S06E127 BISON 15 - Leveraging Data and Discipline in CrossFit - Andrew Honore

We talk with Andrew Honore about going from CrossFit fan on the sidelines to a committed morning regular who’s training smarter, recovering better, and surprising himself at 35. Along the way we get into injuries, pacing, competing, and the small daily choices that turn health into a family standard. 

• deciding to try CrossFit after years of assuming it was too hard 
• first day nerves and learning CrossFit culture through DT 
• managing a scaphoid wrist injury and finding training that helps 
• staying competitive without letting ego drive risky choices 
• using the whiteboard as a benchmark instead of a verdict 
• building workout plans and pacing strategies with ChatGPT 

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Transcript

Welcome And Meet Andrew

Sam Rhee 0:04

All right, welcome to another episode of Botox and Burpees The Bison 15. I have with me teammate from the Bison Bowl two weeks ago, our intra uh intra gym comp, uh Andrew Honore. And uh he and Mia and I were quite the powerful team. We were the wolf pack and representing our team here. I love it. Um, and I want to thank Andrew for guesting today. Andrew's been at our gym for almost a year. Um the wife, which is obviously the the smarter of the two, has been there for longer, two uh uh two years, and has you know, and got him into it. And now he has been a fixture at bison. He is one of the stalwarts uh um in the morning. And so uh I want to thank Andrew and welcome him to the podcast.

SPEAKER_01 0:53

Thank you, Sam. That's a great introduction.

Sam Rhee 0:56

So

What Finally Brought Him To CrossFit

Sam Rhee 0:57

you've been here for now about, like you said, almost a year. So tell me what got you into CrossFit.

SPEAKER_01 1:04

Yeah, that's a great question. So um it's not for lack of invitation. Um I I always love the idea of CrossFit um from like the rich Froning days, like we would watch it every year. And um I I've always had the utmost respect for CrossFit and CrossFit athletes. Um I had a coworker who was really competitive and always encouraged me to go. To be honest, it just looked so hard. And uh, you know, being an athlete my whole life and um, you know, having some lingering injuries, I think I wrote off in my mind that I just couldn't do it. I was like, oh, like I, you know, it wouldn't be possible for me. Like, and so um that, and I think also I just, you know, maybe was avoiding doing the difficult stuff that comes with CrossFit. Um, but have some good friends of ours who got very involved in it, the comparisons, so Jim first years ago, and then uh Katie joined, and then we know the McKinney's, and so we just kind of kept having people bring it up to us. Um, my wife was looking for something new to do. She's an incredibly good athlete, very competitive, but just had kids, you know, all that stuff happened, and that athlete she just you know didn't get to unleash. So we really encouraged her to do it. I had kind of my own thing from a fitness standpoint, and then um I I remember I came to the first open that she was in in 2024.

SPEAKER_00 2:25

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 2:25

Um, and or 2025, I'm sorry, and I was like, this is so cool. And like saw the community, saw the the coaches, the people who kind of rallied around her. And then I came back again with our kids for Murph and um had a bunch of people in my ear. Ashley Siverson was just like, when are you gonna stop being soft and come and just do a class? Um, and then I think it was two weeks later we talked about it, and uh Steph was like, Well, why don't you give it a try and see if you like it? And um, and that was the beginning of a love story.

Surviving DT As A First Workout

Sam Rhee 2:55

So do you remember your first time at the gym?

SPEAKER_01 2:58

Oh my gosh. I remember my first yeah, my first workout was DT. My lord. And I didn't know any better, and I'd never really handled an Olympic barbell outside of like squats and bench press and stuff.

SPEAKER_00 3:10

Uh-huh.

SPEAKER_01 3:10

And I came 15 minutes early. It was the 9.15 class, and Bobby was in peak games mode, shirt off, screaming, grunting, flying around, and I was like, I don't think I belong here. Um, but then you know, I mean, it wound up being a blast, and it was cool. I was able to redo that workout actually a couple weeks ago, and just to see the improvement was awesome. So, yeah.

Sam Rhee 3:33

Yeah. So just to remind people, DT is uh five rounds, 12 deadlift, nine hang power cleans, and six push jerks. And that is so the great thing as a programmer or as a coach is you can do it literally in one little space because you're just you it's just you and your barbell, but yeah, that barbell cycling is so brutal. It is like, especially for me, the hang the nine hang power cleans. After a while, I just can't even friggin' hang on to that barbell. So that's awesome. And um so at this point now, um, what are the movements you really enjoy doing in CrossFit and which ones still are challenging for you?

SPEAKER_01 4:13

Yeah, so again, I mean I've been an athlete most of my life, and um I got in the gym from I remember I think I first got in the gym when I was in like eighth grade.

SPEAKER_03 4:20

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 4:21

Um and so a lot of just like normal fundamental type movements are things that I have a lot of experience with. So those are very comfortable for me. Um, but I I learned quickly how bad my form was in some of those areas and how a lot of the supporting muscles and stuff around that was it was a deficiency for me. So um it's been fun to even see the things that I thought I was really good at get much better at. So um I like back squats, front squat, I love squatting. I I have a blast doing that. I feel good because I'm I feel strong with those things. Um in a lot of movements I've started to get better at is anything where I do get a break or a rest. So when we'll do something and I know I have two to three minutes to rebound, it's great because I'll go out too hot every time. But like those workouts are awesome. I think um the the limiters for me right now are are really just kind of working on the engine a little bit. Um if it's short spurts again with brakes, then I can compete with Steph. Otherwise, she's an animal and I can't touch her. Um But I I think also just more mobility-driven things. So again, not being somebody who ever stretched, like never. Um, there's a lot of things that um I know will come with time. So some of the barbell cycling, a lot of the gymnastics, that type of stuff um is a work in progress. But um, yeah, the last year has been fun, a lot of progress already. So more to come though.

Sam Rhee 5:43

You

Favorite Lifts And Current Limiters

Sam Rhee 5:44

know, um you and Steph are the tallest. I think they're the t you're the tallest couple at our gym. Like we have some tall guys, but it usually the spouses of the tall people are not always so tall. How tall are you and how tall is is Steph?

SPEAKER_01 5:59

Yeah, so I'm six two, Steph is six one. Yeah. And yeah.

Sam Rhee 6:03

Yeah. And so what is your athletic background? Because you clearly have done athletic stuff your whole life.

SPEAKER_01 6:10

Yeah. So I I tried everything as a kid, just for fun. And my dad was that way. And so, I mean, I did everything from I wrestled for from when I was five through eighth grade. Yeah. Um, I played little league baseball all the way up until my sophomore year of high school, played would play basketball, I'd play tennis, I love golf, I've been passionate about golf for a long, long time. That was probably the most competitive thing I did up and through high school. Um, thought about doing that in college, but um I I it was not gonna work out with my schedule and frankly wasn't good enough to start. And so I kind of backed that off. And then while I was in school, just going to the weight room, right? I think freshman year kind of things, just trying to get really fit and strong. Um, I I got recruited to play rugby. Um, and so I wound up doing that for four years. I was captain of the team my junior and senior season. We wound up being, I think, 15th in the country when I graduated. Um, this is all at a division three level, but a lot of fun. And we would play against teams like Michigan State, um, University of Michigan, Notre Dame, places like that. Um, and then I when I moved out to New Jersey, um, I continued playing like men's, if you want to call it semi-pro rugby. I mean, nobody's getting paid, right? But at a at a competitive level. Um, and I just kept getting banged up and you know, wanted to prioritize being able to walk, you know, and play with my kids instead of just you know beating my joints up. So I I stopped doing that when I was probably 23 or 24. Um and then, you know, now I just I've continued to play golf quite a bit, and then you know, don't mind doing other things, but but that's really it until CrossFit.

The Wrist Injury That Almost Stopped Him

Sam Rhee 7:46

What ling lingering issues or injuries have you had as a result of your athletic career?

SPEAKER_01 7:52

Yeah. So it's funny. I never broke a bone in my body until I started playing rugby, and then I just kept getting beat up. So I fractured my scaphoid, which is a a bone in your wrist. Yep, yep. Kind of where almost like your wrist connects to to your hand. Yeah, yep. So, like from a mobility standpoint, like this is how far back, like that's the difference. Wow. Right? So you can see, like, even with PT, like this will not go back. Um, and I I have also I got a surgery, they put a pin in, but I have what's called a non-union. So the bone never actually heals properly. Yeah. So there's just a line of arthritis right in the middle. Yeah. So that was a challenge and kind of a limiter, even like globo gym stuff, right? It would my wrist would always be sore.

SPEAKER_00 8:34

Right.

SPEAKER_01 8:34

Um, but then fast forward to CrossFit, all these things I thought I could never do. My wrist has never felt better in my life than it does actually doing CrossFit. So um the wrist was the biggest thing for me.

SPEAKER_00 8:45

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 8:45

Um, I like I I think I like sprained and tore some stuff in my knee. Nothing I ever had to have surgically repaired. Yeah, you know, broke my nose and had a bunch of concussions, so just, you know, made me stupider. But um nothing else like that that was that was too bad. The wrist was probably the biggest thing.

Sam Rhee 9:00

Yeah, I know. Um the reason why there's so many problems with that scaphoid bone, which is that little bone, like the bone right on the um thumb side of the wrist, is basically there's poor bud blood supply to that far part of the scaphoid, and non-union is very common. And I remember this just because when I was in training, we would do wrist fracture um surgery. And it was like it you had to align that screw like perfectly like it and it depended. Like if it was like one of those little neck fractures that went right through the neck of the scaphoid, or those were so hard technically. And um yeah, like you said, it's just so important for wrist mobility. And we have s a couple other athletes who have wrist issues at the gym and and for just about for everything, if you know it you know, front rack, you know, like presses, push-ups, like you name it, and um that that can be an issue. So I'm really glad that that's strengthened for you. And for me, even I I always wear a lot of wrist support because my wrists suck ass anyway, but um but yeah, so I I totally get that.

Michigan Roots And Meeting Steph

Sam Rhee 10:10

Now you grew up in Michigan. I did. And um I know I mean I see your Spartan logo behind you, but where did you go to college?

SPEAKER_01 10:18

Yeah, so I went to a small like Division III liberal arts school called Calvin College. It's now Calvin University. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Um, so that was a that was kind of a local feeder from I I grew up going to private school in a lot of like the Christian schools in West Michigan. Yeah. I'm I'm Dutch, and so it's it's got a lot of connections to Dutch heritage and things like that. So it's one of those places that a lot of kids just back their way into. Small 4,000-person school.

Sam Rhee 10:45

Would you go up to the UP every summer and hang out and stuff like that?

SPEAKER_01 10:47

I so I would not. I have been up to the UP. Um, but yeah, it's like three and a half, four hours away. And so my parents, we were very blessed. Um, like later in life, uh, my parents bought property on a lake um not too far away.

Sam Rhee 11:01

Yes.

SPEAKER_01 11:01

And so yeah, they had a little cottage there, and that was that was our summers.

Sam Rhee 11:04

That's what every Michigander does. They just find a cottage by a lake and they go water skiing, they hang out on boats, and they just like totally chill.

SPEAKER_01 11:13

Because those No, I was gonna say you can afford two houses with the cost of living and the property taxes in Michigan. That's right. A little different out here.

Sam Rhee 11:21

Yeah, and that time is really important because the summers are so frickin' short in Michigan. Those winters are so brutal. I think they appreciate it more just because of that, actually. So 100%.

SPEAKER_01 11:30

Yeah, like my my wife and I, so Steph and I will joke that like four months out of the year, it's one of the coolest places you could ever go to, and then it's miserable outside of that.

Sam Rhee 11:39

But so what brought you into New Jersey then?

SPEAKER_01 11:42

Steph, actually. Um yeah, so her and I met crazy story, but the the short version is we met at a Christian youth conference in North Carolina between our senior year of high school and our um freshman year of college. So she was actually um enrolled at the College of New Jersey. I was enrolled at Calvin, and we met when we were there and then kind of went our separate ways. And then I shot my shot on Facebook Messenger. Oh, and uh yeah, and then uh yeah, the rest is history. It's actually our 13-year anniversary today.

Sam Rhee 12:14

Congratulations.

SPEAKER_01 12:15

I'm yeah, I don't want to keep you from celebrating. No, no, it's no, it's good. We celebrated yesterday, so we'll keep the festivities going today.

Sam Rhee 12:22

That's really nice. You might be one of the only few people I know who actually like had a long-term permanent relationship from a Facebook uh messenger exchange.

SPEAKER_01 12:31

That's yeah, yeah, before dating apps, before iPhones and all that stuff.

Sam Rhee 12:36

Yeah, that's that's very quaint. It's like in between the bar scene back in the day and then like all the dating apps now. Like there was this little millennial kind of dating environment where people would use AOL, I am, and Facebook and all these other types of uh messaging apps, which is kind of cool.

SPEAKER_01 12:56

It's crazy. And I always like tell people, I was like, I'd love to give you dating advice. I said, but like I met my wife when I was 18. So like I, you know, I I can't really relate to having to navigate the dating scene in your 20s.

Building A Training Routine With Kids

Sam Rhee 13:07

So what time do you work out um now during the day?

SPEAKER_01 13:10

Yeah, good question. So, you know, Steph and I, part of the conversation we had, I had historically always worked out at like an LA Fitness or something like that um during my lunch hour at work. And that was easy for me to sneak away, get in kind of a 30-minute pump, and then you know, go back to the back to the office. Obviously, not realistic with CrossFit classes, right? And so I um historically I'll probably go th three to four days a week to the 6 a.m. Um that way I can be home, shower, get you know, get to work and stuff at a decent time. And then on my work from home days, or if schedule you know doesn't allow and Steph's flexible, then I'll sneak in um like a Wednesday lunch class, like with Liz. Um and then again throughout the week, like last week, I think Monday, Tuesday, I did later classes and then mixed it up. So yeah, usually 6 a.m. though.

Sam Rhee 14:00

You know, Steph is good. She, if she doesn't have time for one of the classes, she'll do it during open gym, which is like the few people I know who do that, like it takes a lot of effort because you actually have to like get there and do the workout yourself, which is you know, pretty impressive, I think, actually.

SPEAKER_01 14:16

So yeah, she's probably one of the most disciplined people I know, and she has the like I always told her I was like, I'm strong and I'm fit, but I love to give up and quit on things when they're hard. She's got like a Navy SEAL mindset where like she can just go into dark places and just work through things. So yeah, very disciplined.

Sam Rhee 14:35

You know, as an athlete, I I have watched you and you are very um disciplined, probably more disciplined in terms of like um a lot of guys I know who were former athletes will just cut loose, like they will just run amuck, uh almost to the point of you know, their form breaks down or they're just like running at risk for themselves. And a lot of it is ego. Like they look at their whiteboard, they look at numbers, and I've never seen you be someone who like had their ego wrapped up in like, did I beat this person? Or, you know, I'm gonna, you know, gun for this person.

Comp Mindset Without The Ego

Sam Rhee 15:14

And what is it about you that that got you to that sort of mature, like actual, yeah, helpful mindset?

SPEAKER_01 15:20

Well, I appreciate that. Um I I don't know if I'm always that if I'm always that humble, but I'm glad it's perceived that way. I I am incredibly competitive and I think there is a temptation to have my identity connected to a number. Um, but I also I think know I'm I'm I'm very self-aware about what my strengths are and what my weaknesses are. So I think there will be times where I'll absolutely send it and I know I'll go a little harder because the people around me are going harder. But I honestly think like since day one, I've been going to that 6 a.m. And some of the most elite athletes, you know, in our gym go to that class. And so um I I I came up in CrossFit being humbled from some of my first workouts and had the support and encouragement of a lot of the coaches and other people around me to just like, hey, it's okay. You're you're still new, Andrew. Um, and unlike a lot of things, most sports came very easy to me. Um, this has been probably one of the most challenging things I've had to do that's required. Again, it's a lot like golf. Like, you're not gonna be good at it right away. Um, so I think like being a golfer and understanding the discipline of having to practice and how there are gonna be days where you just can't find your swing. And then there's gonna be days where you're just you know, that keep you coming back. Um, and so I think that's what I've loved about CrossFit is um there will be classes that I just get absolutely humbled. Like when we did that wall ball workout, like I I capped and I scaled it, you know, and then I did really good on the squat cleans, you know. So it was kind of fun. So there's redemption in some workouts, but yeah, I certainly have been humbled in in many of them.

Sam Rhee 16:54

Are there anyone at the gym that you look at and you're like either comparing your numbers or you sort of look at them as sort of people to look at in terms of what you do?

SPEAKER_01 17:05

That's that's a good question. I think like there's a handful of people, like like some 6 a.m. people and stuff that you know you kind of keep your eye on, like with certain movements. Um and those are people who've been really encouraging and stuff to me.

Sam Rhee 17:17

Um like who?

SPEAKER_01 17:19

So like Alan Greenberg and I, I feel like when it comes to a barbell, him and I are always right around each other. Yeah. David H also, like I don't talk to David a lot, but his numbers are always right there. Yeah. Ironically, Sabrina was like the person. So it was hilarious. I would tell people, it's like, we have this insanely strong woman in our gym, and like I see what Sabrina does, and I'm like, okay, that's about what I should be doing. Um so, so especially for barbell-driven stuff, that's a nice and helpful barometer. Yeah, and and for some of the other movements, like I don't really have a gauge. I'll honestly, I love data and I love like facts and plans and preparation. That will help me when I want to quit, then it helps me actually push through because then I just commit to a plan. I do the same thing in golf. So like I would map out the entire round before I would play it. So when I got to the T, the decision was already made what club I was taking. So I'll like chat GPT my workouts and be like, how should I approach this? Like, what should my time things be? Because when I started, I would come out so hot and then I would just be spoiled. So um, so yeah, the planning, the data, those kinds of things, I think also help me navigate those other types of workouts um so that, you know, I I'm not then in those moments looking at what anybody else got. I'm just like, well, this is my plan and I'm just gonna stick

Using ChatGPT For Pacing Strategy

SPEAKER_01 18:36

to it.

Sam Rhee 18:36

That's a great idea. First of all, I have never thought about entering a workout into ChatGPT to sort of look at how I should attack that particular workout, which is amazing. And I think I'm gonna start doing that. Uh what do you remember like the last workout you did that for and like what that plan was?

SPEAKER_01 18:54

She's I don't know, probably earlier this week I could probably find it. Yeah. Um while you're saying go ahead, go ahead, Sia.

Sam Rhee 19:00

No, while you're saying that, the other thing I was gonna say is um Sabrina, uh she is such a good lifter. Well, she's good all all around now, actually, but she's always been a good lifter also. And yes, I don't like looking at her numbers because I would say fifty percent of the time she exceeds me. And like I not it's not that I don't like I always look at her. I like looking at her numbers, but it always gives me a little bit of like, wow, like I gotta you know, like you're right. That's she is such an amazing, you know, and she is probably like fifty or sixty pounds lighter than you, and and yet yeah, and yet she is just she moves so well. Uh so I gotta say, yeah, it's always nice to have someone like that.

SPEAKER_01 19:46

Yeah, I and and again, it's funny, like I don't even know if she knows that I'm on the same planet that she is, right? Like, but it's just again, you kind of see the names and the scores and like those types of things. I think that's great.

Sam Rhee 19:55

Yeah, and I think and same with David H. He's a taller guy like you, and yeah, and so um it's nice to have people like that. And I I have people like that too. I I have told people um who they are when I do look at them, but you're right, a lot of people don't even know that like I'm looking at their numbers. So you it's kind of funny. The whiteboard, you gotta watch out because you might be serving as either like a secret, not say competitor, but maybe a benchmark for someone for sure. And yeah, and I and maybe people look at your numbers or s or Steph's numbers or you know, so it's like I think we we always go back and forth about like is the is writing numbers good on the board, is it bad? Like and ultimately I think it's good if you use it the way it's supposed to be used. Like I said, it's always a mirror about it reflects your thinking. And if you think of it negatively, it it's probably on you to fix that. And if you use it positively the way you're sort of using it, um I think that's that's that's a good thing.

SPEAKER_01 20:55

Well, I and I I mean I can say again, I can't speak for everybody, but for me, like I I would never push myself that hard on my own, ever. You know, like I I'm not self-disciplined enough, and I unless I was training for something. And so I think that's what I like about CrossFit is I do always do better if I have like something, like a goal in mind. So like if there's like a competition coming up or something like that, then that always helps. But like then on just the random days, I can never push myself. I think at CrossFit, like because of the environment, because like just everything else that's going on, and because like you know you're gonna have to put a score up that you want to be somewhat proud of. Um, like I I I get myself to a breaking point that I'd never ever really gotten to before. Um so I think like I love the numbers. And I also maybe I'm just in this honeymoon stage of CrossFit where I am seeing a lot of progress, but it is so cool. Like again, a year after doing DT, redoing DT, yeah, and just being like, holy cow, like I can't believe I did that much better. Um, so yeah, I I love it. I think. I think it's helpful like for the type of athlete I am. Um, so I appreciate that the numbers are out there.

Sam Rhee 22:07

Would did you pull up a ch a chat GPT uh pacing for yourself there?

SPEAKER_01 22:10

Yeah, so like for example, yeah, and it's it's funny because like I always like check stuff stuff too. Like, like she is, I think just she's probably one of the strongest women on machines, like in our entire gym. Yeah. Um, but like, and I'll uh this is very conversational. So this was when we had the thousand meter row. Okay. So we we did the hopper workout from the from the games. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So um I was trying, I basically plugged it in. And now the one thing that I would say I also love about using ChatGPT, this wasn't intentional, I backed my way into it. Yeah. Is now like I've put enough data and then I'll put my results in there that now it can give me more accurate information. Hey, Andrew, because I know you're strong here, because I know these are your limiters, because I know this is your 400-meter time, or this is what you're training for, right? It it customizes it.

Sam Rhee 23:00

Yeah. Yeah. That's best. Like I since you we know you can do X amount on this barbell, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 23:06

Wow. So it like it helped me come up with a pacing strategy for the row, for example. Okay, so there's a thousand meter row followed by five rounds of um you could pick a pull-up scheme and then you could pick a weight, right? Yeah. So then for the pin jerks. Exactly. Yep. And so then the recommendation was to go lower on the the pull-up volume because it knows that my pull-up volume is a little bit of a challenge. Right. And um, and that was my first rip actually, was in that workout. Really? Oh yeah, I know. I was I was so proud. Um I I'm one of you guys now. Um but like so that helped, and then it gave me like a round by round breakdown of how long I should try to do each round. So again, I could it, you know, it's not gospel for me, but it helps me be like, okay, so this is my pacing on the rower, which is really helpful. Which was it?

Sam Rhee 23:54

What was it?

SPEAKER_01 23:54

Um it said like between two and two oh five. Okay. And I think I wound up um rowing about 155.

Sam Rhee 24:00

That's really good, actually.

SPEAKER_01 24:01

I mean, for a thousand, oh five, yeah, that's but it like it was like, hey, pull the dampener back to like four to five. Yeah. And like, so things like that were really helpful.

Sam Rhee 24:10

Which is what a good coach would actually probably tell you. Like, yeah, you gotta like ease up on it because you gotta yeah, not make each stroke so hard to do. So, yes.

SPEAKER_01 24:19

Yeah, why and I and I love like cue-driven things, and I think I can't say enough things about like the CrossFit bison coaches, like every like the cues I get from them. Like, I try to almost like ask for a cue every time I'm doing something when I'm I'm having a challenge, and I'll get that from ChatGPT. Like, but in that it said, you're going to roast your your shoulders basically in biceps in this workout, right? So try to drive as much as you can with your legs while you're doing the row.

SPEAKER_00 24:46

Yep.

SPEAKER_01 24:46

And I again, I wouldn't have thought of that, right? And I'm I'm a upper body dominant athlete um because I'm learning how to use my legs better. So that's just an example, but like I think that saved me a lot in that workout and helped me perform a little bit better.

Sam Rhee 25:01

Did you perform close to target, your per target time on that thing?

SPEAKER_01 25:04

Yeah. So they said like um between like your your overall target time should be between 13 minutes and 1410, depending on how I did each round. I think I got 1346. Wow, that's amazing. So it was super I mean, it's like accurate too.

Sam Rhee 25:19

Yeah. But that's pretty cool. I think more of us should probably do that. And like you said, the more it knows you, the the more accurate the recommendations can be. And uh honestly, I think as coaches, I have done that as uh a coach looking at workouts and um you know, usually mostly to give me ideas for like warm-up and stretches. Yeah. Because like you start running out of ideas and you just and you need variety. You can't just keep doing the same pigeon pose and like you know, whatever over and over again. So um listen, any resource you have as an athlete or as a coach, like especially in CrossFit, where you have so many different movements and so many different iterations of workouts that like it is hard sometimes to like distill down what the stimulus is going to be and and and what you have to look out for. So um and giving you a target number is awesome too because how many people, including me, go out too hot, like always, and to try to figure out your around time and and stick to a pi a plan. Like we do that for the open a lot, but we don't necessarily do it for every workout, and and this probably trains you better for that. So that's a great idea. Did you come up with that yourself? You just said, let me try pulling it in the job.

SPEAKER_01 26:35

I mean, yeah, we we've just we use AI so much now for work, like in the job that I have, and so I was just like, I should really apply this to CrossFit, and specifically because I'm not an expert at CrossFit, and like I'm not an expert at what I'm capable of. And I know that I have a propensity that you know, to maybe like pull back a little bit or sometimes go too hot. And so there would be times I would surprise myself and I was like, I almost want to take that out of it. Like when I'm there in the moment, the plan is there and I'm gonna execute on it.

SPEAKER_00 27:02

Right.

SPEAKER_01 27:03

And again, favorite thing about CrossFit, and I mean, I'm in the best shape of my life at 35 and in a much healthier place, which is a whole other conversation. But a lot of that is because I have to do stuff that somebody else has already programmed. Like I don't have a choice. Right. And so then I get into this negotiation place with myself when I'm in the middle of something really challenging. So again, having that plan helps me kind of stick through it. And again, I love that like in the push press app, I can I can record it, but it's not always easy for me to go back and find, like, oh, what did I like? What is like my one rep max for this? Or hey, what did I do a couple weeks ago and I can't find the thing? So it kind of captures it here and again helps me plan for future stuff.

Sam Rhee 27:46

So

Sleep Nutrition And Cutting Back Drinking

Sam Rhee 27:47

what have you done in terms of the other aspects of your life? I know you have young kids, so you're like, you know, how's sleep? How's nutrition? How's everything else with you know, that that sort of governs your health?

SPEAKER_01 27:59

Yeah, that's no, that's a good question. So um yeah, my kids are nine, six, and three. So we're in kind of a fun, crazy season with that. Um thankfully, Steph um is uh a very always been a nutritionally focused like cook. And so um, you know, we have plenty of cheats and stuff. I mean, I always joke like I work out so that I can eat and drink whatever I want. So many of us. But then I also like started to actually experience like the toll that would take when I'd wake up and try to do a 6 a.m. workout. It was like the later I'm staying up, then I'm kind of garbage tomorrow. Or so I mean, it I cut back drinking quite a bit, especially during the week. Um, because having a beer or two, like while I'm grilling or hanging out with friends, like I knew that was gonna have an impact on how I slept, how I woke up, and like all the subsequent things thereafter. So I think from a nutrition standpoint, I'm definitely more cognizant of what I put into my body. Um, I never really understood how like fats and proteins and carbs and stuff could all be again going back to Chat GPT, like when we had a comp, I was like, how do I fuel for this? You know, and it would help me like a couple days before, like understand how nutrition actually plays a role in your performance. Um and so I think there was a lot of little things like that that um that have been kind of subtle changes that we've made. Um, but it's cool that we do it together because we're both on the same page with it, you know?

Sam Rhee 29:28

What made

First Competitions And Why Preparation Wins

Sam Rhee 29:29

you decide to do this in-house comp? This is the first comp you've ever done, right?

SPEAKER_01 29:33

So I did, yeah, I did um, what was it called? Valentine's Day Massacre um on February 9th. Um Dan Coda in our gym had recommended it. It was put on um it's a global comp that like gyms can be a satellite, you know, location for. Um, so I was like, you know what? I feel like this would be a lot of fun to do, like it gives us something fun to train for. Um so that was kind of we got encouragement from Dan and then we gave it a shot and we actually won, which was freaking wild. That's awesome. Um, but yeah, it was it was fun. We did scale it, so it was just like a cool fun thing for us to do. Uh I will say that we did find out that we are wildly different athletes and we up we approach comps wildly differently. So I don't know how many more we'll do together. Um, but uh in a good way, you know, I'm just analytical and that stresses stuff out. She could just show up and go. Right. You know, so but it was a fun, fun experience. That's awesome.

Sam Rhee 30:28

Yeah. No, I was very impressed with you and and Mia like as partners, like you guys really like executed on every level. Like I and I think the planning beforehand, I forgot, like, especially that third workout that we did, like it it helped. It was the most complicated partner workout I think I've ever done in my life. And it and um it went off amazingly well. And I think um you guys you were like locked in on like every workout pretty much, so that that really worked out nice.

SPEAKER_01 30:59

Yeah. I I like and again, I enjoy the process of the planning. And so like it wasn't it wasn't homework for me to go and like test them and just kind of see. And I also felt a sense of I think accountability to a team, not that was created by you guys, right? But I was like, hey, I'm I'm kind of like the the more scaled of the athlete, and I want to make sure that I contribute and and pull my weight. And for me to do that, I need to know like how my body's gonna feel when I do these things. Um but I would agree. I think that it was evident that most teams didn't really think they need to prepare. And I think we maximized our potential on that workout because we were so prepared.

Sam Rhee 31:36

Yeah, I think we did really well in that. Like I thought we had a shot, but like the the spread between the teams was so tight, like literally it was a just a few points here and there, and and so um, but we were right in the mix, and uh not that we were trying to podium, but just like I felt very proud that we we um were close, like we were like yeah, like you know, right there with it.

SPEAKER_01 32:00

So yeah, I did I did go through the scoring. This is a bad thing. I shouldn't have done this, but I looked and I took last in my movement in the second event in in the like like the the complex with the barbell. Oh, right, okay. And if Sam, if I was five pounds heavier or ten, ten pounds total between the two things, then we would have then we would have gotten fourth in the comp.

Sam Rhee 32:22

Yeah. Which is not podium stills, but like and and so to be fair, like there are some people at the gym that are barbell specialists that literally like they're killing two like way in the two a heavy two hundreds on that thing. Yeah. What uh you know, so it's like there's no way. Like, I mean, it's it just is what it is.

SPEAKER_01 32:43

So yeah, like it's a motivator for for sure, but it's also like I think again, the nice thing about having a golf kind of mindset is it's okay, like short-term memory, move on, move on, right? So it was it was good feedback for me to have, but yeah, I had so much fun. You guys were a blast to do it with.

Sam Rhee 32:59

It was awesome. And I will tell you, every open workout, every comp workout, like you can always go back and say, if I had done one more rep of this or finish this one two seconds faster, yeah, but you can't. Like it was what all I could do at the time. That was it. Yeah, like it's not like I could always add two seconds faster on this or or five or ten pounds. No, that was really like I had everything in the tank, I I gave it everything in my tank. So like so I I um but I agree with you, like moving forward and just using it as feedback. But as

Golf Time Management And Business Value

Sam Rhee 33:31

a golfer, I want the biggest question I want to ask you is this. Yeah, how many times can you play a season when you have young kids and you like and you can get because it's such a time suck to play? Like it really is. So, what do you do now? How do you get out there?

SPEAKER_01 33:47

Yeah, no, it's you're you're absolutely right. Um, so I I mean, if I can get 20 to 25 rounds a year, then that's awesome. Um, that's a huge win. Um so I'll play in a couple outings. Thankfully, so I have a sales role and I work um uh in like consulting within accounting and finance. And so I have a lot of um very lucky to have a lot of like finance executives and stuff who will have country club memberships and you know want to share that with a 35-year-old. Um and so I, you know, I'm able to get out and get to different places and stuff, and then you know, sometimes on work from home days. I've I've done it where I played super early, where I'll get up to like Crystal Springs at 5 30, and I can play, you know, 18 holes in two, two and a half hours because I'm the only one out there. Um so it's little things like that that I'll I'll try to get out and play on vacation and stuff. But you are right, I do not play a lot. Um, but it's okay. You know, I I when we talked about it, Steph and I too, is it's like, do I invest in like playing at a club? Or, you know, we only have so many hobbies, and I would way rather lifestyle-wise invest in CrossFit than in doing something like, you know, that just Andrew gets joy out of.

Sam Rhee 35:00

Sounds good. Uh I had two questions. One was uh what uh the f I remember the second one now first. Uh what was the best or nicest or most amazing course that you've ever played on?

SPEAKER_01 35:17

That's a good question. Um I mean, I've played some of the country clubs in North Jersey that are, I mean, just in again, the country club experience isn't always like the most insane like layout. It's usually just the experience is what's incredible.

SPEAKER_00 35:35

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 35:35

So like I've played at Arcola is incredible. Oh, yeah. Um, like just a really good I play North Jersey every year. Um Roxiticus, which is kind of south and west in like Morris County, is incredible. Um so I would say that again, like the whole experience, you know, from the from the parking lot, right? Like to the club, white club, those places, yeah, are are awesome.

Sam Rhee 35:59

And then the other question now I remember was is it helpful for a young person to learn how to play golf if they're in finance, if they're in business? Is that something that is worthwhile at this point? Uh oh my gosh.

SPEAKER_01 36:12

Yeah. I I mean I think so.

Sam Rhee 36:14

Um did it open doors for you that maybe doors had not would have been opened for?

SPEAKER_01 36:18

For sure. I mean, we could have a whole conversation on sales and all that type of stuff, but I think, you know, at the end of the day, like the generation of people who are are making making key decisions in organizations still prefer the experience of like working with people. I think that that's gonna look different down the road, but people will always value that human connection. And I think, you know, like I again, I can't speak for everybody, but I can speak for like most guys and a lot of the like the dudes that I play golf with have so much respect and love playing golf with people who are good at golf and who are right, like are polite and are friendly and are just like easy to be out there with. I think the best thing about golf as an activity is there's more than one way to kind of like what you can get out of the experience. So you can go there and try to break a course record, right? But you could also go and you just have a couple drinks, listen to music, and relax. And all that can happen within the same foursome. Um so I think I I've been able to learn how to adjust to the people I'm playing with. So there will be people I play with that like want to play for money and like, you know, they'll invite me to like member guest things. But then there's other guys I play with that are really just want to sit and have a conversation, and then we happen to be golfing. I see. So I think it's it's really understanding your audience, but I don't think in the near future it's gonna go away. So I would absolutely encourage people to you know invest time in it if it's something they enjoy.

Sam Rhee 37:48

Sounds good. I'm an option B music and uh you know just hang out type of person.

SPEAKER_01 37:53

But that's just I heard from some people that you were a pretty good talent at our golf outing.

Sam Rhee 37:57

I am a terror I I played with um Jim's brother. Yeah, Dave, who's Paris, yep, I know Dave. He's quite good. And um he had a great round. Um the other people on our um foursome also did as well. And uh I'm a very high handicapper, but I'm working on it just bec you know for fun and um and I feel like m there are some things that translate over from CrossFit to golf, but less than I thought, honestly. And I think the only thing that really um translates more than anything, which it translates for everything, is like you gotta spend the time on it, you gotta you gotta work on it, you gotta be dedicated to it, you gotta spend time like it's n I mean it's not unlike holy lifting, I I guess, in the sense that you have to keep re you know, repetition, you know, reps. You gotta have reps for everything. Um but um but it is a time suck for sure if if um if that's something that you really love, which is why I'm very impressed that you get to do as many times you know, you get to play as many times as you do with with the life that you lead. So that's pretty very efficient of you.

Marriage Teamwork And Family Health Standard

SPEAKER_01 39:00

Yeah. Well, I think, and I tell people this, I think the best decision you can ever make in life is is picking a good teammate, you know, and a good partner to do life with. And um it is our anniversary, but shout out to Steph. I am very blessed that I have an incredible spouse, a great teammate who allows me, you know, to be able to invest in hobbies and things like that, and also has challenged me around things like health and fitness. So it's it's it's very cool to be able to like do CrossFit together. You know, we very rarely work out together, maybe once every other week. Um, but like at the same time, it's just it just adds some a really positive dynamic to your marriage to be able to kind of push each other, challenge each other, but like be talking about it and again be in alignment on hey, like I think one thing that's come out of this for us is we said, you know, like health and wellness is a standard in our family.

SPEAKER_03 39:48

Yes.

SPEAKER_01 39:49

So I don't require my kids to do CrossFit. I'm gonna encourage them to because I believe it's the best fitness like method out there. But if they're into something else, I don't care. But but being active and being healthy should be a non-negotiable, you know, take care of yourself. However that looks, you can run, you can play sports, you can play tennis, you can do Pilates. Doesn't matter to me, but let's help you find something you're passionate about to just get out and move. Um, and then, you know, like your your your vehicle, your body will thank you for it.

Sam Rhee 40:20

What an awesome dad and father you are. That's I mean, that's and and a spouse. That's pretty impressive. Good words. Thank you. And I'm gonna remember that the next time um Susan comes back from her 5 a.m. class complaining about how painful it was. I'm going to be a little more supportive than uh I was yesterday on it. Let's let's just put it that way. So that's good. Good words, inspirational. Thank you so much, Andrew. Happy anniversary for you and Steph. Thanks, Sam. And um look forward to seeing you at the gym, and we're just gonna continue to strive to do better.

SPEAKER_01 40:51

Absolutely. I love it. Thanks for having me on. Thank you.