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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.
And we're so pumped to have
today the North America
West semifinal champion and
two-time CrossFit Games athlete,
Abby Domet with us.
What's going on, Abby?
Nothing much.
Just here enjoying my Sunday,
talking to you.
How are you?
I'm good.
I'm good.
It's so much fun.
You know, we talked to you years ago now.
in our semifinal series.
And to watch your
development from that first
time we talked to you,
I think it was 2022?
Yes,
this was the first podcast I'd done ever.
And it was 2022 before semifinals.
Yeah.
And then you did good that first year.
You did better the second
year and qualified at Pasadena.
And then this year you win semifinals.
So what has that road been
like from just starting,
making your first semifinal,
then to making your first games,
and to winning your first semifinal?
Um, I feel like for me,
the way I explain it is
just going in order of how
we kind of had it planned to do.
Um, you know,
that first year that I made semifinals,
it was like, okay, yeah.
I mean,
the goal obviously is to make the games,
but we knew like,
that's probably not going to happen.
That's going to be very hard.
Um,
And so I kind of just took
whatever I could get.
And then it was like, okay,
well next year I'm going to
make the games.
And that's what happened.
And then the year after that, it was like,
well, I need to do better than that.
I want to make the games,
but I also want to kind of
prove to myself that I
don't have to just kind of
get one of the last spots
I'd rather get in the top three or,
you know, something like that.
So yeah, it was literally just,
just going in order of the trajectory of
of progression really so so
when you're in it and your
goal is to make the games
like last year let's go
back to last year your goal
is to make the games you
make the games and then now
the games are of fruition
and you have to go how do
you switch the goal in two
months from you put all
this effort into making the
games to then I want to do
well at the games you're
talking about last year
Yeah.
Um, well,
I think at that point it was kind
of just like,
it was a little bit kind of
survival mode at that point.
Um,
cause you put so much into just making
it where coming off of that, you're like,
okay,
now I have to rebuild and recover
from everything that I just
did and try and do all,
do it all again and do even
more for the games that
were a couple months after.
Um,
and so I feel like in a situation like
that, where you're like, okay,
peaked out for semifinals
rebuilding after that,
it definitely takes some time.
Um,
and I feel like you're kind of just
like pulling from sort of
nothing at that point.
So just kind of,
you're just in survival mode.
At least I was just doing
whatever I could to try and
gain more fitness or be
better for the final event.
But yeah,
that's why I feel like this year
is totally different
because it wasn't like that
for semifinals.
There wasn't like this huge
rebuild afterwards.
It was kind of just like
building off of each other.
The reason I find it
fascinating is I talked to
Colt Mertens the first year
he made the games right after he got cut.
And he said that you work so
hard to make the games and
semifinals are so different
that you have to work on like X, Y,
and Z. Then you make the
games and all of a sudden
now you have to work on A, B,
and C. And you weren't able
to do that because your
main goal was just making
it to the games.
Right.
And even like this year,
how they released the workout so early,
it was kind of hard to be like, okay,
we want to like work on
these workouts that we're
going to have to do at semifinals,
but it's so early.
We still need to train and
we have so many other
things we need to do.
Cause you can't just do
those workouts over and
over for three weeks, you know,
mentally it'll make you crazy,
but also physically it'll
take a toll on you.
just from reworking the same
muscles over and over.
Um,
and so that was just kind of something
interesting that happened this year.
Um, cause yeah, then after that,
you're like, all right, well,
they're going to be testing
a whole slew of different
things at the games anyways.
Um,
but that's something I've noticed this
year, as far as open quarters,
semis games,
I feel like all the
progressions have been very clear cut.
Um,
And not like super obvious,
but you can kind of expect like, oh my,
my cat food is coming out right now.
You can kind of expect like
what's coming in a way, like not exactly,
because there's going to be
surprises here and there,
but I feel like at least
for the open quarters and semis,
you could kind of expect
the movements that were like, okay,
this is the next step.
This is the next step.
This is what comes after.
And so that's why I'm really
interested to see how they
do the games this year because
just because it feels like
it's been different from
any other year as far as programming,
as far as how clear the
progressions have been.
Yeah, and you have a new venue,
a new location.
They say it's primarily
going to be done indoors,
which is very different from past games.
But it was just announced
they're going to do a
Friday Night Lights on a football field.
Yes.
I'm so excited for that.
It's so cool.
That was something cause I
loved the outdoor events
and I love competing outside.
That was something like at semis this year,
I was like, man,
it's so cool that we get to,
we're the only people who
actually get to be outside
the whole time.
Um, but yeah,
as soon as they announced the
Friday night lights thing, I was like, Oh,
let's go.
That's awesome.
And it's cool that it is at night versus,
I think we're all kind of
thinking there's going to
be one outdoor event, if any,
and it'll be early in the
morning and then that's it.
Everything else will be inside the arena.
And so it's cool that it's like, okay,
we get an event, it's at night,
it's outdoors, it's on the field.
I think that's really cool.
Well, and you live there in Texas,
so that's kind of a home
field advantage for you.
Oh yeah.
I mean, cause I'm in San Antonio.
It's like,
four and a half five ish
hours south of Fort Worth and Dallas.
Um, so yeah, we, we get to,
we're just going to drive
up there and bring all our
stuff and we're close by.
I've been telling everybody, I'm like,
guys, like,
it's probably never going to
be here ever again.
So take advantage.
And if you live nearby,
just get your ticket and go.
Well, especially for those outdoor events,
you're used to the heat.
So, like,
it's like you and Ariel and those
people who live in Texas, like,
you get to train in that
weather year-round.
Yeah, I mean,
that's definitely a big
reason why we were like, oh, man,
it'd be cool if there was
more outdoor events because
that would be such a huge
advantage to us.
But I guess we have to understand that...
they can't do that to some of the people.
So, yeah.
But you have like,
I've been to Wisconsin the
last couple of years.
It has not been cool in
Wisconsin in August.
I mean, it's, it's summer,
but like whenever we arrived there,
cause I mean, so I'm from the Midwest,
but I hadn't been there in, you know,
several years or however long and,
whenever we went back and we
were in Madison last year, I was like,
man, I just, I miss this amazing weather.
And like,
just the grass is so lush and like,
just at night, it's like chilly.
You can wear a jacket.
I was like, this is amazing.
Um, versus like here,
it's definitely a bit warmer,
but that's actually something that, uh,
we were talking about right
before we got on about the rain.
And I was like,
Man, like, yes, I mean, it's summer here.
It feels like summer.
It is hot,
but it is nothing compared to last year.
Like last year was
unbearable as far as the temperature.
Yeah.
Yeah.
And we're getting it in the
Midwest this year where
it's been 95 the last week
and a half and no rain.
Yeah.
It's almost like the United
States is flipped upside down.
That's crazy.
Cause like even, I don't know,
it's just so weird.
Cause that's like this far
into this late spring, early summer,
it never rains.
And there's been a couple of
times where it's rained.
And like,
I feel like last year from April
to September, it was,
it was over a hundred like every day,
like every single day.
And then this year,
like it started feeling
like that a little bit in April.
Like we had some days that
were really hot or just
like really humid.
And I was like, oh man,
like this can't be happening already.
Like it's too soon for this.
Like I'm not ready for this yet.
And then all of a sudden,
like we had a few days
where it was like 101 and
then it just kind of dropped.
And lately, I mean, it's in the 90s,
but I was expecting like
106 to 109 every single day.
And it hasn't been like that.
So I'm very thankful.
yeah so let's rewind a bit
you go into west coast this
year and you said it was
different like you because
of what you've established
did you feel less pressure
about making the games yes
because that was the thing
when I whenever I went to
semis like there was like
no doubt that I would make
the games like there was no
doubt I'd be in the top eight you know um
Cause that's the thing I
that's like the goal of Sandy's right.
It's like,
that's your ticket to the games.
That's how you get there.
Um, but I wasn't even thinking like, oh,
I hope I make it again.
Like I was like, oh no,
I'm making it again.
Of course the goal was like,
I want it to be podium.
At least I was like for sure
in the top three.
Um,
and then as a weekend kind of went on
and the goal kind of
changed a little bit and I was like, Ooh,
maybe I could win this thing.
Was there pressure on you
winning or just it was a possibility?
No pressure.
I mean,
I have goals for myself and I put
pressure on myself,
but there was nobody like
putting pressure on me.
It was definitely when I
realized it was a possibility.
I feel like before the final, I was like,
OK, well,
I'm for sure going to get second.
I'm not going to do any worse than that.
But I knew that if the
weekend ended and if I ended up in second,
I would have been a little bit like,
I would have felt like I
left something on the table.
You're very competitive.
It's very obvious when I
look at your Instagram and
when I've talked to you
over the last couple of years,
you love to compete.
Would the disappointment
have been more that or more
the loss of money?
Um, that, that maybe, because I feel like,
I don't know what the second place gets.
Um, but it's like,
if it's something that's
like a very small,
I think it's seven grand.
Okay, so the difference of, like,
three grand.
Yeah.
That would have been annoying, I think.
Like, I've been like, oh,
if I would have just done this different,
then I could have, like,
made a little bit more money.
I think that definitely would affect.
But, no, I just, I knew I could win it,
you know?
Like, why not?
Yeah.
Well, and I'm not trying to, like,
put a financial thing on this,
but you guys get very...
small op there's only a few
opportunities for you to
make money to support
yourself for the year most
of it is done through
sponsorships and you get
very little prize money
throughout the year yeah
competitions is definitely
not where you're gonna be
making the bulk of your
money it's definitely gonna
be through your sponsors um
but yeah I feel like for
something like semi-finals
it's definitely kind of or
even just competitions it's
really more about the win than the money
Because it's not like we're
getting 100K to win semifinals.
10K is like... I feel like
that makes it seem smaller
than what it is.
Yeah.
But 10K is still a nice
chunk for a weekend of work.
It's a nice chunk for a weekend of work.
But I feel like for how much
work that we put into it
and how big it is,
I do think it kind of...
makes it seem like less.
So I wasn't going to go here,
but I'm going to go here now.
I was talking to Alex Kazan a week ago,
and we were talking about
the difference between
sponsorship money and prize money,
and that now there are
these new things popping up
on the internet, like Kill Taylor,
like Reps Ahead,
like these different ways
to make money as a
CrossFitter and get exposure.
And then there was this
Taylor versus world where
Taylor took on Jason Hopper,
Dallin pepper and Colton
Mertens and quarterfinals.
They broadcast it live and
they all won prize money.
And I asked her,
would you rather earn money
through competing,
like doing quarterfinals live,
or would you rather get to
sponsorship deals where you
have to be on Instagram all
the time and posting your stuff?
And she said,
I'd rather win it through competition.
Yeah.
But there just aren't that
many opportunities.
I definitely agree with that.
I feel like, I don't know, having to...
do all like be on Instagram
all the time and social media,
like that just,
it becomes very tedious and it, it just,
it's, it's work.
It just, it's,
it's just a work that you have to do.
Um,
if you could just go and just compete
and make money through that, I,
I would definitely prefer that.
Um,
I do love my sponsors and I think it's
awesome that we get to do that, but, um,
yeah, I think,
I would choose just
competing and making money through that.
If you were given the opportunity to do,
say,
quarterfinals live and a chance to
earn prize money,
would you be game for that?
I think I'd be pretty cool.
Especially now because I'm a
lot more confident during
that stage of the season.
So I'd be willing to do that.
Whereas a couple years ago,
I would have been...
like too nervous of like, oh, okay,
are my scores going to be good enough?
Am I for sure in?
But now I'm like, okay.
It's funny because Carolyn
Prevo is my co-host on Sunday night.
And she said that she feels
that women hold their
scores closer to the vest
than the men do.
Like the men...
like the men talks back and they,
and they trash talk all the time,
but the women are very
secretive about their
scores and where they are
in the leaderboard.
And if she believes that
less women would be
inclined to do the live quarterfinal,
I do think that like,
it would have to be
athletes who were like very
confident that they're for
sure making it.
I do think that would matter.
Um,
as far as the women, but it's just,
it's funny you bring that up.
Cause I I've heard that.
And I've heard that through
like qualifiers for just
like random off season
comps all the time.
Like my guy friends versus
my girlfriends are like, yeah,
like the women,
they never want to say
their scores or unless
they're like saying it to a
guy or that they're not
competing against or something like that.
And I was like, huh, that's interesting.
But yeah,
I definitely feel like whoever you choose,
it would have to be just
people who are like, okay,
I'm for sure in or for sure
going to be in the final
heat or something like that.
Yeah.
Well, everybody I've talked to were like,
I'd be game for it.
But those people are all
like people that like Emily
Rolfe and Ariel and Alex
and they're all like, yeah, I'm worried.
Yeah.
Especially at the quarterfinal level.
Like you guys will know
you're making semis.
Yeah.
Yeah, for sure.
So I think it's going to be
interesting to see where we
go over the next couple of years,
because I think the more
media outlets there are,
the more opportunities like
that are going to be out
there because of the
success of what people saw
with Taylor versus world.
Yeah.
Yeah.
I think so.
I think what those guys have been doing,
I think it's great for the sport.
I think it's, it's super entertaining.
And I mean,
it's also entertaining for
people who might not be
involved in CrossFit at all.
You know, they're like, oh, okay.
They're just throwing down
and they're working out and
there's money on the table
and you show up and do it.
Um, I think it's great.
We'll definitely see more of
that stuff pop up here and there.
When I think it's a lot
easier to explain to your
friends what CrossFit the
sport is by showing them
this one event that say, Hey,
you got to sit through this
weekend of four events or
four days of 15 events.
And at the end you'll kind
of see who wins.
Right.
Right.
Like it,
it's much quicker and easier to
show than like the CrossFit games.
Yeah, I think so too.
Um,
Yeah.
Even like the amount of
times people ask me, they're like,
oh wait, so,
so it's different events every time,
right?
Like it's, it's different events.
Like they, they still like,
don't get that.
Like, yes,
it's different events every time,
but I do think showing them
something like that would
definitely help be like, oh yeah,
you just do a workout and whoever wins.
Okay.
You have a better score and
then multiply that by however many,
and then, okay,
that's the CrossFit games.
Like, all right.
Yeah.
Yeah.
I think.
And it, and it shows the beauty of it,
right?
Like there's this big
competition between high
rocks and what we do and like, yeah,
they do the same thing every time,
but that can get boring
over time if you're not into that, right?
It changes all the time and
that's why it's more well-rounded.
Yeah.
I mean,
when I look at something like high rocks,
to me,
that's just the same as like
signing up for
a half marathon or a 5k or
you know I mean obviously
you're doing more than just
running but that's I see
that as like kind of the
same thing you know you're
signing up for a race or a
better comparison would be
the I don't know what
they're called where you're
running through mud and
climbing walls and you know
like stuff like that yeah
spartan race which they had
their heyday for a year or
two too and then kind of fell off
I think that's where High
Rocks is headed as well,
but I could be wrong.
Yeah.
I mean, to me, it sounds fun to go do,
like go do it one time or whatever,
but I couldn't see myself
doing it like all the time
or like as my lifestyle necessarily.
Yeah.
So it's funny.
I was watching behind the
scenes West coast today.
The new episode dropped like overnight,
I think.
And you're in there and you're,
you say to Savan that this
is the chillest you've ever seen.
You've ever seen a semifinal
B it wasn't just you.
It was like the whole thing.
And that was on Saturday.
Did that stay that way the
whole way through the weekend?
Yeah.
I definitely felt like that
on the first couple of days.
And I don't know if it was
just cause we were outside
and we were like working out,
we have the sunshine,
like it's great weather
where there's like grass and trees.
Um, it changed a little bit on day three.
Cause that's kind of where
you could see there's more
tension in the air.
Like people were starting to,
it was settling in whether
they were not going to make
it or they're on the line.
Um,
but it was still, it was still very pretty,
like a relaxed environment,
at least for myself.
And part of me thinks like,
I do think it was the environment,
but I also think that I was
just much more relaxed.
Um,
I used to get so much more nervous when
I competed,
especially before the first events.
Um, but now I'm just so much more in tune.
It's almost like a meditation for me.
So,
yeah,
I feel like I can actually be like
calm and relax and just do my thing.
But I just,
I really felt those vibes from everybody,
at least for the first
couple of days and a little
bit on the other day.
It's funny because seeing you at the semis,
I've always felt you to be chill.
Yeah.
Like you, even you might be tear,
teared up inside or tore up inside.
Right.
But out outside or externally,
you always look chill.
Yeah.
I mean,
I do think like you kind of want to
present yourself that way.
Um, like there's sometimes like,
even like years ago,
I would like tell myself, I'd be like,
okay,
I'm just going to admit it to myself
that I'm nervous.
I'll say it one time and
then I'm going to let it go.
And that was something that
I would have to do with myself.
Be like, it's building up,
it's building up.
And I'd be like,
okay, if I'm just going to like admit it,
look in the mirror and be like, yes,
you're very nervous right now.
Let it go.
And then it would help me tremendously.
Now I don't have to do that so much.
It's more like, okay,
before the competition starts,
if I feel I'll start
getting that like subconscious,
like build of like,
I feel my stomach is like
rising to my throat and
I'll just like close my
eyes for a second.
Just like take a couple of just big,
deep breaths and then be like, all right,
let's go.
And then I'm like, good from there on out.
Do you make a concerted
effort not to have too many
highs as well?
Because even like when you
have like a great event,
I don't see you like
pumping your chest or doing
anything like that.
You just kind of cross the line,
raise your hands and get
your water and you're done.
Cause I never,
I've never had an event win also.
I feel maybe that would change things.
And I do,
I do eventually want to be that
person who can have event wins,
but maybe I'm just not there yet.
I feel like I'm just so kind
of like right and smooth, um,
which is great, but it would be cool to,
you know,
win an event or two here and there.
Um,
But yeah,
even if I do something where I'm like, oh,
I was really proud of how that went.
I've learned,
especially from the games
last year to not let it, you know,
bring me way sky high
because that's just so much energy.
Like,
and this is something I've said before,
like when you have a really
bad event or a really good event,
whether you're super,
super up and positive or super,
super negative,
both of them just drain your energy.
And the best thing to do is
just stay neutral the whole time.
Otherwise,
you're just like this all weekend long.
And it's exhausting.
And it'll take a lot more from you.
It's so funny because I
watch a lot of pro sports, right?
And the athletes will say
that they have to stay even keel.
They can't get too far up or too far down.
And the great ones all say that.
So you're kind of in this
like Catch-22 where you're
in a sport where to be the
most well-rounded is the best.
And that may mean that you
don't get event wins.
A la Justin Medeiros, right?
Two-time CrossFit Games champion,
one event win.
Right.
How do you balance that?
So it does depend.
So it worked out for me at
semis to just keep
everything in the top 10
and then end up on top at
the end of the weekend.
Now,
depending if I was competing against
everybody that would have
looked a lot different or
if I was competing elsewhere or, you know,
cause if you look at like Tia Toomey,
she wins,
but she also wins a lot of events.
Like most events she ends up winning.
And so it's like,
if you're competing against
people where they can win,
like their idea or their
version of being
well-rounded is by winning
so much where it's like first place,
first place, first place, second place,
first place versus like
sixth place across the board.
It's a little different.
So I feel like it worked out
in my favor this time.
But I do think at a bigger
stage or at some point down the road,
that needs to be better.
Do you look at,
so like we have a stats and
information person who did
a combined leaderboard for all the semis.
Oh, yeah.
Do you ever look at those?
Sometimes,
even if there wasn't somebody
out there doing those stats,
sometimes I'll still be like, OK,
how did this end up here or there,
and do a little bit of comparison.
I know you can't really
fully compare because the
circumstances are always different.
But you can still get an
idea of how things could have gone.
But still, like I said,
it's just when you know who
you're competing against ahead of time,
it also changes your
mindset going into the competition.
Like if you know you're
competing against this
group of people versus this
group of people, then you also,
you kind of know what you have to do.
You know,
like when I finished the weekend at semis,
I wasn't like, oh, I did great.
Like there was so many
things that I was like,
This all needs to be better.
This wasn't great.
This wasn't great.
This wasn't great.
It just so happened to work out for me,
but it's like, okay,
I go compete against these
people that you just,
it's just a different mindset going in.
And so it's, you can compare a little bit,
but you also have to take
it with a grain of salt.
Yeah.
And I always say when,
when we're putting this information out,
like they're not racing each other,
right?
If you had,
if you had people from Europe besides you,
you may change the way
you're doing the workout
because they're a tick ahead of you.
And then you could push
harder to get past them.
Right.
So it takes all of that out of it,
which does you the numbers a little bit.
Exactly.
And I think even if we all
went and did these workouts
by ourselves in a dark room,
it would still,
it would look completely different.
It's just when you're going
and you're toe to toe,
you're changing things.
Or if somebody's up here,
you're changing things.
And it's just,
you can't do that unless
you're literally with those
people on the spot.
And you had by far the most
difficult run of any semifinal.
It was definitely, I mean, if you,
obviously our times were like,
way longer than everybody else's.
I really liked it.
I really liked the stairs.
It just made it more time.
But I don't know.
I don't know if it was even
more difficult.
It's just different, you know?
I do think because it's like, okay,
you have to push going up the stairs,
but then going down,
you can only go so fast.
So you can kind of use that to like,
like almost recover a little bit,
but then it's like a
counter effects because
then you're going up the stairs,
which is much different
than running on flat ground, obviously.
Well,
the other thing that I think that is
not taken into effect is
what happens to your legs on the stairs.
And then the next day you
have to do front squats.
Like that's going to be
different from your region to another,
to another region.
Yeah.
It's just, it's just different.
That's the thing.
I mean, you just,
you can't really compare you.
You can look, but it's just,
there's so many little
things that just change things.
And then it's,
being outside and like and I
mean I love being outside
but it just it makes it
different you know versus
being inside ac you know
yeah and if it's hot there
in california you you guys
are being drained from the
heat and not in ac yeah
there's there's so many
factors so many factors um
so so I take it you don't
look at that and it doesn't
matter to what anything you're doing um
I do, but I also know the other factors.
I'll check it out and be like, okay,
but then I'm also going to be like,
you know, it's not perfect.
So what I look at there as
an analyst is you finished
in the combined leaderboard
way better than you did at
the games last year.
Right.
So,
and you have all this stuff against you
with, you had to run stairs,
you were outside, all of those things,
and how that could lend to
even a better performance with the games.
So as an analyst,
not as like an athlete or
anything like that.
Yeah.
Well,
I know I'm doing much better at the
games this year than last year.
Yeah.
So last year you made one
cut and then got cut.
Is that motivation for this
year to not get cut?
Or do you have bigger
aspirations than that?
I mean,
I definitely don't want to get cut.
I definitely want to compete
all four days.
But I also want to do better than that.
I don't know what the cuts are.
Is it the same?
They never tell you until we're there.
I mean,
let's say if it is the same where
it's like you do two days
and it cuts to 30, one day cuts to 20.
I mean,
I for sure want to do better than
that because I definitely
want to be better than just top 20,
you know?
Yeah.
Yeah.
Do you sit down with your
coach and talk about like
what your goals are?
And are they even
leaderboard related or is
it more personal?
Yeah.
I feel like whenever, pretty much anytime,
whenever I come up with a
goal kind of for myself,
I'll go and tell my coach,
like I'll discuss it.
Like me and my husband will
be like talking about it all the time.
And then I'll talk to my
coach and then I'll be like, okay,
now it's like, it's more real.
Like, okay, we're going to do this.
So yeah,
I'll like sit and like have a
whole conversation with my coach.
Um, and yeah, it can be anything.
It could be, you know,
just doing whether I just
want to do better at the
games or if I want to, you know, do this,
or if I just want to be a better rower or,
you know, something like that.
Um, or like, you're like, Oh, I just,
let's get stronger.
Let's, let's do this.
Um,
or it could be like enjoying
what I do or it could be anything really.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Speaking of your coach, uh, Matthew Bryant,
correct with golden line, uh,
that he seems to be growing.
Um,
I talked to Jamie Hygieia before semis.
She talked about him as their coach.
Um, uh,
And then Trayvon who I've
gotten to know over the
years is now with him.
Do you ever get the
opportunity to work out with,
with those other people
under him or are you guys
kind of do your own thing?
So most part,
everybody has completely like
individual programming,
but there are several
people kind of around in the area.
Um,
I would say as far as like competitive
level wise, the,
the closest one would be Trayvon.
And he's just like an hour,
like an hour and a half ish less away.
So when it's like,
we're coming up for like semifinals,
we'll definitely get
together and train as much as we can.
Um,
and then just like other times kind of
random throughout the year, like we'll,
we'll go do water Palooza.
So we'll get together before that.
And.
train or just you know get
some workouts in or um yeah
just get together um does
that help you uh-huh how
much does that help you I
mean it's great I love
working out with other
people because then I mean
I'm used to training alone
so it's just like a fun
little treat to work out
with someone especially
someone who's obviously
really good and competitive
and um can definitely
beat me in a lot of workouts.
So it's very beneficial to me.
Um, so yeah, I love it.
And he's gotten so much
better since joining gold line.
Cause I don't think he's
been there as long as you have as he.
No.
So he's been there.
I don't know how long he's been with Matt.
So he,
that was how I kind of first got
introduced to Matt.
Um, one of my friends was like, Oh,
this is a guy that coaches Trayvon.
And then I was like, okay.
Cause I didn't really,
before I got a coach,
I didn't really know.
I was like, do I need a coach?
Is that something I should do?
And then I was like, then they,
they were like, oh,
well they do like individual programming.
And that was something that
I was initially interested in.
I was like, okay,
maybe this is something I
should be doing.
Like,
instead of just doing a general program,
I should probably have
somebody who's actually going to
Gimmie stuff specific to me.
So I'm not just kind of like
trying to figure out what to do.
Um,
and then that was one of the things
that they said, they're like, oh, well,
he's been coaching treatment for,
you know, I, at this point,
I think he had been
coaching him for like a
year or something.
And so I was like, oh, okay.
I know treatment treatment's really good.
Yeah.
Um, I'll check him out.
So.
Awesome.
So how long did it take you
to develop the trust with
that coach and Matt to do that?
Because that's gotta be
important at this level.
Um, I mean, we met,
I went and did a training
camp with them and we kind
of just started working
together right away after that.
Um,
I feel like the trust was kind of
developed over time.
We definitely,
we communicate all the time.
We talk to each other, um,
pretty much every day almost
um and so yeah it's just a
lot of just going back and
forth and just like
communicating um and I feel
like when I first met him I
kind of told him I was like
hey because this was in
november of 2022 so it was
before the season started
for 2023 last year I was
like hey um this is what I
plan on doing next year um
I plan on making it to the games
So do you want to help me do that?
And he was like, all right, let's do it.
But yeah, I don't know.
I mean,
we're at this point now where
there's just like a ton of
trust and we have a really
great relationship and yeah,
he's the best.
So he liked that confidence.
Yeah.
I mean, I guess, because I told him,
I was like, I don't know.
Cause I know, I feel like as a coach,
you probably deal with a
lot of people who are like,
they say they want to do something,
but they don't like really want to do it,
you know?
And then I was like, well,
this is what I'm doing.
It's not even if I want to or not, like,
this is what I'm doing.
So otherwise I'd just be wasting my time.
All right,
we're going to finish up with
some fun stuff.
And so in researching you,
I looked through your Instagram.
I noticed you have like a
really killer garage gym now.
Yeah, that was new this year.
We did that a couple months
after the games last year.
We started putting that together.
Can you do pretty much
everything in there?
No, I, so I work out in there a lot.
Um, maybe, maybe the majority, maybe half.
Um, and then I go to the gym a lot.
Um,
I have a gym that's pretty close by and
then there's also some gyms
in the area if I need to go there.
Um, just kind of have a lot of options,
but I definitely do a lot
of the work in my garage
and it's been so helpful as
far as being efficient, as far as,
okay, I can,
if I have to do something
where I'm just going to wake up and go,
I can do that.
Or if I need to come in and
eat something real quick, or if I need to,
you know, get like, there's just,
it's never a,
cause I remember last year I
would go to a gym that
wasn't really close to me
and I would have to just
like pack up all my stuff.
And then I would be there
just like all day.
And I'd have to like bring
my lunch and like do all this stuff.
And like, now it's like, okay,
I'm either at home or I can
run to the gym that's close
by and then run home really quick.
And it's just so much more convenient.
And I feel like I can get a
lot more work done that way
and just be more productive.
I noticed it looks like in recent months,
like all your name placards
have been hung and all of
that stuff on the one wall
to make it your garage gym.
Was that a concerted effort or?
Yeah.
I was like, I didn't really care that much,
but it was, it was more Anton.
My husband, he was like, he's like, yeah,
we got to hang up all your
posters and everything.
And then once we did that, I was like, oh,
okay, this,
this actually looks a lot cooler.
And I do like this.
And so, yeah,
we have a few more that we
still need to put up right now, actually.
But yeah, I like the way it looks.
It's much less boring that way.
uh your gold medal from the
west semi-final is it hung
anywhere or just in a sock
drawer it's it's in the
garage it's just like
hanging on a handle right
now um we're not sure
whether we're gonna leave
it there or not I really
like it because it's like
it's so heavy it's just so
it's solid gold and it's so
thick I was like this is a nice metal
but we'll we'll have to find
a good spot for it because
it's like it's just like
hanging next to like
another metal from another
comp was there but did you
hear what happened to ariel
lowen when she tried to
hang her metal from
wadapalooza in the on the
wall no what happened uh
dylan was hanging it for
and hit one of the main
water lines with the nail
and it started spraying all
through the gym
Oh my gosh.
Okay, I remember that.
I remember seeing something about that.
But I couldn't remember what it was.
Oh my gosh.
So if you ever permanently hang it,
just make sure not to hit a water line.
We will avoid that for sure.
I think she hasn't hung her
bronze medal from the games
because of that.
They're afraid they're going
to hit something else.
Maybe just put just like hooks.
Yeah.
I don't know.
Yeah.
Don't want to break the waterline again.
Yeah.
It's cool.
It's cool because people
that do the garage thing,
like I'm close with Emily
Rolfe and like they built a
shelf for every event win
she has at the games.
So those like little plaques that you get.
Yeah.
That she has a little shelf
that has those across it.
See, that's why an event wins.
I need to win an event.
There you go.
We'll see.
If you were going to win an
event right now with your skill set,
what would it have to be?
I don't know.
It'd have to be like the
perfect combination of like, I don't know,
like long,
grimy movements that like slow you down.
I don't even know.
Just something's ugly, I feel like.
Is it hard to think about
winning an event with Tia Beck?
No.
No?
I think... I love that answer.
She's such a beast, but she is human,
and I don't know.
I think...
I mean, as far as myself,
because like I said,
I don't know if I'm there
yet where I'm just like event winner here,
there, everywhere.
I hope to be one day.
But I mean,
I know plenty of other people
who can definitely get their event wins.
So if that means anything.
Yeah.
I mean, she dominated the East,
but she did not set like
the records in every event.
Right.
Right.
Like other people beat her
in events around the world.
But that's another thing
where it's like when you're
not competing against everybody,
it changes things.
So it's like maybe she could have,
but I don't know.
Yeah.
But there are people that
are so good at certain things.
Yeah.
Like Laura's so good at machines, right?
Laura's just great at machines.
Alex is great at legless rope climbs.
Yeah.
Like there are people that
are just great at certain aspects.
Yeah.
Yeah, like, I don't think, I don't,
there was no way Tia was
going to beat Alex on event
three with the Legos real times.
Like,
I think even if they went to head-to-head,
I don't think so.
Yeah.
And same thing with a bunch
of other events, so.
Yeah.
Well, speaking of Alex,
and we talked about Colton, Swolverine,
like, when I go through your Instagram,
I don't know if there's a
company that backs their
athletes as much as
Swolverine backs theirs.
They're the best.
I, and it's crazy.
Cause I swollering was,
they like believed in me pretty early on,
which is really cool.
Um,
cause I started working with them like
after it was like,
I want to say early February of 2022.
So that was before like
I hadn't even competed as an
individual at semifinals yet, you know,
like,
and they had already like kind of
reached out to me and I had
met Alex and all of that.
And so I don't know, to me,
that was really cool.
And like, here we are now and they're just,
they're the best.
They seem to be the best at
talent evaluation early on.
Yeah.
Yeah.
noticed that just the people
who like they work with I'm
like wow like how do y'all
even how do y'all know this
like how do y'all find
these people but yeah it's
amazing but they like it's
it seems like every fourth
post of yours is them
saying something nice about
you yeah oh yeah they are
totally like hype squad all
the way I remember when I
first made the games last year like I
Alex,
like she comes up to me and I think
she just,
she was just like shaking with
excitement.
And she just like, like she could,
she almost couldn't even talk.
And I was like, oh my gosh, like, like,
oh gosh, I love her.
Yeah.
I've seen an interview with her on Savant.
She just seems like such a
genuine person and the
company is just amazing.
So she's such a sunshine.
I like that.
That's a great way to put it.
Um, so here's another question for you.
What's it like being married
to your media guy?
Well, he,
he got like super into like
cameras and lenses and photography,
videography, all that.
Um, just like randomly, he just was like,
Oh, I want to learn about this stuff.
Um,
and I feel like he's always kind of had
like a really good eye for it.
Like even like when we were younger,
like before the CrossFit
days and I would just have him like,
you know,
take a photo of me if we're on
vacation or something.
And he was always just really good at it.
Um, and then one day he was like, wow,
like it'd be cool.
Like,
cause if he was like hanging out with
people who had their cameras and stuff,
he's like, oh,
I want to like learn how to do that.
Like that, that looks really nice.
Um,
And so he just started
getting into it and he's
really good at it.
Um, and then he was like, you know what?
I maybe I'll make like a,
just like a media page so I
can like post my work, you know?
Cause he,
at first he was like putting it
on his own account.
He was like, well, I feel like,
I don't know, this is weird.
Maybe I should just make my
own page to put the stuff on.
Um,
And so, yeah, it's,
it makes things easier if I
need something quick or on the fly.
I'm like, okay, I need this done, you know,
this weekend,
or can we get this done by
tomorrow or something?
I can just be like, all right, let's,
let's knock this out.
So it helps with a lot of things.
Yeah.
And it's gotta be awesome that like,
he can just walk out to the
garage and shoot you on a random day.
You don't have to have anybody come in,
into your house, any of that stuff,
because he's just there doing it all.
And he is really good at it.
Yeah.
And I mean, that's the thing.
I mean, he has a million hobbies.
He does so many things.
So it's like,
I'll try and bug him as much
as I can if I need something done.
But...
Yeah.
And he,
he puts a lot of work into it if he
does do it.
And I'm like making him like, okay,
I need this.
And then he's like upstairs and he's like,
okay,
now I got to edit it and do this and
that.
And, but he does, he does a lot for me.
So.
Yeah.
The thing I hate most about
media is editing.
If I had somebody to do all my editing,
I would be, I would love this 110%.
Now it's just 98% because I
got to do editing.
Yeah, like with videos and all that,
I mean, that's a lot of work.
So, I mean, like photos, it's pretty easy,
you know,
especially if you can get it
right out of the camera and
then just do like maybe a
quick filter or whatever you want to do.
But the videos, that's a lot of work.
So, explain this to me.
My shirt.
Your shirt.
Uh, it's,
it seems to be a collage of you
with the main picture.
I think you've got a cup of,
or a scoop of Wolverine in your mouth.
That's my grains powder.
Um, so like people have been asking me,
cause it's like noble did
the jerseys last year and
everybody's like, Oh, like where,
where can we get the jerseys or all this?
And then I'm like, Oh, well,
it's go rock is the title sponsor now.
And I don't think they're doing that.
I think that was just a noble thing.
So there's nothing.
Um,
and then a couple of weeks passed by
and I was like,
maybe we should just do a shirt.
Like, you know, it wouldn't be that hard,
especially cause I'm good friends with,
um,
Rocky who owns Cambro and he makes
just super awesome apparel
and shirts and all this stuff.
So I was like, okay, well,
Maybe I could get with him
and tell him the idea that we have and,
you know, do that.
So the main thing was like,
we really liked the picture.
And that was something that
I'd done for Swolverine.
Just something different.
I was like,
I'll just have the scoop and
have it like it's a pipe,
but it's like nutrition.
It's my greens and reds.
Um, so we'll use that.
And then I was like, okay,
if you can like cartoonize
it or stylize it or do whatever you do.
Um, and then he was like, well,
maybe we could add in some
more shots and here and there.
I was like,
I just want something that just
says Doma in big letters
that people can wear so
they can wrap something at the games.
So yeah, we decided to make a shirt.
Uh,
any thought behind the iron maiden shirt,
big fan, or just like the shirt?
Um,
I like Iron Maiden.
I just like rock in general.
And he gave me that shirt and I was like,
this is just an awesome
shirt and I love it.
And that's also kind of how
I wanted my shirt to be
because I like the fit.
And so I was like, if we can just do the,
like kind of the same thing there.
And it was just perfect that
it happened to also be the main photo.
And so.
Yeah.
So cool.
I'm such a music buff.
Like that's my second love.
My first love is doing this and CrossFit.
Second love is music.
So I always notice those
like little touches of things.
Um, Oh, I know.
Nevermind.
I was thinking, cause,
cause you're in Columbus, right?
Yeah.
Okay.
I was confusing with, uh, Cleveland, the,
the rock and roll hall of fame.
Yeah.
We, my daughter is into music too.
And so like for her birthday,
every once in a while she
wants to go to the rock and
roll hall of fame.
So we've done that.
And it's a lot of fun.
It's fun.
And she got it all for me
for that part for sure.
So, so yeah.
So that's all I really had for you today.
I'm just super excited for you.
It was fun watching you out there be the,
the picture of consistency.
Yes.
Love it.
And now, now you're, you're going for,
because in this day and age,
like when you get to the games,
a hundred points means a lot.
Yeah.
So like event wins are super important.
Yes.
That was something I saw actually.
Cause I mean, I didn't even know this.
I mean, well,
I know how a lot of times
when the further it goes down,
you're placing, you get even less points.
Like instead of doing three each,
you'll only get two each.
But even when I was looking at people,
if you got last place on an event,
at least at semis, you got zero points.
I was like, man,
I would really suck to not get any.
I'm like, what a difference.
I would be remiss in not
asking about the barbell incident.
Because we've all done it.
We've all done it.
I've chipped teeth.
I've done all those things.
You took a barbell to the head.
Yes.
What exactly happened?
So we're lifting.
We,
we had done clean and jerks and then we
were going to snatch.
So I was really pumped.
Cause I had,
I had P I hit a PR on my clean and jerk.
So I was feeling really just
like jazzed up and I'm like, yeah,
I feel strong and powerful.
And I was like, let's snatch.
Let's let's hit a PR on the snatch.
Um,
And there was this cue that
someone had given me
literally like a couple of
days before about when the bar path,
when the bar passes to snap
your chin down for that stability to,
I don't know if it's
something about loosening the traps,
but it's like more of just
like a stable position with
your chin down.
Um, and I was like, okay,
I'm going to try that.
And I was just literally
warming up with the barbell
and I snapped the chin down.
definitely too early.
And I basically just pulled
it as hard as I possibly could.
Cause I was feeling good.
I was like, Oh, and next thing I know,
it's just like blackness
and I'm on the floor and, um,
all this liquid is coming
out and I'm just like,
why is my nose bleeding?
Um, and why are my eyes closed?
But then I realized that my
nose was not bleeding.
Um,
and it just took me a few minutes to
understand kind of what was happening.
Um, we, we walked away and I like,
cause my head was,
my hand was holding my head,
but I didn't register why I
was doing that.
And then eventually I
started asking the question, I'm like,
can I move my hand?
And they're like, um, let's try it.
And then I move it,
but it's just continuing to
just squirt out all the blood.
And so I'm like, Oh, um,
but I was just so annoyed.
I was like, man,
like I really wanted to snatch.
Um,
But my coach and I kind of
decided that it was a good thing cause it,
it slowed me down.
Um,
it forced me to take a little bit of a
step back, um, when it was necessary.
And you said it was an empty barbell.
Yeah.
Yeah, I mean, that's the thing.
That's what people would ask about, like,
oh, how much weight was it?
I'm like, guys,
if there was weight on the bar,
it would have moved slower.
I wouldn't have pulled it as hard.
Or I would have pulled it as hard,
but it would have, like, when it's empty,
you can pull it so much
harder and faster versus, like, you know,
the bar's going to move so
much slower when there's a
bunch of weight on it.
Yeah, every time I've hit myself,
it's been with an empty barbell.
Yeah.
Every time.
Yeah.
Yeah.
The only exception is I went overhead once,
my shoulder gave out,
and it came down on me.
Yeah.
I don't.
I thought about that happening.
And I'm like,
I need to stop thinking about that.
I don't want that to happen.
Yeah.
It actually,
that was more of like a glancing blow.
It didn't hurt as much as the up,
the power like up through it.
yeah it because that's the
thing like going up that's
why it like turned into it
was just like a flap the
and that's I think that's
why it was so hard for it
to stop um the bleeding for
so many hours was just I
don't know just like the
way like the u-shape was
like I don't know well
here's here's a hint if
you're a male and you shave
your face and you cut your
face it just will not stop bleeding
there's something about like
the the blood vessels in
your face are so close to
the surface like it's hard
to get it to stop yeah like
your head is just so
vascular that's what
everybody was saying you
know like the head just
bleeds it just bleeds and
bleeds and I was like okay
but it's it's interesting
because I had literally I'd
hit myself in this exact
same spot before when I was
like 12 and it was the exact same thing
I didn't cut this,
like the skin didn't cut or anything,
but I had got a concussion
in the exact same spot that
I got a concussion a few months ago.
And,
but it was just like that time it was
like concussed.
And then my nose was like huge.
Cause I had broken my nose
and it was just like bright yellow,
but this time it was like
concussion and then stitch,
but it was like the same thing.
honestly last question once
you podium at the games
where are you going to go
to like relax after the
games because I know you're
an outdoors girl that
you've got to get out and
do something yeah
definitely got to get out
and do something just kind
of like whatever I don't
even like I don't even care
to like plan anything I
just want to like go
completely just like rogue
No plan, no cares, no routines.
Just like, I don't know,
get in the car and just
like drive somewhere and
don't come back for a while.
There's certain things that
we do have planned.
Like there's like this,
a couple of camping trips
and stuff coming up.
But yeah,
I just want to get out of town
and not care.
Is there any plan to go to
Scotland for the Rogue Invitational?
Yes, we are definitely,
definitely planning to do that.
So,
and it's just perfect time of the year.
It's early November.
So the idea is that we would
go compete and then hang
out for like a week or two
and just run around a little bit,
whether we want to hop over
to Ireland or go to main
Europe or whatever.
Yeah, that would be a blast.
Well, Abby, as always, super fun.
Thank you so much for doing this.
Thank you to everybody listening.
We will catch everybody next
time on Gladstone Media Podcast.
Thank you so much.