Latest / Clydesdale Media Podcast / Bret Owsley | The Athletes of the 2024 Legends Masters CrossFit Games

Transcript

Bret Owsley | The Athletes of the 2024 Legends Masters CrossFit Games · Clydesdale Media Podcast

0:08
I was born to kill it.
0:13
I was meant to win.
0:14
I am down and willing,
0:15
so I will find a way.
0:17
It took a minute,
0:18
now it didn't have to ride away.
0:19
When it get hot in the kitchen,
0:21
you decide to stay.
0:22
That's how it winners me.
0:23
Stick a fork in the hater on my
0:32
what is going on everybody
0:34
welcome to the Clydesdale
0:35
media podcast my name is
0:36
Scott Switzer I am the
0:38
Clydesdale we are
0:40
celebrating the
0:41
achievements of the 2024
0:45
legends masters crossfit
0:46
games athletes and with me
0:48
right now is Brett Owsley
0:52
correct that's right and
0:54
you qualified in the 40 to
0:56
44 year old division yes sir um
1:01
I wanted to get a sense of
1:04
you of like how this all came to be.
1:06
So what is your athletic background?
1:11
Yeah, so, you know,
1:12
I probably was the typical Midwest kid,
1:14
played sports all, you know,
1:17
growing up as a kid.
1:18
Every sport you could imagine, junior high,
1:20
basketball, baseball, track.
1:22
We came from a small town in
1:24
West Central Illinois,
1:25
really known for their football team.
1:26
So high school came around
1:29
and really just dove head
1:30
deep into football and basketball.
1:32
Really probably was very
1:34
fortunate actually our
1:35
defensive coordinator and
1:37
then our offensive line
1:38
coach our offensive line
1:39
coach was NFL football player.
1:42
So he was a long snapper and
1:44
we're probably one of the
1:45
few programs I would say
1:46
that had a really involved
1:48
strength and conditioning program.
1:50
And so always been into
1:52
fitness and then just been
1:54
super competitive my whole life.
1:56
Went to college at Iowa State University.
1:58
Didn't play any sports there
2:00
due to kind of my major and
2:03
what I was going to do outside of school.
2:07
Then just getting older, you know,
2:08
I was probably the standard
2:10
person who went to the gym,
2:11
played slow pitch softball two,
2:13
three days a week,
2:14
and then was really kind of
2:16
introduced into CrossFit.
2:19
Other than like watching it
2:20
on the CrossFit games on
2:21
ESPN back in the day with Rich,
2:24
seeing it on ESPN to
2:26
finally trying to figure
2:27
out a way to scratch that
2:28
competition itch,
2:29
meet some new people and
2:30
got into CrossFit.
2:32
I think late 2017, I would say,
2:34
was probably my first time
2:37
first actually going into a
2:39
CrossFit box from there.
2:40
So but I've been always
2:42
active playing sports,
2:45
really just probably my
2:46
natural personality is just
2:48
to be really competitive over everything.
2:50
And so this is kind of a
2:51
blend of my two things of
2:53
being able to work out a
2:54
lot and competing with others.
2:59
Or Aaron Scheibel says, go Cyclones.
3:01
Yeah,
3:03
I'm waiting for some of my friends
3:04
who've been messaging me saying,
3:06
I'm going to get into this
3:07
chat and try and throw you off base.
3:11
you're probably going to see
3:12
some of those individuals.
3:14
Aaron is a great coach.
3:16
He coaches at the local affiliate,
3:20
working on his own programs and stuff.
3:23
So he's one of those individuals,
3:25
got into CrossFit and has
3:27
really kind of dove in headfirst.
3:28
So Aaron's
3:29
My judge usually at all events,
3:32
I train 100% basically out of my garage.
3:35
And so Aaron is one who
3:37
shows up and judges.
3:39
But yeah, he's done a lot in CrossFit,
3:41
really diving in and
3:42
getting more interested into it.
3:44
So I thought Ariel Lowen was
3:46
the only person there.
3:48
I would like to say I did
3:49
that before Ariel, but yes.
3:52
I saw her shirt.
3:54
My wife and I both immediately said,
3:56
we should have came up with this.
3:57
We should have trademarked that statement.
4:00
Yeah, you were truly the trendsetter.
4:03
You're right.
4:05
Yeah.
4:08
So let's go back.
4:10
First, I have to know,
4:11
you grew up in Illinois.
4:12
Do you cheer for an NFL football team?
4:16
Well, I see the big C behind you,
4:18
and so I'm right there with you.
4:21
Unfortunately, I live in Wisconsin.
4:24
And so you can just imagine
4:26
what it's like to be a
4:27
Chicago Bears fan sitting
4:30
in Green Bay Packer country.
4:32
But, you know, I've got high hopes now.
4:36
The Bears are climbing.
4:37
I'm an optimistic Bears fan
4:39
for the first time in a while.
4:43
The trailer dropped for Hard Knocks.
4:47
And I lost myself.
4:52
The closest I get to that is,
4:54
do you know who Justin Kotler is?
4:56
Yep.
4:57
So his wife is a diehard
5:00
Green Bay Packers fan.
5:02
I won't be joining underdogs anytime soon.
5:07
Well, Justin is not.
5:08
Justin is a New York Giants fan, I think,
5:11
because that's where he had
5:12
his gym before, underdogs.
5:15
But his wife will text me during games,
5:19
just needling, needling.
5:22
I spend my Sundays alone, usually.
5:27
All of my friends are almost
5:29
all Packers fans.
5:30
Actually,
5:30
one of my best friends growing up
5:32
in Illinois, he was a Packers fan.
5:34
So I've been used to it.
5:37
It's just been a little bit
5:38
rougher when you live here
5:41
in Wisconsin and where the
5:42
Bears have kind of gone those last, well,
5:45
decade.
5:47
So I'm looking forward to some brighter,
5:50
brighter skies ahead.
5:52
Ben Washburn,
5:53
none of Brett's friends are
5:55
going to be surprised when
5:56
Brett is on the podium.
5:58
Another good friend of mine.
6:01
Then he throws this stuff in.
6:03
Yeah, yeah.
6:04
yeah that's why he stays
6:05
home on sundays during
6:07
football season so I can
6:08
watch the watch the bears
6:10
game yeah so speaking of
6:13
wisconsin one of the
6:14
benefits of being there is
6:15
the games have been there
6:17
for since 2017 you finally
6:21
make it to the crossfit
6:22
games and they move away yeah uh
6:27
You know, and in reality, you know,
6:30
kind of them coming to
6:31
Madison was part of the
6:33
reason I got in to CrossFit.
6:35
You know, it's like, oh, I'd seen this,
6:38
you know, in Aromas, in California,
6:40
just on TV.
6:41
Oh, here, it's coming to Madison.
6:43
Let's get...
6:45
kind of drove my interest
6:46
and quite frankly,
6:48
we had moved here in 2012,
6:50
dove in headfirst, bought a house,
6:53
had our child and then full
6:55
on career and hadn't really
6:57
met a lot of people.
6:58
And so A,
7:00
CrossFit coming to Madison was like,
7:02
oh gosh,
7:02
they did an open announcement I
7:03
think that year.
7:06
Um,
7:06
and so really knowing that CrossFit
7:09
talks a lot about community,
7:10
that's what really got me into CrossFit.
7:13
Quite frankly, it was like, oh,
7:14
I should meet.
7:15
This would be an opportunity
7:16
for us to meet some new people.
7:18
And actually my closest
7:19
friends in Wisconsin have
7:21
all come from the CrossFit space,
7:23
you know, from,
7:23
from that time in the gym.
7:24
And so, um,
7:26
That was really nice.
7:27
And then, yeah,
7:28
we've gone to the
7:29
campground the last couple of years,
7:31
you know, so we've always camped there,
7:33
done the whole thing.
7:34
We take the whole week off, you know,
7:35
just really a great group
7:38
of people just in general
7:39
and just being around
7:40
everybody is really pretty inspiring.
7:44
And so you turn 40, right?
7:46
And it's like, all right,
7:47
we're going to push our chips in.
7:49
Let's try this.
7:51
Maybe there's an opportunity here.
7:53
Let's see where this trip can go.
7:56
And quite frankly,
7:57
wasn't set on going to the games.
7:58
I think I had told my coach,
8:00
Mike McElroy from Mayhem saying like,
8:03
my goal was really to make semifinals.
8:05
I'd probably struggle in the
8:07
CrossFit space on some confidence.
8:08
Like if I just get to the semifinals,
8:11
I'll be happy.
8:12
And then this Wadapalooza
8:14
event in Southern California,
8:15
maybe everybody else will
8:16
be too tired from the games
8:18
and I can compete there.
8:19
It's like, let's go there.
8:20
And then probably my wife and my coach,
8:23
quite frankly, were like, Brett,
8:25
what are you worried about
8:27
the semifinals?
8:28
Like, you'll get there, no problem.
8:30
Let's actually get you to the games.
8:32
And so started like, oh,
8:34
how cool would it be if it
8:35
was in Madison?
8:37
I could sleep in my own bed.
8:38
I live 45 minutes away.
8:40
And Birmingham's a little bit further,
8:43
but no complaints out of me, though.
8:46
Yeah,
8:46
it's still got to be pretty special
8:48
when you qualify for something this epic.
8:52
And what's even cooler is
8:54
that you did it in a way
8:55
that you would have
8:56
qualified under the old rules.
8:59
Right, yeah.
9:01
In that part, I'll be honest, overall,
9:04
just semifinals to the games,
9:07
I'm not sure the games in
9:09
qualifying has even set in yet.
9:11
I mean, we're 20-some-odd days out.
9:14
And it was just something
9:17
that I thought personally
9:18
was so far out of reach for
9:20
me that I hadn't, you know,
9:24
I can't tell mentally if I
9:25
was saying I wasn't
9:27
thinking about it because I
9:28
didn't want to disappoint myself,
9:29
you know?
9:29
So there's a little bit of
9:30
that mental battle that
9:32
people go through.
9:34
But still like going through there and,
9:37
and ended up where I ended
9:38
up in the semifinals within
9:40
the top 10 to like,
9:43
I really hope and I think it
9:46
will happen that a month
9:48
clear from the games to be
9:49
able to step back and really be like, oh,
9:52
wow, this was something to be proud of.
9:55
This is pretty cool.
9:58
And I'm trying to get myself
9:59
there right now.
10:00
You've done a great job with
10:02
highlighting some of these
10:03
people that have gone to
10:04
the games a few times.
10:05
to where they say the first
10:06
time they didn't,
10:08
they were so stressed out
10:10
and they took it so seriously,
10:11
like they didn't take the
10:12
time to look around and like soak it in.
10:16
And, you know,
10:17
you've got a friend in Ryan
10:18
Rettke who has been kind of
10:20
a very good person for me to talk to.
10:23
He probably kept me off the
10:24
ledge even in quarterfinals
10:26
when I was messaging my time.
10:27
So I'm like,
10:28
I'm not even going to make the semifinals,
10:30
Ryan.
10:30
What am I going to do?
10:31
And he's like, what are you talking about?
10:34
And so having him who's been
10:35
to the games before to kind
10:36
of lean on him and I share a coach.
10:39
And so having him to lean on to like, hey,
10:43
don't forget to look around.
10:44
This is pretty cool,
10:46
what we're getting to do here.
10:48
And you should be proud of
10:49
what you've been able to accomplish.
10:52
Yeah,
10:54
I love this community and everybody's
10:55
so supportive.
10:57
And yeah,
11:00
I cannot wait to get down there
11:02
to Birmingham myself.
11:05
And it's going to be your show only,
11:07
which I think in some ways
11:09
it can be disappointing.
11:10
And I have friends that are
11:13
disappointed that they
11:14
didn't get that opportunity
11:15
at the festival.
11:16
But hopefully we can make this a festival.
11:20
Yeah,
11:21
I think that's – I think I've always
11:24
felt with CrossFit,
11:26
the community and the
11:27
people is what makes it so special,
11:29
you know,
11:29
and what you're able to accomplish.
11:32
And just being around those
11:34
individuals in that space, I think,
11:38
whether you're there to
11:39
spectate or there to participate,
11:43
I think –
11:45
really the people involved
11:46
is what makes it special.
11:47
My, you know,
11:48
my mom and my stepdad are
11:50
going to be there.
11:51
They don't even know what
11:52
CrossFit is and they're
11:54
going to go there.
11:55
And one of the things that I
11:56
think is so special about masters,
11:58
like there's going to be 70
12:00
year old ladies that are
12:02
doing things that a lot of
12:05
people can't do in their teens, you know,
12:08
and just being able to say like, Holy cow,
12:10
look at that.
12:11
That's possible.
12:13
You know,
12:13
I can still think I can remember
12:15
my mother turning 40 and
12:17
was like over the hill.
12:19
Everything was black
12:20
balloons like your life was
12:22
over and this is how old you are.
12:24
And then you're like,
12:25
now we're in our 40s.
12:26
And I'm like, well,
12:27
I got to go see how many
12:28
muscle ups I can do on broken.
12:29
You know,
12:30
it's just I think the space in
12:33
the community and what CrossFit,
12:34
the methodology is done is amazing.
12:37
you know,
12:37
really opened the eyes to what's
12:39
possible as you age.
12:41
And, you know,
12:42
I've worked out my entire life.
12:44
I was part of a pretty
12:46
well-developed high school
12:47
fitness program that was all strength,
12:50
a lot of bars.
12:51
We had bumper plates, you know,
12:53
this is in the late nineties,
12:55
we were using bumper plates
12:57
and I'm stronger at 40 than I was at 24.
12:59
And, um,
13:03
And I worked out six days a week.
13:06
It wasn't that I never
13:07
worked out or anything.
13:08
I've always been fairly strong.
13:11
And now I would probably put
13:13
the 40-year-old version
13:14
against the 24-year-old
13:16
version up in a battle.
13:18
And I think the 40-year-old
13:20
version is better.
13:22
One of my favorite stories
13:24
is about my dear friend, Lana Marcin.
13:27
She's 70 plus.
13:29
And I asked her if she was
13:30
going to compete in a competition.
13:32
And she said, no, I'm not going there.
13:34
They won't let me do rope climbs.
13:37
Yeah.
13:38
Yeah.
13:39
Susan Holt,
13:40
we've met her at the games the
13:41
last few years.
13:42
She's won her age division
13:45
the last two years.
13:46
And she had a camper next to us.
13:48
And just talking to her, I was just...
13:50
I was telling her, I'm like,
13:51
you're incredible.
13:52
Just what she's able to do.
13:54
And it's just, it's,
13:56
it's really inspirational
13:58
from a family that, you know,
14:00
I would say our lifespan isn't real long,
14:03
you know, and it's like,
14:04
look what you can do at 64, you know,
14:07
these they're incredible.
14:09
And it's, and I,
14:10
I think being our own show
14:13
maybe lowers the barrier to
14:15
entry for people to attend and,
14:17
And so that maybe there's an
14:19
opportunity for folks there to say like,
14:22
oh, wow, this is really special.
14:24
So I think we'll be able to
14:27
create an environment there
14:28
that will be a lot of fun, I hope.
14:32
So who all are you taking with you?
14:34
So my wife will be there.
14:36
I have an 11-year-old daughter.
14:38
So she's in full tow and
14:40
she'll be coming with us.
14:42
And then my mom and stepdad
14:44
will all be coming down.
14:46
Yeah.
14:46
We've got to pack that place down there.
14:48
Yeah.
14:48
Oh yeah.
14:49
We're, we're excited to go down there.
14:53
We'll get down there Tuesday
14:55
before competition,
14:56
just drive down there and yeah, it'll be,
14:58
I think with the team
15:00
competition that they're
15:01
doing and stuff like that,
15:02
it'll be interesting to see
15:03
how many people are in attendance,
15:04
but I hope everybody comes
15:06
there and supports everyone.
15:09
Yeah,
15:09
so you mentioned you went to Iowa
15:11
State University and you studied biology?
15:16
Natural resources management.
15:18
Okay.
15:19
And so you work in that field today.
15:23
You're one of the few people who went,
15:25
got a degree,
15:25
and actually are doing what
15:27
you got a degree in.
15:28
Right.
15:29
Right.
15:29
Yeah.
15:29
So right now I work for I
15:33
work in our wildlife
15:34
management programs for the
15:35
Wisconsin Department of
15:36
Natural Resources.
15:37
So kind of oversee all of
15:40
the wildlife management
15:42
aspect that occurs in southern Wisconsin.
15:44
So we have a team of about
15:46
60 people that are kind of
15:48
indirectly under my
15:49
supervision and so work for
15:52
a state government agency.
15:55
set hunting seasons, population surveys,
15:57
that sort of thing,
15:58
habitat management across
16:00
public lands here in Wisconsin,
16:02
which we're fortunate to
16:03
have quite a few of.
16:04
And yeah,
16:04
I've been doing that really since
16:06
I graduated college.
16:07
I was out West for a few
16:08
years and then I was a
16:10
wildlife biologist in
16:11
Florida for five before
16:13
coming to Wisconsin here in 2012.
16:14
Awesome.
16:17
Yeah.
16:17
I worked for the state of
16:19
Ohio and I worked on a
16:22
project where we were
16:25
hiring short-term I work in
16:27
re-employment services so
16:28
we were short-term
16:30
employment uh after a
16:32
natural disaster and we
16:34
were working with natural
16:36
resources to make sure that
16:38
we didn't damage endangered species
16:42
And it was fascinating.
16:44
They actually like came in
16:46
and gave a presentation on
16:48
what might be in this creek
16:49
bed that we need to like be careful of.
16:52
And this is what it looks
16:53
like to make sure you don't
16:55
step on this or do that.
16:57
And it was really
17:00
fascinating for someone who
17:01
doesn't like get into the
17:03
weeds of that on a normal basis.
17:06
Yeah, and that's so we'll do some of that.
17:09
You know,
17:09
we have another branch of our
17:11
agency that handles like
17:12
endangered resources.
17:14
So they'll cover that.
17:16
But yeah, it's.
17:17
You know,
17:18
I always say I have a lot of
17:20
people that work for me
17:21
that are significantly
17:22
smarter and better at their
17:23
job than I am.
17:24
I've just been very
17:25
fortunate throughout the
17:27
course of my career to have
17:28
some really great people to
17:30
lean on and kind of turned
17:32
into what it's turned into.
17:33
So, yeah,
17:34
very fortunate to be a part of
17:36
the state of Wisconsin here.
17:38
Yeah.
17:38
And you're an avid hunter as well, right?
17:41
For sure.
17:41
Yeah.
17:41
That's my, I would say, you know,
17:44
you ask like kind of what
17:45
my hobbies are from
17:46
probably all of my friends,
17:47
they would say Brett hunts
17:49
and he works out, you know,
17:51
that's kind of,
17:52
that's kind of my two
17:53
hobbies that I have that, uh,
17:56
really kind of spin,
17:57
take up most of my free time when,
17:59
and if there is some free time.
18:02
Uh, is, so you're a mayhem athlete, right?
18:07
Um,
18:08
that is there, they do mayhem hunts now.
18:11
Is that something that you
18:13
like dive into look into,
18:14
or is that reserved for
18:16
time when you have some more free time?
18:18
Yeah.
18:19
So as far as the programming goes,
18:22
you know, like I,
18:23
so I do their mayhem
18:24
performance coaching.
18:25
So it's a service where it's one-on-one,
18:27
they provide individual
18:28
programming for me and we
18:30
did that this year.
18:31
But yeah, mayhem hunt.
18:33
I mean, really that's part of, you know,
18:35
being a part of a Mayhem
18:36
Athlete was really about
18:38
their community and basically, gosh,
18:40
everything they do,
18:41
they just do phenomenally well.
18:43
And so being a part of that
18:45
and actually probably my
18:47
relationship and
18:49
conversations with Rich
18:50
have all been hunting based.
18:52
It's very rarely been CrossFit focused.
18:55
Now he's,
18:55
when I was down there for semifinals,
18:58
talked to him for a little bit,
18:59
but I ran into him like the
19:01
day before at the coffee shop
19:03
And he remembered a
19:04
conversation when Legends
19:05
was in Mayhem that I competed in.
19:08
Oh, you're the DNR guy, you know,
19:10
and we started talking
19:11
about different hunting trips.
19:12
And so we messaged each
19:14
other back and forth.
19:15
And so, yeah,
19:16
I'd like to say I was trying
19:18
to figure out when Mayhem
19:19
Hunt launched with Angelo and Rich.
19:22
I think maybe earlier this year,
19:25
I sat there and laughed
19:26
because I think three years ago,
19:28
I posted something on
19:29
Instagram that said Mayhem
19:31
Hunter and saying, hey, Rich,
19:33
we should get a hunting aspect back.
19:36
And so it's good to see.
19:37
I really enjoy watching kind
19:40
of their growth in that space.
19:43
It certainly is cool and
19:45
interesting to see.
19:48
What's your favorite season to hunt in?
19:51
Yeah, so in Wisconsin, you know,
19:54
we're a big deer state,
19:55
so we're going to shoot, you know,
19:57
whitetail season is probably my favorite.
20:00
And actually probably spring turkey season,
20:02
honestly,
20:02
is probably my favorite here in
20:04
Wisconsin.
20:05
And then I try every other
20:07
year to go out west to bow hunt for elk.
20:11
And so that I'd probably say
20:12
is my overall favorite.
20:14
But here at home,
20:16
spring turkey season is really nice.
20:18
You have a breakthrough, the long,
20:20
drawn-out winter that can
20:22
be in Wisconsin.
20:23
Spring, things are starting to get warmer.
20:25
You haven't really done
20:26
anything a whole lot for a few months.
20:28
And so turkey season is
20:30
always a good time.
20:31
But we try to get out pretty
20:34
heavily pretty much any season.
20:38
Yeah, I grew up in Western Pennsylvania,
20:39
and hunting is a rite of passage.
20:44
For sure, yeah.
20:45
I mean, that's...
20:47
Wisconsin,
20:47
I was introduced to the deer
20:50
season widow's weekend,
20:51
deer hunter widow weekend.
20:53
It's opening weekend.
20:54
It's the weekend before
20:56
Thanksgiving for our gun season.
20:58
Places shut down.
21:01
You're allowed to be gone from school.
21:03
And I grew up in a community like that.
21:05
You had to bring your deer tag to school.
21:06
And as a seventh, eighth grader,
21:08
you could get out of school
21:10
and have an excused absence there.
21:11
So I grew up in kind of that
21:12
rural community sort of thing.
21:14
And so, yeah, it's a, it's a big deal.
21:17
Pennsylvania is Pennsylvania, Michigan,
21:21
Wisconsin,
21:21
I would say are probably three
21:23
of the real big States when
21:24
it comes to just like
21:25
hunter numbers and the
21:27
emphasis they put on, you know,
21:29
from a hunting season.
21:31
Yeah.
21:31
We didn't even have to take
21:32
a tag and they just,
21:33
they just care on first day of buck.
21:36
Yeah, for sure.
21:37
Yeah.
21:39
There was,
21:39
it was pointless to even hold
21:41
school because nobody would be there.
21:42
Right.
21:43
Yeah.
21:43
I mean, that's, that's where we'll start,
21:46
you know,
21:46
where I grew up was similar to that,
21:47
you know,
21:48
in that rural community where we
21:49
had quite a few people leave, but yeah,
21:51
it's, you know, and that's,
21:53
I think a little bit similar, you know,
21:55
I kind of look at it from a
21:56
CrossFit space as I've kind
21:58
of gotten older.
21:58
I mean,
22:00
my favorite part of hunting is the
22:02
people and interacting.
22:03
Like there are people in my
22:04
direct family that I did not see, uh,
22:07
all year other than during
22:09
deer season and so you know
22:13
and so they would come in
22:14
and it was deer season and
22:16
so just the community
22:19
aspect uh the socialization
22:22
that occurs uh to me is is really
22:26
What I look back now is
22:28
probably one of the things
22:29
that I enjoy the most.
22:30
And then when you look at CrossFit,
22:32
just the people and
22:34
everything in the community
22:35
and camaraderie that comes
22:37
with it is also probably
22:39
one of the things that I enjoy the most.
22:42
Yeah, I agree.
22:44
Community is everything.
22:45
So you're doing this thing, right,
22:47
where you're going to
22:49
compete on the world's
22:50
biggest stage for your age group.
22:52
And that takes a lot of support.
22:55
You've got a wife, you've got a daughter.
22:58
How do you balance all that?
22:59
And how much support do they
23:01
give you during the season?
23:03
Yeah.
23:04
Oh gosh.
23:06
A ton.
23:07
I would say, you know,
23:09
and I think I've probably
23:10
done it on any of my posts,
23:11
it's never an I. I didn't
23:14
qualify for the games.
23:15
We did.
23:17
You know, it takes a team.
23:19
And I have probably a
23:21
slightly different look on
23:23
balance in that I look at
23:25
balance long term and that
23:26
at times there is going to
23:28
be an imbalance from what I would like.
23:31
And so, yeah.
23:33
We talked,
23:34
I would say it was after the
23:35
games last year, a little bit before,
23:37
I think after the quarterfinals,
23:39
maybe last year, semis potentially.
23:42
And my wife and I talked about, hey,
23:45
you're turning 40.
23:49
what do you think?
23:50
Do you want to give this a go?
23:52
And we talked about what the
23:54
expectations were when we
23:57
made that decision, like, Hey,
23:58
we're going to,
23:59
there's probably going to be an imbalance,
24:02
you know, for training.
24:04
She said, well, and she knows me, you know,
24:07
I always live by the slogan.
24:08
If you're
24:09
anything worth doing is worth overdoing.
24:11
I, when I dive in to something, you know,
24:14
hunting, building a garage gym, it's like,
24:17
well,
24:17
we're going to have the nicest
24:18
garage gym you can potentially have,
24:20
you know?
24:21
And so we
24:22
kind of dove in knowing that, Hey,
24:24
when this is,
24:25
this is going to be a priority and,
24:28
and we have, and really dove in.
24:31
And I think there's two
24:32
resources when I talk about balance,
24:34
it's usually time and then financially.
24:37
And so financially you put
24:38
in the resources to say, Hey,
24:40
I want an individual coach.
24:42
I want to work on weaknesses.
24:43
This is what I see.
24:44
So let's financially let's commit.
24:48
And then when it comes to time, um,
24:50
And it's OK in order to do this,
24:52
let's go all in.
24:53
And so rightfully so,
24:55
I would probably say this
24:57
year it's been out of
24:58
balance and that I've trained, you know,
25:00
trying to keep everything else in line.
25:02
You know, work still costs to come.
25:05
It pays all the bills.
25:06
And then but, you know,
25:09
we've got to get training done.
25:10
And that's usually front
25:12
front and center for for us right now.
25:15
It's, you know, friends want to go.
25:18
out on the boat on a Saturday.
25:20
It's like, well, we will,
25:23
but I'm going to train first.
25:25
you know, I got to get my, my piece in,
25:27
or we were in on vacation
25:28
to Florida for a week and
25:30
friends are saying, Hey,
25:31
let's go do this.
25:32
Yep.
25:32
Okay.
25:33
But by eight to 10 AM,
25:35
I'm going to be at the gym.
25:36
And so still trying to get
25:38
everything in and trying to
25:39
be really deliberate is,
25:41
is how I view it in order
25:43
to keep those things.
25:44
But yeah,
25:44
sometimes they're a little bit
25:45
out of balance.
25:46
Friends want to go do something.
25:48
It's like, well,
25:49
I'm not going to be able to
25:49
go out to eat on Friday
25:51
night because I've got a
25:52
long set for Friday.
25:54
And so,
25:55
But but understanding that
25:57
being deliberate and quite honestly,
26:00
knowing there's a time
26:01
frame where that ends, you know,
26:05
it was extended for me, honestly,
26:06
because I really honestly
26:08
just felt like if I could
26:10
get the semifinals, it's a success.
26:12
And so I'll have all summer.
26:13
Don't worry about it.
26:15
And then then you qualify
26:17
for the games and it's like, OK,
26:18
we're going to we're going
26:19
to keep this up for another few months.
26:21
But, you know,
26:22
I think being very
26:23
deliberate with your time
26:25
is is one thing that we do.
26:26
And then my wife is extremely supportive.
26:30
Whatever we need is always helping out.
26:33
And then I have an 11 year
26:34
old daughter who is super active.
26:37
She does gymnastics.
26:39
four days a week you know
26:41
she's running around during
26:43
the school year she'll be
26:44
she's on the volleyball
26:45
team she's on basketball
26:46
team she did track and so
26:49
just really setting up this
26:50
calendar to be very
26:52
deliberate at work getting
26:53
all my work done getting
26:55
training done and taking
26:56
care of everything that's
26:57
needed at the family at the
26:59
family level but you know
27:00
it the amount of support we
27:02
receive is is is unmatched
27:05
you know my wife and
27:05
daughter do a great job and
27:06
then my friends you see
27:08
they're in the chat
27:09
of just knowing like, Hey,
27:10
what do you need?
27:11
You need help with something has been,
27:13
has been really helpful.
27:14
And just the mayhem community.
27:16
You've interviewed quite a
27:17
few mayhem masters.
27:18
There's a ton of us that are,
27:20
that are gone to the games
27:21
and just having that
27:22
community of just regular check-ins like,
27:24
Hey, how are you feeling today?
27:26
Jonathan Varela, Chuck Bream, Brian,
27:30
you know, all these folks,
27:32
Brandon Fontenot that you
27:33
get to meet and they're like, Hey,
27:35
how are you doing?
27:36
You know, it just, it's,
27:37
this checking in, you know,
27:39
some of us were competitors
27:40
against one another,
27:41
but you wouldn't know by
27:42
how we speak to one another.
27:44
It's, it's really, you know,
27:45
trying to lift up everyone.
27:47
And I think that's, again, like you said,
27:49
Scott,
27:49
that's part of why the community is
27:51
so great.
27:53
So I've, I've,
27:55
I have two questions left for you.
27:58
I'm trying to keep these
27:58
less than 30 minutes.
27:59
I am not good at that, but here we go.
28:01
I'm a bit of a talker,
28:02
so you can just yell at me and say, Hey,
28:04
be quiet here.
28:05
Um,
28:08
Is that balance that you have right now,
28:13
the off balance, is one year?
28:19
Say you go to the games and you podium,
28:23
right?
28:24
Is it sustainable beyond this year?
28:31
For me personally, probably not.
28:34
I would say, I think that's,
28:36
there's an element there that,
28:37
that I know.
28:38
And I, you know, it's,
28:40
it's the countdown to when
28:41
things get to change to
28:44
where just mentality wise, what,
28:47
you know,
28:48
If you want to go do something,
28:49
friends want to go do something,
28:51
family wants to go do something.
28:52
My first thought isn't how
28:54
that impacts my training
28:57
that because that's where
28:58
it's at right now.
28:59
And so do I think that's I
29:01
don't feel that's sustainable for me.
29:03
You know,
29:04
I would certainly need to take a
29:05
break from from that.
29:08
And that's part, you know,
29:09
I can't remember who it is
29:11
that I know they go to the
29:13
games every other year.
29:15
Because they say,
29:16
I just need that mental break.
29:18
And I've thought about it.
29:21
I've told a few people like, hey,
29:23
let's start booking trips
29:24
for next summer because we
29:25
won't have to worry about
29:27
training like I am now.
29:29
And then, of course, when I get there,
29:30
I know I'm going to be at
29:31
the games and be like,
29:32
that was so much fun.
29:34
We have to do this again.
29:36
But I think there's other ways to do it.
29:38
And I think that's what I'm
29:39
learning more and more is that, you know,
29:44
I can still plan to do the open.
29:45
I'm still planning to do quarterfinals.
29:47
I'm still planning on hoping
29:48
to make semifinals for next year.
29:52
And if I qualified, I'd do it.
29:53
But there might be a
29:54
different way to do things.
29:55
And I think that would be
29:57
something to test out.
29:59
But I've really enjoyed the training.
30:01
But I would be honest to say
30:04
I'm looking forward to not
30:06
saying how does that impact
30:07
my training as being my
30:09
first internal question
30:10
that I ask myself.
30:12
So I asked if you podium this year,
30:14
the follow up to that is
30:16
what if you finish fourth?
30:21
Yeah.
30:23
And you can honestly answer that.
30:25
I just know.
30:26
And I haven't really thought
30:27
about placing.
30:28
I mean,
30:28
I think that's the the the question
30:30
folks ask, right,
30:31
is where do you think
30:32
you're going to fall?
30:33
And yeah.
30:36
I think of,
30:37
this probably shouldn't be what you say,
30:39
but I think of the line
30:41
from the movie Miracle, you know,
30:43
with the demon says, well,
30:50
I guess the only thing
30:51
that's left is to win the damn thing.
30:53
And I've thought about that and I like it.
30:59
Inside of me, I'm like, yep, oh yeah,
31:00
let's go.
31:01
But part of me is just like,
31:04
There's so many great people in there.
31:06
I can't be mad if I show up
31:09
in every workout.
31:11
Let's say every workout is a
31:13
benchmark and the lifts are
31:15
all one rep maxes and I PR
31:17
all my benchmarks and I PR
31:19
all my lifts and I get 37th.
31:22
I can't look at that and say, wow,
31:25
I did really poorly.
31:27
And so I think the way I'm
31:29
looking at it is just make
31:31
sure I leave everything out there.
31:33
And if I can walk off the
31:35
field and be like,
31:36
I don't know if I could have done more,
31:39
then that's the placing that I deserve.
31:43
So I just know the plan is
31:47
to lay it out there.
31:48
I feel prepared and ready.
31:52
There's going to be a ton of
31:53
people out there and a ton
31:54
of friends that I'm competing against,
31:57
and we're going to throw
31:58
down together and have a lot of fun.
31:59
So that's really what I'm excited about.
32:03
What I think is wild,
32:04
and it is kind of like an
32:05
experiment this year,
32:06
is if you look at the men's
32:08
division of the games last
32:10
year in the Masters, the 35 through 49,
32:12
the three winners won by over 100 points.
32:15
Wow.
32:20
But that was only letting 10
32:22
people in in a flawed
32:24
online qualification.
32:27
It's going to be interesting
32:28
to see now that 40 get in
32:32
and you're probably going
32:34
to catch more athletes that
32:36
should be there.
32:38
What is that going to look like this year?
32:42
Yeah,
32:42
I think you bring up a great point
32:45
that there's going to be
32:45
more players in there,
32:47
likely more specialists, you know,
32:49
that are going to come in and say,
32:51
you know, I've been,
32:54
my strength is just pure squat strength.
32:56
You know, I probably, you know,
32:59
I could probably go in
33:00
there and then the 40-44,
33:02
let's say not even be in the top five.
33:04
And if there was a one rep max front squat,
33:08
I'd probably be close to winning that.
33:11
And that wouldn't have happened elsewhere.
33:14
So I think you're just going
33:15
to have more players coming in.
33:17
It'll be interesting to see.
33:20
I'll be curious on your thoughts on it.
33:24
With only having 10,
33:26
the average finish of the
33:28
winner versus having 40,
33:31
what's the average finish?
33:33
And exponentially, is that...
33:36
you know, does the,
33:37
does Rudy Berger average a
33:39
three and when there's 10
33:42
or does he average a 15, you know, what's,
33:47
what's going to be the,
33:48
the numbers there.
33:49
So it'll just be great.
33:50
Cause I mean, you look down the line,
33:51
I think you interviewed Josh Boonstra,
33:53
who's a mayhem athlete, you know,
33:55
that qualified and he is
33:59
incredibly strong and, you know,
34:02
you're just going to show up and be like,
34:03
Oh man,
34:04
He came in and won a workout,
34:06
and then I come in and
34:09
finish third in something,
34:11
and we never would have
34:12
been at the games previously.
34:14
And so that'll be really
34:16
interesting just to see the play scenes.
34:18
I always think it's exciting
34:20
when there's a leaderboard
34:21
shuffle after each event,
34:23
and hopefully with 40 and
34:25
having some people that are
34:27
just really good at
34:28
CrossFit are shaking the leaderboard up.
34:31
Yeah.
34:32
And what's crazy on the women's side,
34:34
it was completely opposite.
34:35
You didn't know who was
34:36
going to win until the final event.
34:38
Yeah.
34:40
Which was insane.
34:42
So it's going to be
34:43
interesting to see how it goes.
34:44
It could have been just a
34:45
fluke or a coincidence,
34:47
but it's something I'm
34:48
going to keep an eye out on
34:50
when we get to the end of the weekend.
34:52
Yeah, for sure.
34:53
I mean, I've been I was in Waterpalooza.
34:56
Master Fitness Collective
34:58
and then did Legends over
35:00
the last like three years.
35:02
And outside of Wadapalooza,
35:04
there seemed to be quite a
35:06
bit of shakeup on the leaderboards.
35:07
And I think that's what's really exciting.
35:09
I try not to spend a lot of
35:10
time looking at them.
35:12
But yeah,
35:13
it'll be really interesting to
35:14
have 40 people.
35:16
I've never competed in a
35:17
field that I think that
35:18
would be this size and
35:19
certainly not at this magnitude.
35:22
So it'll be interesting to
35:22
see and I think exciting
35:24
for what I hope people are
35:25
tuning in to see, you know, holy cow,
35:28
we got a close race here
35:29
come Sunday that we should
35:31
be tuning into.
35:32
Yeah,
35:34
just to give you an idea at the
35:36
Syndicate Crown for the
35:38
elite in the women's
35:39
division on the final day,
35:41
someone from the first heat
35:43
finished in the top five of every event.
35:46
Oh, wow.
35:48
Yeah, that's pretty incredible, I think.
35:50
And that messes things up.
35:53
That's why Chloe, Gavin,
35:54
David jumped from 15th to
35:57
9th and got a game spot, right?
36:00
You can't do that if people
36:01
aren't middling like that.
36:03
Yeah, having that many people,
36:06
there's just a higher
36:07
element of people to get in between you.
36:09
And so, yeah,
36:11
you can get first or you could get 10th.
36:16
Previously, you can get first or 40th,
36:19
you know,
36:20
now and so I think that'll be
36:21
that I think that'll be
36:23
really interesting to kind
36:24
of see and watch how it plays out,
36:26
you know, across the age groups.
36:29
Yeah.
36:30
Super fun.
36:31
Well, we've gone long, right?
36:34
That's just typical for me.
36:36
So I want to thank you very
36:38
much for taking the time out.
36:39
I will be in Birmingham.
36:41
We are filming a behind the
36:42
scenes that weekend.
36:44
We have full access to the
36:46
back to the warmup area.
36:48
to just kind of have chats back there.
36:50
We're going to collect those,
36:52
make a documentary to put those out.
36:54
So just like the elite athletes,
36:56
you're going to have a
36:57
documentary to watch after
36:58
it's all done to kind of
37:00
see how it all played out
37:01
over the weekend.
37:02
Oh, that'd be great.
37:03
I think, you know, just,
37:06
I hope this community just
37:08
shares our support for
37:09
everything that you've done
37:10
to try and highlight the
37:11
masters that are going there.
37:12
Cause I think everybody
37:13
that's been able to go, you know,
37:14
that's going there competing,
37:16
even trying to compete,
37:18
it's pretty special.
37:19
And so having your support is great.
37:22
And I,
37:22
I'm sure to take my mind off
37:25
some of the workouts,
37:26
I'll come up and we can
37:27
chat Chicago Bears and
37:29
maybe relive the Super Bowl
37:31
shuffle glory days and
37:34
maybe forget about the last few years.
37:36
Yeah, perfect.
37:38
Awesome.
37:38
Well, thanks, Brett.
37:39
Have a great rest of your day.
37:40
We'll see you in Birmingham
37:42
in a few short weeks.
37:45
Yeah, I appreciate it, Scott.
37:46
Look forward to seeing you.
37:48
All right, have a great one.
37:49
And everybody in the chat,
37:50
thank you for being here.
37:51
We'll see you next time on
37:52
the Clydesdale Media Podcast.
37:55
Bye, guys.