Kyle Ruth | The Athletes of the 2024 Legends Masters CrossFit Games

We catch up with Kyle Ruth OG CrossFitter, TTT Coach and all around great guy. Kyle will be heading to the Masters CrossFit Games and competing on the big stage.

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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.

Hey, hey, still.

Let's go.

I was born a killer.

I was meant to win.

I am down and willing,

so I will find a way.

It took a minute,

now it didn't happen right 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.

What's going on, everybody?

Welcome to the Clydesdale Media Podcast,

where we are highlighting

the athletes of the 2024

Legends Masters CrossFit Games.

And I have with me none

other than legend OG

CrossFitter Kyle Ruth.

What's going on, man?

I'm not sure I deserve legend status yet.

I have some more stuff I

want to do before I get legend,

but I appreciate that.

Also, that intro is sick.

I love it.

Yeah.

I, you know, after five years,

we finally figured out

something that worked.

Um, yeah.

And I love the music.

Like when you find the right song,

like the rest of it just comes together.

Yeah, for sure.

That was awesome.

Uh, so if for people don't know,

Kyle is with TTT, you are a coach.

You are the director of education.

Yep.

Is the director of education

something new or have you

always been that role?

That's a role I took over in

2021 when we started

developing our new courses.

So originally Max and I

created some educational courses.

I worked on our energy

system training course in 2014,

which we released late 2014

and he created a strength course.

Then we kind of collaborated on

you know, like a program design course.

Those were our,

our generation one courses.

We did that for a long time.

Then we shifted to a

subscription based

education platform called

the classroom that we ran

with from like 2016 to 22.

We kept, we stopped updating about 2021.

And at that point we decided

we wanted to go back into

the long form course creation mode.

And so I took over as

director of education.

So that's been my,

Um, but I wouldn't call it the main thing.

My main thing is still coaching athletes.

And I think anybody who's

going to educate people about how to

coach people in the,

in the CrossFit space or in

the competitive space needs

to also have a foot in the

door in coaching.

And, you know, that's still my main thing.

But yeah, it's been, it's been a good,

a good run.

We've now released our,

released our movement course.

We did that first.

And that's more like assessment and,

you know, how,

how to improve people's movement.

One of the basic foundations of sport.

And then we released that in 20,

we'll say January of 2022.

And then we,

In December of 2023,

we released our coaching strength course,

which is, honestly,

I would say probably the

best strength education

information that exists in the space.

So this is specifically for coaches.

Yes, specifically for coaches.

And we,

even though it's not necessarily

created specifically for CrossFit, we,

we use our, you know,

I I've been coaching

competitive CrossFitters for, uh,

12 or 13 years now.

So we use our tilt mine, uh, you know, Max,

I'll have the owner of

training think tank coach to, you know,

multiple podium games, athletes, um,

That's a, if you go on there,

you can download the game

day fueling guide if you want.

We actually just launched that.

Um, but if you go into education,

our coaching movement,

coaching strength and

coaching conditioning courses are, um,

those are our flagship courses.

And basically that's our, um,

that's us just pouring all

of our systems into an

education platform.

Um, it's not just information.

The biggest thing that we try to do is,

is teach people how we

approach the program design process.

So there, um,

Yeah, I think they're both pretty cool.

And we're currently working

on the conditioning course,

although that's taken a

little bit of a backseat

since we just moved into

our new facility.

Literally had our first class on Friday.

So it took a little bit of a

backseat for the last couple of weeks,

but that's what I'll be

working on outside of

prepping for the CrossFit Games.

How long does one of these

classes take to get through?

Well, the coaching movement course has,

I believe,

13 or 14 hours of video content

and a 200 page manual.

The coaching strength course

has a 300 page manual and

is over 20 plus hours of

video content that includes coaching.

Everything from how do you

onboard a new client to

Alexis Raptus' case study

from her games prep,

the strength pieces from

her games prep last year

for the 2023 CrossFit Games.

I mean, they're in-depth.

Just that aspect alone would

make some people want to

jump in and check that out.

Yeah,

there's a lot more to it than that as

well,

because I know a lot of people don't

work with elite athletes.

And so, you know,

they're built so that it's

it provides a foundation

education for people that

are say you've been just

coaching CrossFit for two or three years.

You know, you're a level one,

you're two years in,

but you want to start

learning how to program design.

They meet you there.

But also we kind of show you

underneath the hood a little bit.

If you're working with real

if you ever are curious,

what is a high level

athletes strength program look like?

But also at the same time,

what you'll see in a high

level athlete strength

program are a lot of the

basics that we discuss all

throughout the course.

It's always in there.

Yeah, there's some more complex elements,

but the basics are always there.

It's funny, like,

so Carolyn Prevost is my

co-host on Sunday nights

and her and I will have

conversations and it'll

come to programming and I

get lost so quick.

And she just like,

she can see a picture of

something Dave put out and

piece it together into a full workout.

Yeah.

And I'm just like, what's going on,

Rain Man?

Like, I can't even keep up.

Well,

at some point when you've done this

for a really, really long time,

you kind of see the trends

and you see some of the, you know,

the things that stand out

and you can pick out, oh, you know,

that's a sled.

The sled loads can be X, Y,

and Z. You know,

you can figure out a lot

just from a little bit of context clue.

Literally, just before we got on,

Dave put out clips of the clean ladder.

Yeah,

I just saw that actually right before

we got on here.

Yeah,

she has all the weights already

listed out for men and women.

And I'm like,

how did you get that from

Sidney Wells lifting one bar?

Yeah, well,

you can assume that if you have

the weights,

you know what the starting

loads are going to be.

And then from there,

you can extrapolate what

the men's weights are going to be.

Yeah, this is what we do.

The mind of coaching.

And you can learn all about

that through your education program.

Yeah, for sure.

And I will say at the competitive coaching,

when it comes to competitive coaching,

when you bring an element

of competition in,

then people start to really, you know,

that's when this type of stuff happens,

you know.

So it's been a busy month for TTT.

Yes.

So just a couple months ago, Travis had,

was it United Performance?

Yes.

Yes.

there was TTT.

Now they are one entity.

Yes, that's actually, I'm wearing my, my,

we are united TTT.

This was, um, part of our,

our grand opening, uh, that,

that we had on,

on Friday and Saturday this,

this past week where

basically what happened is,

is training think tank.

Um, we,

we purchased a united performance from,

from Travis and our Travis is,

is part co-owner.

Um,

I don't know if co-owner,

but he has an ownership

stake in Training Think Tank.

We combined the gyms and we

moved from the location

where United Performance

and Training Think Tank

shared a big L-shaped gym.

We were in one part of the L,

they were in the other part,

to just a giant box.

Um, and,

and it's all set up to facilitate

training everybody from, you know,

the elite games athletes,

Travis and Alexis and Linda

and everybody that trains on site, um,

to people that are just, you know,

interested in, in general fitness,

we've expanded the

programming options pretty

dramatically so that there's,

we're even starting to get

into things like some high

rocks programming and

things like that on site.

Um,

integrated some nutrition

coaching and elements like that,

that we originally training

think tank had just for remote athletes.

And now we brought it in for, you know,

everybody onsite.

So I think it's been a,

obviously for the community,

it's going to be a change

and change is always hard,

but at the same time,

I think there's so much value add.

for everybody involved that

it's going to be a major positive.

But we literally, yes, we just did that.

The gym,

when I was in there a week ago Tuesday,

was like just a pile of equipment.

And I stayed home for two days because,

you know,

I'm also prepping for the CrossFit Games.

I had a couple training days

I did in the garage and

just worked at home.

And I went back in and it was like –

the thing was done and it was,

it was crazy to see how

fast everyone was able to

come together to get it done.

It's amazing when you move

into a new facility to like

how everything looks brand new again.

Yes.

All of there.

I mean, yes,

we cleaned all of the

equipment thoroughly and all that,

but like you're a hundred percent,

a hundred percent, right.

We even brought the old

stall mats over from the other gym to,

cause there's basically two sections,

you know,

there's a rig in the middle and

then there's one section

over here and one section over there.

And we filled up one of the

sections with the old stall

mats and we cleaned them.

But man, they look new.

You couldn't tell the

difference between the two sides.

So it's been, you know,

the biggest difference

though is there's climate

control in this new facility.

And I can tell you the

difference between training

in the middle of old TTT,

which we just called the death zone.

It was like right in the

middle where neither of the

big ass fans could, could move air.

And it was just this

humidity dead zone that

would get up to like one 10,

but then with humidity, right?

Like it's not like one 10 out in,

you know, in, in Arizona, whether, or,

you know, they might get up to one 15,

one 20, it gets hot.

I'm not saying it's not hot,

but we have humidity plus

the temperature in the

middle of that gym.

And it was brutal.

And training in the new facility with,

with climate control has been like,

I don't know.

I've never experienced

anything like that in my

entire CrossFit career.

So in the old place,

you could actually train

for Fort Worth dead zone.

Yes.

A hundred percent.

You could,

you could set yourself up as

close to Texas as possible.

And maybe even a bit like Birmingham.

We'll, we'll have to see what the,

how the weather pans out a

couple of weeks.

Oh, wow.

So I know that you have a

swimming background.

We talked about that last

time you were on the, on the show,

get any Olympic coverage in,

or have you been too busy?

Of course, um, I've, I catch it all as,

as you know,

the reruns or go back and rewatch.

Um, but both my daughters are,

are swimmers.

And so there's no way we could get around.

watching it.

They're, they're totally into it.

Um, my wife and I we've, you know,

we've watched the Olympics

since we were together now, you know, 16,

18 years ago.

So it's been like a big part

of us just watching the

Olympics and stuff.

And yeah, so I've watched swimming.

I also love watching track and field.

I watched Noah Lyles, um,

bust out the wind recently.

That was, that was incredible.

I couldn't even,

there's no way you could

have told who won that race.

You know what I mean?

Like they had to go to the,

to the freeze frame, but yeah, it's been,

it's been great to watch

some of the Olympics and

also be reminded of how slow I am now.

Amen to that.

Yep.

Yep.

You know, again, I'm older than you are.

So like my times are real slow,

but that Noah Lyles thing, like I didn't,

I didn't know it was the

torso now instead of the

head or the foot or the

hand it's first torso to cross the line.

Yeah, what a great, I mean,

we've seen people in

CrossFit take advantage of

when the chip timer is on

their ankle and be able to

get that ankle across the

finish line a little bit before.

And so, you know,

they have that little bit of awareness,

enough awareness to get that ankle over.

For him to have the awareness, and I mean,

yes, this is his sport,

and it's a repetition sport,

so obviously he's practiced this.

But for him to have the

awareness to get that much

lean to get the torso through,

that was crazy.

It almost looked like he was

falling when you watch it in real time.

Well,

and you saw one of the Jamaican

runners throw a leg out and that's,

that's actually throwing your torso back.

Like, yeah.

So it's like, that was,

that was what maybe used to

be a successful finish,

but now the finish, if it's the torso,

you got to get the lean.

It's crazy to see that.

I think that level of

awareness when they're

moving that fast is insane.

Yeah.

So are you coaching anybody

at the games this year or

just going to help out?

no individuals at the

CrossFit games this year,

no teams at the CrossFit games this year.

It's one, you know,

I think last year was

actually the first time

that I didn't have any individuals, um,

or, or teams competing.

Um,

But for me, it's actually been,

I have to admit,

it's been kind of nice to

have this period of time

just to be able to train.

I would say I've just been training,

but obviously I have a lot

of other things on the plate,

but it's been kind of nice

to just focus on my

training and then helping

my athletes build their

off-season training,

which I actually really

like coaching the off-season for people.

I also like coaching competitive prep, but

There's something about the

linearity of good off

season training that,

that really works well with,

with my brain.

So you've been to the games

yourself on a team.

This is your first time as an individual.

Yeah.

Yeah.

I, uh, in 2013,

I finished one point out

from qualifying and

uh, at the mid Atlantic regional,

I finished fourth by a point,

which still stings to talk

about a little bit, even though we're,

we're 11 years removed.

Um, but yeah, that was the, the,

that was when I was closest.

And then, you know, I was on the team.

So in 2020, I had a pretty good season,

but they canceled the

canceled the games for masters,

obviously.

And then 2021,

I was able to go with a group of my,

best friends here at

Training Think Tank and do that.

And then I've been fighting,

I think I was like 12th

when they took 10 and then

like 16th or something last

year when they took 10.

And so to be able to be in

this kind of expanded field,

I'm really grateful that

they did choose to expand the field.

Because once again, I wouldn't be in,

I think I finished 25th.

So with the smaller 10 person field,

I wouldn't have qualified,

but I think it's gonna make

a much better story

on game day with, with the group that they,

they have going this year.

Well,

two big things in my opinion is that one,

everything is videoed and

online up till this point.

And we know that that,

that has its fallacies across the board,

right?

Two, when you had 10 people at the games,

nobody could fall too far.

If you had a bad event,

fall 10 spots that's it yep

where you have a 40 person

field you mess up an event

it can make a major

difference in the

scoreboard I think the same

can be said for having good

events you know I've been

to I've competed in a

number of events in the

last few years masters

events and one of the

things that tends to be the

hallmarks of the off-season

masters competitions like

masters fitness collective

or uh I won wadapalooza

masters in in 2022

And the thing has always

been that the field isn't that deep.

And so it's always been like going,

you know,

I'll win an event and then

Julian Cerna will win an

event and then I'll win and

then he'll win the next one.

It just, who,

who takes a third or a fourth?

Right.

That's what had happened in the past.

And in an event like this,

that isn't going to be the case.

Right.

There isn't going to.

And now, granted,

there might be some

athletes like a like a Will Morad who can,

you know, average first, second,

third across this.

But for me,

a bad event isn't going to be a

second place.

A bad event is going to be

hopefully not a 40th.

But, you know,

it might be in the mid 20s or 30s,

depending on, you know,

this is a great field.

And so any little slip up is

going to result in a problem.

But that's also a good thing at the top,

too.

So if you are fighting for a podium spot,

you know,

it allows for some some dilution

or some separation if

you're really consistent,

like a Will Morad kind of athlete.

Yeah, absolutely.

And I just had Kevin Jones

on who told me he's going

to win the lifting events.

For sure.

He's the 40th person in, and he's saying,

I had a weird year where I

didn't get as much training in,

so I'm just going to win

the lifting events.

Yeah.

Those are 100 points.

Right.

Those are 100 points.

So right off the bat,

if we get two heavy lift events,

he's looking at potentially

200 points just straight up,

which that's the equivalent of like 10.

If you get 20 points for

30th place or something,

I haven't seen the scoring system yet,

but if you get 10 points for 30th place,

that's the equivalent of 10

30th place finishes in two events, man.

That's a lot of points.

So if you do have something

that you're an outlier in,

This format, the point-based format,

rewards you so much more

than the online qualifier

format where it's one point per place.

Yeah.

I think it's going to be fun.

It's going to make it a lot

more interesting than

Masters games in the past.

Uh-oh.

Did we lose you?

I think Kyle froze up on us.

Oh, here.

Okay, there we are.

You're back.

We're back.

We had a loading screen for a second.

Okay.

So, yeah,

I think it's going to make it a

lot more interesting than

years past just with that fluctuation.

Yeah,

and I think people is going to make

it way more interesting.

I hope that the coverage of

the actual events is also a

little more dialed in than

it was last year with the

single camera covering the

entire field kind of thing.

Well,

I think I can guarantee you that it's

not an iPhone hanging from the ceiling.

That's great to hear.

And they're bringing in the A-team.

You're getting Sean Woodland.

Yes.

Chase Ingram and Tommy Marquez.

No way.

That's our media coverage crew?

Yep.

Wow.

I didn't know that.

That's fantastic to hear.

So we've got like they're

giving the OGs to the OGs.

yeah they weren't apparently

they weren't good enough

for the real games um so so

the legends guys gobbled up

sean woodland to to do the

play-by-play oh I think we

broke up again man

that's going to make it

really interesting if I'm

if I'm a master's athlete

and I hear sean woodland

yelling my name um I think

I've said it on other

interviews that becomes my

ringtone uh going forward

uh just find that clip

download it and it's my

ringtone so uh we're just

gonna hang tight here while

kyle hopefully figures out uh

internet issue that he's having.

We were doing really good

for about 20 minutes and

then all of a sudden, bam, this goes out.

Uh, Jay Birch and Corey,

what's going on guys?

Uh,

our man Corey is doing the TFX

qualifiers.

That's going to be fun.

Um,

Jay Birch says CrossFit should put chip

timers on the chest rather

than the ankle.

Uh, that would make it pretty interesting.

Um,

And you can't throw that leg out then.

But so many close finishes have come down.

Oh, there's Kyle.

You're back.

I'm back.

I have no idea what's going on.

There's no one else on the internet.

It's like the middle of the day.

I was just tap dancing.

Oh, you're all good.

So I think we were just

talking about points and all that stuff.

And so how excited are you going?

How many are you taking

people with you to the games this year?

Yeah.

I mean,

given how close Birmingham is to Atlanta,

we just mapped it out last night.

It's like between two and a

half to three hours.

So we've got a really good

crew coming from the gym.

Plus my kids,

my parents are going to bring

the girls up Thursday evening.

So they're going to miss the

first day of competition,

but then they're going to

get to watch Friday, Saturday, Sunday.

And they haven't been at a

major event that I've done

I don't think ever like

they've never been.

They didn't get to go to the

CrossFit Games because

school here starts August 1st.

So they didn't get to go

when I was on team.

And, you know, they've been to MFC.

They went to Crash Crucible last year.

But they're going to they're

going to get to come out

and actually watch some

some really high level CrossFit stuff,

which I don't.

They've seen some some high level stuff,

but nothing like a games level event.

Um, and my parents are coming out and, and,

you know,

we got a lot of friends that are,

that are planning on coming.

So I think it's, it's going to be a, uh,

I actually think that

there's going to be a

bigger crowd than people expect.

Cause I,

I think that there are 600 masters

athletes competing.

Yeah.

I had it about four 50, but still,

but then we have teams, right?

Yeah.

That's not even,

that's just the main event.

Yeah.

So there's,

I think 600 athletes or so

competing in total.

And if everybody just brings

two or three people,

like it's going to be a crowded event.

I I've talked to some that

are bringing 50.

Yeah.

I don't know if I'll have 50

people in the stands, but,

but given the proximity we'll have,

we'll have a career and I

think it'll be pretty good.

Yeah, anybody in that like North,

South Carolina, Georgia, Tennessee,

like it's a short trip for them.

It is.

It's totally.

When they announced that we

were in Birmingham,

I was actually really

excited just because it's a

drive instead of a flight, which,

you know,

that makes travel so much easier.

I can stop every hour and

get out and shake the legs out,

make sure I feel good.

Yeah, I'm actually driving from Columbus,

Ohio.

Yeah.

How long is the drive for you?

Eight.

That's not that bad.

That's still within the 10

hour window where I would

kind of put a limit for myself.

Yeah.

And when I drive,

I can take a lot more

equipment than I can if I'm flying.

So it just, if I can do the drive,

I'm going to do the drive.

We're bringing the dog.

I'm bringing my, I'm bringing Puma.

Wow.

Is that,

does that help like just make you

feel more at home at the

end of the day or?

Yeah.

We,

we actually brought him to crash

crucible last year.

Uh,

it's the first time we'd taken him to a

competition and I loved

being able to come back to the hotel and,

and chill and hang out with them and,

you know,

get them up on the couch and

then sit with them for a while.

And, and yeah, it's,

it's just something that, you know, one,

having your kids there does the same,

at least I've got older kids now, um, uh,

eight and 12.

So,

They can handle themselves on a trip.

There's never really any

problems that you have.

I remember competing at

regionals when my oldest was like one,

two, and three years old.

And it was a challenge then.

But it's a completely different thing now.

They're just like, hey,

we'll bring the Nintendo Switch.

And it's like, hey,

you want to play some

Switch between events?

We'll bust out some Mario Kart.

And just, you know,

it's like a good way to

create some downtime versus

I think what used to happen

is I would come back and

just stress about the events.

But now I got some stuff

that I get to do between events.

I'm such an overthinker about everything.

Like when even just doing interviews,

like the night before I'll

run the interview through my head,

I find tricks to like shut my head off.

Yeah.

I'm, I'm very similar.

I think that's a common,

I think that's actually

really common in athletes as well.

Having coached, you know,

a lot of people in the sport.

Um,

I think people have a hard time

shutting their mind off the

night before or the day

before the hours before the

minutes before they go out to compete.

Are you an athlete that

wants to know the events or

are you okay with being

surprised when you get there?

I'm okay with both.

I feel like I do a really

good job if the events are

announced beforehand of

going through simulations

and rehearsing the events

and creating good strategies.

And I'm good at creating a

strategy and sticking to it.

And I think that's probably

from my swimming career

where you just have to rehearse the same.

You rehearse your flip turn

over and over and over.

I know exactly how many

strokes I'm going to take.

So I think there's something

to be said that my

experience lends me towards that.

But at the same time,

I've done this long enough

and been in enough events

where they just like surprise,

we're changing it to this, um,

that I can handle the

unknown fairly well.

And I know myself pretty well,

especially if there's

bottlenecks in there,

things like peg boards or

legless rope climbs, um,

strict handstand pushups

where you get muscularly bottlenecked.

I know my, my limits pretty well.

And I can ride right up to that limit.

I think I get more

challenged if they announce like, um,

I don't know if it was

really simple row bar facing burpee.

And, you know, it's just announced like,

you know, five rounds, 15 and 15.

Like I would have no idea

how to pace that appropriately.

And I would get caught up

into racing there.

And there's definitely

people that are fitter than

me at stuff like that.

So I would get caught up in

the race and probably blow

myself up a little bit.

Yeah, I could see that.

Off subject,

you say when you were a swimmer,

you rehearsed flip turns and rehearsed.

Yeah.

How does Alex Walsh do an

illegal turn at the Olympics?

How many times did you made that turn?

You know, one of the things that,

that I used to do and I was

far from alone is when, you know,

when you're doing a

butterfly or a breaststroke open turn,

you have to touch the wall

with two hands and then you

can execute the turn.

And one of the things that

we would do is we would practice,

you know,

coming in and maybe not quite

touching the wall with,

with both hands and that, you know,

keeping it as close as you

possibly could.

Cause you're always trying to shake.

I'm like,

You want to tap the fingertips and go.

And I think it's just one of

those things that she

practiced riding the line

as close as she could.

People do it in CrossFit all the time.

They practice their wall ball where,

you know,

it's right at the edge where

some judges will call it a no rep.

Some judges will say it's good.

And I think she just

practiced riding the line.

And that is what it is.

That's the cost of trying to

ride the edge.

It just,

that caught me off guard when she

got the disqualification for that.

I saw a frame-by-frame

breakdown and she clearly,

like it was clearly a valid DQ.

Like it wasn't something

that should be overturned

or anything like that.

It was a valid DQ.

But at the same time,

like when you're trying to shave,

when one 100th or two

100ths of a second matters, you know,

they really do try and

shave everything they possibly can.

It's a tighter,

the margins are way tighter

in that sport than they are here.

So back to you and training think tank,

you know,

that you guys are known for

strategy and thinking about

the breakdowns of every workout.

you talk about like,

if you have time to strategize,

that's great.

And sometimes you just don't

know how to pace.

If you don't have the plan going in,

does that make you more worried,

more anxious going into an event?

No,

because one of the things that I also

recognize is that

everybody's in the same boat.

And the fact that I've,

that I have spent a lot of

time practicing breaking events down and,

um,

you know,

helping other athletes create strategies.

I think I have a little bit

of an advantage there because I,

I can very quickly break down.

All right, this should, you know,

this should probably take

30 seconds or this is, you know,

toes to bar it's 50 reps.

I know I'm going to be able

to do sets of 10 on a 42nd

clock or a 32nd clock.

Like I,

I know a lot of the components in

the sport fairly well.

And so I,

I don't think that it gets,

it doesn't get in my head.

Um,

I just am more prone to miss pacing

that way.

I think is probably a better

way to put it.

But if, if given time with the events,

I think a lot of times I

can create a strategy that

really does maximize my fitness.

It doesn't mean I'm going to

win by any means.

Um,

but it'll let me use the fitness that

I've got to, to my,

to the best I possibly can.

Do you have expectations

going into this year?

You know, um,

I looked back at some of the

past legends workouts and, you know,

I was looking at last year, I'm like,

okay, there's a swim event.

That would be a good one for me.

There's some max lifts.

Those would be really good for me.

And then I was looking at

some of the other events and I'm like,

man, this would be,

this would be a rough event for me.

This one would be a rough event for me.

So it's really,

really challenging for me

to set expectations based

on like performance or

based on what other people think.

are going to do.

So I try not to set my

expectations relative to a

placement or something like that.

I try to think more about

setting my expectations

based on my own execution and effort.

And, you know, at the end of the day,

what I want to do is I want to walk away

feeling like I did

everything I could both in

preparation and on game day

to put out my best.

And as long as I've done that,

I'm going to be pretty

happy with the result.

It was a long time ago.

In fact, that 2013 year that I referenced,

I remember we were driving

home and my wife asked if I

was disappointed.

And I was like, yeah,

of course I'm disappointed.

I just missed the CrossFit

Games by a point.

Had I done one more dumbbell

snatch in the hundreds chipper,

I would be going right now.

I definitely could have done

one more dumbbell snatch.

But what I realized at that

point is that I was

disappointed in the result,

but I was incredibly happy

with my execution and how I

handled myself and my effort.

And like, what else?

I'm not in control of what

other people do.

I'm only in control of my

effort and execution.

And so the way I try to set

my expectations,

I set up a effort-based and

an execution-based strategy.

um expectation and as long

as I meet those I i end up

coming away from these

things happy I also

recognize that I'm either

the oldest or second oldest

person competing

in this division,

I haven't gone through the

entire leaderboard, but I'm 39.

And I think there might only

be one or two other 39 year olds that,

that qualified this year.

So also just know that I'm

competing against some guys

that are younger and some

guys that are like truly

professionals in the sport,

like training is all they do.

Um, so I recognize there's going to be,

you know,

I'm probably not going to come

in and sweep, sweep to the podium,

but I also,

I'm not going to say that it's

not possible for me to

fight for a podium spot here.

Depends on the events.

Yeah.

Two quick questions.

One, you're going to be 40 next year.

Does that excite you that you will be,

you'll be the baby then in

the next division?

Yeah.

Just, just a little bit.

I'm, I'm, I don't want to,

I don't want to look too far ahead.

Cause I got this, you know,

coming up in like three and a half weeks.

Um, but yeah, I'm really excited for the,

the 2025 season when I turned 40.

The other thing is you

mentioned like you went

back and looked at legends.

All of their workouts had to go through,

I think, Boz to be approved.

So as a person that's been

around the sport a long time, yeah,

legends did the workouts.

They had to be approved by Boz,

and they're probably

tweaked at least a little bit.

Do you lean more towards

like what Boz's history is,

or do you lean more towards legends?

Man, it's tough.

It's tough.

I think I would like a

blending of the two.

What I would like is to get

some of the swim and max

lift and the structure from

Legends and then get more

of the high skill stuff from Boz.

I'd love to see handstand

ramp and stairs or pirouettes.

I would personally love to

see things like pegboards

and crossover double unders

and high skill movements,

because those are things

that I've taken the time

over the last few years to

really dial in and perfect.

And I don't know how many other,

a lot of the guys that are

in the 35 to 39, you know,

they've come up in some of

Boz's programming for the last few years.

But I don't know how many

other people have spent the

time to dial in some of those skills.

So if we get some of the

high skill stuff and we get

some of the max lift and we get a swim,

you know,

I'd be a really happy CrossFitter.

Yeah.

That would make me a really happy guy.

If, if what we see is more, you know,

basic fitness testing, um, you know,

similar stuff that you

might expect to see in the

open or a quarter finals.

Um, you know, I'll be challenged.

It'll be a challenge for me.

It's just, that's,

I'm not as good at that as

I am the higher skill heavier and, and,

you know, cyclical or type stuff.

Uh, Corey Leonard says,

I ain't going there for a haircut.

Kyle Ruth, probably.

I did just get a very nice haircut.

So, uh,

And Jake Chapman says,

is it possible to be a

Masters athlete if you

don't have a beard?

I don't think so.

I think you're technically

automatically not a Masters

athlete if you don't have a beard.

And people who have great

beards can be honorary

Masters athletes if they'd like.

I think the minute you qualify,

your hair grows 10 times faster.

It does.

You know,

Travis has already got enough

white in his beard that I

think he should have

qualified for Masters like

two or three years ago.

But, you know.

It's hard to believe Travis

is not a Masters athlete.

Next year.

He's just been around so long next year.

He's officially a master's athlete.

And you'll never have to

face them because you'll

age up as he ages up.

Thank God.

Cause I trained with him a

lot this past year, early in the season.

And then the last couple of weeks,

and I don't think I beat him in anything.

Like we we've probably done,

we've probably done 30 plus

workouts together.

And I've,

I have a total of zero victories

in that space.

That's not true.

I beat him in two swim workouts,

but he also beat me in a swim workout.

Yeah,

it was one arm dumbbell shoulder

overhead.

We had the 70s.

I don't remember the rep scheme,

but it was just a 50 swim.

So, oh, I remember the rep scheme.

It was 10, 8, 6, 4, 2.

You do 10 on the left, 10 on the right,

and then 50 swim, 8, 8, 6, 6, 4, 4, 2,

2 with a 50 swim after each one.

And his shoulder overhead

cycle speed was so fast

that I could not catch him in the waters.

No matter what, no matter what.

Now,

the rest of the swim workouts we've done,

I've been able to beat him.

But those have been with longer swims,

you know, hundreds, 150s, 200s, 500s.

There's no chance if it's

something that short that

someone with that cycling speed,

the guy was moving a 70

like I move a 50 or a 45 pound dumbbell.

It was crazy.

So I'd be remiss to not ask

about the athletes from TTT

going to the games this week.

We're in games week.

I have Alexis on the podium in my picks.

That's a good bet.

You like that?

Yes, I think that's a good bet.

Yeah,

everything I've seen of her in this

offseason leads me to

believe that she's in a

great headspace and going

into the games right at the right moment.

Yeah,

I just noticed this on Saturday when

I was training there.

I'm around them a lot.

Maybe it was Friday.

I don't remember what day it was.

But anyway,

Travis is still a little bit

tired from the move.

He did a lot of the – he did the mats,

cutting the mats and

mounting the rig and all that stuff.

So he's clearly – he was a

little tired still on Friday last week.

But I saw Alexis,

and she was literally like

bouncing around before a workout.

And just like, she had so much energy.

Like it was clear that her

taper was starting to take effect.

And, you know, I think she,

she timed it at the right spot.

So I think she's going to be,

she's going to be hard to

beat in for most of those, those women.

And you also have Linda Keisman going,

right?

Yeah.

Linda, dude, Linda is,

I think a dark horse.

Nobody knows her.

She's a freshman.

at the CrossFit Games this year.

And I think she's really

powerful and really strong.

We did this Miko's Triangle

progression as they kind of

like led into the games.

And it was kind of like my base building.

Even because our timelines

aren't exactly the same.

But man,

she was hitting the same ski

calories as me most of the weeks.

And I'm like, man, you are one fit chick.

I'm in trouble in a couple of years.

I'm not even going to be

able to beat the girls that

come on site on the ergs.

And then Travis is going, anybody else?

We've got Bethany.

Yeah.

Bethany parent coaches her and she's,

you know,

I haven't seen as much as her of her.

Cause I was actually out of town.

We had our, our family vacation when,

when all the people were in

town to do the games prep camp this year,

which is kind of sad.

Cause I love those games, games,

preps weekend.

But yeah,

I haven't seen a lot of her,

so it's hard for me to say

how she'll compete.

I think the TTT compete team

looks like they are in a good place.

They're all in a great spot.

Obviously, based on where they finish,

they're not necessarily the

top team with top expectations,

but they work well as a team.

They've been coached well.

They've trained hard together,

and I think they'll be able

to go out and put on a good show.

One interesting fact about Bethany,

you know, she's never been cut.

Really?

I didn't know that.

Yeah.

Every time she's gone to a

semifinal or regional,

she's made it to the games

and she's never been cut at the games.

That is really impressive.

I did not know that.

Yeah.

I just had her on the show

maybe a week and a half ago.

And like,

it just always seems like the

timing of her health lines up just right.

That's always perfect.

Yeah,

that's the opposite for most athletes.

Most athletes,

they get one or two weeks

out and they get this

mysterious tweak that shows up.

And it's always hard to

predict when it's going to happen.

But I've coached enough

people at semifinals and at

the games level that –

It's almost like clockwork.

They get these little tweaks.

I remember there was one

year Noah tweaked his pec

two weeks before the ring

dips at semifinals.

I don't remember if it was 16 or 18.

Another year Noah was in the

hospital because of his

back right before the CrossFit Games.

Some of the athletes,

when I coached Josh Miller,

when he qualified for the

CrossFit Games at a French throwdown,

he had this massive knee

tweak like five days before the

and you know was barely

going to be able to squat

and all that and then he

went out there and just you

know cleaned house at

french throwdown so it's

like it's always these

little tweaks that happen

just a few days before and

it's kind of nice as a

coach that when it happens

to me you know five days

out I'm like oh I got a

neck tweak I'm like oh yeah

this happens to everybody

and you're going to be fine

well man this has gone long

um way longer than I

anticipated but as you're

just great to talk to um

Good luck on your health

going into the games.

We are going to be in Birmingham.

We got full access to dual

behind the scenes.

So Ellie Hiller and myself

will be back in the back.

Ellie.

You coach her?

Yes.

Oh, that's awesome.

Yeah.

So she lives in Birmingham.

Yep.

so uh I recruited her to be

a part of our team for the

masters games her and I are

going to be back with

cameras uh catching

everything that goes on

behind the scenes we're

gonna have a couple

videographers getting the

stuff on the floor and

we're gonna put that

together in a cool documentary

Ellie is awesome.

She's a fireball.

Just be ready.

She's got so much energy.

She's going to just run

circles around everybody there.

She's already put together

some reels for us showing

like restaurants and coffee

shops and gyms and stuff

like that that are in Birmingham.

Yeah.

Good choice.

I can just say that you're

going to have a ball of

energy on your hands there.

Yeah.

Well, and she's a great athlete too.

And she understands like what it means,

what it's like to be an athlete.

So it's going to give a great perspective.

Hopefully she gets very biased,

very colorful,

positive feedback for me the entire time.

You don't bury her.

And when you get,

when you get to turn around

and be her coach again,

she's a workhorse.

She would be mad if I,

if I wasn't burying her, to be honest.

That's awesome.

Yeah, she's a good kid.

So yeah, we're super excited about that.

And don't forget to like,

subscribe to the channel

where we have a ton more of

these Masters profiles we're doing,

trying to get as many

highlights done before the

games as possible so you

know the athletes.

So when Sean Woodland calls their name,

you know who they are.

And I was saying when we

lost you for a second,

if Sean Woodland called my name,

that would be my ringtone.

You'd set it as your ringtone?

Yeah.

I love it.

Well, thank you, Kyle, for being here.

Thank you to everybody in the chat.

You guys make it awesome.

As always,

we will see everybody next time

on the cloud.

So media podcast.