I Want to Win - with Special Guest Tanner Spencer

In this conversation, Tanner Spencer shares his inspiring journey of transformation, detailing his weight loss of 100 pounds in 10 months and his rise as a CrossFit athlete. He discusses the importance of faith, community, and resilience in overcoming challenges, as well as his aspirations to create a legacy for his family. Tanner emphasizes the mental shift required for lasting change and the role of grit and determination in achieving excellence. His story serves as a testament to the power of purpose and the impact of a supportive community.

Transcript

speaker-0 (00:12.27)
Welcome back to Cowboys Not Eggheads where we celebrate grit, accountability, and purpose. Today I'm sitting down with someone who embodies all three. 25, are you 25? 25. 25 year old firefighter and rising CrossFit athlete Tanner Spencer.

Tanner lost nearly, or not nearly, Tanner lost 100 pounds in 10 months. That's a very David Goggins kind of a thing to do. Rebuild his entire identity and now trains at a level most people his age never attempt. But what stands out most isn't his physical transformation, it's his faith, humility, and his quiet conviction that God has a purpose for him. Well, we'll see. That's my assumption. In this conversation, we go deep.

talk about where Tanner finds direction, where he finds purpose, why he decided to lose weight, and what it's like to serve his firefighter at such a young age, and how faith and discipline carried him through the hardest part of his transformation. So this is a story today about, well we'll see what this is about, but I hope the story is about courage, sacrifice, obedience, and becoming the kind of man God calls you to be. So let's get into it. Welcome man!

Dude, I'm excited. This is my second podcast I've ever been on. Yeah, I was on one out of the roofing conference and then this is number two. I'm just excited, excited to be here, excited to share my story and kind of get in depth with it. You know, I hope that it reaches somebody that, you know, does listen to your podcast and that can kind of find, you know, a purpose.

it right?

speaker-0 (01:47.95)
Yeah, I do too. We've had we have listeners in 84 countries in all 50 states and You just never know who's out there that maybe they could pick up a nugget or two. So I appreciate you you know, you doing this and I won't make you cry I am known to make people cry though. Hey So, where do you get your direction in life today?

No!

speaker-0 (02:17.674)
as

What do you I mean, what do mean by that? Well?

Well, where do you get your direction? Everybody has something or someone or something that sort of like points in the right direction. with the exception of my brother-in-law who says for first 30 years of his life he just lived life as it came to him. Which makes sense when you're young. But I think you're past that point based on all stuff you've done. So where do you find your direction?

Sure.

speaker-1 (02:42.382)
Sure.

speaker-1 (02:46.926)
I think I find my direction in like what, like the legacy that I'm going to create for, you know, my family, you know, coming up in the next, you know, in years from now. I feel like that that's always been kind of it throughout my family. It's always been that direction of like, what kind of legacy can you create? And I, you know, growing up, you know, through grandparents, through, um, just people that I was super, super close with, I was always taught in different ways on how to be the best leader possible.

And so I feel like every single day when I wake up, it's like, can I make a difference? How can I put my foot in the right way to be a better leader, not only for myself, but for my friends, for my family, and then the next people that come up in my life.

speaker-0 (03:33.976)
So where did you find your purpose?

speaker-1 (03:41.198)
I guess, I don't know. I think my purpose was just like, really honestly figuring out like who I was. Like the purpose was who, like who could I figure out who I was?

My dad used to say, Tanner, when you're 20, my dad used to talk like this. listeners used to be imitating him. um, was my dad right there. Um, he used to say, uh, when you're 20, you don't know who the hell you are, let alone somebody else. Right. And so for you at age 25, you're really seeking that out. I am 57 and I'm seeking it out on this podcast. So good for you.

I think every day I'm just trying to always just figure out who I am, but then also in day to day finding new things about me that I'm like, don't even know I can do that. Where can I go little farther with that? How much more can I get into that area?

How much has the purpose changed since you lost all that weight?

completely different. I mean when I was, to be honest, 275 pounds, I feel like I had no purpose.

speaker-0 (04:43.886)
282 was my high mark.

Yeah, I, 275, I feel like that I had no purpose in life. And I feel like that even like as a younger kid, I never really had a purpose. Like it was, it was definitely like some really, really dark areas and definitely like hard lonely times that I had to like kind of get myself out of. But I feel like now the transition is like, I feel like that they're like, they're like, they're most definitely is a purpose here for something in my life.

Why did you want to lose the weight?

Well, I was kind of thinking about this, I knew this question was going to come up on the way here. hey, mean, yeah, I mean, I number one, I was tired of being fat, but I think two,

It's like that.

speaker-1 (05:31.114)
again like through just praying and just like sitting down with the Lord every day like what like

I feel like that it was the starting point. Like, yeah, I was like, yeah, I'm tired of being fat. Like this is dumb. Like I don't want to walk up fourth, you know, I fly the stairs and be out of breath. Um, I also wanted to lose weight because my job is, my job can be taxing. mean, we, you know, we go on fires, you know, we go, you know, we're picking up three, 400 pound patients and you know, I don't want to be the guy that's sitting on the porch, not able to help or be an inside.

Were you 270 as a firefighter? So what became of you?

so I was in the academy. was like.

In the Academy, was like two, yeah. So it started the Academy. was two, two 70, two 75 dropped down a little bit after the Academy because the Academy you're just full grit, full go. You're working out every day. You're doing stairs with your pack on. it was, we did some pretty crazy stuff in the Academy and then I gained it all right back as soon as after, you know, during probation and I gave it all right back again. And then that's when January one hit and it was like, all right. 25.

speaker-0 (06:37.998)
Here we go, on a 20, 25.

Yeah, I was like, all right, it's time to switch. It's something.

When did you join CrossFit? Yeah, sorry listeners another member of my gym. No, I'm not sorry at all actually I'm proud of it. But when did you start CrossFit? You were Kinesis in January.

No, yeah, I was, was. So it would have been...

So it's funny because I don't really remember you being that hand.

speaker-1 (07:01.998)
It's funny because, um, everybody said that. Like people have said it like, I don't remember you being that heavy. And it was like, yeah, I don't, I don't remember me really being that heavy either. Like, but when I, when I go back to it, when I started at Kinesis, yeah, when I started back at Kinesis, when I started, I was, I was 275.

Well, there's pictures, I mean...

speaker-0 (07:22.562)
When did you start a Kinesis? When did you join Kinesis?

Three years ago, two and a years ago. I think it was two and half years ago. Probably two and a half years ago.

through the yeah that's because you went through the cycles we saw you in every yeah

Huh. Because I, I think it was two years ago because I was there the, cause the second, yeah, cause I missed, I was able to do the first year I was there in Murph and then this year I was not able to Murph cause I had to work. So yeah, it would have been two years. I've been at Kinesis for two years. Wow. Yeah. Wow.

speaker-0 (07:59.15)
What were you searching for internally before your transformation?

speaker-0 (08:07.444)
I think you answered it. I did.

Yeah, I think that that's what it was. was it was identity that I was looking for. But I think at that time, I was doing it for more, more selfish reasons than what I'm the reason why I'm doing it today. I think at that time, I was just trying to impress other people. I was trying to prove a point. I was trying to show people that I could do something. And I feel like now that it's more a like,

How can I make an impact? And how can I spread my story to somebody that is struggling with, know, wanting to lose weight or someone that is struggling with, you know, finding, you know, just taking that next step into, you know, just making themselves healthier.

So let's get into how did you like people are I mean the obvious question is how did you do it? Well, I ate less and I exercised more. Yeah. I mean, what do you limit since I've gone through this for many years. Yeah, up and down up and down up and down. What what are you doing? Like I'll tell you what I've done differently since joining Kinesis like number one and I've been there for 10 years but

That's true.

speaker-0 (09:25.646)
The first thing I do differently is I eat breakfast every day. I never eat breakfast. I never ate breakfast. The other thing that I did do differently is I quit drinking two years ago, two and a half years ago. don't drink anymore. And the third thing I did is I really, really, really focus on protein to the point of

obsession and so those kind of three things I've done so what are some of you know what are three things that you do differently that you didn't do before I see you're drinking a ton of water there

Yeah, I think.

Yeah, so if I could just start at the beginning. On, okay, so in December, so last year,

So I'm drinking protein.

speaker-0 (10:16.992)
December 24.

Right now. I year go right around this area. I knew that I needed to make a change. You know, I was in that same just path of like lose weight, don't lose weight, go to the gym, don't go to the gym, you know, go to the gym, don't, you know, back and forth. I started doing CrossFit in 2020 at a gym called One Gym or now CrossFit Elkhorn. And I was so scared going in day one. was like, oh,

like this is not gonna be good like I have no clue what I'm gonna do like this is this is gonna be rough but I kind of like it got me in and I was bought into it right away like I loved it usually that's what you do so if you want to do CrossFit go give it a shot and you're gonna be bought into it day one but

Right around this time of the summer, I was like, all right, like we gotta make a change. Like I keep doing the same where I'm working out, losing weight, not losing weight. And so January 1, I said, okay, if anyone's going to do it, let's do it this way. Let's do 75 hard. Um, and if anyone knows what the challenge is. Yeah. So I did 75 hard, um, a guy named Andy Frazella. I might've just butchered his last name, but you drink a gallon of water, no alcohol, follow.

I remember you doing that.

speaker-0 (11:20.238)
This- I'll get sued, not you.

speaker-0 (11:26.286)
Hold up, up, hold up. One at a time. A gallon of water. Now listeners, I challenge listeners to drink a gallon of water for seven days straight. It's a lot of water. It's a milk jug full of water. Every day.

Yeah. You're going to be going to the bathroom all the time. the time. And so I did that. Yep. And then it was two workouts. One has to be outside. Regardless of whether one has to be inside 45 minutes each. Follow a diet. Read 10 pages of a non-fiction book. backup.

Two workouts, not one, two. One has to be outside, regardless of weather.

speaker-0 (12:01.09)
back beep beep beep beep. What tire are you following? What did you follow?

So honestly, I pretty much did 100 % whole foods. I looked up some macros and put some macros together and I actually can go back to what my macros were.

Did you eat the same? Did you find a set thing where you find like maybe you the same thing every day?

pretty much like it was always like I meal prepped on a Sunday. Like we always was the store on a Sunday always meal prepped on a Sunday and I had everything like to the T where I pretty much ate the same thing for breakfast and lunch. like well, Rice.

G.

speaker-0 (12:41.134)
for breakfast.

no breakfast was like eggs and potatoes and peppers. Okay. Like, you know, I tried to find, like a protein, a carb and like a veggie. Yep. and then, you know, I a ton of fruit, bananas, apples, all that, if you know, fun stuff. Lunch was the same, like rice, sometimes potatoes, sometimes just broccoli and chicken, you know, whatever, honestly, like at that time, what my macros really could fit in. And then dinners, if I was at work, I had a set thing of like what I wanted to do for work.

Cause I'm there for 24 hours, but then when I'm home, I kind of made it fun with my wife. Cause my wife and I were doing it together at the time. And so we were kind of having the same meals and just kind of like having fun with this, whether that was like gluten free pizza or that was, you know, something kind of fun to still incorporate meals that maybe didn't look as healthy, but we made them healthy by the different choices that we made. so I followed the diet and then it was reading,

10 pages of a non-fictional book. So I read The Green Light by...

Gosh, who's the actor? Matthew McConaughey. Oh, okay. And then I read two David Goggins books. Baby! love him. He's awesome. Reading some of his books and just some of his stuff, I'm like, dude, that is true grit right there. He's just...

speaker-0 (13:55.362)
yeah it's a life changer bro

speaker-0 (14:06.286)
You know the latest GAGA's update, don't you? So this year he did three 200 mile races all within a span of like a month and a half. And he went into this one and he just finished the Moab 240. But then he came into it like two weeks later. He's to run the one in Florida and he made it to mile 40. everybody was like, I'm like, he dropped out because I was following him and like he dropped out and

No.

speaker-1 (14:14.446)
Okay.

speaker-0 (14:35.534)
and like he must be like in the hospital I mean there's that well no come to find out he went into the race with a torn hamstring into the race with a torn hamstring he's gonna run 200 miles with torn hamstrings

Yeah. The book that I was reading at the time, like some of the injuries that I was like, dude, how are you still continuing to go? I'm like, how? This is not like this is I was like, I don't understand. but did that. And then it was no alcohol. that really wasn't a challenge. I

he's had a hole in his heart. He was in bed for a year.

speaker-0 (15:08.514)
Never been a big partier.

I did in college. But then like I did so much in college, like it wasn't a thing. like even to this day, I don't drink anymore. Like it's not even a lick. Right. But I think to your question of my three things that have made everything is number one is is as a habit. I made I've made everything a habit. So to this day, I still drink a gallon of water sometimes even more.

That's what you're doing.

speaker-1 (15:37.568)
I've stayed to all those things.

I'm sorry to interrupt you sir. Yeah, but the gallon of water thing. Yeah, like is that what you normally drink water out of? Yeah. That's 30. So you got to do how many of those a day? About five of those a day.

Yeah. So I usually, this is about 30 ounces. Um, so there's, about four, about five, which still puts you over. Cause it, cause what? 30 times five is 15. So that still puts you over 20 something. But how I've kind of done it is I've said, okay, I'm going to have three. I have one of these first thing in the morning before I had any coffee and your energy drink.

Yeah.

But then it's like, okay, you're going to have three of these or two of these in the afternoon or in the morning to the afternoon. Then afternoon to evening, you need to have at least two or three. If I'm able to do that great. Like that's, that's, that's where I want to be. But if I do more awesome. that's kind of how I base that. Consistency was the big thing and was like the habit side of it. The other thing was, focusing on protein, protein and whole foods.

speaker-0 (16:22.029)
Yep.

speaker-0 (16:30.018)
water. so.

speaker-1 (16:43.406)
And third thing was is now is not being as honestly, just training hard, training hard and work and working hard every day, know, giving it my all when I'm at the gym. Now, does that happen every day? No, but I've made it a thing to do it every single day. Yeah. As much as I can.

I see that every day.

speaker-0 (17:07.374)
Yep, that's the part I see. I didn't, I mean, Lister's, didn't even know, we're just working out next to each other one day and I'm like, I don't know how we got into the conversation that you lost. I had no clue. Yeah. So that's, I mean, that's the impetus of having you on today. Was there a moment that you, where you felt God showed up and rerouted your path? Anywhere, anytime.

like in like in

Yeah, so I grew up very, really faithful. I went to church every Sunday and every Wednesday, I was super faithful and it kind of fell off after college. And I didn't really see my faith really switch until I kind of did this. And I feel like that that's when my path really turned to drawing closer to him and drawing closer to the Lord in these areas and trusting the process that he had. So through doing 75 hard, two weeks into January, I got pneumonia.

and was completely sick was bed like I horribly couldn't couldn't eat, couldn't drink, couldn't do anything, but I still got up and did everything every single day. So like even though that I didn't want to put any food down my down to keep it. Correct. Even if that was getting in a 45 minute walk, I would go work it out and I would walk for four hours. Yeah. And my wife, she'd be like, dude, you're going to go for a walk when it's 30 degrees outside and you have pneumonia. Yep. I'm going to go get it done.

Awesome.

speaker-0 (18:18.894)
You've worked out twice a day with pneumonia.

speaker-0 (18:34.542)
clear your dirt and clear your lungs out.

Yeah, so then it was like, all right, you know, I'm going to push through it. Well, then February came around.

speaker-1 (18:44.908)
into February I got pneumonia again. Lucky you! What is going on?

It was like every part of me was like the enemy was fighting so hard against me. was like, no, dude, I want to take this away from you. I want you to quit. I want you to stop. how can I get him to stop and be away from this and just fall off of this and then have to redo this all again? Cause the challenge is if you quit, have to restart day one again and then do the 75 heart, you know, again. And so I think just through trusting the Lord and trusting that was like his path of like, Hey, this is me drawing you closer to me and kicking.

Yeah.

the enemy a way of like, dude, get like, if you can get through this, what else can I put you through and get you through? So that was the biggest kind of turning path was when I got done with 75 hard, my faith switched so much into like, that was the plan.

Yeah.

speaker-0 (19:38.03)
gave you faith, knowing that you could deal with that. Knowing that you could fight through it. And it's, you know, it's, it's the, it's the hard stuff that, uh, usually are, those are the days that you really get paid. You can do that stuff. know what mean? Yeah. Yeah. And the pneumonia that's, I don't, I wouldn't have done that. I don't think I would have done it. I mean, I, know, on Monday I had a, uh, couldn't breathe at all. Um, just head congested and I went into the gym and got it, got it in. And I mean, I was, you know,

Pond of my chest for doing that sure ammonia. That's a whole different ballgame

Yeah, I was so just like, I was so defeated. was rough. It was so rough. But when I go back to it now, I now understand why it happened. I was eating so less of protein.

Two months in a row.

speaker-1 (20:29.034)
so less of carbs, so less of fat, that my body was fighting against me rather than now putting in the correct nutrients and amount of nutrients and the right protein, carbs and fat to keep my body healthy.

What's the, how many grams of protein you eat a day these days? Holy smokes. Listeners, you think a gallon of water is hard, that's hard too. It is hard. I mean, that's probably my record amount of protein a day, 215. I actually start getting about 215, 220, I get a little gout. So I'm not that high, I need to be, but.

15 grams.

speaker-1 (20:53.398)
It can be, yeah, it definitely can.

speaker-0 (21:10.41)
I mean, how do you get your protein?

well in usually like on every day of the week, like I, I'll have what they call, I call them overnight oats. So I have like some whey protein in my oats and mix those up and make like little oats thing. usually for lunch is this. We have about 21 grams and then during lunch, it's usually chicken thighs, eight ounces or nine ounces of chicken thighs. then dinners is usually anywhere between nine.

20 grams there probably.

speaker-0 (21:36.302)
40.

speaker-1 (21:40.558)
to 10 ounces of either chicken, beef, or somewhere in there. And then I always have a protein shake. And then any remaining that I have, it's either having another scoop of protein or having a protein bar or you know, you get a little bit of protein from your vegetables and stuff like that. But

You this or you think this is bad? good. I love these. They're expensive at 42 grams. If you want to get protein quick.

I like those.

They're great. think they're

Sure, yeah. And those are my wife and I, like to put them in our coffee sometimes. So we'll do it. She's got an espresso. So you'll put the espresso pods in there and then do the protein. You got like a protein coffee. But yeah, like I always, like it can be hard some days. Like I'm like...

speaker-0 (22:14.412)
Yeah.

speaker-0 (22:28.27)
Yeah, that's depressing. All I ever think about is protein, thanks to... Thanks to Brie Seeger. But anyway, yeah. So when you... Let's talk about the transformation, you know. Let's actually talk about being a firefighter first. At 25, you you're already a firefighter. What pulled you toward that calling so young?

Yeah. Um, so when I was no, I I always, I didn't even like, so in high school in 2019, I lived out in Blair, Um, rain, rain, fuel. They're awesome. Those are great.

Money? No, I don't know.

speaker-0 (23:08.768)
a PBR there listeners know it's

speaker-0 (23:14.934)
There's 300 milligrams of caffeine in there and you shouldn't let you do this when you're doing the podcast. I'm sorry, go ahead. Sorry we're out.

And when I was a senior in high school, I was a little bit older for my age and I lived in Bel Nebraska, and I was interested in the fire department. And so, um, a small town called Kenner, Nebraska, just outside of Fremont, outside of Bel Air. Yes. And so many people did, they're like, is it Kennard? I'm like, no, it's Kenner. Yeah.

And I always thought it was pronounced canard. There you go.

speaker-1 (23:42.19)
So I joined Kindred Fire Department and loved it. Like, know, it was fighting fire, you know, doing all this stuff. And I was like, oh, this is so much fun. Like, this is cool. In that time as being 19, I saw some things that I was like, well, like a 19 year old is supposed to see this stuff. I'm like, this is crazy. and

meaning like bad car wrecks and stuff.

Yeah, bad car acts like a lot of, you know, my first, can, I can literally go back to, can't go to the date, but I can go to what like the.

first code that I had, who it was, where it was at, everything. Like I can go back and that was 2019 on a volunteer department. And so I went to college and I still had the passion there, but I never knew what was going to be right. And I went to Midland for a year and a half and went there for criminal justice. I was like, Oh, well, I can't, I can't go there for my fire one or anything like that. So I'll just go to school to be a cop.

Yeah.

speaker-1 (24:40.334)
And I was like, I'll give that a shot. know, maybe I can find a calling in that area. Was there for a year, COVID hit, shut us down and was like, nope, like I gotta be done. So I left college and some things haven't worked for some sales companies, moved out to Tekema and I knew Tekema had a fire department and jumped on Tekema's department and ended up.

loving what I was doing again, really found a passion back into it, got my EMT, met a guy named Chad Nixon that is the current Bennington Fire Chief and was like, hey, he was on Lincoln Fire and was like, hey, you should give it a shot. I was like, okay, like I'll put my name out there, put my name out there, did everything and did all the interviews and got hired. And I, that was one of the questions they asked me like, why do you want to be a fire? Like, why do you want to do this? And the question was, I don't just want to help people, but

You know, I want it to be bigger than helping people. want to make an impact. know, I, again, I want to make a legacy. want my brothers, my sister, you know, my brothers, my sisters, my kids to know that their dad was making or their brother was making a big impact in helping, helping the city of linking and being there, you know, for those people, you know, they always say like,

People are usually running out of fires while we're running in, you know, having that grit, having that power of being able to just kind of let whatever we have behind us go and be able to do a job and do it even when the safety is not there. So I think it was just all about wanting to help people and wanting to be there for a community that really honestly needed, needed them. And at that time, like I was like, if I could, I still be with still people today on the job. Like if I could do this job for free, would because like I, yeah, money's.

can't, so you won't.

speaker-1 (26:31.28)
The money's great like I yeah the money is great to be a firefighter but it's like I'm not there for the money like I'm there because the internal and the external feeling that you get from just part of the job is so much more moving than getting a paycheck every day.

So you enjoy going to work? It's not a dreadful experience? No. You were what, 24s?

So we work a 14 day set. So I start on a Wednesday and end on a Monday. So it's 24 on, 24 off for 14 days. And then have eight days off. So yeah, I mean, there's days at the end of that set because I'm on the engine and then I'm on the medic. I'm on the engine, I'm on the medic. I was like, there's days, yeah, where it's busy and it's just like you're dragging. But I always go into a work with a mindset of they've always said in the academy, leave your feelings at the door. Even if you're in a spot where you're at, but then also go out there.

You've been sworn to, public safety and you've been sworn to basically be a notch above everybody else. I mean, I don't know if you know that I was a reserve police officer for 13. And, yeah, that always stuck with me in the sense that I needed to be.

Okay.

speaker-0 (27:43.662)
I don't want to say your bottom side is kind of same, but there's a higher standard. And that's part of that service. What lessons from the Firehouse do you think translate directly to your transformation and now to elite level CrossFit?

Sure, sure, yeah, most definitely.

speaker-1 (28:05.202)
I think that with the, like what comes with a job is like working out. Like we have like in our thing to get it, get a workout in every single day. And it's crazy. Cause the other day someone was like, you know, all the firefighters I usually meet, like they're super fit. Yeah. But, not a lot of them are very fit, which is crazy. Yeah. And it's, and I think that that was a motivation.

Your definition of fitness has changed.

Yeah, yeah, most definitely. And I think that like that was one of the things that has moved me. was like, want to be like, again, I don't want to be the guy that's at the end of the lawn.

or at the end of the driveway, not able to helping other people. So I think that with being a firefighter is that there's comes with some grit. There comes with some tiredness and there comes with some, just hard working. And that is transferred to with, with CrossFit is like, there's days that I get two, three hours of sleep at work, but I still show up to the gym and I still, you know, trained at a level that I, know, to a point that I need to, you know, there's days where we, when we're at work and, know, we go on a fire and

It's like...

speaker-1 (29:16.876)
You're dead tired because you're fighting high heat. You're fine. You can't see anything. It's exhausting, then you sit in the backside of it you're like, well, if I wasn't doing what I do at the gym every day on my days off, I probably wouldn't be able to be where I'm at right now. Still able to fight through this. so I think that a lot of the hard workiness and just the grit and just like the determination of wanting to do hard work and do it for, you know, a bigger purpose has also transitioned to the CrossFit gym as well.

So.

speaker-0 (29:45.976)
That makes sense. Absolutely. When you look at the heavier version of yourself, what do you think you needed the most?

Honestly, in that time, I needed the Holy Spirit.

I know. It missing. Yeah. There's a question that someone is very smart.

I learned to ask this year and that was if this wouldn't happen what was missing?

Yeah. Yeah. At most, definitely, think the Holy Spirit, like it was. I was doing the same thing like nothing was changing. I was doing the same thing that I was doing like, okay, I'm to be consistent. I'm going to give it one more day. I go to the gym one more time. Like I'm going to eat the right food for one more month. And it was like nothing like there was no challenge until it was like, all right, not only are we going to read.

speaker-1 (30:47.534)
read 10 pages of this book, but you're also going to read the Bible every single day. You're also going to pray every day. And it was like through the determined, like nothing was, like I was not quitting. And even after that, I was like, Oh, like, I wonder what will happen when I'm done with this challenge. Am I going to go right back to normal stuff? Nope. That next day, gallon of water, healthy food. Well, that day after I did, we, my wife and I got some Chick-fil-A cause it was

Also.

speaker-0 (31:10.947)
dude, sports are a shit-

We got some Chick-fil-A and got some nothing bump cakes that was like our treat, you know, because after I finished the challenge, but gallon of water, healthy food the other days and nothing changed.

What uh so I ask friends of mine that recovered from alcohol uh what do you miss most about alcohol? I'm ask you maybe what do you miss most in foods that you don't really eat anymore? What do you what do you miss most? Let's talk about it man. are you a sucker for? Sweets. Sweets. Sweets? What kind of sweets? Cookies. Cookies. Cookies are not just one. No. Two or three or four. Yeah it's cookies. or six. What kind of what kind of what kind of cookies? Um

you

speaker-1 (31:56.174)
Like it depends on the season like right now it's snickerdook. Yeah, yeah

yeah, yeah. Eileen's skis or crumbles. Yeah. my.

Yep, and then like the summer is like the ice cream chocolate chip cookies. ones are ice cream. Ice cream is huge. yeah.

Yes! Love those.

speaker-0 (32:15.982)
So have you, you don't do that, you don't eat that stuff, but have you, do you once in a while eat stuff like that?

Oh yeah, most definitely. and I've, it used to be when I got done with the challenge and I did lose all the weight, it was harder for me to do it where now it is, it's not as hard. I think now it's more of like, I don't really look at it as like a, Oh, you get a prize because you did this today so now you need to have ice cream. Like it's kind of like, Hey, go enjoy yourself. You know, a nice, you know, go enjoy yourself some ice cream, you know, go enjoy yourself a cookie. You like here and there, not all the time, but here and there, go have yourself

Is it hard at the damn fire department? Is they have they have they must have just crap just laying around all the time? we get people bring in

donuts and cookies and just about that comes in day... You can't. No. You just can't. No. first it was harsh. I was like, gosh, that looks so good. But now it's I'm good.

I bet you don't need any that at Firefighter.

speaker-0 (33:11.192)
Yeah, keep walking. It's hard, man.

I mean I think there was one day there was four boxes of four boxes of Eileen's four boxes of Eileen's cookies four boxes of Lamar's cookies a tray of brownies and then crumble cookie all on the counter at work in the kitchen I was like holy cow I was like we're about to have fun tonight guys

Nice.

speaker-0 (33:34.766)
Well let's just do a sample, which one's the best?

speaker-0 (33:40.568)
I think that's harder than having freaking pneumonia. man yeah yeah I'm sucker for that stuff too. So in your transformation losing 100 pounds what was harder the physical grind or the mental identity shift?

I'm like, all right.

speaker-1 (34:01.518)
the mental, the mental, the mental identity switch. That was the biggest thing.

And did you, I bet Gargan's help with that. If you're reading all this, it's about the same.

Yeah, yeah, it was, it was like...

I think in my opinion, like everything was mental. Like it was like you had to have a mental switch through everything. Like, you know, you had to, you had to switch your mindset to this hard. This is hard and this sucks, but you gotta get through it. you, you, you, you devoted your life to doing this and you want, you said that you wanted to make a change. So now it's time to make a change and let's do it.

Yeah. A lot of people say that they want change, they never do it. what separated your intention from Mexican?

speaker-1 (34:58.35)
Yeah, I think, you know, that was a big thing that I kind of thought about, you know, as I'm coming up to one year of this kind of starting this is what kind of changed, you know, that process was like.

It was a habit. You read an Atomic Habits, talks about like, when you start with a habit, how long can you stay consistent to it? And I think it's like, what, if you stay with it for, I can't even think the amount of days, it turns into a habit or something.

For me it's probably 120 is the magic number.

sure it's different with everybody, it was like I, the change part of it was like I had to create a habit, but it also was I had to change my mindset. Like going into it. My mindset was, it's like, I want to prove, I want to prove to my family. I want to prove to, you know, people that I was friends with or whatever it was, like, I want to show you and prove to you that I can do this until it was 30 days, 45 days into it as praying and spending time with the Lord. And it was like,

Wait, wait, wait. That's not our purpose here. Like our purposes is like, and what the whole part of this, you're not proving anything. Like you are, you're changing your life for yourself. Like this is for you, man. Like this is, this is to make you a better person. And I think that the change was just having a different mindset rather than the selfish reasons to the positive reasons that we're going forward. I think was the biggest change.

speaker-1 (36:26.254)
But I think too, it's just consistency. It's just a grit and a want to do it. Like if you want to do it, go get it.

Yeah. Do want to do it? Go get it. I love that. I love it. Was there a moment you realized that you weren't just losing weight, but becoming someone completely different?

Yeah, it was awesome moment.

speaker-1 (36:51.694)
On day 75, well, day 70, was like, there's no way, like, I'm gonna be down so much weight. Like, I've never weighed 200 pounds. Like, this isn't, you know, it'll be what it is. Day 75, I woke up and I weighed 198.6. And I was like, whoa, like.

You lost 75 pounds, dude. Like you said, you lost all this. Whoa. Like what? And it was, you know, at that time too, like I wasn't just doing, you know, the daily CrossFit class. was also in the compete stuff too. So like I was doing compete programming on top of everything. And it was, the switch was, okay, what's next? Like what else can I do?

good for you on that. Because I mean, I recently just well this week I hit my lowest weight I've been in two and a half years. And usually what happens with me is there's this weakness that occurs where and I got through it by the way, thank God but

There's this weakness where you're like, oh, well, you you can have that cookie now. You know, it's not, know, because you mentioned that cookie's not a prize. Yeah. But I always made like, oh, well, now I can have the cookie. You know? Yeah. And I hit that this week and I'm just like, oh, but I got through it. But you. It's fascinating in your mind, it was what's what's next, which is is total Goggins. Right. Ask. What's next?

Sure, sure,

speaker-1 (38:11.458)
Mm-hmm.

speaker-1 (38:21.378)
And I what? Yeah. And what was next to that was yeah. Like what I mean, like what what if I lost another 10 pounds? What if I lost like what would I look like for another 10 pounds? What would it what would it be for another 10 pounds? Like what does this look like? Yeah. And it just trickled down from there. today 190. Maybe putting some muscle putting some muscle back on and you know, I'm

What if?

speaker-0 (38:39.374)
What do you weigh today? 190,

speaker-1 (38:51.522)
The fight after losing all the, the fight during losing all the weight that I did from at 175 was probably the hardest battle that I've ever fought. Like there's days that like, I wish I never would have got to those areas in the mindset of where I did, cause it was so rough. But like today it's like, I weigh 108 pounds and I love it. Like I'm happy with it. It's awesome.

Yeah, yeah, that's sweet. There's always a moment.

Yeah.

speaker-0 (39:23.5)
What do people misunderstand most about weight loss and personal transformation?

speaker-1 (39:37.346)
I think that what people misinterpret during it is like the purpose of why someone's doing it. Or also in a way of like...

Is that because they have their own insecurities that they're dealing with? that's what I think.

Yeah, yeah, so, you know, I,

And the biggest impact of things is it was like, I...

You know, I stayed so consistent that like my dad would call me, Hey, we're doing dinner tonight. And I'm like, all right, cool. What are you guys doing? What we're going to do is spaghetti. Okay, cool. Perfect. We'll be over there. And I go over there and I have my own gluten-free noodles. have my own grass fed beef. I have all my stuff weighed out. He's like, what are you doing? I'm like, I'm having dinner with you guys. And he's like, this is ridiculous. Like you're really doing this. I'm like, yeah, I'm not going to stop. Like I'm not. And I think the misinterpretation was like,

speaker-1 (40:37.262)
It was like that you, you don't have to go all in like, Oh, you'll be fine. Like if you just slip up a little bit, you'll be okay. But it was like, no, like this is a bigger, like this is bigger than just something small. But I think also the, like, again, it's like the purpose of why someone's maybe really doing it. don't know. mean, it's definitely a, I think it has to do with other people's insecurities, but I think it's, yeah. I mean, I think that's the biggest thing.

It is. is. Most people don't. Yeah, like we said, some a lot of people want to make a change, but then somebody actually does make a change. They question like, would you do that? In fact, they they they they I don't know if they're envious, but they.

It's just human nature, you got, everybody's doing this and one guy over here is doing that, and all of sudden like, well, why is he doing that when we're doing this? It's just, it is what it is. It's interesting. Humans are funny people. Now that you're, you know, I guess you call it compete, I call it elite. I call you guys the animals.

But you're now training to become an elite CrossFit athlete, really. So what does elite mean to you and why is that the aim? Why are you doing that, Tanner? Why are you different than me?

Yeah, I think that

speaker-0 (42:00.492)
Here's the matter is you're not different than me, it's just that you're lot more skillful at it than I am.

I think that the word elite when it comes to me is like...

It's just another advancement of wanting to just do a little bit more, but for a purpose of competing. I always hear elite, and I think of people that compete.

One day, I mean, you look at guys that are, you know, people at our gym, Chansey and Christian, Cam, Kyle, you know, all of them, those are elite athletes. Like those guys are competing at the elite top level and are people to where I want to be able to get up there to where I can be head to head with those guys. You know, can be, you know, going to elite competitions and stuff.

you can based on your age. Yeah, you're chasing them down. Sure. Trust me.

speaker-1 (43:00.814)
you know, just day by day getting there. I wouldn't to lead like me when it comes to a lead, it's like those guys, like those guys are, those are going up against some of them.

And for everybody out there, there's somebody who can beat those guys. For sure. It's like it never ends.

You know, like I, that was one of the big things that I think that I, like I always compared myself with people, people like my whole entire life. Like who can, like I was compared myself to, it didn't matter what it was. And it was like, when I'm with them, you know, I'm like, they're, they're, they're at the top of the level. Like those guys are nuts. Like those guys are awesome. And like, it's fun training with them. you know, and one day I will get to that level, but I think the elite in all is just like,

someone that is in the stages of, you know, is advanced, someone that is, you know, is doing just a little bit more to a higher level or to a higher, you know, wanting to compete in different areas for, you know, against other people.

Yeah. Where's your confidence come when you're pursuing something so difficult like that?

speaker-1 (44:10.459)
I think it's just honestly like...

speaker-1 (44:18.25)
It's like wanting to win. Like I want to win. Like I want it really bad. I want it bad. Like I, you know, it's like, I just had a conversation with Kyle the other day, you know, the other day and I was like, yeah, January, I'm going to do this qualifier. I'm going to do this and I'm going to do this. And he's like, dude, let's just train. Let's just train. Let's just train. Let's just train to get you to another level. And it's like, I just want to win.

It's like how Caspar like.

speaker-1 (44:44.258)
I just want to go like I want like I want like I did my first qualifier this year and you know, it didn't go as what I wanted but through that like I idolized over that I wanted to be first in that rather than just enjoying the fact that I got to be able to move and be able just to do a qualifier and that was the mindset switch it was like hey let's I wanted to win so bad and I think that that's where it is now like yeah I mean

I don't know if that's the wrong answer. I've discussed that many times on this podcast with you animals that I believe that there's a level X. don't know where it is. mean, I think there's a couple of people in our gym that are probably at level X.

speaker-0 (45:26.954)
Everybody gets there. at that point, all bets are off. The next step is what's how Goggins are you going to go? Sure. How much pain are you willing to tolerate in competition? Sure. Because that's really all that those those high level competitions CrossFit are. That's all they say is the most fittest. Nah, bullshit. It's the most it's a person that's got the person that can that can tolerate pain the longest.

Sure. Yeah, most definitely. mean, yeah. And it's crazy. I mean, it's crazy you say that because it's like, yeah, like you, you put things together, you, like how long can you go with the pain? Because usually competitions are three days. Can you go through pain for three days? Can you go from doing two hard workouts, you know, waking up doing another two hard workouts and waking up again and doing two other hard workouts? how can you get...

There's a former athlete that's been on my from from kinesis is no one hasn't been there for Six years or eight years. I don't know but she competed With the 18 millimeter L5s one herniation in the game

Really? Holy cow! That's crazy.

The came in seventh in the world for 14.

speaker-1 (46:45.208)
I don't remember if it was, was it two years ago? Like Roman Krenikov. He, he jumped, it was one of the events where he jumped, he jumped over the log and his foot came down and they like broke his foot. And in the last event he was doing double unders with one foot. Like I was like, whoa, like that. mean, that just doesn't show true, like.

I mean, it's complete pain, it's dark. this, her name is Sheila Bardon, but she, she described it because I've talked to both her and Kyle and they both have been at levels that are higher than even the folks that are over now. But, she, she, to her, it's, it was like when the bell rang, everything went dark. It just went dark and she felt like she was.

Yeah.

speaker-1 (47:22.348)
She

speaker-1 (47:29.848)
She was flying.

fascinating stuff dude yeah and and Kyle I've seen him compete many times at the CrossFit Games and he has another switch I mean you guys you know and I like to push him a little bit in the gym I don't know maybe you've seen it but I because I know he's got another switch and he's been on reserve for about three or four years now I'm not kidding dude I mean if he really wanted to like push it he would whip all of you every single one every single

Mm-hmm.

speaker-0 (48:02.42)
day. Why? It's not because he can lift X amount of pounds. It's because he has this another gear. It's another switch. And so I guess what I'm trying to say to you sir is don't apologize for wanting to win. Because that is going to give you the edge. Don't ever back off from that. Yes we need to enjoy the process and all that bullshit. You're going to be cutthroat. You're going be cutthroat. Who's like Goggins says man.

whose soul are you going to take? Sure. Whose soul are you willing to take? Sure. To be on that platform?

sure most definitely.

But I mean, that's serious. That's the way I view it. I don't know anything about it. mean, you're never going see me at the Olympic Games, you're never going see me a high level competition. But I believe that's what separates the animals.

And I think that CrossFit has really taught me has taught me that like I've never like growing up like mental toughness out of the water physical toughness out of the water like I never grew up in those areas like ever ever ever ever in my life like it was I grew up with my mom you know for 19 years I lived you know my parents separate when I was three and I lived my mom for all 19 years you know I grew up you know it was such a

speaker-1 (49:26.584)
was a mama's boy, 100 % was a mama's boy. And when I kind of even through college, when I met my wife, my wife, she was even like, dude.

soft huh? Like who am I dating right now? And then it was like I was like whoa like even my wife says like I like I gotta change something and like it wasn't that I wanted to change like it kind of was like who I was but then it was like

As I really like learned about, you know, learned about the Holy spirit and learned about the Bible and learned about what that is and how that is to be a man in a marriage. Like you're a leader. Like you, like you lead the household. Like it was also to the part of like my wife's parents live six hours away. I want to make sure that her dad knows that her daughter is protected at all times through every case. And then was like, I got into CrossFit and I was like, dude, there's some real grit behind this. Like there's some real, like, there's some pain behind this. Right. It's like.

I did Fran the first time and I feel like that I just ran 10 miles. Yes. was like from doing some thrusters and

It's Hold ups. Like what? It's nasty. You gotta go to a dark place. Listeners again, I am not, and Tanner knows this, and everybody in our gym knows this. I'm not, I'm the bottom of the gym. I'm nothing special, but I do know that even for dipshits like me, I've got to go to a dark place at my level. Yeah. To just, to like even want to do the workout. Sure. Even want to do the workout. Sure. You've to go to a dark place.

speaker-1 (50:34.04)
Yeah. And so I think that as I

speaker-1 (50:56.75)
And I think that even like through times, through training, like there's times where going to that dark place definitely needs like, I'll be super authentic in a way of saying that there's times where I need to go more to that dark place. Cause I know that I know that I have a few more years in me and I know it's there. And it's, know, I will be humble enough to see.

Do manifest things? you see yourself? Do you see yourself? Do you see yourself like going to that next gear? Can you see it? Can you manifest it? Those other guys can. I wish I could. I kind of can, but not really.

You know what's crazy is that

speaker-1 (51:30.924)
I think that when I started the compete stuff, I definitely was like, I would get done with the workout and I'd be like, I could have went one more year. And I hated that feeling. I hated that feeling that I got done with the workout. And I was like, dude, I could have went one more. Yeah. Where I feel like now.

That's what I see like when I do the CrossFit Open, Mike's what I thought of myself is I'm only gonna do this bullshit once. I'm not gonna do the sixth time. I'm gonna do this workout once. But you better damn well not have any regrets when you're done. You better freaking have put it all on the freaking table. And you better not put your hands on your hips and you better not hit the floor. I hate that.

that I've

speaker-1 (52:08.942)
I'm so, you know, that you just mentioned that because the first time that I met you, take your hands off your hips. said you're a fight, you know, don't, don't let these members like know that that's like, that's what we do here. And ever since, and that you said that I, I promise me, I promise you, whenever I put my hands on my hips, I take them off right away. Whether you're in a gym or not.

I told you to take your hands off

speaker-0 (52:22.05)
That's right.

speaker-0 (52:32.046)
thing is not that hard. It's a mental thing. It's a between the ear little thing.

I'll put them on my hands and I'll be like, oh wait, don't do that. Like, and I'll think about

Yeah, my joke is we're not we're not an 84th and Grover. We don't do that over. Yeah There are some people though in there that I'll let I won't say that That only means I like it dude if I said that

So it's it's funny.

speaker-1 (52:50.798)
But it's like, I think that...

Right. No, and I appreciate that. think that the biggest thing is it's through learning, like again, like I just got my feet wet in just in 10 months, 11 months in the competing program side of the things. And I'm really starting to learn like over this next series and like next, like this next year and this next quarter is it's like. I'm starting to see myself give just a little bit more, but I know that there's a few more gears and I'm starting to learn that.

those gears and how much more I have left in me.

Well Goggins says that, backpack to Goggins sorry, but I'm not sorry at all actually I love Goggins. Have you ever met him? I have not I would love to I've had an opportunity once it was gonna be a big check but um he thinks that most people's 100 % is really truly 40 % and he's not wrong. No. He's not wrong.

So it's you know, I would love to get to 50 % then on Goggins what he thinks you know, what Goggins would say would be 50%.

speaker-1 (54:02.478)
I've never.

You know, I've never in my life, it's, I've never puked during a workout ever, ever. And I'm waiting for the day that Kyle programmed something where, where that.

I refuse to do that.

speaker-0 (54:17.87)
yak. I've never done it. I've never done it and I suppose if you're giving a hug, know, without giving this effort, you should be like, should be, exercise the demon. Well, Casper Bauer himself says that his greatest explanation of the CrossFit to me was he said it was the practical application of the spiritual battle and that's it is. So yeah, you got to throw up some demons, don't you?

Yeah. Yeah. I'm glad you do. You sure do. Like it. Yeah, it's a, it's a whole, but it's crazy too. Cause like, I go back to like, when I was, you know, when I played sports, like the reason why I started CrossFit was like, I had a company that I was working for that gave me the opportunity to do CrossFit and they paid for my membership and stuff like that. And which was so cool. And I got like my feet wet and that got my feet wet nutrition, but through like sports, it was just like, I kind of went there just to do it every day. Right.

It was just kind of like, like all my friends play sports, all my friends play baseball, lacrosse football. That's I'm just here where I feel like that when I step into the gym, like ever since I've really made like since day one of stepping into CrossFit, I'm walking in there and know that I'm

Like that's, yeah.

speaker-1 (55:29.484)
Whatever I'm fighting that day, I'm going to get through that because I just walked in the front doors of the gym. Like, I mean, Kyle says it, the hardest way to you that you do is when you open up that front door. That's the hardest way to every single day. And I think that there's been always a new purpose or a new idea of why I'm walking into the gym every day.

Right. So, right. Yeah. I joked that I'd never joined that. It's not a joke. I have said that I've never joined that gym to make friends and you do make friends. Sure. But sometimes I, I almost want to go to classes that I don't know anybody or I'm just, cause I don't want to talk to anybody. I just want to go to that place where I just, I don't want to.

Yeah.

speaker-0 (56:16.978)
I don't want to be social. I don't want anything. I just want to focus 100 % on this. You ever face that? Like have you ever dropped? I'm sure you've dropped in across the country.

speaker-1 (56:25.774)
It's funny that you say, I haven't dropped into a gym in a while, but like in my first like few years of doing CrossFit, like I would go to, I would go to like these drop-ins and they'd be like, here's the RX version and here's the RX plus version. I'm like, I'm doing the RX plus version. like, again, that extra gear was there. It was like, I'm here at a place where I'm here just to fight and just get a great workout in. like, it was like, Hey, I'm here to prove something to somebody of like, I want to prove that I'm an

Great.

free. but yeah, like most definitely, like I'd go in there like, I'm not friends with anybody. I'm just here to get a good workout and just bang through it. Just have so much fun and just grind through the workout.

Do you, has it been your experience that other CrossFit gyms like say if you're, you know, your top 5 % at our gym where you're like, so in relative terms, then you probably would like the number one dog at other gyms.

no, I wouldn't say that. feel like that honestly, you go to a lot of these other gyms and there's some athletes.

speaker-0 (57:29.102)
there are there's some people on there's lot of people that have athletic backgrounds and so forth and yeah, there's blessed genetically

Yeah, like I went to a gym called CrossFit Insight out in Arizona and I was like, went into it thinking like, this is going to be like a great gym. I'm going have so much fun. Like I'm going to be, you know, up in the top of some of the fun guys. Like this is going to be great. And I got in there and got my butt swooped. I was like, whoa, like these guys can work. Like it was like, I was like, holy cow. And I feel like the. Yeah.

Yeah, it's always different going to different places. It's just a good experience. is, it's cool. Yeah, I mean, I can't say this today. Well, maybe I can, but five or six years ago, I was doing a lot of that. I've probably been to 40 or I've been to 40 different cross-country, all around the country, but because I just travel all the time, most other gyms, mean, Kinesis have always been the bottom, but

These other gyms, I'm sort of like in the middle. So I always feel like I'm going to go to Kinesis. It keeps me sharp.

Yeah, no, I, I've always said that like, when I, they're never like,

speaker-1 (58:43.074)
There's always like the goal. think everyone has like a goal to make it right. Everyone has a goal to win and wants to be like up at the top. And for me, it's like.

There is a goal to be at the top, like, I, I know that like, there's more like there, like I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I work every single day to be to the top and be to the top. And one day I will get there, but I know that it will never quit. Like I even see Kyle and Christian, how they work and they've been doing it for 12, 15, how many years? And those, I mean, I watched those two and I'm like, holy cow.

a long time.

speaker-1 (59:20.194)
I feel like that they're still, you know, giving it everything that they got every single day that they come in and those guys are up at the top of our gym every single day.

Well, it's amazing they still have the desire and drive. Because that's a lot of years of having that level. I mean, at some point you're just like, I mean, it's pretty remarkable stuff.

Yeah, think that those two guys have been, Kyle and Christian have been two guys that I've really...

that have kind of been big impacts in my life and like in my like stages of all of this weight loss and the, know, the, you know, through CrossFit and stuff like that. And it's just, are two people that I look up to so much and that, you know, look as like one day I want to be where that is. know, I hear all the stories about Kyle and you know, every gym that I go to like, what gym do go to? CrossFit, Kinesis. yeah, Kyle. like, yeah.

not everybody knows who Kyle Caffer is. Don't give him that.

speaker-1 (01:00:14.92)
The only one gym that did known Kyle was was a crossfit gym out in Sedalia Sedalia,

Well, they don't count. No, he's kind of the goat. I he is. mean, if people been around for a while, he's kind of he's kind of he's kind of a Tom Brady, honestly, given them what he's done. So we're very we're very lucky to have him. Sure. Definitely. I hope he's not listening. You don't want to this through his freaking head.

speaker-0 (01:00:43.906)
Ha

speaker-0 (01:00:50.958)
When you zoom out 10 years from now, what kind of man do you want to become and what is the purpose driving that vision? You've talked a little bit about that.

Yeah, think, yeah, 10 years from now, I I definitely see myself, you know, having a family. And I see my guys just see.

The biggest thing that I want to build is like, not only just for like, for my family, but also for people is like, at somewhere, like I'm still trying to find out like, what kind of impact can I give to people outside of, you know, what CrossFit has done for me and like what having a healthy lifestyle looks like for me and like, what can I do? Like what CrossFit and what I want to give back in some way. And so,

Same thing with like my family too. Like I want to be able to build like I want to be able to build a lifestyle and a healthy standard for my family as well. Like I want to be able to show my kids that like, Hey, this is what dad looked like when he was younger, but this is all like, this is what dad did in a, know, in 10 months, 11 months. And I explained to them that you can do anything that you put your mind to and you can fight for anything that you want through any enemy, through anything that you people in your ear, doesn't matter what it is. You can get through something.

And I feel like that's the biggest thing that I want to be able to teach my kids because I think I mean we were just talking about this year night with my wife I was like I was like To think when our kids are teenagers like what this world is gonna look like like it's so like I try to think about that I'm like even right now like phones like this thing is like I

speaker-0 (01:02:23.596)
Listen to you.

Well, AI, we just talked about AI is going to be, it's, the world's going to look like, here's the deal. Here's my thought on it. Um, nothing new. haven't discussed on this podcast, but it's, it's work weeks are probably going to be two or three days a week. And so what are people going to do with the rest of their time? Are they going to surround getting soft? Are they going to get hard? Uh, and so I think there's a real opportunity for those people that want to do something besides.

Mm-hmm.

speaker-0 (01:02:57.39)
Be soft to really change the world. mean, and there's you're going to advance much quicker in the world, right? By having a lot of these the grit, the determination and courage and all these things that we've been talking about. And so I don't know if the world's going to have more of that or they're going to have less of it. Are we going to have more cowboys or we're to have more eggheads? I don't know. I just don't know. So.

Yeah. Yeah. But I think that that's been the whole thing is it's like what

What kind of legacy can you build and like what can you learn now that I can give to my kids on that side of things, but then also to like 10 years from now, like I really hope that I'm giving a huge impact to people in the CrossFit space, you know, whether that's through coaching, whether that's through, you know, letting people hear my story, you know, hearing, you being able to just.

give back to what people have done for me. Yeah. Cause I don't think like, yeah, like I did this by myself. Sure. But like even yourself, Kyle Christian, mean, not even just that, but everybody at the gym, if I would have not been there one day, they're always like, Hey man, you been? See, and I think that that's some of the

Yeah, that's the thing about that place. Even my nooners, somebody isn't, when there's a little group of us, if somebody's not there, I'll send them a little call, little text, just a little, the hell have been? But I'm out there an entire month of January, people are really gonna want to tell it happened, huh?

speaker-1 (01:04:23.587)
Like I was.

speaker-1 (01:04:27.796)
Yeah, mean, the community at the gym is so big that it's like, I bought into it first day I was there and it's like, it's not just me that did it. was other people that were there through the journey that kind of gave maybe they didn't give any money. They didn't give two hours of their time. They gave maybe a minute of their time just to have a conversation with me. Yeah. Giving that back in somewhere.

And you're good at that, by the way. think you're very kind to people and I've noticed that. for you. Good on you. Most people think I'm an a-hole, but I'm really not. Well, I appreciate it to our time together. I'm going to ask you just a whimsical, kind of off the beaten question that I've asked other guests on this podcast from time to time. I think it's a fascinating question that no one's going to have the same answer to. And that is, does that have anything to do with CrossFit or losing weight or anything like that?

Thank

speaker-0 (01:05:20.592)
It is if you had found a box that was labeled everything that you've lost in your life Okay, what would be the first thing in that box you'd look for?

Like you're talking everything that I've lost.

anything you've lost. can be however you perceive it to be.

I'm gonna get a little personal here. I'd be my grandpa. I'd be my grandpa. Yeah, the man that...

Yeah! That's a good one. Your mom's mom or mom's dad or dad's dad?

speaker-1 (01:05:54.286)
It's actually my great grandpa, so my mom's mom's dad. Yeah. My mom's mom's dad. He, you know, I just think about him, Frank Sinatra, he was like the, that was his favorite. Growing up as a kid, you know, I watched him, the way that he treated my grandma, the way that he treated, you know, my mom, the way that he treated.

You're lucky, those are your great grandfather we're talking about. Not many people get to know their great grand...

Yeah, so I knew I knew every one of my great grandparents Statement yeah, no, I yeah cuz I knew yes, I knew every single one of them except

That's an incredible

speaker-0 (01:06:34.146)
That's incredible. The only one that got there, he was alive. That's my grandpa, Steele. I don't remember him, but he and then my that's my great grandmother, Mary Fisher. And she she was alive. That's first time that she ever left Garden County, Nebraska in her entire life was to come see me. Really? Yep. So first time she ever left the county. Isn't that something? About me, about you.

Anyway, it's crazy. No, that's I mean, it's it's crazy to hear like even looking at some of these photos. I look at the foot like when I was younger like even now like holy cow, that's that's an old phone.

Well, I'm an old man.

But he was you know, I was told I was told my wife or like he like my wife always said like

You know, you like the way that I treat her as my wife or just even just women in general, like everyone's treated very respectfully. And that's how my grandpa was always held the door for people, you know, always made sure that had a conversation with them was look at them in the eye, always made sure that, you know, if he was going to have a conversation, wasn't a two minute conversation of, how you been? okay. Cool. See ya. No, you're going to sit down. You're gonna have a conversation with them and you're going to talk about life. And you know, every that's just how my grandpa was. my grandma had a huge impact. Yes.

speaker-0 (01:07:47.31)
Impact? I was going to say impact.

When it when he was when I was younger he would talk to me for 20 30 minutes and then as they got older he would because I think I don't I don't know this stuff but back in the day was it that you had to pay for your minutes on your phone so that was a bit I know right I know know know know so he would call and he'd be like all right well

Yes.

speaker-0 (01:08:08.878)
still have friends and families, Friar. You're top five right here.

We're probably spending too much money on the phone with you right now. So I better let you go. I'm like, no, you're good. And so it was always a funny joke when that kind of went around, Losing him was hard. Like it was definitely.

Roll over it.

speaker-1 (01:08:34.606)
21.

wow, old enough to remember.

Yeah, and it's crazy like how it all kind of happened because like he was so close to my grandma too like my like my grandma and I are like this like we are inseparable and it's when so

your great-grandmother still alive.

No, she passed away. she okay. So she passed away before him and okay. And then he passed away. He had throat cancer. But my grandma was super they were like, close like that was his baby. Like they were best friends and everything. And we actually they lived in Vegas. And so we went down there for the funeral. And when it happened, it was like, it was such a cool experience because because he was in the military. they did like a whole military ceremony and everything. But like it was such a

speaker-1 (01:09:19.322)
devastating loss that my grandma ended up having a stroke during the funeral.

She

she the doctor was flown flew out from California to put a basket of head because she had such a bad brain bleed and like it saved her life and it was like it was such a detrimental loss that it was such like an impact on all of our family that it was kind of the first loss that my wife got to see in my family and saw how hard it was on all of us but yeah mean it was it was super I mean it was at an older age I mean it was it was definitely hard

Yes.

speaker-0 (01:09:56.344)
Wow. But. For following.

any chance that I can get. I I still have so many things of his. mean, there's times where I'm like going through old stuff that I have in the basement. I'm like, yeah, this is my grandpa. It's like, it's just cool. I actually have a, I have like a shadow box and it's got like all of his medals. It's got his some dollar bills that he got like when he was in Vietnam or when he was in Korea from the Korean war.

like a bunch of different pictures of him just in one big box and I have it hanging up downstairs, kind of like my little man cave. And it's always like a remembrance of like him of like what he's like, kind of what he used to teach me and like what I've learned from him. And I think that's a big thing of like what I bring to the gym and like where I am right now. Like, I want to make he's with you buddy. I want him to look down on me and like know like, like you like, I'm doing this with you. So he's with you. Yeah, for sure.

That's right. Awesome. Cool. Thanks for your time brother. Great chat. Bye.

Yeah, thank you. really appreciate it.