quarantined uh for uh an std uh. And she had to run by herself. Sam also offered to run with her. Just raised her hand and be like, I'll run with her. Or not an STD, a COVID.

Sorry, COVID. I'm too confused. And that was pretty cool, Sam, that you did that. Why did you do that? If you're going to beat somebody, I always want to beat somebody um and it's and it's fair and square it's um if i if i beat somebody or i lose to somebody and it's being even playing fields then it's like well i've given my best you've given your best and whoever's the better has risen to the top if everybody else is running against somebody

and somebody had to run by themselves, that's not an even playing field. She's at a disadvantage. So it's like anybody that beat her, it's like, well, you only beat her because she was at a disadvantage. And that's not what CrossFit's about. CrossFit's meant to be finding the fittest on earth

with everything on an even playing field. Tremendously kind of you, since there's so much money on the line, and also since Daniel Brandon is so explosive. I mean, if I were to put both you guys in categories, I would say you'd be better at beyond 1,000 meters and she'd be better at shorter than 1,000 meters because of her track career. But let's go back to the cuts.

Do you have any negative things to say? Have you heard anything to Dave Castro? Do you want to say anything to him like, hey, bad job on the cuts or, hey, good job on the cuts, make sure you do this? Or have you heard anything that's compelling on the side of the cuts or a bad idea that kind of made you go, maybe they shouldn't do them? Oh, I think as long as – as long as when he did the cuts in 21

and they did the cuts last year as well, did they? I don't think so. As long as it's the same as in 21, there was good tests before the cuts and I felt like the cuts came at good times.

And with him being back in charge, hopefully this year it'll be the same. Those athletes that have made it to the Games and can still showcase their fitness and show the training that they've been doing before they make the cut then I don't think anybody can then question the validity of the cuts whereas if the workouts don't like showcase that and don't test the different domains and there's no validity in the cuts then then it's like a problem whereas if it is like it was in 21 then the cuts came in a timely manner and you could you could see the progression of the athletes and the top 20 that finished the weekend would have been the top 20 regardless i think do you think the fans um are okay with the cuts like for the most part like

when they get there they're they're they're they're happy that the event is moving more quickly and that they're getting to see the more prestigious athletes or do you think that they're disappointed um you'll probably get a split i would say the majority of people uh will be happy because it does bring in um an element of um kind of excitement when the last event is before they're going to make a cut it brings in that extra level of excitement it's like oh so-and-so's sat in uh 31st are they going to make the first cut into the top 30. So it does add in that layer of excitement, but then you'll get the people who are the fans of those people that are in that cut line that will probably deem the cuts as unfair because they'll want to see their athlete compete all weekend.

Yeah, that was my argument too. I like it because it's like if you do you do three if you do two cuts then you basically have three finishes yeah meaning you mean you have that climax three times of like oh shit oh shit it's basically like 30 people go to the podium then 20 people go to the podium and then only three people go to the podium yeah i love that uh any uh we're gonna let miss briggs go to bed Thanks for coming on so late. Uh, any, any final questions for her before we, um, all right. Ms. Sam Briggs, the champ. Hey, thank you. Be safe, Sam.

Be safe. Thanks for doing it. And, uh, be careful. I don't know. I feel like I'm getting like a poltergeist vibe. I don't know if you know that movie, but with that open door behind you. With the light behind me? Yeah, yeah, yeah.

I've got my dog protecting me. He's, uh me he's ready oh perfect Sam thank you very very much are you going to be at the games? yeah I'm competing in the 40-44

and then I'll switch hats and I'm coaching Emma McQuaid over the weekend sweet, alright see you there there okay see you later bye sam briggs uh we were fortunate enough to have an article written by the man above me was it written by you yeah yep i read it over at Barbell Spin, taking a look at last year's games. It's at barbellspin.com. And the article is,

what if the 2022 CrossFit Games had been cut to 20 athletes? And before we start, I think the caveat or the important part to contextualize it is you have to think that with Dave doing these cuts, that the workouts, like Sam was saying, and like I think we've all said, have to be organized in a certain way so that you're not accidentally cutting out the champ, right? You can't have the first six events just only test one domain. Right, right, yeah.

So this is kind of an unfair look at it but but it's still fun it's still fun yeah i mean i think it the notion is you have to have the first half of the events be a full well-rounded thought out program to make the you know the final position work um that's legitimate but they programmed last year without that in mind and so i was curious to know well how does that work like they gave themselves 30 you know all through saturday before the cuts to have that full well-rounded test and it's still at the end of the day it works out where there's a couple switches in in the placements but um a lot of things that you might have thought were going to happen um you know somebody in those back heats that got cut would then um do really well in an event uh you don't see that.

I mean, Willie George had a great performance second place in back nine, but I don't think any of us could remember that, right? Like we may have talked about it right after that event, but we're still not talking about it now. So you may miss out on a couple of those, but overall it seemed like you know applying those cuts to last year would not have really had a material impact to what we saw at

the final standings podiums the same uh if they did the cuts last year the same podiums are the same justin is on top okay and i will say anything go go ahead sorry go ahead last year if you look if you look at all of the workouts that they had last year, did they end on the Echo Press on Saturday? Is something wrong with John's mic? Is something wrong with his mic? Can you guys hear me? Tap that mic.

It's going through your computer. Tap on that mic. Make sure it's on. Oh, yeah. It is on. Okay. Push it. Bend it to your mouth without breaking it.

Okay. There we go. Can you hear me better now? I think. I don't know. No. You still sound like you're fucking in the shitter, but go ahead. Okay. All right. without breaking it okay there we go you hear me better now i think i don't know no you still sound like you're fucking in the shitter but go ahead okay all right uh i'm pretty sure saturday

ended on the echo press somebody correct me if i'm wrong but i think rinse and repeat was in the uh morning so if you look at all of those workouts before then like where would the cuts be it is a pretty well-rounded test um the first seven events uh you got bike to work monostructural shutter to overhead that's strength uh through the i mean 300 pounds push presses or strength and then you got running again fast running with a mile skill speed medley that's all gymnastics. Elizabeth elevated, gymnastic crossfit. The Capitol, which is a bit mix of everything. It's a little strongman vibe at the end. It's endurance until you get to the sandbag.

Just ask Kaylee Adams if strength wasn't involved. And then you have the up and over, which is gymnastics, bunch of ring muscle-ups, and echo press, which ended up being a strongman event because nobody did handstand push-ups. All the big guys were good at them. They didn't really hurt the big people, except Laura Horvath. It obviously still hurt her. But if you look at all those events, it is pretty darn well-rounded,

even if they didn't have that in mind. pretty darn well rounded even if they didn't have that in mind um so as long as it is like that again it's fine bill have your thoughts on the cut changed at all in the last two weeks as you thought about it more molded over more last week uh i'm still not i'm not a fan of it and i just i feel that especially now when you have the open, you have the quarters, you have the semis, we've done so many cuts already that I just feel we have, we make a big deal about the top 40 that we have there.

And that's why I asked Sam that question when she said in the 2010, if she would have felt that she would have done well in that particular event. I mean, if it's an, if it's, if it's a strength event and John gets cut, and all of a sudden he could have mixed it up and he could have been in the top that would or has the potential to a leaderboard.

And I just feel that these athletes deserve to have that chance to get there. That being said, I agree with what John's saying, is that if you were going to make cuts, before you make your first set of cuts, you have to have a very well-rounded selection of events to do something like that. You can't just have some random, you know, I don't think you should have any specialist events

before you get into your first cut, especially the first one, just because you're going to be losing people that should still be in the mix. If anything, it hinders what you can program a little bit because you can't have specialty events. Right. Well, I don't think it hinders it, but I mean it definitely gives you some lanes for sure. Do you think it hinders i've said you can't do any like they always have a swim in the beginning typically they always have a long endurance event in the beginning like if they have a straight up they'd have to have a straight up max out event if they're going to have the long endurance event which they always do first thing

and i understand why. Athletes recover. It's hard to throw that in the middle of the games, right? So it kind of has to be in the beginning. But then you need a straight up strong event and a 30 ring muscle-ups per time. Like you have to have those. So three basically one modality events.

Good job, Cave. And then a couple cross-fitting events in there. I just think it hinders what you can do. In order to not hinder you as much in the back half. I think that when you go to have those, I think it's more appropriate to have the more specialist, kind of outlandish, kind of really cool and creative events once you have whatever people you're going to have in there.

I don't think you need to have those. I don't think you should have those in the beginning. I know, just like you said, I agree with the endurance part. What about 2018? 2018 was beautiful. They had the marathon row, the CrossFit total, and 30 ring muscle-ups for time. That was all on day one.

And I think you do those three tests, the fittest will rise to the top with just those three tests. But they're going to make their first cut. I don't think Bill's argument, though, was that the tests weren't adequate for making the cuts. I think he was just saying there's been enough. This is what I heard Bill say. I'm paraphrasing a little bit. The sport has been around long enough, and it's matured enough that all 40 deserve to – deserve might not be the right word.

All 20 have earned – all 40 have earned the right to be there and start to finish. I think that's what he's saying, right, that the sport's matured. The athlete in me, the coach in me, and honestly, even the fan in me, like I would rather see all of them. Don't lie, don't lie. Just go with those first two, don't lie. Just go with the first two.

I think that, I do agree with that. And the reason I think it's different, you know, a lot of people will throw in, you know, the hundred yard dash or they the throw in an Olympic type event or whatever. And those are one off events like I get it. You don't need to have you don't need to have everyone run the hundred yard sprint 19 times and still have the same 40 out on the line running the sprint. the sprinting i get that um but we have a multitude of different events that these athletes are are there do to prove that they are within our definition of fitness the fittest on earth and if we're doing that then put them all out there to do that because i would hate to see something like in in in you know sam was a great example at the regionals that year where here you are you

have champ that comes back you can't make it in because she can't do handstand, you know, a handstand walk. You know what I mean? Like that was. Knowing she's probably going to be top five at the games. If you just let her in. Right. That hurt. It's hard to let her, it's hard to do that.

Does that happen all the time? No. But the thing is that there's that chance. And, and so I, like I said, I, I, the first two of the three that we talked about, that Seven won't let me add the third one in there, that's fine. Yes, yes, yes. He's an athlete and a coach. The athlete and coach deep with inside in him. Right.

I would hate to see something like that happen. Now, I did listen to Dave's thing too, and I get it. Like, I understand. I didn't get it. I listened to it. I didn't understand. Well, I can see to Dave's thing, too, and I get it. Like, I understand. I didn't get it. I listened to it. I didn't understand. Well, I can see. I can understand.

It doesn't mean that I like it, but I can understand the logistics part of if you're going to do something cool. I mean, you can only, you know, you don't want to run the same CrossFit style events all the way through when you're first in the before your cuts, in the middle cuts, and then at your final. You want to be able to have some cool things because it i think once you get to the top everyone's already done the crossfit now it's like okay now let's see what you can do with your fitness in a situation that you're not used to using it for uh before we hold hold you guys before we go on and talk about my legless rope climb earlier this evening i want to ask mr spin after writing the article did your view on the cuts change at all? It did. It did. I was, I was with bill that they've earned their right. You know, that, um, by cutting them, you're not going to see,

you're not going to get the opportunity to see some of those athletes who, um, have been cut that, um, to be able to show where they're strong at like a jake douglas if you put a sandbag event after he gets cut you're not going to see that um and while that may be the case this year what we you didn't see that last year right like you didn't see some great performances that you just still remember now and um i do agree with what Dave said in his video that it's going to shorten it up. I mean, you watch those first two heats and there might be some excitement to it,

but I think 20 is the right number on a Sunday to keep the fans' attention for that period right like we're diehard fans right we want to see all 40 athletes compete not bill bill's a diehard coach athlete he's not even in the fan category zero but ten ten zero got it but you take people that are casual fans or people that are just tuning in because they stumble across it on YouTube, they want to see those that are going to be the best of the best.

I think overall, we're not going to miss out on too much and it opens up some possibilities of really cool things that they can do after the cuts. Then why even have 40 go? Why did we have seven i mean like if we're making our cuts cut to 20 cut to 20 because give them the opportunity to get there no no don't

we know you just said we they had the opportunity to get there they already had that they're going to get cut anyway hey that's a great question for Dave. Why even let them go? That would – if you did that, the Darrow's doesn't go. Although Sam's argument and my argument would be the cuts are fun as a fan because they add a lot of tension to it. Because always there's that – you get that of those people who are on the cut line. If we're talking about it as a fan, though, then you don't want to lose those athletes. You want their fan base watching. I like the emotional roller coaster.

Maybe. Having somebody that's a big name that ends up getting cut, that's a big story that we're going to all pay attention to and talk about. Okay, Young, final word from you. Go ahead, Mr. Young. Go ahead, Mr. Young. Go ahead. You could just meet in the middle and then just let 30 go. And the people that we cut are from South America only gets one. Asia only gets one. And the people that matter get most of their people in.

We know who's going to get cut. For the most part. If that's the cut. So why bring him? If that's the case, then why bring him? Because of the athlete that surprises us? Well, you just said that, but just as you made, and dude, it was really funny. Your article was spectacular, and me and Chase and Halpin actually did a show. Immediately after that, it was really funny. We were like, oh, okay, cool.

And Halpin did the whole spreadsheet, the whole deal, and saw all the same things. It was – and even with that, it was like, okay, if they're going to get cut and there aren't big changes and there isn't the Willie George, I just took second in the event and no one's going to talk about it anyway, then why bring him? Sorry, real quick, guys. You can't be cool to them on one hand and then not cool to them on the other hand and then flip-flopping to try the exact same thing. It's okay. Somewhere they're getting cut.

Bill's just saying before. Right. Let Bill get the last word, please. No more cut talk. Sousa, don't let Abigail Donut get away. She's going to try to push us after the games. Don't let her get away. We got to get her.

Okay. Really quick, I want to tell you guys something. So two weeks ago, I started taking BPC-157. I had a fucked up bicep. I got it from California Peptides. Today, if you want to see me do my first legless rope climb in fucking forever, I'm not taking TRT. I'm not taking anything that has human growth hormone or any of that. I'm just taking some BPC-157 to heal the bicep. I was watching the Buttery Bros today and I was watching Katrin and Christine Kolenbrander.

Kolenbrander looks insane, dude. She looks otherworldly. I went out to the yard and did my first legless rope climb in I don't know forever. Thank you, Sarah, for getting me turned on to that and i'm stoked that um the last the she's been a sponsor for a long time and i haven't used any of her product and then finally uh two weeks ago i

started with the injections into the bicep and and shit's getting better so it's still up those way was way better than my rope climb i think it it was. What's wrong with my rope climb? My rope climb was cool too, wasn't it? I just think it was cooler. Oh, cooler. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Old school, sitting on the ground. Thank you.

Nasty girl style. Yeah. Thank you. And my wardrobe was better in the last one too. I looked like a... Okay. Let me get through a few more of these before we bring on the great uh chris hinshaw uh i'm in favor of cuts at the right time also in

favor of minimum work requirement for each event if you are looking for the best well-rounded athlete this is how it's done no one chime in don't you guys dare start fighting great ghost thank you um uh trina oh trina it's been a while uh trina from uh gone rogue going rogue what's her instagram account gone rogue i can't see uh suza saying something i still can't see him okay opportunity to advance thank you trina from australia another australian should do more shows at this time uh aaron um non-sponsored athletes spend too much to go there to not have the full experience and competing against the field all weekend will

help them overall i'm not down for the emotional appeal but but i hear you and thank you aaron it's beautiful your sunflower is uh appropriate with your uh message it's very kind of you. And, oh, going rogue with Sevan. Yeah. Fantastic account. Should have millions of followers. Lucky camera straps. This year's cuts seem like a good balance.

Multiple days to earn your spot and still 20 athletes on the last day. So much better than 2019. All right. Can't say it's good yet, though. It's impossible to know until the event. Jesus Christ, guys. You can't do it. Just saying.

Sorry. I got last word. He said last word. I just hopped in. I tried to give the last word to young and then Mr. Hinshaw. How are you? Fantastic. Thanks for doing this, Sam.

It's been a long time. Really appreciate you having here. Yeah, one of the most popular podcasts I ever did was with you. Man, that one really got the people stirred. Thank you for coming on again. It was all a bunch of good questions on your part. Yeah, we didn't get in trouble either, which was nice. Yeah, I appreciate the softball questions you gave me.

Today we get in trouble. Just a few minutes ago,ris we had uh sam briggs um uh sam she has the nickname the engine and uh there's no um there's no doubt she earned that and deserved that is that correct she did earn it and she deserves it yep and and and we know that because we saw her perform on the field, and we saw her lung capacity. We saw her win the CrossFit Games. We saw her basically have to compensate with a massive engine for maybe even where many would say she lacked in physical strength,

so she had to be even better than the best. She had to make up for that, right, to get on the podium. Yeah, I mean, I think that what's interesting about Sam, and we've talked about it before, I mean, I think that what's interesting about Sam, and we've talked about it before I have with Sam, it's interesting to me. But my question to Sam was, what if she truly optimized the largest muscle group in her body? What would that have done for the other weaker parts of her body, such as her arms, her chest and back, those muscle groups? And that to me is what's interesting. And it made me realize that you got to look at the whole package as an athlete and where is their opportunity. And what is that, that muscle group, the largest muscle group, if she would like the legs. So she, so imagine if she fully optimized

the development of her legs, then when this lactic acid, this, this acidity comes into the body through lactate shuttle, and let's say it comes in from the upper body, eventually it's going to go into the bloodstream. And the purpose of the bloodstream is it's just trying to find slow twitch muscle fibers to consume that lactate as a fuel. And when it does consume that lactate, it takes the acidity, which is the fatigue causing properties and removes it. Well, imagine if the legs were more equipped to consume that lactate and remove those fatigue causing properties, she could do even more work. And that to me is what's interesting. And it was a wake up call for me as a coach of like,

we need to make sure that every muscle group is optimized. And when you say optimized, you mean with strength and endurance? In terms of their development. And when you look at the body and we're triaging muscle groups, the obvious choice is start with the biggest muscle group first, right? The legs. And then work your way down. And, and that's what I start with as a coach. You were drawing a distinction between

aerobic capacity and sustainable pace. What's the distinction there? So think of a aerobic capacity as your peak aerobic output, your ability to bring in oxygen and use that oxygen in the muscles that are moving. So it's your peak. So think of it like Mount Everest, right? The top of Mount Everest is the peak. Well, on Mount Everest, some distance below, right? 4,000, well, 3,000 feet below is what's called the death zone. The death zone means that if you go above that, there's insufficient oxygen to keep the brain alive and you're going to die. With certainty, you will die, but that doesn't mean you can't summon. Of course, you could go above the death zone, but think of death zone intensity as your maximum sustainable

pace, your lactate threshold. You can go above your maximum sustainable pace, but you can't stay there. You got to come back down. Well said. Okay. And what is VO2 max in relationship to those two elements, the aerobic capacity and sustainable pace? Right. So VO2 max is your maximum oxygen uptake. So it's really defined as your ability to bring in oxygen and get that oxygen to the muscles that are moving. And that's really the test. It's your, your aerobic capacity, your maximum ability to bring in that oxygen and use that oxygen as a fuel. Um, you know how in strength there would be someone like, um, uh, anyone correct me if I'm'm wrong but there'll be these athletes that are just really explosive like you have a james townsend right extremely explosive or your 400

meter runners versus your 1600 meter runners is it like that um great question is it like that do you know where i'm going with this is it like that with aerobics is there someone who could just take in a shitload of oxygen they have have a massive aerobic capacity, but their sustainable pace is just atrocious. Well, no. So there's two types of athletes. So the one that you mentioned, you have a speed, strength, power-based athlete. They're fast twitch dominant. And so they're at a – take it like a Usain Bolt.

He's got a very high percentage of fast twitch fibers. And that's why he's fast. That's why he's so explosive. He could generate a tremendous amount of force in a short amount of time. I'm on the opposite end of the spectrum. So I've had biopsies done in my arm and my legs, and I'm in excess of 80% slow twitch. I'm never going to be strong because of my genetics. twitch, I'm never going to be strong because of my genetics. But my ability to move and utilize oxygen is where I have a genetic advantage. What's unique about in the CrossFit space and what Glassman did is he created a sport for that person who's not born with a predisposition of being highly, you know, strength based, or high endurance-based. He focused on the middle population, which represents 99% of the people. And the average population has a ratio of 50-50

fast and slow. But did you see where I was going with that? Is there someone who has a... is there someone who has a, there's anomalies out there. So the problem is, is that if you do not train something, then there is no adapt. Take Rich Froning. So Rich Froning is a good example. He walks in 2014 and triple three.

Why? Because they finally pushed him long enough where he just didn't have the aerobic adaptations. He just didn't have the ability to go long. He was highly skilled in the movement of running of maybe one to two minute time domain. And that was it. And so it exposed a weakness. And luckily, that was really an opportunity where he reached out to me for assistance. And what is interesting is that in that first 12 weeks with him, he saw dramatic gains. Now, how do you measure those gains when it's inside your body? And that's where a VO2

max test comes in, is that it measures your engine. It measures your ability to move and utilize oxygen. And it gives you a defined data point on how you measure up with other individuals. Hey, how does it do that? How does it measure your VO2? So what you are doing is that you're testing the muscles that you want to test. So if you want to test the movement of running, you're going to hop on a treadmill. If you want to test rowing, you're going to test it on a rower. Remember, it's testing the muscles that are moving, their ability to extract that oxygen out of the bloodstream and use that oxygen as a fuel. So the way they measure it is they do an incremental

step test on that piece of equipment where they gradually increase the intensity. So for Rich, what they did is on a treadmill, and this was back in 2015, where they gradually increased the intensity. So for Rich, what they did is on a treadmill, and this was back in 2015, where they incrementally increased the speed and the incline of the test as he progressed through. Now, what they do is they require you wear a mask, and that mask is measuring your amount of oxygen that you're breathing in, as well as your carbon dioxide going out.

And the computer system does the equations to give you real-time information as you're progressing through the test. What they do is they continue to increase the difficulty of that test. And as they do, your heart rate goes up. Why? Because your demand for oxygen goes up. And as a result for that demand for oxygen going up, your breathing rate goes up. They? Because your demand for oxygen goes up. And as a result for that demand for oxygen going up, your breathing rate goes up. They continue increasing the test until you no longer in those muscles that are moving can consume any more of that oxygen. And we call that a peak. You know, it's not necessarily your maximum. It's a peak for that moment in time.

And that's the test. So you're telling me a VO2 max tests your ability, your muscles' ability to process oxygen? Yep. And is there a strong correlate between that and everything? Strength, endurance? Engine. No, no. engine? No. No.

No. No. What it gives you a good indication on is the time domain of nine minutes and on. Nine minutes and on. Yeah. So remember, it's aerobic. And if we talk about like what you mentioned earlier, those speed, strength, power athletes, the ones take Guy out of Brazil, right? He is what we call a classic fast twitch dominant athlete. He is able to move extremely quick. His reaction times are solid

because he's got a predisposition for fast twitch fibers. So a Guy, for example, he is going to do extremely well in short time domains. Where an athlete that has a higher VO2, when the time domains get longer, that's where they dominate. And that's what you saw way back in 2013 with Jason Kalipa, is that he worked on his neglected muscle groups. He worked on his ability to move and utilize oxygen. And as a byproduct of doing that, you saw a dramatic improvement in overall performance in longer, what we call endurance workouts. And also from Garrett Fisher and Neil Maddox. Sorry, go ahead.

No, you're good. Go ahead, Bill. As a CrossFitter, no, the normal setup, and they showed it up on the screen, the normal setup for VO2 max is that treadmill test. As a CrossFitteritter since we aren't just always running and we're using not just legs to work to to you know drive that that need for the oxygen but everything we're pulling we're you know pulling weight off the ground pushing

stuff overhead is there a way to get a more is there a test that we could do to find a more apropos rating, I guess, for a VO2 match for someone like a CrossFitter? Or is it only, is that the only way we can do it is you're going to run up the hill and are going to increase it gradually? No, you could test. So there's a device on the market today. It's a mobile device and you can now easily test any movement. And so, you know, I work with Jeffrey Adler. And one of the things that we have done repeatedly is checked his ability to move and utilize oxygen, his VO2 max and multitudes of movements. So I'll give you an example. I'm not without any numbers. I mean, Siobhan knows that I don't share those things, but imagine if you're on an echo bike, what are your legs ability on an echo

bike to utilize that oxygen and their efficiency versus the arms as a standalone versus arms and legs? How does that legs on the echo bike compare to the biker's ability to move and utilize oxygen and what you're able to do is you're able to find and pinpoint opportunity because remember the elites the best of the best you know what we're essentially doing is is is scraping for fractional improvement by targeting inside the body and measuring it. Now we have a data point. It's actually empirical. We have numbers that we can create an entire profile. And that's what to me is exciting in the CrossFit space, because remember what you want to test is the movement that you're the most proficient at. So if you're a runner, you test running muscles. A runner would never,

ever, if they've never been on a rower, test their rowing ability because the number would be garbage. But this is where a CrossFitter is unique. A CrossFitter has demonstrated VO2 max scores because of their development in their training protocol where they are at these peak limits. And that's what's rad about a CrossFitter. So do they have to do – it's cool that you can do all those. Savant, do you remember Julie Foucher was doing – She's the most badass. She's so badass.

She did that. Like Fran. I remember she did Fran, I think, back in the day. She did it at Pepperdine. Okay. It was a ways back. Let me ask this real quick, Bill. Let me ask this real quick.

Is there a time domain, the minimum time domain for the VO2? There is. So there's a target time domain. The last time I did mine, which was about nine years ago, I did it after Alessandra Pacelli, and the people looked at her, her and she went first and she had a great score. And then I went and they're looking at me and they're like, dude's 53 years old. Look how tiny he is.

And so they turned down the speed and they lowered the grade and they pushed me, you know, 17 minutes. This test should take about 11 minutes. So you can't, so Chris, you can't do a three. I was trying to piggyback off of Bill's question there. Cause Bill was asking, can you do stuff, tests that are more cross-fitting? So, Fran, wouldn't it be not long enough? No, of course you can. How can the test be shorter? Now we're falling way into the weeds. How can the test be shorter than nine minutes if it tells you what you're, it's really only good to tell you what you're good at after nine minutes?

only good to tell you what you're good at after nine minutes. Because it's measuring your exchange of oxygen. And so you know precisely where you are as you progress through the test. So if you, Savant, did this test, I would tell you, you still have room, meaning you're not even at your maximum sustainable pace. You get real time response as you're progressing through the workout. Okay. Sorry, Savant. Sorry. He basically said- Sav basically said i would love to test you camera hold go ahead john so i i heard i don't remember what podcast it was we were talking about how fraser works as weaknesses and i was trying to use i used your concepts as far as clearing lactate i would do three handstand pushups on an EMOM, just three. And then the five pound dumbbell Arnold presses the rest of the minute for 50 seconds.

And I would do an EMOM like that to increase my shoulders ability to clear lactic acid. Right. And I saw phenomenal results doing that, like crazy results. Is there any movement in particular, CrossFit movement or muscle that you've seen that tends to improve better than most? Like this training this way works better doing this than the board, no matter what athlete you are or different for everybody. The fundamentals, the process remains the same. So what you just mentioned and, and, and that, that, what you just mentioned is, is very common in the endurance world to develop, whether it's cycling, swimming, running, rowing, it's a very common protocol.

Essentially to, to in the, in the endurance world, the way that they find that high intensity, and CrossFit is considered high intensity, but really, the purpose of high intensity is to improve your aerobic capacity. I mean, at the end of the day, it's a six-minute time domain and under. So if you wanted to know what is considered VO2 max intensity or improvement of VO2 max intensity, then that would be if you went out and you did a six minute maximal effort test, and that would be essentially the speed and or heart rate for that particular movement that would create adaptations in VO2. The problem is, is that your muscle groups, they're all different sizes. So the amount of motor units that you have in the upper body are dramatically smaller than your legs. And

so the legs, like I said earlier, really have the highest value of training time because of their ability to move and utilize oxygen. John, was that a personal question? Because he charges $650 an hour, brother. I hope that was a broad question for the community. You feel it added a lot of value to the community and the listeners. And it's $650 every fraction thereof. Right, right. Pro-rated.

Yes, pro-rated. Yeah, right. Minimum two hours of questions. Thank God you should be my agent. Have you worked with Tia? I have you worked with rich yep have you worked with matt fraser yep have you worked with sam briggs uh no have you worked with can i tell you why i didn't work with sam briggs she was too good she was too good she didn't she's like i run, run long enough. I'm going to tell you a story that I haven't told. Okay, great.

I love that. So in 2013, I met Camille LeBlanc-Bazinet. Have you worked with Camille? Yes, since 2013. Yeah. So in 2013, we started working together. And she is competing through that 2013 year. And we're nine months in.

And she comes to me and she says to me, I have a favor of you. I don't know. What's that? And she says, I don't want you to coach Stan Briggs. And I said, well, why is that, Camille? And, you know, one of the brilliant things about Camille was she was smart. She was one of the smartest athletes that I've ever worked with. What she wanted to understand was the detail, the physiology, the why behind things.

Like Camille in 2013 came to me and said, how do I train to put myself in a better position in terms of my carbohydrate reserves so that I could do a higher intensity longer on Sunday? That's what she was thinking about in 2013. She was interested in targeting specific adaptations to win. And no one since that day has ever done what Camille has done. So when she asked me that question, I'm like, I want to know why you're thinking this. And she said to me, because of what I just told you about Sam Briggs, if Sam Briggs fully develops her legs, imagine the increase in overall work capacity that she could create. And I said to her, I go, you know what? I like that answer. And so,

and I told Sam Briggs this story, you know, a couple of years ago, so she knows, but I'm like, you know what? All right. Fair enough. What did Camille do that no other athletes done? Married Dave Lipson? No, what she did was, is that she wanted to be more fat adapted so that she can conserve the consumption of carbohydrates. Remember, when you get to lactate threshold, your maximum sustainable pace, you're burning 100% carbs. So when we call like zone two training, easy pace, like easy pace would be a heart rate of 180 minus your age, Maffetone's method. That's a ratio of 50% fat and 50% carbs. So you're getting half of your energy

at that intensity from fat. But if you keep bumping up your intensity until you get to your maximum sustainable pace, now you're at 100. Well, every event at the games, you're at or above maximum sustainable pace. So the athlete that actually can consume less carbs will be in a better position on Sunday. And that's what she was focused on. Smarty pants. She's smart. Katrin David's daughter. Have you worked with her? Since she was 19. Annie Thor's daughter. No, but I want to, I'm going to go visit her this year because I think Annie is the anomaly of anomalies.

And I was in Berlin and watched what she did. And we talked and she used to be an ultra runner in Iceland way back before CrossFit. And that's still sitting inside her. And imagine if that can resurface and she can retain her superpowers that she has today. You know what's crazy? Utmost respect for Annie. There's things that I think Annie and Katrin and, I mean, if Tia comes back after the baby, it will be fucking nail in the coffin. But if Annie can come back and win or if Katrin can come back and win after these peaks and valleys and having kids, it will be – they will also put themselves in these weird categories that will be impossible for anyone ever to touch.

But I don't see Annie as a good runner. What's funny, she lumbers. But then again, Dave Castro I wouldn't see as a good runner too, and the fucking guy can run 50 miles. But she lumbers, right? But that's fixable. It is fixable? That's so easily – absolutely, that's so's fixable. That's so easily. Absolutely.

That's so easily fixable. It's a horrible thing. It's pretty mean to say that, lumbers. That's a tough word for an athlete to hear. An athlete doesn't want to lumber unless you're a strong man, right? Well, what she does, though, is it's too much upper body work for the level of intensity. She has a dramatic, over-exaggerated arm swing, and that is draining her of her energy. And so she just needs to create more efficiency.

And it's without question improvable. I mean, imagine if where she is today, and we can change her trajectory to where now she's back in a rocket ship mode. That to me is, she's not done. And so when we talked in Berlin, she invited me to Iceland and we've done, we've, we've been friendly for a long, long time. And to me, I, I love the fact that she is still wanting to get better. And, you know, athletes, one of the things that I always, I admire in them is when they're vulnerable and honest. And Annie is one of those people where she has no problem admitting her and acknowledging her weaknesses and acknowledging the areas that she doesn't understand and reaching out for help.

That is a rare athlete. Most athletes will come in and just, you know, the arrogance and, and they have it all figured out. And those are the ones that, that are, are difficult to coach, if not impossible. Ben Smith, you worked with Ben Smith? Never. No, but I've done a seminar at his and um he's one of the brightest people in the sport which brings us to um something a rumor that i heard um through the rumor mill and and and i reached out to you a couple days ago or a week ago i can't remember but to ask you about it and uh and you're like hey i don't know if i can talk about that and then uh we got a little bit of clearance from the athlete to talk about it, which I really appreciate.

People like Matt Fraser are crazy impressive, right? And people like Tia, mind-boggling, right? I'm assuming. There's anomalies out there that you would think they're fast-twitch speed-strength power athletes. But they have this incredible ability to endure. Like Jason Kalipa was able to run a 520 mile, and he could do a 606 2K. And I had Jason in 2013,

three weeks before the games, run 20 miles. That tells you something. What year was that? What year did you have him run 20 miles? 2013. Were you scared you were going to hurt him? I had to do something that when he lined up on the starting line that he recognized that he was the exception in the field, that he has done things. That was a psyop, as they say in the conspiracy world, to have him run 20 miles?

Well, I mean, I got a lot of heat for him. So did he. So that wasn't training for the body. That was training for the brain. Like, hey, once you knew that once he completed that, he would be on my side. Because you have to truly believe. I mean, one of the things that-

John Young wants to throw up. You heard 20 miles, huh, John? You want to throw up. I've run a marathon before, Sevan. All right, my bad, my bad. Without stopping, very slowly. All right, good job, good job. Without stopping. Very slowly. All right. Good job. Good job. It's a very delicate thing with games athletes or any elite athlete is that a coach's

job, when it comes real close to putting it on the line, that athlete has to believe when they line up that they are the anomaly, that they're the exception over everybody else. But you can't just throw them an easy workout and go, oh, you're going to do 10 400s on the track in three minutes. It's like they have to believe that that workout is impossible and that nobody else can do it. And so remember, Jason Kalipa got dead last in every single endurance event from 2008 to 2012.

He passed out in 2009, like a rock. He fucking collapsed. So is that a true story? Dude, there's video of it. I shot, I filmed him just like he collapsed,

like, like just like in the middle of the race with like Spieler and Miko, he just collapsed and just like, like a shit. Yeah. Yeah. It was so maybe, maybe Caleb will find it. Yeah. That to me, I, I thought that was just like a wife's tale. I've heard that before. I just didn't.

So imagine if you did fall asleep in a, in a, in a, in a run, I don't even know how that's possible, but if you say. A little bit before that,'s a just a smidge there oh this is the trailer oh yeah damn i want to say you can play the whole thing i made that but i don't know if you can go back even further go back even no no it's before that it's way before that that's the finish line if you go uh even more before that caleb you'll see um he's running and he and he he passes out yeah it's great and i think and then he came to chris and deadlifted 500 pounds i want to say yeah so imagine if you have that in the back of your mind

and then you have to do a long endurance workout, you're already gearing up to lose. And so I had to recognize and he had to realize that if he was going to get back on the podium, he had to prove that he did things that no one else was capable of doing. And the amount of grief that he took and I took back in 2013 of making him run 20 miles, it was so misunderstood. But his frame of mind when he

took the field, I mean, he won three out of the four endurance events in 2013 and got third in the other one. And I mean, put the smash on Rich Froning in one year. Yeah. Yeah. It was, that was an incredible start to the games for him and his training partners. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, what he did with, with Garrett Fisher and Neil Maddox, with the three of them and Miranda Oldroyd was in that group as well. I mean, they, they did things and that's why, you know, back on those days there was amazing days that with an athlete like that to give you an opportunity and and that athlete was truly coachable and then they deliver and that's the key at the end of the day you still have to deliver that brings us to run that much sweeter

say that again john yeah i said it makes the win on the burden run that much sweeter with all the crap that he took from running and you too i mean what and then he wins the burden run it's like oh my god like who you know i feel like everybody knew who chris henshaw was after 2013 okay so let me paint the scene here chris this is they've run up the hills Into the dirt and then they've come back And on the right hand side you see a guy with a cowboy hat And he's pointing for the athletes to run And you can see Caleb circling Jason Kalipa With the arrow

And so he's on the last mile He's going to go out to the road in front of the ranch Make a right hand turn and then come back and do the finish line Maybe the last 800 meters And here he is You see him And someone knows oh my god he's going down yeah oh no that guy what doesn't know that guy just ran past him i thought that

guy maybe knew now watch this boom buh-bye lights out crazy wow yeah so imagine that's in the back of your mind on the start of the burden run and how do you shake that and when he stood there on that line i mean he did a workout that was 10 by 800 meters um uh before that as well 10 by 800 with a work worked arrest of one to one and he averaged 257 for 800 as a matter of fact crossfit hq filmed that a value of overall on that same workout that was the last workout of the games for that year she uh she crashed at the finish line she did a somersault at the finish line that's how fatigued she was she fell forward and somersaulted across okay um which brings us to uh one of the most interesting athletes i i think in um uh on the scene today uh a second year athlete going to the crossfit games i'm a huge huge fan of hers um i'm hearing uh that you've been working with alex gazan

yes yeah she's and that her numbers are off the chart that you're looking at something that's truly remarkable and special. That's where you when you it's like when you're you're strong. Well, you can measure strength by doing a lift. But how do you know what your potential is from a cardiovascular standpoint? How do you know? And by getting a VO2 max test done, it gives you insights into that snapshot in time when you got your test done. Now, it's not to say that you, so remember, your VO2 is your peak. Once you reach your genetic limit on that, and everybody has a different number, and that's why endurance athletes are, they dominate is because their number is higher. So once you hit that limit, then you want to keep your peak at that level.

So with Alex, she's got a number. I mean, we talked about Julie Foucher. She was really from a cardiorespiratory standpoint in her VO2 testing, the most dominant athlete that I have ever come across in nine different movements. She was in 2015 when she popped her Achilles, I mean, she was going to win the CrossFit Games. Alex comes in- Oh shit, you think that Henshaw? I do. What year was that?

2015. Wow. Who won the games that year? Katrin. Katrin. Wow. Wow. Okay. Yep. Yeah. Truly remarkable. Julie Fouché is one of the most talented athletes that I've ever come across from an endurance standpoint, right? The ability to move and utilize oxygen. All right. But Alex comes along and one of the things that's interesting is that, you know, she's 21, she's, you know, getting close to 22 years old. She's young. Child. trajectory. And you see that like same thing with Jeffrey Adler. Jeffrey Adler, we've been working together now two years. And the same thing is that you can alter the trajectory of an athlete by improving their ability to move and utilize oxygen. And that's what you see with Adler,

right? He's got numbers that are, I mean, you popped up Rich Froning. His are higher than Rich's. And Alex, being as young as she is with her numbers, who's to stay where the end is? Are they the best numbers you've ever seen in a CrossFit athlete? In a female. They are. Yeah. So her VO2, and she said I could talk about it because, as you know, I don't talk about these things, but she has a VO2 of 60.2 milliliters of oxygen per kilogram of body weight per minute. Now, superior is 41.

Okay. So it's a – I can tell you only that I can tell you about jeffrey alder being more than rich because you pulled up rich i know that fair enough so so you when you saw that when you saw alex kazan's numbers were you like something's wrong like she needs to be retested there was an error in the machine no because i watched her do it yeah you did and so and you could And you could even see, it's like listening to an assault bike from across the room. If you hear someone like get over 90 RPMs, you're like, you look over. Well, so you're watching them as they progress through this test. And so when you progress through the test, they start you off walking and then they gradually increase the intensity until you no longer can move. All right.

And typically you'll hit your maximum heart rate during this test. And so as you're progressing through, you are seeing precisely where they are and you know how much room they have. Well, for me as a coach, there's lots of other things that I look at without looking at a computer screen. So for example, you're breathing. If you were moving, I would listen to your rate of breath, your demand for oxygen and the frequency of that. And when you run, what I listen for is how many steps are you taking per complete cycle of breath? And every athlete, when they're in control of their breathing, meaning below at a speed slower than their maximum sustainable pace, they're taking four or more steps per cycle of breath. So as she's progressing through this, I'm listening for that because a lot of times

athletes are uncomfortable with being on air, right? They have a mask on and the nose is covered and they feel claustrophobic. And so they quit early. They quit premature because it's just uncomfortable. They're not familiar with it. And so I'm listening to give her feedback precisely where she is along the way. I know that her maximum heart rate should be somewhere in the at least 195 to 200 range. And so if her heart rate's down at 170 and her breathing pattern is somewhere around eight steps per cycle of breath, I know she's got plenty in the tank. And that's what I'm listening for. I'm listening for these basic techniques to give her insights on where she is to make sure it's a good test. to give her insights on where she is to make sure it's a good test.

Wow. Nothing like 10, 800 to start the day. So Chris, this is kind of a weird question, but are you her endurance coach? Are you, is that. I am. You are a coach. So keep in mind. So my relationship with Justin Cutler, he is the prime. And essentially, I work for him. Okay, okay. Like with Katrin back in the Ben Bergeron, I'm involved with Ben's really the lead and the prime. Right. But the relationship is one where I work direct.

We communicate direct. We had a conference call today with Alex and Justin to talk about those workout results. Same thing. There's always a head coach. What we're getting about Gazanna, she's a freak of nature. The 270 bench press is bizarre.

It is bizarre. It's not just strong. It's like getting into something weird. Now this VO2 max is something else she's we're not the potential of this this is the athlete to watch this is a a bona fide like we're this is um she has everything all the raw shit is there and the threat is it's always about trajectory. Which athletes are improving? Maybe she grows too fast? No, no, no. It's about improvement.

So a lot of athletes, they plateau. They just stop improving. And now what you're doing is you're swinging a pendulum over the food. And if it turns clockwise, oh, that's better for you because you're trying to get fractional gains. There's really little opportunity. It's very difficult to squeeze out improvement because they plateaued. There's really little opportunity. It's very difficult to squeeze out improvement because they plateaued.

But with her, who she is today, she is going to be better tomorrow. And that rate of improvement is what's terrifying. That's the thing. That's something you see with Adler too. Right. Adler's improved every year. And that's what we were talking about with Annie annie thor's daughter imagine you change the trajectory as dominant as she is and is she done and the answer is i don't believe she is nearly done you can alter the trajectory of an athlete by going out and soliciting help

and that's what alex did alex and justin that. Is Alex coachable? Really easily coachable? She's one of the, yeah. There's very few that are coachable. I've said this many times. I've had 10 coachable athletes in my day. Wow. And she's one of them. Yeah, she's truly, she's good.

Can you tell an athlete they're not coachable and they fix it or it's harder than that? Hey dude, you're not coachable. Normally what happens is I stop getting feedback and I delete the Google Doc. Bye. Chris, she's one of my favorites. I'm really kind of enamored by her, right?

She's got this Great Dane quality to her. Like you see that thing, someone walking a Great Dane down the street and everyone turns their head. I'm really enamored by her whole, her ability. And it's good to hear that about Adler, too. I just watched the Buttery Bros video with Jeffrey Adler. And boy, I don't know if his English got better or what, but he seems more confident and relaxed than ever.

And remember that that's where the coaching comes in, is that you're trying to prove to these athletes that they are an exception. And what makes Alex special is that, one, she wants to learn. She really wants to learn. Like the questions, you know, that she asks is trying to understand her results better. So I'll give you an example of that. She did a workout and it was 108 degrees in Las Vegas. And this workout had an active recovery piece in it, meaning that she had to jog at a specific speed

and maintain that speed going into the next interval. Well, being 108 degrees, as she got somewhere around 20 minutes into this workout, her core was melting down. And she wasn't able to. She's just overheating, straight up overheating. She was overheating. And we see that all the time. We saw that with Annie and Car Webb at the CrossFit Games right during work.

So that happens. But what she saw was her heart rate at intensity was the same heart rate at recovery. Well, today, during her 10 by 800s, it was dramatically different. And so she was trying to understand the rationale behind that. And the purpose she was asking was, what if it's hot at the games? was asking was what if it's hot at the games now what she's doing is she's competing using knowledge and experience and that's going to give her a competitive advantage that's a great athlete at 21 yeah i like that that's very appealing you see that as a competitive advantage or a mental advantage for herself i mean obviously the better the better she is the best she's going to be competing but do you see it as more of an individual thing or

now that's a tool to use against the feet yeah so i meant yeah so as a competitive advantage meaning it's an advantage that she has over everybody else it's something unique to her. So imagine, you know, if temperature is high, what your speed and your heart rate needs to be based upon that temperature. And, and now you're not guessing. See, the thing is, is that this sport, it's, it's, it's really evolved. I don't coach a lot of people anymore. I really don't because it's so difficult. The easy days where you could just make someone run slow and they'll improve are over. And you have to have an athlete that is willing to accept the information that you're gathering to give them that advantage to maximize their own individual performances. Why is that?

Are you saying because people are so good and the improvements that they need to make or they're so high to the glass ceiling that it's hard to give people, people don't want to accept those fractional? Okay, interesting. Yeah, the top 10 people in the games are so close. They're so close that in my opinion, in my role is to prove to them

that what they think is impossible is actually possible. And that's what you're trying to do. We're not tapering for the games. What we're doing is sharpening their physical, their mental, and emotional so that they believe that they can execute the most optimal strategy for them on that day. That's what I'm trying to do. execute the most optimal strategy for them on that day. That's what I'm trying to do. Mr. Hinshaw, it's been a pleasure, buddy. Thank you so much for coming on. Thanks, guys. Yeah, you're amazing. I look forward to talking to you again. Are you going to be at the CrossFit Games?

I am. Yeah. So you want to do a VO2 max test? I'll bring in the crew. No, but I'll give you a big old hug. How's that? All right. Bill, it's good seeing you, Bill. You too, man. You too. Yeah, always good. Yeah, thank you, guys. I appreciate it, man. Thank you. Bye, Sam.

Yep, take care. Mr. Spin, when do we get to vote again? Mr. Spin has the number one rankings, the most valuable, pertinent rankings in the CrossFit space. And I need to change my Alex Kazan vote. You'll be getting it tomorrow. Really? Are we doing it again tomorrow? Yep. I'll be sending out the link for you guys to submit.

And so, yeah, new results will be published on Wednesday and we got some new people on there too. Do you think Henshaw's words are going to change your placement of a Ms. Kazan, Mr. Spin? Uh,

I had her up there pretty high. I think I had her like seventh, um, before. So, uh, yeah, I mean,

it's, it is interesting to, to hear that. Uh, cause even you look at what she did last year, she took, what was it, 31st in bike to work and 24th, I think it was. Yeah, 24th in the capital. What'd she take in shuttle to overhead the run?

On the run, 30, let's see, was it A? Her first games. It's her first games right last year she took 21st so okay all of those she was not negative out of all those tests yeah so she mean outside the top 20 on all all three of those so if she is made big improvements like he was saying and that kind of trajectory is up i don't know if he was saying he made big improvements like he was saying. And that kind of trajectory is up. I don't know if he was saying she's made big improvements, but what he was saying is that the potential is there, right? I think he was saying her trajectory is just going up and up and up. So that implied that she's been improving over the past 12 months. Okay, and then she won the semifinals.

Mm-hmm. Bill, were you honored were you involved in the last voting I got slammed with a bunch of coaches that didn't show up so I'm like dude give me the thing I'm going to turn him in sometime I got him

I always had him done but I didn't have him done in time what do you think about Gazan when you hear that does that get you fired up because when I heard that I was so fired up. Yeah, because, I mean, watching her at the semis, I mean, I don't want to say that she did way better than I was expecting. I mean, she looked like a completely different athlete than when she was at the games, I thought,

even based on the events that there were. Looked pretty dang comfortable. And to know that there's a lot of holes that are being shored up, just like we talked about, the events that she placed outside the top 20 that were all endurance-type events, I mean, that's going to play huge for her. And I think when I had her and Kotler on, they may have said at one point she was so down

she didn't think she was going to make it. She shit the bed on one of the events and was crying. Kotler told her to get her shit together, and she did. That's cool. And now she must believe winning the semifinals. I mean, that's that little bit of belief that he's talking about, right? That's the belief piece. Well, then that and then all the carrots that either, you know,

that Chris is putting out in front of her. I mean, give me a break, dude. 10 800s? Fuck that. Gross. I don't. Is this true what he's saying? Also, she tested four workouts

from last year's games and got three first places. Now, I know it's testing them in a vacuum, but that's fucking crazy. Well, what were the workouts? Curious. They may be. Don't ruin the folks who are young. If it's not life to work, the capital shuttle over.

Like, if it's a table climb workout, tell me she won. I already know she's going to kill those workouts. The capital shuttle over. Like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like,

like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like,

like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like,

like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like,

like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like,

like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like,

like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like,

like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like,

like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, they were good or bad i don't know what they were but no i mean i think i we i think we've all been on the train that she's on the up and up but i don't i have her 11th or 10th i think in the ranking and i think that's appropriately ranked she was 21st last year 10 spots top like i think she'll make a push for the top 10 i think that's huge if she does better than that i'll be surprised but that's that that's already a really big jump um i think the next year is where we can kind of flirt with you know she's the one that's coming right kind of like how we feel that way about adler this year yeah if she's top 10 she's most improved at the games. You mean this year's been? Yeah, if she ends up being top 10, she's probably the most improved of the athletes coming back.

It's hard for me to put her better than that, though. That's the hard part is when you think about the tiers. The top six appear to be on that separate tier from everybody else. And so can she run up to that seventh spot? But how hard is it going to be to get into that Gabby, Emma, Emma, you know, in the podium?

Like, that's a big jump, right? So. The comment of the evening goes to Marco Calderon. Very interesting two thoughts put adjacent to each other alex is a monster i walked by her at semi-finals i ate 10 tacos that i thought i thought at first she said she ate 10 tacos so that is no he ate 10 tacos so so that's just the that's the alex gazan effect if you see her um you're gonna you just she she stimulates your appetite is i don't need i'm not sure i

understand is there a connection there and you want to take a shot at that bill what do we read into this or what all i know is that that's the case and that's what happened and i would eat 20 tacos because i like tacos and so it makes a normal person go to 10, and I'm obviously going to 20. Alex is a dark horse for the podium this year. Annie is overrated. I think that's the opposite. I think Annie's underrated.

Alex can leap over Magawa. One of the Emmas will probably falter. Oh, that's the past, Mr. Klopp. I think Magawa's underrated. I would like to take you guys, shift gears, anything else you guys want to say about that? Oh, well, before we shift gears,

Jeffrey Adler, Mr. Spin, thoughts on Adler? I just watched him on the Buttery Bros video. Great video, and I'm crazy impressed by him and Miss Lambre. Yeah, I watched that too. I thought, first of all first it was just a great

video in general um i i've always been high on him i think uh you know he's right off there from the rogue invitational um he's had a great year it's and every time he talks he's like i wasn't trying to win i'm just trying to advance and he ends up winning right he wins the open he wins semifinals um so if he does come with his best game at the games i think he's he's on the podium for sure miss uh miss lambert his coach and fiance also said uh we're coming to win this year he said um we're coming to get on the podium but so something that was very interesting i can't remember if it was marsden or heber but someone said hey this you're saying you want to be on the podium at the games but at the semi-finals you said you only wanted to be top 10 what's the

difference now and he said i'll tell you after the games which made me wonder um if maybe he was injured at semi-finals a bill uh thoughts on uh mr adler uh it's been fun to watch jeff progress over the handful of years that he's been to the games um not not even necessarily just physically but his his thing is mental mental game the mental game the mental toughness the the year he was at the games, when it was at Aromas, was it 2020? His confidence that he showed looked like it was manufactured. Like he really didn't think he was supposed to do what he could do. You'd see him win in the Open. I think a lot, you know, he'd had that big race.

What was the event? The Burpee Box Jump over one. I think a lot of, you know, he had that big race. What was the event? The Burpee Box Jump Over one. The Clean and Jerk one. Yeah, the Clean and Jerk one. I mean, unreal. I think it was 20.4. Yeah, unreal showing on that. It was just nuts.

So there were these flashes of what he could do. But what always really held him back, I thought, was the mental game. It's like he didn't feel he should be in the mix with all of the big names. He was there, cool, but he didn't have that. But every year we've watched him compete, and he seemed more and more confident, which is great to see because that's what an athlete needs. An athlete, just like what Chris was talking about, an athlete needs to believe that they are the best that's there and if he thinks he's i think when an athlete says you

know well i just want to do the best they want to you know i think mostly it's i don't want to be showy on the outside but inside they have to want it and every time i saw jeff after the games i'd be like oh so how'd it go you did great He did great here, did great there. And he's like, nah. He's like, that was not what it was supposed to be. So it's like he knows where he's supposed to be, and it is nice to see him with that level of confidence. And it's been a long time coming. It's time for him now. Going for number seven, Ken.

Also in the Buttery Bros video, him and Coach Lambre talk about, and I paraphrase, they're not just doing random training this year. They're not just training to be the fittest. They understand they're working on specifics to basically make him the champion, that they've really fucking dialed in his training to focus in on maybe things that would give him the edge in events that he maybe wasn't necessarily the best in before.

I think what they were alluding to, or maybe they even said explicitly, was endurance. It sounds like they're very confident and they've altered their programming. Thoughts on Adler? John Young? The thing is, I don't know where they need to focus on.

It's because I saw Hey, Ricky. John, you're breaking up bad, dude. You're breaking up bad. The funny thing is, I don't know where they need to focus on. It's because I saw... Uh-oh, John, you're breaking up bad, dude. You're breaking up bad. I think maybe you need to switch to your computer. Maybe you got shitty earphones. Go ahead again. Can you hear me now?

Yeah. What's funny, Bill? You. You're funny, dude. You're a funny guy. Can you hear me now? All right. money bill you you're funny dude you're funny guy can you hear me now all right the uh he he overtook ricky in the ruck run ricky garard at rogue i was thoroughly impressed i was he doesn't need to work on endurance anymore his running has improved so much his endurance and his capacity has um his capacity

has always been great he's always been strong and i mean he's been doing good in the endurance events where he doesn't do good when it's some weird thing that no one before he's very bad at adapting fly and i don't know how you train that. You just throw a bunch of random stuff at him maybe. But like, if you look at the games, all of his worst events are events that nobody could train for. For instance,

Elizabeth elevated. He was terrible at the traverses had never done it before. Right. But there's a lot of people I've never done a traverse before. When I try to do it, I was able to do it. It's not, you know,

it, he's able to do it. He's just very bad at adapting on the fly. The sandbag event. Nobody's ever sandbag cleaned 300 pounds. He's one of the strongest guys in the field, and he gets 16th place. He does the same sandbag clean that Colton Merton's about squat cleans. You're the strongest guy in the field. Can you use someone else? Don't do that again, John, please. Thank you

but Like those are the things he needs to get better at is the things that Boz likes with people where I don't think anybody's been Training this this is so I'll see who can it be the best this which traditionally the game's winner is Very good at. Justin is amazing at adapting on the fly. I think that's where he needs to improve the most. His capacity has always been there.

You think it's adapting or the confidence that he'll be able to do what he needs to do? I see Justin being like, line it up, bring it. confidence that he'll be able to do what he needs to do because like i mean justin i see justin like whatever line it up you'd bring it you know yeah if i show you something and you've never done it bill you've never done it before but nobody else has either we're just gonna see who can do it if there's a guy that consistently can't do these things and there's a guy that consistently

can that's adapting just figuring it out, right? Physically figuring out, how do I move to do this? You know, and then, I mean, that's mental. It could be confidence because you see something you've never done before and be like, I got that, right? That could be confidence, but figuring it out within the workout. Uh, I think he's bad at those things straight up. And that's a skill. I don't know how you train it, but straight up, and that's a skill. I don't know how you train it, but it's a skill, and that's where he falters the most. If you go back and look at his history, he's good at everything. Well, he should consult with JR.

JR will tell him what weird shit is going to be in there. JR knows. Does that make sense though? Yeah. Totally. Yeah, 100%. You're saying he sucks at shit on the fly uh okay um uh klysdale media so bill can get a taco three dollars thank you

um uh how we do it with the question for henshaw i'm sorry he's gone i wonder how much lactate danny spiegel's legs could shed a fair enough uh question interesting um adler ain't got it between the ears hey man go go uh go look at his uh the video man he is fucking he it's he's he's mellow man he's confident i i think that there's been a um shift okay i want to show you guys uh as we get to the 90 minute mark uh an athlete that i'm desperate to talk to uh abigail donut and i want to show you guys uh as we get to the 90 minute mark uh an athlete that i'm desperate to talk to abigail donut and i want to show you something that she posted on her instagram um and uh we'll start with uh you mr um spin and you can tell us um what you think um first well this is a one snatch pool one hang hang snatch pull, one snatch, one hang snatch.

She claims that those aren't hollow weights, and that's 185 pounds. Fucking insane. Yeah, let's go. Let's do it. Yeah, let's go. Thank you, Caleb. I mean, she could surprise people with that type of movement there. I'm not sure too many people could do that. That's savage. Grunler, thoughts on the newcomer rookie, right?

I mean, if you have strength in your arsenal, then that's always going to, anytime you get a barbell in your hand, you're going to feel good about that. So I think this is obviously playing to her strength. I actually really like the drill. I like the complex because it sets her with two really good pulls before she actually gets

underneath the bar. I like that setup. Mr. Young, from the most relevant opinion in the panel from John Young Barbell, he knows how to make you strong. What do you think? That's impressive. I don't know why she only snatched 195 in the semifinal.

Could be timing. So explain that to me. You're saying that this is 185, and she's doing some sort of complex with it. Her max should be more than 10 pounds over that? Yeah. Essentially, she's doing a double with the snatch, right? Taking a little bit out with the pulls, but it's a double with the snatch right uh taking a little bit out with the pools

but it's a double with the snap but if you could touch and go 185 even if it isn't a hang i mean you should at least be able to snatch 205 for one um and i didn't like confidently especially with her finishing position the way she just sits down on the bottom and then stabilizes all right no reason you can't snatch more than 195 so i don't know i would have that question like maybe she had because there are a lot of there are people who can do 90 forever and they're in their max out numbers are not that much different and then there are max out people who's 90 they can't move very well, but they can keep on going. Yeah. I mean, she found CrossFit three years ago and she moves better than most.

Isn't she the model? Yeah, she was. She used to be a model back in the day. She looks like a model. Uh, seven. Are you,

uh, Anthony TP seven? Are you braiding your hair to pay homage to Dave at the CrossFit games this year? Also, how does Bill's beard get darker, but Savant's is getting grayer? I don't think I braided my hair.

Dude, you have no idea. I'm about to get a haircut, and my whole shit's going to look gray, but thank you for the observations. It's been a while. I thought we were going to make it a whole show without someone telling me I look like Bill's dad. I'm crazy impressed.

Let me ask you this. We'll start with you, Young. Does she make it past the first cuts as the rookie, Miss Donut? It depends on the events. That's going to be the answer for every single cut question. That has to be the answer for every question regarding the cuts.

It's impossible to know until we know the events. Bill, answer for every question regarding the cuts it's impossible to know until we know the events bill go ahead go ahead spin yes please i want i want to i want to hear fucking uh john and his wife talk um honey uh do you want to go to a movie tonight well it depends on what we have for dinner oh fuck uh mr spin uh go ahead i think she does uh you do think she does as a rookie she makes it out of the uh in the top 30 i don't know if she makes it to sunday on the top 20 but i think she can she can make it through through um i mean i i don't want to be i think again just listening to what dave said i think it's gonna's going to be a well-rounded enough events where there's going to be six, seven scored events where we're going to get a good test of it.

It's not going to be biased one direction or the other. I think it'll be close. I think she'll be one of those that's fighting for it on Friday night. But I think she can do that. Bill, would you like to weigh in? Or hide behind John Young? No, I'll hide behind John's big legs over there. That's the right answer.

The thing is you can't say will she or will she not when you don't know what you're comparing that to. You think she makes it? You do? Fuck no, I actually don't think she does. I don't think she's a rookie. I don't think she makes it you do i fuck no i actually don't think she does i don't think i she's a rookie i don't think she does i think she got i hope she does though i hope i'm wrong well the well there's 12 rookies only right the only fun thing to show would be okay we just saw obviously she's doubling that 185 on the snatch but she couldn't do the 195 in the competition, so maybe she can't handle the pressure part when it's like, hey, you need to step up right now.

Not like, hey, well, maybe I'll make it. Now you're here. Can you handle the pressure? I don't know. I mean, that's the rookie thing, you know? Heather Campbell, I saw Alex Kazan in Hawaii this past February. I then went and had 13 hamburgers.

Oh, shit. All right. Tacos, bro. Tacos. alex kazan in hawaii this past february i then went and had 13 hamburgers oh shit all right tacos we have but heather had hamburgers weird just weird she's a she's a uh food uh stimulant um oh god here we go john what's a good mile time for a crossfitter oh i thought you wanted to know his mile time for the games people but yeah it tells for the games people mr rambler 515 that's a good that's a good one very good runner yeah i mean i think if you have a 515 mile you don't have to work on it's not a weakness for boys and girls yeah i don't they're always together on that. Yeah, girls are probably about 530. No, 550. Keep it the same. Bill?

I was going to say – well, I thought it was interesting that Chris said when he was talking about Jason having a 520 mile. I was like, wow, that's way better than I thought he would have had because I would have said – That's something I have to see. Yeah, that's a good runner right there. 520? Like, yeah. I don't know what that would have looked like, him running. I just go back to thinking about Murph when those guys shot out of the cannon and ran sub-six on the first mile with the weight vest.

I mean, that was, what, eight years ago? I don't think they're doing that. I don't think it's changed much. I think if you were a good runner eight years ago, you're still a good runner now. I don't think running has increased as far as that. I think CrossFitter's ability to run has over the years. I disagree.

I bet Jordan Torian can run a sub-five mile, and I bet that's about what the best guy in the games now is doing. I bet Ricky runs a 455. I bet George Troian has something similar. I'm saying more of them can be up there. Not the top end, but more can be in that

elite group. I think if you're a good runner, you're a good runner. I don't think that the CrossFitters are going to be like going okay i'm really trying to make break that four minute mile what was your best i think i think what what john what what mr spin is saying is that uh there was what was that guy's name the firefighter jeff something from 2009 snatched 225 pounds and that was the record and now snatches are significantly higher

and mr spin thinks that running hases are significantly higher and mr spin thinks that running has also gotten significantly better and john is saying no the running is i don't think that's what brian's saying i'm saying more people are at 515 than they were back in the eight years ago yeah that's what i like that's what i mean that's what i mean there's there's the oh i'm not saying that they're saying that they're significantly better now than they were back then. The runners field, the field, the top of the top. Okay, the field. Fine, fine, fine. Okay. So and John is saying no, there's always running isn't a place where CrossFitters have improved. I would agree with that statement I'm saying the top of the top is not so those two agree and I don't understand

I think that's what's going on right now that sounds about right once again my answer will be yes yes Wadzombie Ronda Rousey who makes the Colton Mertens card

get yours now. Ronda Rousey said she has tons of sex before fights, claiming it increases her testosterone. That's the stuff that Andrew Hiller takes from California Hormones. Get yours now. Without any details,

would you say sexual activity with athletes is low, medium, or high during the games before i say that i will also say this is absolutely true i took a shot of espresso before i did that legless rope climb with the ceo bun that is true i forgot i forgot so i i was on my own performance enhancing uh caffeine uh use code seven on that paper street coffee and get free shipping or something uh fucking you think that there's a lot of fucking going on? Would you say sexual activity with athletes

is low, medium, or high during the game? I'm going to say low. Mr. Spin? I would imagine so. At least Saturday night, I can't imagine that you're feeling too great. Maybe Bill, the athlete coach, might have better. Yeah, you're the only one who's been to the games.

He might have some personal experience he could speak to. Before the games, sure. Because you're getting fired up or whatever. During something like that, when your body is just being abused, you don't have the... That's the last thing that's on your mind. Not one individual athlete fucks between Wednesday and

Saturday night. Well, it starts on Thursday, so Wednesday. You disagree with me? I don't think you'll... You go run a marathon. You think it will? No.

That's what I'm saying. So you agree with me, Bill. None of those AD athletes are boning Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, or Saturday. And maybe even Sunday, they're not. No. Well, if they don't make the cut then hell yes uh great question thank you i i appreciate it i feel like i paid i should pay you to for inserting that question um i i do want to say this i saw something interesting about the

air quality in madison uh it sounds like that there is a serious air quality issue now with uh fires um i don't know if i found the best link for that caleb i don't know if you could find something better but this is friday uh the games start i don't know august first first or second or something like that uh but they are saying that the air quality is poor there right now and it's going to be poor until the 20th i think you scroll down a little bit and i could read uh we're tracking a belt of smoke originating from western canadian wildfires currently aloft over northern wisconsin clearly visible via satellite imagery as well as impacting surface pm 2.5 concentrations in north dakota uh a statewide air quality advisor for unhealthy for sensitive groups

will go into effect at noon friday is that that's today and last for sunday uh july 16th so just something to uh pay attention to i started looking into this actually oh earlier this week of course you did and uh talked to a few people one of of those being Heidi, that we all know in the chat. And it was really bad a few weeks ago. It's not been too bad this past week. Now, the forecast, obviously. So it sounds like it's kind of fluctuating. It's not constant.

But she said when it was bad, like your throat would burn when you'd be outside if you were working out. Oh, shit. It could be a big issue. Okay. But that forecast, just to be clear, only goes up to the 20th, and

the games are 12 days after that. So please, no more fires in Canada or anywhere. And I want to show you one more. I want to show you a video on YouTube from Talking League Fitness at 5840. They interviewed Don Fall today. And you can just skip. If you want to watch this interview, just go ahead and skip.

Oh, I'll show you everything you need to watch this interview just go ahead and skip oh i'll show you everything you need to see right here it starts at 58 40 uh sean and tommy uh interview him uh it looks like um i don't know where don is he must be in his house and uh wow what a very what a very limited what a very simple and elegant uh furniture setup in his house um i am so uh we didn't we did a podcast with the owner of a co-owner of crossfit counterculture zia and um today i think it starts at 58 40 mr beaver okay uh here we go i just want i'm so i'm so proud of this and i'm not i'm not just proud of this i this is all because of two years of hard work and the core group of 200 people who watch this podcast every morning and hang out with me

every morning at 7 a.m and uh matt souza and mr beaver and it's it's just crazy i i can't believe after two years of just fucking grinding um here we are but here you you go. That's awesome. The next question is probably the one we got the most of. Brad, Jesse, a bunch of people from our cohort asked, what is the single thing that you're most proud of over the last year now that you're about 12 months in? And what is the one thing you're most excited about coming up? I like it. I like it that it's the most popular question. It's the most popular question. I like it.

Okay, here we go. I think the thing I'm most proud of, I actually had a moment last night. So I mentioned before, we had this affiliate summit up in Portland and we did one at the beginning of the year. We do them twice a year in each region in the U.S. and then we'll do summits outside the U.S. as well. Beginning of the year, we talked about, hey, here's our plan. This weekend, we talked about, here's what we delivered over the course of the last six months, and here's what to expect from us. We had about 100 or so affiliate owners show up for it.

Amazing day. Last night, Savan had one of the owners on to give a download. How did it go? What were the takeaways from it? Did he say humble savon he said humble humble the humble savon podcast no uh zia who's the owner of counterculture crossfit down in encinitas um kind of just played back her experience and she talked about walking out of there with a lot of confidence and optimism in the work that's been happening in the path forward and she told the story of

an owner i didn't even know this i learned this last night an owner who walked into the to the summit intent on selling her affiliate and walked out saying, uh, I'm really fired up. What's to come. And I'm not selling, I'm sticking around. All right. Uh, very, uh, someone said Seve's half chub. That's, uh, that is not true. Three quarter, three quarter. And I would go full chub, but my wife has, I have, my wife has rules. She listens and she listens to the show. Um, I, uh, I'm very proud of that. Um, I'm proud of the progress we've made. I'm proud of the... It was not easy, my departure two years ago.

I was unjustly fucking pushed out by idiocy. And to be working so hard and be contributing to the community for this long and getting a little bit of recognition from our marine recon uh ceo of crossfit uh tickles my fancy i will say and for it to be uh i appreciate sean and tommy for letting me share that clip and i appreciate them for interviewing him and eliciting such an honest and sincere answer and it is pretty cool that don did go to portland which is fucking batshit crazy anyway

and go up there and do an affiliate gathering for west coast affiliates of which bill grundler is one and that for one affiliate to walk away or maybe many affiliates but to have a story like that that oh my god after hearing don speak i no longer want to sell my affiliate uh any thoughts uh mr grundler as you i saw you choking up on your piece. No, I was just scratching, that's all. I think that's great. I get bothered and bummed when I hear that affiliates do affiliate for whatever reason, whether it's a financial thing or not feeling like you're part of the community thing or you don't feel supported for some reason or whatever.

So I don't know what was said that made her turn that around. It would be interesting to know what specifics there were that made her go, yeah, I need to stay in this game. It's cool that we that

our lead can still keep our people fired up. That's what I loved about Greg was I'd listen to him talk and I'd be like, hell yes. We're just doing that, what he just talked about, because that sounds awesome and I want to be part of that. So if he was able to say, if Don was able to say something to keep her in and thinking that same thing, that's cool.

That's really cool. Anything else you guys want to say mr spin yeah i mean i think it's i think we all want to know what was actually said that would be um so inspiring because if you go to the beginning of that podcast it started out pretty slow with a lot of corporate speak and then it's it slowly got better as as it went on if you do go watch the podcast i did with zia she gets into the details of what he said um they got her fired up but you're right there is they asked in the beginning it is it i agree that interview does start off a little bit slow and he you you want to hear him like point to some like real details

right and it does start off like abstract uh mr young any thoughts it doesn't even have to be about that video i just showed on anything anything you want to say as we wrap it up here i think it's just cool that don is uh listening yeah to to just media outlets it's not like we're talking to a wall i feel like sometimes it feels that way. And it's nice that like even if he doesn't, even if our opinions mean nothing, it's nice that they're being heard by. I feel like we're all working to make CrossFit better, including the CEO. A ton of hard work being put in.

Thanks, guys, for coming on. I look forward to seeing you guys again very soon. Mr. beaver thank you mr suza thank you uh gabe uh man we're riding like vlm when don hires seve and greg glassman back to hq well that's kind of love you guys uh see you guys tomorrow morning 7 a.m for a live calling show uh it's um it's a locals only show if you're just a periodic listener that show is not for you don't listen that's where I dish the good shit bye bye