Gross To Net

Ep. 13 - Keep It Simple, Silly! with Claire Bays | Gross To Net

• George Milton • Season 1 • Episode 13

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Today I talked with Claire Bays whose positivity and motivation rubbed off on me and it will rub off on you too.

Claire is a fitness coach, influencer, podcast host, and MC, just to name a few of the things on her plate. But it wasn't always this way. Claire spent the last decade overcoming challenge after challenge, including celebrating close to 5 years sober.

Claire tries to keep things simple for herself and her coaching practice is all about showing others how possible it is to live a full, vibrant life—simply.

You can follow her journey and her coaching (and her WWE pro wrestler fiance!!) on Instagram @clairebays.

SPEAKER_00

Hey everybody, welcome to Gross to Nud, the podcast that explores what you're really optimizing for and what it actually costs to get there. I know I say this a bunch, but I'm really excited for today's guest. So we're gonna get right to her. Uh, she grew up in a small town in Oklahoma with zero athletic background, no sports, no gym, none of it. Uh, in her own words, fitness wasn't a part of her world. Neither was sobriety. Over the course of about a decade, both of those things changed completely and dramatically. She's now a CrossFit L3 certified trainer and nutrition coach. Uh, she's been a competitive HyROX and CrossFit athlete. And she qualified for the HyROX World Championships in, I think, 2022. She's been the host of her own podcast and is now hosting a podcast at Wadprep. Uh, she trains clients uh remotely and here in Austin, coaches people online through her own business. Uh, one of the things that I really love about her approach is she makes fitness feel genuinely doable, not overcomplicated, no intimidating expectations, just real clear guidance that meets people where they are. She's currently on day 226 of running one mile every single day for a year, which as you'll hear is way more interesting than it sounds. Please welcome Claire Bays. What's up, Claire?

SPEAKER_01

What an intro. Thank you for uh choosing to have me today.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, thanks for thanks for being on. I was I I just transparently I asked you to be on and you were like, I don't know what I can teach people about business. And I was like, uh you I feel like you're giving me a lot of credit, but thank but thank you for coming.

SPEAKER_02

Well, I just looked at the general, at least the name alone, and I just said I want to be really clear in what I can offer. And if it is running a business successfully, I'm not in the stage of the journey where I'm an appropriate place to be talking about that. If you want to talk about other things, we can talk about that.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, I love to talk about other things. Uh no, actually, this podcast is specifically about uh accounting, business accounting. So let's start at the top. I actually might need to rename this podcast.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, I'm here to listen.

SPEAKER_00

Good. You got me. I do think that the I do think that the name is like a little it started as a Substack, which and it was kind of that name was a little more meaningful to what the Substack was, but I I think it does read a little too overly businessy today.

SPEAKER_02

I don't know. It's well, I'm I don't know that I'm also in a position to give you advice on that either. I do like the name. I think that it's catchy, and if you clearly then in the description articulate that, you know, whatever it is, how it's not all about business optimization, and it's actually, like you said, you know, when we talked about it, about optim what are you optimizing for in life generally. Anyway, I don't know. I'm not inclined to say that I dislike it at all. I think it's very like it rolls off the tongue nicely.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, it does kind of roll off the tongue. Thank you. This is actually gonna be uh a branding workshop for the next uh 60 minutes.

SPEAKER_02

So you never know where the conversation would be.

SPEAKER_00

Never know. Can I also mention while we're still kind of in intro territory, uh I I saw I feel like I saw this on social media, and I'm I grew up as a as a WWE fan. Is this true that you have a fiance who is now assigned WWE athlete as of like this week? Is that true?

SPEAKER_01

Yes.

SPEAKER_00

So you're gonna be a you're gonna be a WWE wife, which is are you excited about that? Are you as excited as I am about that?

SPEAKER_02

Of course I'm excited about it. It's the craziest thing. I knew nothing about professional wrestling until we met. And then he was on the journey of pursuit. And ever since the day we met, he told him why he told me why he's doing it, and then watching him for the past few years pursue that. I've never had a doubt for a moment that he'll bring it to fruition. So this is a really cool milestone to see take place that he actually did get a WWE ID contract.

SPEAKER_00

That is amazing. I don't know what an ID contract is, but Yeah.

SPEAKER_02

It's it's a newer program for WWE, and so it's a developmental program for uh indie wrestlers, so wrestlers that are already wrestling on the indie circuits, if you will.

SPEAKER_03

Okay.

SPEAKER_02

And so they can still continue to develop on those markets while also working for the WWE and doing things with and for them. They get coaching, they they do a show. They're on he's on the Evolve show right now, which is on a streaming platform. So um, it's just an opportunity. They basically, you know, he did the tryout in January of this year, and then it's we see potential in you, we want to see you continue to develop. We're gonna uh bring you in and and see what we can do here.

SPEAKER_00

So that is so cool.

SPEAKER_02

It's crazy.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah. This podcast isn't about him, but I saw that and it was like, I can't Yeah, it could be. Let's talk, okay, let's talk about Jimmy.

SPEAKER_02

I will say I saw a gentleman last night that came to the show on Sunday whenever we he the announcement was made. And the guy said, you know, I he would he said I had two favorite things about the show. And he said the first thing is just watching him with the kids, which by the way, his goal ever since the day we met, the goal that he told me when I said, Why are you doing all of this? as he was explaining all of the time he was dedicating to training, and it was in so many different disciplines, it's it's a lot. And so after hearing that, I was like, Well, what's the point? Why are you doing all of this? And he said to be a superhero to millions of kids, and he didn't he didn't say that to me in a way where he needed me to be okay with it. He just, it just looked me dead in the eye with the most clarity and conviction in what he had to say, and if it was received well, great, and if it wasn't, who cares? And so then I've gotten to watch, like I said, him really, really follow through with that in so many ways that people just have no idea about. And so, anyway, the guy said it was really cool to watch him with the kids, which is so true. And then the guy said the other thing that was really cool is every time I look over at you, you are just ear-to-ear grinning. He was like, You are the most proud. He called me his wife, I didn't correct him, but anyway, future wife ever. And I'm like, Yeah, how could you not be?

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, yeah. I do think that you you do you are a pretty ear-to-ear grinner. That's that's part of your that's like part of your brand, I think. Yes, yeah. Uh I don't know if that's on purpose or not, but uh I enjoy it. Okay, let's talk about let's talk about Claire a little bit. So, like when when did you end up when did you find yourself in Austin?

SPEAKER_02

I moved to Austin four years ago. In a couple of months, it will be four years.

SPEAKER_00

Oh, well, congrats.

SPEAKER_02

Thank you.

SPEAKER_00

So you you moved here the same year that you were doing high rocks world championships.

SPEAKER_02

Well, championship, yeah, because I would have done that in June. I'm sorry, those would have been in March of that year, March or April. No, the the qualifying race was in March. So I did a race in Dallas. I didn't even know what the event was. It was hilarious whenever I like podiumed at it. But keep in mind the number of racers at that Hyrux in March of 2022 was 600, whereas last fall we had one in Dallas that was 17,000. So put that into the filter when we're talking about the fact that I had the opportunity to go run Worlds, which I did, and that is so cool. And I have my jersey with my name and and the United States. When you wear your jersey, oh sorry, I didn't know this was gonna be a big feature. I can uh if you want to pause, I can go grab it.

SPEAKER_00

No, no.

SPEAKER_02

But so I ran that, and then I guess April of that year, I would have run the world championship in Vegas. I actually didn't even plan to. And then and when I ran went and ran the qualification, I didn't even know what the race was necessarily. I just like looked at it generally and was like, I'm a crossfitter, I'll be fine. And I went and did the women's pro. And then I just remember running around. And when I would get to the next station, I would just like look at the judges and just be like, tell me when to stop, or like, because I just had no idea how long anything went or whatever, but it it was it was easier to qualify then than it is now. I would have to train specifically for that and probably still not make it. It's so elite today, and I'm nowhere near those paces.

SPEAKER_00

It's very elite. And I I remember doing um I was never competitive at CrossFit. I did like local competitions, but like I was doing I started doing CrossFit back when like CrossFit was not an elite sport. And it's like it me, like me 15 years ago doing CrossFit today would like have no, you know, like I would not place in local competitions, but like back then it was like you could show up and be like, what are we doing? We're gonna run and like do some pull-ups and lift some weight. Okay, like I can generally kind of do all I can kind of do all that stuff. Yeah. Um, but high high rocks is a huge, huge deal. Now, are you still doing any high rocks tra style training or do you do you train anybody who's doing high rocks?

SPEAKER_02

I train people who do high rocks, yes, and I've definitely I've trained some um couple of runners that that's kind of their main focus. One in particular last year. I know he ran a sub three hour Austin Marathon, which was so awesome.

SPEAKER_00

But wow, that's good.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, he's he fast. But yeah, he fast. I've never trained for high rocks. Like I I trained CrossFit, and that makes me really, really capable to go and do a high rocks race anytime that I want. And I have a tendency to run two of them a year.

SPEAKER_00

Okay.

unknown

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00

That's cool. And they've got Dallas and Houston, which are both pretty close. Yes, yeah, and those are how far do you think we we are from an Austin Hyrux? I just feel like that I I was surprised when I did one last year, and I was like looking at the schedule, and I was like, it's so surprising to me because I feel like Austin is like a hub for that sort of fitness activity.

SPEAKER_02

Absolutely. They actually had one here in 2021.

SPEAKER_00

Oh, cool.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, so I mean I'm with you as I'm shocked it's not already back. I would imagine at some point it will be. They have, you know, their growing pains are quite unique because as I mentioned, that that and even that same year, 2022, from March to the one that they had in October, November, something in the fall, it went from 600 to 1800 that year within a six-month time span. And then you of course compound that out just a few years later, that 17,000 number I just referenced, like what they are navigating as a company in their exponential growth. I cannot even imagine logistically trying to uh deal with that. Obviously, that's the most wonderful problem to have, but it's probably chaos trying to figure it out.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, absolutely. And you want to like make sure that you do it and don't like because people will really be loud about it if you screw it up. Sure. You know? Like even people who are not gonna like I don't know. If even people who are not gonna podium or are not doing it as like a I'm gonna go be like a really competitive high-rax athlete if they feel like they got screwed on like a lap or like they're you know, they did they had to do like I remember doing the wall balls, and I was like not hitting the target exactly, and it's like I I didn't care because I was just there to have fun, but it's like I saw people get really mad about like getting no repped for stuff, and I was like, they're not even they're like doing this in an hour and a half, which is not a competitive time. Yeah, people take it seriously.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, and it standards are important. If you have a race, standards are important, and I think it's an actual gift to people to make them uphold standards. When you I mean, it's one thing if you are an athlete that, and I say athlete, when I say athlete, I'm referring to anyone doing fitness, right? So even if you're someone who you don't identify yourself as an athlete, if you train in any capacity, in my mind, even if you're in your elementary stages or anything like that, you are an athlete. So when I'm saying that, that's what I'm looking at that through. That being said, if you're an athlete that's in those more preliminary stages and maybe you can't yet reach full range of motion, get that hip crease below the knee crease on a squat in that wall ball, for example, then I mean that's just like there there needs to be some different classification for that. That isn't the same thing as the racer who does hit full depth every single rep. I think that that uh standards are very, very important. And to to have people adhere to those when they are in a scored event. It's like I said, it's one thing if in training we're working towards that or we're doing an event where we know that we're striving towards that, but we're not there yet. But it shouldn't be scored in a linear fashion with someone who is able to achieve that range of motion and adheres to it every rep.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, absolutely. And that's just I think my only point is that's hard to do with 17,000 people. Like it's yeah, it's super hard to do. And they were starting, um, I've only done one and in Boston. It was like a well-oiled machine. Like I had a very good experience. I feel like I feel like people at that race were having a good experience, with the exception that at the finish line they handed us a Red Bull instead of water. I was like, Where's the water? They were like, Here's some Red Bull.

SPEAKER_01

Yep, yes.

SPEAKER_00

But but other than that, it was like they were r starting a heat every 10 minutes for like all day long from like 7 a.m. I think the last heat was something like 8 30 or something.

SPEAKER_02

And and realistically, those heats, I don't know the exact numbers, but there's probably at least 30 athletes in those heats too. So it's not just like it's it's they're pumping tons of athletes onto that course.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah. And it could the the at least the one one that I did, that it could like handle it. I was like, I was like looking at how they were running. I was like, oh man, I'm gonna get to like sled push and it's just gonna be full. I know that they've got a hundred of them, but like it never was. So somebody did the math somewhere. Uh anyway. Hi, rocks. So let me let me pivot a little bit just uh talking about fitness, but like when did you start when did you start training other people? Like how did you get into into that? Because it because like over the last decade or so, you first had to be like I'm interested in fitness. Like I clear I'm interested in fitness.

SPEAKER_04

Uh-huh.

SPEAKER_00

And then to kind of pivot that into like I I can help you be interested in fitness, or I can show you how to like on like get into it, which I think is kind of like the vibe I get from you is like, hey, you can do it. It's not like this is not rocket science.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00

I did it and you can do it. Like, how did you get into that?

SPEAKER_02

Very, very slowly, gradually. Yes. I uh so I did come into the fitness industry through CrossFit, and and I was really scared of it for a long time. And it certainly is the world that I am fully, fully engulfed in today. I believe that it is the most effective train of methodology. I'm a huge fan of it when it comes to health and fitness long term. Um and I'm not talking about the sport of CrossFit, I'm talking about the methodology, which are they there's some major differences there. Um, but in my 20s, I started going to a CrossFit gym, early 20s. And then in 2020, yeah, in 2020, I got my level one. So level one is a certificate course that you can go and take within the CrossFit ecosystem that teaches you what the methodology is, because it's also very easy to not understand it, even if you even if you go to a gym, that is. So I just wanted the education. I'd been fascinated with it for long enough. I just wanted that education. Got my level two the following year, 2021, no plans to coach. And that actually level two in the in the CrossFit space, that is a certificate course as well. And it is about teaching you how to coach. So this one I took for, and and I was the only person taking that course at that event or at that one that uh was not planning to be a coach. I just really wanted to continue to evolve my education. I was fascinated with this thing. I was a practitioner of it for years, and I just wanted to learn more. And so then once I got my level two, then uh by then I was I was being asked to coach at like where I was, where I was living at the time. And uh I helped out here or there with like the kids' program a little or something like that. But then I took off on a roadshow for a brand that is ultimately what moved me to Austin, Texas. So that would have been in 2022. And during that, the founder of that company was like, hey, you just so happen to be like the most qualified coach on the team. Why don't you be willing to coach? And one of the things that we did was lead athletes through fitness, and so that's whenever I finally started to coach, and it was kind of a uh fast-paced all the set because it would we were in different facilities every single day, new athletes I've never met before. It's a group fit group group fitness setting. So I started coaching there, and then once I moved to Austin, then I I I feel like the best way to say it with my coaching journey is like I just repeatedly got shoved into it. Like, hey, you're gonna it was funny. The first place I coached when I moved here was actually at collective, and I remember meeting Jeremy and I had no desire to coach, and he just he just met me and he was like, You're gonna coach here. And I was just like, nice to meet you. What? I'm not looking for a job. Uh and so I wound up working for him, and I've I've done some coaching at a few different facilities in Austin, Texas now, and went on to get my level three, etc. So now, and by the way, the year that I moved here, it was 30. So I'm coming up on 34.

SPEAKER_00

Uh well, congrats on all of that. That is that it feels like a whirlwind for you to just say that to me. It's it feels like a whirlwind of like you just you came here and but I also imagine that you jumped in with both feet, like when you had those opportunities. I I I'm maybe putting words in your mouth, but it feels like you were just really interested in this in this culture and the style of training, and I don't know. I mean, I don't think it's an accident, like you you kept putting yourself in the way of opportunities to do something that you were like I mean to get an L2 certification and not uh and not want to coach random. It's r well, it's not it's it's not completely random, it's just like being like drawn to a thing that you're like passionate about.

SPEAKER_02

Absolutely.

SPEAKER_00

And I think that like I really uh I really admire that and w whenever I see that with with people, right? I I try to do a certain amount of it myself, but just being like, I'm gonna go do the things that I'm passionate about, whether I see a career there or not. Like I if I'm excited to get to learn more about CrossFit, I'm gonna go freaking learn more about CrossFit. And if that like now you now you're somebody who knows a lot about it and you really care about it, and it's like, well, who should be in any career? It's like I would want somebody who knows a lot about it and cares a lot about it to be doing what whatever, whatever career it is.

SPEAKER_02

So um I think it's cool it's so fun, and in that ecosystem, I obviously like I still have so much to learn, even though I've been a practitioner of it now for a decade and and was obsessed with it for a little while before I had the guts to go do it. Like, there's still so much more out there for me, you know what I mean? Like we're always on the journey. Um, but but I think it's yeah, it's a combination of just like curiosity. And and whenever you even, when we talked about doing this podcast, it was like, you know, if we're optimizing for purpose, that's something where I'm I have this tendency to optimize for passion and purpose, not necessarily for what that's gonna look like professionally. And so thank goodness I have somehow cultivated most of my professional life to be like my adult playground. Um, but but that's taken time and it's just it hasn't been the most like lucratively optimal thing all the time, but but it's uh it's been a lot of fun.

SPEAKER_00

W I mean, would you have it another way? Is there another thing? Would you love to be an accountant if I if you could make twice as much?

SPEAKER_02

No, no, and I actually was a real estate agent for six and a half years before venturing into the cross fit the fitness space for work. So I definitely made a lot more money in that career.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah. Yeah. But you enjoy this one more?

SPEAKER_02

Yes, and I did enjoy that one as well. Getting people across the finish line of purchasing their largest investment is a real, real rewarding opportunity. So I did love doing that job. I I loved so many facets of real estate for sure. And and yet again, when I walked away from that job, it wasn't because I was seeking other work. I just got the right opportunity that um I was a little bit too comfortable in that, and it was ready for uh it was time for me to get uncomfortable.

SPEAKER_00

Uh that's cool. Um excuse me. Um how did you get into because you're you do you are uh I don't know if you consider yourself to be well followed, but I feel like you've got a pretty good following online too. So you've aside from like coaching and participating, being an athlete yourself, like you also have garnered a bit of a following uh online. Was it like how what was the journey there? Because I imagine that's like an additional, like you're you're becoming an athlete yourself, and then you're becoming a coach, and then you're also kind of turning into uh you know, a content creator, more of an influential uh person in the space. Like how did how did that because I imagine it kind of continued just steamrolling you, and you were did you just find yourself in the way of those things?

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, that was on accident. Uh and and it's been an interesting journey too. I definitely do believe that follower count, for example, is not indicative of value add to life, right? And so and that's and I think that that's like a daily thing, you know, like what value am I offering to life and certainly off of the internet more importantly than onto, or maybe I shouldn't say more importantly, but maybe equally important, right? Like, am I the person in day-to-day life that I present as on the internet? I sure hope so. Uh, those are things that matter to me. I'm not saying they need to matter to anybody else, but they matter to me. When it comes to whatever has happened online for me to this point, it started initially shortly after I got sober, and then I started to do take some fitness jobs and it wasn't full time. I was still doing the real estate thing, but I was kind of entertaining the idea of stepping into it more. And then that founder of the company that I eventually went and left to work for, he said, Hey, could you make some reels? And reels were a newer thing on Instagram at the time. And I was like, Yeah, sure, I'll figure it out, whatever. So I made some reels and they went viral, viral. And so that was all the way back then. And so a bunch of those followers that exist there today. Now, of course, there's been a ton of churn over the last few years. So who knows who was there that is still there? I don't know. But it Was very disorienting to say the least. And at that time, I'm living in Oklahoma. It's it's totally uncharacteristic, and it's a strange thing that's happening. And all of a sudden there's all this attention happening online. So there's been a journey with that of what do what am I doing here? What do I want to be doing here? What do I enjoy doing here? And that's and that's looked different over different seasons. But today, my relationship with social media for myself personally is certainly I do enjoy if I'm having fun with it. That's really I I love that. So I do love the creative side of it when I feel the creative about it. And then it's a beautiful way to connect with people and to add value. Like you said, like that daily mile thing that you referenced, like it just kind of one day I decided that I was gonna run a mile every day, just initially for 90 days, because I didn't like the way that I felt when I was running in Metcons. So like I don't need to do a lot of volume of running, I just needed to feel more comfortable in it. And so I was like, well, that's a bite-sized chunk. That's pretty mindless. I'll just do that. And then I was like, well, I might as well just invite people to do it with me. And so then I did. And now we've had a handful of iterations of those 90 and 90 groups, and there's a whole Strava group, and then it's just certainly evolved. And by the way, it's not for a year. I don't, I don't have a like a stop date in mind. I didn't, I didn't have I had the 90, and then I knew I was probably gonna keep going. And so we're on day 226 today, and I don't I don't have a plan to do that.

SPEAKER_00

For some reason, I for some reason I thought maybe I just invented that it was one mile a day for a year. I might have just invented that.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, but it's I mean it is that is so approachable, right? And for me, my requirement to self is that I must run. So if I am, there have been a couple of times where those runs have looked a little bit more like a trot because I was very sore, or one day it was completely icy outside. So I put on knee pads and went on a trot around. Uh but to me it needs to be a run. And so for others, though, that it's been a walk every single day, whatever. Like that is a to me, that's a gateway to some form of momentum. And that's what I want that to be. Like, if you sit indoors for too long, the walls get closer to you, or they certainly do to me. And so, even something as small as a mile a day, it's a commitment that you have to show up to every single day. And if you just are willing to show up to it, you get to build the momentum day over day over day. So, since I was going to do that anyway, I just decided to share it on social media, and it's been a really, really cool gift to myself and to others, and it's transformed. And now there's this gratitude component to it every single day where it's not just a mile, but it's what am I grateful for? So it's just fun.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah. Well, it's fun for all of us who are who are kind of like uh rooting you on to. And I think one of my things, uh and one of the things I said to you when I was like, Hey, I want you to come be on, is that style of like I think that my um God, it was this was probably several years ago, but I think my favorite kind of like uh style of content that you have made, aside from the like, hey, it's a mile a day, you can do it, was like uh was like, hey, I'm gonna give you this really savvy like professional fitness advice, or you know, like nutrition advice. Here's some beef and broccoli in a pan.

SPEAKER_01

Yes, like yes, yes, I've always liked that. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00

But I love that stuff because I'm just like so people would be like, George, what are you having for dinner? I'm like, beef and broccoli in a pan. And it's like that just the it's such a simple, like dumb thing. You know, it's not a supplement, it's like not a there's no fancy thing. Like you just do that every day for dinner and be fine. Like you could just, you know, I I think people assume too, because I'm in much better than fine. Yeah, much better than fine. Where you're like people are like, Well, what are you gonna have for dinner tomorrow? It's like I'm gonna have the same thing, I'm gonna have the same thing. Like, I eat the same thing almost every day because I'm like, this makes me feel good. If I find a better iteration of it that like makes me feel better or whatever, like anyway, I love that style of like um I don't know if I if I have told you this, but I was a trainer a thousand years ago and in Alabama, and I was trying to my whole thing, my thesis at the age of at the at the young tender age of 23 was that I was gonna make fitness simple for people. And I could I couldn't really figure out how to do that in a way that like people like gravitated towards because they'd come and I was like training at you know, like the old school gems, like you know, Gold's Gym and Lifetime Fit, like L or LA Fitness or something like that. And I would come in and people would be like, I I would have like my prototypical client was like 48, and they just wanted their they were like their stated goals were to like lose weight and feel better. And every single like 48-year-old guy old guy who was like, I want to lose weight and feel better, I was like, Okay, great, we're gonna walk, we're gonna do mobility, we're gonna do body weight stuff, and they were like, No, no, no, I want to bench. I'm like, okay, but but like that's not right, like that's not what you said. What you said was like lose weight and feel better and be you know, move better. And like if you want to come in and max bench press at 48, I'm probably not the guy for I'll I just don't think that's the right goal for 48. And I was like trying to put push that on people who were like who didn't want to hear it, and I was like, okay, well, I I'm out, I don't want to do this.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, but yeah, well, I think there's the component with coaching too of like meeting them where they are, you know. So if like they want to lose weight and get better, but all they're willing to show up to is to bench press, then like maybe they do just get to bench press for a while, but like they're doing that, therefore they're doing more than they were before. And then, like, I mean, we, you know, I don't know. I I feel like with with all of coaching, like or or anything in life, like you can't necessarily like people are ready when they're ready, you know? So you can always be this example, and like that's the cool thing about the social media, post your beef and broccoli or whatever, you know, and like you continue to lead a quality of life that is so attractive that makes other people get curious, you know, and just do that over and over and over again with whatever you're willing to share. And then eventually when someone reaches their pain point with whatever it is that they're struggling with, they they already know like you're a decent resource. That anyway, I don't know. Yeah, with fitness in particular, I would not have believed you if you would have told me that I was gonna have access to the level of fitness that I have access to today, that I was going to get to be at peace with my, you know, all these different things. Because coming in, it was, man, I just I come from a family that struggles with morbid obesity and I'm struggling with my own weight, and I'm just desperate to not do that. And then I come in and then you guys are athletes, I'm not, I'll never be. Like that was the narrative, you know, and I I strongly believed that for a long time. And then eventually I was around people who had a better quality of life than me for long enough, and they finally started to say, why do you think that? Or, you know, whatever. They they they started to change the way that I thought when it came to health or fitness, nutrition, whatever. Um, so I mean, it's just, yeah, I think like like meeting them where they are, and if we can, even if, even if they need to, like they want to lose weight and feel better, right? But they are not yet ready to really make any meaningful changes in their nutrition. What are they willing to do? What if they're willing to show up to the mile every day? And what if we just do that for two months and then maybe we can start to take a look at like, hey, what if we just look at our protein, you know, or I mean, uh, we look at we look at all these other factors before we wind up looking at sleep, but like, are they sleeping more than six hours a night? You know, and ideally more than that, but like at minimum, you know, and so things that uh yeah, it's just it truly doesn't we can get further and further into the weeds. And sure, certainly, if you want to talk about mechanical tension and so on, we can talk about it, right? If you want to talk about uh strength in the most lengthened state of the muscle and why that's beneficial for hypertrophy and whatever, like we can have that conversation. I think it's super fun. We can go there.

SPEAKER_00

You're L3, you can do it.

SPEAKER_02

I yes, and and I'm my fiance is a I mean, he he was literally like a national, well, see, he at one point he set, I think, a world record even. I know he held the world record for strict curl at one point, but he was a power lifter lifter at a very high level, and he's also just he's done the bodybuilding bit, whatever. So he's taught me a ton about how to optimize for muscle growth. Um, so anyway, yeah, we can we can have all those conversations, but like most people don't need all that. They don't need anywhere near that. As they get further along, maybe we can start to learn more, but like, or maybe we could just make like one percent. And then like once we ingrain that for a little while, we could just like grab another percent.

SPEAKER_00

I don't know if you I don't know if you can imagine this, but like 23 23-year-old me was not uh was not meeting people where they were.

SPEAKER_02

Right.

SPEAKER_00

I was like, I've got the answer. I was like, I have the answer. It's right here. Don't you want it?

SPEAKER_02

Yes, yes. And I mean, in in like that was actually, you know, your your goals for them and the things you were trying to get them to do were generally probably pretty positive things.

SPEAKER_00

And it's just they were positive, but man, I wish I had I wish I had approached it differently.

SPEAKER_02

Who expects a 23-year-old new trainer to be tactful in his approach? I certainly wouldn't.

SPEAKER_00

I was so I was so confident that I was doing a great job.

SPEAKER_02

You probably did help people. Did you help people?

SPEAKER_00

I helped I helped one person. I had one client that you may have changed his life. Her life. Her life. I had I had one client who came in and was like getting ready, uh, getting ready to go. She was like prepping for boot camp because she had like the army had paid for or the navy had paid for her school for like dental school, and she was like, I have to show up for boot camp and I gotta be able to run and do crunches and push-ups, and I was like, oh holy shit, this is like exactly who I want to coach. This one person out of like a hundred people, there was one person that I was like that I was like actually like cut out to coach, and everybody else, I was just like, no, you're doing it wrong. Anyway. Uh I sucked at it, but I don't think you suck at it.

SPEAKER_02

I think it's also genuinely helpful for me that they're like our struggles, you know, often become our purpose. Like, I'm actually curious for you. Um with with your like your professional pursuits, are there is there any level of any of that that you created those things to solve your own problems?

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, I mean, for sure. Like I I have I have tried to do, you know, to follow my passions and stuff. So starting a hot sauce company, I didn't like I didn't know what I was getting into. And I would say some of, you know, some of what I got into didn't align with my you know values and passion and like the business like the business aspect of it. But like uh the like, hey, I'm working with farmers and I get to make you know, I get to take fresh like fresh produce and make it into something um that's accessible for people and that's in retail. Uh yeah, I mean for me it was just like I've I found myself, I think, in a in kind of a parallel way. I just found myself in the path of things where I kept being like, I'm curious about this, and then I found myself in the path of like a bigger opportunity, and I was like, Yeah, okay. And I will say, you know, candidly, like there are a number of times that I bit off more that I could chew, but I don't know if I would change it. Like I I like saying yes to stuff and showing up to stuff, and like I would always rather be kind of like I don't know, the the least qualified person in the room, or like that, those are the rooms you want to be in, right? Like it's just like how do I get in those rooms where like I'm the dumbest, like least qualified person, and I can and I can and I've got the most to learn in that room.

SPEAKER_02

So so per so when you started the business that you Yellowbird was like that was partially solving an issue for you of you you wanted access to something like that potentially that was like real food that was coming from places that you trusted or believed in that you like that was something you wanted to consume yourself?

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, I mean I would I don't I probably haven't told you any of this story, but like when we moved to we moved to Austin in 2012 and uh my partner Aaron, who's my co-founder as well, like she we had we went to Home Depot and rented like a commercial tiller and we tilled our backyard, like our tiny backyard in Austin. We tilled it up like you would till up like a plot of you know, like farm, like farmland, and I was back there like tilling up this little backyard. I mean, everyone was like, what the fuck is he doing? And we planted we at one point had 150 habanero plants in our backyard planted in rows, like at like on a farm. And this was just like because we loved making hot sauce, so we we weren't like intending to you know have a big national brand. Yeah, we we weren't really intending that, but it was just like we put ourselves in the way of it so like flagrantly, and I was just like, well, people should know about it now. Maybe I could share it with people. We have so many peppers now that it was just like sharing from abundance, where it's like, you know, and I feel like you do that with your I'm gonna turn this back around and interview you now. Um don't interview me on my show. I see what you try to do.

SPEAKER_02

Just actually curious, and I think it's a great example of like, yeah, so I was solving for my own things and just turned it into, you know, my work in some way, and it sounds like you did too.

SPEAKER_00

It's amazing. I think it's amazing when you can do that. When you like solve a problem for yourself, and then you turn around and there's you know, 20 other people, 80 other people, a thousand other people who are like, I have that problem. How'd you solve it?

SPEAKER_02

What did you solve?

SPEAKER_00

Like, what did you solve it with?

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, which I know we haven't touched much on, but I I think I want to seize every opportunity I can in front of any form of a new audience to say that like, you know, I was an alcohol alcoholic um actively for 15 years and I've been sober for almost five years. And so talking about thank you very much. It's the coolest gift that I got given that I'll ever have been given in my life. It's the craziest experience. It's two different lifetimes utterly. But so, like, with that, I desperately want people to know that I lived that and that now I get to live this, that there that that is an option. Because I remember over here thinking, and I'm I'm I guess this will be audio. So, in the space of that 15 years of active alcoholism, as it was continuing to evolve, I became very certain I was not a person that could live without alcohol. That just wasn't in the cards for me. And and that was a very scary place to be, especially as the problems got bigger and bigger. And it was like, well, I know that I can't, I don't think I can live without it, but but I can't live with it. And so what am I gonna do here? You know, so to now have this um foundation that has changed my life, like I want people to know. Raise your hand. You absolutely can reach out to me, and I'm happy to share resources that have been helpful to me because I certainly did not do that of my own volition. I had help, and it's been very, very powerful. So, like, those are ways in which that's not a professional thing, right? But like that's the coolest work I'll ever get to do.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02

Is to introduce somebody to the idea that if they don't think that sobriety is on the table for them but they're desperate for it, like, yes, it is.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah. Anyway.

SPEAKER_00

Well, it's a massive change and it's a massive way to like help people. Uh I do I want to talk more about that. Can we can we take a quick break and then let's uh let's come back and talk a little bit about uh let's talk a little bit about sobriety. Let's talk about making positive change that sticks and like keeping it simple, stupid. I'm not calling you stupid.

unknown

Okay.

SPEAKER_00

All right, we'll be right back.

SPEAKER_02

Silly keeping it simple, silly.

SPEAKER_00

Silly? Keep it simple, silly. I am talking with Claire Bayes. Uh we're talking about life and fitness and meaning and keeping it simple. Silly. Silly. Yeah, I'm so sorry I called you guys stupid. I didn't mean to. I love y'all. Thank you for coming back.

SPEAKER_01

So happy you're here.

SPEAKER_00

I'm so happy you're here. I really am. Uh we were just comparing our our bevies. I've only got one beverage with me. It's it's just my little water bottle. I was I it's later in the afternoon. I love coffee so much, like I love it. Uh-huh. And I think you were talking about this earlier, but like the one of my obsessions this year is to get good sleep. Like, I have spent a lot of years not getting good sleep, so like I'm trying to get good sleep this year. So no coffee afternoon.

SPEAKER_02

That's important.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02

How are you?

SPEAKER_00

How are you sleeping?

SPEAKER_02

Um I I sleep pretty good. Yeah, no, it's really good. I'm trying to think I realistically probably get at always at least six. I I it's so cool to live a life that I like have stuff going on. I just like want to do stuff all the time. Yeah. So it's awesome. Um I do wake early and then I have to like be like, put it all down, stop, go to bed, and that's really cool. So I would say I sleep at least six hours a night, and and many nights I will get seven.

SPEAKER_00

Big brag. That's a big brag in 2026. No, I'm just kidding. I feel like I was I was on like four and a half to five hours for a lot of years, and that's that's just not enough.

SPEAKER_02

No, physiologically, that's that's scary zone.

SPEAKER_00

I feel like seven is I always feel like I have needed slightly more sleep than when I talk to people about sleeping and people are like, like for you to be like, I get six hours of sleep and I feel great, like I don't until I get like seven or seven and a half or something.

SPEAKER_02

I feel better when I do that.

SPEAKER_00

Oh yeah, okay.

SPEAKER_02

Yes.

SPEAKER_00

Good. Um do you have any do you have any sleep hacks? Um like what is your what's your kind of yeah, like what's your kind of like sleep, like I I feel like you've got to do some things like intentionally to to sleep well.

SPEAKER_02

Do you have do you have the like no screens before bed or I'd love to tell you I was really good at that, but I'm totally not. Um I do uh like if I if I wear a manta sleep well, manta is just like the brand that we have right now, but a sleep mask, then that will definitely be wildly helpful to like when I will wear a sleep mask. My waking throughout the night is like I'm not waking. Um yeah, so but generally I think I'm a pretty good sleeper. Like once I will finally power down, then I usually will get to sleep very quickly and sleep really well. So there's not a huge routine. No, I would say my morning routine, which it's not elaborate, but there are very specific details to my mornings that are very important to me. It's not a multi-hour huge ordeal, but I'm a lot more dialed there than I am with nighttime routine.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, amazing.

SPEAKER_02

What about you?

SPEAKER_00

Uh I've I've just been I've been trying to be more intentional about like bedtime and like because I I were I like I worked in I I worked in the entertainment like industry for a long time and ended up with really, really late nights. And I feel like that, you know, is still kind of in my bones somewhere where it'll be like 10 p.m. and I'll all of a sudden like have the itch to like do like create something or make something or like learn something, and I'm like, why do I have to get like I have to be up early?

SPEAKER_04

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00

I have to be up early. Why can't I have that? Why can't I have that bug at like six in the morning? Yeah, but it'll be like 10 p.m. where I'm like, I just thought of something I really want to do.

SPEAKER_02

My fiance is a lot more late night productive, yeah. And um, we're definitely not on the same routine, whereas yes, I am wildly productive and creative and so on early. And then at night time I'm like, I'm done. So I I will say in the night in the evening time I just have I just have a task list. So I just like want to get more stuff done. It's not that in the evening I feel creative or I hit that 10 p.m. Like, now I gotta do this. I'm really truly grateful. That is not how that happens for me. I am ready to go to bed. I just also am like maybe I could just like do one more thing.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02

But it's not that I'm like inspired at that time.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, my brain will make will will try to make me start a project. It'll be like, hey, you know that thing you've been thinking about? That thing that topic you've been thinking about writing, or that whatever, that that recipe that you've been thinking, like thinking about working on, like you should do that now. Now's a good time.

SPEAKER_02

Mm-hmm. I feel like if you were to talk to my boss, Ben, or the co-host of the podcast, CJ, either one of them would very much like they would be like so in agreement with you. I swear when I talk to them about their sleep or like what they got onto and they just wound up working on it for seven hours, like it's like, what is happening? They are so much more like you.

SPEAKER_00

Well, I I'm I'm don't love that because because uh Aaron, you know, my my better half is not uh, you know, like she'll stay up late and watch a like if if we're gonna watch a movie or something on the weekend, she'll she'll stay up late for that. But like during the week, it's you know, like she'll she's very good about be like she's like I'm yeah, she's like it's nine o'clock, it's time to power it down. And I'm like, I don't know. I I will do this thing. Um I will do this thing where like I'll just do chores at like night and I'll be I'll be like, okay, I'm gonna and I I don't really do it on purpose. I'm just like, okay, I need to clean the kitchen. I'm gonna do that at 10. Yes I'm gonna do that at 10 PM because I want to wake up and have the cli like the kitchen be clean or whatever. But it's also the this it's also this like I also am doing it like a child who who doesn't who's like being fussy about. Yeah, but I'm being fussy like a kid who like doesn't want to go to bed. You know?

SPEAKER_04

Like that's actually really funny.

SPEAKER_00

Do you know how kids are like, uh no, I don't want to, I don't, it's not time to go to bed. I have one more thing I have to do, and I'll just be I'll just be like, oh I've just gotta like clean the kitchen. I just need to like dust this one thing. I just not really fussy, I'm just like I'm just like I anyway, go going to bed. Going to bed is funny, sleeping is funny, people are funny. Uh it's important. Do you wanna d do you wanna get like real serious again and talk about um alcoholism and recovery? Because I'm very proud of you. I know that you're you you're I don't think shy about it. Um I I stopped drinking three months ago and let's go! Yeah, I'm I'm I'm being very like I'm being very kind of demure about it because I because I don't want to uh I don't really like admitting publicly that um that I used it as a crutch and I don't have you know I almost feel like I almost feel like I should have a rock bottom story or something like that. But like I do think that it is um it is an admirable thing to do, and I think that that sort of thing um I don't know. I feel like I have I have had so many conversations about this topic over the last year or so where I feel like society in general, and maybe this is just maybe this is just my echo chamber, but I feel like society in general is looking at alcohol differently. Yeah. Like like the science is all very clear about like there's no amount of drinking that's good for you.

SPEAKER_02

Right.

SPEAKER_00

Right?

SPEAKER_02

It's certain yeah, absolutely, it's definitely shifted. And while we do acknowledge that, you know, you're in the health food industry professionally, and then I guess you're just in the health world because it's somewhere that like you do pay attention. So, and we're in Austin, Texas, which is definitely very progressive and different in nature than a lot of other places in the United States. So, like acknowledging the fact that we're in some, you know, for example, my parents just came to visit this past weekend and and we went downtown and my mom was just like noted, she was like, wow, there wasn't a nobody was overweight, you know? And I'm like, oh yeah, you know, you you get blind to those things because they become normal. Um, and so but what I will say too about your being demure about it is how beautiful to be at a place where it's not that you need some yucky rock rock bottom, which many do need. And you could certainly take a look at my aha moment and say, that's pretty gross. Um, but to just wake up one day and be like, this is no longer of service to me. Like, this is no longer something that I want to be a part of my life. That is, to me, incredibly cool to not have to reach some deep, deep level of pain from it and to simply say, like, I'm ready to outgrow this. This no longer makes sense, it's no longer feeling aligned. And I'm not saying that needs to be anyone's journey, and as much as I can certainly talk on this topic in love too, I also don't believe that my opinions about it are like for everyone or the right way to think about everything, you know, anything like that. But but I do think it's really, really cool. And technically, I think that the data is supporting the fact that at least here in the United States, it's certainly becoming less popular than it would have been decades ago, for sure.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah. Yeah. It is, and there, and there's more like uh again, like we are absolutely in a certain type of bubble in Austin where like it's become uh, you know, and I mean, probably one of the reasons you're here because it's kind of a fitness mecca, which is weird. That's not that's not what it was. Like when we first moved to Austin, people were like warning us to not drink too much and do too many drugs because it kind of had a different reputation.

SPEAKER_01

Right, right. Yeah, yeah, yeah. For being weird.

SPEAKER_00

For being weird, yeah. But now it's like uh yeah, it it is weird. Like I'll I was uh for for years I would go, um, they used to have they used to have that rig up at like the Austin High School track, and people would go out there and just like train really hard, like CrossFit people or like there was a group that did American Ninja Warrior training out there. It was like actually people who were on American Ninja Warrior just casually showing up at the track, and then I go to like the track when I go home to like Birmingham, Alabama, I'll go to the track, and it's like I've got like me and Aaron will get stopped and be like, what are you guys training for? And we're like, Oh yeah, yeah, we're just I don't know, we're just out here doing it. But I do feel like that conversation around alcohol has has gotten to be more like I've actually been wondering lately, like, will there be a movement that tries to do to alcohol what we did to smoking and cigarettes?

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, like I think to some degree there already is. I mean, there's so much more argument against um people are pretty upset with mind-altering substances, you know, and that that's a growing number of people. And I am turning my gaze and looking at it, so I'll acknowledge the fact that I've got some level of bias because that's a world that I'm very, very deeply involved in. But yeah, acknowledging that whether it's alcohol and all the damage that, yeah, I I hope that we start to treat it in that way just because it's tell me tell me what it does. At least very few, not very few, many people don't drink in moderation when they drink. And it it just yeah, it's really easy to get out of hand very quickly. And if you're someone who actually has a problem with it, then it can become really dangerous really fast, right? So where is the value in it? Like, I'm not gonna say I don't have friends that can still drink wine and at dinner and be perfectly fine and have very productive lives and and have a positive, you know, generally positive relationship with it. That does exist. And yet again, I'm not demonizing it for everyone else, but like, yeah, there's a lot of drawbacks to this quite frequently for more people than anybody really wants to acknowledge.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, it's yeah, it's a real thing. Um yeah. I I'm uh I'm proud of you for for making it so far. And I think that it I I mean, I think that there's a part of it that kind of speaks to um I don't want to put words in your mouth. I really try not to do that, but like there there feels to be like a certain kind of like keep it simple, like one day at a time, like the daily mile thing, like it it all kind of feels like the same thing that like you can get up and put one foot in front of the other, and it's like there there's nothing really magic about it, right? There's nothing there there was no magical thing that happened between yesterday and today, except for that you made a decision to like bet on yourself, or you made a decision that you were gonna like show up for this thing, whatever the thing was.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah. Yeah, I mean, I think I I think that an integral component for me of all of this was like I was so self-reliant for so long. I was just kind of trying to get get through life on my own, you know, just relying on myself. And so one of the features of of you know getting to be in recovery was like, hey, you're gonna need something greater than you out there, you know? And like that is essential to my functioning life today. Like it's no longer just all on me. And that's incredible. And even if that's you know, that also includes just having mentors, having people in my life that I can just be honest with about what's going on in between my ears. Because for all of my life up to that point, there was no way I was gonna tell you the truth of what was going on. Because that's not gonna work, you know? So then to be taught that that was actually something like I was gonna have to do and then get to experience the reprieve that came as a result of doing that was such a gift. But yeah, as far as whatever positive change, I think another thing too, with all of this is like whether it is starting to lead a healthier life in some way, whether it is cutting out alcohol or cutting it down or starting to do a mile every day or starting to take a look at your nutrition or whatever it is, like we do get the opportunity to change. Like, I as a human have have the right to get to change. And and I think that's beautiful, you know? And so I don't know, it's some people just kind of like I feel like at different seasons maybe put themselves in boxes of like, this is just the way that I am, this is just who I am. Um, and and maybe you have a lot of experience behaving in that way, but that actually has nothing to do with your identity. And at any moment that you so choose, you can just decide to change. Like that's that's actually a thing. Uh, and we kind of box ourselves in with some really disempowering identity beliefs, whatever, um, that I'm inclined to be paying attention to today.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, I gotcha. Well, I you you've said um you've you yourself have talked about like community being a big part of all of these things, about fitness, about sobriety, um, you know, talking just now about like mentorship, like that's all parts of community. Um, not doing it by yourself. So like this idea of like, hey, if there's I do want to pay attention to our listener really quickly. Like I I'm not looking for like life hacks, but just so some of the I would be interested in hearing you talk a little bit about um the framing for you. Like there's something powerful in the doing of anything, right? Yes, and you compound that power by repeating it. And you compound that power by finding a community that agrees with that, and like I think that a lot of people are are struggling with the like, hey, here's something that I want to do or something that I want to be, somebody that I want to be, which is a better version of myself. I think everybody wants to be a better version of themselves and they've got some idea of what that means, you know? Can can you talk a little bit about like I I think that probably over your journey you've learned a number of things about like how to go from dreaming about that person to taking you know taking it one mile a day.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah. Yeah, I think that on this, there are different, and I'm like curious to what your perspective on what you just asked me is, too, because there are different perspectives. For me, when I will muster the courage to raise my hand and ask for help, I will get help. And it's okay, it's quite natural, it's only human to be a human who needs help. And like we want to just rely on our own self-will and we'll figure it out. We're so strong and independent and whatever. And interdependence with other humans is actually as we were designed to be. I think that one of the things you'll probably resonate with this phrase, you know, I I believe that in many ways we culturally, societally, et cetera, have engineered ourselves into illness. So whether that's engineering our food to contribute to chronic illness, or whether that's engineering our environments also to contribute to chronic illness, whether that is our environments to being more isolated, they're dealing now with illness mentally, or in my opinion, spiritual illness. I think that was something that I was suffering for from big time before getting sober. And so anyway, I just I think there are a lot of ways in which we have kind of, you know, I mean, even look at like the medical industry, you know, there's just so many ways in which we've gotten a little sicker in a lot of ways. And so I feel so much of that is like done in isolation almost, you know? And so it's like really actually incredibly empowering to just like say, I need help. And then for me, with the I need help, the way that I go about that today is I'm just very mindful of where I raise that hand. And so if I am needing help with financial advice, because that's an area of life that I still need to improve on, I'm probably gonna go somewhere where it's I feel like it's safe and that there are actually individuals that can support me, right? So, like when I raised my hand and said I needed help getting sober, well, I went to someone who got sober, you know, because that just made sense. And so those are important facets for me in approach to change of I'm gonna go somewhere where I feel like I can actually be supported in whatever this endeavor is.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah. I I mean I agree with a lot of that where you say you you talked earlier about like agreeing with the methodology of CrossFit. Yeah. I I wanna I wanna ask a little bit about what that methodology is because I know like uh kind of surface level stuff about CrossFit, but I I will say that my experience there was that it was um it was pretty I I have also been to gyms that are like a lot more competitive or a lot more geared towards competition. There's like a a lot of that community here in Austin, but I do think that that it's uh that there's a lot in that particular sport of like coming as you are and talk and talking about people as like an athlete on day one, right? Like like a mom who comes in, you know, who's in her mid-40s who's like hasn't worked out in in a long time. You're like talking about her as an athlete and showing up in a community. I I do I do think that it's like a there is some amount of at the beginning of you know, personally, of being like, hey, I have to get over I I think that the start of it is like you have to get over something about yourself that's telling you that you can't. Fear Yeah, like you have to get over that to go to to raise your hand or to join a community or to like do something. And I think that getting over that fear is probably different for everybody. But but then like once you've said like hey, I and I think that part part of getting over the fear too can be just like showing up in a community, showing up to a thing, like just showing up, just showing up one day, being like, hey, I'm gonna show up to this gym, and like I'm gonna trust that I'm gonna I'm gonna have to trust a coach that they're not gonna throw me in the deep end and have me doing like 30-inch box jumps on my first day of CrossFit. Um But yeah, I I I love that. Um I love the community aspect of it. Can can we talk a little bit about the methodology of CrossFit? Because I feel like there's a lot of like uh interplay with um it just being simple and approachable. And what what is the m methodology of CrossFit that you said it you said it in like our first half where you're like, I love the method methodology of it. Um Yeah.

SPEAKER_02

Well, what I was specifically referencing there, and there's no way that I can unpack in some complete fashion the methodology. But what's great is if you're curious, you can literally go download the level one manual, which describes the methodology in its entirety uh for free on the internet anytime that you want. So like anybody has access to that resource. Now, if you go and actually take the level one at a full-blown seminar from the seminar staff, that experience isn't valuable. I could not recommend it more. But you can go get all of the literature and read through it. So, like, I won't be able to sufficiently unpack that in the time that we have. It's it there's a lot of data.

SPEAKER_00

You have 30 seconds.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah. But uh, I mean, what I think what I was referencing is like there is a difference between the sport of it that we see online and then the actual practice of it, just because really truly the way that the founder wrote it was like three days on one day off, three days on one day off. And it's one workout. And typically that hour or that workout, the workout itself is anywhere from five to 15 minutes most commonly, but it certainly, you know, there's we have long sh or we have short, medium, long time domains, and we do a certain number in of, you know, short to long to medium, whatever. We kind of have ratios that we attempt to follow, but it's also kind of open to interpretation. But I mean, you could also look up fitness in a hundred words, but I do believe with that um that that it can kind of go over many people's heads. Like that would be a definition that we could say, and it's it's eloquent, but I think it also can be kind of go over someone's head. But um, yeah, I mean, something as simple as like, you know, the needs of the athletes, whether it's the the 20-year-old competitive testosterone pumping male or it's the 70-year-old grandmother, uh, they they vary by degree, not kind, right? So like both of those athletes still really need to do whatever they can in their power to uh retain access to that full range of motion squat, or to be able to get, you know, um any any type of either hip extending all the way, right? Or or picking something up off of the ground, which is a deadlift, right? Or putting something over their head, which there are so many different variations of that within CrossFit, like they vary by degree, not kind. We still want to retain access to all of those things, and and the same with the energy systems and so on, right? Where we have an aerobic base or we have a strength base or whatever. Um, and so it's meeting them where they are and then progressing them down that continuum, right? I hope that that made sense.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, I mean it made sense to me. I I I do think that like um my experience with CrossFit was um that you got met a little more where you are, right? That there's that there's I I mean I was I was in a much earlier version of it, so I I experienced it like pre everybody thinking it was about like the CrossFit games. Yes, which are they are going on right now? Is that are they going on right now?

SPEAKER_02

The CrossFit open is going on right now.

SPEAKER_00

The open, okay. That's right. That's right. And I imagine you're doing the open workouts.

SPEAKER_02

Of course. Of course, yeah, yeah. Tomorrow is the final announcement. I'll be in Miami at the announcement when it happens.

SPEAKER_00

Oh, you going to Miami tomorrow?

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, we have an event down there called Watapalooza. You may have heard of it before, maybe. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So we'll be we'll be doing that. I'll be MCing because that's another big part of the spectrum of things I get to do in that world today. So anyway.

SPEAKER_00

I told you this before we came, before we like hit record, but like I was doing my research, I was like, man, Claire's doing a lot of stuff. She's got a lot of stuff going on.

SPEAKER_02

Next ride action, one thing at a time. One day at a time. It's crazy, but it's also complimentary, you know? Like, yeah, they're a bunch of different hats or whatever, but they're kind of all in the same bubble.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah. Uh so you're going to Miami tomorrow.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00

Um what what is it? What are you excited about for 2026? I know you don't have to like bracket things in years. It could just be like, uh, you're are you getting married this year? Is y'all's?

SPEAKER_02

No, we'll probably get married in 2027.

SPEAKER_00

Okay.

SPEAKER_02

I say not probably. We will get married in 2027. He was kind of, you know, getting this contract underway, and I was kind of completely changing as far as like I just started working for Wad Prep full-time this year. And so we last year were pretty aggressively pursuing some goals and professionally and just accepting that like we needed to focus a lot of energy there instead of focusing an energy, our energy on getting a wedding sorted. So, anyway, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00

What are you excited about this year? What do you have going on over the next, I don't know, nine months?

SPEAKER_02

Uh, just a continuation of everything that's already going on. Like, life is really, really good. I'm very excited to watch uh Jimmy's career continue to unfold and to support that. It's such a gift to just support somebody who's so like that purpose runs so deep for him. And so watching him bring that to life and just doing the best that I can to support that is so special. Uh I I definitely this year a big focus for me is spiritual growth. And so putting time aside in the morning time to focus energy that direction is something I'm really excited about. It just makes my life better. Uh, I'm excited to continue the daily mile. I'm continu I'm excited to continue to grow in my role with Wad Prep. I'm excited about every single event that I plan to be a part of. Like there are there's there's a lot of things to me to be excited about.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, I see that.

SPEAKER_02

What are you excited about?

SPEAKER_00

Oh man, I'm excited about a lot of stuff, but it's uh it's uh I I've got a bunch of stuff at my business that I'm excited about. Um I am excited to meet more awesome people like you and get to have these conversations. Like that that brings me a lot of joy. This stuff brings me a lot of joy.

SPEAKER_02

So yeah. Well, and you've been working very hard for a number of years now, like many, many hours, right?

SPEAKER_00

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02

And so is it fair to say that you have a little bit more hours back or no?

SPEAKER_00

A little bit, yeah. We hired a um we hired a CEO at my at my company that I started. So like uh yeah, I've got I've got some time back. It's not like I I spent, I don't know, 13 years doing non-stop nights and weekends and like always kind of on call. And uh yeah, I don't I'm I'm excited to to figure out what to do on the weekend. That's that's exciting.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, like okay, so what stands out to you? What do you want to do first?

SPEAKER_00

Well, I mean, like, spend time outside is just like like the whole reason that I don't know, the whole reason we moved to Austin was just because of the the vibe here, like the you know, go to Bro like I really love in the in the summer to go down to like Deep Eddy, swim some laps, like slowly swim some laps. I'm a very I'm a very mediocre. Swimmer. Yeah. But I love I love to go. I love to go out and like swim some laps and then just like enjoy the sun and you know go drink a coffee somewhere. Like, I don't know, just like simple. Keep it simple, silly.

SPEAKER_02

Yes. Yes.

SPEAKER_00

Can that be the title of our episode? Are you okay with that? Keep it simple. Absolutely.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, I'm here for it.

SPEAKER_00

Okay.

SPEAKER_02

That's actually refreshing even for me, just because I can still we we are curious creatures, so we can get really into the weeds of things and to be able to pull your head out of that and be like, hey, it's actually it's not that deep. Like, I mean it can be, but like it's not that deep.

SPEAKER_00

Can I ask you, because you do seem like a person who kind of jumps in with both feet, and and I will do I will do this thing where I get interested in something and I go and I go like way too deep, and then I'm like, oh, this is like all consuming and I'm not ready. That's not that's not what I meant. And so I gotta like kind of pull up from some like obsession or like hobby that I started. Do you ever do that?

SPEAKER_02

Definitely there's a big pause there. I'm gonna take it as a no, but no, I don't know that I ever uh definitely am a jump in tons of energy towards it, but I mean, I don't know, it's been kind of the the same stuff for quite some time. I don't know. Um no? Maybe that was a very simple that was a very simple no.

SPEAKER_00

Very simple no. Sorry. That's okay. Uh well, then that's just me. That's just me being OCD. Well, that's our time, guys.

SPEAKER_02

Is it about a bunch of different things? I guess that's my like is it is it like it's almost like squirrel. Like this week I'm looking at, you know, like upholstering clo uh furniture, and then next week I'm learning how to do it.

SPEAKER_00

I don't think it's I don't think it's quite I don't think it's quite that intense. Okay. But like um, I'm trying to think of a good example. I'm gonna sit here and think of a good example, but like uh I'm gonna I'm gonna bore our listener trying to think of one. But like, I don't know, getting getting into like um so I I mentioned that I really love coffee, and I was like, I'm gonna get I'm gonna become like an espresso guy. Yeah. So like this is like a couple of years ago. I got an espresso machine. Nothing super fancy, but like I went, I went down the rabbit hole on like Reddit. I was just like all of my free time was about how to how to do espresso, how to do espresso.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah. Hey, coffee culture is no joke.

SPEAKER_00

It's no joke, but like no, but it was that was one of those things where I was like where I was like, I kept getting deeper and deeper on it, and then once I could once I could make like really once I could really repeatably make the um the drink that I was, you know, like a cortado and like get a good grind and get a good, you know, like I had the right equipment to do that one thing every day, then I was kind of like, that's really all I needed, and I just like pulled, I just I just was like in a I was like in a nosedive into coffee culture and then I was like, oh that's too much, that's too much. I just I just need this one thing, and so now I'll just make I'll make a cortato every day, and I'm glad I spent all that time like working on it, but it but I I had to like I had to like pull up out of like a coffee culture nosedive because I was like, people are way too into this for me.

SPEAKER_02

You don't okay, so just a question. You don't view this as a flaw in any way, do you?

SPEAKER_00

I don't view it as a flaw, it's just a thing. Wait when you talk about being curious about stuff, it's just a it's just a thing where like I can like I am now I'm not aware enough to be like, I'm going into a nosedive, I'm gonna have to pull out of sourdough culture at some point.

SPEAKER_02

Well, okay, so let's see, this is like not a fun one, but whenever over the last like couple years getting that those chronic illness diagnoses as a result of mold exposure, etc., all of a sudden, hundreds of hours I spent learning everything that I could get my hands on books, podcasts, articles, whatever, um, all about chronic illness and just consuming an insane volume to try to find the the common threads and what made sense to me and to see what I you know anyway, uh so that I mean that was like overnight. Like I went from like no real meaningful interest in topics like that to mass consumption for quite some time.

SPEAKER_00

But yeah, but that I would say that pretty deeply affects uh yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_02

It was it was an absolute like in that situation, it was a desperate, but I mean I so I'll do something like that where I'll become curious. Well, okay, so then another example for me right now would be like I study the Bible every day. So I look up the definitions of the words and I just try to understand the context of whatever it is that right. So that's something that I do in a bite-sized fashion, but I'm curious. I don't know. Yeah, that's not quite such a so I don't know. I don't know if that was like those are two good because those were different examples. No, I like one was like a sense of desperation, so I'm gonna dive really deep, and one was more not desperation, but curiosity and survival, a survival quest. Yes, yeah. But it was also really cool like learning all of that that was fascinating.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah. Well, talking with you today and learning about your life has been fascinating. I really appreciate you coming.

SPEAKER_02

We went all over the place.

SPEAKER_00

I wanted to go all over the place.

SPEAKER_02

I I have enjoyed myself. I do hope that there's some value in there for anyone who's choosing to hang out.

SPEAKER_00

Uh I think there is. I'm I'm mostly making this for the two people who are on the podcast.

SPEAKER_02

Love it.

SPEAKER_00

So if somebody wants to overhear, uh, they can. Uh spe speaking of people overhearing, can can you please tell us where we can find you?

SPEAKER_02

Yes. If they go to Instagram, that's probably the easiest way to connect with me today. And it's literally just my name, which in a year from now will change, but uh, I mean, I don't know what my handle will be, but my last name will change. Anyway, my name is Claire Bays. It's C-L-A-I-R-E-B-A-Y-S. So that's an easy way to find me and connect with me there. I do co-host that show live on YouTube twice a week on the Wad Prep channel. That's W-O-D-P-R-E-P. And I also run community growth stuff there. So I do a number of different things for our our academy members. We have a thing called Wad Prep Academy where we help take athletes from wherever they are to where they're trying to go, help them unlock skills and so on. And just they get a lot of coaching and so on within the platform. So it's a ridiculously cool thing that we do there. And um, yeah, so they can find me there if that speaks to them.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, you guys should check out clear for like uh regular motivation, probably one of the most motivational people that I can think of right now.

SPEAKER_02

That's so crazy to me. You're you've I've known you for years now, and you've always been so cool. So it's like kind of crazy to hear you say that because I mean you just tell me more.

SPEAKER_00

Like you don't talk more about me.

unknown

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02

Well, I mean, you really from the from the day that you like, I don't know, you just give off cool vibes, you know? And so, and you've obviously built a really cool company, and your partner seems phenomenal, and so uh, and and you've taken care of your fitness over the years, and so anyway, it just it's interesting to hear you say that because of course you just when you're when you're living life, you know, you're not thinking about those things. So that's awesome.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah. Well, I really appreciate you coming by. Everybody, please uh like and subscribe, you know. Do all that stuff. Give us eight stars if you can out of five, eight stars for gross for gross to the eighth star. Find the eighth star. Um God, that's a good episode name too. Find the eighth star. People won't have any idea. They'll be like, is this a religious? They'll be like, is this some kind of a religious cult? Yes, it is, guys. This is a religious cult, and you're all in it now. Come back next week for more. We do crossfit. We do crossfit. Oh god, find the eighth star. Uh, I love you guys. Come back and chill with me next time. Bye-bye.

SPEAKER_01

Bye-bye.