Subscribe
Share
Share
Embed
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.
what is going on everybody we're back
We are back doing interviews.
We've done some shows
consistently throughout the year,
but it's been a little
break since we've done some interviews.
And I wanted the first one
back to be with a friend.
And so I called my good buddy Tristan up,
texted you, said, hey,
you want to jump on?
You said, sure thing.
We got delayed a little bit,
but here we are.
We made it.
We made it.
So I wanted to be a friend
because this is truly,
other than Masters athletes,
my first interview since
the CrossFit Games.
And that has been five months.
Crazy.
Yeah.
For a guy who was doing,
right before the games, five, six, eight,
ten interviews a week to go
to none was rough.
I think it was needed in a myriad of ways.
One, just to
catch my breath a little bit, um,
and sort some things out, uh,
after the games in my own
head before I asked anybody
else about it.
Sure.
So, um, so how have you been, man?
Busy as ever.
Uh, I mean, games, you know,
ended and then, uh,
what masters games was right after that.
So was out there and then came back and,
uh,
got married.
Me and my now wife got married.
Thank you, sir.
October eighteenth.
And then that was all during
kind of offseason qualifier
time and then went to Desert City,
went to Turkey Challenge up in Colorado.
Athletes here were doing
some other competitions in
Louisiana and Texas and
then Thanksgiving and now
kind of December's the one
month we have to kind of,
and relax a little bit before, you know,
Waterpalooza, TFX, Fitness to the Coast,
and then the season itself.
So there's a lot in there.
Congratulations on the marriage.
Thank you.
You guys have been engaged quite a while,
right?
Yeah.
Yeah.
We were engaged, gosh,
almost like two years, I think.
We were engaged a while.
So,
my experience no wedding
goes off without a hitch
there's always something
behind the scenes that
happens that gives you a
story for the rest of your
life do you have one of
those ours was about as
hitchless as you could get
I think um the only thing
that really almost was a
hiccup was our officiant um
misplaced his tie
So we had to get his tie
delivered by his wife.
But she made it with plenty
of time to spare and things like that.
So other than that, it was pretty seamless,
though.
Yeah, I was not so fortunate.
When we were going from the
wedding to the reception,
we were to walk in through
this like arch of stuff
into the reception.
I stepped on my wife's train,
ripped her dress in the back.
And thank goodness we
invited the seamstress to the wedding.
yep um as we hustled to the
kitchen for her to get sewn
back up super fast we could
continue on with the
reception that would have
been stressful that would
have stressed me out that
would have been yeah no it
was it was a lot of fun um
it turned out really well I
I think it was the day that
we we both really wanted it
to be so it was awesome that's awesome
clearing up a couple things.
Corey Leonard says,
I am Tristan's favorite IG person ever.
He might be.
He likes to ask me some of
the most ridiculous
questions when I'll throw
up my Monday little Q&A thing.
He comes up with some good ones.
Corey also said,
can we get Tristan's
mustache its own window?
Do you like that, Corey?
Do you like that?
And Jamie says, no, I don't like it.
I mean, she says hi.
Yeah,
I don't know how Jamie would feel
about the mustache.
So you mentioned a bunch in there.
Masters CrossFit Games,
we were there together.
You are the coach of Jamie Latimer.
How did this year's Masters
CrossFit Games go?
I mean, she crushed it.
I was super proud of her.
I felt like it was well run.
The programming, I think,
was something that we could
have talked about earlier.
in hindsight,
just some of the events and
things like that.
I'm sure I know.
I feel like I heard some
people mentioned in some of
the behind the scenes with
like the snatch event being
kind of who can load their
bar faster and all those kinds of things.
But I really enjoyed it.
I thought it was cool.
That was the first time I
was really inundated in the
masters community at a big
competition like that.
So I really enjoyed it,
and I was super proud of how Jamie did.
I think she went out there
and performed as we knew that she could.
Maybe not what she thought
she was capable of,
but I was super proud of her.
Yeah.
I think she surprised
herself on a couple events,
which was really cool to see.
Overall,
I thought it was the most fun I
had doing anything in
CrossFit was making that
behind the scenes and
hanging out in the back
with a community that
really is grassroots right
like these people are not
doing it for the money I
mean there are a select few
that are really good and
can make a career out of it
in the master's division
but for the most part
ninety percent of those
people are there because it
was a goal they had some of
them have had it for
thirteen fourteen fifteen
years and finally made it
come true um it was so
inspiring and so much fun
to hang out back there yeah
it was a lot of fun it was it was cool
Not that it was better or
worse than the regular
games or the elite athletes.
It's just different.
It's different.
Very different vibe.
It's way different.
It's way different vibe.
Yeah,
Corey is going to Legends this weekend.
Oh, nice.
His first big competition as
a Masters athlete.
Good luck, Corey.
He sucks at crossover singles.
They have them this week at Legends.
He texted me in a panic yesterday.
um any advice for mr mr
leonard on those crossovers
uh I mean he can message me
on instagram and I'll try
to help him out for sure
but general advice if you
have to do them and it's a
technical thing you might
be able to bypass that if
you just get a really long
rope so you have a lot of
slack to play with if
you're tripping on your own
rope try to get a longer
rope but if it's a
technical thing you might
be able to figure it out
Kenneth gives them the advice,
do your best and forget the rest.
That is sound advice.
Yeah.
So when I was a kid,
I was a huge Rocky fan.
Every time I'd watch a Rocky movie,
I'd go out on the porch and
I would do double unders.
I would do crossovers.
I would do all the stuff
because I wanted to be like Rocky, right?
And so the crossovers are
one of the party tricks
that I actually have.
Like of all of the things in CrossFit,
it's the one thing I can do.
I can do reverse crossovers.
That's impressive.
yeah that's impressive those
are hard really hard I mean
that that was the stupid I
did as a kid sure um you
know but it's funny how
sometimes that stuff shows
back up again you know like
the kids who walked on
their hands like apparently
that was a thing for people
in their childhood I never
got that memo uh me neither
it never occurred to me to
handstand walk but I know
people who were like yeah I
used to handstand walk when
I was a kid I was like what okay
yeah I my advice to him was
just keep your hands low
that is as long as you can
keep your hands low the
better you off you'll be
yeah just in that it's just
it's the long rope theory
right exactly hands the
longer the rope is yeah and
really reach when you do
the crossover yeah so then
did you go to crash with
jacob or did you do that from afar
I did not because that was
the week before the wedding.
So he went to Crash Solo,
and then I went to Desert
City where Hattie was and Madison,
and then he was at Wodgods
that same weekend.
Okay.
And then I went to Turkey
Challenge with him,
and then Madison did that on a team,
and then Courtney did that as well.
okay cool um how was desert
city because that's where
legends was last year the
facility is phenomenal
facility's cool I really
enjoyed it um it was well
run it was on time um I
didn't see or notice any
crazy you know like judging
snafus or anything like that like
It seemed very well run.
I really enjoyed it.
The venue was cool.
I'm originally from New Mexico,
so anytime I get to go back
to the Southwest, I'm pretty excited.
So it was nice to be in
Phoenix and be in Arizona.
How was Scott Panczyk as a
programmer for an event?
I liked the events.
There were two events that
were basically predicated
on your running ability.
They were different to a degree,
but there was an event with rope climbs,
total bar, bike,
and then it was like four
hundred meter runs dispersed.
And then there was another
event that was like a back
squat buy-in from the floor
and then a mile for time.
so that was a little bit
redundant to me um but I
liked the swim row bench
press they had a the lift
was interesting it was like
certain time domain to do
seven snatches and your
score was total load um and
if so if you missed you
know you could hit another
snatch but if you once you
had seven reps on the board
you were done you couldn't go heavier
or hit another lift.
So that was kind of different.
A little gamesy.
It kind of turned into a
snatch consistency test.
What was the other event they had?
The other gymnastics workout
with Chester Barr, bar muscle-ups,
crossovers, and hands-down walk,
and ring muscle-ups.
That was a good event.
I liked the programming.
I liked that he called an audible,
actually.
So the last event was originally,
it was like three rounds of
dumbbell snatch,
lateral burpees of the
dumbbell and then double
dumbbell thrusters.
And originally it was fifty
and thirty five across.
And he called an audible day of.
For the elite to do it with
heavy dumbbell snatches,
so seventy and fifty,
and then they kept fifty
and thirty five for the thrusters,
and I really enjoyed
I thought when I got to the weekend,
I had thought that event
should be programmed that way.
So there was more separation.
And then I talked to him
after he was watching the RX do it.
And he made the decision like, hey,
we need to change this for
the pro division, the elite division.
And I thought that was really cool.
So a couple quick notes here.
Kenneth says,
I caught Brian Friend interviewing you,
and I was like, hey,
that's Coach Krispy Kreme.
I lost the shirt, and it makes me so sad.
Need to find a way to remake that.
I know.
And then I was actually
going to ask you this question.
Did you check out Reps Ahead
while you were at the turkey thing?
I didn't watch it live.
We ended up watching...
little bit of it back at
Madison's house after we
left the venue I like the
idea it's different I think
it's a cool thing to do I
thought this was the best
version of it so far okay
but I think that my take is
they need to change up
the movements it's getting
repetitive already after
just five of where there's
a box something in the
middle there is a barbell
at one end and there's a
gymnastic move on the
barbell and I get it
they're trying to be have a
little bit of everything in
it but it just seems to be
getting repetitive that
makes sense but yeah but I
thought this was the best
one yet because people were
going for knockouts
Yeah.
Which makes it more dramatic.
Right.
And it took me all till the
fifth one that I watched to
understand it's based on
like a boxing or an MMA fight.
Like, yeah, right.
It's a rounds and you're
trying to get a knockout and you're like,
and then as I saw that,
that concept came to my head better, like,
and I enjoyed the matches better.
yeah yeah it's it was a
little I I had never
watched uh like the intro
where they call out like
name age height weight and
I was like oh that's odd
for a crossfit event but
that's kind of like you
said what they're going for
so right yeah I and I love
I love the rep counter like
that innovation alone if it
could be brought to
other events where there's a
TV screen on the floor with the reps.
Yeah.
Would change the freaking game for the,
for CrossFit.
It would be so much more
watchable and so easy to tell the story.
If you could see the
person's reps in their lane.
Right.
Yeah.
Cause they've never really had that live.
They've had it on the broadcast.
Right.
Yeah.
At the top mayhem classic
tried to pull it off.
Okay.
Yeah.
back in twenty twenty and it
was successful one of the
three days on the Sunday it
was successful but they had
like hellacious weather the
weekend they were like and
it affected all of the
internet technical stuff
for the weekend so I'd like
to see it tried again but
Rich Rich said that weekend
that it was pretty
expensive but he wanted to
have the best viewing experience possible
yeah yeah that makes sense
um so yeah so you you get
through all that and in in
the meantime there's all
these questions in the air
as to what twenty twenty
five is going to be hearing
rumors hearing people going
to try other things um
We got an announcement, what,
two weeks ago?
I think so.
I think two weeks ago today
of what CrossFit released
as their season.
It lacked some detail.
Yeah.
And amongst this,
there's a world fitness
project created by Will
Morad that's happening as well.
We have even less details about that.
yeah so as a coach with all
of this stuff going on and
rumors circulating like
crazy what is your
responsibility to your
athlete during this time I
mean I don't like to
contribute to things that
are going to make the
athletes sit around and
stress out and and ruminate
uh I feel like most of the
athletes in the space do
that enough on their own
they just sit around and
worry about everything you
know obviously like the
changes every year make it
easy to do that and the
events of the last season
you know kind of made the
climate that way um so I
stayed pretty low-key um
you know conversations with
people but at the end of the day we're
We're trying to get bigger, stronger,
faster,
and fitter and better at the sport
of CrossFit.
So those things don't really change.
As we start to get this
information and stuff,
there's more conversation about, okay,
what do you want to do?
With how these decisions
they've made impact them
based on their competitive
level as an athlete.
How do you want to approach this?
My role is not to tell people what to do.
My role is to guide them
toward hopefully this
achievement or this
improvement in performance
and things like that.
But they're the ones who say
where the boat goes.
They're the ones who pick
the landmark that they want
to move toward.
So since we've got the announcement,
I've just been starting to
have those kind of
conversations with my athletes.
you know,
what do you want to kind of train
for based on these changes?
What do you feel like
putting your time and
energy and sacrifice into?
And just being there to
facilitate conversation and
listen to them and
illuminate other opportunities.
There might be things like that.
Do you foresee,
because you have a handful of athletes,
do you have a, do you foresee like,
Part wanting to go one
direction and part wanting to go another?
Or do you see them kind of
all heading in that same
direction right now?
So for me,
the way I kind of categorize
this in my head,
so I coach a lot of athletes who are,
I would say, high quarterfinals.
And so semis bubble.
I think for them,
there will be more of a potential divide.
if their goal has been to
make a semifinal and we
don't know any information
about how to get to the
in-person sanctional yet,
so acting off the
information they have right now,
if the Open doesn't lead or
isn't a requirement for the
qualification to an in-person sanctional,
and they don't have the
desire to do online
semifinals at the affiliate,
knowing that just the
reality is they're not
going to be in the top
twenty in the world, like that's just,
you know, call a spade a spade,
then I think a lot of those
athletes will probably just
potentially look for other
competition opportunity
some of them will still do
the open just to do it with
their community do it to
throw down you know oh
let's make sure I'm in the
top one percent like this
is a good benchmark to have
but whether they want to do
the online semis you know I
think that just kind of
varies person to person um
and then I think for you
know hattie jacob
I actually haven't really
dove into super intense
conversations with them yet.
Uh, Jacob's been doing a lot of competing.
He's doing, you know,
some more competing before
the season starts.
So it's just one of those
things where I also feel
like I don't really want to
sit down and okay,
what's the deal until we
have more information.
Um,
Hattie's been doing some
competing as well as she
won Battle of the Barracks.
Yeah, yeah, exactly.
Second at Desert City, correct?
Yeah, yeah.
Yeah, that was a wild weekend.
So those are the people that
I'm most concerned about.
As you're hearing people declaring,
and I'm not sure, other than Emma McQuaid,
we've had a definitive
declaration as to I'm not doing the Open.
We had Pat Vellner the other day say,
probably not.
But we've had one definitive statement.
Chandler Smith put out something.
I'm not sure what it said.
Yeah, it was pretty big.
Yeah, so with...
let's go with Pat's interview.
You know,
he says that people have
Stockholm syndrome and they
think that the only way to
success is through the game season.
And I think that's easy to
say for a veteran athlete
who has done this ten times
or however many it's been
for him and has then been
given the opportunities to
do the water paloozas and
the rogues and the Dubai's
and by invitation generally
as well where he doesn't
even have to do the online qualifiers.
But in the last two game seasons,
you have coached an athlete
that nobody gave a shot to
make the games.
And they both made it.
And Kelly Baker and Hattie Canio.
What about those athletes?
I feel like at the core of
this for a lot of the
athletes that are not those veterans...
the value proposition is not the same.
To me, Pat and those athletes,
their value proposition is
different because they
truly do make a living from
going to the games.
Whereas even for athletes
who are striving to reach
for the CrossFit Games for
the first time,
if they're not a crazy
social media influencer,
they are doing it for the
achievement of making the CrossFit Games.
And that is an achievement
because the CrossFit Games
has name and legacy and prestige.
And, you know, it's the UFC of our sport.
It's the NFL, right?
It's, you know,
insert whatever analogy you want.
So I think for them,
the value proposition is,
doesn't change in the same
way it's just still the
conversation of is this a
game you is this a format
you want to participate in
right like do you want to
do this online thing or go
to this sanctional that you
have to win right to
qualify for the games now
everything's worldwide or
do you want to see
competition opportunity
elsewhere and I don't
I don't have a lot of faith
that online semifinals will be fair.
I just don't like, and it's not like I'm,
I'm super excited about the
judging thing.
You know, the increased judges course,
the public video, the review,
all that stuff.
You best believe I'm going
to be on YouTube.
You know, like I'm one of those guys.
I will sacrifice my time to do my part.
But at the same time, I,
they don't have a track
record that inspires me
very much with that.
Right.
So,
And not to speak for him,
but another slight
difference in this case is
somebody like Jacob.
Jacob outperforms by an
average of twenty percent in person.
I've literally done the math.
So the online semifinal thing,
we can do it.
Sure.
He's not ignorant to the
fact that his raw fitness
is probably not in the top
twenty in the world,
let alone in an online setting yet.
So for him, like I said,
not to speak for him,
but I venture to say we'll
be very focused on trying
to get to an in-person sanction,
whatever that looks like.
Before we move on from that little piece,
would it make you feel
better if you knew what
that sanctional piece was?
Like right now, we have no idea.
We don't even know a number.
We don't even know locations.
We know nothing about that sanctuary.
If you knew what it took to get there,
when they were and where they were,
would it help you to think
about the season better?
Sorry, my dog is freaking out.
Yes,
it would make me feel better in the
sense I'm a planner.
And I like to be able to
roadmap things and plan
things and back plan from
the date we need to be
ready to go and have those conversations,
start to figure out what
the competitive field is
going to look like, travel.
All of this, as far as we know,
or at least from the wording is used,
seems like it's going to be
worldwide now.
So what sanctional do we go to?
Is it open?
Like, you know, all of those questions.
So I think it'd be nice if we had some,
it'll be nice when we get
some clarity on those
things to start to put
together a roadmap and an
idea for the season.
I think that is probably the
best change is I think we
have scrapped the regions.
Pros and cons, I guess.
But I'll be very curious how
they're going to
how are you going to send
people where right like I
just we just don't know
like is it I I will be
surprised if you can go to
an online or a an in-person
sanctional without having
to do the open I agree so
are you then funneling
people from the top one
percent to these or do they
have to do another
qualifier to make it for the event itself
So my original guess was
that they would use your open score to,
to,
and then you sign up and they
determine based on your finish,
if you are the top,
whatever they're taking for that,
who have signed up.
Okay.
So if that's the case,
it would only make sense
that they're still going to
use geography.
to I don't think they are so
but so then how does that
sensically make sense if
okay so jacob or hattie or
whoever you know does the
open and they're in the top
whatever percent and then
they get an email and they
say hey congratulations you
can either participate in
the online semi-final and
if you'd like to go to an
in-person uh sanctional
you'll be going to torian pro
I don't think they're going
to tell you where to go.
I think that the sanctionals will be,
and it'll be just like,
here are the seven sanctionals.
You are open to go to any of those seven.
You can go to all seven.
I wonder, I guess it's just the numbers,
because my head at that point then thinks,
do you run into a potential
issue where some sanctionals
are not even able to take
however many people are
trying to attend right
right so that's that's kind
of my head was thinking
about that and um yeah
jamie's with me go wherever
you want all if you want
yeah and I mean look let's
not get it twisted if
that's what it is I'm
getting jacob a plane ticket to africa
Like, sorry.
Right.
But I think you would be
like three others doing the same thing.
Sure,
but that's a lot less than the
fifteen that are going to
be at each one in North
America and the thirty that
are going to be at the one in Europe.
Right.
And if that's how they do that,
then that's fine.
I just think it'll be
interesting if they leave
that completely
laissez-faire to see if you
end up with a sanctional that's like,
Holy crap.
We have so many people that we can, we,
we have to try to send
these people somewhere else
because all of these athletes, you know,
don't want to go.
And we could probably go
back through the
leaderboard of like say
quarterfinals worldwide and see like,
okay,
Europe may have a problem because
they had a significant number of,
Athletes that did very well
in quarter like in that top
one percent right in
quarterfinals or something.
Yep.
So it'll just be interesting
from a numbers perspective.
I'm curious to see how that goes out.
Yeah.
And, you know,
if you read the
documentation from CrossFit,
some sanctionals will
qualify to some will qualify one.
But with no explanation as
to what that standard is to
make you a one or two.
Yeah.
Well, and I mean,
we're going to be right back in what,
twenty nineteen or twenty twenty with.
We're going to be right back into like,
well,
like the programming of this
sanctional and the field of
that sanctional and.
I'm sure we'll potentially end up,
because there's going to be
somebody who does online semis, makes it,
and goes to a sanctional to
win some cash money,
and then we're going to be
backfilling again and that whole thing.
The seventh place person is
going to qualify because
the top six already have
their qualification.
Right.
Yeah.
The good news for me is, as a podcaster,
that gives us a lot to talk about.
Yeah, that's true.
We will not be starving for content.
when all that is going on.
Corey says,
go back to the doc when Vellner
wasn't really sure how he
qualified because it was so convoluted.
I don't think it'll be as bad.
Well, there won't be thirty of them,
right?
Yeah, it's just it's.
It's different again.
Yeah, OK, so.
So it sounds to me like if
your athletes are doing the season,
you would prefer to do an
in-person sanction.
Because they perform better in that.
And it's really just a case
by case on the athlete who
performs better in person,
who does better online.
Yeah.
And where do you want to roll your dice?
Right.
Do you want to roll your
dice with video review or
do you want to roll your
dice with the one random
judge who hammers you with
no reps at the wrong time in person?
Where are you going to hedge your bet?
And the other thing, again,
we need to get the information of dates,
times, locations, how to get there,
all that.
Because as obnoxious as it is,
maybe you try to do both.
Cause that's the best way to
hedge your bet.
Yeah.
As,
as many ping pong balls as you can get
in the hopper.
Right.
Until we know, like, is that ideal from a,
you know, performance peaking standpoint,
like all the nerdy coach
things in my brain.
Fuck no.
But until we get information,
is it off the table?
No.
Like,
there's a reality where that
might be the best decision
is to at least sign up for
both depending on which
ones in what order, you know,
like all of that.
So for a moment,
let's just slide the season to the side.
And now there's these
alternatives or just other
off season competitions
like Metcon rush and things
like that that happen in
the same vicinity as the game season.
Sure.
Are there enough of those
opportunities for your athletes who,
to be frank, are not in the Pat Vellner,
Justin Medeiros level yet, right?
That can go to any of those
they want because of their
name recognition at this point, right?
Right.
Are there enough of those
for your athletes to build confidence and
get better, race,
and maybe make some money along the way?
I think there's enough,
but I think there's also
the need and I think there will be more.
And I think what might have
been happening is a lot of
us just weren't paying attention to them.
Example.
And again, all of this exists,
like all of this exists on a spectrum,
right?
If you're Pat Vellner and
the payout's not twenty five K plus,
you're probably not interested.
Right.
If the payout's not thirty plus,
you're probably just not interested.
But depending on where
you're at as an athlete,
what your travel schedule looks like,
how much you enjoy competing,
what your real job looks like,
because you're
Most of them still have real jobs.
Right.
As an example, like Turkey challenge,
their payout for first in
elite was five K. It's not
bad for a two day call.
Yep.
Right.
They had Jacob was there.
Drake Lewis was there.
They had a couple other
decent quarterfinals guys who were there.
Kevin shoots was there.
He's been on teams a bunch of times,
been to the games before.
So it's like,
Those are small names
relative to the big names
that we all talk about.
But these other competitions
are the ones who are
potentially going to
supplement these athletes
and keep them engaged with
something to do while they
work toward the level of
prestige that gets you a
Wadapalooza invite or a –
you know, whatever invite.
So it's,
I think there's more smaller
competitions.
We may not have given, you know,
a fair look, you know,
why gods was a three K cash prize.
Like that's not bad money.
I don't remember what desert city was,
but so there's,
I think there's a disconnect.
I think there's a,
there's a big difference
between the athletes who
have been successful at this enough,
this long enough that it is
how they make their living.
They're only going to be
interested in things that
give them a really large chunk of change.
And then there's the other
cohort of athletes,
and you could say that's
low games all the way down
to low semifinals slash
high quarterfinals.
who are probably going to
find a decent value
proposition in going to
smaller uh what do you call
it the mid-major majors the
mid-majors the
up-and-coming mid-majors um
to make a couple thousand
bucks right um and and to
use those things to set up
some sort of a season as
well I I know like
I don't know a lot of
athletes at this point who
really love competing online.
I think as a community,
we've really like people
just don't love it.
We understand it as of now
is a necessary part of it
for qualification to most events,
but people want to compete in person.
They want to compete.
Let me add on to that with a question.
How hard is it going to be
to tell this year that,
who we lose in open
registrations because of a
moral decision and how many,
because they're just not
doing the online thing or
they don't have the, they,
their goal of making
quarterfinals has been
taken away or those types of things,
right?
You have this mixed bag and
we're not going to be able
to tell what the root cause
of any of that was.
I don't think there's a way
you can know unless you
send out some sort of a
blanket survey to every
email that CrossFit has in
their database somewhere.
But I agree.
I think I would expect a
decrease in open
participation to some degree.
And I think it is going to
be a conflux of people very
unhappy with how
the games was handled and
the events of the games and
people also disgruntled
about the season changes.
And some, for some people it's combination,
right?
And I feel like the
combination is a lot of those people like,
like Pat, like other people, you know,
people who are in the PFA
or leadership of the PFA or
those things there,
they're just kind of
blanket pissed off right now.
Um,
okay so now we move back
let's go back to the game
season and then we get to
the games we are cutting
from forty to thirty and
from thirty some to twenty
teams right good or bad for CrossFit
I would say I think in totality bad.
That's just my opinion.
Thirty individuals at the
games is not outlandish.
But again,
they're probably going to still do cuts.
you're gonna have thirty and
then you have twenty and
then you have like ten
people for the last two
days and I just think
you're limiting limiting
the stories and limiting
the people and limiting you
know for people who people
for the fans to cheer for
and things like that um
just to add on and maybe it
gives you something to
think about my my positive
of getting rid of regions
is for the first time we
have the opportunity to get
whatever number that is
best to the games.
Sure.
Because of regions,
people got in that really
had no business competing
against some of the elite athletes.
A couple, yeah.
So now you feel that with
everybody who did earn it,
legitimately against
everybody in the world,
And who could shake up the
leaderboard on any given event?
In theory.
So I don't like the cut from
forty to thirty.
Yeah.
Because we never gave it a
shot with a real legit forty.
I just I don't know what you
gain from thirty that you
don't have with forty.
Logistically,
it's not a crazy difference to me.
And I'm not the one on the back end.
I'm not the one planning stuff.
Just outside looking in.
The team side,
I mean... I don't have a lot
of confidence teams will be
a thing in twenty twenty six.
The only way to even go is
through the online semifinal.
And I'm hopeful,
because I was thinking
about this side thing,
but from an event perspective,
I'm hoping that the
sanctionals will run a
four-person team competition as well.
what are you going to do?
You're going to run a
competition for four heats
of individual men and women.
And that's it.
I think the idea is to do a
community event alongside it.
Well, you need that to some degree as well,
but you're going to pay for it.
Right.
Exactly.
But I, I would,
I would hope that maybe
some of them do something
in person for teams of four
and they can choose, you know,
maybe they have to do a
certain thing in the open
or an online semifinal or
they have their own company, you know,
whatever.
Um,
But I mean,
that's not a hard one to just go look at.
And again, to your point,
you will have the twenty
best teams for sure.
But Oslo only gets one now.
Right.
Five.
Yeah.
Till they go make another affiliate.
Sure.
I mean, that's what I mean.
That's what I would do if I had the money.
Somebody said it on one of the podcasts.
They're going to affiliate Rich's Barn.
Why not?
Mayhem truly only had one
representative from their main gym.
Yes, that's true.
All the other people with
Mayhem in the name do their programming.
Yeah.
Corey says,
I got to do a minicamp with a
team that's trying to make the games.
They are less than excited.
I don't know many people
I've discussed this with
that are athletes that are
really excited
unfortunately so so now
we're running out of time
as I have a meeting this
afternoon um but I want a
couple more questions
before we let you go and
that is now that all this
has been announced at this
level and there's still so
much more to get to know
It seems like there's
definitely going to be a
divide going into the season.
How big that divide is.
No clue.
Right.
But it is becoming
abundantly clear that there
are some people that are
going to go one way and
some that are going another way.
Can CrossFit survive?
Can CrossFit the sport
survive that divide?
I think so, yes.
So I put this on – somebody
asked me about that on my
Instagram story like a week or two ago.
And the way I've put it to
my athletes is the cat is
out of the bag at this point.
People like to exercise fast.
People like to see what
they're capable of.
People like to watch it.
People like to coach it.
People like to talk about it, right?
I don't – if the competitive
sport of CrossFit dies –
It's because we let it.
We are so used to CrossFit slash the NFL,
right, running this for us.
And it's been great.
For whatever reason,
whether we like it or not,
they're backing out.
They're pulling back.
So what are you going to do?
just going to let it go or like,
or are we going to figure it out?
And I think there's enough
people who care about this enough,
who like this enough,
who enjoy this enough.
And a lot of people who have
been doing this for a long time,
event organizers, coaches, you know,
brands, all of these things.
I think it will survive.
I think it'll get weird.
It's going to be weird for a
little bit potentially.
Um,
But I don't see a reason why
it has to die because of this divergence.
So I'm having a hard time myself,
like wrapping my head around this.
When I first started CrossFit,
it was two thousand eleven.
My first open was twenty thirteen.
And when I did that,
it was such a significant
step for me to even put
myself... Because there was
no scale division back then.
Right.
It was all or nothing, go do the Open.
But in some weird, twisted way,
it made me feel like I was
competing with Rich Froning.
Mm-hmm.
Right.
And I don't know if we've
lost that completely because...
so many people are dogging
on what the open is now in
the open was electric it
was everything and I felt
like I was competing
against jason kalipa and
rich froning and all of
those guys chris peeler and
even though I had no the
snowball's chance in hell
of even seeing their name
anywhere near me on the
leaderboard sure yeah right
I I don't get the sense
from my community that
that's how they feel now.
And do we need that feeling
to keep CrossFit as a sport
or is it that it's grown to
a point where we just have to,
we either have to fall back
to what we were or take a
step into something new?
That's a hard question to answer.
I think we're better off
when it's that way because
the community is involved.
And this is probably a
completely separate podcast.
I have three ideas that we
started on that we need to develop.
So I hope you're open the next month.
I am.
I am.
The athletes became what they had to.
to be successful in the
climate they were in.
I was thinking about this
because I don't remember
what I was listening to,
but somebody just kept bringing up like,
dude,
the athletes don't even train in the
gyms anymore.
You're right.
As somebody who has co-owned
an affiliate and who has
spent a lot of time in affiliates,
do you know why a lot of
athletes don't train in
affiliates anymore?
They're not allowed to do
their own programming.
in the gym when there's a
class going on or there's not space,
right?
Or the owner of the gym
doesn't want that because
it creates a divide.
And people are blaming that
on the athletes.
And I don't think that's fair.
If Rich didn't start
training twice a day and
then start blowing
everybody out of the water
and then everybody started
training twice a day to keep up with him,
nobody would train twice a day.
The athletes became what
they had to because of the
demands of the sport.
then the demands of the
ecosystem so then the that
started the removal from
the community and let me
jump on that because we
have sometimes our memory
is we think about all the
the gumdrops and rainbows
sure how many to the videos
prove it how many times did
rich work out in his dad's garage
All the time.
Right.
Like he wasn't working out at his own.
Right.
Right.
For all the training.
It's a hard thing to reconcile.
And I'm not saying like
affiliate owners or coaches
or gym owners or whatever
in the wrong for.
you know if you only have a
so many square foot gym
yeah you can't have
freaking somebody over
there with a yoke and a
sled and the the rings in
the middle of class like
it's incredibly you have
paying customers right they
get first dibs right a
hundred percent but I like
I don't think it's fair for us to say
Oh, well,
the athletes need to get back
into the community because
then that's going to impact
the gym owners.
Bottom line, right?
Like I, like I don't,
I think it is better when
the athletes are integrated
in the community in that,
in what the open was in twenty thirteen,
twenty fourteen, twenty fifteen.
I remember my first open in
twenty fifteen.
It was nuts.
Like it was just I just
remember pain and a good time.
Right.
But.
Things have changed because
the ecosystem has changed.
The sport has changed.
The athletes have changed.
The demand has changed.
So I think community
integration is probably good,
but I don't know if we can
go back to the way it was,
if that makes sense.
So I don't know if a big
step back is going to work.
so and and I agree with you
I think we're kind of at
any small small business
that grows hits a point
where they have to either
go all in and step up to a
new thing or fail and fall back right
And CrossFit,
we've said it's a niche sport.
It's not in the mainstream.
So it's still a small
business trying to figure it out.
And what is the next step?
And as we were talking,
I said there's tons of things.
As we were describing the
mid-majors and then the
water paloozas and the rogues,
when you explain that,
in my head I see the PGA Tour,
the nationwide tour.
Sure.
Yeah.
You know,
all those like different segments
of ways to advance up through the tours.
Right.
But someone has to take the
time to map out those opportunities.
Sure.
And it,
and it seems like at this point
we're just scattered into
different directions and
nobody is trying to say,
this is all the stuff we have.
If we just connect these
dots and then these dots, you have,
you have something to shoot for.
Yeah.
Right.
And I think that's another podcast.
Yeah, for sure.
Right.
But yeah, it's interesting.
So I'm going to open the
floor to you in the last five minutes.
If there's anything
overarching that's been
announced in the last month
that you feel strongly
about and that you want to share.
anything announced in the
last month that I feel
strongly about maybe one
good thing you liked from
what crossfit announced
we've talked about a lot
about the bad I like that
they didn't fire dave okay
that's a strong statement these days
I don't think that it's fair
to say that he doesn't care
about the athletes.
And I think there's a lot of
data to back that up.
Not saying he's perfect.
Oh, he's, yeah.
Not saying he's perfect.
But I don't think that's a
fair assessment.
Um, I, and I will back that up.
I was a volunteer.
I've seen that man work behind the scenes.
I've seen how meticulous he
is about everything.
He, he cares a lot.
I always know how to show it.
I think, uh, and, and I'll be,
I'll be fair to, to counter, you know,
people are going to
disagree with me on this
because I think I do have a
little bit of a, uh,
not proximity bias.
It wouldn't be the right way
to describe it.
But, you know, I was in the military.
And Dave was in the military.
He was in a leadership
position in the military.
He's been in a very big
leadership position in
CrossFit for a really long time.
I don't know... For people
to react the way they did
and say the thing... Like,
to try to put...
words in his mouth about
what happened I don't think
anybody has probably stayed
awake more nights outside
of the family than dave if
I had to if I had to guess
and again that is a
potential bias because I
understand the way that
people who are in the
military take those kind of
things when you're in a
leadership position um
But I would say another good
thing is I'm a fan of the
increased judging course
and the public video review.
I think that's a fabulous
step in the right direction.
They'll have to deliver on
that with actually
penalizing and those things.
But I like that.
I'm going to piggyback on
your Dave thing one more time.
While I've seen him work his
ass off backstage,
I have been critical of him
at times where I do think
that the sport has resisted
advancement because...
there's one man kind of running the show.
Sure.
Right.
And,
and my example to that is take rogue
and some of the innovations
that they have come up with
in the way they put on a competition,
simple thing like an,
an enhanced streaming
service that you can pay for.
Yeah.
CrossFit hasn't even looked into that.
Right.
Right.
Right.
Um,
investing money into bitcoin
and the all of a sudden the
price first goes way up
right you can see this
company over here trying
all these new things and
you can use that analogy to
football where like the xfl
wasn't great football but
they had great innovation
right right and that the
nfl had ended up adopting a
handful of things that the
xfl came up with
that were brilliant.
And when Dave makes the statement, like,
I don't watch water Palooza,
I don't watch.
Right.
Right.
Right.
You're,
you're missing out on some of the
innovations that these
other comps are coming up with.
Yeah.
Like reps ahead.
We just talked about it.
The rep counters on the, on the lanes.
That's that is where I have been.
That is where I've been critical of Dave.
Yeah.
And I think that's fair.
Right.
And it's, I mean, but I don't,
I don't think he should have been fired,
but I don't necessarily
believe that they shouldn't
have hired him help.
Sure.
I would agree with that.
Right.
And I think there's just, I mean,
there's so much that we don't know.
Um,
I, you know, there's information that,
you know, maybe if I knew,
then maybe I might would
change my mind on if Dave
should have been fired or
should have not been fired.
Right.
If we actually got the full
investigation report,
depending on what's in there.
I just think with the information we have,
that's kind of,
and I think that a lot of
people are very quick to
just become a mob mentality.
Um,
and if I was gonna say
something not related to
CrossFit that I do think I
wish and this is just
humans in general could be
better at is just waiting
before they speak um yeah
um I had a thought oh my my
last my final thought for
today because it's been a
long time since I've talked
about a lot of this stuff
The year that CrossFit
needed to come out with all
the details on their season
and come out with it in
plenty of time for people
to make decisions was this year.
Yeah.
And they have really dropped the ball.
Yeah.
Yeah.
And it's not because I can't
make my decision because
I'm going to sign up for
the Open because I believe in it.
And I want to support the
open and it will be what it is.
But there are a lot of
people coming after you.
And this was the year you
needed everything tightened up.
Yeah.
With plenty of news ahead of
time for people to make
decisions and to see that
there might have been a
slight change in the way
that you communicate with the community.
Yeah.
And so far that has not happened.
I mean,
we're not even getting the rulebook
until after the new year.
I'm sorry, coughed till after the win.
New Year.
Oh, wow.
I had responded to I think
CrossFit affiliates made a post.
And I asked something about the rulebook.
And I if I'm remembering correctly,
they said it would be after the new year.
So two thumbs up for that.
Awesome.
Well, Corey says,
Tristan is a strong dude.
I imagine he and I hitting a
workout and jamming to some Creed.
I do like me some Creed.
I don't know if I'm strong anymore.
I used to be a little bit stronger,
but I just try to stay fit
and healthy these days.
Well,
what I'm going to leave you with is
I'm really seriously
considering doing an
everyday show into the new year.
How I'm going to ramp that
up through December, I'm not sure yet.
But essentially, it's going to be,
I'm just going to jump on
every day at noon.
If any of my friends want to join,
they are welcome to jump in and we talk.
It could be any,
and it's going to be any topic.
It could be this week's Landman episode.
It could be the Big Ten
Championship going on tomorrow.
It could be CrossFit.
It could be whatever.
But just an everyday get
together with me and my
friends and an open invite to jump in.
You will,
you will have that open invite from me.
I would love to hop on.
So I think going into the,
I may do like maybe three
shows a week to start in December.
And then when we get into the new year,
start ramping up to five days a week.
That'd be cool.
That would be cool.
And that would truly be my
lunch hour from work.
Right.
Just spending your lunch
hour just hanging out.
Yeah.
And if you want to bring
food and we just hang out
and talk and whatever, it is what it is.
But that's the plan going
into the new year.
In addition to we'll be back to interviews,
of course,
our roundtable every Thursday
and our Sunday night show
every Sunday night.
But just a shoot the shit
show every day at noon.
There's plenty to talk about.
yeah always well thanks a
bunch tristan for doing
this um and again we do
have some other topics we
we need to expand on so
maybe through december
we'll have a couple more of
these shows um and with
that everybody have a great
friday uh go penn state
tomorrow night against
oregon in the big ten
championship game and
sunday is my first game as
a bears fan with the new
head coach thomas brown
yeah um and so I get to check that out
Those are things we'd be
talking about too.
Yeah.
But I have a big sports
weekend ahead of me.
Best of luck.
And I did catch the first
event of Dubai last night
at like two in the morning
when I couldn't sleep.
I did not.
What was it?
The bike?
It was the bike.
It put me to sleep pretty fast.
Beautiful location.
Beautiful location.
But if you can't see the meter,
what's the point?
again like reps ahead tv
screen that shows like what
the the watts are oh my
gosh I was like okay this
will get me right back to
bed yeah um I'll just save
my thoughts on that for
another time okay with that
hit to everybody next time
guys thank you to everybody
in the chat for being here
we'll see you all then bye guys bye