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 3
What does it take to become an extraordinary CrossFit athlete? Join us as Blake Schaub and I share nearly 40 years of CrossFit wisdom, reminiscing about the rich histories of CrossFit Pittsburgh and CrossFit Iron City. Blake recounts an inspiring journey of an athlete who, despite struggling with overhead squats, showcased unparalleled determination and coachability. Our discussion delves into the essence of an ideal CrossFit athlete and coach, underscoring the significance of dedication and the willingness to evolve.
Experience the challenge of iconic CrossFit workouts like "Fran," "Grace," and "Isabel" as we highlight the importance of maintaining the intended stimulus and adjusting weights as necessary. Learn about the grueling "Fight Gone Bad" workout, designed to mimic an MMA fight’s intensity, and explore the balance coaches must strike between motivating seasoned athletes and guiding newcomers. Reflecting on our programming philosophies, we share insights on effective training, proper warm-ups, and the art of scaling workouts to match individual capabilities.
Discover the entrepreneurial spirit within the CrossFit community and our unique approach to nurturing coaching talent. We touch on the evolution of CrossFit affiliations, the dynamics of affiliate fees, and the organic growth of coaching staff. Finally, enjoy a sprinkle of lighthearted banter about fast food and upcoming plans, emphasizing the camaraderie and energy that make CrossFit more than just a fitness regime. Whether you're a seasoned CrossFitter or a newcomer, this episode promises a mix of valuable insights and personal stories to inspire your fitness journey.
And we are back with Blake Schaub and the CrossFit kids about to go live downstairs. So if you hear any clanging and banging, it's them. So this has been a lot of fun with. You know, blake's son, logan, is downstairs getting after it, but this gave us an opportunity to really to really talk about, you know, not just the crossfit, pittsburgh, crossfit, iron city history, right, but crossfit itself, because I think, you know, between the two of us we got like 30 plus years of crossfit experience, a long time, and, and you know, what's neat too, I think, is um, and that's what we want to start to get into a little bit more today.
Speaker 1:Blake brought up, right before we started to record, you know, was thinking about what makes a good CrossFit athlete, what makes a good, you know, crossfit coach. As a coach, what kind of athlete do you? You know what's your ideal athlete to train, you know this type of thing. So I think that's some really, really good topic for conversation. You know what's your ideal athlete to train, you know this type of thing, so I think that's some really really good, uh, topic for conversation.
Speaker 2:You know, yeah, I agree, I think that you know. It's funny because, like you said, I mean really, if you put numbers to it, it's probably, it's probably close to 40 years of combined crossfit experience, right? Um, and you know even more than that in terms of coaching in. You know some aspects or another, you know, and in the almost seven years that we were open in Iron City and the however many years before that that I was three or four years that I was coaching here before that, and everybody since, like I've coached every different type of person, right.
Speaker 1:And.
Speaker 2:I'm sure you've coached every different type of person as well, and, um you know, my favorite people to coach are not the people that get it right away.
Speaker 1:Yeah, you know like yeah.
Speaker 2:I can remember there's a uh. There was a guy that came in uh across the country. Yeah, maybe remember there's a uh. There was a guy that came in uh to cross the iron city. Maybe within the first year that we were open and you know I remember we were doing, did fundamentals with him right and going through like things like the overhead squat and there was just like, first off he was tall, he was like six, three, six, four, so normal length pvc.
Speaker 2:There's zero chance that him you know, like his arms just wouldn't do it right right uh, couldn't, couldn't keep that bar, you know uh, anywhere but in front of his, in front of his head, it was impossible. And you know we, uh, you know we always modify, okay, we're gonna, you're gonna front squat, right, you just it's. It's a waste of time for you to overhead squat today because you know it's just not gonna get the stimulus, it's gonna be too difficult you're gonna do you know you're gonna be able to do whatever, so we always substitute.
Speaker 2:But every day he would come in and he would work on it his warm-up and that was his thing, like he was just doing it and do and do it.
Speaker 2:Even if it was, you know, he didn't care you can see him in the corner, kind of like struggling through it as he, as he kind of did his own thing before we warmed up or whatever. Um, and then you know, I can remember, uh, very vividly, the day that he that we had overhead squats in the warm-up or in the workout, and and there he was, he was, you know, I'm gonna try it and he picked it up and it was an empty bar and and his hands were, you know again, six foot three, six foot four guy.
Speaker 2:Like his hands were all the way to the sleeves right, and maybe even one or two fingers on the sleeve but like, but he overhead squatted. You know, and you know that kind of person that and you know kind of what we talked about. That kind of person that is driven enough to want to do something right and, and you know, it's very coachable. Coachability is is something that I think sometimes we take for granted, but it's great.
Speaker 1:You know, honest to God, and it's funny too, because at the I don't know, I guess I am one of those people that should just have a fucking disclaimer at all times. It certainly don't mean any offense to anyone, it's not the point. But you hit it right on the head and you and I have been together for a lot of it and then separate and it's still the. That piece does not change, it's a variable. Who's walking through your door at any given time and there are times that you look and again, this is kind of a little bit of a tangent, but not really. Scotty Pape we talked about him the other night is one of our original members and a good guy, fun guy, like fun to train with. He's always in there to give it his best and and all that. And I'll never forget I was. I was still at the agency, but for about six months I was running operations stateside. So largely I would, you know, telecommute from home to Northern Virginia maybe three days a week down there in the balance, but again, it was a 24-7 operation. So really, like you know, I had guys in Iraq and Afghanistan and I'm, you know, juggling I've got my board who's where, this and this. So this particular day I was like, all right, I'm leaving, I'm coming home, it's a Thursday and I timed it right. So I'm like I'll get home in time, a little relax and then get to the gym for a good workout, because otherwise, you know you make, do you work out where you, where you can, you know, where you have. So, just for no reason whatsoever, just happened to be Jen didn't know what time I was coming home. The kids were having burgers and I was like that sounds great. You know, after a three and a half four hour drive I'm like burgers sound great and I had time before class. So I throw down two, you know, big, like not quarter pounders, right, but two like big. You know what do you get? Like 93.7 or 90.10,. You know lean, lean burgers, right. Throw down two of them and I crack open. I look at the refrigerator, I open it up and I'm like well, there's cold water and then there's some Corona. I pop open a Corona and I drink that after my burgers, right. A couple hours later we go.
Speaker 1:I don't remember what the workout was, but it was one of my best. I mean, it was just a great workout. It's a great workout and I said something to scotty and I was like now the way he repeated it was hey, you know, mike says the best thing about crossfit is you can eat whatever you want. He had two cheeseburgers and a beer before his workout and he crushed it. Well, he said it to jen, jen's, my wife and you know our, our best coach, and you know she's like what the hell are you telling people you can eat cheeseburgers and drink beer before your workout? And I'm like all right, that's, that's was, that was the point. But it wasn't. It's not how I meant it, you know. So that went sideways real quick.
Speaker 1:But but I, I think you know, interestingly enough, we've seen everything, every size shape we had, uh, one morning early, early on, in our original box, which you know, you remember, like you said, you know, we remember it so well, we get like the heebie-jeebies talking about it. But, um, and I love you, you're like yep, that's why I never went in. Once it became a brewery and then another brewery. Never had the need anything, any food product, to drink product beverage that would come out of that place. No, no, you're gonna get some kind of botulism and mad cow does it. Whatever you get it all, you'll get it all.
Speaker 1:But I remember one morning, bright and early, I'm opening up and this young man shows up like right behind me. I'm like, just unlocking the door, there he's standing right beside hey. And I'm like, hey, he goes. Hey, yeah, this is crossfit, right. And I said, yeah, he goes. Well, I'm here to work out. And I kid you, you not, this was right when Reebok came on board, like the Reebok CrossFit. You know, merge, not Merge, what do you call it? Like the brand deal, or whatever they had.
Speaker 1:Yes, and you know, again, I've only had one coffee and I'm opening the door and I'm ready to get in there, get the board ready. And he's early, which was great. He's like I'm here to work out, and, and he's early, so, which was great. He's like I'm here to work out, and I'd like to check him out from head to toe. And if reebok made it, he was wearing it shoes, the socks, the shorts, the shirt, the, the, the headband, you know the. I'm like, well, you're certainly, and all I can think to say he's like I'm here to work out, I'm like, well, you're certainly dressed for it, you know, and, um, you know again, sometimes the funniest part, and there's, no, no barometer for this. I don't think, at least I've not found one. You get folks who come in and they are like head to toe, whether it's, you know, reebok or, or noble, whatever the brand is at the time, crossfit, they're head to toe, all in. I want the unlimited membership, but I want two of them, because I want to maybe come twice a day. Well, it's unlimited. So you know, no, no, but I want to keep coming and everything, whatever you have, I want, right, great.
Speaker 1:And you know, just one stands out in my mind this young lady. She comes in and she's all in, like, jumps in the deep end, and her attendance was really sporadic, and that is something that you know. Each box has its own op tempo, I suppose, but there have been times when you just get a feeling you know and hey, everything all right. Like reach out, you know, you see the attendance, like, hey, everything okay. You know, because I'm sure you did the same, like as an affiliate owner, one of the things that I love being able to do is, you know, hey, is something wrong, is everything okay? I haven't seen you in a little while. Oh well, you know I did this and it's going to be a while. Now. They haven't asked to stop their membership, pause their membership, anything like that. So you reach out and you go well, look, you know you haven't been here, so let's just place this on hold. You know, come on back when you're feeling better.
Speaker 1:If you tweaked your back, twisted an ankle, did something like that, this young lady is the exact opposite. She sends us a message and she was like, yeah, I'd like to cancel my membership. This just isn't for me. I don't feel like I'm getting enough cardio. So I'm going back to fitness boxing. That's a simple answer. Okay, like you, you're not getting enough cardio, I can assure you. This is why we brief the workouts the way we do in the. You know, the pre-workout, the warm-up, is tailored to the work. I mean, this is your intended stimulus, right, right, if it's supposed to be a sprint and you turn it into a stroll, if it's supposed to be a heavy day and it's relative to the athlete, you know. But I mean, I think those are the things. I'm not even sure that type of uh, individual, I'm not even sure that that's coachable or uncoachable. I just don't believe it's the right fit. I think they thought it was going to be something else, right, and and what that is, I you know, I don't know.
Speaker 2:Maybe you know I mean to that point. There's. The great thing about CrossFit in my mind is that, like you know, the workout for the day might be 10 minutes long. It might be Murph and it might be pushing 45 minutes, or it might be Chad, where you're doing a thousand step ups for an hour, or whatever.
Speaker 2:It might be Murph and it might be, you know, pushing 45 minutes, or it might be Chad, where you're you're doing a thousand step ups for an hour, or whatever it might be right and you know, like all those things are intended to, to hit a certain stimulus right and do a certain thing, and it, and it's a way for, you know, for coaches and programmers, to make sure that and it's a way for coaches and programmers to make sure that you're not doing too much, right? Because, as you know, like that person you just talked about and you know I can I know that we had lost athletes that said, hey, we're going to go to a different gym because we don't feel like we're getting enough.
Speaker 2:You know and it's just like if you do everything that you're asked in a given class, right, you do a warm-up that's, let's say, 10 to 15 minutes long, right, and you're sweating and you're. You know, the old mantra of our warm-up is your workout type thing right, even that original CrossFit warm-up right. Three rounds, 400-meter run, 10 pull-ups, 10 push-ups, 10 sit-ups, 10 push-ups, 10 sit-ups, 10 squats, 10, 10 samson stretch right, you do three rounds that and and tell me that you're not properly warmed up.
Speaker 2:Then I'll tell you that you're not doing it hard enough right and you're not pushing yourself enough and you know you do all those other things and, yeah, sometimes you, sometimes you look at it and you're like wow, fran or Grace or Isabel, right, like I know. You know, when I coach Grace, I tell people I'm like you really should be no more than six minutes.
Speaker 1:Right.
Speaker 2:Like six minutes is you've missed the point.
Speaker 1:Right, right.
Speaker 2:And really even at that six-minute, maybe next time, you know, if you push, you know you beat six minutes and you get like four minutes, okay, well, if you didn't do at the prescribed weight, you know, then increase the weight next time right because you will ultimately get better.
Speaker 2:And it's not really always that exciting that like, oh well, because people want to compete, like, oh, but I, I was, you know, I was the last one to finish. Okay, well, maybe if you were the last one to finish and you, or like you, missed that, that stimulus, you missed six minutes right and it took you seven to finish.
Speaker 2:Well then, next time, lower the weight and go fast and if you think your weight is too low, the easiest way to look at it is say like, okay, well, who's the? Who's the person in this room that? Or? Or the person in the gym that has posted their score that's the fastest prescribed, or the? Or the person that you normally you know kind of work, work with, or whatever, and if you're crushing the times that they're doing, then it's too easy.
Speaker 1:You know what's fun for me talking with you every example we're bringing up. All of a sudden I'm just like ting ting, ting ting, I'm firing off time place person. We talked about this on Monday. You and I Fight Gone Bad. Okay, and Fight Gone Bad was a. It was, it is. Arguably it's a hard workout and I love the origin story BJ Penn. It was his time in the UFC. He was, I mean, he had already arrived and I just don't recall had he already won his championship belt his first one. But he was at the original CrossFit HQ with Greg and hey, you know what? Let's put something together that you could use. You know like that would simulate an MMA fight. So they modeled it like three rounds, three five minute rounds or the five minute version, and a minute break in between, and then it's. You know calories on the rower and, if I'm not mistaken, I know box jumps. But was that not one of the first ones we ever saw when it was like step-ups are allowed?
Speaker 2:Yeah, because, like in the middle of a fight, you can't stop and be like well, I can't, I can't do this right now.
Speaker 1:Well, you can keep moving. So it's like well, step-ups are allowed, push press empty bar, push press right 45 pounds. No, no, no, 75. 75 pounds yeah, that's part of the story. And sumo deadlift high pull right With the same weight, same weight and wall balls right. So I was like, oh my God, like, like, oh my god, like that's again, you know that that's crossfit. I mean seemingly like. You know, you got five movements that any one of them by themselves not too bad, but in context, that's evil, that that's just evil. You know you're like, oh god. So, okay, super. And I think, let me.
Speaker 1:The first time we did it, it was like a punch in the face. It really was, but it would come around every so often, or we would, we would program it deliberately every so often. And there was a guy in our gym good dude, I mean, I can't say anything bad about him, good guy. However, he was one of those not uncoachable but just sort of and polite, like that was the thing, like you couldn't even really be pissed off because he was courteous and polite. But at the same time, I'm like OK, here's the news. You don't know more than our coaches. You certainly don't know more than Jen and Blake. You know, I'd throw my name in there too as, like I was probably the least disciplined coach we had as far as like and you know what. It sounds very, very ignorant to say it now, and I was in a different, uh, headspace back then. But you know, between deployments my thing was I'm like look, I don't work with guys that I need to motivate, you know, and when they train, it's like you just get out of the way, you know, and and as you said, training training guys who want to get better, who to to push as hard as they can, that's you get spoiled. You really do get spoiled. But then I think that challenges you more as a coach. When you come away from that and you do come back to hey, I've never tried this before, but I've heard good things about it, super, now you have that like that old, like hey, man, it's like it's, it's clay and I could shape this, and I have the ability here or the, to shape this into something that's going to impact this person's life or turn them against it. So be careful, because you've got something there pretty important, and it was 300. I'll never forget it, and this guy was not a bad guy but always knew better.
Speaker 1:This was a guy and when I say this, I know, you know you're gonna know who it was show up for class, always late for the warm-up. But then his argument would be like a day like today, hot, 90 degrees, sweltering, humidity, oh, I'm already warmed up. I had the heater on in my car on the drive over. I'm like and, and he was a professional, like academically smart enough to know that, like you know, there's a difference between, like I am feeling warm and I am warmed up. You know I'm like, oh, dude, I don't even understand. And then the bad side of me back then was like, okay, like, fuck around and find out. It's gonna be like, all right, well, go ahead then, super chief. Like you're ready, stop. No, you know, fix it.
Speaker 1:But we did partners, we partnered up, we scored each other. Um, and I believe this particular day I want to say it was dangerous dave. I was paired up with him again and it would be like, okay, you know, they'd call out like you were in that heat, heat, jen would be putting the scores on the board. Remember, we did everything on the dry erase board back then and she'd be like Blake. Well, then your partner would call out your score because he's got the score sheet right.
Speaker 1:So, whoever it was, you know, mike, and this was when you and I were probably both like in the I'm not sure if any of us had yet broken 300. Right, you know, in the I'm not sure if any of us had yet broken 300, you know, and it was that, like I referred the other day, it was in the high twos, enough so that you'd look at your score sheet and go. You know what. All I had to do was one more here, one more here, one more here for every round. So calls out the score, like, let's say, it was like 287. It was like close enough to piss you off. You know, it wasn't like hey, I'm almost there, it was like you gotta be kidding me. Or like a 297, where you're like really, really.
Speaker 1:And then it goes around and she calls this individual's name and he's so excited he doesn't let his partner call it out, he calls it out himself 4-17. I swear to God, I think I just like stop, you know. And again, childish, yeah for sure. But at the same time I'm like brother, you've been doing this too long. And then, of course, I did double check, you know, double take, looked at his workstation and I'm like my god, I mean he's using an empty barbell for the push press he's using, and this guy was big and strong and fit and I'm like, okay. So again right back to coaching. One oversight on our part as coaches should have never. What's the point? There is no point. You know, if you can score that high and scale that severely, you totally violated the, the intended stimulus of this workout and you did yourself a disservice you never get to that muscle failure, right portion of it, right I mean?
Speaker 1:right.
Speaker 2:I'm sure eventually you would, but not in three rounds most likely.
Speaker 1:Absolutely.
Speaker 2:And that's you know. I think, while you were saying that, it made me think, like one of the things that I have, my philosophy has changed slightly over the years is that like when I write programming for people now I don't put weights?
Speaker 2:in like I tell them like hey, this is what I want you to be able to do, or this is a number that I want you to be able to do, like you know, let's say it's it's grace or whatever, but like here's the rep scheme that I want you to be able to hit. So, in order to be able to hit that, like obviously you know, for me, when I do grace now, I always do seven, six, five, four, three, two and then three singles at the end right.
Speaker 2:So it's like you get those big sets out of the way quick yeah and you just set it down just long enough to you know, take a breath and do it again. Um, and I'm like I you need to be able to do seven unbroken and be and to be able to like, do a touch and go pretty quickly. And because I think that gets that, eliminates those things, because the people that I have found to be sometimes the most difficult to coach look at quote, unquote prescribed weights and they're like well, that's the weight that I have to use.
Speaker 1:Right, and then like all that intended stimulus talk.
Speaker 2:Right out the window like in one ear and out the other ear and and you're? You're then fighting a battle that you're never going to win, right. But instead, if you said, hey, you know, this is the, this is the intended stimulus, you know, fill in the blank for the weight, I've found that people ultimately will push themselves more than they would or allow themselves to kind of scale down more than they would if there's a number on the board.
Speaker 1:Right.
Speaker 2:And I even think that with the CAP programming, right. I think they do a nice job with that now because still prescribed weight but it's like look, we have a prescribed weight and then you know, for the RX, and then we have intermediate and then we have beginner.
Speaker 2:So now you have, you know, those three things built in already.
Speaker 2:And you know same thing with movements, like, okay, well, I can't do chest of our pull-ups, or I can't do muscle-ups, okay, let's look at the next scale of it. Right, and it doesn't make you any less of a person, it just means that, like you know, like if I said to you, hey, we're going to do nasty girls, you know, and you're like, oh, cool, what's that? And I tell you, okay, well, you've got to do 50 air squats, 10 hang power cleans at 135 pounds and 7 muscle-ups for three rounds. And you're like, cool, I can air squat, I can't hang power clean 135, and I can't do a muscle-up. Okay, and I said to you, okay, well, what I want you to do is I'm going to give you a 20-minute cap and I want you to get through as much of that as possible, but I'm not going to let you scale any of it. And then, like you know, 15 minutes later they're laying on the ground with the bar on top of them because they tried to hip, thrust it and reverse, curl it or whatever.
Speaker 1:Exactly right, and it hit them in the face. You give me a 20 day cap If I can't move the 135, I can't move it.
Speaker 2:Or you said to somebody you're like, okay, well, fine, what we're going to do is okay, okay, well, you're, you can one rep, max 95 pounds. Well, let's, let's make it 65 pound hanging power and you can do. You know, you can't do a muscle up, you can't do chest bar pull-up.
Speaker 2:Okay, well, we're going to do, you can do pull-ups, you can do seven pull-ups, cool do seven pull-ups and as long as you know the goal, the intended stimulus there, like I really want you to be able to do, like, if you can do two at a time, cool, Because if you're looking at that you know now I know it's a little bit different than whenever we started CrossFit, but seven muscle-ups Like not everybody's going to be able to string them all together.
Speaker 1:Right.
Speaker 2:So if I'm doing one or two muscle-ups and you're doing one or two pull-ups, stimulus is, is, is the same yeah, like you're still getting your pulling work in right, or even if you said like, okay, we're gonna do one pull-up in one day yeah or whatever like, and you, you do those things and you realize that at the end of the day, like okay, maybe I really want to do a muscle-up, but I'm not going to get a muscle-up in the middle of a workout where intensity is the goal. I'm going to get a muscle-up by practicing it whenever I have time.
Speaker 1:Yeah, exactly, you know.
Speaker 2:I'm going to you know, because something like a muscle-up more so than a pull-up maybe is yeah, you need the skill to be able to pull and the strength to be able to pull. But like, if you know the technique, whether you know whether you did it today or you haven't done it in a year like you know the technique, you can probably still do it you know, as opposed to like, um, you know, and all those other things as well, like you can't, I, I really want to be able to do a kipping pull-up, but I, I can't move when I'm on the bar. Okay, so let's start with the ring row right and let's build that pulling strength.
Speaker 2:And then, once you get there, then then let's, let's throw a band on and you're going to do uh, you know you're going to do a strict banded pull-up, right, and then you're going to work on, you know you're going to work on learning how to effectively kip and you're going to build all these things together and then you know what, maybe it's three, four, five, six months down the road, but you learn how to do it and in the whole way along.
Speaker 2:You've built, you know, you've learned to kip, so you've built. Uh, you know coordination. You've built core strength. You know you, you've been working on your pulling, so now it's not. You know, and we've seen this before, it's not like that running kip right.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:I'm forcing myself up in order to you know, with my legs and you're learning how to effectively do those things and you build those kind of things. And when you're not ego-driven, you're not worried about like well that person's watching me Right. Most likely they're not. Most likely they're on their own suck fest themselves.
Speaker 1:Exactly right.
Speaker 2:You know, if the intended stimulus is, hey, we're going to do this workout in sub-six minutes, you better have your head down and do work, or else you're not going to finish sub six minutes or whatever it might be. So I give two shits what that person over there is doing. And if you do have that kind of time and wherewithal, there's probably something about your workout that's lacking. It might be too heavy exactly right.
Speaker 1:And I think, too, the wildest part about it is, I think, crossfit itself. I certainly know CrossFit, like our CrossFit Pittsburgh journey. It wasn't like linear growth, it was like exponential, and I'm pretty sure that's how it hit at headquarters and then at all of the original affiliates as well. I think we were so I don't want to say it in the past tense. I mean, we're still excited If we weren't. You don't do something for 19 years if you're not excited about it every day.
Speaker 1:And there's a group now, crossfitters, coaches, like threes and fours that set up a business to groom and coach other affiliates Right, and it's called the best hour of their day. And I love that. I love that because that is something that I've been like, and I don't mean this like oh, I should have come up. I don't mean it like that. But you know, I wake up in the morning and I'm like well, you know what, my workout is the best hour of my day, and I'm hopeful that every class that comes through our doors is like hey guys, you know when I coach the 530 AM. So I'm like listen, no matter what happens for the rest of your day, you already hit this thing hard and now you go out and take on, take on whatever challenges you know like this, and I love that, I love that as a community, that, um, it should be the best hour of your, your members day, your athletes day you'll call them members, clients, athletes, what have you but should be the best hour of their day. Uh, you know, unless you know, incredibly they have, like a you know the birth of a child, or like they propose to the love of their life, or you know something like that, but should be the best hour of their day. If it's not, then there's something's amiss, you know. But, like you said, I think too it's easy to say, hey, leave your ego at the door, hey, put aside all preconceived notions. Uh, easier said than done. But I also believe largely a lot of that behavior is self-correcting, Even if it means well, you can't change that person. They just don't do this anymore, like they've gone on.
Speaker 1:There was another acquaintance of ours who worked at a beautiful, beautiful gym, gym right down the street. It's not there anymore, it's leveled. But uh, club one was a pittsburgh like institution. For decades, decades, I worked there as an undergrad at pitt back in like the early 80s. Um, I left the navy, I went back there as a member and trained there. That's where I met Jennifer. She was working there at the time when she was an undergrad, you know years after me and it was just a great place to train.
Speaker 1:Well, you know, they would always keep up I don't want to say keep up with the times, I think they were ahead of the times but at one point they put in like a little functional fitness corner, a little functional fitness area. You know, and I'm still adamantly like, if there's one thing that will piss me off, it's people that fucking do crossfit without being crossfit, and I don't mean the guy that does it on his patio, or you know. You know what I'm talking about. You know, you call it whatever you want. There's an old, old story in the community that, um, uh, I want to say it was in dallas, texas, and this non-affiliate starts putting it out, and this was way back in the early 2000s. You know, dallas cross fitness. I mean, come on, man, you know what. There are things that you should just be punched in the face for and that is so. There's a play on words. It's you know, it's not. It's you know what that is. That's thievery, it's misrepresentation and you did it on purpose because crossfit was already a thing, right, you know?
Speaker 2:it's much easier than coming up with your own marketing right or whatever. Like you know, yeah, it's, it's tough. Whenever you're doing that, you're like I'm, you know, I believe and you believe, I believed in it enough and you believe in it enough that, like, we opened gyms and affiliated with crossfit because we thought that that was what was, you know, truly going to to make a difference, difference in the health and wellness of people in our communities. And if you, as an owner, as an entrepreneur, whatever, don't believe that CrossFit is important or you don't think that it's the thing that we think it is, then that's fine, but don't try that it's it's the thing that we think it is, then that's fine, but don't try to pull it from its popularity right especially whenever it was at its, you know like, whenever it was the most mainstream right, whenever, whenever, like uh, reebok was branding, branding stuff with it and everything, and and you know, uh, that point in time, like, just figure out how to mark yourself.
Speaker 1:Yeah, right, yeah.
Speaker 2:Like learn, learn how to do that. You know, and you know you might have a great problem but, it doesn't have to be, you know where.
Speaker 1:You're just like listen man in the surfing community there's a big, big no-no. You wave, you know we're sitting out there all day. You know it's. It's an unspoken like, or maybe it is hey, man, you're next, you're up, you're up, you're up.
Speaker 1:Then, all of a sudden, here comes some jabroni and he's just like you know, hey, and, and it's funny because it's the world we live in and I want to say and I don't want to get like, hit with any kind of fucking lawsuit because it's you should all be shut down too for killing our youth uh, fast food restaurants, the story goes, and I, and I want to say it might be burger king. Don't know if that's a fact or not, so I'm not going to fact check this, because I don't really give a fuck. But, um, like, let's say, mcdonald's does their due diligence and their neighborhood demographic research and all that, and they pick a spot for a new location, and I'm just using these as word names now. I do believe that's the case, though, because it's like okay, you know, mcdonald's does their homework, they pick a spot and market research and all of that, and they open a location. I do believe it's another heavy hitter in the fast food world. They don't do any of that. What they do is anytime McDonald's opens up, they'll find a space within a two block radius and they'll open up a location, and that's their philosophy.
Speaker 1:Now I have more respect for that because you know, fast food is funny, man, and I'm not listen. I'm not going to name names. I'm looking right at you. I'm not going to name names, I'm not going to drag anybody through the mud, but there may be people that we know who have a certain attraction to, let's say, long John Silvers. All right, so that's your jam. Have at it, right, as long as you train hard before and after, but not after. That would be.
Speaker 2:Train twice before.
Speaker 1:That would end badly. But I think, in a way, there's more respect for that because it's like, well, you know, my kids, like at an early age, like no, I don't like that, I like this. Like you know they'll. Wendy's is their thing, not, yeah, I don't know that they ever had burger. You know, it's like what's close, what's close, what's on your route, or whatever. But I I think there's more regard for that because they are different. You know, it's like, well, burger king has their thing, mcdonald's has their thing, and you know so forth. But I, I disagree completely when it comes to fitness, because what you're essentially doing, you're throwing it out there like you're inviting yourself to the community when you're not. And, as you said, you know, uh, the affiliate fee exists to maintain your affiliation. And I will say that I know it's a sensitive topic right now among some of the affiliates where there's an increase in affiliate fees.
Speaker 1:Well, we were one of those affiliates that got in in the beginning and we paid $500 a year for 18 years right, 18 years at $500 a year, for 18 years, 18 years at $500 a year and thankful to have done it, as I remember. It was like I don't remember what it jumped to, from when it went from $500 to whatever it went to. I don't know that it went to $1000. I think it might have went from $500 to like now it's 2000. Now it's 2,500. Now it's 3000. As they stair stepped it up as new affiliates joined. But I do recall that when those new affiliates joined, greg's philosophy was always like what you buy in at is what you stay at, period. Um well, things change, you know, things change. You know, things change. It no longer belongs to one person. You know, now it's a. Who owns us right now, I don't know, like some kind of yeah, yeah, exactly exactly, which is fine.
Speaker 1:I mean, that's how they make money and and I will say this straight up, so far, everything that I see that HQ is doing I'm pretty impressed with. I really am, and I'm beyond the ability to, because right now, and it's an entrepreneurial spirit and I salute them but a lot of big-name CrossFit athletes are all selling programming monthly subscription fee for programming, and that's great. More power to you, but no disrespect to anyone. But 19 years ago we affiliated with CrossFit. We didn't affiliate with this guy, that guy you know, mike Fit Blake. Fit, right, you know, doesn't mean we won't. You know, listen until somebody gives me a really good reason to stop. We're not going to right, but I, I think, I think you know well, what are you going to do for the affiliate? What are you going to do for the affiliate? So far, what I've seen, I'm pretty impressed with, I really am. I think the affiliate programming is well, just like we've already discussed, if you're missing something, it's your fault. Yeah, as a coach, as an owner, if you subscribe to CAP and you feel like it's lacking, then the marketplace is ripe with other opportunities, but there's not a whole. And no, no disrespect to any of our coaches. I think we've done a really, and I'm pretty proud of that too.
Speaker 1:We have never once hired a coach, never, never. You know. I mean, people have dropped resumes off and hey, are you hiring? And I've told them with open arms I never, you know. For I mean, people have dropped resumes off and and hey, are you hiring? And I've told them with open arms, I'm like you know we don't. But I'll tell you what. Why don't you come train with us for a while? On me, you don't have to buy a membership, just train with us and let's see if it's a fit and um. You know that we fluctuate from 12 to 13, 14 coaches at any given time.
Speaker 1:Every one of them, you were the model for it, every one of them was a member who showed the desire to coach, showed the aptitude to coach, and you know, we would just kind of bring them along, have them shadow, have them co-coach. You know, get them their L1, get them their L2. And you know pretty proud of that. You know, get them their L1, get them their L2. And you know pretty proud of that, you know. But I think too, nothing I would change there's. There's just so much, so many resources out there that are available to the affiliates.
Speaker 1:Now if, if you think there's something lacking, maybe you ought to like, take a, take a closer look and go with them. Maybe I didn't know about that, or I'm not fully aware, or invested, I don't know. And then, too, I think I still love the fact that you can make it whatever you want. If you want to keep it organic, keep it grassroots, you can do it. If you want to boutique it a little bit and there was one call that we got on right.
Speaker 1:It like during either might have been right when covid started and we weren't sure, like, what was going to happen and how long it was going to go, but it was uh, it was hosted by uh I want to say wadify because we had used we had used wadify for uh membership management before we switched over to StreamFit. That's right, streamfit, for all your credit, it's not an advertisement, but we use StreamFit, we love it. So it was a Wattify call because they would have these, like from time to time you could sit in and you know, listen, I don't remember who the guy was, don't care, this is not a shot at him, but it was one of those things, that I was glad it was a dial-in and not a zoom, because jen and I are sitting there and it didn't take long. Well, you know, I mean, if you feel like you're struggling and you're not making as much, as there's no reason you shouldn't be making you know big money, maybe you need to rethink your model and, um, maybe you should have fewer members and charge them more. And at that point, honest to God, I was like and I can die, you know I'll go watch grass grow, or maybe you know weed and feed the lawn. That's, that's not, you know.
Speaker 1:And I I don't argue the logic, right, fuck man, when Michael was a little boy, I'll never forget that he was little and we were talking about business development and growth and this and this, and I was getting ready to go back on deployment, and he could have been more than five and he was like Dad, why do you have to go away again? And I'm like well, buddy. I said you know it's my job. And I'm like well, buddy, I said you know it's my job. And I said no, he didn't know. That's one of the things I was most pleased with was the kids never really fully grasped what I was doing Right. Yeah, oh, daddy works far away. You know awesome. But uh, dad, why do you have to go away?
Speaker 1:again, I, was like, well, buddy, it's my job. And I said, and you know everybody, when you grow up, you go to work. I said it's just that my work is farther away, so I have to stay there. And he goes. Well, I mean, I thought the gym was your work. And I was like, well, it is bud. And I said, but you know, until that gets to a point where it can and how do you explain economics to a five-year-old Well, you reach a price point and then, until it can sustain, you know. And I said, well, buddy, I said you know, um, we just need to, you know, get, build our business bigger and get more members, and then I'll stay home and I'll have to help mom run it.
Speaker 1:Real matter of fact, he goes, oh, so get more members. And I'm like it's a good idea. Yeah, you know that's a good idea and you know what the truth of it is. It is that simple. It really is. It is that simple. But I think let's face it. It's a competitive market and I don't think I'd criticize any. Well, I guess in what circles? Not as a criticism. This is a hoot for me. They're having so much fun. You know, that's right there, right there. That's what this is all about. Crossfit for kids, burpee challenge, uh-oh.
Speaker 2:Burpee.
Speaker 1:Somebody knocked their pizza out of her hand, wouldn't it be awesome? Because that's the key right there. That is like the secret. Who is it? Ponce de Leon, right, looking for the fountain of youth? When you can find something like this to stimulate adults up here the way these kids are having fun right now, that's awesome.
Speaker 2:I think that's, you know, like you're talking about more members or whatever and you're talking about people, that that, uh, you know kind of the correlation of fast food, right, I think what. What sometimes people think is that, like, if you go to a crossfit gym, it's really no different than if you go to this, to this gym down the street and it's just like so they kind of equate it as like well, wait a second, I'm gonna go and I'm gonna pay yeah $19 a month at uh crunch, or you want me to pay, you know, up to whatever, some.
Speaker 2:You know some of those crossfits in places where it's expensive, right, we're talking, like you know, $300 a month, or whatever like well, that's insane. Okay, cool, but you're also now comparing apples to a rock.
Speaker 1:It's not even apples, and oranges at that point?
Speaker 2:Yes. Are they both providing fitness? Sure, but at the end of the day, you go and you pay your $9 a month, and that business model works.
Speaker 1:If it didn't work, you wouldn't stop doing it right.
Speaker 2:But the whole purpose is like when's the worst time to go to those kind of places? First two months of the year, right. Right Whenever they're inundated with people that are like I want to do this, and then they go and they work out.
Speaker 1:That you will probably never see again.
Speaker 2:You do it for like a week or something after not working out and you're like, holy shit, my body hurts so much. I'll just wait until it's not sore and I'll go back.
Speaker 1:Right.
Speaker 2:Well then you never come back.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:Right, but then, like you know, and that's why, at least in my experience with Iron City and I don't remember it happening here really but like you know you don't see a huge influx of people at the beginning of the year, because, you know, for one reason. Well, one reason is that people are always like I need to get in shape before I do CrossFit, right?
Speaker 1:You're about to be ambushed, I know.
Speaker 2:And I'll tell you like I thought I was fit when I started CrossFit.
Speaker 1:Hello, how was class when I started CrossFit. Hello, how was class I?
Speaker 2:have a ride. Yeah, class was good yeah class was good Awesome.
Speaker 1:Awesome. You know you run into that problem. This is our producer.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I think, you know, I think I'm good or like I'm fit, and then you start doing this. You're like oh man, but nothing I could have ever done would have prepared me for no, and you know what I swear you were.
Speaker 1:You were the first person I, as I recall, who actually ever did like a no kidding breakdown of, okay, you know when people say, well, it's too expensive, and I swear you did like a line by line. You're like all right, so this is a gym cost at like an average, you know, la fitness or something like that, and um, and if you want to add personal training to it, it's this much per hour. And if you wanted to go like three sessions a week, now you you've got to be a member there. So you're going to pay your membership whatever if you get a special, you know, if you don't, whatever. And boom, boom, boom. As opposed to this is what I pay at CrossFit and I get all that Right, right. So you know, I mean again, just round and round it goes, and I think, to the market here.
Speaker 1:When we first opened our doors, I'll never forget I was like this is kind of insane, because I didn't know. We had no frame of reference, no-transcript. All the amenities, literally a full service cafe with a liquor license, a pro shop, tanning beds, I mean things that I don't use, but but they had it, people do? Yeah, they had it and it was justifies why they would be over there, right? I mean, you know showers and and and that was another thing too that we wrestled with over the years, particularly anytime we were looking for a new location hey, you know, will showers make it more marketable? You know, maybe, but here's my thing on that I'm like I believe it also adds a layer of headache that the average box, gym, box gym being like us, like the model of CrossFit, that we don't need. You know Then too, do you have the space for it? Do you have the space?
Speaker 2:for it to do it properly or does that?
Speaker 1:you got to get that on camera, otherwise, over this way, yeah, make sure, there we go and we're back. That's awesome. That is awesome. Hey, your episode from yesterday is live. It's on YouTube if you wanted to see it. And now this will be live tomorrow.
Speaker 2:CrossFit Pittsburgh.
Speaker 1:CrossFit Pittsburgh podcast.
Speaker 2:Coach Zero.
Speaker 1:Coach Zero.
Speaker 2:That makes I was thinking about that the other day when you said that, that it made me feel like you should have kicked me on the back and then turn it around for me, patient zero. Like I'm the one that, I'm the one that he caused it all.
Speaker 1:It started with him, but it's funny. But yeah, yeah, and I mean like little things like that. Like you know, some, some buildings are more conducive to having a shower, some schedules are more conducive, right. But you know, for us I look at it like, okay, we have a 5.30 am. Class Ends at 6.30 am. Normal workday starts at 9, maybe 8, 8.30. So theoretically, you're going to have that person that's going to come get ready for work and hang out for an hour and a half. Yeah, right, with who? Yeah, you know, I mean for an hour and a half. Yeah, right with who. Yeah, you know, I mean with who. And similarly, um, I know a lot of models have gone from like, no, we're crossfit, but we're also, um, some cool name gym, yeah, right, so you can, you can work out or you can crossfit and it's legit, they affiliate whatever. That's super. But then too, that our model doesn't doesn't work for our model. You know, you don't have a staff here.
Speaker 1:And one thing I'm adamantly opposed to, I think just liability and general safety for our coaches and our, our members. I don't care what neighborhood you're located in right now. Oh well, you just go with a key fob and people can come and go as they please, right? Really? What are you walking in on and what's there waiting for you? You know, I just wouldn't feel comfortable about that. You're not having a bourbon, are you Listen? Okay, put that on here, show it. You can put it on camera. Come stand beside me. Not a lot of people know this, but I am big time into unicorns. Oh yeah, oh yeah. Man, deadliest animal in the mythical universe. I don't think that's true. All right, logan's our fact checker. He's going to call me on that.
Speaker 2:Everybody thinks that unicorns spew glitter out of their eyes whenever they cry, but it's not true. It's not no. How do you know? Have you ever seen a unicorn cry? Because unicorns are real.
Speaker 1:Woo, we might have to call it right here, because I'm about to cry and I don't want to do it on camera. You're not actually real, do you know? Unicorn tears heal wounds sustained in battle. That's only in Harry Potter.
Speaker 2:Now I'm going to say Harry Potter's not real.
Speaker 1:And you know, your dad and I met at Hogwarts.
Speaker 2:Yeah, mike was a professor. He's way older than me.
Speaker 1:I was, that's from.
Speaker 2:Michael, that's right.
Speaker 1:I taught potions, professor, what's your?
Speaker 2:last name Petra.
Speaker 1:Gallo, petra Gallo.
Speaker 2:Okay, p squared.
Speaker 1:I taught potions and then I, for one semester I taught the dark arts. Professor Snake Severus was not. He was misunderstood.
Speaker 2:Slytherin.
Speaker 1:There's not a wizard. There's not a wizard who's ever gone bad. That wasn't a Slytherin. Could you imagine if they and I bet you, if you crossfitted in the offseason, you'd be a rockin' Quidditch player, especially the, what do they call? I was gonna say bashers, but they're not bad the bludgers, the bludgers, yeah, bludger, I think right, yeah, beater, beater.
Speaker 1:The bludgers, the thing the bludgers, the thing, that ball we're gonna have to. We're gonna have to have a harry potter expert. Alexandra, my daughter, she's a total, have you? Yeah, all of them. Nice, nice, I've read them. Well, we, we started with the kids Way back when we'd read them to the kids and then we'd see the movies. Nice, but all right. So the 4.30 class is about to get underway. They will get loud and we will resume this. But yeah, man, I mean, I think this was. You know, sometimes we go off tangent a little bit, but yeah, the, the, the basic, the, the, the common denominator of CrossFit. What makes it and I knew it, I could feel it by his little hooves. Dude, that's awesome, look at that. I said, check me on the runway it's going to, oh, and you caught it.
Speaker 1:You know, listen, I'm old man, but certain things still work. Reflexes are still quick.
Speaker 2:I don't have as good a balance.
Speaker 1:All right, anyway, thanks for joining us. We will be back with more about our journey together Tomorrow. Tomorrow, same bat time, maybe not. Are you good tomorrow?
Speaker 2:Well, he's got a meet, so I'll be back on.
Speaker 1:Monday what. That's right, we're swimming with your cousins, oh okay. Well, that's cool too. All right, stay tuned, we'll be back and watch for more and more of Logan appearing on the show, all More and more of Logan appearing on the show. All right, later, see ya. See ya here. Throw the thumbs up, watch what happens. Sometimes it always works. For me Now it's going to be persnickety. Yep, there, it is All right, we're out.
