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Amanda Hari - The Real CrossFit Journalist · Clydesdale Media Podcast

• 0:15
  Amanda: Good morning. Day one of the CrossFit Games. I'm at the run course. You can see we've got these CrossFit poles up to keep people on track. Got my media credential.
• 0:24
  Press pass here. Alright. Day two. You can see that there's a line of people over here getting ready to go inside. We're gonna have to go through that line to get inside too.
• 0:34
  So it might take a second, but we'll be there for event one. Men are first. It is the run, which has been made longer, deadlift to the bar, and then we have handstand. About to head over to the arena for the final day of the CrossFit Games. It feels so fast this year, and it was a little faster than usual.
• 0:53
  We have such a race on the men's side. Things can change up so much depending on how people perform in these events.
• 1:00
  SCOTT: Amanda Hari, take one.
• 1:02
  Amanda: Do we actually do that? Do you takes? No. Take one.
• 1:05
  SCOTT: No. I was just trying to be official.
• 1:06
  Amanda: I need the thing, the little, like, clapper. So
• 1:11
  SCOTT: you are a content creator in the CrossFit space?
• 1:14
  Amanda: I am.
• 1:15
  SCOTT: What do you do for your day job?
• 1:16
  Amanda: I'm a reporter. I work for a local news station in the San Francisco Bay Area, channel five KPIX, is the CBS affiliate.
• 1:25
  SCOTT: What made you want to do a YouTube channel on your own?
• 1:28
  Amanda: So I've been cross fitting for eleven years and I really love talking about cross fit and I would try to find anyone at the gym who would listen to me talk about cross fit and then I realized maybe I could just use my knowledge from working in the media to make a YouTube channel and then maybe find people that actually want to hear me talk about CrossFit as opposed to like forcing people against their will to listen to it.
• 1:51
  SCOTT: So how did you first get involved with CrossFit?
• 1:57
  Amanda: Like how did you first walk into a CrossFit gym?
• 1:59
  SCOTT: Sure.
• 2:00
  Amanda: I think I was just looking for something different to do when it came to working out. I had gotten my yoga teaching certification my two hundred hour yoga teaching certification when I was 17. But yoga sort of lacked an intensity that I was looking for. And I would go to the regular gym and like run on the treadmill and but that wasn't very fun either. So I was looking for something more like yoga with a class environment, but more exciting.
• 2:28
  Stumbled upon CrossFit and went into a gym in 2014, like May 2014, and I've continued ever since.
• 2:36
  SCOTT: When was your first CrossFit Games?
• 2:38
  Amanda: 2014.
• 2:40
  SCOTT: So you drank the Kool Aid immediately?
• 2:43
  Amanda: Yes. So I was really into it and I had a boyfriend at the time who lived in LA and the games were in Carson. And he was like there's this big CrossFit event going on. You seem to be really excited about like doing your foundations class. Maybe we should go check it out.
• 2:58
  So we went and it was Rich Froning's final year at CrossFit Games. And he didn't know who he was. He came with me. He's like who is this guy everyone's talking about?
• 3:07
  SCOTT: So you got to see it's his final time.
• 3:09
  Amanda: I did. Yeah. And won that year.
• 3:11
  SCOTT: Just a spectator?
• 3:12
  Amanda: Yes. Just a spec I mean, I just started CrossFit, like, six weeks prior to that. Wow. Yeah. So I didn't have any, like, even time to volunteer or do anything else.
• 3:22
  But I did end up volunteering later on.
• 3:25
  SCOTT: You told me once that once you saw it, you swore you were never gonna miss another.
• 3:30
  Amanda: Yes. So I went to the games every year from 2014 to 2018. So that was four years in a row. And then I skipped 2019. I was like, you know, financially doesn't make a lot of sense this year.
• 3:43
  I'm just gonna stay home. And I was sitting at home watching it, and I'm like, I never wanna miss going to the games again. So I'm going to do everything I can to get back there next year. And then there was COVID, and I did miss 2020. But then it was back '21, '22, '23, '24, '25.
• 4:02
  So
• 4:05
  SCOTT: you you're creating this content. You work for a news company.
• 4:09
  Amanda: Mhmm.
• 4:10
  SCOTT: Is there advantages to that?
• 4:12
  Amanda: I think there's advantages when it comes to knowledge about some of the things. Like, some people, like you, I guess, probably started with, like, little knowledge about what to do or how to do it and had to be all self taught. I did have some benefits of coming in with some ideas of how to do things and how to navigate certain things like trying to get a press credential and things like that. So I knew all those things. But you're still trying to like build yourself in the space without any help really.
• 4:41
  It's not like me working for CBS helps me get viewers on my YouTube channel really.
• 4:46
  SCOTT: So the Amanda we see today Mhmm. Is it the Amanda that started?
• 4:52
  Amanda: In in CrossFit eleven years ago or
• 4:54
  SCOTT: Well, I'm saying like so your YouTube channel. Yeah. Is the format the same? Have you tweaked it?
• 5:00
  Amanda: I think it's been it's tweaked and evolved and I think it'll continue to evolve as this sport evolves as my experience in the sport evolves. But I think it's still I hope it still has the same authenticity that it's had since the beginning. I hope.
• 5:16
  SCOTT: With authenticity, there are some disadvantages to being a public persona in the news realm
• 5:24
  Amanda: Mhmm.
• 5:24
  SCOTT: And then doing this? What are those?
• 5:27
  Amanda: Well, I think what you're saying maybe is that like there's certain opportunities I can't take advantage of. I can't do sponsored content because I work as a journalist and that would be a conflict of interest. So there's certain things that maybe could elevate my station in certain ways. I don't think it's necessary. But there's certain ways that I could maybe make more money doing this that just aren't on the table for me.
• 5:55
  SCOTT: Does that prevent you from being your authentic self?
• 6:00
  Amanda: No. I don't think so. I mean, there's nothing doing a sponsorship, I don't think makes anyone more authentic usually. I can talk about the things that I like, the things I like to use without getting paid to do it, and I think that's even more authentic than it would be if someone was paying me extra to say I really like this product. So I think it probably helps maintain some authenticity because I can't be bought.
• 6:25
  SCOTT: You also have a like, you have an image you must uphold.
• 6:29
  Amanda: Mhmm.
• 6:32
  SCOTT: Does that hinder you at all or is it does it just fall in line with what you wanna do?
• 6:37
  Amanda: Yeah. I don't think it does because I think that I this is who I'd wanna be regardless and I'd wanna hold myself to a high standard regardless. So having a job that I have to maintain an image for isn't very different than the image I'd like to maintain for myself.
• 6:55
  SCOTT: You know, the word journalism gets thrown around this space a lot. You actually are a journalist. Yeah. When you hear people like throw it around, does it ever bother you that that they don't they never came up through, like, the journalism school or the roots or the whatever?
• 7:14
  Amanda: I don't think so. I think there's value in, like, what citizen journalists. Right? Or, like, people who educate themselves on the concept of journalism and to execute it in certain ways. I do think we're talking about sponsorships.
• 7:27
  They do kind of get in the way of journalism sometimes because you do have this thing that you're being paid by that if you had to be objective about might be more challenging or you might risk losing a paycheck because of it and maybe some people aren't willing to do that. But I think in general, you can be think there's education that's valuable in journalism and some people need. I think everyone can benefit from learning more about any topic including journalism. But I think there's an element of journalism that you can still do with just knowledge of the space and asking questions. And maybe that not having the education behind you might lead you to ask some questions that maybe a regular journalist wouldn't.
• 8:12
  So that could be valued to both.
• 8:15
  SCOTT: What's your favorite part about coming to these events?
• 8:18
  Amanda: I think it's probably a couple things. Definitely seeing all the people. I really enjoy seeing all the different fans of CrossFit and all the people be really excited about this event and hopeful for the future of CrossFit. I think the competition also could be great. And when there's really great races, like, it's hard to beat those moments when somebody's, like, hunting someone down.
• 8:39
  And you get the whole arena, like, yelling. There's it's hard to hard to find something more fun than that.
• 8:46
  SCOTT: You have a co star.
• 8:47
  Amanda: Oh, yeah. My dog, Carson.
• 8:49
  SCOTT: And you you can't bring him with you?
• 8:53
  Amanda: I can't.
• 8:54
  SCOTT: He's mad.
• 8:54
  Amanda: He's upset about it. I think he's not gonna come back. No. He's he's not gonna come back home with me. It's like, I wish I could bring him.
• 9:02
  Although, I'm not sure all the noises in that arena would be his favorite thing.
• 9:06
  SCOTT: What are his opinions of the current state of CrossFit?
• 9:10
  Amanda: He's hopeful for the future. What
• 9:15
  SCOTT: about yours?
• 9:16
  Amanda: I am also hopeful for the future of CrossFit. I think that we're in a big transition period, number of ways. And I'm just hoping it goes the best way possible. I don't know if there's a clear best way, but I think there's some clear negative ways. So I'm hoping that things continue moving in the right direction.
• 9:39
  We already have dates for the open in 2026. That seems significant, right? Like if things if this wasn't happening next year, why would we even have the open announced?
• 9:53
  SCOTT: And it's actually the earliest we've ever been able to prepare.
• 9:55
  Amanda: That is true. I think you're saying the open was the earliest. Like, it's about the same time as it was last year. But, yes, we have, like, affiliates have so long to start getting their members hyped about it right now while games are on. You can be like, hey.
• 10:08
  You know, the first step of getting here, all these athletes have to do the open. Tia started all the way at the back of the run because she didn't do very well in the open. She didn't focus on doing well in the open. So there's value in the open, even here at the games.
• 10:22
  SCOTT: Yeah. It's funny. Back backstage, I heard athletes say, I thought the open didn't matter. And then we're in the back of the pack to start the run.
• 10:31
  Amanda: Yeah.
• 10:33
  SCOTT: What's your favorite games you've ever attended?
• 10:37
  Amanda: Oh, wow. You know, I've never really thought about that. Like, what my favorite games that I've attended were. 2022 was pretty fun. 2024 was not my favorite.
• 10:51
  I I've enjoyed doing the media stuff. I believe my first time doing the media for the CrossFit Games is 2021. So 2021, 2022. Twenty three three was last year in Madison, and that was sad, but unexpectedly sad because we didn't know that going into the event. And then we get there, and I find out it's my last time ever going to Madison, and I used to live there.
• 11:14
  So they all have elements to them. I don't know if I have a favorite. Ask me again later. Ask me. I wanna think about it more.
• 11:23
  SCOTT: If there's one thing that that you could buy or get to help your channel out, what would it be?
• 11:35
  Amanda: Buy or get? Well, for events like this, some really good, like, traveling Internet. Great MiFi would make a big difference to for uploading everything. But I think you can do a lot with a little. I don't think people need as many things.
• 11:49
  Need is the keyword. There's definitely things that can make things look better, but I don't think people need as much as they want. I think you can do a lot with a little.
• 12:01
  SCOTT: Your daily the show you do most of the year other than events, do you just do it on your iPhone? No. No. You actually have
• 12:09
  Amanda: I do usually. Sometimes when I'm in the gym and just filming like my workouts, I will use my iPhone. Not for the open, but sometimes I use it just for like regular workouts if I film my workouts because it's a little less like scary for everyone around me. But when I do stuff in my apartment like sitting and talking to the camera, I do usually use my Sony a six six hundred.
• 12:31
  SCOTT: And you do have you have mics and
• 12:34
  Amanda: Yes. Yeah. I've been dealing with a little bit of mic issue actually. But maybe a really expensive microphone would be what I would buy.
• 12:43
  SCOTT: Yeah. That'd be nice.
• 12:45
  Amanda: Well,
• 12:46
  SCOTT: I'm glad that people are getting to know you more.
• 12:49
  Amanda: Yeah. Me too.
• 12:50
  SCOTT: And your your channel is expanding, and I wish you continued growth and success.
• 12:55
  Amanda: Thank you. I wish you the same.