Chase Smith - The Clydesdale Media Semifinalist Series

We sit down with Chase Smith to talk about his journey as a CrossFit Athlete.  How did it all begin, how is it going and what are his goals for the upcoming season.

What is Clydesdale Media Podcast?

We cover the sport of CrossFit from all angles. We talk with athletes, coaches and celebrities that compete and surround in the sport of CrossFit at all levels. We also bring you Breaking News, Human Interest Stories and report on the Methodology of CrossFit. We also use the methodology to make ourselves the fittest we can be.

I was born to kill it.

I was meant to win.

I am down and willing,

so I will find a way.

It took a minute,

now it didn't happen right away.

When it get hot in the kitchen,

you decide to stay.

That's how it winners me.

Stick a fork in the hater on

my dinner plate.

What is going on, everybody?

Welcome to the Clydesdale Media Podcast,

where we are featuring the

athletes of the 2024

CrossFit Games semifinals.

I'm so privileged to have

with me Chase Smith.

What's going on, Chase?

How much?

I'm privileged for having me on.

Thank you.

Hey, no problem, man.

Making semifinals is a big

deal in the sport.

Yeah.

And it should be highlighted

and celebrated.

For sure.

I'm already getting questions in.

Slater says,

I wish Chase's gym was just

about 15 minutes closer to me.

I hear good things about WaterBear.

Thank you.

I appreciate it.

Good to hear.

Do you own the gym?

I do.

Nice.

So how long have you been an

affiliate owner?

So we officially opened 2022

on Christmas Day.

We were officially – well,

Christmas Eve was our first

day we ran workouts here.

So, yeah,

since 2022 is our first official – yeah,

that's when we opened.

Was it always a dream to be

an affiliate owner?

Not really, honestly.

It was definitely, I would say,

like a thought process and

something that would just –

It would come up occasionally.

But no,

it was never something that was

like an end goal for me.

It was actually my wife that

kind of encouraged me and

supported me to kind of

take this next step.

So, yeah,

I definitely wouldn't be here if

it wasn't for her.

So as I looked at kind of

your history in this,

you've been around since at least 2011.

I know you've registered for

the Open all but two years since 2011.

Yeah, I think I had,

An injury would happen one year.

I think it was 2021.

I can think off the top of my head.

I ended up, yeah, hurting my foot somehow.

I was actually training for

GORUCK selection and ended

up causing a pretty severe

injury to my foot.

And that was like as we were

approaching the Open.

So that was the first time

that I can – yeah, that I really –

couldn't sign up or do any

of the workouts.

Um, so that was a huge bummer.

I mean, cause I was very consistent.

I love doing the open, uh, signed up,

you know, like as you saw every year, um,

to do it.

So it was a big bummer to

kind of sit that year out.

Yeah.

Um,

so Slater comes back in just to clarify

my coworker, Josh Rios told me about you.

Oh, Josh.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Um, yeah, I know Josh pretty well.

Um,

I actually have a buddy of

mine down here where I

would hang Christmas lights

with him during the season.

So Josh and I would hang out

doing Christmas lights, yeah.

Nice.

So we said about the Open,

you're also one of those

guys who did a handful of

regionals before.

Yeah, when we had East, well,

we had Northeast for a while,

then we had East.

Yeah,

now it's kind of developed into what

it is now.

Yeah.

So one year you took sixth at regionals.

Yeah, that was the year.

We're so Alex.

Yeah, Alex retired for fifth.

And based on that tiebreaker, you know,

it was your highest placement.

I think he had a second.

I had a fourth.

thing um and just tasting

it's so close man arlene

smith jumps and wish he was

closer to me he is an

amazing coach and an

athlete and you got a lot

of fans out there a little

bit it sounds like yeah

yeah so what's crazy is you

just completed semifinals

yeah in the age group and

now you're going to compete

in semifinals in the elite

Yeah, I mean,

it's super cool to be in this position.

It definitely wasn't

something that was on my

radar going into it.

You know, when they...

made the shift while I was

aging up anyways.

So,

and then I saw all kind of all the

shifts and adjustments they were making.

So it was making for an exciting year.

So sitting down and talking to my wife,

it was something that I

definitely wanted to pursue

as the age group was coming

up and me aging up for it, you know,

and that was the only thing

that was really on my radar.

I never thought going back

to semis was something that

would happen or could happen.

It was something that kind of,

everything just lined up just right.

I almost didn't even sign up

for the individual.

I signed up probably like

the day before things kicked off.

And I only signed up just

because it was already paid for.

Because they were doing the same workouts,

they weren't different this year.

So you register for one,

you automatically get to

register for the other one.

So I was like, why not?

See what happens.

My goal for individual was

just to place top 200 to see if,

I could kind of be in that range,

and that was the only goal

I had going into it.

And you,

where did you end up finishing for that?

With everything all said and done,

the final, I think I'm at 25th, I think.

Okay, okay.

Are you one of those

athletes that if you punched both tickets,

you would try to do both,

or would you pick one over the other?

I mean,

if I have the opportunity to do both,

I would do both just the same,

same reason why semis for age.

And I mean,

if they allow you to do both

and obviously not lining up

in the same schedule, why not?

Yeah.

There's a couple athletes

who have publicly said

they're trying to pull off the double.

Yeah.

I think that's not on my,

definitely wasn't on my radar, but I mean,

if the opportunity allows, I mean, yeah,

of course.

Yeah, I think Will Morad has said that,

and so has Sam Dancer.

Okay.

That they're both trying to pull it off.

I didn't, so I obviously can see Will,

but I didn't see,

did Sam sign up for the Masters?

Because I didn't see him up there.

He did.

Okay.

I think he just did enough

to make sure he moved on.

Okay.

Yeah, I think maybe finished in the 30s.

All right.

Yeah, but top 200 or top 40, right?

Top 40, yeah, top 40.

Yeah, he's there.

He's just down the list a little bit.

Looked to me like he

sandbagged for the elite semis.

Probably.

But I couldn't be wrong, too.

I mean, because, yeah, he's there.

We're there next weekend.

Yeah.

So you've been around the sport forever.

Yeah.

You're going back to a

location that's as iconic as it gets,

the tennis stadium in Carson, California.

Have you ever been there?

have not no I have not so

this will be your first

time and it'll be on the

competition floor yeah does

it bring any nerves

goosebumps chills uh to be

honest no I mean it's it's

super exciting to go out there um

But I wouldn't say it brings

chills or it raises any nerves for me.

Because again,

I'm in a position that I

never thought was possible

or something that I would

be trying to achieve.

So I'm really just kind of

enjoying the moment, honestly.

So I'm looking forward to being out there,

having my family out there.

So that's the biggest thing is, you know,

having my family out there

to experience that with me.

That's what made...

Last time I went to Semi,

so important is having my

wife and my little boy

there and soon to be a

second at the time.

So, I mean,

it was a very special moment to

have them there and

experience that with me

because they have never

been in that kind of

environment or seen

something like that up close.

So that was a very special

time and just excited to do

it all over again and go

back into that space.

I mean, yeah,

it's amazing to be heading out there.

So the nerves and the

pressure I would see is

kind of eased off a little

bit because I'm just grateful to be there,

honestly.

It's kind of like you're

playing with house money, right?

You had no intentions in

competing in the elite.

You focused on age group.

And then you did so well,

you actually get to go play

for basically free.

Yeah.

Yeah, I mean,

and that's what I'm trying to go into,

right?

Because I can tend to put

more pressure on myself than I should.

So I'm just trying to enjoy

the moment and take it one

workout at a time.

How do you support yourself?

Is it just through the gym

or do you work another job

on top of that?

No, this is it.

I mean, this is my main thing.

When I was down here originally,

I was running and

programming for an

affiliate as well as a

couple other affiliates and

athletes down here.

when deciding to make this

next move to open up WaterBear,

I decided just to be

exclusive to WaterBear and

be all in and focus on

building this place.

So yeah, this is my pride and joy,

this is everything.

I'm gonna pull up a picture

from your profile.

Okay.

And is that the logo?

It's one of our logos,

but what's in this chest is

our main logo.

We kind of have some fun with it here.

So we designed different bears and,

you know,

for new apparel lines and stuff

like that.

So we shift the bear a

little bit to different things.

We've gone through a few.

So I'm kind of building up

for like this main shirt

where it's like where all

the bears come together.

um as like you know the

avengers basically but our

main logo is his uh is the

chest okay on the bear but

that's like the t 2000 3000

t 2000 something like that

like the terminator bear

yeah yeah yeah that's

pretty sweet I'd buy a

shirt with that on it

Yeah, that was a big one.

People loved that.

They wanted to come back,

but holding off until,

I think I got like one more

design I'm gonna go with,

and then we'll do our main

reunion shirt of all the pairs.

Speaking of pictures,

you're gonna be in this iconic location.

Yeah.

Trying to find a picture of

you to use for a thumbnail was really,

really difficult with the right angle.

Yeah, I mean,

I'm horrible with social media.

We need to get a

photographer with at least

five shots of you on the floor.

I have a buddy of mine coming.

He's really good with a camera,

so hopefully he can pull some stuff off.

Yeah, got to do that, man.

And you're a Masters athlete.

You should have pictures, not videos.

Yeah.

Like, we're old.

We don't understand the video thing.

Fair enough.

I can do that.

just giving you a hard time.

Um,

that's the hardest part of my job is

making those thumbnails for

all the pictures and all that.

Yeah.

Like I said,

I'm just horrible with social media.

And, um, so I definitely,

something I should be better at doing,

especially with owning an affiliate.

And so I,

I do spend time on there on the

water bear page, but my personal account,

I'm not too active.

Okay.

So, um,

It's funny.

You're actually way more

active than some people I've found.

Okay.

There was one person I went,

and the last picture on

their social media was one

that I put there for their thumbnail.

Oh, really?

Yeah.

So it had been a full year

with no activity.

Oh, wow.

Yeah.

One person,

there was only four posts in

their entire life.

Four?

Four.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Tell me about it.

It's tough, man.

It's tough.

So the workouts have been released.

What kind of athlete are you?

Power output, endurance, engine, gymnast?

I mean,

I like the endurance side of it for sure.

I like longer workouts.

And then I love the workouts

that kind of like just keep

you on your toes where it's

just like all in.

It's all or nothing with the

full sprints for sure.

You know,

that final event is going to be a

fun one to do and

definitely a tricky one to do.

Um, so, but yeah, I do,

I enjoy the longer ones

where it's a little bit more, can,

can be more strategic and

kind of playing your,

your chess pieces as you need to.

Um, but I also enjoy just like, Hey,

who wants it?

You know, at that, at that given moment,

who's going to do it.

Looking at the ones that

have been released,

is there one that you're

salivating over that you

really want to get after?

Um,

I'm looking forward to the

handstand walk on.

The row and handstand.

I think that one's going to

be fun to watch.

I just like that combination for sure.

I wouldn't say it's going to

be my bread and butter kind of workout,

but I do like looking at that workout.

I definitely like it.

I'm trying to think what other ones.

We have the toes to bar,

one on the front squats.

That one's going to be

interesting with that

combination from basically

the front squats, those double unders.

Just curious how the

shoulders are actually

going to play out at that

point for those five rounds.

I would say I'm looking

forward to probably most often,

and just to see my abilities,

it would be the legless rope climb one.

That one looks like it's

going to be a lot of fun.

So I got to ask,

since you're an old regional guy,

you did the snatch ladder, right?

I did, 2016.

I mean, that thing was brutal.

Yeah, I mean, in training,

I failed 245 over and over

and over again.

I mean, we tested out a few times.

And then I get there, complete the 245,

and I have well over three

minutes to do 265.

And I fail over and over and

over and over again.

And I actually watched it the other day.

It had, I think,

35 seconds left to the clock.

And I hit 265 twice in 35 seconds.

Um, but I mean,

at that time I was just so

amped up and excited that I

actually made it to two 65,

let alone complete it.

So, I mean, I mean,

watching the video and seeing my face,

like I remember that moment

and being just excited to finish that,

to fail over, I mean,

two 45 over and over again.

Um, yeah, so that was, that was,

and that was my first in

person regionals.

Um, so, I mean, it was,

it was a heck of a run.

I mean, I had a lot of fun that year.

Same thing,

like no expectations that year.

And so to have it play out that way,

I mean,

it was just great to be there and

to be able to complete

something that you fail

over and over and over again is amazing.

I mean,

that just shows how much that

environment plays a role

into your success.

I mean,

and to even go a little bit further

into that year,

it was the longer workout.

I think it might've been event four,

event five.

I can't remember what number event,

but it was the handstand walk.

It was a long row overhead squats.

I think burpee box jumps

over and then overhead

squats at the very end and then done.

And that was another workout in training.

would just hit the time cap

and I was it was just a

horrible event for me so

that one I was least

looking forward towards um

going into it and I even

kind of changed up the game

plan a little bit and broke

up the handstand walks a

lot more than I should have

and that ended up actually

being my best event there I

think I placed fourth in

that workout wow so I mean

that just shows you being

in that environment how

much that plays a role you

know going into things

So two questions about the snatch ladder,

because you're going to get

another chance at it.

Yeah.

How much easier will it be

to get through the ladder this time?

Honestly,

I wish I could say I'm going to

fly through it,

but I do definitely have

some concerns with it.

Yeah, I'm...

Going into this week,

I'm still kind of

recovering from a wrist

issue that I'm having.

So I'm trying to really

rehab that and get that well.

I can deal with some things.

So that's just,

that'd be a concern going into it.

Not concerned about the

weights or anything like that.

But it's definitely going to

be that punch at the top.

So that one's just going to be,

I'm hoping that environment

brings me back into it

where I feel like I can

just run through it again.

But I am looking forward to going into it.

That's for sure.

Like something that I'm excited to repeat.

And I hope I can have a

little bit more of a better

redemption this year with it.

How much is it going to be?

So when you did it in 2016,

it was event one.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Now it's event five.

I know that's, I mean,

that's huge alone just

based on how everything is

presented prior with just

the fatigue sense of grip

squats and all the, I mean,

it's definitely going to be

a lot different going into it.

Uh, but I think it being the third, yes,

the third day,

but being also the first event we do, um,

I think it should be very similar.

I think you're still going

to see a great show.

Um,

with it.

If anything, you know,

we might be fatigued and

set with those workouts,

but at the same time,

it could be basically just

a lot of prep work leading into that.

You know,

you see all these videos and whatnot,

and I've done it as well as

like we finish a workout

and then we go and PR lift.

I mean,

so it might just be those that kind

of promise and we're ready

to go for to finish out that ladder.

I got the privilege of

seeing that at West Coast

Classic in twenty twenty one.

Okay.

When they redid it there.

And it was an amazing show.

Yeah.

Tudor trying to touch and go

the last barbell.

Not Tudor.

Tola.

Tola, yeah.

Yeah,

trying to touch and go to the last bar.

The race with the women was

right down to the wire.

Like, it was crazy fun to watch.

So I'm excited.

By far,

it's going to be a great event to watch.

I mean, even just me watching 2016,

and I've been seeing other people, like,

same thing,

talking about watching their

old videos of 2016.

I mean, it's a fun workout to watch.

Yeah.

Do you think you have any

advantage doing it,

or has it been way too long?

I don't think I have any advantage.

I think we're all going to be, I mean,

experienced enough to do it.

At the end of the day,

I think mostly for the men's side,

like going fast singles and

just getting ourselves

ready for that heavier load

is that's the whole goal is

to get us there.

So I don't think you'll see

too much crazy in a sense

of like the touch and go 185.

You saw that a lot more in

my year with the women as

they were touching going

that first barbell and just

cycling through.

But I think for the guys,

you're just going to see us drop and grab,

drop and grab,

drop and grab the whole time.

So I wouldn't say too much

of an advantage.

I think, yeah,

because just having the

years go throughout it is not too much.

With everything that's gone

up to and leading up to

with all these other events,

I think everyone is well

aware of what needs to be

done when it comes down to it.

So I want to pivot a little

bit to the Masters because

I love that community and I

love covering that community.

Yeah.

you came so close to making

the games as an individual.

We talked about a six-place

finish back in the regional days.

You punch your ticket to the

CrossFit Games as a Masters athlete.

Yeah.

Is that a celebration,

or is it different because

of the way they've

reformatted everything?

I mean, that's a great question.

I mean,

I think it's a celebration in a sense.

I mean...

At the end of the day, yes,

we're not going to be at the same venue.

I know a lot of people have

different views on that,

being kind of separated and whatnot.

But I mean,

it's still the same platform in

my understanding.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I mean,

CrossFit is running that.

I mean, that's what's,

they're just having a separation.

And my take on it is it

seems like they're just

giving the attention that

it deserves by having legends host it.

Because I know many master

athletes that I've worked with,

trained with back home up north.

And

it's all great to be there.

And I mean,

it's amazing to have that experience,

but my understanding that

it's their words is being

treated is not the best.

It's not in their best interest.

It's just like, you guys are there.

We'll get you through the event.

All right.

And then we're moving on to the next.

It's not my experience.

It's just what I've been told is you guys,

they're a little bit of

getting shafted a little

bit and their attention and,

know how things are run yeah

and I think I think it's a

wait and see right like

yeah we hope I think if

they put on the pomp and

circumstance like the games

does like you get the cool

kit when you show up get

your pictures taken yeah

like all that stuff will

make a huge stride into

making it a seamless

transaction transition um

but but it's it's never

been done before so it's

it's kind of this unknown thing out there

But what I'm told is, I mean, legends,

they roll the red carpet.

I mean,

I had athletes that were there in

their just most recent event.

I mean, it was a fantastic time.

They loved it.

They raved about it when they got back.

So I'm excited for them to

see what they're going to

do being that host for this bigger stage.

Yeah.

I was there for the last event.

I would call it Games Light.

Okay.

Yeah.

if they just take one more

step I think we're good all

right yeah now do you think

that is almost why we're

they're going so late into

the year pushing that

towards early september

more time to kind of plan

accordingly to make that I

think it was finding the

right venue venue yeah and yeah so

But we have Amanda Brown in the chat,

one of my favorite people in the space.

Peter and I will be cheering

Chase on in Birmingham

right next to his mom,

maybe even getting louder

than Regionals 2018.

Thank you, Amanda.

She has the loudest cheers

I've ever heard in my life.

I had to get my hearing

checked after meeting her

at the Masters Fitness Collective.

Really?

Yeah.

Not really.

But, yeah, she can cheer.

You hear Peter being yelled

all across the – Yeah.

Yeah.

I haven't seen them in quite some time.

They're friends from back home.

Yeah,

I met Peter and Amanda three years

ago at MFC,

and I've seen them every year since.

Yeah.

Peter's getting so good.

Yeah.

I see him.

I see him.

Yeah.

Yeah.

So back to this one.

I know you –

you're playing with house money.

Do you have a realistic goal

for the weekend?

Um, not to make a fool of myself.

I mean, that's, that's it.

Right.

Um, no, I'm excited to be there.

I don't know.

I don't know what's in store for me.

Um, I, I do feel well prepared.

I feel super confident.

Um,

I don't feel like I'm not ready.

I don't feel like I don't

belong there in that sense.

I don't know if I have a

ranking in my head,

but I'm ready to take it on.

I'm excited to be there.

I'm looking forward to it.

Zero pressure.

I'm just going to go out

there and work out.

That's what it comes down to.

you mentioned you have two

kids and CrossFit isn't

always a kid's style event, right?

Like it's hard to keep them

entertained for the day,

but are they coming with you?

Oh yeah.

Yeah.

They're coming with me.

It's going to be interesting.

Those, um, they're great.

I mean,

But those boys can be a menace sometimes,

especially when they start

going at each other.

And so our oldest is three.

Our youngest right now is one and a half.

And they're already kind of

wrestling and pushing each

other's buttons.

So it's going to be an

interesting weekend.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Those are interesting ages.

That's going to be fun, man.

But to have them there in

this moment for you is really cool.

Yeah, I mean,

they've come to other comps with me,

whether it's, like, local comps or,

I mean,

they were down in Miami for Waterpalooza.

I mean, and when I go, they're on.

I mean,

it's not like they're distracted in

that sense.

What my wife tells me,

because I'm obviously in

there working out, but, I mean,

they're watching and

they're super excited to

see me out there.

But seeing their faces once

I'm done and they're locked in on me is –

a great feeling for sure and

and your wife is always

there cheering you on oh

yeah I mean biggest

supporter 100 I mean I

wouldn't be able to do the

things that I do without

her in that sense um you

know it it's it's true you

know what they say around a

man is a great woman and um I mean

Everything she does and supports me,

I mean,

allows me to have the time and

then helps me to balance my

time and manage my time in that sense.

And just believing in me,

just let alone working out, I mean,

but to take the belief in

me and into opening, you know,

a big leap of faith of

opening an affiliation in

that sense with nothing

else as like a safety net, I mean,

is huge.

So she's definitely makes a

lot of dreams come true.

Where are you guys located now?

Uh, we're now in, so we're in Texas, uh,

in the North, uh, DFW area.

Okay.

So I'm originally from New Hampshire,

moved down here in 2019.

Um, so I've been down there,

down here since.

Yeah.

I have that.

I hear that Northeastern

like a little bit of, uh,

it sometimes comes out.

It doesn't come out too much.

Um, I've worked on a little bit, honestly,

uh, pronouncing everything a lot.

uh but yeah we're I love it

down here down in texas not

not raised or born anything

like that but I mean I'm

I'm here for good nice nice

and you're close to where

the games are going to be

right yeah you're going to

pop over regardless I don't

know honestly um yeah I

mean I didn't I didn't plan

on it in that sense uh

we'll we'll see what it

looks like that during that time but no

Unless something else

happens to get me there.

As of right now, no.

So Amanda, one more time.

His mom might match me in volume.

So is your mom allowed to hear?

Yeah, I mean, there's a pretty epic photo.

I don't know where it is.

But I do have it somewhere

where it's just like you can just,

it's a picture where you

can hear the noise coming out.

Does she go to all your

comps or just select ones?

For the most part, no.

For the most part, she's all in.

Yeah.

that's been for everything

you know growing up with

sports and games and stuff

like that now she's she's

all in she's still back in

new hampshire or she oh

yeah yep okay cool yeah my

mom is is a a psycho when

it comes to cheering I was

a collegiate swimmer okay

and she she embarrassed me

sometimes really really bad

really but luckily I can't

hear anything so so I

wouldn't know if I'm being

embarrassed or not

Yeah, my mom picks the times where, like,

right before they hit the starter gun,

like, and everything's quiet,

she yells when, like,

nobody's saying a word.

And, like, the start will be, like,

I said quiet for the start, like,

yelling at her because

she's picked the wrong time to cheer.

That's my mom.

And love her to death.

Love her to death.

And she still supports me to this day,

so it's awesome.

I feel it.

Yeah, same on me.

Well, Chase, it's been a blast, man.

I want to wish you good luck.

We're definitely going to be

in Birmingham this year.

My co-host qualified for her

first CrossFit Games,

so we're going to be covering that.

I'm hopefully doing some

behind-the-scenes stuff down there.

So we'll definitely get to meet in person.

And then we're going to be

reaching out to athletes in Carson,

just getting feedback of

how the weekend's going.

We might DM you and hit you

up that weekend.

Awesome.

Looking forward to it.

Well,

thank you to everybody in the chat

for making this a blast.

Thank you to Chase for being here.

And we'll see everybody next

time on the Clydesdale

Media Podcast where we're

featuring the athletes of

the 2024 CrossFit Games Semifinals.

Bye, guys.