The CrossFit Pittsburgh Podcast
We have been a CrossFit Affiliate since 2006. We are one of the originals. My wife and I opened our doors when I was home between deployments to Iraq. It's been an amazing adventure spanning thousands of miles between us over the course of 12 years deployed to Iraq, Afghanistan and elsewhere. We formed amazing bonds. Lost good friends. And learned a lot about ourselves and our community. Throughout the course of this Podcast we will discuss all of that and more. We will talk about the people we have encountered along the way and the lessons we learned.
The CrossFit Pittsburgh Podcast
Coach Profile: Blake Schaub, Part 2
What happens when passion meets perseverance? Join us for an inspiring episode as we reconnect with our first-ever coach, Blake Schaub. We dive into heartfelt conversations about our sons' fitness journeys, from the challenges of CrossFit to the discipline of Brazilian jiu-jitsu. Listen as we share personal stories that highlight the delicate balance between motivating our kids and allowing them to find their own pace. Together, we explore how subtle encouragement can foster resilience and determination, shaping young lives through the important life lessons gained from physical fitness.
Blake and I also take a nostalgic trip down memory lane, reflecting on the joys and rewards of teaching martial arts. Hear about Michael's incredible transformation from an energetic child to a skilled martial artist, complete with humorous anecdotes from his mischievous childhood. Blake shares insights from his coaching experience at Shaler High School, where hard work and perseverance led his volleyball team to an inspiring comeback. These stories underscore the profound impact of dedication and resilience, illustrating how overcoming setbacks can pave the way for future success.
In a broader discussion on parenting and education, we delve into the importance of being a consistent presence in a child's life and the critical role of extracurricular activities. From music and arts programs to community support and charity work, we explore the holistic support systems that nurture youth development. Get a sneak peek into Logan Schaub's exciting venture into starting a youth CrossFit YouTube channel and the potential it holds to inspire others. This episode is a heartfelt blend of personal stories, valuable insights, and inspiring conversations that you won’t want to miss.
And we are back. So here again with our first ever coach, blake Schaub. And yesterday, I think, where we left off, we were talking about our sons. Yes, and my son is. He's our baby. But our baby's now a 19-year-old, 6-foot, 240-pound bull. Yeah, 19-year-old, 6-foot, 240-pound bull. And you were talking about Logan and unfortunately you were not permitted to name him Wolverine. But listen, you know what Logan's like. That's a cool name. It probably caused him less grief down the road, probably.
Speaker 2:And most likely nobody's going to shorten it or he won't get a different nickname, right? If you're a Wolverine job, you might, yeah, people might not. But you know what I'll call you that.
Speaker 1:At the same time, you know you grow up with a name like Wolverine you might be. You know, develop some skills. You know like some.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I mean, you're like a boy named Sue, right, Exactly you.
Speaker 1:You either take a beating all the time or you give them out Exactly, but kids are downstairs again getting after it in the CrossFit kid class and we're back up here talking about all things CrossFit over our time together. So yeah, and I think the story that I wanted to tell you and I don't know if I got to that point, but when I started taking Michael with me to train Brazilian jiu-jitsu, I was about 13 when he started and I was adamant and maybe it was a mistake, but I think I wanted to keep an eye, like I know my son and I think if you put him in a class with other kids, he'll kind of he'll see like how the pace is and he'll be fine to go at that pace. You know, and I don't want to come across as that dad, that's like you know got to be first, got to be first.
Speaker 2:You know what I mean Ricky Bobby syndrome Right.
Speaker 1:But there's like, there's a balance where you're like what, where's the start button that you have to push?
Speaker 2:And you know, know, I just, I, I don't know, maybe there's somewhere in a book about that, but I didn't read it. Yeah, you know, it's funny because we kind of like we're talking about that a little bit yesterday and I thought, you know, when Logan had started crossing kids a month or two ago or whatever, like I, most of the time it was during volleyball, so I wasn't able to go and whatever but I'd take him here and there and and he comes out the the one class.
Speaker 2:I'm like, oh, how'd it go? Oh, yeah, it was good. And you know what'd you do. And you know it tells me spattering what they did, or whatever it's like. Yeah, it was a partner workout I worked out with with so-and-so and you know, at the end we figured out that if you move slower then you don't have to do as much. And he said, but we only did that for like two minutes and then we finished really fast and hard and I said, oh, okay, and I went home. And you know, again, because I I am very much, we are very much at odds whenever he says something like that, now I I'm just kind of, I accept it. And then I went and I had a conversation with Jess and I said, hey, maybe you should talk to him about this. And I told her the story why don't you say something? I said because if I say it, it's not going to be accepted.
Speaker 2:It's not going to work, and you know. And she sat him down and had a conversation with him and he's like okay, now I get it.
Speaker 1:So it's like now he gets it.
Speaker 2:You don't want to have to take it If you have to if you have to slow down, then you slow down. But if you're just like man, this is really starting to suck, I'm just going to slow down like you don't do that, but that's you know, whenever, whenever you're in a class with other kids and you're partnered up with somebody, or or even in a regular class, you're partnering up with somebody, you're new, and they're like oh, we need to. Just let's just take a minute right, and it's like wait, why?
Speaker 2:right, you know or like if you, if you go, you know, and you I'm sure you've experienced this before too but like you go out and you're running you know and like, murph is a great example, like you're on that second mile right, and all you want to do is stop.
Speaker 2:But it's like, well, shit, if I stop, like what's what's gonna come of that right. And then you just figure like, well, but if I, if I stop, I'm just going to stand here, or I could slow my run down to a jog, or I could walk for a minute or so and then like at least I continue to put one foot in front of the other and move toward the goal as opposed.
Speaker 2:you know, but at that point you're so you know, just like I just want to be done, but stopping doesn't help you. And I think like once you get into, you get into a training program for long enough you learn that. And I think again, if you're in a class of path of least resistance, you don't get that always, but once you learn that then you're like oh well, this is.
Speaker 1:I know that I stopping is stupid right like right I'll walk until I can run again but like stopping is is awful.
Speaker 2:And yesterday, uh, when we dropped when I dropped a little enough alex was saying like every time we do burpees, we talk about you, because anytime somebody rests on their with their hands on the knees, andrew always says Blake says you're halfway there, just keep going. And that's true, right, the hard part of the burpee is getting to the floor, right? So if you go halfway there and rest on your knees, just put your hands on the ground and take a breath on the ground and sit back up.
Speaker 1:It's funny how the thought process works, you know, um, and I think exactly to that point. So when I approached my friends who I trained with and this wasn't a class, this was at at the school where my friend taught early Sunday morning we'd go in and train, you know, by ourselves, a very small group of us. So Michael started training and one particular he got to be about 15, 15 and a half. Every one of those guys that was like yeah, man, you're welcome to train with us. That's cool that he's here. They still liked having him, but 15, 15 and a half, each of them separately takes me aside and they're like hey, man, just to let you know, I can't go easy on him anymore. They're like he's too strong, he's too fast and he doesn't forget anything, you know. And that, to me, is like that's something that I've noticed about him. All of our kids there there, whether it's athletics or you know whatever, I mean like I'll share this with you because it's almost, I guess it's funny. Well, I thought it's funny. Michael is that kind of kid that if he can't be bothered, forget it, whereas alex and emily they were like and I want to play this sport and I want to go to dance class and I wanted that, that, that, and they were all about it. Michael was like can't be bothered, and then something will strike and, like you know, jujitsu was more like my hey man, come on, why don't you train with me? It'll be fun, right, and he liked it. But I also realized I'm like, all right, he's rolling with grown men, all of whom had, you know, multiple belts in several other disciplines, disciplines. And then I bring that up because it was like, while we were, we were jujitsu only at that time, every one of these guys had a background elsewhere. So, you know, he wasn't, it wasn't in a beginner's class, it wasn't in a kid's class, and the more he rolled with them, the more confident he got. One of them was his um. He taught michael all of our kids fifth and sixth grade, either homeroom and or math. And one of the first times Michael got on the mat with him, he goes okay, 13. Okay, mr Rowe, this is for all that, math homework. And Steve's like such a good dude. He smiles, he goes okay, michael, you know.
Speaker 1:But as he got older, he just got, you know, proficient, and I will remember this and you'll get your day. You will have it, whether it's it'll probably be like more of like a CrossFit scenario, I would think, but you won't ever forget it. So the nature of the class is like you drill, okay, guys, you know today's lesson plan, like the workout of the day, today's lesson plan is we're going to work on arm bars or we're going to work on guillotine shows, whatever. So you practice and practice and practice, and then you move around with different partners. You know. Then, when you get to the last, maybe 40 minutes or so, all right, you know you got a mouth guard, go get it.
Speaker 1:And now you're just, it's like sparring and what you'll do is like, you know, five minute rounds and you'll, you'll partner up, and so you got a big mad area and it's like, you know, you and me and two other guys here, two other guys there, and round and round it goes.
Speaker 1:If there's an odd number, you have one guy out, right. So this particular day and it was hot, like kind of like it is in here today. You know it's hot and you're going and you're exhausted, I mean probably drilled for like an hour and a half or, however, hour 45, and the next thing, you know, we pair up. So my first five minute with one of the other guys and then, as we do the rotation you know who am I up with now, but, michael, and you know I'm tired and you know we're all tired, so just long story short in an effort to minimize now, you still practice takedowns and you still work the takedowns, yeah, but in an effort to minimize having to take down like all the time. Often when you roll you start on your knees, right, you know.
Speaker 1:You face each other like in a kneeling, you know, like a crowd, you know you know, touch hands at the buzzer and go right like touching gloves in boxing right buzzer goes off we touch hands. As soon as we touch hands, he grabs my wrist and pulls me across and, instead of thinking like all right defense, first thing that goes through my mind, I'm like man that was nice like that was quick, you know.
Speaker 1:Well, I'm admiring his work so much. Now he's behind me so he spins around, he takes my back and I'm thinking, whoa, now I'm. I'm like, oh my god, like this guy, like good job. Yeah, well, say good job when you're the odd man out watching him, do it, not when you're like the guy he's doing it to Right. So he comes around and he sinks an elbow.
Speaker 1:So you know, right away, like I go, you know, both hands on his arm, I'm getting my, my chin into the V in his elbow. Next thing, you know, he throws one leg over and I'm like man, this guy is in there, he's like this. So I'm still critiquing like how well he's doing as I'm trying to mount my defense. Next thing, I know he's got my back, he's got both hooks in and I I just feel his other hand come up and I'm like son of a bitch and I'm thinking, all right, you know, there's no shame in tapping out and I'm like plus I'm not sure his reaction if he chokes me out like what's he gonna do? You know, um, so you know I tap and he comes back around in front and I'm like, so, like I'm overwhelmed, like I'm so proud, you know, but at the same time I'm like michael, I'm like that was you know, good job, buddy. And he's like, like you know, he's going like this.
Speaker 1:And I go no, seriously, man, I said you know, I didn't, I didn't go easy, like I didn't give you that. You understand that right, like that was all you. He goes yeah, dad, yeah, and I'm still like not get, I'm like Dad. He point the little bastard points at the clock. He goes come on, like we're wasting time. I'm like OK, so yeah, but you know what I mean? It made me raise my game.
Speaker 2:Yeah so.
Speaker 1:Absolutely. But those are the kind of things and I think a lot of it, and that's the thing I think is so cool about now seeing your boy out here training. I remember those days so well when, michael and again, you remember when he was really little he was like a force of nature, he'd run. I think I said this on. I was a guest on Jay Mitlow's podcast a couple weeks ago and I believe I told this story there. But, um, you remember when he was in, when Michael, not not Jay- when Michael was in his ass biting phase I think so.
Speaker 1:Yeah, oh, my God, he was he. He couldn't have been more than two, but he was like, he was mobile and he'd run around, you know, and and um, like a couple of times he'd like run over to any of the young ladies that were like either coaching or working out. He'd like run up behind him and bite him on the butt and run off, and I'm like I don't even know how to start that. You know, michael, like what, you know, what are you doing? And off he goes. I'm like, oh Lord, I think the only thing that probably saved like any kind of like litigation was the fact that he was only two. Yeah, right, you know it's like, but it's, you know, and I think that's one of the things that we have just about this is especially bringing the kids program to finally, you know, to fruition, because it's something that we've wanted to do for quite a long time and, you know, finally just made it happen. Because that's the one thing I've learned, too is, I think, if you wait, you know.
Speaker 2:For the right time. Yeah, it's like being a parent that's exactly like you you know, I mean, I remember, I remember what jess told me, that that she was pregnant with loads. She's like I don't think we're ready. I was like, um, I'm pretty sure you're never ready. Yeah, like if you, if you wait till you're ready or till everything's perfect, then you know like you might miss your opportunity. Yeah, you know, and I think with you know like you might miss your opportunity.
Speaker 2:Yeah, you know, and I think with you know it's funny because obviously the kids that I teach are older than CrossFit kid age right, when you're talking about 9th through 12th grade. But like there is such an issue with, like it's not even just adolescent obesity or whatever, but it's just so many people that come through that they're like just apathetic to to taking gym class yeah, like I'll cover it I'll cover a gym class and you know you have these kids that that like refuse to dress, like they just can't they just refuse to do it, you know, and it's like man I I think there's, you know and again talking about the education system you know we have um.
Speaker 2:You know I've met administrators before that are like no, we should cut you. You know you get rid of it, like why, and then you think about, like man, the amount of the amount of dopamine that you can release from getting some activity in, especially, you know, like where I'm at, there's most of the rooms in the building that don't have windows.
Speaker 2:So you don't see sunlight, you don't get any of those benefits, and you know you're in this. You know recirculated air all day, and then you have a chance to go and you, like you know, they tell you what is it. It's an eight minute mile for for an a and there are kids that are like the athletes in the building, that don't do it like they refuse to get an a because they don't want to push themselves too hard, or whatever.
Speaker 2:It's like man you know, like the benefits of that and by teaching kids, young, how to move properly, right you, you eliminate so many of those of those habits that we just form. You know it's like hey, uh, squat down, pick that up. And if you know you can't do that. Or even it's funny, like during volleyball practice, a lot of times if my back is bothering me or whatever, I'll just sit in the bottom of the spot and they're like, how do you do that?
Speaker 1:yeah, you know what's.
Speaker 1:Listen, honest to god, I just I don't know why this popped into my head the other day, like out of the left field, had nothing to do with anything that was going on, but do you remember a while ago it was a friend of one of our members, and I don't remember who for the life of me, but she was involved in like her community's soccer organization or something like that, and she wanted to be like the, the soccer mom who brought CrossFit, like to augment the kids training, and we went out to a pizza, if you remember, um, as way back it was jen jackie and you and me, okay, and we went out to catch the tail end of their practice.
Speaker 1:Uh, right after one of our evening classes at our original box, right, and we get there and I remember, like it was yesterday, you overheard one of the boys and I am convinced of this, I really am. We both have sons and we both have daughters. Right, I mean, I am convinced Boys are dicks, and I don't necessarily mean yours and mine. I'm just saying that as a gender and I know I'm not speaking for you.
Speaker 1:You're my brother, I love you. I'll speak for myself. You know, there's that strong tendency to like no, no, no, I got it, I got it. Okay, well, do you? Because two things might happen here. One, you might get hurt. That's the worst case scenario. Two, you just might not do it right, In which case, like that progressive flow chart, you know, okay, you get it wrong, you might, you're probably going to get hurt. You don't get it right, but you're not 100% wrong. Okay, you might not get hurt. Today you dodge that bullet, but guess what, you keep pushing that and you know, but, um, I swear, I think it was you that took me. You came over to the side, you go, yeah, yeah. This kid over here just heard him say to his buddies like okay, remember no heroes guys, no heroes.
Speaker 1:So what are we all? We're all going to sandbag, so nobody looks bad. I'm like, hey, you know what? This is not torture. This is supposed to make you better, and it will. But interesting, and what I do remember most vividly is we got them in a big circle and we were just doing a warm-up, just doing a warm-up, and we started off with like, okay, gonna do some air squats.
Speaker 1:I think back then the industry standard in in our community was, um, tabata squats. And then you, you transition it into bottom to bottom tabatas, right, yeah, and we're doing squats in levi's, you and I and the same smart ass that was like, oh, no heroes, guys, no heroes, you know. And and now today he's probably some kind of I don't know, you know, probably where, he probably has like a number after his name, like the third or some bullshit like that. You know, I'm saying, and he's probably like working in daddy's office somewhere, you know, and I don't stereotype, mind you, I'm just saying because this kind of attitude real, real, like arrogant. He looks at me and he goes, how can you do a squat in Levi's while he's holding like a quarter squat? And I look right across at him and I go how can you not do a full squat in soccer shorts? I'm like it's not about you know. I mean like what?
Speaker 1:I don't know you know, I don't and I think more it's it's it's a mindset, it's you know you won't turn it on, because here's the truth, you won't turn it on during the game. If you've never turned it on during practice, right, it just doesn't. And if you do, then you're not tapping your truest potential. Maybe you'll find that out at some point, hopefully, but I remember that so vividly. And yet, you know, at the same time, you're like my mindset was totally different back then, because we were doing I was doing CrossFit on deployments and then I would come home and try to like re-assimilate and do CrossFit at our box.
Speaker 2:But yeah, it was just, I was a very different person back then and I think you know it's funny because so we just today was our official last day of volleyball. We had uniform turn-ins and everything and I you know, and we had 12 seniors oh, wow.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it was a huge senior class, right, I mean. And one of the things I said to them today at the end was I was, in the past three years since I started doing it, I said I'm so impressed by the work ethic that you guys have right, because, again, I live in a world where minimal is okay yeah right, I mean, I had a conversation years ago with somebody I can remember.
Speaker 2:I turned tests back to kids and in the in the girl this girl that got 100 immediately hit her test and the kid that got. Years ago with somebody I can remember I turned tests back to kids and this girl that got 100% immediately hit her test and the kid that got like a 52% was like ah, I got a 52% and I was like wait a second.
Speaker 1:We are so far down the rabbit hole. Now what did?
Speaker 2:this change and to go and have an opportunity to coach these boys who give it their all every day and they're not. You know like, look, we play against teams that have some genetic freaks. You know you're talking about kids that are 6, 8 sophomores and you know, whatever we had, you know we're an average-sized team, like maybe 6'1", 6'2" at the most, whatever but they put in so they dedicated so much time and effort to making sure they were working out, to make sure they were getting stronger doing jump training, all these things that like they get right.
Speaker 2:And you know even our younger kids too, like at you know, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18 years old. They're like we know how to do this. And I said to them I said you know, I hope you understand that the hard work and dedication that you show to be as good as you can be at your sport, if you apply that to every aspect of your life, you know you will ultimately be able to achieve the things you want to achieve. Right, and I said, look, it might not, you know, you might not always get the perfect result. But like being apathetic and just being like I will, like I tried my best. But if you don't really try your best, like what can you expect from?
Speaker 2:it Right, you know, and it's, like you know, I had said that to the, to the seniors, and then, like the juniors, I said I hope it's a good lesson to you that you know these group of seniors who had tremendous success. Right they were, they were the most successful they could well, let me.
Speaker 1:Let me just put this in, because I think this is as being a new host, right? Uh, blake is a teacher at Shaler High School, correct? And he's also a volleyball coach. Now, your team just came back from states, right? Not for the first time, correct?
Speaker 2:We had made it to the state finals last year and unfortunately, we did not get the result we wanted, right.
Speaker 2:We ended up losing to a team from the Philadelphia area or the eastern side of the state, parkland, and they played a great match. Last year we did not, and you know I'll tell you what it made those boys hungry, and it just so happened to work out that we made it back again this year, and so did Parkland. So we got to have a rematch and it literally went the exact opposite way. So they beat us three sets to zero last year and then we beat them three sets to zero this year.
Speaker 1:So we came back from Penn State as state champions in 3A volleyball and PA here and it's just such a cool thing because you get to see that hard work pay off right, and and what a thing for the boys who, who well, not just juniors, but I mean the underclassmen last year, oh yeah, to have been there, to have made it to all the way right, all the way to the finals, and lost anybody. And I I told this to my son one time once, and my daughter's I, and again, it's not like he's not like he's some like hard case little charles bronson that I gotta like keep him on the path, I think.
Speaker 1:I think largely because he's the baby. Yeah, you know, he's the youngest and he's the only boy and you know for his first how many years I was on deployments most of that time. So you know. When I would come home, I didn't, you know, exercise discipline in a way. But more than that I was like man whatever. If he wanted to wake up and have you know Hershey's chocolate syrup on a Froot Loops in the morning, I'd give it to him, you know. But I think you know it was one of those talks and I was like Michael. The thing I can tell you is this you know, believe me, and you know I can hear my own dad's words, like when I was a teenager. You know, and if you can only believe me, trust me on this.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, yeah yeah, but somehow or other, a teenage boy always knows better. You know, um, easiest thing you ever do in your life ever is quit, and it gets easier every time, right, um, and whether you hey, man, I'm not going to work out to, but now you and I both know this too. It's a very, very slippery slope. It's like. It's like not even a tightrope, it's like a razor's edge where you get to a point and you go all right, I'm not going to quit. So what happens?
Speaker 1:I'm feeling chronic fatigue, I'm worn out, I've got pain in my back. But I know better and I know that if I just get through this warm-up and I do some squats, it's going to go away, and then it doesn't, it only gets worse. But now what you've done is you've gone so far through like I'm not going to quit. Well, okay, it's not quitting if you take a recovery day. So you kind of got to learn that throttle control a little bit. But I think for the boys who were on the team last year, how wild, how wild to like the full experience Then to come back. I imagine preseason they came in with a fire. Offseason they trained with a fire.
Speaker 2:Oh, my gosh yeah.
Speaker 1:Right.
Speaker 1:So again, congratulations, man. Season. They came in with a fire off season, they trained with a fire, right. So again, good, congratulations, man. That is, that's, that's the way it ought to be, right, hard work. But you know, and you hit something else too, and I know this isn't really the nature of of. You know what we're, what we're getting after, but you would be in an education, secondary education, you know, I, for about a minute, I was involved in education from an administrative.
Speaker 1:You know, I don't even say that, like I don't consider myself an administrator. I was director of security at a large school district and I'll tell you and I mean this, you know, not about hurting feelings or anything like that, think the worst part about our school system. Uh, largely I split the blame 50 50 with, um, some weak-ass administrators and some parents, you know where, where you don't want to hear, no, your kid can't possibly be part of the problem, right, or it's somebody else that needs to fix it now. On the other hand, I've got utmost respect for parents who have come. You know, listen, I'm at my wit's end, I don't know.
Speaker 1:I remember sitting with this lovely grandmother. I mean, god bless her. She was just a, just a wonderful woman and she was like I just don't know what to do with my grandson, I just don't know. And you know, the kid was, I mean, like second grade, and I think the craziest part about it was, you know, the first time I was involved with him. I just happened to be in that particular elementary school when he was having an issue and you know I was able to go in. I mean, I asked, I was like okay, can I go in and sit down with him? And they're like sure, so I go in. And he'd already kind of like as much as a, how old are you when you're in second grade? You know, like seven maybe.
Speaker 1:So he kind of trashed the outer office, like you know, there were like little pamphlets and things. He like tore them and, you know, tossed them and stuff like that. So I sat down beside him. I was like hey, man, I'm like you, okay, he's coming down from like a crying fit, you know, and he's like he looks up at me, you know, and he goes, am I in trouble? And I'm like not for me, I'm like I was just walking by and I said I saw, yeah, I saw you in here. I said you look pretty upset, I go, it was everything Next thing. You know like we're in in in this particular um, it wasn't like the office lobby, but I think it was rather like the outer office of one of the vice principals of the school. Okay, and it's an elementary school, so it was like a little table and it's got some like what do you call it Like not toys per se, but like learning toys.
Speaker 1:You know, right, right, right. So he's, you know he's sitting in the chair at the time. I sit down, like in this, you know, chair beside him and we start talking and I'm, I mean I must have spent like an hour with him, you know, and you know we're talking a little bit this and this, and first of all I mean the boy's on medication, but he doesn't always take his medication, that type, and that that's like such a a bigger issue. You know, and, like I said, you know, when his grandmother arrived and and you know I got to talk to her a little bit there's no quick answer for it, there's not. But I'm looking at this kid, you know, seven years old, and the one thing I remember, like it was yesterday, everything gets kind of resolved. You know he's calm, his grandmother's, you know she's calm, and I said why? And I said, listen, buddy, and I did, I got my watch and I'm like, oh my, I'm like, buddy, I'm sorry, I'm like I've got to go, and real matter of fact, like not, you know it wasn't like a pivotal moment, but real matter of fact, he goes. Hey, can you come back tomorrow. And I'm like, yeah, yeah, I sure can. I said, well, I'm not sure what time. I said but I'll, I'll be back tomorrow, he goes.
Speaker 1:Okay, I got home and I told jen and I was like, you know it was kind of wild. I was like, uh, here you are looking for the trouble to come from, like the, the older kids. You know if there's going to be trouble or external, you know from, from a security perspective, you're always more concerned about the unknown. You know that unknown variable like who's going to come through your door, that you don't know. But you know, and this wasn't, uh, you know it wasn't a threat of violence or anything like that, it was just a kid in a bad spot. So I told jen and she was like like, very point blank. She was like, well, you better fucking make sure you go back there tomorrow. And I'm like, babe, believe me, like no matter what happens tomorrow, I will be there and I'll make it a point to find him. Because you know you got to wonder like, how many times in a young person's life, oh, yeah, I'll see you. I'll see you tomorrow.
Speaker 1:Yeah, whoever it might be, you know whether it's an adult figure, you know outside, and that was the thing too, and you know I here's the thing. I mean, I put this up like my hard skill sets. I put up against anybody's, as far as you know. Can I do this? Yeah, absolutely, and and, uh, you know, ego aside, I'd say better than a lot of people. The part I had, you know, really, really hard time with was we get these kids for maybe eight hours a day, five days a week. The majority of the time is out of our hands, and that's the hard part is when you and again, like I say not because a parent is having difficulty doing it I mean the resources available throughout pennsylvania. I can't speak for any other state, but resource resources available in pennsylvania, they're pretty impressive. I think, too, though, you've got to do something after that eight hour day, like we, you know can't always just be like, well, you're doing something here and then that's it.
Speaker 2:You know whether it's? Uh, you know, I read something the other day. It was like this girl was in a tough spot. Her mom was, you know, an addict or whatever, and there was a guy that just like I don't know what relationship to the mom it was or whatever, but like that guy made sure that she went to school every day made sure that she did her homework, helped her with her homework if need be, like you know those kind of things right it.
Speaker 2:Sometimes we look at it as an adult where you're like, well, it's just a gesture, but that gesture could literally mean the world to somebody else and you don't realize it. And I mean, that's the great thing about education is that you have those opportunities. You know like that's the great thing about education is that you have those opportunities.
Speaker 2:But then, like you know, whenever you have follow-up at home even, when it's hard right Because there's times like, and I know in our life, like during the volleyball season, tuesday and Thursdays I'm gone right Pretty much all day. You know some weekends- I'm gone right Pretty much all day. You know, some weekends I'm gone for tournaments and things and you know it's tough and you still, kind of you know, carve out that time to make sure the kids do their homework, make sure they do you know those little things, keep them in routine.
Speaker 1:Right.
Speaker 2:You know and that's. I know that's hard for some people or whatever, but like if you have that kind of force in your life, I think that ultimately, you know it will drive you to be a better person.
Speaker 1:No doubt.
Speaker 2:Whatever it might, in whatever aspect of life it shows up in.
Speaker 1:Like you mentioned, there's some, you know some administrators who you know let's cut phys ed. And so go back a few years. All of our kids were involved in some capacity in, well, phys ed's, phys ed. They all played sports outside of that, music in some form, you know, either playing a musical instrument or in chorus or musical theater or something like that. You know the girls took dance and things like this.
Speaker 1:Michael was coerced into the marching band in seventh grade because my wife was, like, listen, oldest daughter's on the dance team. I think she was captain of the dance team at the time in her senior year, junior senior year of uh, of high school. Emily was also on the dance team, you know, know. And then, as Alex, you know, graduated, then Emily would move like she became the captain and whatnot. So they were all involved and Jen was like but you guys are going to be, mike was going to join. Kid never played a musical instrument in his life. So she goes to the band director who at the time was awesome. I mean, I will say this about Riverview High School at that time they had a marching band bigger than a small college and the choreography was like ironically, now they have a football powerhouse, single A. It's single A because it's a small district. But now, trevor George, if, coach, if you ever listen to my podcast which you should, because you know we put out some content brother, all right, he turned this thing around and, uh, you know, the players, the boosters, the parents involved, I mean it was awesome, right? Um, and this has nothing to do with it's coincident, it wasn't cause and effect, but, um, it was a change in um musical director and I'm not not pointing the fingers or anything like that the music teacher that was like okay, now you are the band director. The previous band director had moved on to another district. The music teacher that was handed that assignment, it's not his gig, it's not his thing, and attendance dropped tremendously. Now it's more like a little pep band, you know, and it's kind of a shame. It's kind of a shame to see that, because now you have a formidable football team. Would it be great to see the band that you had, you know, back then. But you know, such is life. But I think, point being, that was coincident and this, this, this has happened at the same time and it was cause and effect.
Speaker 1:A few years back, emily, our middle daughter now graduated from college, but she was I want to say she was an underclassman in high school at the time. This was pre-COVID, and they were like hey, you know, we're basically gutting the music and art departments Not cutting, but like gutting, right. So Emily's all excited because she's in a musical group called the Grace Notes, like the acapella, all right, you know what I mean. Like what was that? Pitch Perfect? Yeah, the Riverview version of Pitch Perfect. And she's like Dad and all the Grace Notes are going to go and we're going to wear our Grace Notes t-shirts and we're all going to talk and I'm like sweetheart, that's awesome, I never went to that one, right, and I remember, like I do you remember? Um, I know, you know, because we're movie geeks, you and I the original National Lampoon's vacation. You see Russ, right. So Emily's all excited about this and I said you see, emily, I said what you're about to witness tonight is how a republic functions, okay, like you're the people, we are the people and the members of that board are our elected officials, right, so they voice our desires, our issues, our concerns, right, you're about to see this in action.
Speaker 1:It was the biggest fucking shit show I've ever sat through in my life ever. Why have it? I mean, it's one thing if you're already, you know the decisions made and you got to go through this little fucking farce to to get it passed and voted on. Don't involve the kids in it. Because now you got this group of young people who are passionate about their music and their art, and rightfully so, because for a small school, they have put some performers through over the years, like every school.
Speaker 1:You know, like you guys, you have those gems out there. You know, like even the kid that can't carry a tune but he gets up there and busts it out. Yeah right, you know they're deserving of a program and I've always said that some of them, some of the most dangerous men I've ever known, read music. One of them, a dear friend of mine, man, one of my mentors, one of my he's um dead center in that picture right there. He's the first one to the right, okay, okay, visiting him years and years ago at his place in northern virginia and I'm like oh man, what is this?
Speaker 1:this guy's beautiful woodworking shop out in this two-level garage that has like a wood shop on the top and I'm like what? What is this? He's like like real matter of fact. Yeah, I'm building a harp. I'm like you're building a harp. He goes yeah, I was like cool. I go, do you like you play the harp and like like I'm a. He goes no, that's why I'm building one.
Speaker 1:He's like he's going to build it and play it. But this is what I'm saying. I mean, you take away music, you take away art. That's expression and for some kids that's their medium, that's their thing, right, jim? I could only hope that the philosophy behind it, or the logic behind it and it's still stupid I think right, oh, you know, nowadays, you know, every kid plays a sport outside of school. No, they don't. You know, and and I don't know, man, it's easier to say from here than it is to go through like that teenage angst man I junior high I was the fat kid and I hated getting in my gym uniform and but it did.
Speaker 1:You know, whatever we were playing, it was like seasonal, like you know, if you didn't have anything to do or the teacher was probably fucking high or hung over. You play dodgeball, you know, but I, I, I think you, I think you know there's also a fine line there between are they learning something? Even if it's camaraderie, even if it's teamwork, even if it's you don't always win. Or is that teacher so distracted that he's at half court, you know, flirting with his female counterpart Right?
Speaker 2:And this thing's turning into Lord of and you're teaching them. You know, or you're just working through coordination issues and they're learning. You know, like younger, younger kids are learning how to throw.
Speaker 1:They're learning how to catch.
Speaker 2:They're learning. You know learning to be more athletic or whatever, or being able to harness those types of athletic things. You know what I mean. Like the benefits of those will carry you forward forever.
Speaker 1:For sure.
Speaker 2:You know, and like kind of full circle to the CrossFit kids thing.
Speaker 2:You know, like if there were more people that were teaching kids in, you know, second, third, fourth, fifth grade, like how to properly pick something up off the ground, how to properly squat, how to properly, you know do all those things Like it, it, it doesn't have to be, uh, it doesn't have to be like, hey, we're going to use weights, we're going to do all this stuff, but when it, when you do, you know like I look at myself, I was always, when I first started training, like I did mostly upper body stuff right I would play hockey and I was strong enough and my legs were strong enough to do that kind of stuff, and then I started doing crossfit. I was like holy, like man, I should have really lifted more right because that was always a weak point.
Speaker 2:But I was lucky enough that I have good mobility. I have the ability to squat to proper depth with good ankle mobility and hip flexion and hip mobility and things like that. But if you don't train, if you don't ever teach anybody that, that's where you get kids at 15, 15, 16 years old that you're like all right, squat, and they go to squat and they like fall over well, how many times have you seen it in a weight room?
Speaker 1:when we first opened our doors, we were in verona, so like literally straight down allegheny river boulevard from the high school, and we opened in um september, so like our first summer. We had a young man come to us and he's like, yeah, I want to play football at riverview in the fall, but this is like maybe right when school adjourned for the summer break, he had some time before um summer camp started. So he's coming and training with us and I'm like, hey, good man, get after it. You know, do your thing. And the next thing, you know like his mom comes and tells us. She's like, yeah, he has to quit because you know the football coach who's like long gone, it's not the same coach and this guy had like uh, probably like a oh and you know, 500 record. You know, and I want you in the weight room, I don't want you doing that crossfit stuff, and I'm like you, fat fuck. You know, I mean, I'm like, and I I mean like that, yeah, my body's shaming. But at the same time I'm like one. Do you know what you're talking about? I don't think you do well, back then it was so new, you know, nobody really knew. They thought it was some kind of you know, I wouldn't even know what people thought, but I think you know I, everybody of us, every CrossFader, has their own first story and you mentioned mine last time.
Speaker 1:I felt like I got hit by a truck from that deadlift. It was deadlifts, single rep deadlifts after a thorough warmup, and I understood the mechanics of the deadlift and I'm like, okay, go, I've every muscle in my body felt like, uh, and I go back even further, like to the 80s when, like nautilus was like all the rage, you know, and they made a single machine for every body part, right, and that was my frame of reference when I finished those deadlifts and then later that night and then the next day when, like all the soreness set in, I could picture every one of those machines, or the majority of them. There was one I'll never forget. It looked like a torture device, like you sat in it upright and it had these two rollers that came down in front of you and you would bring your arms out like so yeah, and you would push back and it was for your rear delts. Oh yeah, now you can't just.
Speaker 1:I guess Arthur Jones didn't think you could just grab two dumbbells and you know Well, I'm sure he did, but it's a lot.
Speaker 2:But he engineered the hell out of it, and it's a lot more profitable if you sell somebody a massive piece of equipment For sure, for sure.
Speaker 1:But I will say this too, though Like his, the Cambered shell right, the Nautilus shell, that gear design made sure that there was no easy part in that lift, so appreciated it, got it. But I'm feeling rear delt activation, as you would, from stabilizing, you know, your shoulders and shoulders back and working, you know, posterior alignment right wrecked me, absolutely wrecked me, and I'm like okay, coach, you know, here's the truth of it, put yourself through it. Let us put you through a crossfit workout, then you see if it's a conditioning tool or not. But that wasn't really the point.
Speaker 1:But here he's got, like I want him in the weight room how many times you see teenage boys well, we're working on squats and then you look at him and you're like, oh god, oh god, put the barbell down before you get hurt. You know, know, coach Glassman said this once, early, early on, like 19 years ago. I heard him say it and I was like man, that's brilliant. It's so simple, it's brilliant. He was like guys, everybody wants to do the sexy stuff. If you can't come in, don't walk in and say when are we going to do the squat snatch? When are we going to do the squat snatch? When are we going to do the hang squat clean? If you can't do an air squat, you have no business doing a back squat. Oh cool, they're coming up. Are you all right to get them on? Yeah, that's fine.
Speaker 2:All right, see if you can handle it.
Speaker 1:We have guests. We have guests in the studio. Come on in, man. No, we're rolling, we're rolling right now. You're on, you're on. Let's just say hi, man. Hello, this is blake's son, wolverine shob. No, I'm sorry, logan, logan Schaub, you're not gonna like give me a like a Wolverine. It does make a sound though, right, but it's more metallic, isn't it? Like something like that? And this is my baby. She's off camera, not sure why, putting your shoes on. So we have gone over again, but that's okay, because we got a lot of stuff to say. Is it going on YouTube? It will, it is going on YouTube, it'll be the first time you're on YouTube.
Speaker 1:Do I have to talk to your agent? I don't have an agent yet. Well, you will after this thing goes public.
Speaker 2:After you're, you know such a big deal.
Speaker 1:After this goes public, you're going to probably have guys calling you asking to be your agent. I'm probably going to try.
Speaker 2:My dad said I'm going to have a YouTube channel.
Speaker 1:You should Listen. You know what I think is a good idea. I'm serious, I'm really serious. How old are you? Nine Dude, you got some size Right. You're going to get an agent, I'm telling you. But listen, you know what I think would be an awesome idea for a YouTube channel for a young man like yourself? Yeah, cause you're into CrossFit, right, you're doing it. I think it would be very, very cool if you would set up and maybe like YouTube some of your workouts, because you know what I think is, I think that there's a, there's a groups, there's kids out there that are like, yeah, I'd like to try it, but I don't really.
Speaker 1:It's something for. You know, everybody thinks it's for somebody else. You know what I mean. Like, younger people might think it's for older folks, or oh, my dad does that, or whatever. But I think guys and girls your age would see you on your YouTube channel. I think they'd love that. I really do. I think that would be cool. I'm telling you and you're probably going to get some agents calling you hey, I've got a deal for you, but don't talk to any of them. Let your mom and dad talk to them, all right, all right.
Speaker 2:How'd it go today? Good, all right.
Speaker 1:Good, good, good Ready to swim.
Speaker 2:Mm-hmm, big swim meet tonight.
Speaker 1:Oh nice, no, All right. So we're going to cut it here and if you're up for coming back, let's do it. Whatever I'm game. All right, brother, all right, probably in the next day or two it'll be on YouTube. On what channel? The CrossFit Pittsburgh channel.
Speaker 2:You're like the marketing guy over there.
Speaker 1:I'm telling you, Do you hear that? Crossfit Pittsburgh on YouTube? So, Logan, here's the part, because I'm just kind of doing this and I'm learning as I go, which is a lot of fun for me and it'll be fun for you too. So the way we set this up on video, right, so we push this whole thing and for those of you watching, this is a little tutorial we push this straight to YouTube in video form, right? Then we upload that video to a website, Then the website digitizes the audio and it pushes it out audio only to Spotify, Apple and a couple others. But Spotify and Apple are the ones that I remember, which is kind of neat because y'all have friends of mine. They're like oh dude, I listened to your podcast on my drive to wherever. I'm like, oh cool, you know. So that's fun.
Speaker 2:Is this part going to be cut?
Speaker 1:No, no, no. You want us to cut you out? No, I don't think so. I think it's cool having you here, like whenever, while I'm talking right now, no, we're live. We're not live, we're recording. We're recording Because I decided a long time ago it's not good for me to go live. It's probably a good thing, you never know. Just in general, I blame Tourette's Syndrome or PTSD.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:I think you might have been even in the room the one time I actually said and again, you know it is what it is, but we were doing a benefit for PTS. Yeah, I mean way back when, way back when, and I said something to the effect, like I said, you know, man, seriously I'm like I'm kind of surprised that I don't have it and I swear to God, every adult in the room who was like dear friends of mine, they all went. I'm like what you know and I mean it's you know, june is June's PTSD month. So I think you know. And then I remember again, like I paraphrase Greg Glassman, you remember when we used to do way back in the day we used to do Fight Gone Bad. Oh yeah, the first time we ever really did it as a crew from our box, it was Athletes for a Cure to benefit men's prostate cancer, right. And then the next year they redirected and I want to say it was the Wounded Warrior Project, wasn't it? Yeah, for a to say, um, it was a wounded warrior project, wasn't it?
Speaker 1:yeah, for a couple years it was yeah, like, I think like until it ended it stayed or it ended as it was. Yeah, um, and I remember we were at a cert and someone said hey, coach, you know I have a question you know about, about fight gone bad. And he asked that question like, why did we change? And, real matter of fact, greg was like, well, he said Athletes for a Cure is a great organization and prostate cancer research is a noble effort. And he said but let me tell you this, and I remember this, like it was yesterday, he was like a child loses a parent to cancer, it's terrible. A child loses a parent to war, it's a fucking tragedy. And he was like there are a lot of, and I like this because it showed that it was, it was well thought out. He's like there are a lot of organizations that work towards and contribute to cancer research and he's like, but I don't think we do enough. Um, you know, for for our veterans and I, I was really, you know, kind of moved by that. So, you know, so be it.
Speaker 1:How we got on that tangent, I'm not sure. But the 430 class about to get underway, logan's got to go win a swim meet and, um, brother blake has got to take him. So all right, we'll do this again. Sounds good to me. Do something, you know. Here's my challenge. I say this once in a while. I'm saying it again tonight Do something nice for somebody you don't like. Do that.
