Latest / Clydesdale Media Podcast / Jonathan Edel | The Athletes of the 2024 Legends Masters CrossFit Games

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Jonathan Edel | The Athletes of the 2024 Legends Masters CrossFit Games · Clydesdale Media Podcast

0:09
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,
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now it didn't happen right away.
0:19
When it get hot in the kitchen,
0:21
you decide to stay.
0:22
That's how a winner's made.
0:32
What's going on, everybody?
0:33
Welcome to the Clydesdale Media Podcast.
0:36
My name is Scott Switzer.
0:37
I'm the Clydesdale,
0:39
and we are highlighting the
0:40
athletes of the 2024
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Legends Masters CrossFit Games.
0:44
And I have with me Jonathan Edel.
0:47
Jonathan, how are you doing?
0:48
I'm doing well, sir.
0:49
Thank you very much, Scott,
0:50
for doing this.
0:50
This is a lot of fun.
0:52
Yeah, yeah.
0:52
It's been fun for me.
0:53
Like, the backstories are so good.
0:57
Yeah, thanks for having me.
0:58
So you're in the 40 to
1:02
44-year-old division.
1:03
This is your first year in that division.
1:06
Do you have that mindset
1:08
like this is my baby year in,
1:11
so I got to go?
1:11
No,
1:12
because I've been going hard at this to
1:15
try to get into 35 to 39.
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I just turned 40 in May,
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so I'm pretty excited that
1:21
I get the opportunity to
1:22
kind of step right in onto
1:24
the big stage at 40 to 44.
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Yeah, yeah.
1:29
it's amazing that the,
1:31
the amount of athletes in,
1:32
in the masters divisions.
1:34
Oh yeah.
1:35
Like you think it's going to
1:36
be a break when you go up
1:37
to that next age group, but man,
1:39
there's just as many good
1:40
athletes in that one is
1:41
there was in the one you just left.
1:43
Oh yeah.
1:43
They're still breathing fire.
1:44
They're still lifting heavy.
1:45
It's great.
1:46
It's a challenge.
1:47
A lot of fun.
1:48
Yeah.
1:49
We've,
1:49
we've interviewed a lot of the 40 to
1:50
44 year olds this week.
1:52
Um, and they're, they're,
1:54
they're ready to come, man.
1:55
Yeah.
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I listened to a few so I can,
1:58
kind of get a bearing on how
1:59
my hopefully how my
2:00
interview would go my first
2:02
one so thanks a lot yeah
2:04
yeah yeah and this is like
2:06
I said it's been much fun
2:07
for me um the interview
2:08
part is that is so much fun
2:11
uh if I didn't if I had
2:11
someone to schedule like I
2:13
would I would do this all
2:14
day every day yeah um but
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so how what is your
2:21
athletic background how did
2:22
you come up as a as an athlete
2:26
I guess for me it started in soccer.
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I mean elementary school, middle school,
2:32
high school.
2:35
By the time I got 18 I
2:36
needed to get bigger so I
2:37
could play football.
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So the football coach came
2:39
and told me to join the
2:40
powerlifting team to get bigger.
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So I started in the gym when
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I was 18 to get bigger for football.
2:46
Granted,
2:47
I got bigger relative to the school,
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which was a small Christian school,
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Calvary Christian Academy.
2:53
But I got to be the big guy
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on the field there, and I played soccer.
2:58
So I got to be the punter
2:59
and got to play line at the school.
3:03
Yeah,
3:05
and then I just continued into college,
3:07
went to Williamson Trade School,
3:09
became a machinist,
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and then I continued on the
3:12
soccer team there while I was in school.
3:15
So it just kind of all kept going.
3:16
That's what, 21, 22 years old?
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Just kept staying in the gym,
3:21
wanted to get strong, wanted to get big.
3:24
So, man,
3:26
so many questions from just that
3:27
little bit.
3:28
So I did some powerlifting
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before I got into CrossFit.
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I found that it gives you a strength base,
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but man,
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it's hard when you first switch
3:37
over to CrossFit because
3:39
it's more technique based
3:40
on those Olympic lifts than
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it is about your strength.
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Did you find the same transition?
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No,
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because it all just kind of went to the
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wayside.
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What it gave me was like a dedication,
3:53
was like a training way.
3:55
It made me know what it
3:57
takes to be committed and
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be dedicated to something
3:59
in order that...
4:01
to get stronger.
4:02
So it just kind of really
4:04
got me into a routine of I
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really I'm trying to chase that.
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So if I want to do that,
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I have to not have so many
4:11
other distractions in my life.
4:13
So it really helped settle
4:16
me in when I was 18 years old, you know,
4:17
you just want to go hang
4:18
out with friends and be
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everywhere all at once.
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But I got to be in the gym and get strong.
4:26
I want to do that.
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So I got to eat this and do
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do this instead.
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So
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It's funny how, like,
4:33
when I started powerlifting,
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it was just a bunch of guys.
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That's where we went to hang out.
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Yeah.
4:38
You know?
4:42
Take four hours in the gym to do 20 lifts.
4:45
A few lifts here and there.
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Yeah.
4:50
So soccer's a great base, though, too,
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because you're running, like, nonstop.
4:55
Pardon?
4:58
And so did that give you a
4:59
good engine coming into CrossFit?
5:02
So I found CrossFit in 2015.
5:05
So I graduated from college in 2005.
5:09
So I didn't find CrossFit
5:11
for another 10 years.
5:12
That journey took me through
5:13
motorcycle racing where I
5:16
was riding two-hour
5:17
endurance races on a dirt bike.
5:20
So I was training like three hours a day,
5:22
running three miles and
5:24
doing the old P90X on the TV.
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I would do an hour of that
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and then go run for an hour.
5:29
Like I was trying to get
5:30
myself as good in shape for that.
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And if I would have had CrossFit, man,
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I would have been able to
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keep up with the 17,
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16 year olds that were kicking my butt.
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Cause I was already in my
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late twenties and I had a
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family and I have something
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that I have to show up to
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on Monday and not be broken.
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Whereas they just don't
5:50
really need to worry about it.
5:53
That was tough.
5:54
Do you follow the sport,
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like the elite athletes?
5:58
I do.
5:59
Do you follow Travis Mayer?
6:01
Travis Mayer, yeah.
6:02
I'm a fan.
6:04
Well,
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he was a motorcycle racer as well
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before he got into CrossFit.
6:07
Yeah.
6:08
Yeah, so I took that,
6:12
and when I saw 2015 that
6:13
Rich Froning and Matt
6:16
Fraser were out there
6:17
deadlifting and toes-to-bar,
6:18
and you can compete in exercising, I went,
6:20
really?
6:20
I like exercising.
6:21
I'm going to try to compete in exercising.
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I like this.
6:24
So it kind of lit a fire
6:27
under me to get into the gym.
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I mean,
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I couldn't even squat 135 coming
6:32
off of not squatting.
6:34
Wow.
6:35
Yeah, it was terrible.
6:36
I was running so much that I
6:39
guess I just lost my
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technique that I had in high school.
6:42
I was squatting 365 when I was 18.
6:45
Why can't I hit 135 for deep
6:48
enough squats?
6:49
You're telling me it's not
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deep enough now.
6:51
But yeah, it took a lot.
6:53
to get back up to where we are now,
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but it's been a journey.
6:58
It's been fun.
6:59
I think one of the best
7:00
things CrossFit does is to
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give us that standard, right?
7:05
It's not just about making the lift.
7:06
It's about doing it the right way.
7:08
Yeah.
7:08
And if we all do it the same way,
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then we all know we're on, on the plane.
7:13
That's the whole point.
7:16
So you, you went to,
7:17
you went to machinist
7:18
school or trade school and,
7:21
What machine do you operate?
7:25
I guess now I work for SEPTA,
7:28
which is the public
7:29
transportation in Philadelphia,
7:30
and I operate a wheel machine.
7:33
So anytime you see a train
7:34
that stops too hard or it's
7:36
raining outside and the
7:37
rails are wet and the car goes...
7:40
Well, it makes that big flat spot,
7:41
and then you hear it going flip-flop,
7:42
flip-flop, flip-flop down the track.
7:44
Well,
7:45
I use the machine that recuts the
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wheel so that it's nice and smooth again.
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I get to do that fun job.
7:53
So I grew up in Pennsylvania,
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just on the western side
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instead of the eastern side.
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And my dad was a machinist.
7:59
I am.
8:00
Yeah.
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So he was a lathe operator,
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but he could also do
8:04
millwork and stuff like that.
8:06
But his main thing was a lathe operator,
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and he did that for 48 years.
8:11
Oh, yeah.
8:13
Once they get a machine shop,
8:15
guys don't leave.
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That's right.
8:18
I run a lathe now,
8:19
and I did run a mill when I
8:21
worked as a machine in that shop.
8:25
And then you educated
8:26
yourself on motorcycle mechanics as well.
8:30
I went to the motorcycle
8:33
mechanic Institute actually in Phoenix,
8:34
Arizona.
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And did you do that because
8:36
you were racing them or
8:37
because you wanted to work
8:39
on them yourselves or what?
8:41
Yeah.
8:41
I had an itch when I was 21.
8:43
I wanted to, I wanted to fix them.
8:45
I wanted to ride them.
8:46
I, I loved every,
8:47
I love everything about bikes.
8:49
So I figured why not go take the,
8:52
do this technical side and
8:53
go to school so I can fix them.
8:54
Um,
8:56
found out that working in
8:56
the shop you really can't
8:57
make any money doing that
8:58
to have a family so I went
9:00
back to machine shop where
9:01
they could pay me money and
9:03
then this that became the
9:04
hobby yeah so do you still
9:06
ride today I don't you
9:09
don't not yet I have to get
9:11
a bike again I had two kids
9:13
so yeah the bike went five
9:16
by when I needed a minivan
9:19
yeah yeah yeah I uh um that
9:22
was my main mode of transportation from
9:27
16 to 20.
9:27
Yeah, what did you have?
9:31
It was a Kawasaki Ninja-esque bike.
9:35
I don't think they even made
9:36
the Ninja at that point when I bought it.
9:39
Okay.
9:41
Like a 550 maybe.
9:43
I should spend 30 years.
9:45
But yeah, that's what I rode around.
9:49
I just got it on the cheap
9:51
and that was my mode of transportation.
9:53
It took, what,
9:53
a gallon of gas lasted me a week.
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And gas is $1.50.
9:58
Yeah.
9:59
$3.
10:00
I don't even know if it
10:01
might not have been over a
10:02
buck at that point.
10:03
Yeah.
10:05
So I could go a long way on a dollar.
10:07
That's the way to go.
10:08
Absolutely.
10:10
So, yeah, that was a blast.
10:12
I would even ride it in the rain.
10:13
I was so dumb.
10:16
But, yeah.
10:17
And then I haven't ridden a
10:19
bike in probably 20 years.
10:21
Yeah.
10:23
That's all right.
10:25
You get back.
10:26
yeah we do we do the uh
10:29
see-do thing occasionally
10:31
um my wife finds that much
10:33
safer than a bike yeah so
10:38
so you find this crossfit
10:39
thing you jump into it how
10:41
long did it take you to
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want to compete um I really
10:47
wanted to compete immediately honestly
10:50
I found a local competition
10:53
and I went to see where I
10:54
stacked up because I've
10:56
been exercising for forever.
10:59
So I'll just try to exercise racing.
11:01
I think I came in second at
11:02
that first competition and I was hooked.
11:06
I was hooked from there.
11:08
But it took about four years
11:09
and I eventually made it to
11:10
Guadalupe in 2019.
11:14
I was the 34 year old
11:16
turning 35 that year in the
11:18
intermediate division.
11:19
I just couldn't make it to
11:21
the Masters 35 plus.
11:24
But yeah,
11:25
finished middle of the pack there.
11:28
And that kind of was the
11:30
downside was I had pushed
11:32
so hard to make it there.
11:34
I didn't take the time to accrue the
11:38
time of mobility and flexibility.
11:40
And I was pushing so hard to
11:41
want to compete.
11:42
And if it's anything that I
11:44
could say to somebody like, Hey,
11:45
take your time.
11:46
Like when we do lat stretches with bands,
11:48
like it, it means something being 40.
11:51
Now it's, it's two,
11:53
two to five minutes on a bike,
11:54
warm up the knees and the
11:55
hips and make sure things
11:57
are moving along and see
11:58
how the overhead feels today.
12:00
Well, I know when I was, you know,
12:03
first off going at it,
12:04
I could just pick up a bar
12:05
and just overhead squat.
12:06
And this is great.
12:08
can't do that when you're
12:09
over 40 yeah and do you
12:13
think if you would have
12:13
done more mobility younger
12:15
it would pay off more now
12:18
or have you had have you
12:19
been able to catch up um
12:22
I've been able to uh get
12:24
more mobile with by taking
12:26
the time to do it I think
12:29
that if you just start with
12:31
it would you just take a
12:32
take a minute take five
12:33
minutes and like and and work that
12:36
a little bit of position
12:37
that you might feel is uncomfortable,
12:39
well,
12:39
that position might come back to
12:41
haunt you and not just
12:44
being uncomfortable,
12:45
but could actually become a problem.
12:49
Did you end up suffering
12:50
from an injury or something
12:51
at that point?
12:52
I just think my joints,
12:55
my shoulders were tired.
12:56
Everything was just...
12:58
kind of, I was worn out, worn down.
13:01
So I took two,
13:02
I took like two years back
13:03
and went to bodybuilding
13:05
with Dave Lipson and Muscle
13:07
Anarchy and he had just came out in 2020.
13:10
That was the fun year of 2020.
13:12
So I got to train in my gym
13:14
at home and get strong and
13:17
did bodybuilding just for
13:19
just to get that strength base.
13:21
Uh, we were,
13:22
we were in the year where the
13:23
CrossFitters,
13:23
they were hitting 365 in a clean.
13:26
And I was out there like I'm
13:28
pulling 225 and it's pretty heavy.
13:30
So I took it upon just to get strong.
13:34
I just want to get strong.
13:35
I want to get 400 pounds with back squat.
13:37
I want to get,
13:38
you know, four 55 deadlift.
13:39
I want to put these strength
13:41
numbers where they,
13:42
where they belong and try
13:43
to start stacking myself up, um,
13:46
against some, some really fit guys.
13:47
And then once that I took
13:49
that strength timeout,
13:50
then I went back blackout
13:52
CrossFit actually just opened then, um,
13:54
in 2021, they're going to correct me.
13:57
They're going to tell me I'm crazy.
13:59
Um, cause I went back to the gym and I was,
14:02
they just opened up and I went, Hey,
14:04
I like this CrossFit thing.
14:06
I jumped into the open.
14:07
And I was way behind.
14:09
Cardio was not my thing.
14:11
I was not a fan.
14:13
I said, I could suffer.
14:14
I'll be fine.
14:15
And now, man, I was beat in the open.
14:18
I was strong as could be, though.
14:20
Yeah,
14:21
Dave Lipson isn't known for his cardio.
14:23
Yeah, we didn't do well enough at all.
14:28
No, no.
14:29
Have you been able to reach
14:30
those goals of like a 440 deadlift,
14:32
400 back squat?
14:35
yeah I did I did I actually
14:36
got up to a 500 back squat
14:38
uh 565 deadlift I could
14:40
clean 365 I snatched 280.
14:44
like eventually I was able
14:45
to put the time I put the
14:46
time and the money and the
14:47
effort into it to to get
14:49
strong and it worked it's
14:51
really paid off it's if I
14:53
tried to do a 565 deadlift
14:55
my spine would be laying on
14:56
the ground yeah it's
14:59
it's it's taken a lot it's
15:00
taking a lot of work to get
15:01
there so I was able to get
15:03
a thruster in the open at
15:04
like 3 22 I think I came in
15:06
like fifth in the world wow
15:09
I've had some like some
15:10
really good accomplishments
15:11
that that it's been a lot
15:13
of fun it's been a good
15:14
journey it's been a lot of
15:14
fun yeah I was always that
15:16
guy who squatted way more
15:18
than he could deadlift yeah
15:20
oh yeah that's usually not
15:22
the case a lot of people
15:23
can pick a lot of things up
15:24
off the ground squatting
15:26
more than deadlift yeah
15:29
Um, so what is, uh,
15:33
you're going into this year.
15:34
What, what is your goal?
15:37
Um, honestly,
15:38
I am surprised I'm even in this game.
15:42
I did not have the CrossFit
15:43
games on my radar.
15:45
I chose the first four
15:47
monster games this year as to be my,
15:50
my thing, my ticket, my,
15:51
like my big event.
15:52
Um, so that, well,
15:55
then of course their
15:56
qualifier was before the open.
15:58
So I qualified for that,
15:59
and then we went into the Open,
16:00
and here I'm sitting in my
16:01
– I made semifinals,
16:03
and my whole team behind me
16:05
at Blackout is going,
16:06
you made semifinals.
16:07
You're going to the Games.
16:08
I don't think you know this.
16:09
You're going to the Games.
16:10
This is great.
16:11
And I said, I don't know.
16:13
There's some really fit guys
16:14
around the world, and, you know,
16:16
that's just – Not only did
16:18
you make semifinals,
16:20
you finished third in the
16:21
world after quarters.
16:23
Yeah,
16:24
that's kind of where everybody was
16:25
kind of losing their heads.
16:28
Wow, that's crazy.
16:30
Yeah.
16:31
Right.
16:32
Yeah, it's been a whirlwind, man.
16:33
It's been surreal.
16:34
I can't even,
16:35
I think I'm going to go get
16:37
on the stage with the
16:38
fittest 40-year-olds in the world.
16:40
It's going to be fun.
16:42
So you do semis.
16:44
You end up finishing 15th.
16:46
Yep.
16:47
So a little slide back,
16:49
but still well inside the top 40.
16:52
Yeah, well,
16:53
we had a little snafu there on
16:55
workout number three that
16:57
we kind of slid a little back,
16:59
but we're going to get that fixed.
17:00
We're going to get that figured out.
17:02
Okay, okay.
17:04
Remind me, workout three?
17:05
It was, I think it was like three, six,
17:10
nine front squats and ring muscle-ups.
17:13
Three, six, nine, twelve.
17:16
Okay.
17:18
And front squats at 185, so
17:21
bring muscle up so we can
17:22
all see they're not my jam.
17:24
I'm a big guy, not really a gymnastic guy.
17:32
Since then,
17:33
you've had a little extra time
17:35
going into the games
17:36
because CrossFit decided to
17:37
give you six years between
17:40
semis and the games.
17:43
Did that give you time to
17:44
work on the muscle up a little more?
17:46
Oh, yeah.
17:47
We've been putting in time
17:48
since last year to
17:50
to try to figure out where I'm catching,
17:52
what I'm doing,
17:53
why I'm not getting there.
17:55
But, yeah,
17:55
we've put in a lot of time to
17:58
try to get a few extra reps
18:00
in the tank for muscle-ups.
18:02
Isn't that the coolest thing
18:03
about CrossFit, though?
18:05
You've been doing this since 2016,
18:08
and there's always a hole to fill.
18:12
Yeah, you get strong.
18:14
You got gymnastics?
18:15
Okay, good.
18:16
Oh, you got gymnastics.
18:17
Can you run?
18:18
Okay.
18:21
And as you get better at this,
18:22
then something else becomes
18:23
your deficiency and what's
18:24
holding you back from the next step.
18:26
Now you can run.
18:27
Well, what can you clean?
18:29
Oh, come on.
18:33
Yeah.
18:33
I think that's like with CrossFit,
18:36
you can't ever get bored.
18:37
Oh, yeah.
18:38
You don't.
18:40
It keeps evolving.
18:43
So from your Instagram,
18:47
it appears you're a girl dad.
18:49
sir uh I'm I'm one as well
18:53
it's one of the best things
18:54
in my life is uh being the
18:56
father to a little girl um
19:00
how how do they look at you
19:02
as an athlete um she's
19:06
looking at me right now I
19:09
but my young ladies are 11 and 13 so uh
19:14
I think they look up to me.
19:15
They see what dad puts in
19:16
the work that he's out there trying hard.
19:19
Uh, they're both swimmers.
19:20
As I heard that you're a swim,
19:21
you're a swimming background as well.
19:23
Um, so yeah, they,
19:26
they know that they have to
19:27
go out and put in the work
19:28
and put in the effort and
19:29
they give it everything
19:30
they got when it comes to, to game time,
19:32
to getting on the blocks
19:33
and getting started.
19:35
So as long as we put in, uh,
19:38
we build a hay and we can
19:40
shut the barn doors and light the fire.
19:42
It's, it's on.
19:43
It's,
19:45
Yeah,
19:45
the one thing that swimmers learn is
19:48
that CrossFitters don't get
19:49
the – don't is that – and
19:51
Caitlin Johnson told me this.
19:53
You can't quit in the middle of a lane,
19:54
like, or you drown, right?
19:57
So when she first went from
19:59
swimming to CrossFit,
20:00
she didn't put the bar down
20:01
because her mentality was
20:04
always you have to finish.
20:05
Stop.
20:06
Right.
20:07
What's the point of stop?
20:08
You can't stop.
20:08
You're going to grab a lane line.
20:10
Yeah.
20:11
Yeah.
20:12
Yep.
20:13
Yeah.
20:13
So, um,
20:14
that's cool that they're in swimming.
20:15
It's and man,
20:17
Eastern Pennsylvania is
20:18
strong in swimming.
20:19
These girls are good.
20:21
Yeah.
20:22
And she went, uh, my daughter is 13.
20:24
She went out for track and
20:26
here you can swim and run track.
20:28
You can not run track and try to swim.
20:30
I'll tell you that she went
20:31
out and she dusted the
20:32
people out in the 800 meter run.
20:34
So right on for her.
20:37
Yeah.
20:37
When I was swimming, I could run forever.
20:40
Yeah.
20:41
Yeah, you get that capacity.
20:42
You can just keep going.
20:43
And the fact that you can
20:44
just keep breathing now
20:45
without having to turn.
20:46
Yeah.
20:47
When you have all the air in the world,
20:48
everything's easy.
20:49
It just keeps, you just keep going.
20:52
What are their,
20:52
what are their swimming strokes?
20:54
I have, she's my 11 year old.
20:57
She's really good at breaststroke.
20:59
My 13 year old, we would say freestyle.
21:02
She's getting really good at butterfly.
21:05
Yeah,
21:05
that was my butterfly freestyle or my
21:07
jam.
21:09
Breaststroke was, I was atrocious.
21:12
yeah man it's what a
21:14
technical what a technical
21:15
swim people think it's just
21:17
bobbing up and down and
21:18
just swing your arms around
21:19
like man it's so technical
21:22
just to watch them do it
21:23
and go fast yeah it's
21:25
creating your own wake
21:26
which is just a concept
21:28
that's that people just
21:31
don't understand yeah I
21:33
love watching it they're
21:35
amazing the individual
21:37
medley the IM they do that
21:39
with the best of them so
21:41
Yeah, that was my favorite of all.
21:43
So you're married as well.
21:45
And how did you meet your wife?
21:47
We met at Calvary Chapel, Philadelphia.
21:50
We met back when we were in
21:52
youth group together.
21:56
So I read your Instagram.
21:58
Faith is the first thing you have listed.
22:02
Faith is important in your life?
22:03
Yes.
22:04
Faith is very important.
22:08
It comes first.
22:09
Like I said, we go to Calvary Chapel,
22:11
Philadelphia.
22:12
We have a strong Christian family base.
22:20
I grew up in a Christian home,
22:22
my wife as well,
22:23
and we just try to instill
22:25
that in our kids,
22:26
and that's how we want to be good people,
22:30
show them that Jesus Christ,
22:32
our Lord and Savior,
22:35
that's where our faith lies,
22:37
and the good news.
22:39
Amen to that.
22:41
With you being a Mayhem athlete,
22:44
was that one of the reasons
22:46
you went with Mayhem?
22:47
Because faith is first in their mission.
22:50
I enjoy the fact that faith
22:51
is first in their mission.
22:52
The reason why I chose them
22:53
is because they're the best in the world.
22:54
So if they're going to train
22:56
to be the best,
22:56
then you train with the best.
22:59
Did you get any opportunity
23:01
to go to any of the camps
23:03
in Knoxville this year?
23:05
No, I didn't.
23:06
No, I don't get a chance to go down there.
23:10
Uh,
23:11
is that something you would do in the
23:13
future?
23:13
I mean, I'd really like to,
23:17
but my vacation days are
23:18
pretty well spoken for when
23:20
it comes to my family and stay,
23:22
I kind of stay close to home,
23:26
work 40 hour a week job.
23:28
God, it's only so many vacation days.
23:30
Uh, the open I can do on my own.
23:33
It'll be fun to see
23:34
everybody on the mayhem
23:35
team down there in Birmingham.
23:38
Yeah,
23:39
the only reason I ask is so many of
23:40
them that were there for
23:42
semis said that it was that
23:44
extra push they needed.
23:47
But I do understand.
23:49
I work for the state of Ohio.
23:51
I have very limited days off,
23:53
and all of them are almost
23:55
exclusively for this show.
23:56
Right.
23:58
With one week to my family.
24:01
Absolutely.
24:03
So I totally get that.
24:07
With all that, you have your wife,
24:09
you have your faith,
24:11
you have your training.
24:12
How do you balance all that?
24:15
Well,
24:16
things have kind of tipped the scale
24:18
towards training a little bit.
24:21
I work a second shift job,
24:22
so I get to go in at 2 p.m.
24:25
p.m.
24:25
and I work till 10 p.m.
24:27
so I get home I get in bed
24:28
at 11 and we are up at 6 a.m.
24:31
every day so we get
24:34
breakfast together and then
24:35
we go our separate ways
24:36
whether it's school season
24:38
taking the kids to school
24:40
then I usually train from like 9 a.m.
24:41
to 11 come home at 11 have
24:44
lunch with my wife get
24:45
ready to go to work but I
24:48
kind of try to see where I
24:49
can fit now that we're in summertime
24:51
try to get in the gym a little earlier,
24:53
7.30, 9.30,
24:53
get some more time with the
24:54
family at 10 to 12.
24:56
So we just kind of try to, like you said,
24:59
balance.
24:59
It's not balancing too well
25:01
coming into the games,
25:02
but we'll get back to it.
25:05
Do the girls' activities
25:06
slow down in the summer to
25:07
allow you a little more flexibility?
25:10
For the month of August, yes.
25:12
Right from school, we're into summer swim.
25:15
So we got done spring swim,
25:17
right into summer swim, and
25:19
Now, August, it kind of stops.
25:21
Everybody gets a summer vacation.
25:24
Well,
25:24
that kind of works out for you as
25:26
you're four weeks out from the games.
25:27
It gives you a little more
25:29
flexibility to get that training in.
25:31
Yeah.
25:32
Yeah, we're doing our best to balance it.
25:34
So who all is heading with
25:36
you to Birmingham?
25:38
Going to Alabama.
25:39
I got a crew behind me at Blackout.
25:41
It's going to be great.
25:43
My wife is coming.
25:45
The girls, my young ladies,
25:46
are going to stay with family here.
25:49
They actually have the first day of school,
25:50
the day that we have to fly
25:52
to Birmingham.
25:53
So they're going to stay, do school,
25:55
and then the wife and I are going to go.
25:58
I have my coach coming from the gym.
26:01
Blackout's taking us down there.
26:04
We have a house staying with
26:06
five other people,
26:08
plus the dozen other people
26:10
that I know said that they're interested.
26:12
Now that we've got a horse in the race,
26:13
everybody's going to come
26:14
down and check it out and
26:16
go to Birmingham.
26:16
We're going to have a little
26:17
cheer section.
26:19
that I love hearing that.
26:21
I love hearing that.
26:23
Um, I, I think that,
26:25
that this group of athletes
26:26
deserves to be seen.
26:29
And the more people we can
26:30
fill that arena with,
26:32
the better it's going to be for,
26:34
for the sport as a whole.
26:36
Yeah.
26:36
And everybody on the floor
26:37
is everybody so cool with each other.
26:39
Yeah.
26:39
We're up.
26:39
We're going to go out here
26:40
and try our hardest to beat each other,
26:42
but afterwards it's high
26:43
fives and hugs and congratulations.
26:45
And,
26:46
And who's your fans?
26:47
Where are your family at?
26:49
Let's go say hi and give
26:50
high fives and fist bumps.
26:54
Do you have a support shirt
26:55
out there that everybody's
26:56
going to wear and you're
26:58
going to know who Jonathan's crowd is?
27:01
Yeah, we're working on one.
27:04
It's going to be Edel.
27:06
This is all going to be my crew.
27:08
Nice.
27:10
What are the emotions going
27:11
to be like when you hit
27:12
that floor and you look up
27:13
and you see this sea of
27:15
people there for you?
27:17
Oh, man.
27:21
I'm just so thankful.
27:23
To see people support me, I mean,
27:29
it's just a hobby for me.
27:31
I just like exercising.
27:32
Yeah.
27:34
I'm really thankful that all
27:36
these people want to come
27:36
out and watch me exercise for time.
27:42
It's really uplifting.
27:44
It really means a lot.
27:47
Well,
27:48
we're going to be down there doing a
27:49
behind the scenes.
27:51
You've probably heard me say
27:52
that on other shows.
27:54
Ellie Hiller and myself will
27:55
be backstage just chatting with you guys,
27:58
getting stories,
28:00
trying to catch that
28:01
camaraderie that is the
28:03
Masters community with the high fives,
28:06
the hugs, all of that kind of stuff.
28:09
Awesome.
28:10
Awesome.
28:11
We can't wait to see you there, Scott.
28:12
Yeah, and good luck.
28:14
Good luck with training the
28:15
rest of the way,
28:16
and we'll see you in a few weeks, man.
28:18
I appreciate it.
28:19
Thank you so much, Scott.
28:20
Thanks for doing it.
28:21
Thank you, everybody, for joining us.
28:22
We'll see everybody next
28:23
time on the Clydesdale Media Podcast.
28:27
Bye, guys.