Latest / Clydesdale Media Podcast / Saxon Panchik | Athletes of the 2024 CrossFit Games

Transcript

Saxon Panchik | Athletes of the 2024 CrossFit Games · Clydesdale Media Podcast

• 0:08
  Let's go.
• 0:34
  What's going on, everybody?
• 0:35
  Welcome to the Clydesdale Media Podcast.
• 0:37
  My name is Scott Schweitzer
• 0:38
  on the Clydesdale.
• 0:40
  We are so honored and
• 0:41
  privileged to have with us
• 0:42
  Saxon Pancheck.
• 0:43
  What's going on, man?
• 0:44
  What's going on, man?
• 0:45
  It's always a pleasure.
• 0:46
  Are you back in the OH?
• 0:48
  OHIO?
• 0:48
  Yeah.
• 0:48
  Yeah.
• 0:56
  So what's funny is I love
• 0:57
  having you on because it's
• 1:00
  like a piece of home, right?
• 1:02
  You grew up in Pittsburgh.
• 1:04
  I grew up just outside of Pittsburgh.
• 1:06
  You still have a little bit of the accent.
• 1:08
  And when I talk to your dad,
• 1:10
  he still has all the accent.
• 1:13
  But it's just like a little
• 1:15
  piece of western Pennsylvania, man.
• 1:17
  Oh, absolutely.
• 1:18
  I'm actually out in PA here now.
• 1:21
  So it's like home being in PA.
• 1:23
  It's a special place.
• 1:25
  it is yeah there's nothing
• 1:26
  like it love the hills love
• 1:28
  the it just has a different
• 1:29
  smell hey it does it does
• 1:33
  and the people are all the
• 1:34
  same no matter where you
• 1:35
  are yeah they are they are
• 1:39
  so we we caught up a little
• 1:40
  bit before the syndicate
• 1:41
  crown um you you told me
• 1:45
  you were ready you came out
• 1:47
  guns a blazing at syndicate
• 1:49
  crown uh with a third place
• 1:51
  finish to start off the weekend
• 1:54
  What data did you learn
• 1:56
  during that weekend that
• 1:58
  you are now implementing
• 1:59
  into games training?
• 2:01
  Yeah, I think going into that weekend,
• 2:04
  the workouts, they played out exactly...
• 2:07
  I don't want to say they
• 2:08
  were the feelings that I
• 2:10
  had through them and how it
• 2:12
  was going to reflect the
• 2:13
  leaderboard for everybody
• 2:14
  is pretty much exactly what I thought,
• 2:17
  right?
• 2:17
  Like fitness is determined
• 2:18
  on those first three events.
• 2:20
  Execution is determined on
• 2:21
  those last three events.
• 2:23
  And that's it.
• 2:25
  We had roughly about five
• 2:26
  weeks to train for those events.
• 2:28
  So there wasn't anything
• 2:30
  that was going to happen on
• 2:31
  the floor that didn't
• 2:32
  happen in training for the most part.
• 2:35
  I put the dumbbells down one
• 2:36
  extra time on the last one,
• 2:37
  and I just – I felt like
• 2:38
  that was more of a, hey,
• 2:41
  let's not mess anything up
• 2:42
  and let's get to the games kind of thing.
• 2:44
  But I felt like going through the weekend,
• 2:46
  the feelings that I had was,
• 2:49
  you've done these workouts
• 2:50
  so many different times that –
• 2:55
  I don't get caught up in the
• 2:56
  race racing anyone else.
• 2:58
  The races will come at the CrossFit Games,
• 3:00
  but just focus on trusting your plans,
• 3:02
  trusting your times,
• 3:04
  keeping your reps clean,
• 3:05
  and executing over the weekend.
• 3:08
  Especially those first three events,
• 3:10
  I felt like I wanted to push things more.
• 3:15
  So other things like when
• 3:17
  you add intensity to workout,
• 3:19
  even more intensity than
• 3:20
  maybe something that you're used to.
• 3:22
  Typically,
• 3:22
  I think anyone that's competing fit,
• 3:25
  you typically get more sore
• 3:26
  when you're competing than
• 3:27
  you would in the gym.
• 3:29
  And in my opinion,
• 3:29
  that's just from adding the
• 3:30
  intensity that you get.
• 3:33
  So I felt like there was a
• 3:34
  lot of moments where I felt
• 3:35
  like my fitness wanted me to go further,
• 3:37
  but I still just kind of
• 3:39
  stayed in my lane and just trusted,
• 3:41
  you know, I've done this before.
• 3:42
  Let's do the splits and the
• 3:44
  same splits on the workouts,
• 3:46
  the rep schemes that I did in training.
• 3:48
  And let's just focus on
• 3:49
  executing this entire weekend.
• 3:51
  And I felt like I did that pretty well.
• 3:53
  I felt like there was
• 3:54
  definitely some more risk
• 3:55
  that I wish that I took.
• 3:57
  But again,
• 3:58
  I think those risks will come
• 3:59
  more at the CrossFit Games.
• 4:00
  For me, after missing last year,
• 4:02
  a lot of it was, hey,
• 4:03
  I need to get back here.
• 4:04
  I need to get back on track.
• 4:06
  And, you know, I was able to do that.
• 4:11
  So I have a follow-up question to that,
• 4:12
  but Wad Zombie jumps in.
• 4:14
  Saxon's my new favorite
• 4:15
  athlete after a segment in
• 4:17
  the Hiller video.
• 4:20
  We're going to get into a
• 4:21
  little bit of that later on in this,
• 4:23
  but...
• 4:24
  So there is a conscious
• 4:25
  decision by you in the
• 4:27
  middle of semifinals to
• 4:30
  kind of throttle it back
• 4:31
  and make sure you get your
• 4:33
  ticket as opposed to –
• 4:36
  you've won semifinals in the past.
• 4:38
  Is it that less important
• 4:40
  now and just getting to the
• 4:42
  games is more?
• 4:44
  No, it depends.
• 4:46
  I think,
• 4:46
  I think the year that I won myself,
• 4:49
  you at the end of the day, as an athlete,
• 4:51
  you want to show up and you
• 4:51
  always want to win.
• 4:52
  You know,
• 4:53
  you want to have that killer instinct,
• 4:55
  like show up and compete.
• 4:57
  For me, I just felt like that.
• 4:58
  Like I just wasn't ready for
• 5:00
  that yet in my training and
• 5:03
  my preparation.
• 5:03
  I think that I was more
• 5:05
  focused on getting to the CrossFit games.
• 5:07
  Like I said, executing,
• 5:08
  like after watching the,
• 5:10
  Previous semifinals,
• 5:11
  a great example was Cole
• 5:13
  Sager and Pat Belner, right?
• 5:15
  Like they were willing to
• 5:16
  take some risk on the squat
• 5:17
  snatch ladder and they had
• 5:19
  to go into that final event
• 5:19
  and they had to perform to
• 5:20
  get the ticket to the games.
• 5:23
  And for me, I just wanted to focus on,
• 5:26
  like I said, I wanted,
• 5:27
  my goal was for the weekend
• 5:28
  to be done by the time I
• 5:29
  went into that final event.
• 5:31
  um and to be able to go into
• 5:32
  that final event and just
• 5:33
  focus on same thing just
• 5:35
  executing uh not willing to
• 5:37
  have my season come on the
• 5:39
  line at that point um like
• 5:41
  I said is that the killer
• 5:42
  instinct uh mindset that
• 5:45
  you want to like I wouldn't
• 5:46
  say that's really killer
• 5:47
  instinct uh but like I said
• 5:49
  I just felt like I was
• 5:50
  under a different mindset
• 5:51
  that I've been under in
• 5:53
  previous years in training.
• 5:54
  And it was a lot back to just, like I said,
• 5:57
  getting on track and
• 5:58
  getting back to the
• 5:59
  CrossFit Games and be
• 6:00
  willing to take those risks
• 6:01
  there and show up with that
• 6:03
  instinct there.
• 6:06
  Yeah.
• 6:06
  So that last workout ate some people up.
• 6:10
  Yeah.
• 6:12
  Was that a fear going in
• 6:13
  that you didn't want it to
• 6:14
  come down to that because
• 6:16
  there was some
• 6:16
  unpredictability in that workout?
• 6:18
  I think anytime you're
• 6:19
  looking at a workout under three minutes,
• 6:21
  let alone under five minutes,
• 6:23
  anybody can win that.
• 6:25
  Anyone can show up and put out,
• 6:28
  in my opinion.
• 6:30
  That's where those are the
• 6:33
  ones that you need to
• 6:34
  capitalize on the most.
• 6:35
  And I look back at my...
• 6:37
  It was my second year or
• 6:39
  second or third year at regionals.
• 6:41
  It was the 21, 15,
• 6:42
  nine ring dip dumbbell snaps,
• 6:43
  a lot dumbbell snatch.
• 6:46
  And I was super nervous about that,
• 6:48
  but cause it was such a short event and I,
• 6:50
  I ended up doing really bad on it.
• 6:52
  Um,
• 6:55
  I don't want to say bad,
• 6:56
  but I just felt like it
• 6:56
  didn't come down to more fitness.
• 6:58
  It just came down to who can
• 6:59
  hold onto the dumbbell and go.
• 7:00
  And you need to be able to
• 7:01
  do all of those things.
• 7:03
  That whenever it comes down
• 7:04
  to a 20 minute chipper, you know,
• 7:06
  the run and clean and jerk,
• 7:08
  that's fitness, right?
• 7:09
  Like you look at the front squats,
• 7:10
  toes to bar double wonders, like,
• 7:12
  don't put your hands on your knees.
• 7:13
  Like I look when you want to
• 7:15
  stop and you want to slow down,
• 7:17
  we're talking fitness.
• 7:18
  When we're talking pedal down,
• 7:20
  like that's just who's
• 7:21
  willing to show up and put out.
• 7:23
  And like I said,
• 7:24
  everybody can show up and put out.
• 7:25
  And those are the ones that
• 7:27
  you need to even show up
• 7:28
  and put out more than
• 7:29
  anyone else in order to not
• 7:31
  have those slip ups.
• 7:32
  Like I would say,
• 7:33
  even if you have a games athlete,
• 7:36
  even on your,
• 7:36
  your worst day at like a semifinal level,
• 7:41
  like you,
• 7:42
  you should still be able to
• 7:43
  put up a decent score on, you know,
• 7:45
  a long chip or something
• 7:46
  that's going to come down
• 7:46
  to more of that fitness.
• 7:49
  We've talked a bunch of
• 7:50
  times over the years and
• 7:51
  you've always said to me that,
• 7:53
  and you know, I met you as a judge.
• 7:55
  Like I,
• 7:56
  so you've always said to me that
• 7:58
  you never want the judge to
• 8:00
  make the tough call.
• 8:01
  Right.
• 8:02
  Right.
• 8:03
  You want your movement
• 8:04
  standard to be so good that
• 8:05
  they never have to question it.
• 8:08
  That last event, because it was so short,
• 8:11
  some people lost their
• 8:12
  chance because of a judge's call.
• 8:16
  Right.
• 8:16
  And like I said,
• 8:17
  that was my whole thought
• 8:18
  going into that was like,
• 8:20
  you don't want it to come down to...
• 8:23
  like at the end of the day, a judge,
• 8:24
  a judge's call, like,
• 8:25
  and if it does come down to
• 8:26
  a judge's call,
• 8:28
  I hope you put yourself in
• 8:29
  a position that you can get through that.
• 8:31
  You know,
• 8:31
  like we're talking five events
• 8:32
  already that, you know, you want to,
• 8:35
  you want to put up.
• 8:36
  And that's what was kind of
• 8:37
  my whole thought was for
• 8:38
  the whole weekend was I
• 8:39
  want every point possible
• 8:42
  before you get to that short workout,
• 8:44
  because you're going to
• 8:44
  want them if something was to happen,
• 8:47
  right?
• 8:47
  Like,
• 8:48
  if you were to like Colton
• 8:50
  Merton's got no rep on his muscle ups,
• 8:51
  like, were they good?
• 8:52
  Maybe, maybe not.
• 8:53
  Like, you know what I'm saying?
• 8:55
  Like anything can happen with,
• 8:56
  with a judge and with a standard,
• 8:57
  like don't put yourself in
• 8:59
  a position where that
• 9:00
  that's going to come down
• 9:01
  to somebody else.
• 9:02
  And,
• 9:02
  and it's easy in a short workout like
• 9:04
  that.
• 9:04
  Like a judge could make a bad call,
• 9:07
  but like at the end of the day,
• 9:08
  it's not going to matter
• 9:09
  when it's all said and done.
• 9:10
  Like,
• 9:12
  the season will continue to go on.
• 9:13
  So just don't put yourself in those,
• 9:15
  a position like that.
• 9:17
  And, um, it's easier said than done.
• 9:19
  Like, you know, things come up, you know,
• 9:21
  it's easy to like,
• 9:22
  I remember during the
• 9:23
  snatch ladder this year,
• 9:25
  I missed a snatch at two 45, you know,
• 9:27
  it was easy for me to want
• 9:28
  to look to the left and to
• 9:29
  the right of me and be like, well,
• 9:30
  this isn't what happened in training.
• 9:32
  Is anyone going to pass me?
• 9:33
  You know, for me, I just focused on, Hey,
• 9:35
  let's slow things down and
• 9:37
  let's not have any more missed lifts.
• 9:39
  Um,
• 9:39
  And there was somebody that
• 9:40
  left me willing to take the
• 9:41
  risk and they missed the snatch twice.
• 9:43
  And I was able to get in,
• 9:45
  get in ahead of them just,
• 9:46
  just by me staying in my
• 9:47
  own lane and executing and
• 9:49
  being able to adapt on the go.
• 9:50
  Like,
• 9:52
  it's the semifinal workouts this year.
• 9:54
  You couldn't have any big mess ups.
• 9:56
  Like if you were fit,
• 9:58
  you were going to be in the top 10,
• 10:01
  like top 10 to top 15.
• 10:02
  Like,
• 10:03
  and that's going to be determined by
• 10:04
  anywhere from five to 10, maybe,
• 10:06
  maybe 15 seconds is the
• 10:09
  difference between winning
• 10:09
  the event and taking 15th
• 10:11
  in the event that you need
• 10:12
  to be able to capitalize
• 10:14
  and take as many of those
• 10:15
  points as you can early on
• 10:16
  in the weekend.
• 10:17
  I talked about it like, um,
• 10:20
  like monopoly, right?
• 10:21
  Like you want to,
• 10:21
  you want to get everything you can early.
• 10:23
  Yeah.
• 10:24
  Yeah.
• 10:26
  Yeah.
• 10:26
  That's the key to monopoly, man.
• 10:29
  Be the landlord early and
• 10:31
  take everybody else's money.
• 10:32
  Yeah.
• 10:34
  So, so I want to switch subjects to,
• 10:38
  we were going to do this at noon Eastern.
• 10:40
  If you were actually on a
• 10:41
  call mentoring the young
• 10:44
  athletes in the space, um,
• 10:46
  And there's a mentorship
• 10:47
  program through the Pitt
• 10:49
  Fitness Ranch and their team program.
• 10:52
  How's it – what – do you
• 10:55
  feel a responsibility to
• 10:56
  pass down your knowledge to
• 10:58
  the up-and-coming athletes?
• 11:00
  Absolutely, yes.
• 11:01
  No doubt.
• 11:02
  These guys are the ones that
• 11:03
  are going to be shaping the
• 11:05
  sport in the future.
• 11:06
  And me – it's hard for me to
• 11:10
  believe that I'm 28, right?
• 11:11
  Like you look Rich Froning
• 11:13
  retired when he was 26, 27, right?
• 11:16
  But you look at, like,
• 11:17
  Vellner and Fikowski and these guys,
• 11:19
  they're, you know,
• 11:19
  in their mid-30s almost.
• 11:23
  But, like, you know,
• 11:24
  this next generation is coming up.
• 11:25
  And this is the conversation we had today.
• 11:29
  Like,
• 11:30
  they're in charge of shaping the future,
• 11:32
  you know.
• 11:32
  And I think it's just super
• 11:34
  important that they're
• 11:36
  hearing the right things.
• 11:37
  They're exposed to the right things.
• 11:39
  Like,
• 11:39
  I want them to understand the
• 11:40
  methodology of CrossFit.
• 11:42
  I want them to understand...
• 11:43
  You know how you can
• 11:45
  continue to help this sport grow,
• 11:47
  not just the sport,
• 11:48
  but even like being inside
• 11:49
  the affiliate and and help
• 11:51
  other people along the way.
• 11:52
  Like that's that's how I got
• 11:54
  to where I am today.
• 11:55
  Not necessarily.
• 11:56
  And this is just, again,
• 11:57
  speaking from my own opinion,
• 11:58
  not just sitting in my and
• 12:01
  I've spent a year where I spent.
• 12:04
  a year training for the
• 12:05
  games in my own home gym
• 12:06
  with no one else around but
• 12:08
  like that's not how we're
• 12:09
  going to continue to grow
• 12:10
  and continue to impact this
• 12:12
  sport like I find the most
• 12:14
  fulfillment inside an
• 12:15
  affiliate and I'm not
• 12:17
  saying you have to go work
• 12:18
  out in the class every
• 12:19
  single day but I'm just
• 12:20
  saying like and this is
• 12:21
  what I do in my affiliate
• 12:22
  now I open the gym up on
• 12:23
  Sundays and I say hey
• 12:25
  anybody that wants to come
• 12:26
  throw down and you know
• 12:27
  maybe do one workout or two
• 12:28
  workouts with me or if you
• 12:29
  want to do the whole day
• 12:30
  with me come train with me and
• 12:32
  I had like this last Sunday,
• 12:34
  I think I had like 10
• 12:35
  people in their training
• 12:36
  with me and they just they
• 12:38
  just want the push.
• 12:39
  They want to get better and
• 12:40
  I want to get better.
• 12:40
  And and we just push each
• 12:42
  other to get better.
• 12:43
  And I just think that that's
• 12:44
  where that's where CrossFit started.
• 12:47
  And that's where the magic happened.
• 12:49
  And I just want to continue
• 12:50
  to to carry that on and be
• 12:52
  able to pass that knowledge
• 12:53
  on to these young guys.
• 12:54
  Like it's not just sitting
• 12:56
  there by yourself, you know, like.
• 12:59
  if you're sitting in your
• 13:00
  own gym by yourself all day, all, all,
• 13:03
  all year,
• 13:03
  and then you show up to compete at the,
• 13:05
  you know,
• 13:06
  whether it's the CrossFit games or,
• 13:07
  you know,
• 13:08
  maybe you're just a local event
• 13:09
  kind of person, you know,
• 13:11
  you sit there by yourself, like,
• 13:13
  are you really having an
• 13:14
  impact on people?
• 13:15
  Typically when you're competing,
• 13:17
  you're not seeing the true
• 13:18
  side of people.
• 13:19
  They're so focused on
• 13:20
  competing and recovering
• 13:22
  and staying focused that like,
• 13:24
  when does that, when does that happen?
• 13:26
  It doesn't.
• 13:27
  Yeah.
• 13:28
  So that's a perfect segue.
• 13:30
  But first, I can't believe you're 28.
• 13:33
  I met you when you were 19 years old, man.
• 13:36
  I was just having a
• 13:36
  conversation with someone in the gym.
• 13:38
  I was with the Mayhem guys.
• 13:39
  I said, how old do you think I am?
• 13:41
  They're like, well, we thought you were 22,
• 13:44
  23.
• 13:44
  And then we realized you've
• 13:45
  been to the game so many
• 13:46
  times that we realized, well,
• 13:48
  there's no way he competed
• 13:49
  when he was 15.
• 13:52
  You were actually a teen
• 13:53
  athlete before there was a teen division.
• 13:55
  Yeah.
• 13:56
  Yeah.
• 13:58
  which is crazy to think about.
• 14:01
  But honestly,
• 14:02
  that had the expectation set
• 14:03
  very high for me that I
• 14:04
  needed to focus on the big picture,
• 14:05
  that when I turn 20, 21,
• 14:07
  that I needed to be able to
• 14:11
  step into that
• 14:14
  I will call it the big kid
• 14:15
  division and be able to
• 14:16
  throw down with these guys.
• 14:17
  You know, there is no modifications.
• 14:20
  You know, 135 is 135.
• 14:24
  So it really had me focusing
• 14:26
  on the big picture.
• 14:27
  And that was kind of what I
• 14:28
  was talking to these teenagers about is,
• 14:30
  you know, yes,
• 14:31
  you get to go to the
• 14:31
  CrossFit Games as a teen,
• 14:33
  but you have these there.
• 14:34
  They're 14.
• 14:35
  You have these next four to
• 14:36
  six years to focus on the big picture,
• 14:38
  to become a well-rounded athlete,
• 14:40
  to be able to.
• 14:42
  And I said, I don't want you to, you know,
• 14:44
  when you turn 18,
• 14:44
  I don't want to have this, these three,
• 14:47
  four years where you're
• 14:48
  trying to figure out how to
• 14:49
  break through to the individual division.
• 14:52
  I want you to step up at 18
• 14:54
  and I want you to whoop on me.
• 14:56
  I'm not going to make it easy,
• 14:58
  but I want you to be able
• 14:59
  to throw down and try and beat me.
• 15:02
  And I just think that that's,
• 15:04
  I think that's so important.
• 15:06
  Do you think having the team
• 15:07
  division has created like a
• 15:10
  short term success that may
• 15:12
  hinder the long term goal?
• 15:15
  I think it depends on what
• 15:16
  you're exposed to and the
• 15:19
  mentor that you have and
• 15:20
  the coach that you have and
• 15:22
  really what they're looking at.
• 15:23
  I think it's very easy to
• 15:25
  get consumed and be like, oh, you know,
• 15:28
  I want the sponsors I want.
• 15:30
  the platform, I want the followers,
• 15:32
  I want to win, you know,
• 15:34
  and focus on all of these things.
• 15:36
  And it can,
• 15:37
  it could very easily be temporary,
• 15:39
  if you're not focused on
• 15:41
  becoming a well rounded athlete, overall,
• 15:43
  and being able to make that transition,
• 15:45
  like the teenage division
• 15:47
  is very temporary.
• 15:48
  And those years, I told these guys today,
• 15:50
  I said,
• 15:50
  I remember when I was 12 years old,
• 15:52
  and I started CrossFit,
• 15:54
  and I'm 28 here today,
• 15:55
  talking to you guys, you know,
• 15:57
  you're the same age when I
• 15:58
  started in those years go by fast.
• 16:01
  that you need to be able to
• 16:03
  focus on the big picture.
• 16:04
  You need to be able to build
• 16:06
  a team around you that's
• 16:07
  focused on that big picture.
• 16:08
  And we'll see what happens.
• 16:11
  You know,
• 16:12
  I know that that's what led me to
• 16:15
  great success in this and
• 16:16
  to be able to have that transition,
• 16:17
  to be able to go to the
• 16:18
  CrossFit Games when I was 21 years old.
• 16:23
  But like I said,
• 16:23
  everybody's different and
• 16:26
  I'll never tell anyone what to do,
• 16:28
  but I'll tell you
• 16:30
  from experience the things
• 16:31
  that I've experienced and
• 16:33
  really just sitting and
• 16:34
  being able to observe of
• 16:35
  what I've seen with other athletes.
• 16:39
  So I want to,
• 16:39
  I want to shift gears again
• 16:41
  to your interview with Dave
• 16:42
  and kind of you talking
• 16:44
  about the community.
• 16:46
  Um, one, I got to tell you,
• 16:49
  you almost made, uh, Dave misses plane,
• 16:52
  which was cracking me up
• 16:57
  first and foremost.
• 16:58
  Um,
• 16:58
  But the questions you were
• 17:00
  asking were very much more methodology,
• 17:05
  affiliate,
• 17:06
  community-based than just games
• 17:09
  questions.
• 17:10
  Right.
• 17:11
  So, and with the Hiller video too,
• 17:14
  that you were very much
• 17:15
  diving into those subjects.
• 17:17
  Do you have a bigger plan later in life,
• 17:19
  like maybe seminar staff or
• 17:23
  owning your own affiliate again,
• 17:24
  anything like that?
• 17:25
  Or is that what's kind of on your mind?
• 17:27
  Yeah, I mean, honestly,
• 17:28
  I don't – I want to be involved.
• 17:31
  CrossFit's what I know.
• 17:32
  It's what I love.
• 17:33
  What that's going to look like, you know,
• 17:35
  when I'm done competing or
• 17:38
  through my years of competing,
• 17:39
  I don't know what that's
• 17:40
  going to look like.
• 17:41
  I just know that I want to
• 17:42
  impact as many lives as I can,
• 17:44
  and I want to be able to
• 17:47
  just spread the methodology
• 17:49
  in as many ways as I can.
• 17:50
  Like, you look at what the –
• 17:53
  And I caught a lot of heat, you know,
• 17:55
  and a lot of people were saying, oh,
• 17:57
  you know,
• 17:58
  games athletes don't need to
• 17:59
  have their level one and
• 18:00
  they shouldn't be training
• 18:01
  in an affiliate with normal people.
• 18:03
  And it's impossible to go to
• 18:05
  the CrossFit Games training in a Philly.
• 18:07
  And that's not what I'm saying.
• 18:09
  What I'm saying is,
• 18:11
  why would you not want to
• 18:12
  understand the methodology
• 18:13
  of the sport that you're doing?
• 18:15
  And like,
• 18:16
  I just think that that's the
• 18:17
  number one thing.
• 18:17
  Like,
• 18:18
  that's like me playing football and
• 18:19
  not understanding, you know,
• 18:21
  the foundation of football, right?
• 18:23
  Like,
• 18:24
  I think that there's so much to the
• 18:26
  methodology that you can
• 18:28
  add as an athlete and understanding, like,
• 18:31
  that's what's shaping the future.
• 18:32
  Like,
• 18:33
  why would you not want to understand
• 18:35
  what you're doing?
• 18:36
  Why would you not want to,
• 18:38
  like I get it's a sport and
• 18:40
  I get people want to focus on competing.
• 18:42
  And I think there's a time
• 18:43
  and a place for that,
• 18:44
  but also like you have the ability to,
• 18:46
  to grow it.
• 18:47
  Why would you not want to grow it?
• 18:49
  Why would you not want to,
• 18:52
  to have an impact and
• 18:54
  continue to grow as an athlete,
• 18:56
  to continue to grow as a coach?
• 18:58
  Like,
• 18:59
  Tom, like,
• 19:00
  and I compare it to other sports,
• 19:02
  like Tom Brady could coach himself.
• 19:04
  You know,
• 19:04
  Michael Jordan could coach himself.
• 19:06
  Like,
• 19:06
  why would you not want to be able to
• 19:09
  coach yourself and be able to look at,
• 19:11
  like,
• 19:12
  imagine if you were to go to the
• 19:13
  CrossFit Games and they said, hey,
• 19:15
  no coaches.
• 19:15
  You know, you look at 2020,
• 19:17
  there was a lot of moments
• 19:19
  where you didn't have your
• 19:20
  coach there with you.
• 19:22
  So why would you not want to
• 19:23
  understand things to become
• 19:25
  a better coach?
• 19:26
  Because in my opinion,
• 19:27
  when you become a better coach,
• 19:28
  you become a better athlete.
• 19:31
  It's so full circle.
• 19:33
  Because the first time I
• 19:34
  ever interviewed you,
• 19:35
  you said almost the exact
• 19:36
  same statement in your
• 19:39
  affiliate at the time, Cliffside.
• 19:41
  We were sitting on boxes and
• 19:43
  you were coaching yourself at that time.
• 19:45
  Yeah.
• 19:47
  And you said these exact same words.
• 19:48
  It's so cool.
• 19:50
  Yeah.
• 19:52
  And again, I have a coach, right?
• 19:55
  But I also, there's days where I'm like,
• 19:57
  hey,
• 19:57
  I don't feel that this is what I need
• 20:00
  today.
• 20:01
  I can be able to change this
• 20:03
  and understand programming
• 20:05
  to be able to adapt things.
• 20:06
  And I talked about this on
• 20:08
  Dave's interview is,
• 20:11
  When I programmed for myself,
• 20:14
  I would say 80% of the
• 20:15
  stuff that I was doing was
• 20:16
  based off of benchmarks,
• 20:18
  whether it was hero workouts,
• 20:19
  whether it was girl workouts,
• 20:21
  or whether it was just
• 20:22
  benchmarks that CrossFit had.
• 20:23
  Like, you know,
• 20:25
  you look at JT's a great combo, right?
• 20:27
  You're pushing in every direction.
• 20:29
  You know, you got your ring dips,
• 20:31
  your handstand pushups.
• 20:32
  Like, we could switch that with pulling.
• 20:34
  Why not pull in every direction?
• 20:36
  A strict pull-up, a rower, a deadlift.
• 20:38
  Like...
• 20:40
  push pulls in different directions,
• 20:41
  how much it can actually
• 20:42
  affect your body.
• 20:43
  Like,
• 20:44
  and that's how I programmed for my
• 20:45
  affiliate as well.
• 20:45
  But, um, to me,
• 20:47
  I think it's very important
• 20:48
  to be able to understand
• 20:51
  these little things as an athlete, right?
• 20:53
  Like when, if we were to see a 21, 15,
• 20:56
  nine at the games of rowing
• 20:59
  deadlifts and pull-ups, um,
• 21:01
  Most people would be like, oh,
• 21:02
  like that's a super simple workout,
• 21:04
  but you don't understand
• 21:05
  you're pulling in every single direction,
• 21:07
  how much it's actually
• 21:07
  going to fatigue you.
• 21:08
  Like,
• 21:09
  were you ever exposed to something
• 21:10
  like this in your training?
• 21:11
  Do you understand?
• 21:12
  Like,
• 21:13
  I don't think most people would
• 21:13
  realize that you're
• 21:14
  actually pulling in every
• 21:15
  direction until you bring
• 21:16
  it to your attention.
• 21:17
  You would just look at it
• 21:18
  like a typical workout.
• 21:20
  Um,
• 21:20
  but I just think it just makes you a
• 21:21
  better athlete.
• 21:22
  Like,
• 21:22
  I just think you should understand
• 21:25
  what you're doing, why you're doing it.
• 21:28
  And I just think that's
• 21:28
  going to help you evolve as an athlete.
• 21:31
  I would contend that after taking your L1,
• 21:34
  if all athletes had their L1,
• 21:36
  we would have less judge controversy.
• 21:40
  Yeah.
• 21:40
  I even, and here's the thing.
• 21:42
  I'm not saying athletes need
• 21:43
  to go take the test.
• 21:46
  Just go sit through the seminar.
• 21:49
  You know, like, like I just think,
• 21:52
  I think that the stuff that
• 21:54
  you can learn in an L1 is
• 21:55
  just absolutely incredible.
• 21:57
  Yeah.
• 21:58
  Yeah.
• 21:58
  Like you think about a sumo
• 22:01
  deadlift high pull.
• 22:01
  I'd like to know how many
• 22:02
  athletes are implementing a
• 22:04
  sumo deadlift high pull.
• 22:05
  That's one of the first
• 22:06
  pulling movements that you
• 22:07
  learn in the L1.
• 22:08
  Why do we learn the sumo
• 22:09
  deadlift high pull in the L1?
• 22:10
  Well, one,
• 22:11
  I'll tell you what it will do is
• 22:12
  it will expose an early arm
• 22:13
  pull that if you have an
• 22:14
  early arm pull and you
• 22:15
  throw sumo deadlift high
• 22:16
  pulls in your workout,
• 22:17
  you're going to be wrecked.
• 22:18
  Chances are you're going to
• 22:20
  fall to pieces in that workout, right?
• 22:22
  Especially if you can
• 22:23
  combine it with something
• 22:25
  very similar to where it's
• 22:26
  going to expose that.
• 22:29
  chances are I would say a
• 22:31
  lot of athletes aren't
• 22:32
  doing sumo deadlift high
• 22:32
  pulls I do them once a week
• 22:36
  wow when I first started
• 22:38
  crossfit we didn't have
• 22:39
  rowers so we sumo deadlift
• 22:41
  high pulled all the time
• 22:43
  and it's it is such an
• 22:44
  incredible movement yeah
• 22:48
  most people I mean I I'm
• 22:49
  not saying I enjoy doing
• 22:51
  them but I'm just saying
• 22:52
  like the stimulus that you
• 22:54
  can get from a sumo
• 22:54
  deadlift high pull and the
• 22:56
  interference that you can
• 22:56
  get with other movements is incredible
• 23:00
  Yeah, and you're right.
• 23:01
  It definitely picks up an
• 23:03
  early pull quick.
• 23:04
  Yeah, it'll expose you.
• 23:08
  But honestly,
• 23:09
  it's little things like that.
• 23:13
  Sarah Cooper says,
• 23:14
  I'm in the middle of
• 23:15
  reading the L1 right now.
• 23:16
  Seems like valuable
• 23:17
  information for everyone,
• 23:18
  especially when the
• 23:20
  athletes from last year got a free one.
• 23:23
  Yeah.
• 23:24
  Yeah.
• 23:25
  Where do you sit with your,
• 23:27
  are you L1 or L2?
• 23:28
  I'm going to go for my L2 after the games.
• 23:31
  Okay, cool.
• 23:32
  Yeah.
• 23:33
  You plan on taking less
• 23:34
  times than the other one?
• 23:36
  I know, hopefully.
• 23:40
  Yeah.
• 23:41
  But I don't know, honestly,
• 23:44
  there was a person on there
• 23:45
  that I got into a little
• 23:46
  beef with and they're like,
• 23:47
  you're trying to push this agenda.
• 23:49
  You know,
• 23:49
  it's not that I'm trying to push
• 23:50
  an agenda.
• 23:51
  It's just that it's,
• 23:52
  it's something that I want
• 23:53
  to bring awareness to that.
• 23:55
  Like,
• 23:56
  Let's like, let's all get better.
• 23:58
  You know, like there's so many,
• 23:59
  there's so many different
• 24:00
  stages of CrossFit and the
• 24:02
  methodology that we can understand.
• 24:03
  And I don't want to can do
• 24:05
  exactly what they want.
• 24:06
  I'm just saying, I think as an athlete,
• 24:08
  why would you not want to
• 24:09
  understand what you're doing?
• 24:10
  Especially if you're in the sport of it.
• 24:13
  Right.
• 24:15
  Corey Leonard said,
• 24:15
  no one enjoys doing sumo
• 24:17
  deadlift typos except my six-year-old,
• 24:19
  but she also likes shuttle runs.
• 24:24
  Fair enough.
• 24:27
  And I would,
• 24:27
  I would say it may be an agenda,
• 24:29
  but it's a pretty damn good agenda.
• 24:31
  Like, yeah, you're, you're pushing,
• 24:34
  getting people healthy,
• 24:35
  getting the world healthy.
• 24:37
  What is that?
• 24:39
  That's an agenda.
• 24:39
  I'll be behind accuse me all you want.
• 24:42
  Yeah.
• 24:42
  Well, I just think, I mean,
• 24:43
  at the end of the day,
• 24:44
  you look at how many
• 24:45
  followers that athletes have, you know,
• 24:48
  and how much you could
• 24:48
  actually impact people.
• 24:49
  Like,
• 24:52
  I laugh at this, you know,
• 24:54
  this guy wanted to say, oh,
• 24:55
  Saxon's pushing this agenda,
• 24:57
  but you also have people
• 24:58
  pushing sugary drinks.
• 25:01
  So you're going to be mad at
• 25:02
  me for pushing health,
• 25:04
  but yet you have other
• 25:05
  people out there pushing
• 25:07
  the complete opposite of health,
• 25:09
  like things that people
• 25:10
  actually are not putting in their body.
• 25:13
  So what's really the agenda?
• 25:17
  Right.
• 25:18
  It is a good agenda.
• 25:19
  It's a great agenda.
• 25:23
  Maybe it's an agenda.
• 25:26
  You could say that about
• 25:27
  Greg Glassman in 2001.
• 25:28
  He had an agenda and it was
• 25:32
  an amazing agenda that has
• 25:35
  changed a lot of our lives.
• 25:38
  To be honest,
• 25:39
  I just want to see people get better.
• 25:40
  I want to see people chase health.
• 25:43
  I want to
• 25:44
  you know, I sat in the airport, um,
• 25:47
  earlier this week and I'm
• 25:48
  just seeing like people
• 25:50
  with their heads in their phones,
• 25:51
  their backs are rounding
• 25:52
  and like eating potato chips mindlessly,
• 25:56
  you know?
• 25:56
  And I'm like, wow.
• 25:58
  Like, is this what it's,
• 26:00
  is this what everything's turning into,
• 26:02
  you know?
• 26:03
  And, um,
• 26:06
  I want to see that change.
• 26:08
  You know, I want to see health.
• 26:11
  I want to see, you know,
• 26:12
  there was somebody in there
• 26:13
  running up and down.
• 26:14
  Like, that's what I want to see.
• 26:15
  I want to see health.
• 26:16
  I want to see fitness.
• 26:17
  I want to see people chase excellence.
• 26:20
  And anything I can do to
• 26:23
  continue to help that and
• 26:24
  create that change,
• 26:26
  I'm going to be a part of
• 26:26
  it any way I can.
• 26:28
  That that's awesome, man.
• 26:30
  I totally commend you for
• 26:31
  using this platform in that way.
• 26:33
  Um, and I,
• 26:34
  and I hope that it becomes
• 26:35
  contagious and everybody gets the agenda.
• 26:40
  Yeah, I appreciate it.
• 26:42
  Um,
• 26:44
  I want to finish up with a little bit
• 26:45
  of games talk.
• 26:46
  Um,
• 26:48
  The games are four weeks away.
• 26:49
  Are you heading down early at all,
• 26:51
  or do you think Tennessee
• 26:52
  heat is good enough?
• 26:53
  Tennessee, man,
• 26:54
  I think we were – our heat
• 26:57
  index was like 110, 117.
• 26:58
  So we're hot in Tennessee.
• 27:01
  So I'll head down on Monday.
• 27:05
  Okay.
• 27:06
  They've announced two workouts now.
• 27:10
  We got Chad as the seventh event.
• 27:12
  Yes.
• 27:13
  And the first event is Run Swim.
• 27:18
  uh, happy with those so far?
• 27:21
  Ah, I'm always happy.
• 27:22
  You know, that's why we train.
• 27:24
  Um,
• 27:26
  I'm happy with anything, you know,
• 27:27
  I'm just, I'm ready to roll and, uh,
• 27:30
  really just focus on
• 27:31
  continuing to bring things
• 27:32
  full circle and continue to
• 27:34
  focus on my training.
• 27:35
  And I trust that the
• 27:36
  training that I'm doing is
• 27:37
  going to bring everything full circle and,
• 27:39
  you know, whatever comes up,
• 27:40
  I'm ready for it.
• 27:41
  I think Chad being on the cut,
• 27:43
  that'll be depending on, you know,
• 27:46
  what that's twisted.
• 27:47
  Like he said, with a twist, um, that'll be,
• 27:51
  that'll be mental.
• 27:53
  I'm glad everybody gets to
• 27:54
  experience it though.
• 27:56
  Yeah, yesterday on a roundtable, Corey,
• 27:59
  who's been in the chat,
• 28:00
  his proposed twist was Fort
• 28:03
  Worth is known for their
• 28:04
  cattle drive every day,
• 28:06
  that basically it's the
• 28:08
  running of the bulls.
• 28:09
  You guys get released first,
• 28:11
  then the bulls, then you race to a field,
• 28:14
  a bunch of boxes,
• 28:15
  and then start your step-ups.
• 28:16
  I love it.
• 28:18
  I love it.
• 28:18
  You know, I had the idea.
• 28:19
  I thought it would have been
• 28:20
  cool if they took us.
• 28:21
  I looked up a couple of the lakes there.
• 28:24
  And I put my guess on the game set.
• 28:25
  Obviously,
• 28:25
  we're not doing it with Event 1 release,
• 28:27
  but I thought it would have
• 28:27
  been cool to do 10 rounds, 100 step-ups,
• 28:31
  100-meter swim,
• 28:32
  and everybody just swims out,
• 28:33
  and there's like 10 buoys,
• 28:35
  and you've got to go around
• 28:35
  in a buoy and come back in.
• 28:37
  Keep you cool and keep you moving.
• 28:39
  That would have been really cool.
• 28:43
  Yeah.
• 28:43
  Yeah, I like that one a lot.
• 28:45
  Hopefully, someone hears that.
• 28:47
  Maybe that's a future games event.
• 28:49
  Yeah, that would be cool.
• 28:50
  But who knows?
• 28:51
  I also thought maybe we
• 28:52
  could do it on like a pig.
• 28:53
  Because I bet you the pig's
• 28:54
  about 20 inches.
• 28:56
  That you would do every 50 step ups,
• 28:58
  you flip the pig.
• 29:00
  Yeah.
• 29:00
  I just had a feeling we were
• 29:02
  going to be on the football field.
• 29:04
  Yeah.
• 29:06
  So Ariel Lowen's husband,
• 29:08
  his pick was every 50 reps,
• 29:10
  you do two pig flips.
• 29:13
  And then it turned, that's 20 flips.
• 29:16
  Yeah.
• 29:18
  20 pig flips,
• 29:19
  that's basically what they do
• 29:21
  in the games anyway.
• 29:23
  Yeah, that's what I thought.
• 29:25
  And you're not going to want
• 29:26
  to pick that pig up.
• 29:29
  Right.
• 29:32
  So, are you excited about the new venue?
• 29:36
  Yeah,
• 29:37
  I don't really know what to expect
• 29:38
  with it.
• 29:39
  I think...
• 29:41
  I think the one thing that
• 29:42
  will be different is you only have,
• 29:43
  we only have one venue.
• 29:44
  I mean,
• 29:44
  we're obviously going to be on
• 29:45
  Farrington.
• 29:46
  I think it's called Farrington field.
• 29:48
  But I think when we're getting into,
• 29:50
  whether it's Thursday night
• 29:52
  or Friday morning,
• 29:52
  like every event's going to be in there.
• 29:55
  And I think that that's
• 29:56
  going to fill a lot more
• 29:57
  path than what we're used
• 29:58
  to just because it's that single venue.
• 30:03
  To me, the,
• 30:05
  I'm super excited because
• 30:07
  I've talked to a couple
• 30:08
  people at CrossFit.
• 30:09
  It is a plug-and-play arena.
• 30:11
  It has all the amenities.
• 30:13
  It's brand spanking new.
• 30:15
  The floor is bigger than
• 30:16
  anything we've been on in the past.
• 30:18
  Yeah.
• 30:20
  Yeah.
• 30:20
  So that leaves,
• 30:21
  I think that leaves bigger heats.
• 30:23
  I think it looks like,
• 30:24
  I think we could be doing
• 30:25
  some running in and out.
• 30:26
  Like it looked like that
• 30:27
  kind of opens up to maybe outside.
• 30:29
  Um,
• 30:30
  I think them at the Coliseum testing
• 30:32
  Helene,
• 30:32
  I think it was called Helena last
• 30:34
  year was a great test to
• 30:35
  kind of see where the
• 30:36
  future was going to go with that,
• 30:37
  where you're able to add a run,
• 30:39
  but you're able to see the
• 30:40
  rest of the movements and
• 30:41
  really see a race.
• 30:43
  Yeah, and I was there for that.
• 30:45
  They had drones follow the runners,
• 30:48
  and it was up on the Jumbotron.
• 30:49
  Yeah.
• 30:50
  So in the arena,
• 30:51
  you still got the full feel of the event.
• 30:54
  Yeah,
• 30:54
  and I think I can see some more
• 30:56
  things like that for sure.
• 30:58
  Yeah.
• 31:00
  Coming in from 110 degrees
• 31:02
  to hopefully like mid-70s,
• 31:06
  we'll see what that does.
• 31:07
  Yeah.
• 31:09
  Yeah,
• 31:09
  I think the other thing with the big
• 31:10
  floor is you can bring in bigger –
• 31:14
  bigger gear like right so
• 31:17
  what you thought was
• 31:18
  normally an outside thing
• 31:19
  might be an inside thing
• 31:21
  yeah yeah for sure I mean
• 31:23
  you think like typically we
• 31:24
  are used to having a zeus
• 31:25
  rig outside um whether they
• 31:28
  bring a zeus rig inside or
• 31:30
  something else we shall see
• 31:32
  yeah well thank you so much
• 31:35
  for jumping on sorry about
• 31:37
  the time confusion
• 31:38
  everything and I appreciate
• 31:40
  you for being so flexible today
• 31:43
  I appreciate it.
• 31:44
  Thank you for your patience.
• 31:47
  Yeah.
• 31:47
  Thank you to everybody in
• 31:48
  the chat as well.
• 31:49
  You guys are awesome with the questions.
• 31:52
  We will see everybody next
• 31:53
  time on Clydesdale media podcast.
• 31:56
  Bye guys.