Callista Lang | The Clydesdale Media Semifinalist Series

We catch up with Callista Lang again this year to see what her plans are going into this years North America East Semifinals in her effort to make the CrossFit Games.

What is Clydesdale Media Podcast?

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 I didn't have to ride away.

When it get hot in the kitchen,

you decide to stay.

That's how a winner's made.

Stick a fork in the head or

on my dinner plate.

I walk into the fire like

it's just a bit of flesh.

I switch my style up with the money.

what is going on everybody

welcome to the cloud show

media podcast where we are

featuring the athletes of

the 2024 crossfit

semifinals and for the

third year in a row I have

the privilege and honor to

talk with calista lang

calista how you doing good

you I'm great um the only

thing is I had to give I

had to uh have blood drawn

this morning and

When you're dialed into a

nutrition plan and you have to fast,

it just throws your day off.

Oh, 100%.

I recently had to get blood drawn,

and I couldn't eat until I

think it was like 11, and I was dying.

I was so hungry.

Couldn't drink coffee either.

I was going down.

I know.

So I'm a baby because I got

in a little after 8 o'clock this morning.

But I couldn't have coffee.

And my wife,

I had to drop her off at work.

And she's telling me how to

drive the whole way.

I have no coffee in my system.

She's telling me how to drive.

It was bad news right off the get-go.

Yeah, I'm someone that when I wake up,

I need my coffee.

So when I had to wait, I was like,

this is not going to be good.

Yeah.

I didn't start drinking

coffee until I was 50 years old.

Really?

Yeah.

And now I cannot get enough of it.

Yeah.

I started when I was so young,

but I just genuinely love

the taste of it.

Like I don't even need

really cream or anything in it.

Like I just like the taste of coffee.

Yeah.

I'm with you now too.

It started at the mayhem

classic back in 2020,

maybe I was so tired, so tired.

And they had just opened up

the coffee shop.

So they were like promoting

their coffee and I just was

guzzling it like nobody's business.

And now that's all I, that's all I drink.

That's awesome.

Um, well it's so,

I'm so pumped to have you back.

Um,

I've been following your

career ever since we got to

meet a couple of years ago.

And then you came so close,

so close to making the

games that first year.

Yeah.

Before we get into all that, you're,

you're selling an exclusive

shirt again this year.

And I want to share that so

everybody can see it.

And so we have the shirt is right there.

Cool print.

Yep.

Got the last name up on top.

Yep.

Is it a tiger or a panther?

It's a tiger.

Tiger.

Yeah.

With the words never accept defeat.

Yep.

I can play the video and

it'll get to the front eventually,

but we have to like get through.

I'll let you talk about it

as the guy speaks.

Okay.

Yeah.

So putting out a shirt this year.

um tigers have always kind

of been just like my animal

like I really resonate with

them they're my favorite

animal so I always want a

tiger on my semi shirt no

matter what so this company

that I work with um Hustle

Never Stops they've been

behind me for almost a year

and a half now um they're

awesome and they always

help me out every year to

kind of come up with a shirt

just to support my trip to

semis and travel and all that stuff.

So the guy, Daniel,

he came up with this design.

I loved it right away.

So he's like so talented and

I love it so much.

And I'm just happy that like,

we can put out something cool together,

help them out.

He helped me out.

So just good people.

So the proceeds from this

help to pay your travel

expenses to the 2024 semifinals.

How can people get their hands on this?

So right now I have the link in my story.

You can click on that and it

will take you right there.

You can also go on Hustle

Never Stop website and it's right there.

You can just order it from the website.

And then those proceeds come

to me to help me.

Yeah.

Awesome.

So now to you, the athlete,

you've been doing this a long time.

You did this as a teen athlete.

You're now a full-fledged

adult competing at the

semifinal level for a

couple of years now.

My first question to you is,

I've been following you in

the first year we talked to you,

you came in sixth at semis

when they took five.

Yeah.

The following year, you took sixth,

and they took five, right?

Yes.

And last year, you kind of fell off a bit.

Mm-hmm.

Was there a reason for the fall off,

or did you identify

something you needed to work on?

Now, granted, the fields doubled.

Mm-hmm.

Right, so we went from 30 to 60.

Right.

But in that...

Last year you went to 21st.

Yes.

So what have you identified

as the reason for that?

I think that programming

came down to a lot of it last year.

I definitely had some big

holes that I really needed to fill.

And last year's programming

really kind of showed me

what I really needed to work on.

I think that when I went to Atlas Games,

I got really lucky there.

Um, there was a lot of like heavy gym.

It was very heavily gymnastics based.

There were a lot of high school movements.

Um, and I think I just did well, better,

uh, did better at that programming style.

Um,

last year was a little bit on the

heavier side.

We have the heavy dumbbells, heavy sled.

Um,

and I'm just a smaller athlete in

general.

And I've always been kind of

hammering my strength just

as the years go on, but, uh,

I think that really kind of

showed me what I really

needed to work on in terms of that.

And also too,

I kind of just felt like I

was plateauing a little bit

in my training.

So there was that as well.

And I just think last year

also to the field,

I feel like not only grew,

but got a lot more competitive too,

just because we were all in

one spot as compared to

like years prior where we

all kind of like spread out.

at different semifinals so

it was definitely a lot

more challenging and

competitive last year as

well too so yeah and it

doesn't get any easier for

the east right like no no

like just when you think

like okay this person's not

coming then oh tia gets to

come this year to the east

right and then hayley's

coming back and yep like oh

my goodness like can we get

a break yeah yeah yeah and it's

it's cool.

Cause I feel like I've

competed against a lot of

these women for a long time.

So it's cool to get to like

see them at the semifinal stage again.

Um,

but I also know how good of athletes

they are and how hard it is

to compete against them.

So, yeah.

So it's,

it's funny you talk about the

programming last year because we, we,

we pulled Rebecca Fusile

aside in the West last year.

And she talked about like,

it was not a small athlete

programmed event, right?

Not at all.

And this was like midway

through the weekend.

And she's like, and I know it like there's,

there's nothing I can do

about it at this point.

And I'm hit, but I'm hitting PRS.

Right.

If my PRS and the heavy

stuff are not enough to get

me to where I want to be.

Yep.

Do you feel this?

Do you feel like,

can you commiserate with that?

Yes.

A hundred percent.

Like last year,

I was so proud of my 180 snatch.

That was a tie PR for me.

Um, but I think it took like 20,

maybe like 30th in the event.

But for me, that was a huge win,

like snatching,

especially under fatigue

after the runner.

Um, so yeah, that was huge for me.

And I think I had a lot of

wins throughout the weekend personally,

um,

that didn't necessarily

reflect on the leaderboard, but, um,

I think, yeah, a hundred percent.

I think there was some stuff

that kind of went towards

the smaller athletes,

but at the same time,

there was just as much that

were kind of better for the

bigger athletes or the more

like powerful ones.

So, well, and,

and they take an event like

a ring muscle up that would

be good for the smaller

athlete and they add a rug back to it.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Yes, exactly.

Um, so it, it, it made,

they just added the heavy to everything.

It felt like last year.

Yeah.

So I, I, I, I, okay.

So this year, you know what the,

we now know what the events are.

Um,

and I was just talking with Saxon

Pancheck and like these workouts,

every one of them has a ying and a yang.

Yeah.

Right.

Like you got to do some,

some moderately heavy cleaning jerks,

but you have to run 800

meters a bunch too.

So again, any Yang, right.

You have to row on a machine,

but handstand pushups come

after or not handstand

walks come after that.

So Yang, right.

Like everything is like that.

And he said like all Sunday

this year is going to be execution.

A hundred percent.

Yep.

And so when you look at that programming,

that's way more classic CrossFit.

Are you excited or worried?

Very, very excited.

Okay.

Yeah.

I think that these workouts, I...

First of all, I love them.

I think they're so well programmed.

Like you said, you have your running,

but then you also have your

moderately heavy barbells.

In the second workout,

you have your gymnastics

with your toe-to-bar and

your double-unders,

but then you have that 155 front squat.

There's little bits and

pieces where you can see, oh,

a smaller athlete's going

to do well in this part of the workout,

and a bigger athlete is

going to do well in this

part of the workout.

And I think

that really shows you who is

the most well-rounded,

like who can do the gymnastics well,

but who can also move the

barbell well and do that

all under fatigue and

everything like that.

I tend to thrive under workouts like that.

Especially these workouts

are a little on the longer

side to the capture a little bit longer,

which is something that's

pretty good for me.

So I'm super excited when

they announced all the workouts, like I,

had a huge smile on my face.

I was like, these are, these are fun.

These are going to be good.

So.

So it's funny because that

yin and yang thing is,

is cool because even when I

started CrossFit in like

2011 in my gym there,

I had an arch rival that I

wanted to be in every workout.

Right.

And he was really good at

the running and the gymnastics.

And I was really good at the barbell.

And that kind of thing.

Right.

Yeah.

And then it becomes a strategy thing.

Like, okay,

I know he's going to get me on this,

but I just have to stay

within X and I know I can catch him here.

Is that the stuff that's

going to be going through

all the athletes minds all weekend?

I think so.

But I also think it's like,

you have to still run your own race.

You have to still know

yourself as an athlete and

not kind of let,

anyone else get in your head

almost like and I feel like

a lot of to the fact that

we've had these workouts for so long,

you have so much time to

practice and strategize and

see like where you can make

up time here where you can

make up time there.

So I really think that, like you said,

Sunday is definitely going

to come down to execution,

I feel like the people that

are kind of like, ready for the weekend,

like it's all going to come

down to how they execute

running their own race, not letting

someone kind of get the

better of them or have them

race a different way

because they're actually

like with other people on the floor.

The run's going to be on the road,

on the flat surface, the mountain,

wherever, wherever you're at, who knows,

but it's not going to be on

an air runner.

Yep.

I'm so disappointed because

it would be so cool as a

spectator to be able to

watch those races.

Yeah.

I'm tired of the watch 20

people on an air runner and

you just get to see the

click of a little thing saying, okay,

200.

Okay.

Right.

Right.

Right.

Um, it,

but how excited are you as an

athlete that you'll get to

see where you are in the pack?

I think honestly,

as I I'm like super excited,

I think it's going to give,

a better opportunity.

I think it's going to be

more fun for the athletes.

Like you can actually race and you're,

you know, where the person is with you.

I honestly think that

running on the ground kind

of gives us all like an

even playing field.

Like you said,

like last year in the programming too,

there was a lot of machines.

Machines are obviously a

little more biased towards the bigger,

heavier athletes.

You can get a lot more power out of it.

So I think that the fact

that we're running on the

ground really is going to

kind of like showcase,

are like us as athletes a little bit more.

And I think that will be more exciting too,

just for like all of us.

So I've been to the venue in Knoxville.

It's not on a flat piece of ground.

Right.

Um, it,

the venue itself inside is not big

enough to like build a track.

So you're probably going to

be running Hills advantage

or disadvantage.

I think,

I mean, we're all going to have to do it.

We're all going to be

running those hills if they're hills.

So, I mean, for me personally,

where I've been running with my coach,

we have a little bit of a hill.

So I'm kind of used to

running up a hill and then

going right to that barbell.

It does not feel good.

But if that's the case, I mean,

we're all going to have to do it.

So, yeah.

any difference if you have

to run downhill to the barbell?

Um, you know, I don't know.

Cause I feel like running downhill,

it's kind of like, at least for me,

I'm like kind of like just

like running without a lot of control.

So maybe if you have to run downhill,

like might get, honestly,

I think it might Jack my

heart rate even more than

if I had to run uphill.

Yeah.

Whenever I was running back in the day,

like every downhill,

I would just let it rip.

Gravity helped me.

Yeah, exactly.

You know, make up the time where I can.

So have you been to that?

You did the MAC,

but it was at the other arena then,

right?

Yeah, it was at a different venue.

So I've never been to the syndicate venue.

Yeah.

Yeah.

It's,

it's a really cool place because like

the seats are elevated and it, it,

it's really cool.

And I think you'll like it a lot,

but the only thing I can

think of is they have these

like loading docks.

Like if you look at the

floor where the finish line

was right behind that,

we're loading docks.

Okay.

All I can think of is you're

going to run out through

that door out somewhere to do something.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Um, so this year you come in,

in a really good position,

like better than you've ever done before.

Um,

does that give you confidence that

changes you've made in the

off season are paying off?

A hundred percent.

I think for me, just personally,

as an athlete, I've,

I feel the fittest I've ever felt.

Um,

and I feel really good going into this

season.

I think the leaderboard kind

of reflected that.

Um,

with the quarters workout.

So I'm really happy with

where I'm going and really

happy to just showcase all

the hard work I've put in

during the off season.

Did you do any off season comps?

I did water Palooza.

Okay.

Um,

I think that was probably the biggest

one that I did.

Um, I also did Metcon rush too.

So those were two kind of rush.

Yeah.

Such a fun competition.

Um,

So I did those two kind of bigger ones.

Metcon Rush was so much fun.

I was really happy with how that went.

Wadapalooza more so was for

me to kind of just, well,

one was my first year doing Wadapalooza,

so I've never experienced it before.

So it's like an experience in itself.

But also too,

I just wanted to be able to

go to a bigger competition

and work with my coach

there before semifinals

because I had just recently

switched under him.

So we kind of just wanted to

get like that in-person

feel of how I am in a competition,

how he is in competition,

and just kind of know each

other more before going to

semis so that it's not new to us.

And what a time to test your

relationship as coach-athlete then.

Sensory overload where

weather changes constantly.

Yes.

Yep.

Yep.

So how did that work out?

It was good.

I mean,

I really had a lot of fun that weekend.

It was more so I didn't,

I didn't really train for it at all.

Um,

just because kind of working under my

new coach,

he has this really planned for

me to really like peak

during the season for semifinals, um,

to potentially get a spot to the game.

So it was more so just kind of go have fun,

see what happens type of competition.

Um,

so I had a lot of fun just because I

didn't put a ton of pressure on myself.

Um, my placing like wasn't the best,

but I knew that it wasn't,

I wasn't really there to place.

Well,

I was there to kind of just see what

I needed to work on, um,

see how our athlete to

coach relationship was and

just kind of have fun.

So it was a good experience.

So I think there's two

attitudes with off-season comps, right?

You're either there to win

some prize money,

support yourself through the season,

or you're there to test things out.

Right.

Right.

And it's okay to be either way.

Sometimes the fans don't understand,

though.

They're like, why did you finish blah,

blah, blah, right?

Yeah.

Yeah.

But I've talked to people who are like,

well, this comp,

I just wanted to go and see

what I could hold on to,

like all out and see where I broke down.

Yep.

I got a frog.

Hold on.

Okay.

So does that change for you

from comp to comp?

I definitely think so.

Some competitions, like for example,

Metcon Rush,

that was a competition I did

to get on the podium, win some money.

Again,

Wadapalooza was for fun to go up

against athletes, amazing athletes,

athletes that I would be

competing up at the game.

So just kind of getting

experience in that elite division,

being with my coach,

seeing how we worked in competition.

Yeah, it all has to do.

And just like,

obviously every competition

is different in programming.

it can really show you, okay,

I did really well in this workout.

Maybe that's not something I

need to work on as much in

training anymore.

And I didn't do so great in this workout.

So this is what we need to

kind of work on.

So, um, yeah.

And you succeeded at both.

You podiumed at Metcon Rush.

Yep.

And you got to test out the

relationship with your

coach at Wadapalooza.

Yep.

So now going into this season,

what's the realistic expectation?

I want to make it to the games this year.

That's my goal.

That's my expectation.

I think that if I go out on

the floor that weekend of

semifinals and I execute,

I can get a spot to the games.

And you've proven that you

have the capacity and the

ability by missing by one

spot a couple times in a row.

Mm-hmm.

You change coaches.

Yep.

So what has that been like?

And who are you with now?

So I'm with Tommy Pomatico

with Conquer Athlete.

It's been amazing, to say the least.

I think that making the

switch under him has not only –

helped me as an athlete, like fitness wise,

but also to just confidence wise.

And I think that's why I can

really sit here and say

that I'm going for the games this year.

Um,

he has put so much time and energy and

effort into me and it,

it really just shows in how

much I've progressed since

starting with him.

I've only been with him

since I think November.

Um, and just,

The leaps and bounds that

I've made with him over

such a short period of time,

it just makes me so excited

for what we could do in a

year or two years.

And one of the big reasons

why I moved back up to New

York was so that I could

train with him and my training partner,

Nikki.

We both trained together.

We're both under him.

I just wanted to have that

environment and be with other athletes.

And so Friday, Saturday, Sunday,

I'm training with them at

CrossFit Milford.

We train with the team.

They have a team going to

semis this year as well.

So just kind of being in

that environment and being

pushed by all these amazing

athletes has been a game changer for me.

So it was definitely the switch I needed.

You've been doing this since

you've been a teenager.

Mm-hmm.

And you still look like a teenager, but,

but you've been doing this for a while.

I can't remember.

When did you first start?

I started in 2015, but I was just doing,

I didn't start like being

competitive until probably

the end of 2016.

So I did CrossFit for a year

where I was just going to

the gym every morning with

my mom and doing class and

then going to school,

being a normal teenager.

Yeah.

So when,

when you say like you switch

coaches and how much of

that is just like some,

you just needed something

different because you've

been at this for so long.

Yeah.

Is there like a newness to

it that gives you like,

makes it easier to train this year?

I think so.

Yeah.

I think, you know, having that change,

it really kind of lit a fire under me.

And just being with other

athletes as well has really

lit a fire under me.

I think last year with the

programming and semifinals,

it really kind of showed

you that all of these new

things can really pop up

and you really need to stay

on top of the sport if you

want to be able to progress.

And just with all of the new

movements that showed up

really out of nowhere.

And I just really needed a

coach that was like really,

really into the sport and

knew kind of what was

what was happening and all

the little new things that

could pop up potentially so

that when I got to competition,

I wasn't blindsided by any

movement or didn't train

that movement enough.

So that was something that

was kind of a big factor

into why I switched over as well.

Do you,

do you work full-time or part-time

or to support yourself?

Yeah, I'm a full-time CrossFit coach.

So I work at two CrossFit

gyms and coach at both of them.

is there a goal someday that

you won't have to do that?

Yes.

A hundred percent.

Um,

you know, I,

I do a show with Carolyn Prevo

and she takes,

she takes a lot of pride

that she's a full-time

school teacher and a

professional athlete at the same time.

Yeah.

Um, and I think it,

it means more to her when

she shows what she can do,

knowing she can't spend

full time being an athlete.

Right.

Do you ever get that sense of pride?

I think she got a phone call.

Maybe.

There we go.

I have your back.

Callista.

Oh, no.

We have lost Calista for a second.

Hopefully she'll make it back in.

So if you've missed today,

we had Saxon Pancheck on

right before this.

That's available out there now.

We're going to be

interviewing Kyra Milligan

this afternoon at 4 p.m.

Eastern time.

Be sure to check that one out.

We also interviewed Aaliyah Miller.

Oh, we have a second screen.

And there she is.

Sorry about that.

Okay.

I am going to kick your

other... There we go.

Computer just completely died on me.

Okay.

Yeah,

just went to a circle thing in black.

I don't even remember what I was saying.

I was just running down

promos for the show while

you were walking back on.

It was about working

full-time job and training as well.

there a sense of pride that

you don't have the full

time the full day to train

and yet you're still very

very competitive yeah I

mean 100 I feel like it was

really hard too just when I

was a college student and I

was dedicating a lot of

time to school and training

um and it's tough too being

a coach as well like I'm on my feet for

six hours a day not

including training so it's

really really taxing on my

body um but I just think

that it kind of like when I

get out there I'm like you

worked really really hard

for this and no matter what

was kind of going on how

much you had to do you had

no excuses and it kind of

makes it like a little bit

like the reward a little

bit sweeter if that makes sense

Totally makes sense.

So the week of the comp,

you're going to be going to Knoxville.

Do you take time away from

your coaching job to kind

of like get the body ready for this?

Yeah.

Yeah.

I did that for quarterfinals as well.

I took almost the whole week

off from coaching just so I

could really focus on training.

I'll probably do the same thing.

I might coach a little bit.

I know I leave on Wednesday,

so I might coach a little

bit on Monday and Tuesday, but

Nothing crazy and just

really prioritize recovery, sleep,

making sure I'm doing all

of that because that's what's super,

super important.

So if you punch your ticket

to the CrossFit Games,

what kind of celebration

will that be like?

Oh, I mean,

probably going to cry just

because it's been such a long time,

but definitely going to go out.

gonna celebrate with my

family and my loved ones

that are there and have a

have a glass of prosecco

that's that's my drink okay

any food choice to to

celebrate I'm really into

sushi so I might have to do

a lot of sushi you and my

daughter everywhere my

daughter goes she looks for

like the sushi place yep I love it

And she's probably right around your age,

too.

She's 22?

Yep, 23.

Yeah, she'll be 23 in July.

Oh, nice.

So, yeah.

So,

do you have a big contingent heading

down to Knoxville?

Yeah.

Yeah, my...

My family is coming.

Got a couple friends coming as well.

So I'm super excited.

Most of the people that are

usually there to support me

are going to be down there as well.

So and then I have just the

whole kind of conquer crew

that's going to be there as well.

The team, my other training partner,

we have some people from

that gym coming down as well.

So I'm excited.

So who handles the accommodations?

Do you do that yourself or

do you have family member or?

My mom took care of it this year.

Thankfully.

Yeah.

Yeah.

I was a big weight lifted

off my shoulders.

Her just kind of like figuring things out,

but they usually stay on top of it.

So as always,

it's been a blast having you on.

We'll be there rooting for you.

Thank you.

And can't wait to see what you do.

Hope this is the year.

You've been so close.

It's bound to happen.

Yep.

Yep.

Thank you so much for having me on.

Just go up to tea and be like,

this is my house.

Yeah, exactly.

Well,

thank you everybody that's in the chat.

It's been a blast hanging

out with you today and

we'll see everybody next

time on the Clydesdale

media podcast where we are

featuring the athletes of

the 2024 CrossFit semifinals.

Bye guys.