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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.
I
What is going on, everybody?
Welcome to the Clydesdale Media Podcast.
We are live with none other
than Alex Kazan.
What's going on, Alex?
I just woke up.
Yeah, yeah.
And you've got a great big
blender full of smoothie.
I do.
It's breakfast.
Easy breakfast.
Yeah,
we got to let you get your nutrition in.
I'm not usually that hungry in the morning,
so having a smoothie just
makes it easier to get calories in.
My nutrition coach wants me
to eat breakfast right away,
but it is so hard for me to
get up and immediately eat.
Nobody wants to stand over
the stove at wake-up time.
Agreed.
Um, so we haven't talked in a while,
so I'm going to go back to
a couple of things from
last year's games and then we'll,
we'll kind of move forward through that.
But, um, last year was kind of,
you have the games as
you're coming out party.
Yeah, I think so.
Yeah.
You, you won most improved.
Was, was that a surprise?
Uh, to win most improved.
Yeah.
Yeah.
I think, like,
I didn't obviously know who else.
I kind of forgot that was an award,
to be honest.
I know they did Rookie of the Year,
and then when they, like,
started talking about Most Improved,
I was like, oh, yeah, like,
I guess that makes sense.
So, like, it didn't shock me because, like,
crunching the numbers, like,
that was a big jump.
But, yeah,
I kind of forgot that that was a thing.
Do you display that at all,
or is that something you
just kind of have?
I have the belt in my garage,
so I have a little wall
where I put my signs and little things.
So it's in the garage.
Cool.
Yeah.
So we talked to you at the
games last year.
You had just started working
with Chris Henshaw.
Are you still working with him today?
Yeah, yeah.
So he's still my guy.
He does all my conditioning programming,
so running, biking, swimming.
all that good stuff.
And he's actually coming to
Vegas at the end of the month.
So I'm excited to see him.
Cool.
So you finished the games in fifth place.
I'm sure you had to sit down
with Justin and Chris, probably both.
What,
what did you learn from that year at
the games and what did,
what did it change in your
training going forward?
Um, there was obviously, like,
all your holes in competitions, like,
they always get exposed, so, um,
my Olympic lifting, so, like, my snatch,
like, that was one we already knew,
but just another reminder that, like,
we have to keep working on it, like,
super diligently, um, my running, I was,
like, middle of the pack,
and so that was another thing, like,
we need to be on that, um, but yeah,
it was really just, like, uh, I mean,
as most competitions are,
you just go through each event, you-
figure out where you could do better,
where you did well, what's working,
what's not working.
So for me,
really just like getting more
fit all around technique work,
things like that.
So running is monostructural.
It's very different than
everything else you do.
Snatching is a strength movement and it's,
it's in a group with things
that you're really good at.
Is it more frustrating that
you can't get that or can't get the run?
Well, now snatching, like, obviously,
I didn't display it very
well at West Coast.
Now it's, like, becoming... Now, like,
my physical capabilities are there.
So now it's just rewiring my head to, like,
believe it and rewiring my head to, like,
execute it.
So I'm not as frustrated with that.
Like, I...
I know it will click
eventually and it's starting to.
So just having patience there.
The running is frustrating
because it's one of those things like,
like with a snatch,
like I know I have the
physical capability.
So it's more just like, okay,
you need to like figure out
how to make it happen.
With running, like obviously like,
You do have a certain physical capability,
but you can improve on it.
And so I get frustrated not
being better than I am where I'm at.
You just always want to be
better than you are because
it's kind of a slower
progress rate than I was hoping.
But still grinding, still working on it.
That's really fascinating because...
So I came from like a
powerlifting thing when I
jumped into CrossFit,
and the Olympic lifts were
so hard for me.
Yeah.
And I wanted to power them.
I didn't focus on the
technique it took to get them done.
And so it was so frustrating
that as a strong person,
I couldn't get the lifts right.
Oh, I totally understand.
I think for the longest time,
I was so frustrated because
I didn't understand –
how to fix it.
But like now I'm learning
the technique enough that I
know how to fix it.
So like while my placement
at West Coast wasn't great,
like for that event,
finishing it and also
having misses and being able to like,
okay, you missed it.
What happened?
Like fix it was really big
in the sense of a couple of years ago,
had I missed a lift,
the whole train would have
fell off and I probably
would have missed like 10 more times.
So that part's getting there.
Are you to a point where the
ladder is easier or a one rep max?
Well, I don't know.
They're probably equal at this point.
The girls are just really good.
Like snatching now,
there's just so many girls
that are so good that
To be honest,
I'd still probably be average on both.
I can hit around 200 snatch now,
but now the big girls are
throwing around 220, 225.
So that is definitely, I think,
a movement in CrossFit that
has grown significantly.
But the good thing is you
have some things that
you're the best in the world at.
Right.
And,
and those home runs can offset if you
can just stay in that like upper third.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
My hope is to like be in the upper third.
Cause I think like I was
always in the middle,
like with like all these events.
So like,
I want to at least get like up a
little bit more.
Yeah.
So, so you move into the off season,
you immediately then get an
invite to rogue.
You go do that.
You put on a show.
With the deadlift.
You won two events at that event there,
right?
Yes, sir.
I won the deadlift and the
back squatting event.
Yeah.
So did that give you
confidence at all going
into the offseason?
Because at that point,
you didn't really compete after that.
Yeah, of course.
Like, it's always, like,
very confidence-boosting,
placing that well in the
best women in the world that are there.
And, of course, like,
I also take it with a grain
of salt that Rogue is, like,
my bread and butter,
and it probably always will be.
Like,
their programming is very
strength-biased and skill-biased, whereas,
like,
a competition like Wadapalooza is
very straight-up CrossFit, you know?
So...
Yeah, definitely confidence.
I had a lot more like little
injuries and just like
things that I didn't expect
to deal with this offseason
that I had to.
So we had like all these
plans of like diving
straight first and all
these things and we didn't
quite get to the way we had hoped,
but still was able to like
hit a lot of things, which is nice.
so was the injury the reason
you didn't really do any of
the competitions after
rogue or was yeah yeah I
just wanted to like train I
um I had a bone bruise in
my wrist I actually got it
right like my first workout
back from the games I
developed it um and bone
bruises are really slow to heal um
especially in your wrists
where there's not a lot of blood flow.
And in CrossFit,
you use your wrists for everything.
So I just was teetering this
line for so long where it would be, like,
kind of getting better,
and then I'd piss it off.
It'd be kind of getting better,
and then I'd piss it off, like,
over and over and over.
And I couldn't snatch, which was, like,
the one thing that I really needed to do.
So I was thankful that
didn't show up at Rogue other than, like,
the light barbell.
So it kind of just, like...
It took a long time.
I think at the end of October,
I finally was like, okay,
I'm not going to do
anything that pisses it off.
So I actually gave it that time.
But by the time it was
actually getting better, I just was like,
I don't want to compete.
I want to train.
Now we need to train.
So that was kind of the
reasoning behind that.
So you went to water Palooza,
even though you didn't
compete and you just kind
of hung out and you did
some activations with Reebok.
What was,
what was that experience like
being on the other side for once?
Oh, my gosh.
So exhausting.
I thought I thought I
literally thought it was
going to be like a vacation and like fun.
And it was fun.
Don't get me wrong.
But like I was zonked by the end of it.
And I remember like Justin was like,
make sure like training is
a priority when you go.
And I was like, yeah, like, no problem.
Like, I'm going to have so much time.
It's going to be easy.
It was not.
I was like so tired.
And I think just like so
much walking and like so
much social engagement.
It was like it was exhausting.
It is.
So I call Waterpalooza the
CrossFit family reunion.
Yeah.
Everybody's there.
Like,
you can't walk more than four steps
without seeing somebody you know.
And I imagine that after
your performance last year,
everybody recognized you
walking through the crowds
at Waterpalooza.
It was definitely really sweet.
Like, I'll ask for a few pictures.
And yeah, it was very sweet.
but even with all that,
it is such a sensory
overload with the lights
and the music and the, like,
it's being in a,
it's like being in a dance
club for 48 hours straight.
Yeah.
The music is loud.
I remember too, like at one point,
like you're just trying to
like find somewhere to
escape it and you really can't.
Not at all.
Yeah.
We, um,
I didn't get there this year,
and it's actually probably
the best year to miss
because of all the rain and
stuff like that.
Yeah.
But, man, the last two years,
I just remember how
exhausted I was just watching the event.
So I can't even imagine
having to do activations
and all that stuff on top
of it and the obligations with Reebok.
So you get through Waterpalooza.
The season starts...
was were you good to go
everything wrist was good
going into the open yeah
yeah I felt relatively like
healthy for sure and so
what did you set any goals
for this season uh for
which part all of it all of
it I mean yeah yeah like
obviously you want to do
better than you did last year so like
the podium is and was definitely a goal.
But also like something
that's really important to me is like,
not placing all my eggs in
the basket of like that's
my goal and if I don't get
it then like I lost so
obviously just like making
improvements all around and
this year it's gonna be
harder like I think the
field this year is um
there's a lot of really
good women and obviously we
lost like there's people
that aren't competing but
there's also a lot of
people that are that are
really good so um yeah just
staying in the fight that's that's it
And when Tia comes back,
it shakes up the whole top
of the leaderboard.
Yeah.
I mean, like I,
I like the most realistic thing is like,
we're all fighting for second.
Like, I mean,
if it's anything that she
displayed at semifinals,
like she's back and she's
back full throttle, you know,
she won six championships for a reason.
Right.
Yeah.
Yeah.
But it,
I'm one of the few people
that don't believe in absolutes, right?
Sports is sports for a reason.
We watch it for the drama,
and anything can happen.
Oh, for sure, for sure.
But I just mean in the sense
of if she's healthy and
nothing horrific happens,
if semifinals was any indication,
she's back.
At Rogue,
I feel like she had a couple
events where you could tell
she was still training it back up.
um like the back squats like
I feel like in the past
like she would have like
not had to belt up so much
and like just went faster
but like you could tell she
was being a little cautious
and the deadlift like she
wasn't wearing a belt again
like a little more cautious
but like I don't know just
seeing her compete at the
east like you could tell
she was like ready like she
was there yeah yeah I was
at the east this year it
was it was pretty impressive to watch
Yeah.
But enough about her.
I'm going to come back to you.
And kind of like something
overarching with the sport.
One thing that I've always
admired with you is your
work-life balance.
Your work is training and
getting ready for the games
and competing in CrossFit.
But you have such a good balance.
And we're seeing so many
cases where young women are
having to take a step back
from the sport.
And we just found out this
week that Emma Lawson
almost didn't compete this year,
according to her coach in
his YouTube blog.
Sorry, say that one more time.
I'm sorry.
So we learned this week that
Emma Lawson almost didn't
compete because of some stuff going on,
like burnout and the mental
struggle of all that,
according to her coach in
his YouTube blog.
Yeah.
So...
is do you make a concerted
effort with that work-life
balance or do you do you
feel that as well even with
all that yeah I mean it's a
hard sport I think like as
a spectator especially like
I used like I watched the
crossfit games a couple
years before I made it like
I was there and
I didn't follow like a training regimen.
I just kind of like did what I wanted.
It's really easy to like
glamorize the life of a CrossFit athlete.
And I was really guilty of it as well.
Like you just see Instagram
and you're like, wow,
like that's like the most perfect life.
Like you get paid to train
and like work out and
compete and all eyes are on you.
Like, but like the, once you get,
I feel like for me, like,
this last year,
like once you get to a certain level,
you're no longer,
it doesn't quite feel like
you're climbing this mountain.
It feels like other people
are trying to drag you off the mountain.
And I'm not even like the
fittest on earth.
Like I'm fit and I feel that way.
So like I can imagine like
Emma being on the podium a
couple of times,
like people just expect things of you.
They expect you to be the best.
And of course that's what you want too.
but you can't control other
people and training's hard.
It's, it's not easy,
especially like when you're
sore and you want to go to
a lake day with your friends,
but you can't because you
have three sessions you
have to do and you're not
going to be done by the time they leave.
Like, it's definitely like, for me,
the hardest part is like with my husband,
like we don't,
we used to do so much
together on like the weekends.
Like we'd go camping.
We would,
Like,
we just would fly by the seat of our
pants and, like, do all this fun stuff.
And, like, now we can't.
We have one day together,
and I'm too tired.
Like,
I can't go on a hike because I don't
want to exert any extra energy.
And it's, like, real talk.
Like,
it's difficult because then you don't
have those, like, things to bond over.
CrossFit's really selfish.
Like...
there's just, it's,
you have to do all the
things you have to do.
And yeah, it's definitely difficult.
So this year,
like I have caught myself
feeling a lot of those feelings sometimes,
but then like, for me,
what always grounds me is like,
you just have to do what you can do.
And at the end of the day, like,
you have to be okay with
whatever that ends up being.
And as long as you're stay
true to who you are and to
the people around you, then like,
it's all going to be okay.
Like I was,
I had people that loved me
before I did well in CrossFit.
And as long as I stay true to myself,
I'll have people that love
me after CrossFit.
So.
is it, is it good for you that,
that Jake isn't really a
part of CrossFit?
Like he's just your husband, your fan,
or is, is,
does that make it more
difficult because you have
this other thing you have
to give so much attention to?
No,
I think like both ways would have their
advantages and their cons.
Like if he was a CrossFit games athlete,
I guess he would also like
just be in the same boat with me.
Right.
Like he would like,
we would just be doing the
same things and it'd be fun.
And we used to work out
together all the time.
So I missed that a lot.
That was how we met and like
started dating was we would
work out together at CrossFit.
And so I'm really looking
forward to that after I'm
done competing is like
going to classes again with him.
And, but anyway, the way it is now, like,
obviously it is nice,
like for like job security,
he has a different job and that's good.
And like, he,
he like has the ability to
help take care of things
that I just can't.
But yeah, I just miss him.
I miss like the quality time and his job.
He works long in California.
So we're,
we do long distance during this
part of the year,
which part of it's good
because I'm so busy with
training and it helps me
not feel pressure to like rush around,
but it also sucks because
then I'm training all day
and I come home and I'm alone.
So like,
definitely pros and cons.
So we'll,
we'll come back to Jake in a second.
But with that,
I know that you and Justin
have a really tight
relationship and his whole family, right?
Like I see,
I see Instagram posts with you
and Ivy and you and Jax and
all of that stuff.
How important is it for you
to have a coach that, that is,
that takes that more family
approach to things?
Well, to be honest, Justin's my only, like,
coach, like, actual coach I've ever had.
Like, obviously, I've had, like,
coaches doing class at CrossFit, but,
like, as far as, like, my coach, like,
he was my first one,
and obviously he set the bar really high.
And so I guess it's just all
I've ever known, like...
I don't know what it would
be like to have a coach
that's not like that.
And especially for me being in Vegas, like,
where I don't have my family here,
it is really nice because
they are family.
And, like,
I just spent the day at the pool
with Ashley and Ivy and my
friend the other day.
And, yeah,
it's very nice because then I know, like,
I have people in my corner
outside of the gym.
And it's very sweet.
And it goes both ways.
I mean,
they moved and needed a place to
stay and you gave them that
place to stay during their move.
Oh yeah.
Yeah.
That was fun.
That was a good time.
So it's cool that you guys
have that relationship because,
because a lot of the people
only see Justin as the guy
yelling on the sidelines.
Right.
And, and away from the competition floor,
he's so laid back.
And so, right.
yeah yeah he definitely like
in the CrossFit world like
he he's just old school
like he he calls it how it
is he gets excited when
it's good he gets pissed
when it's not and it's just
like very black and white
and um I think for a long time like
I didn't quite experience
that as much because I was just like,
I made the games and like,
I was kind of like,
but now it's like full throttle.
Cause he's just so excited.
And yeah, it's, he's awesome.
It's really great.
The other thing is,
is he's brutally honest and
he is so honest about how
he feels that you can
become a bulletproof
athlete and that you could
win the game someday when
someone believes in you that much.
Is there pressure with that
or do you just soak it in
as someone that actually is?
It's cool that someone believes in me.
both like of course there's
pressure that comes with it
because like he's invested
so much time into me and he
like you never want that to
be for like nothing you
know like you want him to
also see the fruits of that
labor and make him proud in
that sense so yeah
definitely both for sure for sure
Yeah, and you say your family's in here.
They're back in Oregon still, right?
Yeah.
Do you get to go back and
see them much these days?
Usually after competition.
So I went after semifinals for a few days,
and that was really nice.
I ended up getting sick,
which was a bummer.
But usually after the games,
I spent a couple weeks there.
So not as much as I'd like,
but I do get to see them.
Do you miss Oregon at all?
I miss the summertime there.
I love the summer.
There's like so many fun things to do.
There's lots of like rivers
and waterfall hikes and
just like fun things.
And here in the summer,
it's like it's like a Minnesota winter.
Like you're like hibernating
because it's so hot out.
So I definitely like best of
both worlds would be nice.
But yeah.
So the Vegas summer is going to be hot.
The Texas summer is going to be hot.
Do you think that you're
better prepared training in
the heat in Vegas now in
case there are outdoor
events in Fort Worth?
I mean, yeah, I think like physiologically,
like there is that heat acclimation part,
which I would hope that I'm ready for,
but...
Also, at the end of the day,
I think a lot of it is just, like,
not mental toughness,
but you're more
understanding of how it feels and how to,
like,
regulate your paces and what you're
doing to accommodate for it.
But I'm really curious.
I'm not sure how many events
they're going to pull off
outside unless they wake us
up at like 3 a.m.
I don't know if you have
thoughts about that,
but I think they would have
to do some crazy things to
make it happen.
And I just feel like that
takes away from the show of it all.
So I think there's probably
going to be a run.
there's a trail right beside the arena.
And that just,
it just seems to make sense.
Yeah.
I think there's,
there's a pool close to the arena.
Yeah.
Because that's not like temperature.
Correct.
The only thing I think that
could happen other than
those two things are
CrossFit always embraces
the locale that they do it.
And one big thing in Texas
is Friday night football.
So I, it, it would,
kind of be smart or not to
embrace that I could see
them taking you to like a
football stadium on a
Friday night under the
lights to do something just
to like honor the Texas
football tradition that'd
be cool I've always thought
that a really cool test
would be a beep test like
just a running beep test on
a field with everybody yeah
And you can even do like
football type drills on a football field,
right?
Because if it's sprinty,
then you don't have to
really worry about the heat as much.
Yeah, that's true.
Right?
Like a 40-yard dash and a
vertical jump and just
weird stuff like that.
Yep.
I don't know.
They used to do that like in 11 and 12.
Yeah.
I don't know if they'd go
back to doing that again.
I'm not sure.
but I think it'd be cool to
do it in a football stadium.
And there's a couple of them
around the arena.
Yeah, that would be cool.
So those are my only thoughts with that.
But I want to talk about,
I watched the behind the
scenes that Savan did from
West Coast the first day
released last night.
Oh, cool.
I'll have to watch it.
I hurried up and watched it
this morning so that if you were in it,
I could address that.
But you're in a lot of the
very beginning of it.
Okay.
Okay.
Where you're walking the run path.
Oh, yeah, yeah.
And he's asking you
questions about the berm
and all of those things.
In that video,
you were very excited about
running the berm.
And then they took it out.
Were you disappointed with that?
Oh yeah, of course.
I thought, well, for multiple reasons.
One, I like, I want to like,
it's so iconic, right?
Like the berm is like what
CrossFit did when it was in Carson.
And, um,
so it would have been cool to
experience that the same
way that they did.
Um,
and then just for the sake of the event,
like I tend to fare better
when things are harder and
more complicated.
And, um,
people tend to get weak and
like give up on things like
a double set of stairs and
another hill and um I just
think that would have fared
a little better for me um
but that's okay it is what
it is and so my question to
you you've been working
with hinshaw right that is
a long run yeah um
did you feel the difference
after the six or seven months you've been,
it's actually been longer than that,
I guess now, uh,
10 months you've been with Chris.
I think like my awareness
with myself with running is a lot better.
Like I can feel what I'm doing better.
My technique's a little better.
Um,
I understand like my pacing a little
better.
Um, but we still have work to do.
Like my,
just my capacity is just not where
we want it to be yet.
When you're in one of your events,
like event three, right,
that you know that you're
the best in the world at legless, right,
and you attack that workout
because you know that's yours,
do you think you'll ever
get to a point where a
running workout you can attack?
Yeah, that's the goal with everything,
right?
Like, if you want to get to a place where,
like,
the programming doesn't
matter and you're just
excited for all of it equally.
And obviously there's going
to be things that like
you're more happy about than others.
But like,
I want to get to the point where like,
I'm not even thinking about my placement,
you know, like I just know it'll be good.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Cause nobody wants to navigate a workout.
You want to attack the workout.
Totally.
Totally.
Um, so, so you go into that weekend and I,
and I asked about goals and,
and I wanted to follow up here.
Your goals are to be better
at the CrossFit games.
Last year you won the West semi.
Is that important to you still?
Or does that not matter
because it's not really the end goal?
I was butthurt.
Yeah.
Uh, Justin was too,
not in the sense of like, yeah,
you're right.
It doesn't matter.
It's not the CrossFit games, but like,
it was more in the sense of like,
I had the capacity.
It's like when you,
when you know you have the
ability to do something and
you fail to do it, then like,
I feel like it's okay to be upset.
If you, if I was out there and I was like,
I didn't get 350 on the
snatch event and Olivia got 358.
Like that's not realistic.
That's not fair to be upset about.
Like that's just not, not fair.
But like for me,
like I know that like I had
the physical capability to
do better on the snatch event than I did,
but I allowed my mental
block to get in the way.
And so therefore like my
placement was bad.
That pulled me pretty much
completely out of the pocket to win and,
Um, and so like,
it sucks when you know that just like,
it was yours to lose and you lost it,
essentially.
And of course,
I'm not taking anything away from Abby.
I think she's a phenomenal athlete.
Like, she was very consistent all weekend.
But like,
I also like I beat her in four of
six events, you know, like, I just like,
I happened to suck at one and
that pulled me out which it
is what it is so we were
about her but like it's
what second place is what I
earned and just gonna use
that for motivation you
know it's funny because you
and and you and abby are so
different right like you
have these home runs that
you're gonna win and but
with that comes the snatch
ladder right where abby
just was like even keel the
whole weekend and
And this,
this is no disrespect to you at all.
I was watching the event and it was the,
both you and Abby were the
quietest podium I'd ever seen.
And you won two events.
And I think it's because the,
the bubble to qualify was
so was changing every event.
Yeah.
that that's where all the
attention went for the spectator.
Yeah.
Yeah.
I remember watching like,
cause it's always good to
like go back and watch your
events and like try to learn things.
And I remember like,
the last one I was like oh
you can't even see me which
is fine but like you're
right like the attention
was on the qualifiers which
it's part of the show and
hopefully that makes more
people engaged and um yeah
I know what you're saying
which is insane because you
won the event and we never
saw you on screen I know
but they showed me at the
end lunging that's okay yeah it just it's
I have lots to say about the
media coverage of the events.
They did do a couple of cool things.
So I don't want to the,
the rig cameras that they
put in this year.
Oh, I didn't see that.
So like when you guys were
on a row or a bike,
they had cameras on the rig
that they could with a remote control,
like look down and pan over
you guys from above.
Oh, that's cool.
And so it gave like a three
shot instead of a one shot,
which was way better than
things they've done in the past.
Yeah, it was really funny.
I remember Adrian Conway is
such a nice commentator.
I remember.
So I watched the snatch
letter back and I don't
think you could have said
this any nicer of a way.
essentially saying that I
suck at snatching.
He was like, not verbatim,
but like close enough.
He was like, you know,
Alex is one of the
strongest athletes in the game.
And like you see in her
clean and jerk and the
deadlift and her bench press,
the snatch is just such a
technical movement that
she's still working on mastering.
And it was so good.
I was like, thanks, Adrian.
That's like the nicest way
to tell me I suck.
So the exact opposite of Justin.
Oh, yeah.
Yeah, I mean, he knows.
We all know.
Words didn't even really
need to be said after that one.
Speaking of media coverage,
a couple times this year while watching,
cameramen got in the way or
they kicked the riser out
from underneath trying to get a close-up.
Have you ever had a
cameraman get in your way on the floor?
No, I don't pay attention.
Yeah,
this was like he almost tripped over
the riser right in front of the athlete.
Yeah, that's on them.
They got to do a little better.
Yeah, that was in Europe,
so it didn't affect you.
But wow, I was just like, man,
don't you have a zoom on
that lens where you don't
have to be that close?
Yeah, yeah, that's rough.
So you finished the weekend, two wins,
your butt hurt.
Do you use that chip then to move forward?
Do you need a chip?
I don't need a chip on my
shoulder just like
obviously reminds you that
like nothing is guaranteed
so you gotta like you just
have to show up you have to
do your shit and like again
this is like nothing to Abby but like
I'm thinking about so many other athletes,
too, that I'm competing against,
not just Abby.
The Games is different.
The Games is 12 events,
and a fifth place at
semifinals is going to be a
15th at the Games.
And hopefully my first
places will still be first,
if not top five.
So, like, the games is just different.
It's a different animal entirely.
And you can't... Like, for example,
Arielle at semifinals last
year got third.
And then she got third at the games,
you know?
And...
Laura got second at
semifinals and then won the
game so as much as like you
want to carry all that into
the games like you can but
it's just different it's a
different thing entirely.
The one thing I had to learn
as an analyst is you can't
put a ton of weight into semis.
Yeah.
You just, because it's just a different,
it's a different event.
Yeah.
And early on when I started this,
I put way too much weight
on it and made my
predictions based on it.
And they were always wrong.
Yeah, no, it's true.
Especially because in semifinals,
it's really hard to test
everything because you have six events.
And there's always going to
be something that's missed
that is a big shifter.
So, like, we had no handstand pushups.
And handstand pushups can be
a huge change for people.
Or we didn't have, like...
Burpees, thrusters, wall balls.
There's so many movements
that we didn't have that
could change things up.
So I agree.
It's easy to feel like you
have all the answers after semis,
but there's so much more.
The other thing is...
you, you,
you have a deeper field at the
games that can mess, that can middle,
you know,
that someone's just good at this
one thing.
And they middle between you
and Abby at the games.
And now all of a sudden your
lead on that win gets bigger.
That's what I was saying about like,
like I got a third on event two,
but at the games,
I'd probably be like 10th, 11th,
you know?
Um,
if you get fifth, it might be like 15th.
Like, cause you just, like you said,
there's so many athletes
that are so good that it
just messes messes with stuff.
So even when you look at Tia
winning five events in the East,
there were times faster
than her on some of those
events that she wouldn't
win at the games.
Right.
Laura would have beat her on two events.
I got her.
Yeah.
Yeah.
So like as, as, as dominant as that looked,
if the full fields there,
she still would have been
so dominant though.
Cause all of her scores would have been,
I'm trying to give you like, no,
it's okay.
I, I'm a, I'm a very, um,
really like I don't sugarcoat shit.
Like I,
I don't like to go in with a false
reality.
And I know that,
She's just on a different level.
And, like,
I'm not saying people can't be
good and can't beat her in events.
That's not what I'm saying.
Like,
I'm not counting myself out of events.
But, like, as a whole, like,
she's just where she's at.
And I'm not there yet.
Like, I'm not.
And I'd love to be.
And hopefully I can be.
She's never going to have a 23rd.
That's the problem.
Yeah.
Here's my problem is early on this season.
I did not pick her to win the games in the,
in the spin poll.
Like I didn't have her
ranked first and now I'm
just hanging on to that
prediction when I probably shouldn't.
Who did you put first, Laura?
I did not.
I actually had Emma Lawson first.
Oh, Emma's really good.
She's very good.
Yeah.
I mean,
she took second last year and she's
young and still has that room to grow.
Now,
the news coming out this week doesn't
make me feel solid in that pick now.
Yeah,
but maybe her coach getting on top of
it now,
the fact that she did do semis is
a good sign.
And that's a very,
I don't know if you've had
the opportunity to actually
speak with her,
but she's so mature and she's so kind and
Like, you can tell she really, like,
every time I've ever talked to her, like,
I never got this sense of, like, oh,
I'm just a CrossFit athlete, you know,
and, like, I'm the best.
Like,
she just was so humble and sweet and
kind.
And, like,
I guess my whole point of saying that is,
like,
if her coach recognizes that she's
feeling a certain way, like,
I would imagine that if any, like,
duo could get through that,
I would imagine it would be them.
I notice that you're on social media,
but you're not there all the time.
I don't see a post a day.
Other athletes,
I do see that all the time.
Yeah.
I actually need to get better.
It's hard.
Making money as a CrossFit
Games athlete means being a
full-time athlete,
a full-time social media person, and...
it does not come naturally to me.
So we're working on it.
So let me throw this.
I,
cause I've seen you in the chats on kill
Taylor.
There are these things
coming up now where like
people are getting the
opportunity to make money by competing,
not by being an influencer or,
Win prize money against Taylor.
But then they did Taylor
versus the world where
Hopper and Dallin and
Colton and Taylor did the
quarterfinals together and
they all won money.
Yeah, I think that's cool.
That's very cool.
So I co-host a show with Carolyn Prevost,
and she says that women are
not as inclined to show
their hand in the
quarterfinals or semifinals
as much as men are.
Yeah.
Do you agree with that?
I'd agree with that statement.
I don't really care as much.
For me, it's not about showing my hand.
For me...
I like anything to minimize
like that competition
feeling sometimes is nice.
Like,
like obviously the idea of doing
Taylor versus the world
with a ton of girls would be fun.
And like, that's really cool.
Um, but you're also like, okay,
that's a whole nother
element of like competing.
So you have to like be able
to process those feelings and, um,
deal with the stress of it.
Um, yeah.
Yeah, I don't know.
I think girls tend to have
more of a scarcity mindset of, like,
there's only room for me and no one else.
Whereas, like, I think guys can, like,
kind of be a little bit more like, yeah,
like,
they can be good at that and I can
still beat them.
Whereas, like, girls are like, oh,
she's good at that?
Like, no.
Like, it's weird, I think.
Yeah.
But I think that's just girl nature,
which kind of sucks.
Yeah.
Let me phrase a question this way.
If you had the opportunity
to support yourself by
going public with a group
of girls to do
quarterfinals or having to
do more social media posts.
Oh,
I'd go public with quarterfinals for
sure.
Yeah.
Cause I just watching it as an observer,
those guys became so popular.
Totally.
And the nice thing about it
too is like quarterfinals
is stressful in the sense of like,
when am I going to do each workout?
How am I going to set it up?
And like,
if you do it in a setting like that,
like it takes the thought element out.
Cause you're just like, all right,
like we're doing it in this order.
It doesn't matter if I might
have less of an advantage
compared to the world.
Like I'm doing it the same
as these three ladies or
these two ladies.
And so like,
we're at least in the same boat,
you know?
Yeah.
And Hopper won $5,000,
which is as much as you win
for semifinals.
Yeah.
And I hope that we can come
up with ways as third-party
media to keep coming up
with new ideas for ways to
make athletes money and to
make the sport more popular.
Cause I think quarterfinals
were some of the best
programmed events that I wanted to see.
And you couldn't because
everybody did it online.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Fair enough.
Oh, also just a heads up.
I just have to be done by nine.
Is that okay?
Yeah.
We're going to be done by nine.
Okay.
Perfect.
Yeah.
I don't go over.
I try not to go over an hour.
Okay.
I was just giving you a little heads up.
Yeah.
I'm not Savant.
I don't keep you here for like six hours.
Yeah.
I normally don't mind.
I just, like I said, today's just.
Yep.
All good.
So, so shoot the club up says better hair,
Emma or Gazan.
I think, I think it's always Alex.
Is he referring to Emma Carey?
Emma Lawson.
Emma Lawson doesn't have like unique hair.
Yeah.
I mean, Emma Carey kind of does.
Right.
She has curly hair, yeah.
Yeah.
So cool.
So now your training is ramping up.
You're getting ready for the games.
How is that going?
And you said Chris is coming
at the end of the month.
Do you have plans for that?
Yeah.
So him and my mindset coach
are both going to be here and Justin,
obviously.
So I think they're going to
put the hammer on me a little bit.
And,
but obviously like having them all
here is such a blessing.
And it's like, it kind of feels,
I don't even know how to explain it.
Like, but I'm like, oh my gosh,
I have like three coaches
here to like be with me.
It's like kind of a surreal
feeling where like,
it really helps me to take a
step back and be grateful.
But don't get me wrong.
It's going to be a hard week,
and I'm going to be a hot
mess express probably by the end.
Do you still have to pinch
yourself that you're in
this position now?
Like I said, yes,
but also it's not as
glamorized as I imagined.
It's really hard.
So it's like...
both like I feel like after
competitions when you're
like meeting people and you
get to see little girls
that are like excited to do
crossfit because of you or
you get sweet messages like
those are the moments where
I'm like wow like this is
so cool and I'm so thankful
but when you're alone doing
a shitty workout in the
garage like don't really
need to pinch myself for that one
You know,
it's funny because you say that
because the buttery bros
came to do a workout with
you and I thought it was a
great example of the,
the shit work you have to do.
It was a running workout on
a really hot day out of your garage.
Is, is that,
and usually you're doing that
without them there.
Yeah.
So did you feel that was a
good depiction of your day normally?
Yeah, that was a really good depiction of,
like, games training and, of course,
having people there is more fun.
But, yeah, that was, like, a really good,
accurate example of, like, a full day.
Yeah, that looked brutal.
And I hate running,
so that's... Do you try to
get out of the gym
occasionally and do some
training elsewhere?
Give me, like, what do you mean elsewhere?
Like...
maybe go on a hike this day
or a trail run as opposed
to like just running down
the street or does your
schedule just not allow
that uh my programming
doesn't really allow it
like training is training
um I get out like I have a
some friends at a gym right
by my house so like
sometimes like we work out
together and that's fun but
like no it's pretty black and white
Yeah.
Cause I was talking to
Hattie Cano and like,
if she doesn't get to the
mountains every once in a while,
like that,
that is no good for her mental.
Yeah.
Yeah.
And I like, yeah, for me,
I guess like where I get
the mental reprieve is like
the days that I work out
with the boys at like the
gym over here and they're
like really lighthearted and it's fun.
And then just like soaking
up all the other things on
my rest day that I can, but,
yeah training doesn't have a
lot of wiggle room really
do you still have a dog I
do we have two actually um
luna who I got from the
pound after my pity passed
away and then my husband
found shadow he's like a
dutch shepherd he found him
on the side of the road on
his way from california and
he had no chip no collar
and he's really one of the
sweetest dogs so it's been cool
Is it important that you
have that companionship to come?
Oh yeah.
Especially when Jake's gone.
Oh yeah.
Oh yeah.
Do they ever come to the garage with you?
They love it.
Like they get, if I lock them out,
they'll cry the whole time.
That's awesome.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
I just have a little dog and he's just,
he's the best.
They are.
What kind of dog do you have?
He's a Chihuahua mix.
Okay.
He looks like a mini
Rottweiler is what he looks like.
Oh, interesting.
That's cool.
With big ears, and he's black and brown.
That's really cool.
But he likes to do tricks,
and we have a lot of fun with him.
But this has been awesome, as always,
catching up with you.
It was fun getting to know
Jake last year at the games
because he worked for us.
Yeah, awesome.
What,
what I found really fun is he would be,
he would go out to film a
heat and he'd come back and
I would look at all the
footage and it's all Alex.
I mean,
that dude is 100% in love with you.
I hope so.
He married me.
Uh,
but I have so much footage of you from
the games last year.
Yeah.
So much footage.
Uh, he did a great job too.
He's getting better and better.
He enjoys it.
I think it's fun for him.
A good little something for
him to focus on.
It allows him to get his
nerves settled at a
competition like that.
He is invested in how you do as well.
Totally.
For sure.
It was great getting to know
you both last year so much better.
Thank you so much for your time.
Of course.
Anytime.
And we will thank you to
everybody in the chat for being here too.
We'll see everybody next
time on the Clydesdale media podcast.
Bye guys.