Latest / Misfit Podcast / Kenzie Riley: Still in Game. Motherhood, Masters & gray area between competing and moving on - E.405

Transcript

Kenzie Riley: Still in Game. Motherhood, Masters & gray area between competing and moving on - E.405 · Misfit Podcast

• @misfitcoach: Thank you for tuning in to another episode of the Misfit Podcast. And thank you to our show sponsor, GorillaMind. You can head to GorillaMind.com forward slash Misfit or use the code word misfit at checkout. You save on your order, best supplements in the game, and we get a kickback. You support the show. ⁓ so I appreciate everybody that continues to do that. phase zero. Good morning, Misfit. You are tuning into another episode of the Misfit Podcast. On today's episode, we welcome very, very, very special guest, Misfit OG, Kenzie Riley. ⁓ Kenzie is about to compete at the 2026 Masters CrossFit Games in San Jose here at the end of the month. And we had an absolute blast talking to Kenzie. We tried this yesterday. in true Kenzie fashion, it was not working out so well. Kenzie Riley, welcome. Welcome back to the show. We ⁓ tried this yesterday in Kenzie fashion there were some some technical difficulties and the the universe definitely has it's not you because obviously you don't control the Wi Fi, right? But it still is ⁓ very Kenzie. welcome back. We made it work. Kenzie :): Thank you. @misfitcoach: is the lat is is the beginning of your programming not showing up unless you are on the comp bundle. Make sure you cancel your account on Fitter. You cancel your subscription, re-sign up under the comp bundle. If you need a refund for any overlapping time, email me, coach at misfitathletics.com and I will get that done for you guys. See you next week. @paige_semenza: Ha ha ha. Kenzie :): follows me. Yeah. Yeah. @misfitcoach: ⁓ you are cooling down on the C two bike right now. honestly, this is a a good way to start this. but I do wanna know before check in with you, ⁓ what just did for a workout and how it was. with the internet. So we got we got into a better situation today. So if you're wondering why is this podcast dropping randomly on a Thursday afternoon, that is why. Before we talk to Kenzie, few pieces of housekeeping. technically it ⁓ Thursday, 2nd, right now, and you have whatever 24 if if you listen to this right away. Anyways, you have 24 to 36 hours left to get your application in for the Misfit Apprenticeship. Kenzie :): I am. Right, the, what do we call it? Age group, games And I do everything in order on the right day with the right combinations. So today I had a good like 45 minutes to an hour. So I pulled two pieces that belong together and did them. So was a heavy clean and jerk threes and then ⁓ thruster, ⁓ bike look, little couplet, ⁓ interval. ⁓ @misfitcoach: ⁓ if you don't know what I'm talking about, we are taking somebody on to be an intern, a mentee, you know, for a for a mentorship, and to do some do some jobs for us. it it is my solution to being an online business and not having the gym ⁓ for to come up through anymore. so Friday the deadline, Friday, July third. if you get your application in after that, it will not be accepted for this round. Hopefully we will get to do another round. Yeah, that's is it is pretty cute. @paige_semenza: Treat Kenzie :): Which on paper I was like, oh, look at these low numbers. was like 18, 15, 12, 15. was like all these numbers on paper look like they're not big and round and chipper-y. So I was like, throw that in three minutes at a time. And my legs, I don't cool down often because I don't have time. But today was like, tomorrow's gonna not be great if I don't cool down. So it was that effective that you find me cooling down. @misfitcoach: But then you will hear from us by July 10th on next steps. ⁓ just sort of confirming that we got your that we got your application, that we're narrowing it down to a certain amount of people chat with, et cetera. So again, if you're our email list, you will will have received an email about this a couple days ago. ⁓ and if you want to check out the application process and all that, go to the link in bio on our social media and click on the Misfit Apprenticeship and I explain to you guys what we're looking for for that application. @paige_semenza: Yeah. @misfitcoach: Hell yeah. I was excited when I wrote it. Every once in a while the stars align for the like movements that are just so obvious for stimulus that you're like, here we are. So if anybody wants to do this workout, no one will want to do it. have AMRAP three minutes, 18 thrusters, 9565, 18 slash 15 calorie echo bike, rest three minutes. @paige_semenza: It's a big deal. Kenzie :): and... @misfitcoach: These next two are sort of blended together a little bit. So for those of you wondering about structure of programming coming up, phase zero gets started on Monday, July twenty-seventh. phase zero is five weeks of baseline testing. very similar to last year, but we got some new benchmarks in there. ⁓ some different things moved around. We're also not going to be testing any of the stuff coming up for tests in phase one. That was some feedback that you guys gave last year. But I bring that up now. ⁓ And then another three minute amrap, 15 thrusters at 115 slash eighty five, fifteen slash twelve calorie echo bike, rest another three minutes, and last but not least, amrap three minutes, twelve thrusters, one thirty-five slash ninety-five, twelve slash nine calorie echo bike. And the descending, it's rude, it's a trick. It's just obviously keeps stimulus very high the whole time. Earlier than usual to let you guys know that that is the deadline for you to change your subscription on Fitter. You can still have the subs subscription, you will still be charged for your subscription, but there will be no programming on MFT, Hatchet, or Masters. And again, that doesn't mean that those programs don't exist. It means that if you're signed up as that is like your header instead of the comp bundle, which has everything. Kenzie :): If. Well, it plays a mind game to me because, first of all, after that heavy cleaning jerk, those barbells felt light. So that was great. I like to Metcon before I lift sometimes. I mix it up, but I'm glad I did that because it definitely made the bar feel light. So I, especially by the last round, if you stay efficient on the bike, which I pretty much do, you, instead of getting one, do you want to know my scores, first of all? @paige_semenza: Mm. @misfitcoach: all of that stuff is is included in it for the exact same price. then you won't see your programming and you'll need to go in. So basically we just need you to cancel your current subscription, go to comp and sign up for that. ⁓ if you want to just get that done now instead of waiting until your next date, you can email me coach at misfitathletics.com and I will give you a refund for anything, you know, sort of overlapping ⁓ in terms of your payment. So please in FITR get signed up on comp. We want everybody on the same leaderboard. ⁓ Let's hear it. Kenzie :): I don't want to share my scores. No, I'm just kidding. Hey, honestly. So the first one is one plus 28. So 18, 15, 18, 10. And then I think I got plus 20, 10 calories on the bike. And then the second one, got five calories on the bike. No, six. It was plus 20, whatever plus 20 was. @paige_semenza: N nobody's beaten them. @misfitcoach: Yeah, no no nobody's gonna beat us. @paige_semenza: Yeah. @misfitcoach: Yep. Ten calories into the second round. ⁓ we're gonna be doing some kind of challenge workouts within phase zero, which is cool. Kind of a a leaderboard that you can go back to ⁓ with benchmarks and stuff like that. But to get that all set up, you guys gotta change. Last but not least, this episode of the podcast is brought to you by Gorilla Mind. those East Coast folks, Paige and Kenzie made me get up. Well, they didn't make me get up any earlier, but they made me speak. In the second round. Yep. Five. Kenzie :): two plus three. So in my mind, you're used to only getting one plus. And then the last one, I'm like looking at the clock and I was like, should I have to go back to the bar? So you're like hoping, I only have to do that one time. I only have to do one set of thrusters. And you're like, I have to do at least two sets of thrusters. anyways, yeah. So my legs are a little toasty and @misfitcoach: Of course you did. @paige_semenza: Stupid. Ha ha @misfitcoach: And try to articulate myself a little bit earlier. And what do we do when we need that? We go to the Gorilla Mind. My goat is the White Frost the energy drink, GorillaMind.com forward slash forward slash misfit or use the code word misfit at checkout. You save on your order. I think they're the best supplements in the game. That's why I reached out to them to sponsor the podcast and you support what we do. so really appreciate anybody who goes in and does that. They've got all kinds of great stuff. ⁓ that Yeah. Good times. So you alluded to we're talking now and then a little bit before we started, you alluded to the like, okay, I've got an hour before the podcast, so I've got I'm gonna do the clean and jerk and this, and ⁓ you're down while having this conversation, then it's play dates and there's calls and all of this stuff. So just just tell people what's going on in in Kenzie's life right now. Kenzie :): Mm. @misfitcoach: you know, we talk about sort of on rotation here at the beginning of the episode. Without further ado, Kenzie Ryder. Kenzie :): Yeah. So, and I was talking, I was thinking about this after we kind of like started chatting yesterday. The thing about me, one thing about me, my toxic trait is I really, it's like I have FOMO in a sense of like, I don't want to miss out on any parts of my life. And so I try and do it all. And much like CrossFit, again, another analogy where it's like doing everything @paige_semenza: Yeah. Kenzie :): pretty good, you don't have to be great at anything. So I try and make sure that I do everything a little bit good all the time. That means seeing enough clients to keep the income rolling, being at the things I wanna be at for my kids, not just saying I can't be there. It's like I find a way to make it work, whether it's seeing one less person or I only train for an hour instead of two hours so that I can do the other things. And maybe there's one day a week where ⁓ I weigh less clients. I'm going to get extra training in this day. So it's kind of like, no day is exactly the same. Nothing is routine. It's all kind of a give and take so that I can do all the things I want to do and show up in my life and all the places I want to show up. ⁓ it is a little bit crazy. Some my best friends tell me my life gives them anxiety just ⁓ talking ⁓ the of that I do. ⁓ it's, ⁓ @misfitcoach: It it gives me anxiety. ⁓ my goodness. @paige_semenza: Yeah. I was gonna say your calendar gives Drew anxiety. Kenzie :): But I don't know. And there is an upper limit of like, damn, that's a lot. And some days are really busy because my kids are super active. And again, like we I have FOMO for them where I'm like, I don't want them to miss out on this playdate. I don't want them to miss out on trying this sport that they might love. So we we do a lot of stuff. But I also recognize, like, there's a time where I'm like, we are not doing anything today. We're staying home or going to bed early. Like we do need we do need some time to restore peace. @misfitcoach: Yeah. Kenzie :): and baseline, so we can't run at that all the time. And know that I've been told it's a trauma response. I don't know if that's true. ⁓ been told that my inability to just like sit still and be in the stillness and be chill. If I can't do that, I have a feeling it's probably ADHD that I never knew I had or developed in parenthood and adulthood or trauma response. But it's hard for me to do less. @misfitcoach: Okay. Kenzie :): So it doesn't feel like I'm doing that much. It's like normalized to me, which is probably not good, but. @paige_semenza: Is your like is your sleep schedule very routine, like with the kids? Yeah. Kenzie :): It is now. It is now. We're to the age of everyone's just, if you wake up in the night, come on in the bed, cause mama's sleeping. So do, ⁓ I used be like, my kids will sleep like this and I'm gonna like, when you want some sleep yourself and you actually learn humans are the only mammals that don't co-sleep with their young, it turns out actually it's not so bad and it's super precious and sweet. Some nights it's a little messed up and. @paige_semenza: Yeah. @misfitcoach: Ha ha ha. Kenzie :): why four people can't fit into King's side bed is beyond me. So Roy ends up in the toddler bed and then sometimes I get up and I move to the six year old bed and then literally they come find me and then there's three of us in there. Like they just wanna be on me. I just embrace it. So I do get asleep. It's not up in the night crying, feeding, like we're past that, thank God. It's just sharing beds. @paige_semenza: Yeah. @misfitcoach: When do I have to move my kid to a bed? Kenzie :): depends when he starts climbing out of his crib. @misfitcoach: So he did it yeah. I mean he just he fits well in it and he can't leave. So like why would I it seems insane to put him in a bed. He would just leave. Kenzie :): Some don't. Yeah, I didn't. I didn't kick race out of the crib till we needed it for Riven. ⁓ But then she started, once they start climbing out, that's when it becomes a problem. So until then, roll with it. Yeah. @misfitcoach: Yeah. Okay. Yeah. I think he scared the shit out of himself the time that he f like did a full cartwheel out of it. And then I was like, okay, no toys in the crib. We don't play in the crib. Like I really tried to make it like like n know where this is gonna go if he thinks that's his playpen. @paige_semenza: Yeah. Kenzie :): Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. And then you put them in a bed. Well, and then people put him in a bed up high. I still have railings on Ray's back because he sleeps like a psychopath. He flips out of his bed so he has to have the rails up on the side. it's like, if they can't handle a bed, just leave them in there. No, you're good, you're good. But I'm not a professional parent. @misfitcoach: Yeah. Okay, good. so you you competed at the twenty twenty four CrossFit Games. You didn't yes. Legends. and did not compete last year and you're back this year. Kenzie :): Masters, legends, let's talk about that being different. Right? Yes. @misfitcoach: How did you how did you make that decision? Or is it always like ever evolving? Like how do you decide when you're gonna dig into something like this? Kenzie :): Well, know when I decide, I usually decide in March when I text you and see open and I'm like, hey, ⁓ exactly. so last year I knew I wasn't going to for sure because I was, did, you were there, Drew. 2024 was like partly, ⁓ it just the experience in general, partly my own just like being mad about things that weren't. @misfitcoach: Ha ha ha @paige_semenza: Two eyes. Here we go. @misfitcoach: Yeah. Kenzie :): out of my control essentially, but I was kind of pissed at the experience. So I was like, this is not worth me working and sacrificing for, which I don't sacrifice a lot. You know, I my boundaries with how much of my life I'm putting into this, but it's still just like, I could take the money that I would spend a week in, you know, where we did Birmingham. I was like, I spent so much money to do that and take my family and manage a family there. I was like, that is so not worth it, but that was the vacation. ⁓ @misfitcoach: Yeah. Kenzie :): Vacation, we took that year. So I was like, no, let's go do like what real families do in the summer. So, sat that one out. But then, yeah, so the open came around. ⁓ literally told this girl at my gym, who's up and coming, young, hungry, trying to qualify, blah, blah, She her shit set up or had her video and I was like, God, I'm so glad I don't have worry about any of that stuff anymore. I literally said that. ⁓ The open workout. ⁓ I like, ugh. @paige_semenza: Yeah. Yeah. Kenzie :): Recording is so annoying. I'm glad I don't mess with that. And then I did the workout, the box jump, wall ball, step over thing. And I was like, shit, where that come from? So that kind of like perked me up and like, I literally was doing bodybuilding for, I was trying to be that person that is like, oh yeah, I just like got over CrossFit and moved on into my life. Yeah, I like, I'm waiting for that. @paige_semenza: Low intensity. @misfitcoach: No, don't you fucking start with me @paige_semenza: Ha ha ha. Kenzie :): I'm waiting for that to be what I decided. Everyone just seems like that's what you do when you have kids and move on in life. And I'm just waiting for that to happen. It's still not happening. So I try and put into that basket, especially logistically, we go to the YMCA, I can't just be slinging barbells all over. It's not the right situation. So I have to do the type of training I can do there. So training differently and... I still show up and I do this. like, what the hell? So then I see the rest of the open through, I'm like, whatever, okay, ⁓ do the next round. And then they start talking about California. They start talking about, it's all back together, everyone in the same city. just, it to resemble more of like the first CrossFit Games I ever did and like what I came into this space like wanting to do. ⁓ And I like there was getting, @paige_semenza: Mm-hmm. Kenzie :): I would say more respect, but I feel like the experience I had two years ago was not that was worth my time and energy, and that sounds really bad. But like, it was not what I wanted for the culmination of my whole season. And so I felt like there's a better chance we might get something that resembled something a little more exciting, something a little bit more inclusive to, you being a part of the big picture of it. And so I was open to like pursuing the season. And yeah, I mean, guess that's how we kind of got here is I'll just kept doing the next round, the next rounds, and it starts sounding more and more like something I wanted to be a part of. So and then I also have this chip on my shoulder where I'm like, ⁓ I'm not doing this again 2024. So I have a little bit of like this angst ⁓ me. ⁓ @misfitcoach: So yeah, there was there was that was part of one question that I had was you are you have a different energy to you compared to twenty twenty four, the way that you're training. And like for for context for people out there, when you came back the season after ⁓ so you took a season off ⁓ with race ⁓ and Kenzie :): What's different? Mm-hmm. @misfitcoach: ⁓ you came back and you were like, I wanna do this, but I basically don't have time to do this. we kinda knew that you respond well to ⁓ like volume, high intensity. So ⁓ you lift MetCon skill almost exclusively for semi-finals prep ⁓ and qualified for the for the Crossbit Games. Kenzie :): Right. @misfitcoach: So that gives just some context for you're a a very aerobic person. You are I just I think you're you you kind of explained it already in a sense of what your life is like, but you're just a physical active person, right? You're never gonna look down and not see a crazy amount of steps and calories burned and like like Kenzie :): Thank you. Thanks. @paige_semenza: Mm. Kenzie :): Yeah. @misfitcoach: I mean you and you and Roy, they're just seem you guys have the bug. Like you guys are like just all off to the side of life doing burpees on the lawn or some shit. Like so you I think you maintain that in a way that some other people don't, that don't have those behaviors. You know what I mean? So I think that's part of where that comes from. But you Kenzie :): Yeah. Yeah, we're never not gonna work out. I'm never not gonna do this shit. @paige_semenza: Mm. @misfitcoach: I don't know, in twenty twenty four it was just like, you know, this is what I do, so why don't I just do it is what it felt like. it's cool to see you have the time that you have to dedicate to it, but you're not like, whatever, I'll just do whatever. Like, I don't know. I just feel a different kind of energy from you this year than I did two years ago. Kenzie :): I mean, yeah, think I still hold, and I think I always will hold the belief and kind of just the attitude of I don't have expectation. So it's not going in like, oh, I gotta win and I'm gonna win in this and that. Do I think that's possibility? For sure. I believe I'm fully capable of contending and being on a podium and not that that makes it any more worth it to participate. But to me, given everything else I have going on in my life. Like there is a certain amount of return on investment that I hope for. Otherwise, you know, cause I've had the experience for the sake of accomplishment and living experience and making the friends and traveling. Like I've ⁓ kind fulfilled that part of what it was all about in the start. And so now it is a little bit more about like, I can't just spend time training to like go. @paige_semenza: Mm-hmm. Kenzie :): spend money to take a fun trip and do fitness in front of a lot of people. Cause like, if I want to do that, I can stay here and do local competitions and like have the same satisfaction essentially. So there is like some expectation on return on investment. So therefore I feel like I want to double down and make sure like, if I'm to do it, like I do achieve that. I don't, I don't feel the way that I felt previously where I was like, I feel like I just took selfish, I don't say selfishly, but you know, the sense of like, selfishness you feel as a parent. It's different because there's more people's time and feelings involved in all your decisions. So I feel like ⁓ doing without return on it then was like, that was selfish. Also, especially because like, unless I'm having a really great blast of a time doing it with like my greatest friends, then it's of like, no, I'm grinding in and I love what I do and I love working out and I'm gonna do it regardless. But like the amount of fun involved is also not worth the payoff of like, ⁓ I went and did it and did a competition. So I'm more motivated by the outcomes a little bit more now to answer your question. ⁓ @misfitcoach: it's for a practical reason. You're not wrapping up self-worth in your podium spot. You're very much like b and that and that's super important. But you also know how, Kenzie. Like you know how to get yourself to the place that you wanna land. You know what it takes for that to happen. and I think that part's really important because a lot of people who have those external motivators and all of that stuff, they can't Kenzie :): No, which... @paige_semenza: Or like an external validation. Yeah. Kenzie :): Right. @misfitcoach: Dig into the process, they don't know how to get the thing they're so obsessed with, if that makes sense. Kenzie :): Right. there is, and like, that's through, I mean, experience, right? Cause I've, know, had to achieve this in different ways and different scenarios in the past and work from where am I at? How do I get to this? Okay, I've got to this level. How do I maintain this? How do I go higher? So it's a little bit of experience. And so I know like, I know when I'm, I know the difference between, ⁓ I'm not training ⁓ following anything right now and I can still achieve this. Okay. What if I put in this amount? Okay. What if I put in this amount? Like, it's just understanding I have of myself through my career and experience. But I definitely don't any, honestly, I don't have really any self-worth wrapped up in this at this point because the people that I care the most about, ⁓ honestly, want to impress my children and they really don't give a crap. So ⁓ until can be like, mom, is, number like then that really doesn't matter. ⁓ Because everyone else, even if I were to not, you know, @misfitcoach: Yeah. Kenzie :): be a top or, because I wasn't on a podium two years ago, people are still like, you really are really fit. We know you're one of the top whatever, whatever. I don't really care. People know what they know. And so that validation, if I want it, I can get it from having those conversations. But yeah, I don't really care about that. So it's definitely not for that. @paige_semenza: I think what I've noticed, like I went to Masters, the first like Masters in person semifinal this past year with Tony. And like it actually like kind of reinvigorated my spark for competing because like, you know, I you guys know I took the year off. But like and I'll be a masters this uc upcoming year. So like I I missed the cutoff by just a couple of days. ⁓ but like seeing all the masters athletes there, they have their kids, they have their spouse. Kenzie :): Mmm. Yeah. ⁓ @paige_semenza: Some of them are there by themselves because, you know, their their spouse is at home with the kids or whatever. But it's like they're genuinely there for the love of the game, like for the love of the sport. And I think that that is like kind of like you're saying it's taking you back into like the roots of CrossFit, like this year, the feeling that the vibe that you're getting. I'm like, that's what it is for us, right? Like that is how we kind of fell in love with this sport. So it's like it only makes sense that you are in a position of like, yeah, this year kind of makes sense. Kenzie :): Mm-hmm. It gives you so much perspective and there is still like two different tiers of athletes in the Masters division. But yeah, it's like when you're in the Open Division, everyone is just like trying to come up and get support and get followers and gain, they're trying to make a livelihood out of it. Then they're doing World Fitness Project and trying to make like you make money just for like going and competing, right? Like that was really cool. Like I get that people wanna make this a career. @paige_semenza: Mm-hmm. Yeah. Kenzie :): But then you realize, ⁓ there is a life after that, which I mean, like you're kind of seeing, like the perspective you get, at least for like parenthood and just like being almost 40, like that I'm getting that's just keeps you so grounded. And I've heard like a lot of these, even, you know, I think I listened to Paige Rogers talk about like the perspective she'd gotten from being a mom, even though she's like really fit and like able to still live in that space. So this is my job. @paige_semenza: Mm-hmm. Kenzie :): there's like a certain pressure that's off of you because you realize this is not the only thing in your life. And so it kind of makes it be like, it just is reality check all the time, you know? @paige_semenza: Right. Yeah, it's like it does. It removes a lot of that like for external validation. And I think that that's like, you know, last year in twenty twenty five, doing World Fitness Project, I was like, you know, let's take the time to work with an agent to to try to build social media. And like at the end of the day, like what you resist like it persists and I I just can't I don't enjoy that. So it's like, why am I forcing it to to happen, you know? So ⁓ Kenzie :): Yeah. Yep. @paige_semenza: But again, like going to the masters and like seeing you like, you know, on social media being active again, like like Drew was saying, like he talks with you, but like you can also see your energy on social media is different in a really like positive, give a shit light. and it's exciting to see. It's expi it's it's inspiring, you know, it's ad it's admirable. Kenzie :): Thanks. It makes, also gets me in like, I don't know, like I would say hyped up in more of a head space, but it's like the more I want to be like, look at me out here, straight and I'm like, that's my inner, my attitude going into what I post. But it's like, I'm here. This is still what I do. Cause I have, you know, people that are interested in me being fit. I have people that are interested in me and my kids and whatever silly, stupid stuff they're doing. Like people follow me for different reasons. And so like, I, @paige_semenza: Yeah. Kenzie :): And not that I do anything because of what people want from me or like what I think that people want to see. It's just like, I kind of go through modes of, I mean, it's also what like ⁓ to be into. like this day I'm like, I have a second, I'm going to put up my camera and actually record this. But most of the time I'm like, I have time for this. So like, whatever. And so I don't. ⁓ that's why I go most of the year where I'm just like kind of operating in chaos mode of. @paige_semenza: It's your life. Mm-hmm. @misfitcoach: Yeah. Kenzie :): who really cares about this? I don't even care. I'm just getting my workout in. But if I like kind of lean into it more or I'm having like, I do have some support because I was like, listen, I got to go to California. Someone please help support me. So I did get a couple of sponsors. I'm living up to like what, you know, I've, I've, you know, worked out with those agreements. ⁓ I am like being a little bit more visible with that. But I am just, it's like, sucks you when it's like the season and it's the mode and ⁓ @paige_semenza: Committed to, yeah. Kenzie :): But then the rest of the year, it's like, can't live like that all the time. It's just like, there's a little part of the year that's like, I can show up and be an into that and be about it. But all year long is too much for for what, you know? @paige_semenza: Yeah. Well you talked about like balancing time and energy too, right? It's like it's it's a peaking schedule. It's like, all right, I'm gonna the give and take, right? The give and take here raises up this this part lowers down, right? Priorities. So like how has that been? Kenzie :): Yes. It's, it's ⁓ don't even know. Like, it's just when I wake up and I'm just like, okay, what am I doing today? And I just ⁓ out I Tetris it together and I do it. And I really don't think twice. I really don't think too much twice about it until hits you. Last week was, was that, was that last week? Yeah. So it's because ⁓ @misfitcoach: That was my next question. Does it? @paige_semenza: Yeah. Kenzie :): I've been following real. I've been following the program as, ⁓ not like, again, the last six months where I'm just like, ⁓ I'll jump in affiliate class or I'm at the Y, so I'm gonna do this bodybuilding program three days a week and then I'm gonna pull something I saw ⁓ the blog or I just, it was random. So now that I'm following something consistent and know in the mode. @paige_semenza: Structure. Kenzie :): when I have a hard time seeing something and not doing it. So I had to ask Drew, like black out, like I need you to be my coach here and like tell me what not to do because I'm being my worst client of like, I wanna do it all and I don't have time. And so need you to take away these things so I don't know their options because if I don't check the box, feel like I'm, what if that would have pushed me that little bit further? Like that still is in my head because I still have imposter syndrome. ⁓ Guys, me tell you. So I don't wanna leave stones unturned, so take the option away to turn them, otherwise I'm gonna be out here feeling like I'm not doing enough. And that's when I'm like, can't, can't, because I can't do that. So if I have 60 minutes a day, how do we maximize this so I can walk away from it being like, did it, and rest my head on that. that's. @paige_semenza: Yeah. @misfitcoach: The the thing that Paige said about the Masters community is a thing that Kenzie and I will have to try to do a better job of this year. When we went in 2024, all of our experiences were like a decade of the CrossFit games and semifinals and regionals. And we went to a place where the programming was meh, they didn't have people's jerseys. There was just something @paige_semenza: Mm-hmm. @misfitcoach: different about it comparatively. I think our expectations were potentially in the wrong spot. Because when you talk to the other masters, they love that like it's almost like a ha it's like their reunion every year. They all get to get together and they get to work hard and they get to show off like, dude, I'm 40, 50, 60 and I'm still out here doing this shit. And I've got kids and grandkids. It's just all this stuff. And they were ecstatic about the experience, right? They didn't Kenzie :): Mm-hmm. @misfitcoach: need the pomp and circumstance. They didn't need all of that stuff. And we're so like locked in the like competitive zone of it and like you really don't have the t-shirt or whatever. But when you zoom out, it's like some of the stuff is like, ⁓ who cares? I'm still mad about the programming. I don't know if I'll get over that. ⁓ but like I just I I have witnessed the enthusiasm @paige_semenza: Right. Yeah. @misfitcoach: And the love of the game vibe from the Masters community in the last few years. and I'm excited to go there still with the like we're here to, we're here to get after it, but also like, can we take this in? Like that sort of thing, because it's a very powerful part of the Masters community. The vibe is much smoother than the warm-up area at a semifinal or individual CrossFit games. I can tell you that right now. Kenzie :): Mm-hmm. @paige_semenza: Yeah. Kenzie :): I mean, you have to think that in reality, like how many people are signing up? Like these people in the 50 division, like everyone, mean, we're signing up to do our best and to try and compete, but the reality, I think people are much more aware of the reality of like, I'm probably not gonna be on the podium and that's okay, because I'm still gonna go do this, because like you said, I'm proud of it, or I'm showing my family, or I'm seeing my friends. I mean, that's... essentially was my attitude for most of my open division career. Like if we're being honest, like did I ever think I was gonna win? Like honestly, no, like come on. I don't know if that's a bad attitude, but like I'm realistic with it. Do I have upper level, like do I know what I'm capable of and I still have goals? Yes, but I was excited to go see my friends, have the whole experience. And so I think it's all relative to your expectation of like, like what you want out of that. That's why I try not to have them, cause then when they... @misfitcoach: Yeah. Kenzie :): robbed of the other things, right? @paige_semenza: It's so hard too, right? Like you, you and myself and Drew, you have been coaching since the beginning. Like we've always been, and that sounds a little like not trying to sound like bragging or anything, but we've been in that top percentile, right? That that top 0, 0.1% or whatever. And it's like that's kind of what we know. So it's like you do have something that you're gonna compare it to. ⁓ but like, you know, it's it's evolving and like you're growing up and Kenzie :): Right. @paige_semenza: maturing to a point where it's like be open minded, you know, and like go and embrace the the atmosphere and the environment and like you're still gonna go work hard as shit, you know, like that doesn't change. So I think it's it's almost gonna like help you excel even more when you get there of just having that kind of open minded attitude. Kenzie :): Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, I mean, and I really want it to be like, I wanted to do it in the first place, because it and I know it's cliche and, you know, talking about your kids all the time, but like I do, ⁓ I want that for them. ⁓ want to do it so that they can be a part of it. Right now, they really can't appreciate it. So I'm like, what the hell am I doing? ⁓ I got into it a little bit too far myself right now. But there's a day where I do want them to like be into watching it and like experiencing it. ⁓ @paige_semenza: Mm-hmm. Kenzie :): And then it is because it's more than just the competition. It's the, you know, the other parts of the experience too. @paige_semenza: Mm-hmm. @misfitcoach: So I want to tee this up. I will step back and let you two have this conversation. But there's a big piece here with identity. there is a big piece with Kenzie. You fight it so hard. Like, it's so funny to watch you, like, especially seeing you at Crash last year, ⁓ like, and then making that comment about wanting to be a fit fluencer and sell your zero intensity program. ⁓ Kenzie :): ⁓ god. I'm going back, by the way. I know. @misfitcoach: Jesus H. and talk to me about this because you you fight it. Paige, you're you had a bit of a crossroads this year with, you know, new job and do I want to compete? And you maybe thought you were in the masters community and you weren't. Like you two have a conversation about this identity piece because it's it's I think really relatable for a lot of people listening. @paige_semenza: Yeah. Kenzie :): I know. @paige_semenza: Let's get lit. Kenzie :): And I'll... @paige_semenza: Yeah. Yeah, well I mean I guess, you know, my question to you, Kenzie, is like What like, you know, did you have an initial like my initial opinion was like I'm never gonna compete in the master's division. Like I've you know, I've done the harder thing. Obviously this isn't any less hard, right? but that was where my mind went, like initially. ⁓ you know, obviously like I said, since going to the master semifinal, it's it's I've definitely opened opened up to the idea of it. But this year, like I went through a lot of life transition of moving and I had a lot of injury last year and had a really shitty year last year, which really kinda turned me off and burned me out. So ⁓ ⁓ level fitness right now has declined and my interest in it is still there, but not there. And I know that you've kind of gone through that, like those highs and lows and ⁓ didn't in twenty twenty four. Like what was what was experience like like doing fitness and like was there structure? Was it random? Like I know you talked a little bit about it, but like Kenzie :): Mm-hmm. @paige_semenza: You're still coming back and showing just how fit you are. Kenzie :): And that's, me, honestly, it surprises me every time. obviously the first experience of like, I'm gonna go have a kid. People now are entering into like, clearly, ⁓ I'm gonna go through a pregnancy and come back and plan to train and I'm gonna like come back. ⁓ my mind, because it hadn't really been done before, it's like, once you have a kid, you're pretty much should be done. Because there's no way, because if you take a year off, think of how behind you are. So I didn't ever go into... ⁓ like the concept of motherhood, thinking I was gonna ever do this career at the same time. So I kind of had set myself up to move past it. And I was also in a point where I was like, yeah, like I'm a little, not like burnout, but like, I kind of done it. Like I've done all the things I want to do. So I was at peace with like, I don't really need to be at the top anymore. So then moving into kind of managing fitness through like, parenthood is just like, yeah, it became like, I'm always gonna work out because it's a value. Like I love to do it, I care about my health, obviously, but like, I love this and I love this style of training. And I've worked so hard to develop skills. The day that I can't do like a muscle-up anymore is gonna be devastating. And I know like 70 years old is coming for me at some point. So like, I don't know when that stops being something you can do. but I feel so proud of how hard I've worked to attain a certain level of fitness and skill that I'm like, I don't even wanna lose that. It's like so special and like people can't do this stuff. So like, why would I just be like, I'm over it? And so I think because I can't ever get to a point where I just can easily leave that behind me and I never had the whole like, CrossFit broke my body. It was so bad for me. It ruined my life. like people love to talk shit about something, you know. @paige_semenza: Mm-hmm. Kenzie :): In hindsight, know, I'm like, still don't feel that way. So it's hard for me to not. Okay, okay, okay. So I think that for me, I still am in a place where I'm like, I still like this. Why would I not just do it? Cause it's what feels right to me. So I just do it at the capacity that I can get in for my insanity levels, not driving me insane. @misfitcoach: Jury's out on whether they feel that way too, but yeah, keep going. @paige_semenza: True. True. Kenzie :): And then when competitions come around, I'm always like, whatever, sure, let's try it. And I surprise myself, essentially, every time ⁓ always like, how is this possible to maintain this? Because I definitely don't hurt as bad as I once would hurt. And I definitely don't put in the volume. I take where I don't like, again, the pain cave is not something I go into really ever. And so I'm just like, how is this possible? So I just do. ⁓ @paige_semenza: Yeah. Kenzie :): do what feels normal and right to me. It's all very intuitive for majority of the year till I get to situations like this or crash where I'm like, I should probably start doing some rope climb, really close rope climbs. I know they're gonna be in there. And then I, you know, wait till like two weeks before. @misfitcoach: Mm-hmm. @paige_semenza: Well so I guess that's kinda like, you know, that's my curiosity is like I haven't like I took this year off. I haven't put in any like structure with you know with our our misfit training and but like I have a competition coming up in two weeks and I'm I'm literally going in for fun. but like the ex like n I won't say the expectation is there, but like, you know, obviously there's the ⁓ Kenzie :): Yeah. @paige_semenza: Well shit, I gotta do well. Like I'm one of the only games athletes that's going there. Like one of the you know, so it's like that plays on my mind a little bit, but at the same time, like again, the external validation is not something that I'm chasing. So how do you like, did you go in a crash and not really prep for it, like when you were taking a year off? Yeah. Kenzie :): Pretty much. Yeah, mean, it's very last minute type of prep. Oh, I mean, I get nervous, right? I still, I mean, it's not happening now, but it's like anytime I'm at a competition, all of a sudden I'm like, I'm the least fit person here, like in my mind. So I definitely get nervous and I just tell myself, I can just, I just have to do what I can do. And @paige_semenza: How did you like manage mentally? Yeah. Kenzie :): Same is true in, I think, like, qualifiers. I just treat it like this is just, I treat it like a training piece, which sounds bad, but the less pressure I bring to it, the better. Because if I'm out there being like, she's probably gonna do all this unbroken, then I'm like, ⁓ how am gonna keep up with that? Like, what would I do if I was in my gym? Like, takes it down a notch for me. So, the less amped up I get and the less I overthink it, even still now, like 10 years into like, @paige_semenza: Mm-hmm. Yeah. Kenzie :): you know, being of a games level, I still kind of think like that. And so I just have to take it down a notch and realize this is no different than the training piece I just did. Like, ⁓ know, I've done this stuff before. I do this stuff every day ⁓ trust that your athlete IQ is strong and like you have a level of fitness that's there. And you to just trust that you know some stuff, whether you want to forget it or haven't trained it. It comes always comes out. @misfitcoach: Knowing you both, knowing you both as well as I do, this is a fun conversation to listen to. Because there are parts you both ⁓ like you know exist, but might somewhere subconscious ⁓ at moment. So, like, what I'm thinking of here ⁓ is experience, Kenzie, in 2024, where it was like, yeah, it's whatever, I don't care, but then ⁓ the the result was like, this just isn't quite what I want it to be. And I think that feedback, I think you go through the thing and get the feedback to get the answers that you're trying to find. Because Paige, you are a person. Like the more, the more the situation, ⁓ like Kenzie :): Yeah. @paige_semenza: Yeah. Kenzie :): Yes, I think so too. @paige_semenza: Yeah. @misfitcoach: sort of cranks that dial up the more you can see it on your face when you step onto the competition floor. So like, will you be able to do the like I'm here for fun thing? And maybe that's a skill that you can develop. or is it somewhere like think in the masters community oftentimes there's a gray area ⁓ because it's can essentially distill the and intensity @paige_semenza: Yeah. @misfitcoach: and commitment into a smaller window. I think that's something that a lot of masters have to learn how to do because it's still really high level. It's still super impressive, but it's probably ninety to a hundred and twenty minutes a day at most for people. And I think that shift might be what's harder where it's like, I'm gonna go in and I'm gonna work really hard for an hour or two, five days a week. @paige_semenza: Mm-hmm. Kenzie :): Right. @paige_semenza: Yeah. @misfitcoach: versus three or four or five and then just the obsession with all these different things. So I think finding a gray area where it's like, I know I'm competitive. I know I want to succeed, but I have a life. I have these things to do. How do I balance these things out? And I think until athletes figure that out, it's all or nothing all the time. Those are the only choices they have in their head. If I can't do everything, w like kind of what's the point maybe? @paige_semenza: Mm-hmm. @misfitcoach: ⁓ but I think you get feedback in those moments. You get the feedback of like, yeah, I probably could have done a little bit more even with the time that I had. And like, okay, now I'm gonna now I'm like I'm I'm still gonna use the same amount of time, but I'm just gonna I care, so I'm gonna give it a little bit more effort. So just just fly on the wall with the conversation, knowing you two. there's there's just no way you could have the careers that you've had thus far without that bug. @paige_semenza: Yeah. Kenzie :): Yeah. @misfitcoach: Like that bug exists in you. There's just what does it mean to express that in your life when life changes, basically? Kenzie :): Exactly. I think it's the sustainability of that fire. It's like, I don't know, could I sustain it all year long? I think if I really knew it was gonna pay off in a way, again, for me, it's all about, I don't say a payoff, but basically cost and reward or whatever that is. @misfitcoach: Yeah, and if you're gonna be down ten grand every year from competing, it's like Yeah. Kenzie :): Right. Yeah. So I feel like to do it at the highest level and put into it what I once did, I can't do that anymore. And so if I were to do that, it better have some sort of really big payoff. And literally at this point, it has to be financial to support a family. So I only have a certain bandwidth I can give to this. I have to make... @paige_semenza: Yeah. Kenzie :): I think a certain piece of like, I can only do with this what I can. And I don't train probably like as much as this person and I can't do just like this person. And so yeah, they're my competitors. And who's to say that I still can't keep up with that, but I know that I've done what I can do. maybe I just don't wait till March next year. Like I told myself that every year, maybe I stick it out the whole year, at least in like some sort of consistent training style. But every year I'm... @paige_semenza: Yeah. Kenzie :): constantly just like reassessing where this falls. And feel like my problem is the timeline of when I decided to feel this way. You can tell me if that's true or false true. Like if it would matter if I knew this in October or not. But yeah, I feel that's my one thing that maybe could make a difference, but it is what it is at this point. We've only got the time we've got. ⁓ So. @misfitcoach: But you'll get you'll get multiple levels of feedback again this year specifically. You will get what was the experience like? You know, did I enjoy being there? How much did it cost? What did the prize money look like? And my training, like if if you get the itch and you're like, you know what? Like I've had an amazing career. I want to stand on top of the podium. You know, that's what I want to do. Kenzie :): Yeah. Right. Right. @misfitcoach: You can use all the information that they gave us this year and the information that you have from your again, your own experience and all that, and make that decision. And like probably like, I don't know, a month of nothing crazy. And then you just get back into it, but it's, you know, scaled way down. Like, you know, what what can I get done in an hour a day? but I think that part of it is ⁓ very think that part of it's really important. that you get the information like given back to you. And I do wanna like one thing that I hope has helped you both. I know you're further into the journey, Kenzie, than Paige, but in I would say like maybe 2017, 2018, if one of my games athletes came to me and said that they wanted to be done, it was like devastating. And now that's like a Tuesday. everyone forty-eight times. I mean how how many how many misfits retired set like ⁓ and you just see them popping back up and all of that stuff. And I want to tell the listeners that is so important is these decisions are not black and white. They don't need to be made ⁓ on timeline. Right? You need all of you, every single fucking one of you needs to sign up for the open and just just see what it does to you. @paige_semenza: Ha Kenzie :): Yeah. @paige_semenza: Waiting. Kenzie :): Right. Right. @misfitcoach: Right? Like this sucks, or I'll put this other one out there. Sometimes people sign up for it and they didn't prepare for it and then they don't do well and then they want to quit. And that's a whole different thing. We don't want that because all you know every single person listening to this has been through the waves of when they felt fit or strong or skilled, all of those different things. And you know what it takes to get there, right? Like, you know, the ultimate one, Kenzie, you're a you're a you're a nutrition coach, like. Giving somebody numbers for forty, thirty, thirty and telling them that, like, hey, if you like get your steps in and work out and eat these numbers, you literally will get the goal that you want. It's not that complicated and yet it's extremely complicated. so that's where listening to a podcast like this or following a program or having a remote coach comes into play where it's like, like, we're gonna sort of help ⁓ that, you know, reassurance and, ⁓ know, get you going in the right direction. But we all know ⁓ Kenzie :): Mm-hmm. @misfitcoach: what it would take to achieve the like realistic thing. it's about you sign up for the open, what did that feel like? Did you like it? Do you want to do quarterfinals based on that? And then, you know, do you want to follow a, you know, a prep program, do all these things? You don't have to just because you're not sure that you can give those two, three, four hours a day, just snap your fingers and say, I'm done. And I think that's really hard for people. And I think it's like a complicated journey. And you don't Kenzie :): Great. @misfitcoach: You also like you live in the black and white and then you try the gray and then you go back to the black and white and like it's complicated. But I hope for people listening, they understand that you just you don't have it doesn't have to be like I'm being perfect with everything or I need to stop. because as life goes on, as you get a little bit older, as you have more responsibilities, like that is just not realistic, right? And the good thing is it's not realistic for your competitors either. Kenzie :): And I mean, honestly, I've heard talking like in this master space, like some people, personally, in my division, they're girls that like are finally getting the chance to qualify and like go compete at the games who, you know, were at regional level and never made it to the games. And now they have kids ⁓ are in a different season of their life. And they're actually getting to do the thing they worked so hard and never could do. So it's a great opportunity. @misfitcoach: Yeah. Kenzie :): to actually be able to that jump and have that experience. I know. I guess just kind of thinking about like you were saying, if your goal is to want to compete and compete at higher levels, sign up and show up and you never know what's gonna happen. ⁓ even you think, ⁓ I can't train like that anymore. I got a new job or I had a kid or like, just try. And you might realize actually, ⁓ because of the landscape of things, I actually more opportunities or like actually I thought I do enough to make it be thing, but actually is enough and I'm finally achieving a goal. I know, just noticed I've just now realizing, yeah, just cause you can't do it in a certain way doesn't mean it doesn't still get the job done and might be the better path to get you there. @misfitcoach: People have really unrealistic views of what other people are doing in their life. And one of my favorite quotes ever is every time you quit, somebody else gets your prize. And when there's actually a leaderboard, that is so true. Like all of these people that you think are out there doing X, Y, and Z, they take years off, they quit, they do the same black and white thinking. And then there's four new spots. @paige_semenza: Hm. Kenzie :): You @misfitcoach: open for the CrossFit games, you can go to the CrossFit Games, then you can realize you belong there, and then you can train like you belong there for a year and you can go for as long as you want, right? So like I don't know, people just really and of course it's social media, but then all the I I don't think it's just social media in sports. I think that's existed for you know a really long time, forever of like man, what are they doing? Kenzie :): Mm-hmm. @misfitcoach: Like how they how's that team training over there? How are they, do they have, you know, what's their strength program or whatever it is? So I think that's part of being competitive and sort of like if you all it's all external motivators. If you think that you know what people are up to based on your insecurities or social media, like, nah. It's just not really what's going on. It's not a reality. Kenzie :): Yeah, I agree. @paige_semenza: I feel like there's like a like a re-tipping of like the balance scales. Like I feel like that's kinda like where I'm at is, you know, talking about moderating volume and like you know, I I can guarantee you like the balance for Kenzie is obviously not gonna be the balance for me and vice versa. And like I feel like that's kind of the season where I'm in right now of like I'm not ready to kinda like I I fully been like Kenzie :): It's hard though. @misfitcoach: Course. @paige_semenza: putting in the effort to figuring out what that balance is because of like I'm still trying to figure out like balance of working and sitting at a desk more often and and doing these other things, right? Like being an adult. because like as a games athlete, like all of my attention was on that, right? Like I wasn't going out and saying yes to social gatherings all the time. I wasn't saying yes to putting more hours of into programming and learning how to do this stuff with Misfit. And, you know, so I I feel like That's kind of like the year I'm in. Like, did you feel like you had like to figure out a new balance once you like became a masters athlete or like even took time off? Kenzie :): Yeah, mean, I think I, a certain extent, yeah, like honestly, I still feel guilty now. Like when I train, when I have like an hour and half open my day, I'm like, this is not okay. Like I feel guilty. I feel like I should have seen a client in this time. I should have been with my kids. I should have picked up, I should have, I don't know. It just, feels like I shouldn't have that much free time. So that's just something that I'm Because at baseline, again, like I'm lucky to have an hour. So in games training, I, cause Roy is home and I like, he makes this actually something more reasonable that I can feel good about training for. Cause him being home as a teacher in the summer, like right now he has the kids and he's taken them up to, you know, an appointment and then he was going to take them to the park. So I had time to like do a workout, jump on this podcast and see my clients. They'll be home for lunch here in a little bit. Like, but I feel weird. Like I've had this free time this morning. @paige_semenza: Yeah. Kenzie :): to have done things that literally are like not my job. My jobs are a dietician and being a mom. And if I'm not doing either of those things, I feel like I should be doing something to support my family. So it's like a selfish feeling for me that I have like a certain amount that I feel good about. we as parents, as we are still humans, so we still need that space and that time to be who we need to be. ⁓ @paige_semenza: Mm-hmm. Kenzie :): But there's a certain amount that then I start feeling like a little greedy or like, that's too much. And that number is crazy that it's like 90 minutes to me. like, that's too much. And there was a time where I used to be in the gym for like six, seven hours. So I think it's all relative to you and your life and how many other balls you have in the air. But for me, that's just like the number for me is like, you know, an hour is a lot. Some days we do 45 minutes. Roy, some days is like 30 minutes because I've got this and he's got that and @paige_semenza: Mm. Yeah. Kenzie :): It's crazy because we're just like, remember when we used to work out like anytime we wanted. So yeah, I think it's just knowing how much of your life you have to give to that and keeping a boundary on it. And days I'm like, hell yeah, I can do this. Like I worked really hard. We went and did this all day. I don't feel as bad, but that's just a mom guilt thing. I don't know. ⁓ It's weird ⁓ thing. ⁓ @paige_semenza: Yeah. @misfitcoach: But hold on, wait we gotta I gotta push back I gotta push back a little bit. You and I have talked about this a little bit, Kenzie. The The whole like what you do means so much more in the long run versus what you say to your kids. the example that you're setting in terms of taking care of yourself, taking time for yourself. ⁓ in I don't know, there's there's another quote in there somewhere that's like the one of the worst things that parents can do is have an unlived life. Like the person they become ends Kenzie :): Mm-hmm. @paige_semenza: Yeah. Kenzie :): Right, right. @misfitcoach: affecting their kids in a huge way. and I'm not invalidating at all. Like, like especially I I think marriage is a big part of it as well. There's a there's a level of guilt of like, okay, so how many hours did this person have over here and how many per hours did this person have over here? And I'm the kind of person where like if I don't disappear enough times and get my work done, I'm not gonna be the person that ⁓ she wants to be married to and to wants me to, you know, to be a parent to to the kid. So it's complicated ⁓ like I understand your feelings because that's such a thing, that push pull, you know, with again with the marriage and how much time are you putting and how much time are they putting in and all of that. But at the end of the day, you hope that you communicate it well to your partner and your kids. And then when you are there, ⁓ Kenzie :): Enjoyable. Yeah. @paige_semenza: Yeah. @misfitcoach: That is the better version of you that you're kind of creating. Kenzie :): Yeah, no, totally. No, I'm with that 100%. I believe in that. There's just a certain amount time that... I don't know. just like... I'm like, this feels weird. I don't think I made a dollar and the whole time I've been paying for three hours of childcare. That's more where I'm just like, I don't make money to do this. I can't spend money to work out. Like, what? So anyways, that's just more me and my mindset with... @misfitcoach: ⁓ yeah, there's there's a little voice back there. Hey Kenzie :): productivity and support of your family, but yeah, no, I will always work out and they know that and they see that and someday they'll wanna do it with me. Mostly now it's just Riven that wants to do what race is like. @paige_semenza: Mm. Kenzie :): like, dude, what you like doing? You're like, he's like doing cartwheels and flips around. I'm like, hey, you want to? He's a wild one. @misfitcoach: You'll get there. Yeah, little boys are crazy creatures. That is an experience. ⁓ awesome, but it's wild. ⁓ right, Paige, you got anything else? You got anything else for Kenzie? @paige_semenza: Yes they are. Kenzie :): Yeah. @paige_semenza: No, I just I love to see that you're competing again. That's really it. And be honest. It's fun. It's yeah. Kenzie :): Thanks. I always worry, not worry, but I feel like when I talk to Drew about, this is my score for this. is my, you know, I think I'm going to do this or was this a good score? It's like, am I annoying whenever they're like, oh my God, like Kinsey shows up and she does this. I'm like, I hope people don't hate me for just like coming out of the woodwork and then like doing this, pulling this stuff out of my ass. @paige_semenza: Well, let's give people context of of what you're like as an athlete. You can have a workout, me and you looking at it, and Kenzie says, ⁓ that sucks. I'm gonna suck at this. Three, two, one, go. She's out of a cannon and just working hard as shit at it. So, ⁓ your effort is always there. @misfitcoach: You have to know Kenzie well. I think to I think if someone didn't know you, they would think you were being mean. when it's like cause it because it's like you win and then you say you sucked, or you say you're going to suck and then you win. I remember conversations ⁓ at training back in the day. But if you actually know Kenzie, ⁓ you know there is zero percent of the like Kenzie :): Imposter syndrome. Imposter syndrome. @paige_semenza: So fun. @misfitcoach: I'm better than you and I'm gonna like show you up. She thinks everyone's going unbroken and they're gonna row at eighteen hundred cows per hour and they're just gonna like just go do the thing. And like China was the same way. Your anxiety once you drop a movement and stop it of like I need to start this again, like you two, it was always just so funny to watch. And then your anxiety built going unbroken. Kenzie :): I still do. @paige_semenza: Yeah. @misfitcoach: It's just funny because you never went unbroken and you always won. So like maybe that's not the strategy. @paige_semenza: No waste. But you always like you always had like a mentor mindset as well, even if you didn't really recognize it, right? Like you're always every t there's always a debrief of the workout. We talk about this quite often about like when we used to have our our group chats with Misfit and and you know, we'd have athletes getting together and there's always kind of debriefing about it. and y I just I still remember back in like twenty eighteen when we did training camp with you and China and like you guys it was my first time, so I'm like scared shit, like, you know, I was Kenzie :): I know. Mm-hmm. Yeah. @paige_semenza: Very scared, even at camp, and you guys were just like you made it comfortable for as uncomfortable and and like scary as it was. And you still have that kind of mindset, I could tell. Kenzie :): I mean, yeah, I definitely don't take things as you know. I probably don't take them serious enough, but I definitely still have imposter syndrome, like truly. So. @misfitcoach: Well you're you're just a walking contradiction in every way because you don't take it serious and you take it very seriously. It doesn't really ever make any sense. @paige_semenza: Yeah. Kenzie :): I know it's weird. I know it really is weird. completely understand what you're saying. Like I'm serious when it happens, but yeah, everything leading up to it. @misfitcoach: Sometimes you try not to be serious and then the outcome makes you serious. So yeah, there's a lot. There's a lot going on there. @paige_semenza: Mm-hmm. Kenzie :): Yeah, I, ⁓ layers guys. There's a therapist somewhere that would have a great, had a great day with me, I'm sure. @paige_semenza: Always. Ha ha @misfitcoach: ⁓ so we're gonna do ⁓ coaches slash athletes or people too here in a second, but I just wanna I wanna put something out there. So ⁓ ⁓ have to in my mind figure out a way to make a program better than the previous version of the program. And my idea ⁓ twenty twenty four going into games training was to analyze ⁓ further into domains, movements, movement combinations, couplets, triplets, chippers, all of this different stuff. ⁓ normally when I program, normally when we program, it's like the short, medium, long thing. We have kind of these bigger windows of time. When I program for the games now, every workout needs to be programmed within a five minute window. Kenzie :): You've to calm down. I think. @misfitcoach: So I program a certain amount of zero to five minutes, five to ten, ten to fifteen, fifteen to twenty, twenty to twenty five, twenty five to thirty. Kenzie tries ⁓ hard to break my workouts. So when I'm writing them, I'm like, okay, ten to fifteen minutes. How do I write a workout that doesn't push another athlete to sixteen minutes, but doesn't allow Kenzie to do it in nine? Kenzie :): Dry. ⁓ @paige_semenza: Always. Yeah. @misfitcoach: That literally is in my head when I'm programming. Of course, I could just change the workout, but I'm trying to write the workout to prep someone specifically for the competition and the weights that they use. And if it's an interval, it's a little bit heavier and it's a few more reps and all of that jazz. So at some of these, ⁓ of these, you know, she's 10 six, but technically that's still between 10 and 15. But I'm having to get real creative here. Kenzie :): Thank you. @paige_semenza: Yeah. Kenzie :): you @misfitcoach: Ha ha ha. Kenzie :): I mean, are you, you're welcome for the inspiration. I don't know. I mean, am I pushing you outside your box? But also I'm always like, is gonna, you know what's funny is I'm like, this is gonna take me, I'm, for having a high athlete IQ and understanding like my body and how it feels when I'm working out. @paige_semenza: Getting fit. @misfitcoach: I'm being challenged, which I I need to be challenged or or I don't care. So it's good. Yep. @paige_semenza: Yeah. Kenzie :): When I look at a workout, I literally looked at the first workout of Mock Games and I was like, this is gonna take 30 minutes. And then I did it in like 16 and I was like. @misfitcoach: Yeah. Kenzie :): Like I legitimately told Roy, this is so long. was like 20 minute time cap. So I'm just bad at understanding time. @misfitcoach: Yeah, see it was supposed to be between fifteen and twenty minutes and you did it in sixteen. Kenzie :): Yeah, I was, but I literally thought it was going to be like 30, like 25 to 30 minutes on paper. So I, first of all, @misfitcoach: ⁓ the bias of when you actually have to do it changes everything. That is I I've known athletes with incredible athlete IQs that also program that when they're doing it, they're like, This is at least four hours. And it's like, this is seven minutes. Take it d take it easy. Kenzie :): I mean, that's me. That's why, like I said, I don't know. It's better if I just show up and do the workout and think very little about it, don't have the expectation, don't have a prediction. Because for doing this for a decade, I still clearly don't know what I'm talking about. 30 minutes. @paige_semenza: Ha ha @misfitcoach: I think the alternative is too stressful. That is the dichotomy that we have with you. You decide to see if you can just wing it, because if you really dig into it, it's it's gonna get the the brain swirling too much. You know it's better when you just go execute than if you like obsess over it. Kenzie :): percent. All right. Or I think about it. I what I did the other interval yesterday. 30 chest to bar six whatever hundred something row for heavy deadlifts rest whatever three times. I literally looked at it and I was like OK 30 chest to bar. I'm going break that up. I'm going to go 15. I'm going to 10 5. I literally got up there. I did fucking 30 every time I'm broken. I was like @misfitcoach: Yep. Right. You tried to break that one too. It was close. @paige_semenza: Yeah. Kenzie :): I was like, these feel good, I'm just gonna keep going. I like, I might regret this later. @misfitcoach: Paige does that too. Every once in a while I'm like, wait a minute, I thought we said twelve and eight. What the fuck's going on out there? And then it works out, so it's fine. @paige_semenza: ⁓ Yeah. Ha ha Kenzie :): Yeah. But it's like in my mind, I'm like, I've got to do that. like, I can't do like, I don't know. So I just I have to go off how I feel when people say go off feel, feel like it's a cop out. Like, I feel like people probably think it is. But it's literally what I do and what I hear, you know, as athletes say is going to go off feel. And if you know your body well enough and you understand, don't go to red line, then that's I think a perfectly fine. ⁓ approach, but you have to know yourself good enough. @misfitcoach: That is the ultimate expression of athlete IQ, though. That is the that's the peak of what we're trying to do. We use all kinds of metrics and all these different things to inform our decisions. But at the end of the at the end of the day, we're always like, hey, when you're on a machine ⁓ are going at the pace that you should be and really kind of pushing it, but not going to slow down, remember what that feels like. That is you ⁓ under threshold. @paige_semenza: Yeah. @misfitcoach: That's just you need to know what that feels like in a CrossFit workout because a lot of times you're not gonna have time to figure this out or it's just gonna be a combination that you didn't think of what it was gonna do to you. So you need to know what that feels like, especially if you're gonna compete. @paige_semenza: Mm-hmm. Kenzie :): Right. I know how my body feels, but as far as realistically times and where to break and how to this and that, like I can manage myself. But my perception of how long things take me and all that is not good. That's why I think, yeah, that's why it's like, I'm like, like the imposter syndrome is there because I just, I don't think I compute. @paige_semenza: Skewed. Kenzie :): It does not compute well. just know I go out there and I what I do. Yeah, it's like, well, what do we do at games in 24 is like the max front squat and you're like, okay, we're going to open it to 40. And I was like, what? ⁓ then we like ⁓ that or we like started higher than that or something. It was like you said something in my mind. I was like, there's no way could do that. And then like, we definitely did that at least. So. @misfitcoach: That's fair. Uh-huh. Sometimes I wonder if like people are like, he's trying to fuck me over. Like he's tr he he wants me to to to not do well. Cause sometimes like the lifting ones are the ones. Those are the ones that get people page we had the same thing with the split jerk at World Fitness Project. Like it's funny too because sometimes the athletes celebrating and like ⁓ will celebrate as well because I'm celebrating that they're excited. But then there's the part of me that's like no shit. @paige_semenza: Mm-hmm. @misfitcoach: I know you can do that. I know what you're gonna do on the competition floor. It's not the same as, you know, Tuesday at 7 a.m. when, you know, you're not feeling great. Like, I got you. I promise, like, I'm not gonna ask you to lift a weight, you can't. But that that one, the coach athlete relationship on lifting is such a mind fuck. And we talked about China before. China would always hit the lift and then start crying if it was one that I wanted her to hit that she didn't want to try. @paige_semenza: Mm-hmm. Kenzie :): Okay. @misfitcoach: So she's literally on the competition floor. She's got like two left and there's tears going down her face. And I'm like, You're doing great, but we we're still we're still doing it here. Let's go. ⁓ man. Good stuff. All right. Coaches are people too. if you have an anecdote, a story about something non CrossFit related. Kenzie :): you @paige_semenza: Yeah. Kenzie :): Thank @paige_semenza: Ha Kenzie :): That's so funny. ⁓ Right, right. Do you want me to go first? @misfitcoach: ⁓ any of us can go first. the editing magic that I have after this podcast. ⁓ Kenzie :): Okay, yeah, nice. My whole life is an anecdote right now, guys. Which direction do want me to take it? I can talk about, well, I would love to talk about TV with you guys, but you probably don't watch Love Island. No? No? ⁓ Okay, should, it's so much fun. Okay. ⁓ @misfitcoach: Okay. @paige_semenza: Ugh, no, I've been told to. It's like the the last episode was all of the gossip that they didn't know about, right? Yeah. Kenzie :): Yes, it's oh my gosh me and Roy have so much fun Roy loves it. He's like this is the best show on tv. Okay, so not love island because that's what I do. What are my hobbies outside of @misfitcoach: It can be Love Island. You got there's a thousand people are gonna listen to this. There's gotta be one person that likes Love Island in there. @paige_semenza: Yeah, give us the tea. Kenzie :): Well, I mean, just we can just let everyone know that that is one of my major hobbies in the summer outside of outside of training and parenting. Something I mean, if you we want to. Talk about, mean, I don't want to be the annoying person that talks about kids all the time, but it's obviously a big, really big part of my life. Well, OK, fine. Exactly. So I was going to say one of the. @paige_semenza: Mine's about kids. @misfitcoach: I talk about kids almost every time in this. @paige_semenza: Every time. Kenzie :): Like, I don't know, something that's taken over my life a lot. it's parenting in a way that like, everyone says it's hard, but the older that my kids are getting, I'm realizing like, it doesn't get easier. And I'm in this era right now of really focusing on raising my kids to be like good people and like kind and, you ⁓ doing hard is okay for things to be hard ⁓ and, you having empathy. ⁓ And I don't know, just all of the values, it's so overwhelming because you're like literally forming them into humans, right? And it's like these concepts that you realize they really don't get. And we're here in our adult life and we're just like six. @misfitcoach: Howled as Race? You got two more years. Kenzie :): And it's tough where, then it starts to be like the interpersonal relationships where, you know, they get in fights with their friends or it's, you know, the group of friends and then one of them's left out and how you work through that. And it is so hard. It is, when you say parenting is one of the hardest things, it's not just like taking care of them and getting them every single thing they need is like, I'm starting to realize, like I'm teaching this person how to be a person and I'm teaching them how to deal with conflict and be resilient and how to be supportive and encouraging and uplifting and loving. like a lot of times you feel like you're failing because they all have hard moments. But I've always said, since I ever found out I was pregnant, I was like, I don't care if my kids are good athletes. I don't care if they're like super high achieving. I just want them to be like good people and not jerks. And so now we're entering into the phase where it's like we're actually Okay, this is where I actually have to help them do that. And it is so, so hard. It's like such a huge responsibility. @paige_semenza: I can imagine I can imagine it's really challenging like when they do have something that happens to them and it's like you want to protect them, but at the same time they also need to experience these things and and learn from it, you know? you know, our parents still do that. I mean my mom my parents will do that with me today even, you know, like you kinda have to go through some things to ⁓ kinda come out on the other side of it and I can only imagine that gets ⁓ and harder ⁓ Kenzie :): Yes. @paige_semenza: The more you see it happen or the more, you know, they do grow, yeah. Kenzie :): more life. Yeah, that they do. Yeah. So I've, it's been a big, really big part of, you know, I would say the last three months or so is just like, we're because again, we're breaking into the social experiences. I made this chart this summer. It's our family. It's our family values. ⁓ of like doing rewards for like chores and this, ⁓ started this family values reward. And when I see them like doing kind things, showing patience, being helpful, like really trying to like encourage them when I see them doing these good things. Because you get a lot of meltdowns, you get a lot of backtalk, you get a lot of being mean to your brother and sister, you get, like that is plentiful. So when I see the good things, I'm like trying to really like be set up and we've got lots of like posters of sayings and like affirmations. And I'm just like, oh, it's... @misfitcoach: Yes. @paige_semenza: It's cute. Kenzie :): Like it's so hard, but then they have these moments where they're so, sweet and like things are, I think, I do think things are clicking, but it's taken a lot of my like bandwidth and energy and free time to like work on this stuff. So when I'm not working or training or cooking dinner or taking care of the house, it's like printing off posters on like how to be a good person and posting them up. And I don't know, it's, it's heavy or. @misfitcoach: And the more that you have going on personally, harder it is to remember that you have to show up as the person that you're teaching them to be. Cause like 'cause like if someone's doing if the kid's doing the thing that you don't want them to do, and then you respond with the behavior that you're not supposed to do, ⁓ and and of course, like, I don't know, like ⁓ @paige_semenza: Mm-hmm. Kenzie :): Yes. Yes. @misfitcoach: a s like slow Saturday morning, that's the easiest thing ever. You you had a good night's sleep and you're just hanging out doing your thing, but then you get into, you know, a fucking Thursday or something and, you know, life is wild and work is crazy and you got all this stuff going on and you walk into the house and you get yelled at by a three year old and you're like, ⁓ you got a lot more going on than I do. So like I know that that must be amplified. Kenzie :): 100 % modeling. Yeah, modeling is a big deal. You gotta model the behaviors. So yeah, it takes a lot of patience on me then to respond and connect and absorb and meet them where they are. ⁓ people say not to do that. Anyways, parenting is really hard. I just wanted to say that is my anecdote is like, people say, ⁓ it's the hardest thing you'll ever do, but I'm really like breaking into new frontiers of like how it's hard and. ⁓ @misfitcoach: Y also talk about delayed delayed gratification. can tell you from ⁓ experience, you will see ⁓ benefits of what you're doing in ⁓ 20 years with your son. You will see it sprinkled throughout his life while he figures it out. But like ⁓ thing that Kenzie :): It's serious business. Cool. @paige_semenza: Write this down. Kenzie :): Yeah. All right. @misfitcoach: that I think is gonna be hard for my wife, and I'm gonna have to remind her over and over is you have, according to neuroscience, and I'm sure that this is like like not a hundred percent set in store, but you basically have eight years instill the like really deep things in them. ⁓ but then ⁓ twenty more years until they have the thinking part of for a male, the thinking part of their brain is there. And there is no Kenzie :): Mm-hmm. Yeah. @misfitcoach: No one stupider earth than a 16-year-old boy, ⁓ we are positive we're the smartest person on earth. ⁓ that combination, like, is so to explain until ⁓ ⁓ obviously it as a human, but then I've watched my friends also go through it, and you know, some of them Kenzie :): Right. Yeah. @misfitcoach: I don't know that they're ever gonna have a prefrontal cortec. I don't know that the frontal lobe is ever coming all the way in. ⁓ so it's like y you have to have a Kenzie :): Dude. And that's the whole time you think these kids' brains are still developed. You have to remind yourself, that's not a full brain. @misfitcoach: For a long time. Yeah. It's wild. Kenzie :): And Roy's like, why doesn't he get it? I'm like, he's six. His brain is like, oh man. It's crazy. But I will say, and then a very long, long download period. But then I will say, I get things like, but then one day he maimed this note, because I was really frustrated. And he wrote this paper and he put it in an envelope and he brought it up to me and slid it secretly. @misfitcoach: He's not gonna get it for a really long time. You're like installing software right now that will boot up in twenty years. So long. Kenzie :): Like he was trying to like give it to me secret and I opened it up and said, mom, I still love you even if you're mad or sad. And I was like, so like, like he's so sweet. So I'm like, we're doing right things. really are like, like I it's, it's building, it's building, it's downloading. Um, but yeah, out there. @paige_semenza: So cute. @misfitcoach: I'll ⁓ I'll keep it going with the same same conversation. It's be shocking to the listeners. ⁓ I have this my my personal quote is just the idea of there's no free lunch. There's no ⁓ the universe has an energy balance and have never ⁓ ever joy in the way that you do as a parent, which means that if the you know the mountaintop's this high, then what is the what do you have to work to, you know, how much work do you have to put in to deal with that? And we had drove back from Colorado Springs, so five, five and a half hours on Monday, and the ⁓ swim was ⁓ sick, we still had a pool party. So that obviously changes ⁓ the vibe of your involvement as a parent, a swim lesson in a pool versus you. So we're there and he they they've got ⁓ like an inflatable slide at the pool. And once he figures out how to go up it and once he's okay with going underwater when he goes in, like, I can't even explain the look on this kid's face. The happiest anyone's ever been ever. And it's like the most @paige_semenza: So cute. Kenzie :): Mmmmm @misfitcoach: Heartwarming, fulfilling thing. he whipped a kid with his goggles for taking a dinosaur and he tried to hit a dog. And peaks valleys, right? ⁓ Like ⁓ it's there's a ton of kids there. It's super overwhelming. Some of them are playing baseball in the backyard. Some of them are swimming. Some of them are eating food. Everyone wants dessert first. It's a it's a place. Kenzie :): Yep. Mm-hmm. Dude. @paige_semenza: Ha ha @misfitcoach: Right. And like he's an only child, he has a nanny. That environment is very new for him. It's a lot. ⁓ so I can understand why he's getting overwhelmed, but at the same time, to me is parenting in a nutshell. Like the happiest I've ever been. Also, what you think that picking up those goggles and trying to whip the kid with them is like the right call? What are we doing here? And then like, ⁓ he's three. He has no idea what's going on. And he won't for like six years. Kenzie :): Yep. ⁓ huh. impulse control is a bitch. @paige_semenza: As I say, impulse is crazy. Kenzie :): Dude, let me tell you. And it goes from like, everything is so great. And then like on a dime, it's like, then they turn and do it you're like, everything was so good. Why'd you have to do this? @misfitcoach: Yeah. Yep. Uh-huh. And they look at you immediately. Yeah. They're like, ⁓ should I have done that? you're looking at me because you know you shouldn't have done it, but now you want to know ⁓ level of reaction you're gonna get. Yeah. All Paige, you got anything you got any you got any lighthearted Kenzie :): Yeah. ⁓ my gosh, it's so hard. What's your kid's story, Paige? @paige_semenza: Well, I just I get to be I get I get to get to be the best friend and go to the water park with the whole family tomorrow. So I to be the fun one. Yeah. Always. ⁓ I don't know, there's some it's ⁓ I Keensburg Amusement Park. It's like an hour away. It's down by the beach. ⁓ yeah, so it'll be fun. We're gonna get up, work out at six AM and then take them for a drive down. Kenzie :): Ooooo What's the waterpark? What's the cool waterpark there? Sweet. That's fun. God bless you. You wanna come live at my house and help take care of my kids? I could use that. I could find you a job here. my gosh, ⁓ @paige_semenza: It's pretty fun here. But I get to I get to see all the things that you guys are experiencing and like I don't know, I get to learn from it too. Kenzie :): You just have to kind of, you have to like stand there and be like, interfere. Like you just watch. ⁓ @paige_semenza: Well s yeah, like I mean sometimes, you know @misfitcoach: You can Homer Simpson. You and when you're in auntie mode, you can just back up into the hedges when you need to. Kenzie :): Yeah, just back up into I'm just going to let you guys deal with this. ⁓ @paige_semenza: ⁓ Some some mornings like I wake up and I go upstairs and it's like it's like the bikes like the the little toys are like loud and clanging and banging and I'm like, alright, it's that kind of morning. I got this. They want to come outside with me every morning. Like I we we have to park the cars like, you know, kind of like behind the other. ⁓ and I usually get home second, so it's always mine. Kenzie :): And. @paige_semenza: And I'm too lazy to switch ⁓ at night, so I'll s just back mine out in the morning. And every morning I I come upstairs, can we move your car with you? And it's literally takes like three seconds. I'm like, Come on, let's go. It's so fun. Kenzie :): It's so fun. They think it's so fun to do that. That's funny. ⁓ I love it for you. @paige_semenza: I know. @misfitcoach: Did we do it? @paige_semenza: We did it. Kenzie :): They answer all the burning questions. @misfitcoach: You did. You did. Thanks, Kenzie. @paige_semenza: Awesome. Kenzie :): Next time I'll tell the anecdote about how I did my entire quarterfinals workout without my contacts in. That was my backup story. @paige_semenza: Can't wait. @misfitcoach: We could we could honestly do a Kenzie Stories podcast top to bottom. @paige_semenza: The chronicles. Kenzie :): What was the second? What is the second? It's thriving and chaos is my that's my documentary and then my my memoir. What was it like Kinsey? Good at really good at good at fitness, but not at reading or something like that. Because I like I like read the workout wrong, but then it good. Anyways. @misfitcoach: ⁓ yeah, what was the other one? Yeah. @paige_semenza: Ha ha ha. @misfitcoach: Where is that? There's too many messages in here. We've been getting after it. Kenzie :): I don't know, it's in our text. was like, yeah, the story of Kinsey, good at fitness, not at reading or something like that. Which is a thousand percent true. @paige_semenza: Mm-hmm. @misfitcoach: Yeah. All right. Cool. Thanks, Kenzie. Bye guys. Kenzie :): All right, see you guys, bye.