Josh Boonstra | The Athletes of the 2024 Legends Masters CrossFit Games

We meet Josh Boonstra who is headed to the CrossFit Games.  What are his goals and aspirations.  How did he get here, what did it take and where are his plans for the future.

What is Clydesdale Media Podcast?

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

I was born to kill it.

I was meant to win.

I am down and willing,

so I will find a way.

It took a minute,

now it didn't happen right away.

When they get hot in the kitchen,

you decide to stay.

That's how a winner's made.

Stick a fork in the head of a Medina.

What's going on, everybody?

Welcome to the Clydesdale Media Podcast,

where we are featuring the

athletes of the 2024

Legends Masters CrossFit Games.

And I'm so honored to have with me today,

Josh Boonstra.

Did I say that right?

Yeah, you got it.

All right.

So, Josh,

you're in the 40 to 44-year-old division.

First time to the games.

What does all this mean to you?

Yeah, I mean, it's a huge honor.

It's a huge honor.

And it...

I would say, honestly,

it's still kind of a bit surreal to,

you know, when I, when someone says,

Hey Josh, you know,

Josh is a games athlete

that just has a strange ring to it still.

So that hasn't fully set in, but I mean,

naturally it's a lot of

hard work and consistency over time.

So yeah,

I'm really grateful and huge honor.

So your athletic background, uh, where did,

where did it start?

I mean,

I've kind of been a lifelong

athlete started in youth sports,

like a lot of folks and

football was kind of my, my primary sport,

but I played all of them and yeah,

just continue to play

football in high school,

did track and basketball in

high school as well.

And then went to college,

played division two college football.

And, you know, like as an athlete,

you just kind of, you're,

you just have this wiring to compete.

And so I certainly had that.

And then

when college football was done,

that wiring doesn't go away.

And so the need to compete still existed.

And I became a personal

trainer and was a coach and

a performance coach and personal trainer,

did that for a while, you know,

staying fit and keeping healthy,

but was totally missing

some of that competitive, you know,

opportunity that I was looking for.

And then when I discovered CrossFit, first,

it was an incredibly

humbling experience because

I was getting my butt

whooped by everybody around me.

but then started to get a

feel for it and realized I

think this is kind of my

thing you know where I can

quantify my fitness and and

compete with those around

me from all walks of life

so yeah that's where the

athletic background started

and kind of how it drew me

to crossfit uh david

johnston hey fellas uh

I have a question as a

football fan myself and

played high school ball.

It's in your bio,

you say division two

quarterback wide receiver.

So you were frustrated with

your own receiver core.

You had to go catch your own boss.

yeah I should probably

update that I i was a high

school quarterback and I

still think of myself as a

quarterback honestly it's

just so deeply ingrained in

kind of who I am and how I

operate um so I had some

success you know in high

school was recruited to go

play college football as a

quarterback I went to

central as a quarterback

and then was like I just

realized I'm not going to

get on the field you know

I'm not going to play here

and we had some really good

people ahead of me and

that's just the reality of

college sports there's a

lot of talent there

And,

but I really wanted to play and I

thought I was athletic enough to, to,

you know,

provide some value on the field.

So, you know,

had some chats with the

coaching staff and they were like,

you know,

what else would you want to play?

I was like, well, you know,

given my understanding of

the scheme on offense,

I think receiver would be really cool.

So long, straight, short,

I changed receiver and then,

and did get on the field

and played a lot.

And that was, that was a ton of fun.

So yes, I was a receiver in college,

but I still think of myself

as more as a quarterback.

How much work did it take to

go from one position to the other?

I should say a lot of work,

but truthfully,

I was a pretty good athlete.

And so I was probably more

on the athletic side of a quarterback.

And so I was scrambling

around maybe a little bit

more than I should,

probably more than my

coaches wanted me to,

rather than just sitting in

the pocket and firing it downfield.

So that kind of athleticism

and ability to make people

miss and accelerate, start and stop,

that boded pretty well for

me to transition into receivers.

So the transition honestly wasn't

too difficult athletically

it was just kind of a

mindset transition was

really more the challenge

going from being the leader

in the huddle everybody's

looking to you and you know

kind of rallying the troops

to no I have to be willing

to be led and that's okay

yeah and going from

touching the ball every

snap to only when the

quarterback deems it proper

That's right.

That's a tough ego pill to swallow,

but it was a necessity.

Yeah.

I was a former baseball pitcher,

and then when I wasn't pitching,

I would play first base or third base,

and that was always

frustrating to me because I

wanted the action every pitch,

and it's tough for sure.

Yeah, absolutely.

Absolutely.

Absolutely.

Um, so you said that when you,

when it walked away from

college athletics,

you miss that

competitiveness of just

being a personal trainer.

Um,

when you first walked into a CrossFit

gym and it appears your

first open was 2014.

So you've been doing this

for a good chunk of change.

Now, when you first walked in,

was it snap?

This is the thing I've been missing.

I think I sensed the opportunity was there,

yeah.

I was used to being pretty

successful in competition.

And CrossFit, I was not very successful,

especially early on.

you know there was just so

many skills that I had not

developed and maybe I had

some raw abilities but I

had not refined the the

large diverse set of skills

that crossfit presents you

and so every workout there

was one or two of these

movements where I was just

getting my butt kicked by

people that I would look at

in the gym and say oh I

think you know I should be

able to beat them but I couldn't

And so it was just humbling

day after day after day after day.

But that was the motivation

that I needed to be like, OK,

I got to go do some work.

You know,

I got to put in the work and get

good at double unders.

I couldn't double under to save my life.

My snatch technique was just horrendous.

And, you know,

I'm throwing the ball bar

all over the place.

So there was just so many things.

But I knew that I wanted to

be good at it and I knew

that I wanted to be

competitive in my own gym.

and I knew it was going to

take a lot of work to to do

all that so it was just you

know chip away at it day

after day after day

thankfully I was working in

a gym so the the

opportunity to you know get

some workouts in and do the

work was not as difficult

as it could be for some

others and just chipped

away at it over time and

it's been a long road but

yeah things have come together all right

So it's funny, when I first walked in,

the one movement that just captivated me,

I was terrible at it,

but it just captivated me

was the overhead squat.

Because I had done powerlifting,

I was strong,

but I could barely overhead

squat an empty bar.

And just the frustration of

that made me dig in and

figure this thing out.

Yeah, 100%.

It's movements like that where you realize,

man,

do I have the strength to lift this

check?

Yeah, I should.

Do I have the stability?

Yeah, so I should be able to.

But then you realize, oh,

but I'm missing mobility in

this case or body awareness

or whatever it is.

And you're like, oh, yeah,

those are the things I

haven't really worked on

and I need to invest in if

I'm going to be able to do

what looks like should be a

really simple thing.

So, yeah, humbling for sure.

Yeah.

I would tell my friends like,

you guys don't understand.

There are 82 things I have to do right.

And if I only do 81,

I'm going to be unsuccessful.

That's right.

And yeah,

it makes it so that every day you go back,

it's just another challenge.

Yeah.

Even this,

this text string that on right now,

which is a bunch of mayhem

athletes that are really fit dudes.

And they just continue to

push me and honestly have

been kind of like the

secret sauce of this year.

If I was being really honest, but you know,

once I qualified for the games,

they've been so supportive,

but it also is like,

well, Josh is a games athlete.

And so naturally he must do

well at these things.

And I'm like, no, you know,

just because I qualify for

the games doesn't put me in some,

you know, new ability level.

Like, no,

I still struggle with all of

these things and I still

get my butt kicked by these

guys on a regular basis.

So yeah, it's,

there's no escaping the

humility of CrossFit.

So I have a unique question for you.

How does a guy who gets a

degree in kinesiology end

up as a business manager for Microsoft?

Good question.

I get asked that a lot.

It's a totally unique set of

circumstances.

It's a bit of a long story.

I'll try to keep it abbreviated.

But as I said,

I was a personal trainer and

I was a personal trainer at

a gym that was

We had a lot, we still,

or that gym still has a lot

of Microsoft employees just

down the street.

Microsoft subsidizes their, uh,

their membership at that time.

And so naturally we've got a

lot of people that are

coming in from Microsoft.

So over time, nine years,

I'd built a lot of

relationships with a lot of

really influential people at Microsoft,

great relationships, friendships as well.

And over the course of that period,

they had spent a lot of time around me,

had a good sense of my

strengths and more than

just a personal trainer,

but as a person and kind of

some of the various

qualities that I possessed.

And then just a couple of

guys came to me one day and like, hey,

Josh, you know,

we think you have this

really unique opportunity

to pursue a health and

fitness product for Microsoft.

And, you know,

we're not the subject matter experts.

We could use your subject

matter expertise.

And long story short, I was like, oh,

my gosh,

this is a very unique opportunity

to to do that.

But it was a huge career change.

And, you know, it was very scary.

to think about moving from a

company that was very loyal

to me and I was very loyal

to and a huge client base

that I'd worked very hard

to build over time and a

reputation I was really

proud of to a whole new culture,

a whole new company,

a whole new industry.

So you can imagine how scary that was.

But I knew that the

opportunity was huge and it

may not present itself again.

And so it was like one of

those moments where you

kind of just got to bet on yourself.

and go with it and take the risk.

And I did,

and it paid off and I would do

it all again.

And I'm really grateful for that decision.

When you tell people you

work for Microsoft,

do they now think you're a tech guy?

I think that's probably one

of their early assumptions.

Yeah, for sure.

And I'm not,

I do not consider myself

technical at all.

You know, as a personal trainer,

And a coach,

you've got to be really dialed

into the people and you've

got to be able to read a lot of cues,

whether that's physical

cues or emotional cues or

whatever those cues are.

And you've got to be able to

then respond thoughtfully to those cues.

And so, you know,

communicating with people

in a really meaningful way

was like my superpower.

And I knew that as long as I

was going to be working

with people at Microsoft,

I could leverage that strength.

And so over the course of my

career at Microsoft,

I've just tried to find ways

to use the strengths that I've got,

learn a ton along the way.

But yeah,

I think my people skills are a

bit of a superpower.

I think one of the unique

things about the masters

community is many of you

have families and jobs and, you know,

unlike the elite crew that

all they do is train, right.

And you have to balance all that.

So how supportive is

Microsoft in that endeavor

and the fact that you have

to go to Birmingham in a

couple of weeks and throw

down with the best in the world?

Yeah.

You know, ultimately they, they,

Microsoft is a company, I don't know how,

my team,

some people around me know how

invested I am in CrossFit.

I don't talk about it a ton at work.

Wait, wait,

you're a CrossFitter and you

don't talk about it?

I know, surprise, surprise.

But occasionally it will

come up and people will be like, what,

what, what are you doing?

CrossFit, what?

You know,

and so then we dive into that story.

But ultimately it's,

You know,

as long as I'm performing at a

high level at work,

that does create

opportunity for some flexibility.

I train really early in the morning,

as is my wife.

And, you know,

she is super fit and super disciplined.

And because of that,

we have really aligned values.

And we know that, look,

this is an important part of our life.

We need to make the investment.

We have to support each

other and how and when we

make that work over the

course of the day.

And yeah,

if we weren't as strong and

stable as we are as a family,

spending hours in the gym

just wouldn't really be feasible.

And then, yeah,

I just knock all my stuff

out early in the morning and I get online,

you know, between 8.30 and 9 a.m.

and do my work day and do

whatever it takes at work.

How does that,

with you and your wife being so aligned,

how does that work with raising two kids?

Well, that's a loaded question.

I mean, it works, it works.

It's hard to imagine doing it another way.

You know, if there's any misalignment in,

in values or the, you know,

kind of the strategy behind

how you want to raise your

kids and the things you

want to instill in them,

where that misalignment

exists it exposes itself

really quickly and that

builds tension in a

relationship it's tension

that not only you feel as a

married couple but your

kids see and feel and that

shapes them as well so we

don't do it perfectly but

we are very intentional

about how we do it and we

communicate a lot we have a

deep respect for one

another naturally we love each other and

Yeah,

when we identify tension in the

relationship,

we'll be the first ones to

get it out on the table and

figure out what's the root

cause here and let's squash that.

But ultimately,

it's because our values are

so deeply aligned, as is our faith,

that we anchor ourselves into that daily.

How old are your kids?

We've got an 11 going on

12-year-old daughter,

and my son just turned 8.

Are they into sports and

fitness and stuff?

yeah yeah for sure my

daughter she's a select

soccer player that's her

her jam and that is a huge

titan commitment but she

loves it and she's you know

thankfully she's got some

skills there and so we

enjoy watching her compete

but she loves the social

element of it and then my

my little guy he's the one

that does it all football

is his primary sport I

didn't push that on him

believe it or not but

that's his the one he's

loving and he's starting up

his first year of tackle

football this year which is

pretty exciting I'll be his

coach but he does basketball and

We're trying to get him back

into soccer and baseball.

I mean, he does it all.

So that's pretty cool.

With all that, it just,

it seems like so much to

juggle in life and does,

is that why you train first

thing in the morning to get

that out of the way and

give you the rest of your

day for all the other stuff?

Yeah, 100%.

If I, if I tried to get my workouts in

any other time of day it you

know I would build up all

the excuses not to do it

just like most people do

and as a personal trainer

you know naturally you get

all the excuses hey you

build a plan for somebody

long-term plan set them up

for success and well here's

all the 10 reasons why they

didn't do the thing that

you laid out for them and

and I understand that those

are valid excuses and I

have to identify those in

advance and know that

know I'm as susceptible to

them as anybody else so I

just have to do it first

thing in the morning when

my motivation is the

highest when my

distractions are the lowest

and crank it up and then

leave the rest of the day

for everything else that's

still you know a big

priority my last question

is balance thing is when

you found out that you were

going to the games

Was there an inclination to

ramp up the volume, try to do more,

or is that not even

feasible with the schedule you hold?

Yeah, I think my instinct was, oh gosh,

I'm going to have to do even more.

And I probably am doing a little bit more,

but the volume has been really high.

I think Mayhem...

programs a pretty good

amount of volume in general

and so I didn't feel like I

was lacking it that's for

sure but I knew that there

were some things I wanted

to tweak a little bit and

you know build my endurance

capacity a little bit more

and so you put a few more

miles on the treadmill and

maybe add a day here and

refine a few skills there

um so I knew I was going to

do that and thankfully

you know,

I think my wife was more excited

than I was when, you know, I qualified.

And so she was like, oh my gosh,

I'm your coach.

She's going to tweak my diet even more.

And, uh, you know, she's like,

are you doing two workouts today?

I'm like, maybe,

but the nudge was pretty real.

And she's trying to like

force me out into the gym.

So thankfully she's

incredibly supportive and, um, yeah,

but ultimately I haven't

dedicated a whole lot more time

the gym that I that I've

been contributing already

well before we dive into

the season as I talk to you

you're so articulate and

and conscientious of your

conscientious of your words

I want to share um my

screen a little bit here

and uh I was going through

your instagram and found

out you're a songwriter oh

crap yeah and I'm gonna

play a little bit of this

for the audience

A long time ago When I was

just a boy My mom sat me

down and she said Listen to me, listen

And so I won't embarrass you

more than that.

But I was awestruck.

The words that you put into

this music are so awesome.

And it shows a lot of contemplation,

a lot of faith,

a lot of strong beliefs and morals there,

which I was just enamored by.

I watched several of your

videos just so you know.

Um, so what,

what is songwriting for you in your life?

Yeah.

End of question.

Um, gosh,

you really pulled one out on me there.

I did not see that coming.

Um, I mean, it's an outlet like,

like CrossFit is an outlet for me.

Um,

where in crossfit you know

it's kind of my spot to

express my fitness and you

know songwriting is kind of

an outlet to express my

feelings you know that you

should write that down that

sounded all right I've

never said that out loud um

but yeah I'll man we've

gone through some like many

and so this is not unique

but you know my family and

I we've got some really

challenging seasons and we

categorize them as seasons

because we know that hey

when the dark seasons are there,

the next season will present itself.

We don't know when exactly,

but there is another season to come.

And so that perspective just

helps us navigate life ultimately.

But when there is just

seasons filled with so much

emotion and some real challenges,

and when it feels like you

won't be able to successfully navigate it,

I have to get that out somehow.

And so I can go take it out in the gym.

I do.

But I also need to express

all of that in another way.

And so sitting down and just

writing some words on paper

is usually where it starts.

I just want to express some things.

And then before I know it,

they start to rhyme.

And then before I know it, I'm like, oh,

I think I got a little tune to this.

Let me sit down in front of

the piano and see if I can

plunk away something.

And then all of a sudden,

it just kind of comes together.

And yeah,

I've been doing that more and

more over the last probably three years.

And have got some stuff that

I think is cool, you know,

and I like and I'm proud of it.

And, yeah, it's just a good outlet.

And I reflect back on it and I'm like, oh,

yeah, those words.

I remember that season.

I remember how valuable that

was for me to get through, you know,

that particular part of our life.

And, yeah,

they're cool things to look back on.

my my wife calls them

seasons as well that so

that's kind of cool that

that you guys do as well um

music and sports are are

very equal in my love right

I love music as much as I

love sports and I watch a

lot of documentaries on on

musicians and so it sounds

to me like the words always

come before the music

Yeah, first off,

I don't categorize myself

as a musician like many

musicians we're aware of today.

But I think the process is

pretty similar between

myself and whoever.

Sometimes it is the words that come first.

Sometimes it's the tune.

And you're like, that's just a great tune.

I kind of want to put some words to that.

So it varies.

And sometimes the words.

you know they just pour out

onto the paper and I'll

have written a full song

you know in five minutes

ten minutes or just there

was so much built up that

needed to be expressed that

it just landed on the page and

know kind of an incredible

way and it all makes sense

and it rhymes and it's got

some meaning to it and then

sometimes it takes a lot

longer you know you'll have

one line that you just love

and one line that really

captures what you're trying

to express and you know

that that's it packs a real

punch and you want to build

around that with something

else and so sometimes it's

a little more incremental

sometimes it just spills

out but yeah I think all of

those are the right way you

know there's no wrong way

It's funny,

I was watching an interview

with Billy Joel interviewing Don Henley.

And their songwriting styles

are very different.

But both are considered some

of the greatest musicians of our era,

right?

And for Billy Joel,

it's always the music first.

And for Don Henley,

it's always the lyrics first.

And Billy Joel says like, he'd like, he's,

he hears phrases and words

and he just throws them in

a shoe box for when he's

done with the music to go

find inspiration on what

the words are based on the

feeling of the song.

Yeah.

And so it's, I don't see,

I can totally relate too much.

But I was just,

I thought it was really cool.

Yeah.

the backstories of masters

athletes are so much better

than regular athletes live

so much of a life and,

and it's so fun to like dive into this.

And so now I want to dive

into your season and how we

got to where we are today

to finish this up.

Cool.

So you,

you would do the open and you get

to quarterfinals and you

finished 92nd in quarterfinals,

which is nowhere near what

it would take to qualify

for the CrossFit games.

yeah then you make this

massive jump from 92nd to

24th at semifinals can you

clue us in as to what

happened what transpired in

that short amount of time

did you get that much

better did the workouts fit

you better were you sick

one of the days what what

happened there yeah that

that's such an interesting story um

so I honestly I couldn't

even tell you my own

history all that accurately

I think so I've done

quarterfinals a couple

times a few times and I

think I've qualified for

semis twice maybe three

times I would have to look

back I don't honestly know

but I i can't even recall

if I had done semis before

because but you know

honestly at that point I didn't have

it was going to the games

like a big bucket list item.

Sure.

That was on a bucket

somewhere in the distance,

somewhere on a shelf, but I wasn't like,

Hey,

this is the year I'm putting all my chips,

you know, in the center of the table.

I'm going to go for it.

It was not that.

In fact, I think after quarterfinals,

I was kind of like, nah, you know,

I don't even know if I'll do semis.

If I qualify,

I'm kind of just burnt out a little bit.

And, you know,

there's just so many

logistics around doing the

workouts is one thing, but you know,

you're probably going to do

them a couple of times because you,

you know,

you learned a few things along the way,

you got to film it,

you got to have judges.

And there's just a lot of

stress on other people that weighs on me.

And so like finding the

judge and get everybody to coordinate,

it just was a lot that by

that point in the season,

I kind of realized how

worth it is it what's the,

what are the chances, you know,

And so that's where I was.

And I had in our little text group,

I think I'd even mentioned like,

I don't know if I'll do semis.

But the other truth is that

as things get more skilled and heavier,

they tend to benefit me as well.

Just like my skill set as an athlete.

you know, like I'm,

I wouldn't say I have great capacity.

That's like endurance capacity.

That's not my strength.

So the open, I tend to do like, okay,

you know,

it's much more endurance and

kind of generalists and, um,

which is not me.

So I do.

Okay.

There's quarterfinals.

I do a little better.

Some of us do a little better still.

So as the weights get

heavier and the skills get higher,

that's where my strengths come through.

And then when I saw the

workouts posted for semis, I was like,

Oh gosh,

know those kind of look

pretty good well here we go

let's do it you know I'm

gonna do it and the guys in

our checks string they

wouldn't let me off the

hook they're like no josh

you gotta you gotta do this

we think you do all right

so then I did them and um

yeah I did them a couple

some of them a couple times

and it's like yeah I really

think I might have a shot

at this here and then

knowing that final workout

of semis was one that like

was kind of square in my wheelhouse

man I think if I really do

well on that one it's gonna

solidify a pretty strong

chance of qualifying and

sure enough that's exactly

how it played out and so

yeah when I said early on

that it was a bit surreal

to qualify at all it was

it's totally true given

where I started and like my

kind of total investment in

the season up to that point

so there's a lot for me to

reflect on there and it will definitely

you know,

inform how I approach the

following season.

So,

so now you're going as almost a surprise.

How did it take you long to

like get back in the gym

and start training or did it,

was it the minute you found

out you're like, yes, let's do this.

Let's go.

Yeah, it was totally, let's do this.

Let's go.

Like there was no, there was no pause.

Um,

You know,

I know my routine and I'm

incredibly routine, like very systematic.

And so it was just like, what am I?

I'm not going to not work out today.

You know, that's just not an option.

So I'm just going to keep

doing what I've been doing.

And maybe there's a little

bit more intensity.

Maybe there's a slight tweak

in some of the things that I'm doing.

But no, it was just like, keep keep going,

keep doing your thing.

And it's all you know, it's been working.

So don't fix what's not broken.

So what are your realistic

expectations at the games?

It's really hard for me to

even think through.

I've never been at a

competition of that scale.

What I do know is when loads

get heavier and there are

more workouts and the skills are higher,

that benefits me.

And I, you know,

I'm more of a well-rounded

athlete than I am like a, you know,

a specialist at any particular thing.

I don't see myself like

winning a bunch of workouts,

but I do think I can do

well at a lot of workouts.

So that's kind of my mindset is, look,

as long as there's a bunch of workouts,

the more there are,

the more it benefits me.

I think the loads are going

to be a little bit heavier there.

I can move some weight around pretty good.

Um,

I think the skills are going to be

higher demands and I have

confidence in my skillset.

So I think as you spread all of that out,

the more it spreads,

better it is for me so I i

honestly have no sense of

uh how I will finish I

don't put a bunch of stock

in where I finish I do just

want to go perform well

soak up the experience you

know do the best that I can

do have a bunch of fun

along the way meet some

great people and uh that'll be a a win

So you said this is the

biggest thing your

competition you've attended

is since you've been doing CrossFit.

So to me,

that sounds like you don't have a

lot of race experience,

but you did play sports

your whole life and you

played in college with

football where it is a

one-on-one matchup with the

defensive back or whatever you're doing,

right?

Do you think you're going to

thrive in the race environment?

Yeah.

Yeah, I do.

Yeah.

I do.

I know how I respond on game

day and you know, like most humans,

you get another rush of

adrenaline that you just

cannot anticipate or

quantify and it'll take

your ability to another level.

And I am a competitor, you know,

like all the,

everybody who's at the games

is a competitor.

So, you know,

we're all going to up our game.

Um,

you know but the unique

thing here is and also like

I played team sports my

whole life and so I wired

myself to be a great

teammate and to identify

the strengths and

weaknesses of those around

me and be able to pick up

the slack so together we

were more than the sum of

our parts and it was never

about individual success

did I want to perform well

individually yeah naturally

I did but it was always

about the collective versus

the individual and so in CrossFit

The vast majority of

competitions I've ever done

have been team competitions.

That's just I prefer that, you know,

so it's me and a buddy or

me and my wife or me and a team, two guys,

two girls, whatever it is.

And we do the same thing.

Hey, I'm good at these things.

You compliment me here.

Awesome.

We're better together.

And I've done a couple

individual competitions, you know,

outside of the open.

So this is new territory for

me to like this scale, this environment,

individual.

I would say it's one I'm excited for,

but not super comfortable with.

You know,

I prefer to distribute the work

as opposed to all being isolated.

So this is going to be new.

We'll see how it goes.

Last question.

Who else going with you?

It'll just be my wife and I. Okay.

And

we had considered taking the

kids and I think they would

enjoy pieces of it but you

know they're kids and so

their attention is going to

wane a little and when that

goes it then it's a

struggle for my wife to

enjoy the whole experience

and it will make its way to

me as well as focused as I

will be as much as she will

do her best to shield me

from it so instead we're gonna

You know,

have the kids go with some

friends or grandparents.

It'll just be my wife and I. As I said,

she's excited, really excited for this,

too.

And I want her to soak it up

as much as I can.

And she just wants to be

there to support me,

which I'm so grateful for.

So, yeah, we're going to do it.

Just she and I,

we're pretty stoked about it.

Well, Josh,

I want to thank you a ton for doing this.

It's so cool getting to meet all of you.

I will be there in Birmingham.

We got full clearance to do

a behind-the-scenes of the

Masters CrossFit Games.

So we'll be backstage there

in the warm-up area,

hanging out with the athletes,

getting sound bites from

you all throughout the weekend,

and putting that together

into a collective behind-the-scenes.

That's going to be awesome.

Well, I hope to meet you in person.

Yeah, I'm sure we will.

With that,

thank you everybody for being here.

Thank you, Josh, for taking out the time.

And we'll see everybody next

time on the Clydesdale Media Podcast.

Bye, guys.