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We cover the sport of CrossFit from all angles. We talk with athletes, coaches and celebrities that compete and surround in the sport of CrossFit at all levels. We also bring you Breaking News, Human Interest Stories and report on the Methodology of CrossFit. We also use the methodology to make ourselves the fittest we can be.
I was born to kill it.
I was meant to win.
I am down and willing,
so I will find a way.
It took a minute,
now it didn't have to ride away.
When they get hot in the kitchen,
you decide to stay.
That's how a winner's made.
Stick a fork in the head of
my dinner plate.
what is going on everybody
welcome to the clad so
media podcast where we are
highlighting the athletes
of the 2024 legends masters
crossfit games and I have
with me mike beamer mike
what's going on not much
just uh trying to get work
in trying to stay healthy
and get ready for the games
So you were in the 60 to 64
year old division,
and this is your first year
in that division.
How happy were you to age up
from a competition perspective?
I'm pretty happy because it allowed me to,
I guess,
go into a division new as I've
been over the last couple of years,
improving,
getting better and better in my 55 to 59.
But it gives me a new start.
I think toward the top of
the division because I'm at
my peak fitness right now.
So I think it's a good
opportunity for me to kind
of excel in the new division.
It's funny.
Like I've,
I saw pictures of you that you
sent me for the thumbnails
and stuff like that.
And, um, for you to be 60 years old, man,
those are goals for me to reach.
Uh, when I get to be your age,
you are jacked my friend.
Yeah.
I get a lot of comments.
Um,
Work hard.
A lot of my, I guess, life,
career kind of put me in a
position to always be physical.
And so a lot of the competitors, you know,
I would say it's all a go,
but some of it's show.
It's not all – it doesn't
all perform the way it looks.
Yeah.
But, yeah, at least, you know,
nobody looks under the hood
of the Maserati.
They just know it's a Maserati, right?
Yeah, that's a good way to look at it.
So what do you do for a living?
Well, I'm retired.
I retired two years ago.
I was in the military for a
little over 27 years.
And then I was a government
civilian for 10 years after that.
So about 40 years total to the government.
What branch were you in?
I was in the Army.
So I was a Green Beret,
Army Special Forces,
which was really where a
lot of my physical...
I guess my career was very
physical because of that.
A lot of physical training daily.
I imagine to keep up with a
special forces operation,
you have to be fit for that
entire 27 years.
Yes.
The first seven, I was in regular army.
And then the last 20, I was in special,
special forces, special operations.
And yeah,
it's about 50% of it is just all
physical.
And to an idea,
my team or in my small
company that trained together, um,
I had two guys that could
run a sub 50 minute, 10 milers.
I had the top 800 runner in
the U S I had a guy who won the European,
uh, iron man, um,
had the guy that was the
European powerlifting
champion all on my team at one time.
So it was very.
Special sports is a very
mixed bunch of very
high-level performing individuals,
if you will.
What athletic background did
you bring to the table?
I played high school football,
ran high school track,
and it was a very small school.
But I think more so my
stepdad was in the Marines.
So as a young kid, we'd do lots of,
his PT or calisthenics,
which was lots of pull-ups,
lots of pushups,
lots of handstand pushups, which,
you know, wasn't really a thing then.
Lots of sit-ups, running,
so a lot of baseline
general fitness or GPP.
Are those still your strengths today?
Yeah, I think all around general fitness,
the more
Skill sets are the more events, the better,
but high-level gymnastics,
whether it's bars, rings,
handstand push-ups,
but also heavy weights, so powerlifting.
I did a lot of powerlifting,
so heavy weights,
much more than the Olympic lifting.
And odd objects.
I like just working with bags, obstacles,
sleds, things like that.
So you say rings.
So at 60 years old, you can do muscle-ups?
yeah I can string probably
eight or ten uh ring muscle
ups I can do strict ring
muscle ups strict bar
muscle ups um in my garage
gym I didn't have a ceiling
high enough so I worked
with a a pulley system to
do sets so four or five
sets of 10 to 12 with
kettlebells at 60 70
whatever with rings through the
through the range of motion
and allowed me to get
strict ring muscle ups.
So for qualifications, for events,
I would just do strict from
seated from the floor and
submit that as my videos
for a ring muscle up
because I couldn't do ring
muscle ups at certain times.
So you were at Legends last year, right?
Yes.
So did you see the coup that
happened in the 60- to
64-year-old division when
they weren't going to be
allowed to do bar
muscle-ups and fought to be
given the right to do it,
and they were able to show
that a good chunk of them
could do bar muscle-ups?
I was there.
I wasn't really part of that.
I actually got injured last
year at Legends.
Oh, okay.
So it kind of took me out of much of that.
I did the competition,
but just mainly kind of
limped through it.
but it happened to me in Mexico last year.
Um, our final event had bar muscle ups,
but for our age group,
they took it out for the 50, 55 plus.
And I kinda, once we went to the final,
I was leading, it was the Mexican,
it was the legends qualifier in Mexico.
And so the final event,
they changed it to chest to
bar that I went and did bar
muscle ups anyway.
And so I didn't win the event,
and I ended up second overall,
but it was kind of a
personal thing to me to go
ahead and do bar muscle-ups
instead of the chest-to-bar.
So I felt slighted.
Yeah, I talked to Tony Tursky,
and he was one of the
people that kind of led
that charge to allow them to do it.
And then at Legends,
they were allowed to show
what they could do.
Now, they did chest-to-bar like round one,
and they added the bar
muscle-up like round three, I think.
Yeah.
Yeah.
And that's close to what they did.
So for the semi-final, which was,
I thought very cardio based
and not real high skilled,
but for one of the semi-final events,
we had chest bar, chest bar, chest bar,
and then ring muscle ups,
which I think I placed
fourth or fifth worldwide in that.
But, uh,
it was at least an opportunity to
showcase what we could do
or to apply it to, you know,
some of the qualifying events.
So we got some comments I
got to share with you.
Corey says, that's wildly impressive.
Jody Lynn says, wow, that's some strength.
And Corey comes back and says, we are old,
not dead.
Yeah.
And it's,
I think it's just staying active.
Me, a couple of years ago, I can, I mean,
I could barely walk.
I was broke down coming off
a special forces team.
And
really went out of training for a while.
And then I started training smarter,
using less weights and
making my a hundred percent or my max,
I would go 85% effort.
So now I spend three to five
hours a day in the gym
because I am retired.
So it's kind of a hobby.
Um, and,
but probably an hour of that is
just mobility.
And then an hour of that is
rehab or prehab.
And then a good 30 minutes
to an hour of warming up
for any high-intensity
workouts or heavy workouts.
So I really prepare.
So you've been a gym rat your whole life?
Yes.
Is that your happy place?
Yes.
Probably the last couple years ago,
I was going through a
little bit of depression.
And since I retired,
the gym is where I'm at.
Even...
I'll go into a noon class.
The class will be there.
I'll just start warming up.
And then when everybody leaves,
I'm at the gym by myself.
And I just start to roll out.
I warm up.
I roll out.
I do mobility.
I'm on a mat on the floor
for an hour doing mobility.
Then I just start working on
little skill things or
little things that I need to work on.
But it's just an at ease place for me.
Yeah.
I think what's happened with
the Masters Division is
it's turning the concept of
age on its head.
I interviewed Denise Moore
yesterday who was working
on handstand walks in the
65-plus division.
And then you're talking
about stringing together
10-ring muscle-ups that
people in the Elite Division can't do.
it's just so wildly
impressive and um kudos to
you guys for for really
flipping the concept on its
head yeah I think uh I
think those of us that have
been doing it for a while
my I've been doing crossfit
for probably 14 years and
I've I did mountain bike
racing I did power lifting
I did all kinds of just
other events as part of of
physical activity or testing myself but
The first probably two to
three years of CrossFit,
I would pull something, break something,
tear something,
because I just wanted to
keep pushing harder and harder.
But as I got older or longer
into it and aged up, I got a lot smarter.
And now I can see I've been
progressing year to year,
and I really think I'll
still get better over the
next couple years, even in the age group.
Well,
and it's like a fresh start because
you are the youngest in your age group.
So you can, it's, it's a fresh start.
You're going to get to have
a two to three years of
being at the top end of that division.
Yep.
And like I said, and it's for me,
I was getting closer and
closer to making it even at
the end of the last age
division to make in,
although they only had 10
slots for the games,
but I was getting better and better.
And,
still improving now,
I still see myself getting better.
So it's a golden opportunity for me.
Do you take many rest days a week?
I don't take planned rest days.
I listen to my body.
And if I have something planned for a day,
if it doesn't feel right,
I'll just shut it down or I'll alter it.
The planned rest days I
don't take because
ultimately throughout the week,
something will come up or
something will change or I
won't feel right.
And I'll take a opportunity
rest day or rest break.
Like on Thursday,
the workout was supposed to
be easy for me and it just
run me down and I was just
working too much.
So I took Friday off.
Then I went into Saturday
and it was still a rough workout.
So I took Sunday off and
just did zone two.
And today I felt much better.
I did a class workout,
which was pretty heavy.
It was mayhem performance
workout for the games.
Um, and it felt real good.
I did some strict, uh, uh,
shouldered overhead after that.
And I'll go in and do some handstand, uh,
work and some double unders
later on tonight.
So it's all about being in
tune with your body and
making sure that you're not overtraining.
Yes.
Um,
I used to overtrain a lot,
and I would just always stay run down.
I meal prep all the time now,
so I have four pre-planned
meals every day,
plus my breakfast is the same every day.
I have a shake every day.
I take four or five
different multivitamins of
different sorts and just try and eat,
sleep.
And I teach in the morning on Mondays.
So I went in at 4.30 this morning,
and when I came home at 7.30,
I went back to bed from 8
o'clock to about 10, slept,
and then got up, ate lunch,
and then went into the gym again.
Yeah,
if people haven't seen your picture
that we used for the thumbnail,
listen to what this guy has
to say because his physique
is definitely – whoops, wrong one.
Dang it.
We will do this one more time.
There we go.
Okay.
Man,
I wish that my physique looked like
that at age 60.
Well, like I said,
I've been working on it a long time.
Naturally, I have to eat all the time.
If I don't eat, I just lose weight.
So I can eat anything I want,
but as long as I'm eating good, I mean,
it really shows, but even if I eat bad, I,
I don't gain weight.
I just don't look quite as lean.
And I normally on lean wise,
I normally try and stay about 10,
11% body fat.
And for a competition though,
I'll normally go down to about 6%.
Um, and that's just,
I don't have to change, stop eating,
or anything.
I just cut out a peanut
butter and jelly sandwich,
which I eat two every night
right before I go to bed.
So I cut those out about a
week or so before a competition.
And it just leans me out a little bit.
And everything else stays pretty good.
So you seem to be a creature
of habit with your food.
Does that come from your
military experience?
no I i just think it comes
from me never really being
able to gain weight and so
I could always eat and I
was always hungry so I ate
all the time and I was
always active so now I just
a little more intelligent
about preparation of what I
eat and but I still have to
eat probably six seven times a day wow
So you talked about working
out in your garage,
but now you are affiliated with a gym.
Yes.
And that is Holy Cross CrossFit?
Holly Springs CrossFit.
Holly Springs.
Sorry.
Holly Springs CrossFit.
So what change did that make
going to a gym as opposed to your garage?
Well,
I was a partner with an affiliate 12
years ago.
We were a partner for a
couple of years and then
they split up from us and
then we opened up as a normal gym.
So I was a gym owner for about six years.
And so I had our own gym and
then kind of after the pandemic and stuff,
we closed our gym down.
So it kind of moved your
stuff into the garage to work out.
But I did the regional
qualifier two years ago at
Holly Springs for Legends.
The year before it was in
Peachtree Corners, but
I did the one at Holly
Springs and I really liked the gym,
the athletes there.
It's a very high level.
We had in the gym,
16 quarter finalists and
four semifinalists.
Um,
so it was just a place that I decided
to come back to, to do most of my, uh,
to work out,
to be part of the community
and to really allow me full access.
You know,
I have full access to the gym
whenever I want, go in, do everything.
and it's a really great
community so it really
helps me to do what I need
to do and I help the
members there I you know I
coach a couple classes I uh
just walk around I'll help
you know people out as
they're doing their lives
or if they're working on
something give them tips
how to do things a little
better or show them or help
them with uh you know
progressive programs and
whatever it is they want to do
I noticed on Holly Springs social media,
they tout you quite a bit.
So it seems like you get a
lot of support from them as well.
Yeah,
I'm their first games qualifying athlete,
even though the owner of
Holly Springs has been a
top 1% for the last 12 years or so.
So he's a very high level
senior or master's athlete.
who next year is going into
the 55 to 59 and he'll be a
very strong podium contender.
Um, he just, uh, monster games.
He just took first into
monster games above several
games athletes that are going this year.
And so he's very high level
and we have a very good
performance program there.
So they look at me and we
have a lot of senior
masters in the gym that are very good.
And the gym overall, I'm, I'm a,
average, uh,
athlete in the gym are the normal,
you know, masters,
but the middle-aged masters,
but a high level senior master.
So what does that support mean to you?
Like it,
it's got to feel good to have this
community behind you as you're,
as you're making your
rookie trip to the CrossFit games.
Well, uh, it does.
It means a lot.
Um,
And I know from the gym,
there's probably already,
we know of probably about 30, you know,
gym members already that we
know of going out to Birmingham.
So there's quite a few going
out there just to come and
watch and cheer me on.
And, you know, they,
they know what I can do in the gym.
I normally do all,
all the workouts RX for the normal class.
I'm usually one of the top
performers in the class.
So they all, you know,
see that as something, Hey,
You know,
we got someone here that we can
associate with or we can, you know,
work out with a games athlete.
So it's kind of – it's a big
plus for me to have them
there and just know that they're,
you know,
excited to come and watch me at
the games.
So that's – so you're going
to have 30 people travel from –
Um, what were you located at?
I'm just outside of Atlanta.
So it's about three hours.
So it's not like it's cross
country or water, but.
Okay.
Yeah.
I was just talking to Kyle Ruth in the,
and like,
there's a bunch of people coming
from him.
Uh, cause he's over in Alpharetta and, uh,
I've talked to people, uh,
North Carolina who are
bringing like chunks of 50.
Um, like it's going to,
hopefully we pack the place.
Yeah.
I think, uh,
You know,
on the spectator side from where
the games, you know,
when you see before and you
watch the videos or the clips,
a lot of cell phone clips,
the clips of the Masters at the games,
you'll see a couple of family members,
you know, previous years,
but you just didn't have a traveling,
you know, entourage.
But being, I think,
in the middle of the country,
a Masters-only event, and I think it's,
I think it's going to bring
more audience for the masters overall.
Yeah.
Um, I think it's going to be great.
I was, I was worried at first,
but I think after talking to a group,
a bunch of you, um,
I think that the place is
going to be packed and
you're getting the a team
calling the broadcast on the stream.
Yeah, we, uh, I, uh,
um participated in Legends
22 I think 21 or 22 in San
Diego and we had um you
know they uh we had the
same broadcast team and it
was really really good and
it was a great event that
was my first major event
and it was it was games
like and you know it hasn't
none of the events at any
of the different venues or
the different competitions
have been quite the same yet.
So I'm imagining this being
back up to that level or
even exceeding that level
of the San Diego legends.
Yeah.
The,
the venue is supposed to be immaculate.
Um, I haven't seen it personally,
but I've heard really good things.
Uh, Jody asks,
and this is from Kyle's interview,
but are you bringing your dog?
Um,
I can have the dog walk behind me right
now.
It looks like a horse.
Um,
It's not my dog.
It's my roommate's dog.
But no, I'm not bringing the dog.
Yeah,
Kyle's bringing his dog in it because
it makes him just
distracted enough in between events.
So that was an interesting
story from Kyle.
So what are your expectations this year?
I did Master Fitness
Collective and I went in
there and I didn't... I was...
The bottom,
or I was the last one qualified.
So I went in with no expectations,
and I just went in to have fun,
and I finished in the top
10 of the 55 to 59.
Now, this year I was number 21, tied 21,
so 21-22.
So I was a backfill.
So being a backfill,
but thinking that I was
capable of being top five, I think,
Um,
my expectations are go in without stress,
but I really think I have a
good chance of podium.
There we go.
And as long as we have a lot of events,
high skilled and heavy,
those are three things.
Yeah.
And hopefully the
programmers allow you guys
to show off your stuff.
Yeah.
And I really, um, like I said,
in the legends and 21 or 22,
the one in San Diego.
We had bar muscle ups,
but we also had something
that I know they've done
before where it was three
to one burpee chest of bars
for each bar muscle up.
So if someone didn't have it,
they could still stay in the game.
But if you did have it,
it gave you an advantage.
So it was an advantage to
have bar muscle ups or it's an advantage,
say,
if you have legless rope climbs to do
legless rope climbs and
maybe three to one regular rope climbs.
Just a way to showcase and
take advantage of the
skills that you have.
Yeah,
my argument would be that this is the
games.
And these are the best of the best.
And you should expect the best of the best,
right?
And where Legends is more
like a warm-up for this.
Yep,
and even like I've been working on
handstand walks.
I don't have handstand walks.
I can get, you know, a couple of feet.
That's how I hurt myself at
one of the major
competitions trying to handstand walks.
I've been working on them.
But I'm even disappointed if
they don't have handstand
walks in the event.
Because even though I'm
going to struggle or I may
not be able to do them,
I still think it's a test
that we should be afforded
the opportunity to excel at or not.
It's a test of fitness.
And if you have it,
you should be rewarded for getting it.
Yep.
Well, what did, what did,
what's your reaction going
to be when you look out
into the crowd and there's
30 people screaming for you
at the big stage at the CrossFit games?
Are you going to be able to
like stop and soak it in and,
and just remember that, that moment?
Um, yeah, I think it's, um,
even now we do Friday night
lights here and we, uh, we have some,
we have several teams.
and so represent the team
when we do that but even
doing that I did the the
age group um thruster wad
we had in the quarterfinals
and I did that I did very
good but an hour later I
was the friday night lights
for my team but I did it
then rx so the rx weight
for the thruster rod and
then in my score I finished
top 10 in the world um top
10 percent in the men's rx
for the thruster wad,
which was at 135 or something,
the chest to bar, bar muscle up.
So even there we had at our gym,
we probably had a hundred, 120, you know,
people and representing or my team,
you know, rooting,
but they're rooting for everybody.
So it was, you know,
it seems even though the
games is going to be much larger,
it's going to be a
contingent of the same people there that,
you know, know what I can do.
And I know that they're
there wanting me to excel.
Well,
I know you probably got a couple of
brand new fans here from
the chat who really enjoyed
your conversation today.
We're going to be in Birmingham.
We got permission to do a
full behind the scenes.
So we'll be back in the back.
Ellie Hiller and myself will
be recording with the
athletes and trying to
capture just the vibe of
the weekend so that you
guys have something to go
back and look at once it's all over.
games are over all right
that'll be very good and
we'll get to meet you in
person yeah I'll definitely
be there well mike I want
to thank you so much for
taking a little half hour
out with us today um thank
you to everybody in the
chat for making this an
awesome conversation we
will see everybody next
time on the clydesdale
media podcast thank you guys