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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.
what is going on everybody welcome
To the Clydesdale Media Podcast,
our interview series.
My name is Scott Switz from
the Clydesdale.
I have with me today, Jamie Latimer.
And soon we'll have Jason Grubb with us.
He's having a delivery come
to his house just as we
were getting started.
He just needs a minute or
two and he'll be hopping on with us.
So...
We're here.
We're going to talk some master stuff.
So before we, before Jason hops on,
it was announced where
masters is finally where
it's going to be.
Um, Birmingham, Alabama,
Labor Day weekend.
What are your thoughts?
I mean, you know, my thoughts,
I think that same as the teens is crazy,
but
Again, they, you know,
they were obviously
scrambling here at the end,
having to sign something
before the open started and
they had to take what they could get.
And at least it's out before
the open and we have the
information and we can do
with it as we please at this point.
Yeah.
Well, first of all,
I want to thank everybody
in the chat for welcoming me back.
This is kind of a test run.
Jamie is my crutch.
She's going to help me get
through this interview.
We're going to see how it goes.
And that'll kind of depend
on the schedule going forward.
The biggest disappointment
for me and our team is that
we have been diving deep
into teen and masters
coverage this off season.
And we're really geared up
to kind of cover both this off season.
And I feel like,
I feel like CrossFit and
legends and the powers that
be didn't really think
about the media aspect of
having these two events on
the same weekend.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Not only media,
but like I said this on our
Thursday night,
it's the biggest shared
pool of viewership, spectatorship,
everything.
You're cutting probably that
in half for both venues,
both live stream.
You're making people choose
which one they're going to cover.
It's crazy to me.
If you have a media team like you,
Which one do you choose to go to?
I mean,
that's going to be the case for coaches,
families, things like that too.
Which one do you go to?
What if you have a teen and
a mom that both compete?
Most,
most third-party media companies are
not big enough to split
between the two events.
Right.
You might have a couple that can do that.
We may try to do that,
but we're going to see how
it falls because it's going
to be rough that these two
major events that
everybody's saying is they
are the CrossFit Games.
Like Bob even said on an
interview recently, Bob with Legends,
that he didn't care if
Legends was in the name.
Like, it is the CrossFit Games to them.
And so...
You have these CrossFit
games that won't be able to
be covered by everybody.
It's going to be a master cluster.
I don't know.
We'll see.
Oh, Corey, I hope you go.
I hope you get on a team, Corey.
I hope you're there.
I'm not too tall to be your crutch.
We're like the same height.
Right here on my shoulder.
saying that a male is your
height is yeah and I'm sure
you might have like a half
inch I mean gory I don't
know about that I think
you're pretty much the same height but um
It just was the biggest blow to me,
probably this whole offseason,
was finding out they were
on the same weekend.
You've also talked to me about,
and we want to talk to Jason about this,
but there's been some
announcements about the kit.
The apparel kit and maybe
falling short of what you
would get in the past.
And I said to you,
that sucks because that's
what legitimizes a master's
athlete as an elite athlete.
Yeah.
Post on Instagram in your games gear.
it automatically gives you a
legitimate legitimization
that you can't get anywhere else.
You don't have the name that
Matt Frazier has or rich
froning or those guys.
Right.
So you need these things to
help you market yourself.
Yeah.
I mean, it's,
we say this all the time
it's not like all about the
money the money isn't there
in the team or in the
masters as it is for for
individuals it's not I mean
it's nothing to shake a
stick at like it's pretty
decent especially in the 35
39 but that's like one
person is going to win a
decent amount of money so the
There's tons of athletes.
You hear this all the time.
And I know people say it's
not the right mindset.
But there's a big subset of
athletes that are just
trying to make it to the semis,
just trying to get to the games.
There's a lot of people who aren't like,
I'm going and winning the games.
That's a very, very few.
Maybe your top 10 are saying that.
Maybe a top 20 say it.
But I think in their heart of hearts,
they know they're just
going to try to podium, try to be top 10.
there's a big big big chunk
of people who are just
trying to get there and
they're trying to get there
for this kit and somewhat
the notoriety but like that
that is probably three
grand worth of stuff six
pairs of shoes six outfits
uh a duffel bag a backpack
oh an entire like weren't
like you get a sweatshirt a
zip up hoodie a whole warm-up set um
Nice jacket.
It's an insane amount of stuff.
So much gear that, from my understanding,
is being pulled.
And, oh, there he is.
Can I throw him in?
I had to stage.
There he is.
Hey, guys.
Well, well, well,
the joys of home ownership, huh?
So great.
Yeah.
Getting, I think we have,
I think we just received
8,000 pounds of rock to move.
So yeah, I got a job to do.
It'll be fun.
Thank God you crossed it.
Thank God at CrossFit is correct.
And I like to take on these
big old huge projects from
time to time that are just
totally overwhelming at the
wrong time of year.
So that's what I've decided to do.
And yeah,
it all has to do with water
management around this place.
Did you know in Birmingham,
Alabama gets more rain than Seattle,
Washington?
I did not know that.
I did not know.
Yes.
No one knows that.
Uh, it doesn't rain all the time,
but when it rains, it's insane.
Um, got it.
So we are,
are we back up to a mountain and
there's a mountain of,
there's still water that
just kind of runs off that
mountain for days,
creates like small rivers in our yard.
So we're creating a French drain and we're,
it's love fun facts that Jason grew up.
Um, so yeah, we are, uh,
We're learning.
And so anyway, it's a big old project.
I rented an excavator.
I've never used an excavator.
So I've bitten off a big chunk here.
Yeah.
Well,
that is awesome because you have
nothing else else to do
with your life with everything.
I'm not that big.
It's, it's, it's crazy.
It's crazy.
When the guy was like, Hey,
I'm running 10 minutes late.
I'm like, Oh man.
Okay.
Cause I have like two podcasts and a media,
whatever Thursdays are my
days to get things done.
Um,
it's a rest day from training or
recovery day,
which I'll still do something later, but,
um, it frees me up in the mornings,
but then that's when deliveries happen.
Podcasts happen, all kinds of fun things.
But, um,
Scott, you're doing better?
I'm doing better.
I'll say that.
Good.
Today is test day for me.
I have Jamie on with me as a crutch,
so she can help me with
this lift and see where we're at,
if I can get back to doing
full interviews or not.
Totally.
Totally.
Well, welcome back.
I hope it goes perfectly.
Well, that never happens.
So if that happened,
God would be involved.
Yeah.
But I wanted to, last time we had you on,
we had a few technical
issues and you had to like
split pretty early.
So I wanted to clean up a
couple of things.
First of all, everybody,
we have Jason Grubb with us,
four-time CrossFit Games champion.
And won every off-season
competition this year that he entered.
So on a roll,
I want to talk to you about 10 years ago,
you made a transformation.
what were you doing before
that transformation and
what was the catalyst that
got you to make that change?
Man, I wish it was,
I wish it was more inspirational.
Uh, but I, prior to CrossFit,
I was a wedding
photographer and I had been
doing that for, uh, a,
seven or eight years.
Prior to that,
I played poker for two years
in Las Vegas and flew from
Colorado to Las Vegas every
week to go play poker.
So I did that.
That was fairly sedentary.
Wedding photography was
certainly hard work on the
day of wedding photography,
but it was a lot of time
behind a computer, a lot of time.
So really in my 20s and 30s,
my I i would try to stay
somewhat I was just trying
not to to be unfit I was
trying not like my family
is generally overweight my
um and fairly unhealthy and
addicted to everything so I
was trying to avoid all of
those things but it was
slowly succumbing into
those things like I was drinking
three or four beers a day, a night.
This is kind of what we did
in the cul-de-sac.
Everyone would go out in the
cul-de-sac in the
neighborhood at night and
just grab a beer out of anyone's fridge.
This was part of my routine for 10 years.
I was chewing tobacco at the time,
which was a habit I picked
up playing poker.
I was 38 when I started
CrossFit and I was trying
to run consistently.
I was in a place where
Maybe for like six months,
I was running like four or
five miles three times a week.
And really feeling like I
was really cooking.
I was doing well.
And...
it's starting to get cold outside.
It was late November of 2013.
It's getting cold out and I
hate running in the cold.
I just hate it.
My sister-in-law had been
doing CrossFit for years.
I knew that.
She's like, Jason, for years, she's like,
Jason, you would love it.
It'd be great.
She was eating paleo and
doing all the things.
I was like, I'm not into that.
No thanks.
I didn't know what CrossFit
was really at the time.
But I just knew that, you know, I'm fine.
I'm running.
I'm fine.
I know what I'm doing.
And I didn't know what I was doing,
obviously.
But she invited me.
Finally, in like November,
we're having dinner and she's like, look,
hey,
my my gym has like you get a free a
free month.
I get a free month if you sign up,
if you want to just come try it out,
if you like it, we both get a free month.
And I was like, OK.
fine, I'll go try it out.
And I'm not super excited about this.
I was like, I probably was like,
I was probably like three
beers deep when she,
when I committed to this thing,
like I wasn't sober.
Um, and I immediately had regrets.
I was nervous the whole day.
I think I went on a,
a Wednesday night before Thanksgiving.
I think that's the night I went and I was,
I didn't want to go.
Um, I was nervous.
Um,
I went to the gym.
It was in a warehouse area.
I didn't even know where the
front door was.
I walked in.
I didn't know what to do.
Just walk in,
and there's this big
warehouse with a gym.
She came and saw me, thank God,
and rescued me from just
being super confused.
And there was a class with
five people in it.
It was really simple, fun.
We did a couple of things
that I knew how to do.
like the workout had
handstand pushups and like,
you don't walk into
CrossFit and just do handstand pushups.
So I was like, well, I could do handstand.
And they're like, really?
I'm like, yeah, I could do handstands.
Like I was a gymnast until I
was 16 years old and from like 12 to 16.
And I had just been able to
keep doing handstands my whole life,
like a party trick.
So I kicked up to a
handstand and they were just floored.
They thought I was amazing.
And that was probably enough
to stroke my ego in that
moment that like,
Oh, handstands are cool here?
Because I never thought I
would have a reason to do a
handstand except to win a
bet at a party or something.
Party trick, yeah.
Yeah, it's a party trick.
It's, you know,
like I was on a beach in
Cancun photographing a wedding and I,
you know,
me and the groomsmen had a
handstand contest.
Of course I won.
But yeah, I...
i enjoyed the I enjoyed the
gym you know I enjoyed the
workout so I didn't end up
joining that gym it was
just a little bit too far
away uh from my house to
drive so I tried another
gym on the following monday
because now I'm in now I'm
kind of intrigued like this
is interesting so I go to
that first class and it the
class was great um
There was a 9 a.m.
class.
There's a bunch of
40-year-old men and women in the class.
Some of them are more
overweight than I am.
Some of them are less, whatever.
It doesn't matter.
But we're all around this age group.
And we start this work.
It's like power cleans and
burpees or something.
And I die.
It just kills me.
And I see these guys all around me like...
destroying older than me
lots of gray hair they're
killing this workout and
I've got my hands on my
knees and that was enough to like
caused me to feel a huge
amount of confusion.
How are they all doing this?
This is crazy.
How are they all this fit?
This is no big deal for them, and I can't,
and I'm dying.
Even next to me was a pregnant woman,
and she murdered the workout,
and I'm dying.
I was just so confused.
I have to figure this out.
And I gave him my credit card.
I'm like, here, sign me.
I don't care what it costs.
I didn't ask.
I was like, just sign me up.
They're like, well, you get a free week.
I'm like, fine.
Here's my credit card.
Charge me next Monday.
I'll see you tomorrow.
I'm here.
And I went six days a week
for nine months straight.
Not optimal as well because
that's a good way to get hurt.
But that was it, Scott.
I got sort of like
bamboozled into going to a
class and then kind of
enjoying it and then going
to another class and being
like just confused at how
everyone was so good at
this and how terrible I was.
And for whatever reason,
if I always feel – if I
feel that kind of feeling –
Like I'm all in, I got to figure this out.
And I'm also that kind of person.
I inherited a wonderfully
addictive personality that
I can hone as a superpower
or for good or for evil.
It could be a good thing or a bad thing.
So the good thing is that if
I am all in on something,
I mean,
every ounce of my energy and
passion and thought process
goes towards figuring that out.
And that's kind of what the
first year of CrossFit was,
like figuring this out and
then eventually becoming
one of the fittest people
in that gym and then
opening my own gym and then
eventually finding my way
into the competitive CrossFit world.
So I'm glad you said
addictive personality.
I started CrossFit over 500 pounds.
So to get,
and I got down to two 60 in like
the first couple of years,
I kept it off for like seven years, um,
before injury hit me,
I replaced one addiction
with another addiction.
And what that did is it gave
me an imbalance in my life
that I wasn't the best husband.
I wasn't the best father during that time.
And I probably went like at
my age and half after
carrying that much weight
should not have been doing
two a days for fun, but I was right.
Right.
Of course.
And then, and it all breaks down.
Did you experience any of
that in the switch from
your one addiction to the other?
Oh, yeah.
I mean,
by going to CrossFit six days a week,
within two weeks, I had hurt myself.
Pulling a rower.
I was trying to beat this other guy.
I was racing so hard.
I tore a little bit of...
connective tissue between
one of my ribs from pulling
the rower like a maniac.
Um,
I had a rotator cuff issue from
gymnastics that flared up.
Um,
and that's often when you start doing
some activity things,
old things start to flare up,
but the addiction to CrossFit, um,
it started to over time, um,
Of course, it replaced my job.
I really wanted an exit from
wedding photography anyway,
but it made sense to open a gym.
After one year, I was like, well,
I'm curious about opening a gym.
How do you do that?
It can't be that hard.
That is a false statement.
There's nothing harder than
owning and operating a CrossFit gym.
It is the hardest thing I've ever done.
So I did that for four years.
But that, it just became everything.
So now I'm a CrossFitter.
Now I own a CrossFit gym.
Now I'm a competitive
CrossFit athlete with a CrossFit gym.
I ended up selling my gym.
But when you make this behavior change,
like to being super fit, it has these –
This domino effect.
It changed the way I ate.
Eventually,
I stopped drinking four beers a day.
Not for the first two years.
I still drank four beers a day.
My brain... I mean,
I knew that drinking three
or four beers... I still drink IPAs,
but maybe I cut down to three.
But I knew that wasn't good.
I would watch the open
announcement in 2015 or
2016 while drinking an IPA.
You're like, oh,
I can't wait to do this workout tomorrow.
And it was just...
It was an addiction that I
had to take time to break that addiction.
Chewing tobacco.
I didn't quit chewing
tobacco until I qualified
for the CrossFit Games in 2018.
And the thought occurred to
me one night that a
CrossFit Games athlete
doesn't chew tobacco.
Now,
there's probably a bunch of CrossFit
Games athletes that chew tobacco.
But in my mind,
a CrossFit Games athlete
doesn't chew tobacco.
So I just threw the can away.
And it wasn't like this epiphany.
I still had all of the
feelings of quitting an addiction.
It sucked.
Like that week was terrible.
And the following week was less terrible.
And the next week was a
little less terrible.
I mean,
now I use – these are little coffee
pouches.
If I would have had these
that first week of tobacco –
I replace chewing tobacco
with a coffee pouch,
and these are amazing.
But they're non-addictive,
so I can go a day or two
having just forgotten that these exist.
And I'm like, oh, that's right.
Ooh, let me have one of these.
These are fun.
But I've been shedding addictions...
that have stuck with me over
the past 10 years of CrossFit,
like little by little addictions have,
have come off.
Like I, I also pick up new things.
Like my new thing over the
past year is that I have a
small bowl of ice cream every night.
Like, and if I had,
if I don't have ice cream in the house,
I will almost drive like 30
minutes round trip to the
store to get ice cream.
It's not much,
it's a little bowl of ice
cream with a little chocolate on it.
But it replaced the behavior
of having a drink every night.
And so like, OK, yeah,
now I got an ice cream thing.
Thankfully, I build that into my macros.
I have room for that.
In 3,000 calories a day,
I save about 400 calories
of my daily intake for that
very necessary bowl of ice cream.
I haven't solved any of this, Scott.
I've just tried to manage my
way around this addictive nature.
It's built in.
And so I also have to be
careful with things.
I don't want to introduce new addictions.
So I'm going to jump to...
You have really become the
face of the Masters Division.
And to go from...
a guy who is just confused
and getting beat by
pregnant women in the
workout to the face of an
entire division is a huge leap.
What do you feel your
responsibility is with that?
Oh, that's a good question.
Um, the, it, it, it, well,
I didn't plan for this.
Um,
first of all,
but it wasn't completely accidental.
Um, I mean,
I started the process of
sharing my thoughts and
feelings on YouTube in like 2019, 2019,
2020.
Um, and it, you know, to crickets,
you know,
one or two people out there
would watch a YouTube video is awesome.
Um, and like, wow, 30 watch this time.
That was great.
Um, and it has picked up steam over time.
I feel the responsibility now is to, um,
to provide a positive and
optimistic and realistic
viewpoint of what masters
can do above age 35.
I've adopted the tagline,
your best days are ahead of you.
Because that's been,
that was something that
when I was in my mid
thirties and I was toying
with weight gain,
like I was nervous that I
wouldn't be able to control weight gain
control my, my health,
that my DNA was just like, I was,
I was destined to be old and unhealthy.
And, and that maybe it might,
I was past my prime at 30, maybe 35.
I really felt that.
And I, it, it never came together.
I started CrossFit.
My body started changing.
I started, you know,
doing well in competition,
all that kind of stuff.
But it was really over the
past couple of years that I
realized this idea that
your best days are ahead of you.
is can be a reality and that
my life has gotten better as I age.
And I mean,
we even use these little
phrases as masters athletes, like, man,
I can't wait till I'm 50.
Who says that?
Right.
That's just like,
I can't wait to level up to 50.
I can't wait to get out of
this age division.
This 45 to 49 is getting really tough.
I can't wait to jump to 50.
And then, you know,
a couple of years into 50,
I can't wait till I'm 55.
These are new thoughts.
Yeah.
For one second,
you're in probably the most
consistent division for top
five men in all of the Masters divisions.
Yes.
So it isn't easy.
No.
No, these guys are ridiculous.
They're unrelenting.
They won't slow down.
And most of them follow me.
I don't really get a break.
Like when I turn 50...
There's a few guys that turn 50 with me.
It's not like, oh, I'm free.
Now I'm 50 and they're back here.
Some of them come with me.
And then the next year, more of them come.
So that's the detriment of
this age group is that they
were all aging up together.
It's not like we're going to
shed any of these guys.
But I feel like there's a
responsibility to continue
to inspire everyday
athletes or just even guys
that haven't started
CrossFit that you can at
any age start this and make
a dramatic impact on your life,
huge impact on your life.
So part of that audience is
like the person that was
fit at 20 but thinks that
their life is done.
No, their best days can be ahead of them.
Also,
the responsibility is to continue to
inspire the everyday gym
warriors that maybe wanna be competitive,
that there is still room for that,
that we can still at our age,
do crazy things on the
competition floor and be a part of that.
I get really excited,
not just about winning.
I have set a high bar for myself,
for sure.
But it's not just winning,
but just getting out on the floor.
Event one,
I'm giddy with excitement that
I'm with all of these guys,
and we're going to go out
there and do some stuff.
We're going to go snatch and
do clean and jerks,
or we're going to go
deadlift and rope climb, pull some stuff.
I get so excited for those moments.
where we have an opportunity
at our age to battle.
So there's some sport in there.
I don't know what that is.
But I want to inspire guys
and support them to help
them experience that as I have.
At the same time,
the other responsibility is
to try to have a good pulse
and a beat on what people
are feeling in the master's age group.
Look,
I wish I had consistent conversations
with Dave Castro.
Like, I don't.
I should.
In fact, at the Legends Championship,
he came up to me.
He's like, Jason, we should talk more.
And I was like, yes, we should talk more.
That was the extent of the conversation.
What I should have done was like,
give me your contact
information so we can talk more.
Like, let me text you or something.
But I want to be ready if
CrossFit ever does want to
have conversations with me more directly.
And I'm pretty close with the Legends guys,
with Bob and Joe over the
Legends Championship, the founders.
We might text a couple of
times a week on certain weeks.
So I have this ability to
provide feedback to those
guys from what I'm hearing
from Masters athletes.
I want to be able to represent,
in a sense,
our age groups, our division fairly.
And so if something needs to
be criticized publicly,
I want to try to do that.
If something needs to be praised publicly,
I want to be able to do that as well,
or supported publicly.
When it first got announced
that the games were going
to break off the age group divisions,
I was public that I was sad.
I was bummed about that.
And honestly,
it was part of change is hard.
I wasn't sure there weren't
a lot of details,
but I was trying to be as
transparent as I could be
because I feel like what
I'm feeling is probably
what the community is
feeling as well to an extent.
Right.
And as we hear about Legends
and that partnership and
then we hear more about
what all can go into that,
Bob and Joe kind of can
give me a little bit of
more detail that sometimes
I can't always share.
It gives me hope and
optimism that then I can
share that hope and
optimism with everyone.
with the group and lead us
into the future of what the
Masters division can look
like in this sport.
So I think all of those
things are part of my responsibilities.
Not sugarcoat anything and
also just not be a huge pessimist.
There are,
there are voices out there
because there's not a lot
of voices coming from CrossFit HQ.
Okay.
There's not a big, you know,
when Glassman was there,
he led with his voice, with his passion.
He,
whether he was the best CEO or the best
or the directions he led, whatever,
not even judging that,
but he was somebody who
stood at a speaker and
spoke to the community, right?
There's no one at HQ that
does that right now.
I don't think.
I mean, Dave does get on once a week.
I love his things he puts on YouTube.
Thank God there's something.
But there's not a loud voice
at HQ sharing.
But there are voices out
there that fill that void.
And some of those voices can
be pretty freaking
pessimistic and really crap on CrossFit.
And so I don't want to be that guy.
I want to be a voice that...
that is positive in every
way that I can be.
Um, and,
and also if I'm disappointed or upset,
I often,
I sometimes share that stuff too.
You know,
every time someone says every 45
year old masters athlete is
on performance enhancing drugs,
someone says that all the time.
And every time he says that
I'm going to post online that that is BS.
Not everyone is,
I don't know anyone who is,
and I'm certainly not anyway.
Um, so is that a fair answer?
Yeah, fair answer,
but I'm going to give you a follow-up,
and then I'm going to turn
it over to Jamie to kind of
finish this up and move
into games talk for this coming season.
Cool.
I'm trying to find a way to
ask this in a way that makes sense.
You are the face of the CrossFit Masters,
but you and like my friend
Rudy have elevated
yourselves through very
hard work and a lot of
accomplishments into a way
that you're getting
sponsorships that some of
the other divisions aren't doing, right?
And so...
You're asked a lot of times
when big news breaks to
come on show and give your opinion.
But in some ways,
because of your hard work,
you've elevated yourself a
little bit further than
other athletes have.
Do you feel you can still
represent all athletes?
Because like my friend Jamie here,
one master, one MFC, one legends.
She doesn't have the
sponsorship deals that you have.
Yeah.
Yeah.
I'll tell you what the
sponsorship athletes do.
Yeah.
The sponsorship stuff.
It's really funny because it's, it's not,
it's not because the, so the, uh, it's a,
it's a weird,
it's like a chicken before
the egg kind of thing.
Um,
That was actually one of my
questions was like, what,
what came first?
You're like,
so you went to the games in 2018,
your YouTube channel started in 2019.
Did you winning the CrossFit
games get you attention or
did it take the crop?
Did it take your hard work
in social media presence
and constant videos to get
a big following for some
sponsors and notice,
or was it the wind at the
games that got you there?
That is yes, yes.
I'm going to answer yes, all of that.
The combination of the wins,
the wins by themselves
don't create an audience.
Every year at the games, every year I won,
as a Masters athlete,
I'd bump up by a very
decent amount of followers.
And that was really cool.
Those first few days after the games,
just seeing all these new followers,
it was really, really fun.
But the YouTube channel
required consistency,
posting about every week or
every other week,
even when there was crickets.
And I have a video out there
now that has done over a million views.
And it had maybe 6,000 or
8,000 views for six months.
And then something happened
in the algorithm.
And the algorithm just
started showing anybody who
searched for CrossFit, my video.
And I started getting into
the 100,000 views, then 200, then 400,
then 800, surpassing a million views.
after a couple of years but
it was like so this old
evergreen content started
to catch on on the youtube
algorithm um and build
followers and and all of
that stuff so we're almost
30k on instagram almost 30k
on on youtube and these
aren't brooke wells numbers
for sure right danny
spiegel's got a couple more
followers than I do so her
brand deals are going to be
huge compared to what I'm
capable of getting but
being a four times champion
or having won everything
for the last three or four years
is helpful on the resume to
legitimize my voice and
what I'm talking about.
I know what I'm doing on the
competition floor,
but also having a channel
that is very transparent, I think,
and sharing consistently
with the community,
whether it's behind the
scenes of me traveling in
an RV or building a sauna
or a day in the life of
training or just one workout.
All of those transparencies, I think,
help build a community,
build the audience.
And it literally wasn't until
the end of 2023 into, I'm sorry,
the end of 2022 into 2023,
where sponsors sort of
exploded a little bit for me.
And by exploded, we're talking, you know,
six or eight sponsors.
You know, one of my favorite brands,
Thirdsy,
they started sponsoring me
towards the early parts of 2023,
maybe 2022, I can't remember,
somewhere around there.
So shout out to them,
because they were one of
the first ones that
committed to a master's athlete
receiving sponsorship money
on a monthly basis for a
product that I loved.
It's a win-win.
That was one of the first ones.
At the end of 2022,
I did a YouTube video on my
2022 earnings revealed.
It was like, yeah,
I made $10,000 at the CrossFit Games.
And people are shocked.
Oh, you guys get $10K.
Well,
didn't Justin Medeiros win $300,000
that year?
Yes, we get $10K.
Hey, there's 14 Masters divisions.
That's a lot of cash to dish out.
$10K, thank you.
I'll take it.
This is how much I won at
Legends that year.
Here's the sponsorship money that year.
And it was all, maybe it was $20,000.
I think YouTube revenue was even in there,
too.
So this is not a full-time job there.
It doesn't even pay a mortgage.
It doesn't pay for my truck.
OK, it pays for my truck,
which I'm trying to sell,
if someone's interested.
But then in 2023,
some sponsors just started
knocking on my door.
It was really interesting.
And I think it has to do
with the size of the
audience and that people
are starting to realize,
having tested and seen results,
that sponsoring masters
athletes are doing work
where they can get their
product in front of masters age groups.
is profitable.
We're a demographic that spends money.
So if Jason Grubb says that
these grips are great,
I'm going to give them a shot.
Or if Jason Grubb loves
these shoes or the barbell
apparel clothing, like, hey,
let's see how that goes.
Masters athletes can spend money.
And my argument has always
been that the disposable
income is in the master's age category.
Dude, we fund the games.
We fund...
there's more signups of
masters athletes in the open than,
than other divisions.
Obviously we're a huge
revenue source for crossover,
a huge revenue source for all the brands,
but they're dumping all of
their advertising into 20
year olds who are beautiful.
No doubt men and women's fine.
But if they give us a shot,
I think they're going to
see a decent return.
And again,
we have to think like Jason Grubb,
I've got 30,000,
followers on Instagram or
30,000 subscribers on YouTube.
That's not a huge amount,
but it's enough that
sponsors will spend some money there.
So to answer the question, yes,
it does take so much work
to intentionally build an
audience on your social platforms.
And it's work and luck.
I got lucky that some videos took off.
I think the luck was there
because I was very
consistent in posting regularly.
Those early videos are tough.
And even sometimes my existing videos,
I'll watch one and I'll be like, oh,
I forgot to cut that out.
All right, well, it's out there now.
It's got a few thousand views.
I'm not changing it.
So it also doesn't have to be perfect.
For those that are thinking
about doing this,
just doing it is the win.
And then you get better and
you find out what people like.
But perfection is not perfect.
that's not necessary
especially in youtube
almost the more
professional the more
edited the videos the less
well they did if I just
grab a gopro and document
my day boom we crush it so
it does take all that
consistent effort to grow that following
And also have like, okay,
I've also won a bunch of things.
So that's helpful.
Like I'm good at this stuff,
good at two things.
And that's where sponsorships have come.
Now,
what's fun about that is I have some
options with sponsors.
Like I can,
I've had to turn some sponsors
down because I don't,
didn't work out it didn't it
wasn't the right fit like I
don't say yes to everyone I
like money trust me I want
I want if someone's
offering me a little bit of
money I want to say yes
this is amazing this thing
but sometimes I'll get a
product to be like oh shoot
I do not like this thing um
and so I'll never sign with
somebody that I don't
actually work with but uh
but yeah that's you know
jamie that's it it's it
requires both and before I
had an audience
yeah I was I i was trying to
figure out crack that nut
how do you do this how do
you figure this out and it
wasn't like building an
audience hoping to get
sponsors I was building an
audience because I felt
like I had something to say
and I wanted to I wanted to
give that a go um and I was
honored when 200 people
watched a youtube video I
was blown away with that I
was like 200 people looked
at this this is amazing so I just
just kept doing it the
audience ended up just
growing on its own still
growing every day um and
sponsors I mean it did it
did come together but yeah
all of the work created the
situation where I was lucky
enough to have something of
value for sponsors I gotta
have enough eyeballs and I
have to be a legit athlete
like of course rudy should
be sponsored rudy should
have a huge audience um
but he also has to get out there.
I want to know more about Rudy.
Jamie, I want to know more about you.
If there's any content that needs more,
I know I'm coming, is more athletes.
Do it.
Put your stuff out there.
All right, Scott.
I did documentaries on Rudy
and Jamie last year.
They're sitting out on
YouTube for everybody to
get to know them.
But, and that's the hard thing, right?
YouTube is a 20-something place to live.
It is.
And 75% of our audience is 25 to 55.
Right.
Right.
I know.
I know all the demographics.
I'm not sure why 25 year
olds are watching my videos.
I know what they're doing,
but they like it.
But you know what, Scott?
It's funny because those documentaries,
they live there, right?
I was thinking about that
video that had a million
views now at this point.
Man, it just sat there.
It sat there for a while.
And then and then all of a
sudden it became a suggested video.
And again,
I don't there's this element where, like,
you do all this work, it's out there.
Now, continue to post it.
This is one thing that I
don't do often enough.
If I've got some gold out there,
like there's some videos where I'm like,
people should look at,
they should watch this.
This was really good.
I don't have,
but I should have a
consistent posting schedule
of my evergreen content to remind people
hey this is out there hey if
you want to know my entire
rv adventure I've got an
entire playlist of all my
rv stuff um people like god
can we see a full tour of
the rv I'm like bro just
search youtube I did that
but they don't know so you
have to constantly remind
them and then maybe youtube
will find favor with you
like the gods you know like
they just shine on you
Yeah, last year, Jamie,
this is how we kind of got
met and got together.
She let me live with her for
quarterfinals.
Oh, wow.
Wow.
We did the whole weekend, start to finish,
and it was a rollercoaster ride.
Yep.
A big one.
It is one of the most
favorite things I've ever
done in this space.
That's amazing.
I mean, how fun is that as an experience,
both for you, Scott, and for you, Jamie,
right?
With quarterfinals,
I don't know what the
rollercoaster elements were.
You'll have to tell me.
But if it was the one that
had shuttle runs, I mean,
that was a rollercoaster in
and of itself.
I almost died in that workout.
I almost died.
We went hours debating
whether you should redo an event.
Hours.
Yeah.
Yeah.
yeah right like no I'm done
I'm done then it was no I
really should I need to
take this shot and then no
I'm done I like literally
back and forth yeah what
with like an hour left you
went I'm going for it yeah
which which one did you do
uh the row thruster one I
tried to redo but halfway
through I was like this isn't worth it
I've done that and it's not
like I was not in
contention well you had to
be top 30 so I guess I was
like questioning where I
would be yeah um I don't
know it's just like the
blind like I think scott
hadn't quite understood the
nuances of blind
leaderboard waiting to see
where you're at how
stressful that kind of
stuff is um yeah it's just just like and
setting up the floor and
having other athletes in the gym.
And just like that kind of
stuff was kind of a behind
the scenes that he, he was,
I opened it too.
I learned so much.
But Jamie is so open and she, so I,
I did the same thing with Rudy for semis.
And so Rudy is very much
like in his own space,
headphones in doing his thing.
Jamie will talk to me right
up until go time.
Right.
Right.
Yeah.
And that's what's really fun.
I think, well, I'll just say,
I was at Mayhem last year
doing quarterfinals and semifinals.
I just happened to be
traveling through the area.
it's funny because there was
a lot of behind the scenes
going on there.
But you didn't, the videos,
they didn't show all the
preparation that goes in the,
it goes into it really goes into it.
Showing the performance is one thing.
And that's, it's really fun.
But what goes in behind the
scenes when you're on, I mean, you've,
they've got a fork, not a forklift,
but one of those like X, I don't know.
It's some machine that goes up.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah, and so you have to have those.
So if you're going to measure,
unless someone's going to
climb the rope to measure 15 feet,
you need a way to measure
15 feet on a rope climb, right?
Yes.
So, I mean, I used to have like someone,
okay, you climb the rope.
I don't want to burn an
extra rope climb by climbing the rope,
right?
So you have someone else
that can climb a rope.
Drop a tape from up there
and hang with one hand and
a tape while you're filming.
It's chaos, man.
It's chaos doing these.
It's the stress.
it's double the stress
because the workout is
stressful enough but all
the setup all the
preparation having two
cameras talking to the
camera starting both making
sure everything goes well
because if you lose that
video that's it you're done
all the work is done your
whole year so um fun fun to
capture that stuff behind
the scenes that's this is
the unseen stuff that um it
makes me think like I'll
have to do that this year like uh
Like literally get into the
details of the behind the
scenes and then to show
parts of the workout.
The workout,
we've seen Jason work out
plenty of times.
How did you set up the floor?
What are you measuring with?
You know, these are all very,
very important issues.
Yeah,
it can be 15 minutes or more of floor
layout, setup, measuring, showing,
and you're like no longer
warm or ready to go.
Yeah, I'm cold.
Yeah, totally.
Yeah.
I mean, you cue up the music.
Someone's got to handle the music.
Like you can't just work out, you know,
in the quiet.
So, and then you have someone that's like,
someone's checking the
camera every once in a
while and make sure the camera,
both the GoPro and the
iPhone are still recording.
Yeah.
Yeah.
It just makes me stress thinking about it.
I know.
And I've done this 10 years.
The one that blew me away is
so that you guys use me time, we time.
Sometimes, yeah.
So to line up the gym clock
to the we time clock.
So stupid.
They would argue for 10
minutes on the process to
get it lined up.
Yep.
Yeah,
I don't even use WeTime because of that.
I did an online competition,
the Zelos Games, a couple of years ago.
And it was just me.
I had to record all my own stuff.
And I used the WeTime app.
So I had to kind of estimate
the main clock or with my watch.
But no, I like to see a clock.
Look, I manage my workouts by the clock,
particularly in those types of events.
So I have to see what my
pacing is with that clock in my view.
It doesn't always work
because sometimes the
camera needs to be facing a
certain way and the clock
needs to be a certain direction.
So there's times when I'll have two clocks,
like one in front of me, one behind me,
one in view of the camera.
And it'll be like, three, two, one, click.
shit we messed it up oh
sorry for my language we
goofed up we messed up the
we messed up the clocks
reset the clocks um because
the clocks have to be
dialed in but it's it's
stuff like this that it
like it makes or breaks
your qualifier um and
historically when there's
only 10 athletes going to
the games that you got to
thread that needle so tight
just to get to the games
now that we've got a larger field
Yes, there's still stress.
And no, you can't mess up a video.
You can't have a workout thrown out.
You can't have any of that.
But there's just a teeny
little bit less stress.
Like maybe I don't have to
have a clock in front of me.
I don't have to win the qualifiers.
I just need to be top 40.
I think I should be able to do that.
Right.
Fingers crossed.
We'll see.
We'll make something fun out of it.
But yeah, back to that social media thing.
And how do you get YouTube
to pay attention?
One, YouTube is super fickle.
I think about another
podcast that is on YouTube that I see,
and it feels like this
podcast should just be exploding.
It should be exploding, but it's not.
Even some of the largest
podcasts out there...
that I, in the CrossFit space, you know,
on YouTube, they're getting, you know,
sub 1000 views on a, on a particular,
like I'm a big athlete, you know,
Tia's on there and there's, you know,
sub 1000 views.
And it's really curious.
It's just curious what YouTube decides.
And if I ever figure that out, um,
I'll call you Scott and I'll let you know,
I'll let you know the inside track.
If I crack that nut,
me and Mr. Beast are going
to figure it out.
I would appreciate that.
So I see you're sitting
there in your Noble
CrossFit Games sweatshirt.
One of my biggest
contentions with this split was the kit.
Because that is sort of a
major thing that a big
chunk of the athletes who
try to make it to the Games
are going to get this athlete kit.
And look exactly like the regular athletes,
the elites that are out
there on the floor.
Um, we,
Bob announced when you talked with
him that it's a completely different, uh,
sponsor Northern spirit is
the gear sponsor.
Um,
so right off the bat and maybe I am
just a negative Nancy.
Maybe it's because I've never been there.
Um,
i already feel like this is
going the route that I
expected when I heard the
announcement and I'm
frustrated sad disappointed
like so we're just gonna
get a couple shirts and
shorts and here you go and
you're not definitely not
gonna look like the elites
like they get displayed
august first you get
displayed at the end of
august it's gonna look like
a different different floor
you guys aren't gonna look
as professional um what
I think that was a giant
draw to get some of the top
athletes there.
And now I worry that some of
these people are not going to sign up.
And then it's like,
am I truly the fittest
40-year-old in the world?
Maybe not.
A few people probably didn't go.
Right.
It's a good question and a good point.
And it is disappointing that
it's not a unified title sponsor.
That would be cool.
And that would create unification in...
the overall sport,
that the adaptive teenagers
and masters are wearing the same gear,
GORUCK, as the individual athletes.
That would be super smart.
That'd be a smart way to
keep the brand intact.
It would also be really
smart to have the age group
or the non-individual
athletes have our games all
prior to the games so that
they can feature footage
at the games and show like, hey,
here's the champions or here's some.
During the breaks,
you just have on the screen
something from the Pitt
Teen Throwdown or have
something from the Adaptive
Championship or our championship,
whatever.
And I say Pitt Teen Throwdown.
I don't mean to say the
Teenage CrossFit Games.
Let's just call it what it is.
It is the Teenage CrossFit Games,
our Masters CrossFit Games.
So it'd be great to do that.
Another way that they could
unify that is if they had
one of the open announcements this year,
include all the divisions
in one age group
announcement or one announcement.
So you've got an individual there,
a couple of individuals,
a couple of age groups,
a couple of adaptive
athletes to show this sport
is well-rounded.
Like, hey...
Like,
I don't know why they're not doing that.
What are they thinking?
It's just it's like a softball.
Like, here's how to say, hey,
we're splitting these off
to enhance the sport.
And here's how we're all still unified,
still together.
So, OK, that's not what it is.
But it is year one.
And my hope is that in year one,
we have a transition year.
And we do have a clothing sponsor,
which is great.
We have a clothing sponsor.
I'd never heard of Northern Spirit.
But someone from Europe, United Kingdom,
he sent me a message on Instagram.
He's like, dude, their stuff is great.
You may not have heard of them,
but their stuff is great.
It does sound like a tool company, Corey.
It's great.
It's a good brand.
The gear is great.
So that's good to know.
And yeah, our athlete package...
won't be what it was historically.
Now,
this is going to come across interesting.
I do have this sweatshirt.
This is from 2022.
I do like this old sweatshirt.
I mean, I've been there five times,
and I have five times worth of gear.
I don't have anything from
2018 or 2019 anymore.
I've given all that away,
or I've worn through all of it.
But every year,
I just get nine more pairs
of Noble shoes.
I get nine more pairs.
Whatever.
I don't even like those shoes.
So I give all of those away
because I don't use them.
What I'm saying is I'm okay
with not getting all of that.
The first year was great.
And so that is where you are
attracting those athletes.
Like, hey,
you get this thing on the first.
You get that experience.
What I think they will
create at the Games this year is that...
The experience of the locker room.
I know that Bob and Joe have, you know,
got a lot of thoughts in
creating that locker room
experience that you had
with Noble at the games,
even Reebok at the games where you go in,
you get escorted,
you get your all of your stuff.
And that's really cool.
And I will miss games.
I loved going through games.
I loved going through the
games and getting all the swag.
I don't have it with me.
Yeti water bottles.
There was some pretty epic stuff there.
It was great.
Those were really cool things,
and they were really nice.
Like it wasn't something
like it didn't take away
from the competition.
What I, I would get all of them.
Like, this is amazing.
Super cool.
I would do like a swag video.
That was a YouTube play.
I'll be just transparent.
I really do a swag video,
try to be the first one to
show off what they gave us.
And I got to use that to my
advantage masters because
we got them before the individuals got,
so I could reveal all the goods.
um but as far as the
athletes go um I think we
could still draw I think we
could draw the biggest
athletes in the world
because this is the games
the fact that there's a
field of 40 may reveal new
athletes that we that were
just under the radar that
were under the radar maybe
they don't qualify well but
they compete in person like
like maniacs that was me
like I didn't qualify well
I've never qualified well
until like last year but
then when you get me in person and I can
crush some souls out there.
So there may be some unique
opportunities like that.
But I also think, Jamie,
this is year one and I'm
cutting some slack to everyone involved.
I think about like Bob and Joe,
like why Birmingham?
Why Labor Day weekend?
They had six months to figure this out.
So should CrossFit have
maybe contacted them 18 months ago?
Well, yeah.
Come on.
CrossFit is like, hey, real quick,
can you guys throw the games next year?
We're going to do this instead.
What do you think?
We want to do this,
and you guys have a year to
figure this out.
In a better world or better situation,
CrossFit –
CrossFit gets way ahead of this.
And now I know Bob and Joe
are already working on next year.
And I know that Bob wants
our games to be prior to
the individual games.
So I think they're gonna do
everything they can.
So one thing we do know is
that there is going to be a year two.
That's great to know.
You know what I mean?
Like despite how year one goes,
I think year one can be,
I hope we knock it out of
the park as masters athletes.
I hope we have record signups in the open,
record signups in quarterfinals,
that the games are super funded.
And it's just a big F you to
the world that says, Hey,
the masters are done.
No, no,
we will step up to the plate and
make sure that our event is, is,
is amazing.
Okay.
And that's going to take
some of our dollars.
So we're going to do that.
And hopefully that creates
momentum into year two, three, four,
five.
And this can blossom into
something that has its own legs, its own,
like, yeah, we don't need noble,
but whoever, whoever wants to sponsor us,
we,
we get those bigger packages because
we've proven that,
We spend money.
We can draw a crowd when we
have the right setup,
the right situation.
And all that kind of comes together.
But, you know, while this is a step back,
it's... I was almost
thinking of it in this way.
It's a step back in the same
way that giving birth is a step back.
Like, it takes a toll on the body.
But then you come back
stronger and better.
Like,
we're doing something new in this space.
Year one is going to have
lots of questions.
But hopefully what we do in
year one helps propel year two, three,
four, five.
And yeah, in...
In 2025, 2026,
maybe we're walking out of
there with $4,000 worth of gear,
every single athlete, Jamie,
because that's what we were at the games.
So that's my hope.
And I think that's the drive, I think,
that the guys at Legends have.
They have that level of passion.
They just need now,
they need the community to step up.
And if we step up as Masters athletes,
that's what funds their future.
with the games.
And again,
let's CrossFit and let's
whoever's running CrossFit,
as far as the board goes
and the private equity,
that the masters are
actually a big deal in this whole thing.
We actually have a really big voice.
We have really big checks to
write in this space.
Private equity always feels
like this giant,
just black void out there
that shadows over CrossFit.
And maybe they are,
and maybe they'll sell in
the next couple of years.
Who knows?
And who knows what a new owner would do?
But as far as the sport goes...
I think we're in a position
now where this is where we
invest our time, we invest our energy,
we invest our dollars.
And because of that,
we can see this become
better if we go for it.
And the test, I'll just say this.
This is the last thing I'm going to say.
I know I've gone long on
this particular answer.
I know Bob loves to program the games.
And I know that he's already
programmed it.
He texted me a few weeks ago.
He's like, the games have been programmed.
I'm like, bro,
who gets to say that besides
like Adrian Bosman or Dave Cash?
Who has ever said that in the history?
I've written the games workouts.
Now he's collaborated with Bosman,
but they've walked in.
They know what semifinals are.
They know what the games are.
Bob is never going to tell a soul,
obviously, because I'd love to tease him.
I love to tease him like, hey,
tell me some stuff.
Never cracking that lock.
they know how to test athletes.
And so whoever wants to be
crowned the fittest in
their division will be
tested as such at this games.
And so if they don't show up,
they can't be tested.
That's it.
Whoever shows up gets to be
called the fittest on the
planet in this age group,
because these tests will be no joke.
These guys know how to,
they know how to do some damage.
I mean, Scott, you watch this.
I mean, you know, yeah, Jamie, I mean,
you know, legends are,
We know what those tests are like.
They're very good and
they're very appropriate
for our sex and our age.
They know how to program
some stuff that really tests us.
You make me want to go down so many paths.
I know.
Open up a lot of cans there, don't I?
I'm going to hit you with.
Five or six quick hitter
games questions for this
year to get your opinion.
And it comes from pretty
much your interview with Bob.
Mm-hmm.
This year.
Games are indoors.
Mm-hmm.
Thoughts?
Yeah, it's fine.
It's fine.
The only place that, I mean...
Legends had an outdoor pool,
but generally was indoors.
MFC was all indoors.
The games has some outdoor events.
And I mean,
I love an outdoor event because
I think I have an advantage.
If it's hot,
I love hot work.
I love being in the heat.
I love it.
But Bob didn't say that they
will all be indoors.
He did mention something
about there's some nice
trails around town.
There's some things like that.
He teased some of that stuff.
I don't even know what
trails are around here.
so if 90 are indoors if
there's a 5k trail run that
they somehow figure out how
to do something like that
that would be sick um now
that's also weather
dependent that puts them in
a bind so I could see year
one they could be like hey
you know what let's not we
have so many athletes let's
just control this
environment but indoors is
fine and it's in birmingham
we're all going to get super sweaty.
The humidity will be, will be a factor.
Um, but Madison has humidity.
Madison has heat.
Madison makes me sweaty too.
I got to change my clothes
after a games workout.
Um, so no big deal, but indoors is also,
it's just safe.
Like we're not going to have
any weather delays.
There's no issues.
They got a lot of people to get through.
And I hate,
I hate when we have weather
delays that mess things up
because that happens every
year at the games or change
a workout or change a workout.
Yeah.
Right.
I'm ready for legless rope climbs.
Don't change it.
Three fields of play.
Awesome.
That's awesome.
We can have longer workouts.
I think one of our experiences at Legends,
they had a lot of athletes there.
We were working out.
They were running Legends
from 8 in the morning until 9, 30,
10 o'clock at night.
That was a lot with two fields of play.
Had to keep the workouts
under certain time caps.
I think the longest may have
been a 60-minute time cap out at Legends.
I can't remember.
But three huge floors.
give us more time again I'm
talking selfishly give me
more time and I i love it
the more time on the field
the better um but also fast
workouts are great too you
know heavy lifts are great
three three floors allows
for all the athletes to get
a full experience and have
what did bob say eight plus
events hell yeah that's
awesome every year at the
games for the past few years
You always felt like they were really,
really tightening it up
with either less events, shorter events,
10 males,
10 females on the field at one time,
really, really squeezing us together.
I'm okay with all of that,
but if you give us nine events, oh,
it's awesome.
10 events, 12, you know,
and Legends has done that in the past.
They always have four days
of competition and
sometimes two to three events in a day.
It's just amazing.
Love it.
Um,
Bob talked about wanting to be
centrally located for European athletes,
for South American athletes, um,
and not going with his home
state of California.
Yep.
I know you live in Birmingham.
What do you,
do you think the Masters
community as a whole is happy?
It's centrally located.
Um, yeah.
Wow, that's a good question.
I mean,
centrally located to me feels like Denver,
but that's where I lived.
But Denver is isolated.
It's far from anything.
What's fun about Birmingham
in a centrally located perspective,
it's pretty close to Florida.
It's very close to Tennessee.
I mean, I think we border Tennessee.
I think.
No, I know we border from Tennessee.
We're a drive for quite a few athletes,
but a very easy flight.
A lot of people flew to Madison.
You'd fly to Chicago and
then drive to Madison.
Or if you flew to Madison,
it was a huge pain.
Birmingham has a ton of flights.
I've got direct flights to
Denver all day long if I ever need one,
which is where I was from.
But Atlanta is the largest airport.
I don't know.
It's top five in the world or something.
It's two hours away.
So for international flights,
Atlanta is the hub and it's
just that's a super smart
strategic place to be.
And there's probably a
flight every hour from
Birmingham to Atlanta and back and forth.
So it's great for everyone
except Australia, right?
I don't we don't have a lot
of not a lot of countries in the east,
but Australia.
Shout out to Kane Hayes down there,
who is aging up into my division.
He's going to travel for like 39 hours.
And good, good,
because he's a formidable foe.
Give that guy as much travel as possible.
Not really, Kane, if you're listening.
But I think it's very easy to fly to.
Very easy to fly to.
And the town itself is easy to navigate.
There's a ton within range of...
of uh of the j whatever the
convention center where
it's at yeah the bjcc I
live um I live 20 20 miles
away so it's a 25 minute
drive on the highway for me
to get there um anybody who
wants to come to town
there's going to be tons of
airbnbs or whatever vrbo is
available compared to madison
or Masters Fitness
Collective in Fort Wayne, Indiana,
there's no Airbnbs.
You have to find a hotel
that has a kitchen, which we did.
We all like to cook our own food.
I'm lucky enough to sleep in my own bed.
Again,
I've traveled to the games for three
years in an RV, so I slept in my own bed.
I just don't know how lucky
I got on this one.
But centrally located,
from a flying perspective,
Absolutely.
Um,
a flight over the pond to Atlanta is
super simple.
So I want,
I want all the European competitors.
I can't wait to see all
those guys again and gals.
So then this is the biggest
blow I think to Jamie and I,
and that is teams and
masters on the same day.
Yeah.
It's a bummer.
We were really gearing up.
We have a whole team channel
on our YouTube.
And, um,
we wanted to cover both with
full team and we're not
going to be able to now.
Yep.
Bob said, not going to happen again.
Joe said in the statement to me,
we're going to wait and see.
I mean,
I think Joe said in a separate
podcast that they really
wanted to try to do
something together because
they're pretty tight as teams.
That would be something that
would be really interesting
if they were to somehow
find a venue that was large
enough to accommodate both teams.
wow I mean talk about like
viewership uh the ability
to have everything
consolidated um you know
the leverage in the numbers
would just be amazing so if
they are somehow able to
collaborate and make that
something in the future of
course your team is going
to be working double time
on one weekend but at least
not separated right um
separation is tough and and
yeah I mean it is um that it
If all these were broadcast,
if the teens and the
masters were broadcast and
we had these huge broadcast teams,
it could be one of those
amazing weekends to watch.
I don't think budget's going
to allow for that in year one.
Um, but yeah, that is, it is,
it's unfortunate.
And, you know,
I think there was lots of
questions on why Bob chose that weekend,
knowing that the team, uh,
championship is that weekend as well.
And they just didn't have options.
There was just no time and
no options on year one,
but I do believe that in year two,
they will do everything
they can to try to find the
right fit there.
Um,
so if it's together that's
awesome two separate
weekends even better all of
those happening prior to
the big event uh would be
you know phenomenal yeah
and bummer for your I mean
yeah for those coaches that
have the coach masters and teens
Yeah, that's hard.
It's a bummer.
If you need to submit a master's coach,
if you have an athlete
that's their first time there,
tell them to reach out to me.
I can offer some assistance.
Anything that I can do to
help somebody with their
first games experience.
I've never had a coach there
that helps me strategize.
I've always done that on my own.
But I'm happy to help show
someone the ropes.
We all talk behind the scenes anyway.
It's a funny thing.
Once you get there,
I'm not always strategizing
with the guys in my age group,
but I am strategizing with
everyone outside of my age group, right?
I want to know when someone
walks off the field,
this was the best event.
In 2021,
we had a workout that started off
with 20 ring muscle-ups.
was our age group 20 ring
muscle ups into like this
this sprint and then we did
snatches into a sprint and
then rowing into a sprint
but the first thing was 20
ring muscle ups and I was
preparing for that I was
thinking I'll break it up
into like 12 and 8 or 14 6
or I you know something but
it was windy and the straps
are super long so it's
super risky to come down so
I was preparing uh rick my
co-host on my podcast he
had just come off the field
in the 50 plus division
he's like yeah I went 15 unbroken
was like rick went 15
unbroken okay and I know my
capacity compared to rick
if rick could go 15
unbroken I think I can go
for 20. and I went out
there and I gambled big
time and went 20. i mean my
last rep was like I mean
it's one of those last
muscles where you catch it
and if you don't I mean you're just
If I don't get this muscle up,
it's going to take me
another two minutes to finish one more.
And luckily I got through 20,
but it's those little
things that you learn at the games.
Like you watch,
you're trying to find the
TV that's on the field before you.
So you see what it's,
what does this workout
doing to the teenagers?
Okay.
Okay.
So they're pulling.
Okay.
They're not slowing down here.
You learn all of this kind
of fun stuff in person.
So masters athletes,
this would be my advice to coaches.
If you have a masters
athlete and a teenager,
you've got to go with the teenager.
The Masters athlete can fend
for themselves.
Like, we'll be okay.
We'll all support each other.
You don't send a team by themselves.
Like, go be with your team.
Wouldn't you say?
I would agree with you completely.
The trick is that some
Masters athletes are team coaches.
Oh, I know.
I know.
In those situations, you're hosed.
Just hosed, man.
And then you're not
competing as the Master.
That's how it goes.
It's the year that you don't get to go,
right?
You have a huge contingent
of... It was evident at Legends.
Your Boulder athlete has grown.
You have a ton of athletes.
I take it you have no teen athletes.
It's typically an older crowd?
Yeah, it is Masters training.
Straight up Masters training.
Now, interestingly...
it would be great for teenagers too.
Um,
the needs of masters athletes and
teenagers are very similar.
So for example,
like we need to do smart volume.
We need to be careful with our volume.
Um, and teenagers actually do too.
The 17, 18 year olds,
maybe not quite as much.
They've got a lot of natural
healing remedies just
flowing through their veins all day long,
but 14, 15 year olds, um,
know that they it's we're
very similar I actually
have um one of our boulder
athletes his son is a 14
year old looking to go to
the games and he does the
exact work his dad does
which is athlete training
and this kid is crushing it
um because it makes sense
14 15 year olds and 40 year
olds should have pretty
similar training the 14 15
year olds shouldn't be
doing what 25 year olds are
doing and neither should 40
year olds so it
I don't think we'll ever
cross that bridge and call
it the Boulder Athlete Masters and 14,
15-year-old training program.
But it would be fun.
But yeah,
there's a good amount of Boulder
athletes out there.
One of the things that was
fun about Legends was
having that contingent.
I think we had 14 or 15
athletes out there.
We all collaborated.
It was really fun.
Like, oh, hey, someone's going.
So we all go down and watch
someone and cheer them on, right?
If we could,
unless someone's warming up or whatever.
But yeah, we had a lot of fun with that.
You can really support each
other when you have a solid team.
So that's another factor.
And we'll adopt somebody if they need one,
even if they don't follow
the programming.
Come on over.
We'll help you.
And then, you know,
get up on the podium next to me is fine.
Here's my last question.
I mean, there's a lot on my notes,
but we're going to finish
it up with this because
we're going to have you
back on throughout the season.
Happy to.
Happy to.
When it was announced, the team piece.
One, Lana has been in the chat.
Lana, you get in your 70 plus as a trial.
I could not be more stoked for that.
Super excited.
Let people know what's possible.
But with the team thing,
if I'm an individual athlete
and it's year one and I
already know it's going to
be clunky why add more
burden to my plate in year
one yeah I think it's a
great idea yes year one true
So that's a good question.
It's year one for this
experience of the games,
for the collaboration, right?
But it's not their first
rodeo running a large event
with a team or with a team
event at the same time.
They did this at Legends in
a constricted field, right?
Field of play, very constricted.
And the teams had a great event.
I mean, they all loved it.
They didn't have enough events.
They only had two days worth of events.
And so that was, I think,
part of their feedback.
I know the team event at the
games will have three days
of competition.
But I think it was a
necessary... I think it was brilliant,
first of all.
It was brilliant to take on
additional competitors,
which will bring more human
beings to the event,
more fans to watch the
teams and the individuals,
more overall athletes,
more revenue that can help
support the event.
And honestly, the more people, the more...
buzz around that whole thing,
the better it is for the
future of the Masters games.
If there is social media,
when there are still
pictures and there's a
crowd behind somebody,
that looks better than at
the games when there's a
person in some empty stands.
where the games venue was
too big to make the masters
look special this will be a
nice concise event with a
ton of human beings a lot
like legends in phoenix
where when every event I
mean it looks like it's a
packed house and you
actually did have to kind
of shuffle your way through
to see someone there and
that's a that's a fun
experience for the athletes
to look out there and see like
All these people watching,
I'm doing my PR clean and jerk,
and there is someone I know
eight feet standing in
front of me while I'm doing this thing.
Hopefully, I'm not spittling on them.
So it is an increased workload, Scott.
And so your point is,
why take on this additional workload?
And I think, one,
they have some experience doing it.
I think they'll be okay.
Two...
It draws more revenue and
all those extra people.
And they're just willing to, you know,
put in all the extra
overtime for that trade-off, right?
More athletes, more people, more revenue,
more attention in that area instead of,
however many, 400 plus athletes.
We'll have 600 plus athletes
and potentially families
and friends and all the people.
Not to mention Birmingham is
a thriving CrossFit community.
It's crazy how big CrossFit
is in this huge metro area
compared to any place I've been.
I'm constantly surprised at how big it is.
So I think we'll have a lot
of local viewership down here as well.
People can drive from Nashville, Cookville,
I mean, anywhere in Tennessee in two,
three hours.
It's close.
draw from atlanta as well um
anyway I think yeah I think
they bite it off the team
competition they've got
some experience with it I
think they can do it really
well I have no idea what
it's going to look like to
have this simultaneous
competition happening the
games and the team's
community event I don't
know how all that will
shake out what that'll end
up looking like um
You know, maybe different shirts.
I don't know.
But I'm not overly worried about it.
I just love the idea that, like,
last night we did a podcast
with Bob Ruano.
He's a six-time games athlete.
He's 54 this year.
He's Mr. Consistency.
Awesome, energetic dude.
And he's like, you know, I'm 54.
I'm a little bit beat up.
I don't think I'm going to
do the individual this year.
And then Teams shows up.
He's like,
but I think I may do it for
Teams because that sounds like fun.
So you have this...
an extra group of people that, yeah,
I mean, when I'm 49,
I'll probably still try to
go for it again at the games, yada, yada.
But there is this temptation like, oh,
a team event for one year?
Take all that pressure off?
Man, that sounds like fun.
So there's a lot of,
all those positives go along with it.
And then
It could be this teaser.
What if there was a CrossFit
Masters team event?
I mean, a games team Masters division.
If that was something that
showed up in the next few
years and you had to
qualify as a team for Masters games,
that would be a pretty cool
addition to expand
everything that we have
available to us as Masters.
You know,
I can age up into 50 and once I'm 53,
it's like, hey,
I'm going team for two years.
You know,
like I'm done with individuals
until I'm 55.
That could be an interesting
way to promote longevity in
the sport and keep people engaged,
you know?
Well,
thank you for that perspective
because it does give me a
different outlook on it.
One,
the pro that I see is it's also a
feeder system.
Those people right on the
cusp of making the games
and experience on a competition floor.
But the one con I see is we
can't get the elite team stuff right.
you know?
Yeah.
A lot of logistics.
I would say that the masters out,
there were more people in
the stands for the masters
than for the teams.
Yes.
Agreed.
Agreed.
From a spectator perspective, it's yeah.
It's weird at the games.
You'd see that the place
clear out if there wasn't like, I mean,
when froning was on teams, uh,
That was it.
He drew his own audience.
But it really cleared out for teams.
And so from a spectator perspective,
you're right.
There's so much going on.
You can't keep track of it.
It's too broad in the sport
to know what's going on.
The final team event, you're like, OK,
yeah, I want to watch that.
That could be fun.
But it's just so funny
because the experience of
being on a team is night
and day compared to being an individual.
It's so much fun to be on a team.
So, yeah,
I don't know how they navigate
that bridge between, like, no one,
without saying it like this,
but people don't watch teams very much.
But the experience of being
on a team is so great.
Maybe it stays a community event forever.
I'm not sure.
But I just know that, like,
I'm doing my first team
event at Wadapalooza,
California this year.
I can't wait to be on a team.
It's going to be so much fun.
I've got a couple of beefcakes on my team.
These are like some legit
athletes that reached out to me,
and they wanted me to help
round out their age group.
I'm like, OK, I'm the old guy.
um yeah we'll go out there
and have some fun as long
as we don't swim in the
pacific ocean I'll be good
to go but I i think the
teams yeah I think there's
a ton of there's a ton of
fun being on a team but
yeah that spectator
experience is it's tough
the logistics of running a
team events as well I think
the games gets a little
creative overly creative
with their team events
sometimes like synchronized double unders
Bob and Joe won't do that.
They've got judges that need
to manage a four-person team.
Got to keep that stuff simple.
Yeah.
Jamie,
do you have anything to finish up with?
No, I'm good.
Y'all are great.
This was fun.
As always, we love having you on.
We love your perspective.
We'll continue to do this
through the season for sure.
And before we go tonight,
Jamie and I will be back
with Thursday Night
CrossFit Talk with a
special guest co-host.
Carolyn Prevost is going to
be my crutch tonight
filling in for me there.
And then tomorrow, Cheryl Nassau and I,
my nutrition coach,
and I are going to talk
about everything I went through,
where I am with my recovery,
and all that tomorrow.
So with that, stay tuned.
Check us out.
Jason, good luck on the season,
and we'll stay in touch.
With that,
we will see everybody next time.
Thanks, guys.
on CrossFit, our Clydesdale Media Podcast.