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
The Power of CrossFit: Building Resilience and Empathy
Ever wondered how unexpected places can spark deep, meaningful connections? Meet Kelsey Elder, a standout athlete from CrossFit Pittsburgh, as he takes us on his incredible journey through the CrossFit landscape from Richmond to Pittsburgh. Kelsey shares how the CrossFit community became a family for him and his wife Kels, fostering an inclusive environment where everyone feels welcome, regardless of skill level. Join us to explore the unique bonds forged in the gym and the sense of belonging that transcends physical fitness.
Have you ever thought about how shared physical challenges can bridge societal divides? Our discussion takes a fascinating turn as we navigate the complex world of political discourse within the CrossFit gym environment. We tackle the importance of harm reduction, empathy, and finding common ground amidst polarized viewpoints. Through shared triumphs and struggles in CrossFit, we find a powerful metaphor for respectful debate and deeper connections, offering a glimmer of hope for the younger generation to revive the art of respectful dialogue.
From the aches and pains of injuries to the mental battles of seasonal depression, our conversation delves into the holistic experience of CrossFit athletes. We delve into effective CrossFit programming, the balance between activity and recovery, and the joy of building a supportive community. With personal anecdotes and reflective insights, we celebrate the resilience, camaraderie, and unwavering spirit that define the CrossFit journey. Whether you're a seasoned athlete or a newcomer, this episode invites you to embrace both the physical and emotional aspects of your fitness adventure.
And we're back. So today, first pure CrossFit Pittsburgh member profile right. So Kelsey Elder is with me today and, interestingly enough, we were talking about coaches' profiles.
Speaker 2:Who are also members? Who are also members?
Speaker 1:But you are the first, you are Mark 1, mod 0 athlete profile. So this is kind of neat too. It really is. I said this to Byron in the first coach profile and I was like I've got to ask the question when did you start CrossFit? Because similar with you. I mean, you haven't been with us as long as Byron, but it's funny. I was thinking about this today. I don't remember when you weren't here. Oh my. No, seriously, and I mean, I know a lot of it could be my a lot of it could be like a little bit brain damage on my end, you know.
Speaker 1:TBI and whatnot. No, but it is. It is kind of neat because I think and I mean this sincerely, you know and I know I speak for Jennifer as well you know people make an impact on you and not in a negative way. It's like, oh, some people leave and you don't notice. I don't mean it like that, but I just don't remember when you weren't here, because I think you know you and Kels have become such a part of our community.
Speaker 2:That's the cool part, you know that's, that's that for me is what.
Speaker 1:that's why, you know, 19 years later, you know we're still an affiliate, oh exactly.
Speaker 2:And I mean to sort of circle back around to the question of you know, starting CrossFit and all of that. You know I started 2019 and I didn't really know why. So I feel like you know I was a high school athlete. I why? So I feel like you know I was a high school athlete. I did the gym thing through college and graduate school and all of that um, and I sort of would always walk past this crossfit gym, a real small community box in richmond, virginia, and I was like that looks cool. You know, they were.
Speaker 2:They had a outdoor rig. Uh sounded maybe similar to some of like how you all started um with uh before, sort of rogue, and all of that was about um, and I was like, well, I'll give it a shot and I'll never forget, after the first week, like I couldn't walk, I couldn't sit down. I thought I was in okay shape but, um, it really kind of hands you uh, your ass on a plate, um, and I was just like kind of hooked from there.
Speaker 2:Um, it was weird because of course I started crossfit and a year later the world shut down right um, and so we had moved to providence, rhode island at that point, um to crossfit providence and so like kind of. My second year of crossfit was all in my own garage with like a simple medicine ball, a kettle ball, a jump rope, um, and a box. They let everyone take home a box and I feel like that sort of like alone time also made you really, really miss the gym.
Speaker 2:Because, like you said, it's really the people that cause you to come to class. And when Kelsey and I moved to Pittsburgh two years ago, when Kels and I moved to Pittsburgh two years ago, I did a drop-in when I drove back when our house was getting inspected. I'll never forget that workout. It was a front squat and row workout 135. It was at the top of every minute.
Speaker 2:You did, I think, three front squats and then you rowed for the rest of the minute, for 20 minutes, and I uh was very, very uh sore. Uh, driving home after that I was like, oh, it seems like a pretty cool box, like I think it has like a really good vibe, um, and then when we moved here, uh, we ended up you know, I invited kelse to come check it out and and we just sort of fell in, felt like like family, real comfortable, and of course we ended up finding out that the sellers of our house were also members here.
Speaker 3:That's right, that's right.
Speaker 2:So sort of like a really funny full circle moment in my opinion of CrossFit's wonderful for the community and that it always seems to lead back to community in some way.
Speaker 1:Yeah, you know what, as you were talking, I was like I remembered that part of it and that's Laura and Kyle, laura and Kyle.
Speaker 2:Right.
Speaker 1:And you know what's really freaky is that's not the first time that's happened here. We had one of our members, a really really good guy, d David. He went by, d worked just up the the street at google, was with us for a long time. He's a really you know, unassuming guy, good athlete.
Speaker 1:You know, and that's the thing that I think I love most about crossfit it's a very, very diverse community yes and probably the type of community where, and probably the type of community where I'm not sure exactly how to say it, but it's like if you're in the grocery store and you stop to let someone go in front of you, you know like, or you're commenting on a price of tomatoes or something, you might say hey, good morning, hey, good morning to you, and on you go and you're going one way like the most unlikely, because just not, you know, not like a connection yeah crossfit makes the most wonderful connections across all ages, across all genders across all I mean, and it is.
Speaker 1:It speaks, I think, volumes of the community and and I'm I don't know. At least this is our box. I cannot speak, you know, beyond that. I don't ever recall ever having a moment in our box where you had people made to feel uncomfortable because they were new or because he doesn't have a muscle up or something like that.
Speaker 2:There's no can be really common right, right, right, especially in gym scenarios. Exactly yeah, and I look at it and I'm almost like you know there's no varsity and junior varsity set up here.
Speaker 1:There's not, you know, I mean granted you know, beginner, intermediate, rxed, you know on the board. But that's so. Each of us maximizes our workout. That's it. It's not a letterman's jacket, you know, or something like. Well, you're a beginner, hang your head in shame. Go stand over there, you know it's none of that. And I think that's one of the things that makes it, you know, makes it so much fun.
Speaker 1:But Dee when they and he now picture this right, he's an executive at Google, extremely, extremely organized individual. His wife similarly. I mean, just you know, extremely organized. So when they put their house on the market, they left a binder for the new buyer and the binder included everything like if you need a landscaper here, you need, and it was all tabbed. If you need a trainer, boom. If you need a physical therapist, boom.
Speaker 2:If you're looking for a gym boom. Laura and Kyle did the same thing to our realtors.
Speaker 1:They're a realtor.
Speaker 2:We're talking to our realtors and they're like well, they have some recommendations for CrossFit gyms and we wrote it in our love letter about the house that we noticed you were in the basementms and we wrote it in our love letter about the house that you know we noticed your row. We're in the basement and we're big into crossfit and so right um yeah that's just I mean, that's exactly how we ended up here.
Speaker 1:So much fun so much fun and um when, when it was actually uh sarah 8, 30 you know sarah bought these house. And the next thing, you know, you know she comes to check out the gym and she's here, you know. But those are the kind of things that I would. I would take that organic growth compared to the dozens of solicitations we get daily. Can you? I love this one right Like we were talking about those random texts you get. Hey, can your gym handle 30 new members next month?
Speaker 3:I'm like no, no, no, we can't Thank you for calling.
Speaker 1:Boop or texting, whatever you know. It's just a different thing. It's a different thing altogether, and I think that's one of the things, too, that we've appreciated as CrossFit has evolved over the years. I think that's something that it's, that it's, it's in its DNA it's like one of the core components of it is community, and I mean, I don't, that's not a, it's not an advertisement, it's not a commercial.
Speaker 2:You know, it's um, it's, it's about the community, that's everything one of the hardest parts to explain to folks that don't do CrossFit is that I mean you sort of talked about the unexpected intersections of the types of individuals that find themselves at the box, and you know, when folks who don't do CrossFit ask me about it, I always remark well, like we love it, largely due in part to the community. It's great that I feel better about myself, I can walk and don't have knee pain and the other sort of health benefits that it has. But largely the thing that keeps, at least in my opinion, myself committed is the community and sort of the relationships that are built.
Speaker 2:Um you know we love the eight 30, um it's just sort of like this wild uh cross section of individuals. And you know, my wife and I both teach and it can be really hard to actually intersect with folks who have different life experiences than yourself because largely inside of our professional careers we're both graphic designers, so we're doing client work with other graphic designers, so that's already sort of it's in circle, and then when we teach, well, design education isn't that large either and it's largely the same sort of individuals and and so I think uh, crossfit is amazing because it provides you those spaces to make those relationships and to talk with people who have different experiences or different perspectives from you and define commonality through shared misery of metcon and that's it.
Speaker 1:And you know, I want to circle back to this because I'm like, oh my god. So excuse me, if I understood this right, you did a front squat rowing workout yes, and then drove to providence.
Speaker 2:Yes, it was like a 10 hour drive, it was. It was bad. You know what I regretted, every decision I made.
Speaker 1:I'm sitting here right now and I'm feeling every time you've got to get out to gas up or use the restroom and it only gets worse. It only gets worse. By a certain point I was like I'm just going to keep going. I wonder how much an Uber would be from here.
Speaker 2:It was like waddling in the rock. You're like rest stop, oh my God.
Speaker 1:That's awesome. But you know, to the point you just made about the makeup of the class, I remember when this happened and I was a little bit surprised. Like. I'm not really sure how to answer that, but one of our members who's an older not an older person, but been here a while. Yeah, been here a while.
Speaker 1:Yeah, been here a while. I don't even remember how we got on this subject, but I suppose you know, since COVID from 2020 to 2024, you know the national landscape, the political landscape, our cultural landscape. I mean, it's been a bumpy road. You know, and it's no secret, that I have a military background, but at the same time, I really do believe that, if I'd like to think it doesn't define me, but it's a bit of a conundrum. I don't believe it defines me. On the other hand, I'm like hang on a second.
Speaker 3:I think it makes you and to cause and effect.
Speaker 1:I'm a firm believer in this. I don't think the military makes you something you're not. I think a certain type of individual gravitates toward it.
Speaker 2:And you know, for me, I wasn't on active duty all that long.
Speaker 1:But you know, after active duty I worked in the private sector for a while and it's very, very interesting time there. And then, right after 9-11, there was nothing that was going to stop me from getting back to government service. So I mean, it was just like that was it. An interesting point, though and this is where I'm going with this is this member says to me something about well, what are your thoughts on candidates? And this wasn't recent I think this might have been after the last election.
Speaker 2:Sure maybe like the governor's election a couple years ago.
Speaker 3:Yeah, well, what do you think about candidates? And I was like listen.
Speaker 1:I said this may come as a shock to you, because I think you automatically like inherit the like oh, you were in the military, you must be conservative, and I'm, like I've never considered myself conservative, right, and I said I'll be even more frank. Do you think for a minute any elected official cares any more about me, or you, or her, or him or those guys over there? They don't, they just don't. So the history of my career path has been and I think this is despicable, I really do. I think we've degenerated into a point of like who's going to do the least amount of damage?
Speaker 2:Oh, 100%, it should not Harm reduction. Yeah, should not be like that.
Speaker 1:But we're focused on damage control. Who's the least harmful? But you know, when I laid that that out, her response was like, really, oh, wow, I just can't believe I. I I finally actually talked to a republican and I'm like, oh, hang on a second. I didn't say conservative, I didn't say republican. I'm like I gave you the straightest answer because, ultimately, here's the thing whoever is in the driver's seat, they're going to do what the machine that got them elected bids them to do.
Speaker 2:The funding is behind them.
Speaker 1:And most of us when you go to work every day and we're going to try to be the best person we can be in spite of all of that. And to me, my job is whatever comes up on the horizon me and guys like me we're going to go meet that and counter it and again. So I'm sitting there and I'm going. This may go down as the single most bizarre conversation I've ever had in a CrossFit gym. I'm like what you know? Let's focus more on Murph or Karen. Yeah, know, oh, please not. Yeah, no, no, but um, no, I do think. But I think that goes back to how eclectic, you know, the community can be, and and and I did take this this way, I don't take it badly at all.
Speaker 1:I took it as one of those moments of like okay, this person never thought they would get the opportunity to even be able to ask that question to someone they thought might have an answer for them.
Speaker 2:And I'm afraid my answer might have been disappointing because I'm like no, you know, I mean it's I mean, we would be in a lot better position, in my personal opinion, if we had more opportunities to come together and have those types of discussions. Like you know, here are my presumptions Can we hold conversation spaces with one another to talk about what those presumptions may be? And it's completely true that you know. I think we've reached a point of polarization and also categorization.
Speaker 2:If you're either in or you're out, um, those sort of like really quick, uh binary decisions that we can make, um that it actually becomes, like I think we've like generally and maybe I'm speaking a little bit as a professor at this point and what I see, um in my students as they come through, but you know, kind of like losing of a skill to like have hard discussions with people who may have had different life experiences or even hold different values, and to come away with it and say like it's not about going into that conversation saying your values are wrong, mine are right, but instead to say like how can we come to mutual understanding of one another and leave both benefited by understanding, or like forming some sort of empathy with that like different type of perspective right right and as a design educator, you know a lot of my colleagues will talk about doing that work and it's like you're talking to other design educators or other academics in higher education.
Speaker 2:How different really are we to have reached that point of privilege in our life that we can talk about those things like no, like, come to the box, have a conversation with folks from all sorts of different generations of life, all different types of like lived experience in life? Um, and I think like what's nice, at least in my opinion, is you always have some sort of uh safety net of conversation to fall back onto. Uh, can you believe that we're supposed to do all this work in this amount of time? Can you believe?
Speaker 2:the work on that RX. How is it going from X on an RX barbell to just the empty barbell on a basic? So you always have like a little bit of that levity that you can throw around as well.
Speaker 1:Right, and that's the crazy part, because I think that transcends any job, any um event, let's say life event right.
Speaker 1:I've always found shared misery, or or or the dark side of humor yeah you know when you could actually look across the room and just go like there's that, that glance, that's just like oh man like this is gonna really suck um, but you know, you're right, though, and I think and this is this is a little bit as an older, as an older guy, I do look to the younger generation and I'm like, man, turn this around, guys because it's on you you know, pretty soon I'm not. I'm gonna be like sitting in that rocking chair, like complaining about knee pain or something more than I do now. But you're right though, and I think when you don't recognize, we can have a conversation.
Speaker 1:We can even disagree. Doesn't mean I like you any less than I did when we started.
Speaker 2:We can still respect each other. Well, that's got to be a minimum right.
Speaker 1:That should be your absolute. That should be like your baseline. Yeah Right, that should be like your baseline, yeah right, that should be like your crossfit baseline. Like you know, we're not, we're not going to work out without a warm-up. Yeah, respect at a minimum, but I also think too, and and it's you know it, this really does have to do with crossfit it really does I just?
Speaker 1:think this is the thing, too, that I, that I love the most is when you can. You know you strike that cord and then you start to, um, it's like an onion, you know. You start to peel the layers of it and you're like, well, it's not so, yeah, where's this conversation going?
Speaker 2:and then you're like it's right back to fundamentals, like something brings you here when you'd rather I say that, but I mean something brings you here when you'd rather sleep in I I really wouldn't, I'd rather come train you know I'd rather take a nap later in the day, messed up on like vacations or time off there is something I mean, um, you know I'm autistic.
Speaker 2:The ritual of it is very, very helpful and so when that's disrupted from my schedule, like I definitely feel it. Um, but you know, I look forward, uh, to feeling alive in one's body through the misery of whatever gen has in store for us that day. Um, and yeah, I don't know if you experience it, but you know, when you're away from the gym at some sort of time, like you're still waking up and like your body is like aren't we gonna go do something a little stressful right now?
Speaker 1:you know, in a it's gonna be like a tongue twister, and I'll share this story with you only so what I say next makes sense. Right, I've learned my lesson, because I've been bitten in the ass by it more than once. There was a guy that trained with us years ago really good dude, scotty was his name, not not our Scotty number one and yeah, I don't mean that, like scott, you know what I mean but um really good dude and I.
Speaker 1:I was in between iraq and afghanistan and I was running operations for about six months from the home office. So I would travel. Maybe on a monday or tuesday morning I'd go down to northern virginia, I'd stay down there for a couple of days, come back and, you know, spend the weekend here. So it was one of those days.
Speaker 2:I was coming home on a Thursday and I'm looking at the clock and I'm like oh man like I'm going to be home a little bit early and then I'll go to the gym tonight I'll go to the gym with Jen and the kids, right, super.
Speaker 1:So I and Jen's, it's summertime and Jen's making the kids cheeseburgers, and I was like look at the clock and I'm like, perfect, I've got plenty of time. I've got time to eat a cheeseburger and go to the gym, so I had to like what? Like 93, 7 or 90, 10, you know, low-fat burgers, cheese, and God knows what possessed me to do this.
Speaker 2:I reach in the refrigerator for ketchup and what's staring right back at me but a corona yeah, I was about to say the only thing that could make that better is right, so I have two, two not small cheeseburgers and a corona.
Speaker 1:A couple hours later, we go to the gym and I had one of the best workouts I've ever had. Oh my god, I crushed this thing and I'm like and I looked at Scotty and I was like dude. I was, like you know, one of the things I love most about it, and this is exactly I don't remember anything, but I remember this like it was yesterday.
Speaker 1:I said you know one of the things I love most about CrossFit. I'm like you can almost eat anything and I caveat it, I go you can almost eat anything you want. I said I had two cheeseburgers and a Corona before I came down here. I'm like that's the best time and it was a benchmark workout and I'm like so it was something that I knew. I was like that's not the best time I've had on that workout.
Speaker 2:It's because you like you did you quote I listened to this podcast on Hidden Brain that talked about the mentality of trying too hard and what actually happens, especially to high performance athletes golfers, tennis players etc when they try too hard. Versus like enter a simple flow state and so those cheeseburgers and that beer just got you in that flow state from that benchmark workout.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and really I know preconceived notions, and so I threw that out. A couple of days later, my wife corners me and she was like what the hell is wrong with you? I'm like can you be a little bit more specific?
Speaker 3:I'm like.
Speaker 1:I'm not going to gonna over commit here because I'm not sure what, I'm not sure you're what. And I was like what, what in the world are you talking about? And she was like scott, he's over here telling everybody. Oh, mike said you can eat whatever you want. He eats cheeseburgers and drinks beer before work like nuts fruits.
Speaker 1:Yeah, no sugar nowhere in there nowhere in there does it say cheeseburgers and corona so um I was like that's not what I said, that is not I mean, it's what I said, but it wasn't like that. It's okay, super, but um yeah. So I really I think there's probably a reason for it, and that reason probably was regardless of the fact that it was lean beef, it's probably still very like fatty yeah and maybe, yeah, yeah, probably energized me more than I thought it would and then you know the digestive time in in between worked and the corona probably acted as like an analgesic or something I don't know but um.
Speaker 1:So thank you there, you know, for throwing me under the bus there, scotty, but um, I think too, though and you hit it on the head, like going back to what you said before about like a, like a, like a pattern, like a routine, I've noticed this it's, uh, it's, it's I and I don't like to use the word addiction because I don't, I don't, you know, this has a very negative connotation, but I do believe this. I think when your body is used to training, it becomes a normal part, right, and it is hormonal, and it is endorphins, and it is, and without that, I find myself in for lack of a better word.
Speaker 2:I find myself in a funk. Yeah Right, like, actually like mood and energy levels. I don't know if you do?
Speaker 1:Yeah, absolutely. And um, and I think I told you about this offline, but a while back I was training, I was going to try the tactical games.
Speaker 1:And I started months in advance because they were coming here to the Pittsburgh area and they had released that it was going to be in May and I was like I'm in, I'm doing it and I started to really train hard and I followed a really good CrossFit based training program. A lot of odd objects, a lot of heavier, heavy farmer's carry heavy dumbbell box stepovers, atlas stones, sandbags over the bar, shuttle runs with body armor. I mean the stuff that you know you're working on your core strength strength. But your metcon was odd objects and a little bit heavier, you know in your extra heavy body, yeah it's great, great, great.
Speaker 1:I didn't realize I was injured, until I realized the dates of the competition coincided with memorial day weekend. I mean, murph, we do it saturday, not Traditionally. We've always done that and I was guest speaker in our community's Memorial Day celebration. Right, I had a dear friend and his wife come up from Birmingham. I was not about to go, hey, I got a two-day competition, but I'll be home for dinner.
Speaker 1:You know, see ya. So I withdrew in plenty of time but didn't realize that I had injured myself during training your hip, yeah lower back and hip. I mean, it was probably some of the worst pain I've had and I'm convinced it was because of the odd objects and the high volume of the odd objects.
Speaker 2:Maybe you should have had some cheeseburgers in the car. You know what? That's probably the driving factor.
Speaker 1:I didn't have enough Corona and cheeseburgers during that process. But and again, nothing against the program, I think, just for me.
Speaker 2:you, you immerse yourself in it and you're like, I got it.
Speaker 3:Yep.
Speaker 1:I got it so that aggravating little pain it'll pass. I'm going to push through it. Um, but twofold one I think it's very difficult to train yourself 100% Right yes and and two. I think you add to that, you add to that, um, a healthy dose of ego and you're like okay, you know what I stopped being a master's athlete like 20 years ago you know, now I'm like whatever's whatever's two levels above beyond masters god I'm like old. I'm just. I'm probably, like you know, silver sneakers fit.
Speaker 2:Grand Legion.
Speaker 1:But I think those are the things too that, more than physically you know, it was a very uncomfortable pain, but I did take a couple weeks off Absolutely miserable. Miserable Because number one you're still in discomfort. Miserable. Miserable because number one you're still in discomfort. And two now you're feeling that or you're not feeling you know the endorphins firing and the.
Speaker 2:You're really aware of the lack. Yes, right.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yes, painfully aware of the lack of it, and I think it's not just the lack of of the, the physiological, but um mental state. You know, I never, ever discounted the impact of levels of depression, ever years ago. And this was crazy, and thank goodness you weren't here for this, because we were in a building for a while.
Speaker 1:That was just disgusting the original location was kind of sweet this was our second location, not too far from here, but just a well, let me just leave it at this. Two micro breweries opened up sequentially after we left. All right, iphone freaks me out something I just did elicited a balloon release on the screen here.
Speaker 2:Oh, yeah, it senses like hand movements and things now. I was on a zoom call with a client the other day and I accidentally made like hearts fly or something like that. I was some default setting change.
Speaker 1:I talk with my hands a lot and every once in a while, like a mickey mouse, thumbs up will pop up in a cartoon bubble. So I kind of keep my hands. But whatever, I just did I'm like it's a balloon release, so that's cool.
Speaker 1:But um, uh, after we moved out, a micro brewery opened up. Frankly, I'm like, okay, man, good luck to you, you know, good luck to you. And it subsequently closed. And then another one opened up and then it closed almost right away. And it was just a really we, we did we would come in on a sunday and we would scrub and bleach yeah, you come in on a Sunday and we would scrub and bleach.
Speaker 1:You'd come in Monday. It would smell like mildew again. What we found out was there's a spring in the hillside behind the building and the building has no retaining wall behind it or no French drain.
Speaker 2:None, nothing so water literally just kind of sep through.
Speaker 1:It was just a holy mess. Frank strain, none, nothing, nothing so water, literally just kind of sep through and it's just just a holy mess. But um, yeah, that was quite a while ago it was winter winter time and I was doing um I would come in and do the 5, 30 am I think I did maybe five out of five or four out of five 5, 30 am.
Speaker 1:Uh, jenn, jennifer was on a project for a woman that she was a personal assistant to at the time, so she was largely tied up. So I would come back in, I'd do the 9 am. We'd have an 8.30 am it was 9 at the time. We'd come back in and I would do that every day, but Thursday I don't know why that was and then I'd come back maybe three out of five afternoons and coach afternoon evening it was one. Of those was winter and I'm standing in my kitchen I'm ready to pour coffee in a travel mug and head back in.
Speaker 1:And I'm looking out the window and I'm like I would rather be doing anything in the world right now than going back in, but and I do love this that was almost like in the moment I get my coffee, I get in the car and next thing you know I'm driving in. I'm thinking about the workout and the next thing you know the 4.30, 5.30, 6.30, whatever time it was that crew rolls in and you're caught right back up in the good energy, you know so for me that's always been the uh, but the reason I brought that up was, um, you know levels and types.
Speaker 1:That was probably the closest I ever came to I didn't know what it was. It's probably the closest I ever came to experiencing a variant of like seasonal uh depression yeah you know, when you're like well, it's, you know, 5, 30 and it's dark outside already. Yeah, and I'm grabbing a coffee.
Speaker 2:It might as well be 5.30 am it just messes with your head a little bit?
Speaker 1:But you know, like it goes without saying, the cure for that was the community, you know, getting in and training.
Speaker 2:I experienced that teaching. I teach in upper education. A lot of folks think that just means you're doing whatever's inside the classroom, but, as any professor knows, there's service and all these meetings and all this sort of bureaucracy that comes with teaching and you know there have been plenty of times over the past decade that I've taught where and I also grab the metaphorical coffee cup and stare outside it's like there's anything I would rather do than drive to work right now.
Speaker 2:But then, lo and behold, you get in the classroom with the students and it's different than a CrossFit gym. Of course I could imagine seeing your members find success, or maybe they were having a challenging personal experience outside of the gym and they're just coming in and sort of like showing up in those ways and similarly like I imagine that probably brings joy to coaches and sort of affiliate owners. And it's the same thing like when you teach with design students like you see their small successes and kind of like put some of that other stuff away. And I've always found there's every single academic year I think I I struggle a little bit with that balance of like. If I have to go to one more meeting I'm going to lose my mind and then it's like ah, yeah, but the students are really great to work with.
Speaker 2:Like look at all this cool stuff they're thinking about and making.
Speaker 1:Yeah and, and I wonder, sometimes too, you know it's. It's just strange how sometimes I draw like the weirdest parallels. But there's this old maybe I don't know if it's legit or if it's like a wives tale or if that even still exists. But oh, you know, you're disciplined because you were in the military.
Speaker 3:I'm like Chief, let me tell you something.
Speaker 1:I've gone through the military with a lot of guys who discipline doesn't even enter into their vocabulary.
Speaker 2:I'm like what are you here?
Speaker 1:for you know, but like, let's say, well, what made you a success? There was the discipline that it took to get where you got, and I think it is an absolute 100 transferable dynamic into, like the crossfit ethos, right, yes, um, you, you know, there was a, there was a theory once. I'll never forget this and I, I at the time I got it and I was like, yeah, yeah, like, right until you realize that might not be the smartest strategy to sustain.
Speaker 1:But it was like, okay, picture your picture that you have a tachometer, you know your body has a tachometer and what you want to do is you want to get it into the red zone and keep it there as long as you can, every time in terms yeah, huh, okay well I'm glad you don't drive any of my cars because you know, but I, I think I and again, this is something that I've learned, particularly within the crossfit universe be mindful of taking something out of context.
Speaker 1:Yes, right, so yeah, that's an awesome strategy, provided you're in that moment, like the what will be from here now be known as the cheeseburger corona night.
Speaker 2:Yes, um, whatever it was put me in that zone. Yeah, had a fantastic workout.
Speaker 1:Yeah, you know maybe the burgers were just a coincidence. You know, maybe I just kind of hit on that cycle Exactly. You know one of the things too. I don't know about you, but one of the things that I know I really violate on a regular basis are recovery days oh right I I struggle with those all the time.
Speaker 2:I, um, I either, uh, sit on the couch like a shrimp, um, which isn't really a recovery day, no stretching or mobility or I'm like, oh, this is a great time to, you know, completely reno the basement um, or paint the house which is obviously not recovery as well?
Speaker 1:Yeah, exactly, and I think you know, I think too, none of us are like professional athletes.
Speaker 3:What a wonderful world it would be.
Speaker 1:But even that, like I know, recently, over the summer, you know Jen just loves gardening. You know the yard shows it. I mean she works, you know, and you know the yard shows it. I mean she, she works, you know, incredibly hard on it.
Speaker 1:But I remember I was talking with jill, you know from the 830, and it was right at the time where my back was just like, oh my god, this is like agonizing. It's radiating in my back, shooting down my hips and down into my knees, and I'm like, yeah, this is great and. I made a comment about oh well, yesterday was a rest day and she said oh what did you do? I said oh well, jennifer and I went out and we bought some arbovites and I planted them.
Speaker 2:She's like how many.
Speaker 1:I go seven and then four rows of Sharon she's like.
Speaker 2:So you planted like 11 trees.
Speaker 3:That's not a rest day.
Speaker 1:And I'm like huh you know, touche.
Speaker 3:But yeah, I mean.
Speaker 1:So those are the kind of things that rest and recovery or active recovery you know, do something Like you said.
Speaker 3:you know if I can sit here, and I mean I'm guilty of this.
Speaker 2:I've rested enough that that's hurt you know, like I'm reclining and I'm like oh, this is not, this is not good.
Speaker 1:But without some type of midline, without some type of balance, you'll run into a problem sooner rather than later. Yeah, that's for sure.
Speaker 2:But definitely like when I started crossfit. Um, you know, I I think like a couple of different challenges. You talked about the finding the red line on the tachometer. That's not really how CrossFit is supposed to be programmed. Yeah, finding the red line is perfect on those benchmarks those heavy days that come like maybe once or twice a month.
Speaker 2:I love the open for those reasons, like those are the times to really find those red lines. But if you're doing that every single day inside of a MetCon and not really listening to coach and saying, oh, if that's the time, stimulus you know what I mean. How do I hit that stimulus? You're also not really getting through those different cardio and metabolical states that will actually improve your fitness.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah and I think that's really like what I've been trying to focus on the last couple of years is like okay, like what is the intent of this and how do I know myself well enough and push well enough that you hit the stimulus, uh, without constantly just trying to redline. I was definitely victim of like when I started crossfit, like I'm gonna rx every single workout because I think that's what you're supposed without constantly just trying to redline.
Speaker 2:I was definitely a victim of like when I started CrossFit. Like I'm going to RX every single workout because I think that's what you're supposed to do.
Speaker 1:Yeah, well, and you know, I think too, I think sometimes the coaches have and this is a broad statement, but I stand by this I think sometimes the coaches have failed in their execution of CrossFit programming, Not just here, but I think maybe as a community, that's something that we've got to be more aware of, and I think that, well, you attended.
Speaker 2:Yeah, l1 and L2, right, yeah, I got my L1 shirt on right now.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, I think they do a fantastic job Really.
Speaker 2:I've never respected the PVC more. Oh my gosh Right Like really enforcing. Like guys listen you know and and they've caught, tap it no pun intended. I was gonna say cap it off, top it off with the affiliate programming.
Speaker 1:Yeah right, because when that programming lays out for you this is the intended stimulus, and to the point like, okay, this is the intended stimulus, this is your time. If it's a time workout, this is your time bracket, you should strive to be somewhere in here. But then you take every part. You know good general warm-up and then you break down the movements in a progression.
Speaker 2:So it should leave no doubt in an athlete's mind where you go, even if it's not what's written on the board. Right like what am I? What am I?
Speaker 1:doing, how am I going to? And the one thing that I try to encourage a lot and hopefully it's. It makes sense like okay when we get to the point in the progression that you're okay, I'm I'm not going to do pull-ups, I am going to do ring rows, all right. But now let's say we're going to progress in the, in that progression warm-up, we're going to go past ring, ring rows and the next element is kip swings.
Speaker 3:I'd like every athlete if you're able to hold your body weight. Get on up there and practice the swings.
Speaker 1:That way you get a piece of it, you get a taste of it, but then, when it's time to work, you go right back the back pound shouldn't be the first time that you're doing a muscle-up or a pull-up.
Speaker 2:For the first time, Well, I mean there might be that breakthrough. Well, I guess it started out as a ring row and woo-hoo Absolutely.
Speaker 1:But I think too, headquarters through affiliate programming, through the training staff they have given us like literally like guys, this is what you put out and represent it properly. It will work. It can't not work right.
Speaker 2:You know, I mean the gym we were at before here made a big fuss about not doing CrossFit affiliate programming and I think I've noticed a really big difference actually coming here and doing affiliate programming and more so noticed like we did a lot of the same movements all the time at our old box because, I frankly think that's what the coaches like to do yeah, it could be, you know what I mean, um, and there was nothing.
Speaker 2:We had a great experience at the gym, amazing coaches, amazing community, um, but it's sometimes nice to have, uh, the variety sort of uh laid out for you. Um, yeah, and I think, like going through it you can also see, I mean, like we did heavy back squats on friday, um, crossfit always has the you know work three, rest one, work two. So today we did heavy three uh deadlifts, and yesterday was a bunch of what was it? Box jumps, I think, something like this. So I mean, your posterior chain was just working.
Speaker 2:And so you know you're also sort of thinking like, oh, kind of seeing how they're stacking them together and what is it like to come in. You know, I would actually say I felt decently fresh despite all of the box jumps yesterday. What is it like to come into a heavy deadlift with like kind of feeling your hammies a little bit? Right and your glutes for sure, um well, sometimes I wonder too, and I again.
Speaker 1:You know, in 19 years I think we've tried every variation of crossfit programming. You know, when we we did our own, we stuck to the matrix that you learn at the l1 yeah, and I love it.
Speaker 3:I mean it's logical but I think what happens there, the only thing I can say is a is a personal like.
Speaker 1:I find it as a detractor when you do your single modality and let's say like it's a strength bias day. So we're going to do heavy back squats today. Well, tomorrow we're not going to do strength. We'll do a gymnastic element and a um metcon element and then day three we'll incorporate all three.
Speaker 1:Then a rest day well by that logic, it can be a long time before we get back to heavy back squat, whether, whether it's, you know. But then too, and I always believed in this, the argument, the logical argument, was right. Well, it might be a while before, you like, if today was a one rep max, might be a while before you do the total, or get back to that one rep max, but you will be doing heavy back squats again, whether it's, you know, sets of threes, sets of fives, but it can be a longer time in between. So, and, and you did have some of those days where, hey, what's today? Well, today's single modality, and we're going to row a 10K.
Speaker 2:I saw, I think, on the public programming today. It was a half marathon row, some 2100 meters.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:Or 21,000 meters.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:I've never done something like that. That, but that sounds like a long time in a dark place. Oh, sure, sure, but and, and I think this too, and I remember again.
Speaker 1:You know I got to take it with the way it's intended. We had a member years ago who threw out. Um came in and it was a bit grumpy, you know. I guess if we had a bad day at work or something like that, he came in and workouts on the board and I'm getting ready to do the warm-up and the workout of the day. We referenced it earlier, karen 150 wall balls for time right should only take you a couple minutes. Yeah, okay what's the intended stimulus? Three minutes three, because we're capping it.
Speaker 1:We're capping it at four minutes, five, three, yeah, well just go unbroken but um, like he's just grumbly, and then I hear him go. I do this at home and I'm like you know, but I don't think you would. Yeah, you know, I don't.
Speaker 1:I don't believe you would, I wouldn't I well, you know, I might but you, I guess the thing is it's like, of all workouts that's going to be um, and I think over the two years you've been here, I know you might have been here for this Last summer. I remember it being hot, I remember it being humid and we did 100 burpee pull-ups.
Speaker 2:Honestly one of my favorite workouts Right, because it's in my mind, when you have a single modality, high repetition, you just find that rhythm Right Right.
Speaker 1:And I think, each of us in our own way. You go, well, I'm going to do sets of 10 yes okay, but you're ultimately, you're still going to do the work, or well? I just don't have it. What, my gosh, we did the 1000 box step ups oh.
Speaker 3:Chad right a hero workout.
Speaker 2:You can't walk right for a week after the workout. I mean a hero workout worthy of a hero.
Speaker 1:It's grueling, it's grueling.
Speaker 3:It's supposed to be.
Speaker 1:Yeah, right, and I do believe this 100%. I think it's a factor they are step-ups, it's not box jumps Right, not box jumps right.
Speaker 2:They are step ups. You're fully extending your hips. I hear that they're going to do chat at the games this year.
Speaker 1:Wow, you know what? There was rumor that there are going to be some things that we haven't seen before, and it's always exciting, you know. But, um, I I do this this last year, though jennifer pointed it out to me and she was like listen and and it's, it's, it's hard. I'm imagining it's hard for her to say as hard as it is for me to hear. She was like, if you try this at the RX height?
Speaker 3:she's like it's going to wreck you.
Speaker 1:It's going to wreck you. She's like I'm standing behind you, I'm watching you go and every step I mean I'm not tall.
Speaker 2:I was about to say you know, I know where this is going, Because when I do that workout too, I ensure that it's not crazy above my hip flexor.
Speaker 1:So I think I use a 20-inch box instead of the 24, because at 5'3" the 24 is up to my belly button. Yeah, and she was like I'm watching you and every time you step, your hips are completely out of alignment and factor in age, factor in, and I do get that. Then, on the other hand, I'm like, all right, but it's a hero one.
Speaker 3:It's a hero one.
Speaker 1:So we're going to hurt a little bit and you know, I'll use a shorter box on another workout, right, that's my tradeoff. But I do believe there's a certain logic in that and it's also up to us, you know, to use that discretionary power as an athlete To. So up to us to use that discretionary power as an athlete to go no, you know what I get this. But 1,000 repetitions, then arguably, yeah, but it's only step-ups, Right, I dare you.
Speaker 1:You say it's only anything no-transcript um, similarly, you know, karen, 150 up wait. This was, oh my god. We were not trainers, we were not personal trainers, we did not own a gym. I tried crossfit on a deployment, my first deployment to baghdad.
Speaker 3:I loved it and I said to jen I was like we got to do this this is.
Speaker 1:This is so cool. I love everything about this. We got to become a part of this community and she's like well, you know what, let's talk about it. And I signed a lease on the building and told her we got a space and we're doing this day shortly after, shortly after. You know what, though? This is? This is goofy going round dinner because it was no rogue. Back then, there was no like one stop. You know, convenient one-stop shop wasn't really online shopping either.
Speaker 1:Not really no no, but what I was able to do, and this was fun. I would not have traded this experience for anything. I got on the phone with concept to place the order for the rowers, you know, direct with them. Um, dynamax for the medicine balls, called them directly. Power max was the company that we went to for the barbells, the uh, dumbbells the kettlebells, the, the first two. We're never getting rid of those ever the first two ghd's the ones with the thin no padding flat tops yeah, those are good for, uh, hip and back extensions.
Speaker 2:they don't kill your quads as bad, yeah, so those two are going to stay until we are no longer.
Speaker 1:So we outfitted with that and really everything we you know, I don't even remember where we got our first jump ropes, but we sourced everything by ourselves. So when the heavy stuff came and this is something I learned the hard way they're like okay, well, that'll be delivered by a freight carrier and they'll call you to make arrangements. Super so I guess PowerMax drops it off to the freight carrier. The freight carrier calls us and I specifically had this conversation. Do you have a loading dock? No, sir, we don't, would you?
Speaker 3:have a garage door? Yes, we do okay, great.
Speaker 1:Well, I'll just make sure the truck has a lift gate super duper. So our landlord at the time owned a carpet shop next door yeah old automotive garage became available. He bought it with the intent to use it as a warehouse later on. So that's what we rented. So the truck shows up. It's one guy by himself, he looks and he goes. What I said you, they told me you had a loading dock. I was like no sir, we don't, we don't have a loading dock, hmm Well, this truck doesn't have a liftgate.
Speaker 1:And I'm like, oh no. And I said, so what are our options? He's like, well, I, I don't have a lot of time. I got two more stops to make. So and I'm thinking like in my mind, I'm ready to pay the price of like, well, we're going to break down these pallets and you hand them down to me, and well, one he doesn't unload he's a driver.
Speaker 1:Two, he's got to be somewhere else and I'm like, so I'm like hang on a second. So I run next door to the carpet shop and I said hey, is bob here?
Speaker 2:and the lady says no, he isn't. Can I help you?
Speaker 1:you know? And I said, well, um, I said we rent the building next door and I said bob told me that you all had a forklift in the event we ever needed it. And she was like oh yeah, yeah, she's like it's around back, she's like do you know how to drive it? And I'm like, yes, I do no disrespect to anybody, but I'm like I made it through flight school. You know navy flight school.
Speaker 2:I'm figuring how hard can it be I can teach myself how to do this, so thank God I get around the back. And the first thing I do I don't know what I'm looking at.
Speaker 1:I'm like what the hell? Well, they have the skids.
Speaker 3:I think they're called you know the fork yeah.
Speaker 1:But they're not on. What's on is this long spindle?
Speaker 2:for the carpets.
Speaker 1:And I'm like, oh, my God. So, as I'm looking, one of the guys comes out of the break room and he said oh yeah, you know, margie said I'm supposed to help you change this out. I'm like thank you God. So we both lift off the spindle, set it aside, puts in the forks.
Speaker 2:He's like you know how to use this right.
Speaker 1:I was like well, thankfully there's a little diagram yeah, yeah, yeah so in like minutes I taught myself to operate this thing. I drive it around and somewhere there's a picture of like I, jen and the kids came down coincidentally like oh, the equipment's going to be delivered let's go see what dad's doing, right, yeah? So, um, yeah, figured that out, unloaded everything, brought it into the box, and then jen and I broke everything down, set everything up, you know.
Speaker 1:But, um, you know, those are the kind of things that that I think, taking it back that far, I would not have traded it for anything you know again like rogue came online shortly after we did and um, instead of you know the modular, you know rigs, the wall mounts that we have now I built one out of um six by six posts and gas pipe yeah, you know, just anchored it to a clm
Speaker 1:similar to this gym I started at yeah yeah, and it was, I would not have traded that experience I mean it was so much fun.
Speaker 2:I mean this was outdoor in richmond virginia and I might have traded that experience during August.
Speaker 1:Yeah, oh yeah.
Speaker 2:It was about 120 degrees in the day.
Speaker 1:Well, you know again too, we've only ever been in an industrial space right, that's to the ambiance. I'm not sure what I would do if we had a at least you know. In my opinion it's not too cold here in the winter.
Speaker 3:No.
Speaker 1:But in the summer it can be a bear. I didn't need a hot coffee before we started this podcast.
Speaker 2:You're crazy. I'm on my like third water bottle, especially after the workout this morning. But yeah, I think I wouldn't. I don't mind the cold in the winter, I don't actually mind the heat in the summer. I feel like I was really bothered by it when I started CrossFit, like ah, coming from global boxes, whatever, it's like air-conditioned and very convenient, and instead I've tried to think about it more over the past years like, well, this is just another test to understand. Like, how well can you adapt to this circumstance?
Speaker 3:Right.
Speaker 2:Yeah, if this was a workout in november, I might do it rx, but you know, it's in the middle of july and 80 percent humidity. What is a more realistic target for yourself? Right um, and so I don't mind it. I always try to like also be like.
Speaker 1:Well, you're gonna wish it was this hot in the winter at some point, you know oh, I got you but um I, yeah, I'm not sure what I would do or if I'd be, I mean, if it was like a climate controlled you know, kind of like I'm not sure.
Speaker 2:I'm not sure I could do it you sometimes see droppings, though, that are caught a little off guard by the yeah, I feel like most, I've never been in a box with like crazy accoutrements and winners or something. I don't think I've ever been in an ac box, or no, I know I have not.
Speaker 1:I haven't but, um, no, so I mean, I think that's the, that's the part for me that's been so much fun, and and watching it evolve the way it did. You know, over the time we've been around, but, um, you know, it's interesting too, because there's always speculation what's next, what's next? You know over the time we've been around, but, um, you know it's interesting too, because there's always speculation what's next, what's next? You know, I don't know, I don't know. You know, whoever knows. They're not sharing that information just yet, but it's been an incredible experience for now. And I think too, what makes it so much fun is, you know, like you and kelse and the people that the community attracts, that's the most fun. Oh, you know, I mean if and Kels and the people that the community attracts, that's the most fun, oh, absolutely, you know, I mean, if it wasn't for that, you know, greg Glassman told a story. Probably that third picture from the right that's the first L1 Jen and I ever attended Was that the Boston one?
Speaker 2:Yeah, I've heard stories about the run and other.
Speaker 1:Oh yeah, but I mean the picture itself, like it's like a who's who of, uh, the original crossfit crew, you know, and greg oddmanson is is in there and he was the one that um led the uh, the pt, you know and took us on a warm-up run through boston.
Speaker 3:I'm like and that was what was messed up about that was you don't have any idea where you're going.
Speaker 2:You didn't know where it was starting or how long it was going.
Speaker 1:Should we pace ourselves? Or I guess we're going to keep up with him, because I don't know where we are right now. But yeah, he would just run us around and we'd find a spot.
Speaker 3:He'd go, okay, circle up.
Speaker 1:We'd circle up and do bottom to bottom to bottoms or something. We'll run again and all that, but so much fun. But yeah, I mean you know back then when it was in its infancy stage and Greg told a story and he said you know what's really interesting? He started off at a Gold's.
Speaker 3:Gym in.
Speaker 1:Venice, california, yeah Right. And he said now picture this, the mecca of bodybuilding.
Speaker 2:I was going to say in Venice, yeah.
Speaker 1:At a time when you still had like big name bodybuilders who would train there and people who trained there, because the those bodybuilders were there and he said that, uh, it was a Sunday morning, he had just finished with a client.
Speaker 3:And I guess like like up up here how this is all enclosed.
Speaker 1:Well, there it wasn't. So there was actually like the, the owner's office. There was like it step out the door, and it was like a catwalk that would go around, you know. But you could still look down on the on the gym floor. And so greg's leaning over the railing.
Speaker 3:He's having a coffee and the owner walks by. He's like hey, greg, how are you?
Speaker 1:and greg's like oh, hey you know, chuck or whatever guy's name was, and he's okay, come on in. So they walk into the office and they're just making small talk, not, not really for anything, no agenda. You're making small talk and I don't recall how it turned to this, but um I think the owner made a comment. He was like hey, he's like you must be having a good morning. He's like there's only four people down there and they're your clients, and Greg was like yeah, we just finished a workout, you know whatever.
Speaker 1:And the guy sits back in his desk chair. He's like hey, you see those red filing cabinets on the wall there. So it's like all these filing cabinets, but however many were red or maroon or whatever color, Greg said yeah.
Speaker 2:The owner says you know, those are my best members.
Speaker 1:Do you know why Greg's like? I have no idea why he's like because they never come Right.
Speaker 3:Those are my best members because they never come Easy money yeah.
Speaker 1:And Greg's like ah, and again, this is not a criticism. I thought this was a brilliant observation at the time I heard it. I think it's a brilliant observation now so, and it's not a slight, but like these mega globo gyms where you hit like such a low price point but such a high volume and you know they even take shots like um, there was one that called it a lunk alarm, I was like what, if you drop dumbbell, the floor had sensors that it would go.
Speaker 2:uh, uh, yeah, I know it was Planet Fitness, but like crunchers.
Speaker 1:I'm like what is wrong with you? It was that whole.
Speaker 2:Super Bowl ad that came out.
Speaker 1:I think yeah, yeah, and I'm like, so I guess yeah, I've dropped an occasional dumbbell, like not on purpose, but I guess I'm a lunk, you know but, I'm like whoa man. Like you know, we don't run around calling people names we shouldn't, and you know I certainly don't always, you know, but if I do it's out of a place of love.
Speaker 1:But yeah, so I'm watching this and I'm like, oh my god, that's a very, very interesting point because in a business model, if you're charging x dollars per month and those filing cabinets not one, one or two, but like however, many stacks filled and it's.
Speaker 1:It's like well, you know annual contracts and even if you had no annual contract, oftentimes that price point is set so that you don't stop that automatic rebuild or something. Those are my best clients because they don't come, and I swear that the story ended with something like, I think, the code the owner confided to greg he's like if every member came all the time, I wouldn't be able to accommodate them yeah I just wouldn't.
Speaker 1:So you know, they're basically keeping our lights on and not showing up. I'm like no, I kind of like it the other way, you know.
Speaker 2:But I mean, I think what's interesting like we've been at boxes that do tons of the promo stuff, they hire an advertising agency, whatever. Um, you know, I think it's really remarkable and something that kelson and I both really respect is like how you foster a community that does engage for multiple decades. I mean mean, you guys have some numbers here that have been here for like seven, like the entire time. Like that is absolutely incredible. And yeah, maybe one model is sort of like the. It was a gold, you said in Venice Beach.
Speaker 3:Right.
Speaker 2:Yeah. So maybe one model is sort of that global gym style Well, we're going to get as many members as we can we would never be able to accommodate them if they all can but we'll set a price point that's low enough that they wouldn't think about it. Another sort of business model is like well, uh, we actually want members coming because ultimately, that's going to be the best word of mouth, the best right, and like that sort of uh, length and like like durational engagement will pay off. Uh, whether that be financially or just from uh like self-fulfillment and community like well-being. Um, I mean like, yeah, I think it's like super cool. Not only that you guys have sort of like been around to see the shifts and changes over the past couple of decades of crossfit, but I also think it says something quite remarkable about how you guys operate a space for folks to come together and get a good workout, and that folks have been here for 17 years.
Speaker 2:If we had been here for more than two years living in Pittsburgh, we'd have a stronger number than two.
Speaker 1:But you know what? It's funny though, because I think sometimes and I don't, I don't, I don't ever take it for granted, I don't mean it like that, but it is wild when you start talking like, hey, oh my god, they have been here from the beginning or?
Speaker 2:oh, you know, rachel has been here for you know 14 years or something.
Speaker 1:That's incredible.
Speaker 1:That's like uh yeah, yeah it is pretty cool and, and I think too, you know, one of the things that made an impression on me very early on is because, again, pittsburgh is no shortage of um, colleges and hospitals, exactly especially like where we're located, right, and oftentimes you know you'll get somebody in in the um, uh, a health care provider who, hey, I got a job out of state, you know I'll be moving. Or a student who graduates and moves on. But what's wild is and I have always looked at it like this you can you can tell that it is the type of person who, had they stayed in pittsburgh, would have stayed with us, because one of the first things they say is, you know, like, hey, I'm gonna go check out this, uh, this job. You know the uh, my potential employer invited me out for a tour. They'll come back.
Speaker 1:And one of the first things they say is they're like I found a great crossfit box near there, you know, and I'm like right on, like that's when I've always felt like you made enough of an impression or the community has made enough of an impression through you, that it's like, oh yeah, I went to look at, uh, you know, google and um, there's a CrossFit nearby, I mean, we were really sad to leave our old box in Providence when we moved here to teach Um.
Speaker 2:But similarly, like you know, we're good friends with all the coaches there and they're texting us. Oh, you guys find a good box. And we're good friends with all the coaches there and they're texting us. Oh, you guys find a good box. And I'm like, yeah, like like thank goodness we did Um and now it's sort of shifted of like, if we do, uh, maybe there's jobs or sort of teaching uh opportunities that we're thinking about. Uh, we're like, yeah, but do we want to leave Mike and Jen Pittsburgh? Ah, I don't know. Well, that's awesome.
Speaker 3:That's awesome.
Speaker 1:That is awesome. But you know what, like I said, I think that for me is what is so much fun, because otherwise it's mechanics. So what brought you to CrossFit? Well, you know, broad time, modal domains.
Speaker 2:You know, okay, increased capacity over time, it is. It's wonderful, I wouldn't.
Speaker 1:Look, the funny part of it is um, we know it works, we know that the system works right. But, like anything else, the system only works if you work.
Speaker 2:You know you kind of have to do that.
Speaker 1:That's the part, but I think what's wonderful, though, is um, regardless, it cuts across all uh boundaries, it brings a certain type of person to the community, and I mean, in a way, it's, it's almost like. I think in a way it's, it's, it's almost a very like elite fraternity, where you look at it and you go you cross it.
Speaker 2:I don't know when you travel, like when you're in an airport and you notice someone else with like oh, hell yeah Large traps or quads and they're kind of like maybe a noble or some more primitive or whatever, and you're like, do you? You know?
Speaker 1:Right.
Speaker 2:But that's absolutely sort of that secret handshake I don't know how many times if I.
Speaker 1:I'm going to share this with you because this is funny, Right? I'm going to share this with you because this is funny, Right? So 2004,. I was in Israel working out of the embassy in Tel Aviv from 2002 to 2004. Got to Iraq 2004. That's where I was first introduced to CrossFit Right and the gym. We didn't have an embassy. We were at Saddam's Palace right in downtown Baghdad and the whole place was like Jersey barriers and HESCO sandbags and all this and it was a huge Quonset hut that they made the base gym and it was very well stocked, but it was very conventional setup Like rows and rows of treadmills.
Speaker 2:No rig right, no yeah.
Speaker 3:No, no rig, no pull-up bars. Yeah, I mean none.
Speaker 1:Now the agency is always located close to the embassy, all right, always. And it's always called the annex Okay.
Speaker 1:In this case downtown Bagh, baghdad. It was right next door to Saddam's palace. It was one of his sons, I don't remember which one, but it was one of his palace and one of his sons palaces. So the agency took over that. It was the annex and they always set it up right. So they brought in double-wide trailers side by side with a common, you know not a wall, but you know all open space.
Speaker 1:That was essentially a foundation like crossfit gym. They had kettlebells, they had bumper plates, they had everything that you could put inside a double wide trailer, but they did not have pull-up bars right, but outside, every so often around the compound, there would be be like the one we have in our backyard, only smaller, you know, like four by four posts and a pipe. You do pull up bar, so super. So I'm in there one day and again. Interestingly enough, a lot of us use the CrossFit gym but there was also kind of like a more conventional gym that they would have access to, or the main one next door. So I'm in there one morning and I think the workout, the benchmark, was Nancy 30,.
Speaker 2:Is Nancy cleaning tricks or?
Speaker 1:No, maybe it was.
Speaker 3:Nicole.
Speaker 1:Five rounds, 15 overhead squats, 400 meter run.
Speaker 2:I have done that once.
Speaker 1:Yeah. And I significantly remember it so I did it during summer this was so bad I had no idea how to properly do an overhead squat yeah you know, I mean the resources available back then were nowhere near what they are now. So I I thought I knew what an overhead I had it. I had a 90 right, but the 10 I had wrong could have really hurt me.
Speaker 2:It feels fine the first round, but it's after the first round that you're starting to really question. Well, I had no concept of locking out my you know, lock that bar overhead.
Speaker 1:I was more or less doing an overhead press with a wide grip and just holding it while I tried to.
Speaker 1:I mean, I would have probably been the best demo for what not to do in an overhead squat right and there was a conventional treadmill and I'm like, well, I don't have a 400-meter route outside and I'm not going to disrupt. You know, there's a workflow going on out there. So I set the treadmill and there was no one else in the room so I left it running. So that way the barbell was right beside it. So even if I had to, I'd be like whoa, whoa, whoa, like if you're not paying attention, like that thing's on Right. Yeah, nobody's in there. So I pick up the barbell, do my overhead squats, jump on it and you know you're like, kind of like a bull rider?
Speaker 3:Yeah right.
Speaker 2:You can't kind of get going yeah.
Speaker 1:Yep, yeah one. This guy comes in now also. This was before reebok nike uh, noble is before everybody started to make clothes and shoes specific to crossfit. Yeah, so I'm in like black workout shorts, you know the old kind, with like the the, the splits in the side.
Speaker 1:They're kind of like board shorts, yeah, but shorter yeah you know, because I was in shape back then so they were like shorter, you know, they lined, you know, and like a um, like an under armor, you know, olive drag under armor. And I think I wore, probably largely back then. I wore like sock and e shoes, like I. I had no like oh, but these are too soft. No, these are the shoes I wore, so I'm going, going, going. So this guy comes in, who a little bit taller than me, a little bit more tan than me, but virtually dressed identical, you know, we both got the mandatory, like big watch, you know, and he goes, they had all the accoutrements at the agency, right, so it's like a mini fridge with cold water, because we're not going to drink warm temperature water, room temperature.
Speaker 1:Yeah so, and there's there, on top of the mini fridge, there's a stack of clean white towels so oh yeah, oh yeah. It's like oh, oh, you know, but um, so he goes, grabs a towel, throws it over his shoulder, grabs the water. Well, now he's in the corner at the refrigerator, but he looks in the mirror, gives me a head nod like hey, what's up?
Speaker 2:And.
Speaker 1:I'm like what's up, you know, going, going. So he goes outside and I finish my last round and now I grab a water and I'm like man, that was horrible.
Speaker 2:And I'm like oh.
Speaker 1:I'm proud of myself because I don't realize how badly I violated every performance, every, you know, every movement standard. So he comes back Now, at that time it was three on one off you know the original CrossFit matrix, but for some reason or other I was a day behind and I don't remember why I was doing yesterday's workout of the day, you know today. So he comes back in and he's soaking wet, right.
Speaker 3:So now you know, we're both done.
Speaker 1:He grabs another water and he's like hey, what's up and I'm like hey man, what's going on?
Speaker 3:And he's like hey, was that Nancy, and I'm like yeah yeah, it sure was.
Speaker 1:He goes. Oh yeah, he's like I did today's workout and I'm like, oh yeah, I'm on the day behind and I'm like what's in store for me tomorrow?
Speaker 3:and he's like cindy, so yeah that's why he went outside, because, that's you know, he went to the pull-up bar, right yeah, and I was like oh, man, yeah that's a good one.
Speaker 1:So we're making small talk, you know this and this and it. It got to that point where it was kind of eerie because it was like I'm done I'm just making small talk.
Speaker 1:I know he's done because he was just like, yeah, I just did cindy, but it's almost like not waiting for anything, I'm just like I'm sitting on the edge of the treadmill and I'm like I really don't want to stand up right now because this is gonna this is gonna be uncomfortable, you know, but I get a feeling that he's not finished with his workout, but like he's waiting for me to leave and I'm like, oh, that's odd you know, but I'm like I can't wait anymore. It's gonna hurt no matter what, I gotta go so I get up, I grab whatever you know, my radio or whatever and I was like, and as I'm getting ready to leave, I guess he realized like, hey, I can't wait anymore, honest to god.
Speaker 1:He goes over to the dumbbell racks and he picks up some dumbbells and he stands in front of the mirror and he starts doing curls and he looks at me again through the mirror, right, and he goes and he shrugs and he goes. I'm a west coast guy, gotta get a little I've never I've never laughed so hard in my life.
Speaker 1:I was like, ah, that, that explains it, you know. But um, so much fun. But like I you know even then for a while, um, headquarters, and I thought this was outrageously cool headquarters was sending seminar staff downrange. They would go to Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan, they would go to Baghdad in the Green Zone and they would do L1s for servicemen and women, which is really kind of cool.
Speaker 1:Well, this has been fun, man I've always enjoyable this is always learn a little bit more about your background but uh yeah, so thank you both for being a part of our community.
Speaker 2:That's awesome more uh cheese to have found it right on, right on ready to get after nate tomorrow. Yeah, that's a good one, yeah that's a good one too nate was
Speaker 3:probably well, I was what you know what.
Speaker 1:For me, that was like a breakthrough because, um right, when I got muscle ups, I was like you know, what's super cool about nate is it's not too many.
Speaker 2:It's just two, four handstand push-ups and eight heavy kettlebells, exactly. So now 20 minutes.
Speaker 1:It's a crazy, right, right I was just gonna say you know what that's. One thing about crossfit that I think is uh, is is like genius when you look at something like that and you go. It's only two and four like those are two fairly significant um on the difficulty scale.
Speaker 2:Yes, I think you know ring muscle ups and um handstand push-ups.
Speaker 1:Pretty challenging movements, you know, uh, and yet both scalable, you know, for intermediate or beginner.
Speaker 2:Oh, yeah, those low ring muscle transitions are incredibly, but when you turn it and I remember.
Speaker 1:I remember being so thrilled I was like I can, I can do muscle ups. I got this 20 minutes and it humbles everyone yeah, I think we did it a year ago.
Speaker 1:I need to go back through the app and look at my score yeah yeah, excited to get after it right on, that's tomorrow yeah, you know, when I do, when I put the workouts from the main site on to, uh, stream fit, it's the craziest dynamic. But by the time I get from Monday to Friday, I've already forgotten this. Forgotten what you put on there, it's just like our ritual.
Speaker 2:On Sunday we'll have coffee and be like. Has Mike posted the program in yet? Take a look at it All right brother. Appreciate you being here. Good to see you, man.
Speaker 1:Good to see you, Guys. I hope you enjoy this as much as we do Do Nate tomorrow, find a CrossFit gym.
Speaker 2:Find some rings.
Speaker 1:Do something good for somebody you don't like. How about?
Speaker 2:that. That's my challenge for you Alright out.
