Mark Bell's Power Project - EP. 508 - Colleen Fotsch - CrossFit Games to USA Bobsled Team

Episode Date: April 7, 2021

Today we get to talk to our friend and savage athlete, Colleen Fotsch! Colleen has recently switched her focus from CrossFit to Bob Sledding in hopes to make Team USA and head to the Olympics! Colleen Fotsch is a competitive CrossFit athlete, and a former collegiate swimmer. Colleen qualified and competed as an individual at the 2019 CrossFit Games, and was part of Team NorCal CrossFit during 2017 when placed 4th at the CrossFit Games. Colleen is now a member of the women’s USA National Bobsled Team. Subscribe to the NEW Power Project Newsletter! ➢ https://bit.ly/2JvmXMb Subscribe to the Podcast on on Platforms! ➢ https://lnk.to/PowerProjectPodcast Special perks for our listeners below! ➢LMNT Electrolytes: http://drinklmnt.com/powerproject ➢Piedmontese Beef: https://www.piedmontese.com/ Use Code "POWERPROJECT" at checkout for 25% off your order plus FREE 2-Day Shipping on orders of $99 ➢Sling Shot: https://markbellslingshot.com/ Enter Discount code, "POWERPROJECT" at checkout and receive 15% off all Sling Shots Follow Mark Bell's Power Project Podcast ➢ Insta: https://www.instagram.com/markbellspowerproject ➢ https://www.facebook.com/markbellspowerproject ➢ Twitter: https://twitter.com/mbpowerproject ➢ LinkedIn:https://www.linkedin.com/in/powerproject/ ➢ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/markbellspowerproject ➢TikTok: http://bit.ly/pptiktok FOLLOW Mark Bell ➢ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/marksmellybell ➢ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MarkBellSuperTraining ➢ Twitter: https://twitter.com/marksmellybell ➢ Snapchat: marksmellybell ➢Mark Bell's Daily Workouts, Nutrition and More: https://www.markbell.com/ Follow Nsima Inyang ➢ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nsimainyang/ Podcast Produced by Andrew Zaragoza ➢ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/iamandrewz #PowerProject #Podcast #MarkBell

Hey, everybody. This episode of Mark Biles Power Project podcast is brought to you by Element Electrolytes. What's up, guys? So, you know how here, you know, all of us love using these electrolytes pre-workout, inter-workout, post-workout love? Love. Did I say love or love? Anyway, love. Anyway, you know, L-O-F-E. Love? Love. Love. Okay. Well, I love it. I'm going to start using that word now anyway. But what I was going to say was, as far as performance, I used to think, because I used to do a lot, I used to play soccer, I did a lot of bodybuilding, I used to think that I had to eat a lot of carbohydrates pre-workout to be able to perform, 300, 400. And if I didn't have my carbs, I wouldn't be able to perform. But when I started doing keto, doing carnivore fasting, I noticed that one of the big key

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Or like I said said we like using the value bundle because that's literally the best value head there right now what up power project crew this is josh setledge aka settlegate here to introduce you to our next guest colleen fotch colleen fotch is a crossfit games athlete who competed as an individual in 2019 and was a part of team norcal CrossFit Redwood City, the same team that took fourth at the 2017 CrossFit Games. Colleen started taking CrossFit classes and immediately fell in love with it. She began taking classes six times per week and showed early aspirations of competing.

Colleen was a competitive swimmer in college and loved the weight training aspect of training, and she was originally insecure of having an athletic build. In college, she knew nothing about nutrition, but was able to learn more about health, fitness, and nutrition after starting her CrossFit career. Colleen credits CrossFit most for helping her develop self-confidence and appreciate for what her body is capable of without having to be ashamed of how it may look. Colleen is also now part of the USA National Bobsled Team, but that is a different story. Please enjoy this conversation with Colleen Fotch.

What did you just say? I said, do-we-boi. You ever see that fat kid, the meme? And he's on a little toy three-wheeler thing? No. It's like on a little like uh toy like three-wheeler thing no it's like a fat asian baby that's really now i really need to see i've probably seen it but i can't remember it it's pretty awesome i think it's awesome that asian kid i know people remember it but we just got canceled again i know that's okay it's a. Can't get canceled for a meme. Right. Actually.

What if Mark made it, though? No. It's a really fat baby. It's cute. Or like kid, maybe. I don't know. If it's cute, then I think you can get it with anything. Oh. Oh, wait a...

This kid? Yeah. That kid looks like a little power lifter. What did you Google? Fat Asian baby meme. Oh. Yeah. He said he's using a power lifter. What did you Google? Fat Asian baby meme. He's using a lot of memes. Yeah, he is. He's using a few.

I remember him. Dang, he's big, man. Oh, that one. Yeah. Oh, poor guy. Yeah, wonder. Now he's like 16. He's all jacked.

Hey, maybe. Maybe I hope he is. Speaking of getting jackeded have you guys seen shack yeah i i saw him i saw a screenshot on more plates more days yeah that's what i saw too yeah i didn't see the video though so shack's getting jacked dude like what the fuck yeah i mean he he's i think people forget like he he was in amazing shape when he was young in really good shape coming out of LSU, he's very lean. But, yeah, I mean, he...

It's just, like, talk about the higher end of, like, genetics, man. Yeah. And people are like, oh, he's probably on the juice or whatever. But, like, I just... I don't... I mean, it's just hard to say anything about that. That guy's just... He's different than everybody, right?

Absolutely. There's nobody like Shaq. There is no one like Shaq. It's a Shaq attack. It's insane. He can about that. That guy's just, he's different than everybody, right? Absolutely. There's nobody like Shaq. There is no one like Shaq. It's a Shaq attack. It's insane. He can fucking break dance and shit. You ever seen him break dance? Oh, there he is.

I've never seen him break dance. All right. This is an angle for us to get him on the show. Now we got to figure out how to get him on the show. Huh. Fucking Matt Vincent went to LSU. He should be able to get Shaq for us, right? Yeah, easily.

Easily. Somebody's got to be able to. They're both one of the greatest in their sport, too. He looks awesome, man. He does. Look at his traps. Doesn't matter how good you look or how rich you are, a bathroom selfie's a bathroom selfie. It still looks like a bathroom selfie.

Yeah, we gotta get some better lighting in the ST bathroom. And that is seven feet. Shit, man. I wonder what he weighs right there. Probably a 300. I've seen his shoe before. It's like a size 22. Yeah.

A size 22 shoe doesn't make any sense. I remember that back in the day on MTV or whatever. He'd be like, if my shoe's bigger than your rims, get out of here. Back when rims... I don't know, rims still popular these days. It's been a while. But yeah, that's fucking crazy.

His size is 22. Is he 50-something at this point? He's got to be. He's got to be, right? He's got to be 52, 50-something, 53. Let's see what our research analyst says. He didn't retire that long ago. Was it 10 years ago?

Maybe a decade out of the game? Yeah, like 2000. Retired at 40. He's probably 50. Yeah, makes sense. 49. 49? Okay.

He's done it all, man. He's a rapper. He's in Shazam. Hey, yeah, he did well in Shazam. He did well in Shazam. I liked that movie as a kid. He's got to make a comeback with the raps, I think. Dude.

He made shoes? He made shoes. Remember those? Made shoes. I remember when I was a kid watching him, and he was buying stuff for kids for Christmas. Kids that are less fortunate, and he's buying them PlayStations and shit. I'm like, this is the coolest guy that I've ever seen. And then he's like, people want to do all kinds of stuff with their fame and their money. He's like,'s like you know he's like people want to do all kinds of stuff with their fame and their money he's like i like to do this and he just started

breakdancing out of nowhere i didn't even see this i'm like i didn't know he could break dance i'm like this guy's i'm like this guy's amazing he attributed he's hilarious too yeah some of his like footwork on the court he attributed that to being able to dance and like to being able to move like move like not like a seven foot whatever he weighed how funny is uh him and barkley on that like nba show they're fantastic i used to love watching that shack said to barkley one day he's like he's like yo he goes you can't do this and shack for no reason gets up and like puts his arms out like he's an airplane and starts going around the studio like he's an airplane. And then he comes back and sits back down like a little kid.

And Barkley's like, you're dumb, man. He's like, you're so stupid. He's like, that wasn't funny. He's like, that wasn't cool. He's like, it's just dumb. They really be roasting each other. I love that. I love that.

Oh, my God. Crushing each other. Dude, I used to love watching that nba on tnt back in the day they had it every tuesday wednesday thursday they had a game on yeah best thing ever in high school sorry y'all know who michael rapaport is of course yeah you see the kd thing that happened zebra head oh is that like his nickname or something no you gotta watch that movie bro well okay so matt rapaport calls himself the king of trash talk. And him and KD were going back and forth in the DMs.

And KD like got pissed. He's like, all right, well, meet me over on this. You come guzzling, blah, blah, blah. Like he went in and Rappaport made it real. He made it real. Right. And Rappaport like sent back these DMs. I can't believe you're talking to me like you should be helping the kids in new york or some shit right because he knew that he was going to release these

dms and katie just kept going in and then he put all those dms out and katie was fine 50k but rap report is like the king of trash talk it's like that's kind of sad that you're now going to take this nba players like mean dms and you're going to put it out there like what that's weird yeah rap goes hard in the pit if he was dming me i'd be like oh this is dope i'm gonna keep this katie's trash talking me yeah come on man dude oh man i want to watch that movie now zebra head one of the greatest soundtracks ever really yeah have you seen it zebra head no it's a it's a whole movie it has a lot to do with like interracial stuff but it's got rap in it.

Pause. Interracial? Yeah. Zebrahead. So it's black and white people. Oh, okay. Sorry, I thought you were talking about something else. No, not that.

Not that in deep. And you guys have peanut butter cup eggs? I did not. I didn't have any. I saw did not I didn't have any I saw some I didn't eat any And I'm disappointed in myself Where are these?

Just around Easter time You know Oh man I still have a lot of kids In my family so I thought they were here In the office There's a lot of candy

I do have protein bars If you guys want to try some Oh yeah If you guys are down It's up to you Yes Right now? Right now

Alright Let's see what happens. Yeah, what are you doing with protein? I'll eat. I'll eat. I know you'll eat them, but... Hmm. All right.

So you made these. No, I did not. Yeah. Oh. Who made them? Somebody made them in the bathtub? I brought each of you two. It's better be worth it.

Oh, okay. I don't want to poop my pants. You won't. My stomach's growling so i need something obviously my stomach the name of this barbara come on dude it's so good the anna bar really what bro made this oh peanut butter and jelly cookies and cream so i know so there's one that's i mean they're both delicious but there's one that's significantly better. So, you know, I'll let you guys taste test them, but. I need to look up this.

I think that peanut butter and jelly is hard to get the flavor of, so I'm going to try cookies and cream first. So, these are, these just released. Our boy Remington James, final boss performance. It's, dude, wait till you try that cookies and cream. That's, just go for it. You said this is from Remington James?

Yeah, check it out, though. cookies and cream. You said this is from Remington James? Yeah, check it out though. How is it? This kind of looks like the Outright bar. It's really, really good. Yep.

It almost has like a peanut butter flavor to it. This is really good. 20 gram to protein, huh? A little protein, no artificial sweeteners. I was blown away. I was like, dude, I got to get the guy some of these. It's really good. Yeah.

Hmm. Damn, bro. I know, right? He did a good job. Mm-hmm. I like the name. Yeah, the name, oh my God, the Anobar. Mm-hmm.

I actually texted him. I was like, dude, I'm pissed off I didn't think of that for some reason and he's like yeah if it worked it worked really well and i ran with it like that's amazing i don't think colleen fach eats anything like this you know definitely not definitely not oh my gosh dude what you guys know you guys know anything about bobsledding nothing james macklin Cool Runnings is a fantastic movie. Jamaican bobsled team. It's so good. But they do that thing

like it makes your mouth water, you know? Yeah, man. This is really good. It's great to have coffee right here, too. Oh, my God. I just want to fucking gig on air right now, man. This is actually good shit, man. Remington, congratulations, brother. Crushed it.

You need to send me 100 of these. And if you don't, I'm going to talk shit on your bar. No, I'm joking, bro. These are really good. These are awesome. Couldn't keep them in stock. They're great. 255 calories.

That's the big thing right there. So no artificial sweeteners, 21 grams of protein, but still under 300 calories. 270 in this other one. How many grams of fat are we dealing with? It's a little bit higher, but it's still, I mean, with that amount of calories, it ain't that high. So we're doing just fine. 10 or 12 probably. The peanut butter and jelly is like peanut butter and jelly, man.

Yeah. I was like, I know it is, right? Did you eat both? I took a bite of both, yeah. Oh, wow. You self-controlled. I didn't smoke through them, yeah. Not me.

You're going to go right through them? I'm sorry. I know we have to have a job right now. Yeah, yeah. But I'm going to eat both. So wait. I want to see the reaction. This job does not require much.

I mean, we've been high on the show before. We've had mushrooms. We've been fucking protein bars. Wait till you try this cookies and cream, though. Let me cleanse the palate. I'm going to back up. Remember last time?

I'm still wiping stuff off the table. Can I borrow your glasses? What did I do to you? Blast it everywhere yep clean the palate what did i do to you last night nigerian super sperm oh i busted my bad yeah all right right through your pants uh oh this is good that's really good much better food or sex depends on how hungry you are

in either direction in either direction yeah it really depends man if i haven't eaten for two days food yeah versus anyways all right we got to get rolling but yeah final boss performance that shit's amazing way to go ank and premington on wow guys yeah this is it's really good it's really good i'm just went flying everywhere it's it's crumbly i like the crumbliness they're soft they're nice and just oh yeah good job not um they're not dry they're not dry it's the one like a lot of times protein bars like like really, really kind of dry. I also liked that it doesn't have a coating on it.

So the white chocolate one does, but that one does not. Cause the coating like always like melts and gets weird. Yeah. It's good. No. Yeah. It's really hard not to eat the entire fucking box as soon as it came in.

But God, yeah. I tried to hold back so that way I can give you guys some. These are one of those things where you do need some self-control. Yes, yes. Quite a bit. You need to be an adult. But they're fantastic.

Looks like Colleen's ready to go. What? No way. Way. Way protein. I'm not buying it. She's not ready. There's no way.

Oh, there she is. Hello. Hey. What's going on, Colleen no way. Oh, there she is. Hello. Hey. What's going on, Colleen Fotch? Not much. How are you guys? We're still always trying to figure out how to say your last name Fotchish. Yeah, there's a lot of letters in there.

Why so many weird letters thrown in there for no reason? Does that confuse everybody? It's like Scotch, but F but fudge ah there we go yeah so what the hell's been going on you've been doing some uh like bobsledding like where how did this come to be what's up with that yeah seriously it's absolutely nuts never in a million years that i think i'd be doing that but But, uh, so basically last, uh, summer. Yeah. And around July, um, Kaylee Humphries, one of the pilots on the U S team reached out to me, um, and asked if I had ever thought about bobsledding. And I was like, honestly, uh,

no, only because I had no idea how people got into it. I thought every Bob's letter only came from track. And I was like, I'm the opposite of track coming from swimming and CrossFit. And so we started talking a bit, had some meetings with the coaches over there on the U.S. team. And then one thing led to another. We got to train together a bit just to see what the bobsled training was like. I drove out to California

and then she let me know around September or a little bit before that I could have the opportunity to go out to the Olympic Training Center to try bobsledding out and then potentially go through the trials process of making the national team. And she was like, hey, there's no promises with any of this. And like, hey, you might go down the track and absolutely hate it. But you'll never know until we try. So kind of took a leap of faith a bit there and felt like it was an opportunity I couldn't pass up. So went out there in mid to late September.

And then we got on the track for the first time, I think early November. And then, yeah. You're digging it. You're having a good time with it yeah it was i had it's so interesting how i kept asking everyone um you know what to expect what does it feel like going down the track all this stuff and everyone tries to explain it but they're like hey listen you just it's something you have to experience it It's not like a roller coaster. It's not like anything else. And I was like, come on, it's got to be like something. And then having gone in it, I was like, yeah, you're right. It's really like nothing I've ever experienced before. And it was absolutely crazy. I think my biggest fear going down at first, well, one was I was like, I just need to get in the sled. I was like, I can't not get in the sled. One, that's embarrassing.

And two, it makes it so much harder for the pilot to get down the track. But I so I get carsick really easy. And I was like, man, I I was like, I don't know if I'm just going to puke everywhere when I get to the bottom or anything, but I was totally fine. And for whatever reason, bobsledding does not trigger any motion sickness. So that's good. I'm so curious. Like when you went down there the first day, because I don't know, I'd assume that people that bobsled have been bobsledding for a minute but when you went down there for the first day you are a powerful athlete you seem like you're probably probably pretty fast too um did they notice anything that was like oh shit she like

she's better at this than a majority of these other athletes or like what what like what how do you stand out from a lot of these other athletes that may have come from just the track background because you, you did so many other like sick things as an athlete. Oh, thanks. Well, I would say for me and still what I'm working on. So, um, I'm a strong, like you said, I, that was my strength back in CrossFit and swimming. I was strong and powerful, um, definitely fast in the water, but I've never had to, um, technically learn how to sprint. So, I mean, I've done a few sprinting things here and there in CrossFit. Um, like when we were training for the games, practicing somewhat of a sprint event, but it was usually shuttle style or something like that. Um, and I've never really gone over

sprinting mechanics. Um, and so that's the biggest thing. And that's what, you know, me versus, um, some track athletes that are bobsledding or, um, have been bobsledding is just the overspeed and getting comfortable with running downhill, um, which is sorry, what what's over speed or just like the running downhill component, but not just sprinting, but then, um, like it reminds me a lot of in swimming to prep for big meets. Cause I was a sprinter in swimming. We would do a, like bungee work where you have like a bungee with a belt tied to you. And so it's like assisted swimming um so essentially like that like getting comfortable when you're running downhill and still putting still pushing the sled not just

running behind it so i think that's like for me the first few times there's just an oh shit moment of you're running downhill and you're like this thing feels like it's going to get away from me and i just need to get it definitely something uh um that took some getting used to and still working on just being able to uh not only keep up with the sled but still applying force on it while you're going downhill that sounds so frightening yeah running downhill is fucking impossible, too, even without a sled. Yeah. Kills your knees. Holy shit. Do you have to do any special prep to get your body ready and prepared for that? Or do you do anything now that's specifically for the knees?

Or does it not bother your knees that much? It actually hasn't been bad. It actually hasn't been bad. I've definitely had to incorporate just some exercises in my warmup or after my workouts as accessory for like Achilles, adductor, hip flexors. My ankles are super mobile and loose, especially from swimming. So kind of working on getting them to stiffen up almost. So been doing a lot of that lately. So being strong was just helpful though. As soon as you went down the track, it was something that like maybe separated you out from maybe some of the other people or there are the other people involved in bobsledding super strong as well. I mean, definitely very, very strong. I think it helped that,

um, I already had that base. Um, sometimes, you know, an athlete, maybe the opposite of me would come in with the overspeed component and the sprinting component, but then have to work on, um, building up the strength. So it's nice that I have that. I mean, the thing, the goal is still to get stronger, more powerful. It's not that you get to a point you're like, well, I'm strong enough now. So that's always a component, but definitely for me and my training right now, we're prioritizing the speed component just because that's lacking a little bit. So just trying to get that up a little bit. How is your body holding up? You know, you're, you've been competitive for a very long time. Now you were a swimmer at Cal Berkeley, correct? And then, and then, uh, you competed in the CrossFit

games and, uh, we're, you were going out at hard and CrossFit for a long time. And then now you're transitioning to this other sport which is very physical um are you banged up you getting injured here and there you're feeling pretty good i actually feel i mean there's always like uh you know little like my ankles like getting used to it um uh achilles definitely were pretty sore the first few days like we went on so the ompic training center has a push track that is essentially like the frame of a bobsled on um just a regular uh like track uh material and so it's just on some rails so you can practice just the initial hits and pushes um so we did a bunch of that before we actually got on ice. And I definitely noticed

that my Achilles and calves were not used to that. And I've just never had that, you know, running downhill is just not something I had to do. So my body definitely had to get used to that a bit. My hip flexors were so sore at the beginning. But honestly, as my body's adapted to it, I feel really good. I mean, there's definitely days like certain I've only been on two tracks thus far. And like Lake Placid is definitely a rough track. And the first time I went down, my neck was so sore. But now it's definitely adapted to it.

I would say more. I just don't feel super beat up like there's definitely i think there's still an adaptation process like my body's still figuring out what we're doing but overall i feel really good um as far as like you know you right now on that bobsled team is there like a roster of people like and everyone's training to be the to be like on the like specific olympic team or are you like on the olympic bobsled team because i'm curious like if there's like reserves or any type of that type of stuff how that works and how it works when you get to the olympics right so the olympic team has not been picked yet

so they pick the team pretty close to when the Olympics will happen, which is in February of next year, which makes a lot of sense because, you know, picking it now, there's so much that can happen in a few months, whether it's people all of a sudden peaking, like really close to the Olympics or,

or just, you know, showing out more, um, more injuries or like stuff like that. So we'll, this summer we'll do a bunch more testing and evaluation to kind of help, um, the coaches and the committee select that team. It also depends on how many sleds we qualify for the Olympics. So we're hoping to qualify three sleds, which would be awesome because then that's more spots for brakemen as well. What does that mean exactly?

Yeah. Qualifying sleds. So basically like any other Olympic team, you have to basically, it goes by your overall rank in the world. And so I believe it's, uh, only a few countries can qualify three sleds. So, and not every country will have three competitive sleds, but I believe it's going right now.

It's looking like it's between us, Canada. Right now, it's looking like it's between us, Canada, and I think maybe two other countries kind of battling it out for that third sled. So it'll depend on. So next season, when that starts up in the fall, there will be a lot of World Cup races. And depending on how those go and just the world rankings and points and all that stuff that'll dictate who gets a third sled um and then depending on whether we have two or three then there's a committee that um picks who so each sled needs a brakeman and then also each sled needs an alternate yeah so if there's two sleds there'll be four people six or three there'll be six um so yeah so there's two sleds or before people six or three, there'll be six.

So, yeah. So there's always alternates and stuff just in case anything were to happen at the Olympics. So, yeah. Isn't a bobsled. Isn't it fucking cold?

Like what's a California girl doing? Like on a track full ice and your, your sisters must've gave you shit they must have been like what's going on with this this is weird yeah uh i did grow up for a good majority of my childhood in uh illinois so i was like a little prepared um but i will say that especially having lived in arizona for about three years uh it was a rude awakening going to Lake Placid, New York and having it be the last time we were there. One of the days was 15 below,

I think. And it's. That's one of the coldest areas in the whole United States. I think there are certain times of year. Yeah. It's. And it's one thing to just be that cold, but then to try and warm up and push

when it's that cold is a whole another ball game but but i mean you get used to it and you get a lot smarter about what you wear and layering and wearing like three to four pairs of pants and it's yeah no more crossfit outfits yeah definitely uh gee i think yesterday um i uh started working out again this week or training this week and it was the first time i've worked out in shorts in months i was like only pants out there he said only pants and i just that was kind of funny um okay i'm sorry uh so not only vans it's a whole nother podcast a whole nother podcast all right it's gonna sound so dumb but you know i mean and you've probably gotten this so much but everyone saw cool runnings as a kid right yeah you saw four bobsledders now

going through your ig when i see you it's like you and one other person so is there like different bobsleds like what's the deal with that yeah so men get four man with the four people and two man and women get two women and so basically actually two of our pilots fought really hard over the last few years because up until this year um it's always been men have the two events of four men and two men and we only have two men and they fought super hard just because it's uh less opportunities to get a medal. It's less people in the sport. And they were trying really hard to get four men to be an event for women. And the, they just weren't budging with it, unfortunately. And it's really a shame because I mean, so to backtrack a little bit. So instead of four men, they gave women

monobob, which is a single person sled. Um, do men have that? Uh, sorry, what do men have monobob too? No. So that's essentially our second event in, um, as opposed to four men. And I mean, so Alana and Kaylee, two of our pilots, both Olympic medalists, both total badasses, they, you know, they raced four man. They got people together just to prove that women could do it and were fully capable of doing it. But, you know, unfortunately it didn't happen. I think it'd be

really cool in the future if it did. I think it's still great that there is a second event. It's definitely a step in the right direction. I mean, selfishly for me, I wish four man was a thing. It's super, I think it's just, it would get more people into the sport. There's more opportunities. And even though it's, it's definitely a team sport, there's more opportunities um and even though it's it's definitely a team sport there's the two of you walking up there and you've got to get this sled down the track as fast as possible but there's definitely like watching the guys there's way you know when there's four of you there's um even more of a timing component into it um you've got more of like a squad up there um and still i mean i love two man, not saying it,

but like, I think it would be cool if one day women could have both. But, but yeah, so that's why. Any idea what the thought process was behind not, you know, women not having that in the beginning? Like, do you think, was it physical? Did, did people used to think that the women wouldn't be strong? Like, do you need to be stronger for the four men type thing? Uh, so, I mean, the sled definitely is heavier. Um, and it goes faster just because it's a heavier sled. You've got more bodies in there. Um, and I think that I'm not a hundred percent positive, but I do believe that was a component that um certain people might have thought that women weren't physically capable of doing that so i think that's what um alana and kaylee were out to prove they're like okay you think we can't we're gonna show you we can and they did um i mean

even uh like while we were having um our trials race like one of the girls helped out one of the guys teams and like got in on a sled. So, I mean, I believe that we are 100 percent physically capable of doing so. And it would be really cool. But yeah. But for now, we don't. What's up with the other stuff like luge and what is it? The skeleton, right? Like, yeah.

So those are done. Are those done in the same kind of like, I guess maybe I'll just say track. I don't know what it's called, but are they done in the same areas? Is it like, is it maybe similar to swimming where swimming and diving, they're both done in water, but they literally have nothing to do with each other. It is very similar. So like we are like USA bobsled and skeleton. So we, so skeleton goes down the same track.

They go down head first, right? Yeah. And then Luge is on your back. You're on your stomach, right? Yeah. Yeah. Skeleton's on your stomach. Luge is on your back.

What the fuck? What? I've never heard of going 110 miles an hour or something why do they call it skeleton i'm sorry is this like on a sled on your stomach what's the deal here oh on a sled you're on a sled you're on your stomach you're like a fucking torpedo with a special helmet on it yeah no so it's yeah it's crazy have you tried that no would you i don't think so maybe from like so there's different starts going down the track because like when drivers are first starting out you're not just like okay we're going from the top today um so it'd be terrifying but so they'll start um like lake placid i believe has four different

starts so they'll start um at start four and then kind of work their way up so if i were to do it i definitely want which i'm sure they would tell me to start from start four but that's where i would yeah so how often are you going on the track itself? Because it seems like, I don't know the logistics of it all, but it seems like a pain in the ass to get the sled all the way to the top of the track and then eventually go down. It's almost like you probably have to do a shit ton of work before you actually do that. But yeah, how often are you actually going into the track to try to perfect your time and all that? Are you actually going into the track to try to perfect your time and all that? Yeah. So it kind of depends during which part of the season.

But when we were out there for team trials and all that stuff, we were going out to the track, I want to say, like five days a week, depending on the week and everything. And then having days off before race days. the week and everything um and then having days off before race days um but yeah there's definitely a lot of moving things whether it's sleds or anything else there's so much that i didn't know went into it um and so basically how our day starts like if we were going to start sliding at three o'clock, we would probably get to the garage around like one, one thirty. You prep the sled, put the runners on the sled, flip it down, get it on a truck, get on the truck with the sled, ride it to the start of the track, unload the sled, move it over. of the track, unload the sled, move it over. And then there's these things called scabbards, which go onto the runners, make it easier to move, protect the runners. You get those off, put it on the ice. There's like this ice pad right next to the start of the track, put it on there. Then you go warm up, get in the sled, go down the track. And then you get it on scabbards again, get it on another truck, and then you bring it all the way back up. So it's like, it's definitely, I mean, I think that's also a component that has helped me, like just moving heavy objects around.

Like that's something that I'm like, okay, like I'm ready to do this. Like I was made to do that. So that's one thing that, yeah, I wasn't ready to do this. Like I was made to do that. So, uh, so that's one thing that, uh, yeah, I wasn't too, I didn't know it was a component at first, but definitely, uh, was ready to go. The sleds like 600 pounds maybe. Yeah. The, uh, the four men are around that. The women's sled are around, uh,

at the exact number like three something. So. And then how do you prep this thing? Like you've got to like pour coconut oil on it or something? What are we doing to this thing? It's the Olympics. They use MCT oil. Yeah, there you go. Yeah.

So basically, which runners the pilot selects depends on the weather and the condition of the ice. So like they'll pick different thickness of runner, depending on how cold it is. So like fatter runners are going to be faster, but you have less control on the ice. So they'll pick each pilot has a few sets of runners. And then depending on the day and for training days,

they'll use like a crappier set of runners than on a race day. And then we get the runners on the sled, we'll align them and all that. And then for a race day, the nights leading up to it, we'll sand the runners to make them super shiny and nice and fast um and then yeah so there's a lot of prep work in that as well yeah do i mean i i thought you guys would have like a whole team like i didn't know that you yourself were actually a part of that um just in my head i'm thinking like oh you know this is the olympics here so like they probably have like a whole nother squad that like i'm like some engineers

and shit like that are like gonna know exactly what degree of you know this and that but i find that interesting that it's you guys that actually are the ones that are like literally picking up the damn sled and putting it back on top of the hill oh yeah that's yeah and i mean we have we also have great um a great lead mechanic who helps with um like testing out new stuff on the sled and getting that race day prepped but yeah i mean it's all as far as moving and stuff it's all us and i mean i think that's also something too like on race days, we kind of, it's like an unspoken thing. Like, you know, if you're racing, like you focus on your race, like what you need to do warming up and all that stuff. And if you're not racing, like we're going to move your sled to the line.

So like, you're not getting yourself exhausted before the race. So that's where just the team component of it helps a lot and then you know that like okay like i'm gonna help my teammates on their race days and then like they'll help me online so um yeah you guys ever mess up and the sled just takes off on you and you're like fuck and it goes all the way down the hill uh no i i have not no i mean it's so sad i mean like oh because i mean if it's gone it's probably gone right i mean oh yeah i mean i haven't seen where like no one gets in i mean i've seen videos where the brakemen don't get in yeah and then you're just like oh man that's that's brutal all right so i'm so curious like what's going on inside the sled?

Because it's like, okay. And also there are no weight classes for this, right? Because I was wondering like if let's just say some really big strong persons in there. Well, since there's like more weight, maybe it moves faster. So there's that component I'm curious about. But also inside the sled, what does your body kind of do to like, are you guys like on turns? Is your body moving the one way or another way? Is there a wheel? Like what's the deal? Like how's, how's it work? Yeah. So, um, so there's no weight classes per se, but there is a max weight

that you can be like, so you, the sled, um, or the two people on the sled, there's a max weight you can weigh. Oh, for sure. If there wasn't, I'd be gaining all the weight and be like, here we go. Okay. Nice. But yeah, so it's ideal if there's also a minimum that the sled can weigh. So ideally the two, the pilot and the brakeman are weighing enough where you don't have to, um, cause you do want to be heavy going down the track. I mean, it's a gravity sport, but, uh, but you want to ideally, um, like me,

if me and my pilot are super light, then we're trying to add weight into the sled to make it heavier, but then we have to push the heavier sled. So ideally you want that weight on you and not on the sled. Um, but, um, sorry, what was your other question inside of the sled? Like, is there a wheel or something, or are you guys just kind of like, how do you physically, other than the initial part where you push the sled and gain that momentum, how do you gain an advantage as you're sliding down? What's your body doing inside? Yeah.

So the pilot has what are called D-rings. So it's not like a steering wheel. It's literally just these little rings that look like that attached to some bungee cords. So the runners just turn like this and so and it's super slight movements like i've seen pilots or talk or i've talked to them about like it's super like centimeters of movement you're not like steering like this yeah um so it's super, super, um, like small adjustments, but, um, and then as for me, I hop in, um, and it's super minimal inside the sled. There's no, like, I mean, there's kind of a seat, but it's like very, um, relatively bare in there. Like you have what you need and you don't want like excess stuff.

Um, and so like, we'll add padding here and there. Like if you go down and you've got like huge bruises somewhere, um, like in training, sometimes, uh, we'll wear like knee pads or elbow pads just so we're not getting beat up for no reason. Um, but then on race day, like you have way less stuff on you. Um, but when you get in, you've got foot pegs to kind of press against. So that's a big thing. So like pressing, um, against the foot pegs to keep your butt back. So it's like a balance of, you don't want to be getting thrown all over the sled. Cause then you're causing more movement in the back and that's just more difficult for the pilot but you also don't want to be so rigid that you're not like moving at all so um for me like i'm thinking about really pushing through the

foot pegs um and just staying as low as possible because you don't want to your head to be so high that you're causing um it's just bad for aerodynamics and all that um but yeah but there's not necessarily like leaning or anything but it does help to that was one thing like in prepping for um i mean my first run down the track i was just like holy shit what the fuck did i do i had no idea where i was on the track or what was going on. But now it's cool because there's POV videos on YouTube that you can watch. And just knowing where you are in the track at what time really helps. So you just know where the sled is going to go. So you're not getting thrown side to side a ton.

So then your eyes, you're actually not even seeing the track at all. No, I mean, I can, sometimes I open my eyes. Like the only thing I can see is there is, um, like a hole in the bottom of the sled for the break to go through. Um, so, I mean, I can see like just ice going by but other than that like no wait i can't see anything did i hear you say that sometimes you open your eyes like yeah yeah i mean something's like i feel like sometimes i'll close them sometimes i open them wow just depends oh man so that's a lot of just trying to memorize each track then oh my god yeah it's definitely um and some tracks are easier to again i've only

been on two uh some tracks are easier to uh kind of feel than others um like i've been in park city and then lake placid and they're super super different um park city is um not as aggressive on the body. Lake Placid is rough. Like you really feel it. Park City is really smooth. So you could do tons and tons of runs on that and be good to go. Closing your eyes is really interesting. You can sometimes concentrate more.

Like if you're lifting, sometimes it helps calm you down a little bit. Do you ever do that in SEMA? Do you ever do that in jujitsu? Sometimes close your eyes is really interesting you can sometimes concentrate more like if you're lifting sometimes it helps calm you down a little bit do you ever do that in sima do you ever do that in jujitsu sometimes close your eyes right yeah oddly enough yeah or look away from the opponent you don't really need to see him right yeah no sometimes i'll close my eyes especially when things are feeling really good like it allows you to just feel around and feel what you're doing kind of in some cases it makes things a little bit easier it's really weird i can't explain no it makes sense that you're processing too many things at one time and moving that fast it actually makes quite a bit of sense to have your have your eyes closed yeah hard to interpret what's going on when you're how fast are you going approximately um so lake placid i think the speeds were around like 70, 80 miles an hour.

I think the fastest track is, I haven't been on it, but in Whistler, I think that's the supposedly the fastest one. I'd imagine at some point you must have flipped, right? What's that experience like if you have flipped over? I mean, it seems like, uh, you just continue down the track upside down. Right. I mean, yeah. Uh, so it's very rare that like, we'll go all the way over. And I actually did have my first crash, um, in park city. Um, and it was funny. Um, my boyfriend who's actually on the men's team, he, I made a comment a few months in something about like oh i'm a real bobsledder now like kind of joking he's like you're not a real bobsledder until you crash and i was like all right um but uh not something that i was like oh man i gotta crash now that wasn't

my thinking at all but uh but in park city for one of our north america's cup races um we it was our second run so each race you get two runs and then your score is the total time um and it was our second run and um that track has 15 curves yeah 15 and um we crashed out of i think it was 13 um and i remember and the good thing is the pilots and everything go over crash protocol and what to do um and i was thinking i was like if we crash there's no way i'm going to be coherent enough to be like oh remember to do this but it was good that i i was i mean like your adrenaline just goes through the roof so um uh i just remember uh it goes really because it's very loud when you're going down the track and right before we crashed it got really silent and then all of a sudden I felt something on my back and I was like,

that's not normal. And so it was the ice on my back, just from one of the walls. And then I felt like the ice on my head. And so we actually ended up sliding through the finish line and this track, there's a low point. So you actually are going a little bit uphill to go through the finish line. And so we actually got through the finish. So our time counted and everything, because we were both in the sled. But then because it was uphill a little bit, we slid back. And then so we just went back and forth and back. And I was like, when is this going to end?

And honestly, that was scarier than the initial crash for me. Just because you're picking up a lot of speed and like your head is on the ice. And they say to like rotate between like your head being on the ice. Like if you feel like you're starting to get like an ice burn on your shoulder, you can like rotate between the two. But we were both fine thankfully like i had some ice burns on my back but um that's why we were burn vests so um yeah so we're all all good what are the uh what's it like dealing with the the g forces of you know going down and and having the uh sled kind of take you every which way?

Yeah. So Park City definitely has more Gs. Like you feel like some of the curves, it just feels like someone's just pushing on your back so hard. And then whereas Lake Placid has less of that and it's more of the just getting rocked side to side. It's definitely like one of the runs I felt like my abs were going to cramp. You'd be toast if that happened. It also like you got to make sure they go to the bathroom before.

That's what people told me they're like even if you think you might have to go to the bathroom before just go because like there's no holding it if you're going down that has there been any um like anything that can prepare you for that or did they tell you like no the only way to get used to the g's and all this stuff is to actually just get out there and you know go down the track uh i mean i think yeah definitely experience for sure um as far as like the sports med team is really good about um giving like neck strengthening exercises stuff like that just so you don't get as beat up from uh the runs but but yeah just getting reps down the track helps a ton and like outside you know outside of the olympics or preparing for the olympics do i mean are there a lot of bobsled competitions going on or do some

of these athletes just go back to what they do like you go back to whatever you were doing before and whatever and then when it gets closer people start really doing bobsledding again yeah so like we won't get back on the ice um until next fall and that's usually when like the season starts um or when it did last um last year but the really cool thing is actually in Lake Placid, they just built an ice house. So it's essentially like what we have as a push track, but ice instead of a track, which is just awesome because especially for brakemen, we can get reps at practicing our pushing without having to go down a track and you can just get

way more reps because when you are going down a track like that's a lot for the pilot and the brakeman so you're doing at max like three runs a day whereas like in ice house you can get as many hits as you want because it's not, cause you're not having to go down the whole track. So that'll be really nice to have. Did you have to change your training up quite a bit? You know, I'd imagine like the other bobsledders probably do certain exercises and stuff that you have to incorporate those, or you just went along with what you normally do. do? Oh yeah. Training has changed a lot. Um, intensity is way higher. Reps are much lower. Um, uh, getting to lift a lot heavier, which is very fun for me. Um, so yeah, I would say the biggest thing is I get a lot of rest now, um, which is definitely needed for the workouts I'm

doing, but I definitely, it was something I wasn't used to. Like, I'm so used to just going into the gym and I'm like, we just got to move through everything as fast as possible. And, um, even just working up to sets in whether it's squats, cleans or whatever, it was always like, we just got to do it quickly. Um, getting better at being more explosive through my lifting. And as well as, yeah, like the reps have changed drastically. Like I'm working towards putting a little more emphasis on like what my one rep max or three rep maxes would be versus me try being able to rep out 80%, you know, 20, 30 times, whatever it is. And then also another big thing is how I run now and my running workouts are very different. Like before, you know, I was training to run five Ks or,

you know, a few miles with a backpack and then into a 100 max, something like that. Whereas now, you know, running lots of 30s, 60s, 10s, stuff like that. So it's, yeah, it's a whole new world. You're on the track a lot, I imagine, right? Running? Yeah. So we've been primarily, um, yeah, either on turf or a track. Um, so yeah, been very different. Got myself said track spikes. So that was, that was really cool. Something different. Um, but, uh, yeah, it's been really, really fun. Sometimes very frustrating just because, you know, it's learning a whole new skill. Um, but also very rewarding. Are you pretty fast in comparison to some of the other girls?

I would say, um, I'm definitely not the fastest. Um, that's where I've got a lot of room. Um, or I think I have the most to gain and that, um, so I would say like even right now i'm not lifting as much as i mean left my own devices i would just lift all the time um but we have to uh just prioritize the sprinting and stuff more um because that will be part of what we're evaluated on this summer. Like we'll do a little combine, um, that will have a sprint component to it. So I got to make sure that I show up for that. What's the main struggle with like sprint mechanics being someone who hasn't like done much sprinting in the past and adding that in.

So what, what were some of your main hurdles when learning how to sprint, um, correctly? Yeah, I would say, uh, Dorsey flexion was just not something that I was used correctly. Yeah, I would say dorsiflexion was just not something that

I was used to. And I would say, because of how my ankles are and what they've, I mean, with swimming, you know, super good to have really mobile, flexible ankles. Same thing with CrossFit, like really helped with pistols and my lifting and stuff like that. But I definitely noticed like watching some of my first sprinting and pushing videos. When I go to plant my foot, my ankle would kind of collapse, which is just, you know, like you're just leaking so much power that like you want to cast your ankle. So, you know, the rest of your your hips your glutes hamstrings can actually do the work um so that's been why we've been working so much on that is there any um i guess odd or just anything super hyper specific to bobsledding like as far as like

exercises and things where you weren't doing before but now you know i don't like jumping into the sled or something like that where you're like oh now i have to do this over and over and over um as far as like weight room stuff goes i would say there's nothing like um well i would say like for working on the initial hit, like doing, um, like sprint accelerations off of a block. So like setting up like a two by four or something with some weights behind it, just so it doesn't slip and like practicing really exploding off that block versus starting in like a three point stance or something like that.

floating off that block versus starting in like a three point stance or something like that. Um, and yeah, so that's been something that, um, just getting used to. And that's something that I can practice here or wherever, um, even if I'm not on the ice. So that's been good. What about just like learning this like new sport in general? Was that, has that been difficult transit transition? uh i don't know you go to a track and you go somewhere and someone's like oh that's so and so and you're like like i like i don't know who the fuck any of these people are you know and the coaches and stuff like that was that a hard process and the terminology even yeah i mean i would say uh when i first got there um there were just so many moving parts.

And now looking back, I'm like, man, there was so much I didn't know. And still, I mean, I'm still learning every day. But I think it was one of those things where I was like, I want to help, but I don't want to break anything. And I get so nervous. So I think that's the thing. And luckily, the pilots on the team are super, super good at just teaching the new brakeman. And yeah, I mean, there was so much stuff like, you know, we align, especially with

prepping the sled that I just had no idea like what shims were and why we use them on the runners. And, um, I don't know, just using more tools than I ever have in my life, which my dad is, you know, probably so proud of, but, uh, but yeah, there was definitely, um, a learning curve for sure. Um, and then I think also part of it is, uh, it's been super humbling. Um, I, you know, pride myself in being a very athletic person. And I think it's hard sometimes to go back to, but I feel like CrossFit kind of prepared me for it because CrossFit's always adding in new things and you kind of have to let go, um, or check your ego at the door and be like, I'm going to look stupid for a bit. But that's okay. Like even doing, you know, going through track warmups in front of people who have been doing

this their whole life. And I'm like, I know I look ridiculous right now. But I just got to do this. Because if I don't do it, I'm not gonna get any better. So it's definitely very humbling at times. But uh, but yeah, but I mean, that's part of it. That's part of learning anything new. That's actually what I was going to ask you. I mean, there are some people who've just been doing this for the longest time. Are there quite a few other athletes out there that are kind of new like you or are a majority, if not all other people there, do they have a bit of a history with bobsledding uh so most have been doing it for um like there's some people on the team who've been doing it like

10 plus years um there's a few that this is like their third or fourth season um and then uh like kelsey keel who came from crossfit like we came in at the same time brand new so that was really cool to just have uh we had actually never met before until bob sledding which is so funny because we both like knew of each other through instagram and stuff um but so that was really cool to come in with someone who also knew absolutely nothing um and uh and coming from the same sport like that helped a lot too um so yeah so it's kind of all over the place with how long people have been doing it i could see a lot of crossfitters start getting like just just because the build of like the the general you know archetype of a high level CrossFitter, I see a lot of CrossFitters start getting into bobsled.

After what you've done recently, have a lot of CrossFitter like women hit you up and like, hey, what's that like? Or I'm curious about it or not really. Not a ton, but I do remember like I had one friend of mine was like, she just said like, oh, that looks so fun. Or she said something like I was doing this horrible CrossFit workout today. And I was just like, I just want to push a sled. But, but yeah, like stuff like that, but actually not, not too many. but yeah like stuff like that but actually uh not not too many that's right did you make some of this transition uh before or after some of the crossfit like fallout that happened um so i think it was after um but it definitely wasn't like going into until, you know, I started talking to Kaylee and the team and stuff.

Um, I was fully prepared to keep going. I was like, okay, I've made it as an individual. Um, and I just want, my goal was to make the top 10 at the CrossFit games. That was my next big goal. I was like, all right, like I know what I have to work on. Um, and what's the furthest you made it? Sorry, what? What's the furthest that you made it in the CrossFit Games? I got, so in 2019, I was 27th, I believe. So yeah. And yeah, and that was definitely like a tough year

as it was for a lot of athletes with the new cuts and stuff like that. I definitely wasn't the only one going through all that. And, but did a lot of good reflecting after the games and what I really wanted to do moving forward. And, and that was the game plan. So, I mean, it was, it definitely wasn't like I was on my way out of CrossFit and then this kind of came along. Like I was full speed ahead with CrossFit, but then like, you know,

God works in really crazy ways sometimes. And, um, this just seemed like a really good opportunity. Um, and I feel very, very good about the decision to do this. Yeah. What are you in school for? And I feel very, very good about the decision to do this. What are you in school for? So I am finishing up my master's in kinesiology. And then a few months ago, I started a applied business data analytics degree through ASU. So that's been super fun. And actually, my sister is is take and it's all remote

which is great because it sounds really boring calling yeah i'm not gonna lie it is my last class was advanced excel and i was like, holy shit. Fucking spreadsheets. Oh God. Oh yeah. Oh yeah. It was like one of the most frustrating, like I would get out of exams like two and a half hours and I just look like I like, I don't know.

Just total bugging out of your head. Right. Yeah. It was just like, but it's been really cool um just something i was really interested in and um was looking around for a degree like that and then found the one through asu and it's been extremely rewarding just because that's so in the past that's something that i would always be like well that's just not something I'm good at. That doesn't come easy to me. The math, science, all that stuff. Like, I mean, in advanced Excel, we were coding and whatnot. And I was like, that's just not something that's up my alley.

So it's like, I mean, I have to work my ass off in it, but when I do well in it, it's just that much more rewarding because it's just not something that comes easy to me. But so it's, it's definitely, I mean, there are some days where I'm like, why did I do this? But, but I really, really do enjoy it. Any idea what you'll do with those degrees? So I would love to work for a company where I can kind of mesh the two, um, things of like data science as it pertains to like health, wellness, um, athletic performance, that type of thing. Um, so like stuff like, you know, Apple plus is doing their fitness thing. Like you've got aura ring whoop like stuff like that um so i would love to potentially um work at a company where i can kind of work on like the back end of some of that stuff so i think

that'd be really cool as an athlete actually do you um do you use any wearables or devices and do you track any metrics for your heart rate, recovery, et cetera? Or do you kind of just do that intuitively? So I started using, first I started using Oura Ring because both my parents got one. And sleep is definitely something that I tend to struggle with. Just like falling asleep, getting really good consistent sleep. So I kind of wanted to do this because I felt like it would hold me accountable a little more like knowing that every morning i was gonna open a nap and like it's gonna show you right then and there like

if you got enough sleep um and then i was just curious about um the whoop so i got one of those and i've got my apple watch as well. So I've got lots of things. Um, I think for me, like, it's fun to just geek out on all the data. I would say that, um, like for me, it depends. Like I really do like looking at the sleep component, especially like that. I'm really interested in that. I would say that I'm the type of person who, especially around my races and stuff with bobsledding, I just didn't look at any of it because if for whatever reason, my Oura Ring loop or whatever is saying, you're not recovered. And then I've gotten the back of my head that whole day, well, I'm not recovered. I probably am not going to do well. Not that that should

affect me now, but like, it is something versus like me just going based on how I feel. And at the end of the day, whether I wake up feeling a hundred percent or 70% or whatever, like I've still got to perform. So it doesn't really matter. So I think for me, like, I love seeing the data, but especially around times where I'm trying to perform, it's better for me if I just don't look at it. Um, so, but yeah. Anything special you do for recovery? I know that I think you do like ice baths and like, what else do you do for recovery? Yeah. So, um, ice baths for sure. Um, also regular baths, um, got some good like CBD bath bombs that I like to use.

Um, those are nice. Um, and just blood flow and stretching. I mean, most of the time, like I don't want to do it, but I know that I'm going to feel better if I do. Um, and also I'm also traveling with all my sidekick tools and stuff like that, like muscle scraping, rolling out all that good stuff. Um, and then sleep, especially just like my sleeping and eating are a huge component to my recovery. Um, as much as I was, I would say like, especially in my CrossFit career, that was one thing my sleeping.

I knew what I had to do to get better sleep and I just was really stubborn and I just didn't want to do it. So that's one thing that I've been really, really working on dialing in. And I feel like it's never, you get to a point where you're like, okay, it's all dialed in now and I never have to work on it again. It's like a day-to-day thing. And then the eating, especially just making sure I'm feeling enough to recover properly and stay fueled. Have you ever tried a mouth tape?

And have you ever tried to stop eating like several hours before you go to bed? I have not tried mouth tape. So is that just taping your mouth shut? So you're breathing through? Yeah, you can go on Amazon and buy, you can look up mouth tape and just buy some, it might be something to try. Yeah. Do you snore? No,

I'd be really sorry. What do you snore? Uh, probably. Yeah. Well, I definitely, I know if I sleep on my back,

I do snore and I'll end up just waking myself up from snoring. But I'm a side sleeper. So I think when I'm on my side, I'm all good. Yeah. But like when my allergies kick in, I for sure snore. Oh, so it might really help me that because like I used to sleep like that, too. I used to snore. Yeah, I used to snore and I'd like wake up with a dry mouth.

And yeah, mouth take made a big difference for me in terms of, you know, breathing through my nose when I sleep. that too i used to snore yeah i used to snore and i'd like wake up with the dry mouth and yeah mouth take made a big difference for me in terms of you know breathing through my nose when i sleep but then my sleep quality it it it changed it changed so yeah yeah what about stopping uh eating at a certain time which for me is like always kind of annoying like i'd rather kind of eat closer to bed almost not like right before bed, but have you ever tried to stop eating two to three hours for bed? Yeah. I usually try to do that as much as I can.

And like you said, like trying to find a balance between I definitely don't like going to bed super full, but then going to bed really hungry also sucks because i've i've definitely woken up in like the middle of the night and i'm like i won't go back to sleep until i have like i need a snack i end up having this snack um but yeah so definitely like usually trying to cut off uh yeah like probably two hours before i go to bed i heard you say mentioned muscle scraping how's that because i saw you doing some of that on a video on your ig how's that been

beneficial for you how's it helped i've never done that before but it looks pretty interesting yeah so pretty much since swimming days like every pt or cairo i've been to um has done some version of it um and it's just never something that I did on my own or I knew you could do on your own. And then I knew some companies made them, but I knew it was kind of or a few years ago, it was kind of tricky to get them. Like, I think I got one through a friend of mine who was a Cairo. But then I started working with Sidekick and it's just been really nice to be able to travel with some of them, especially when I know I'm not going to be able to go see anyone. Or like, you know, the last few times I've been to New York, like we have to quarantine for a week before we can, you know, get out and do

anything. So like having those tools available has been huge. And especially for like my calves and Achilles, like that's been like really trying to focus on, um, my feet just cause like with all the sprinting and stuff, they're definitely taking a beating. So those have been super helpful with that. What's your food look like? Like you mentioned food for recovery, like, has it changed at all? What was the way you're eating? And what are you eating? So it honestly, like, as far as macros go, so I originally thought that I was like, okay, I'm going to be doing way less volume. I thought I was going to have to eat way less. I was like, there's I'm going to be doing way less volume. I thought I was going to have to eat way less. I was like, there's no way I can eat the same amount. Like I'm going to blow up to like

190 and it's just going to be like, so it didn't happen. So that was good. Um, but it's, it's interesting that, you know, the intensity is just that high. And I think it's, it's not just the training, but like, you know, we were talking about before, like moving the sleds all the time, like you're, you're burning a lot more than you think. Um, and so I would say like, I'm eating pretty much the same macro wise. Um, and what I'm eating is also pretty much the same. Like, uh, going out new york is really nice because at the otc they have a full cafeteria and everything so that's been really nice and trifecta is still sending my food out there which was awesome um just in case like for a meal there's just stuff

that i wouldn't normally eat um and that's definitely tough, especially when you travel anywhere, like trying to avoid consistently eating things that aren't normal for me. And yeah, so it's been pretty much the same. I thought it was going to have to change a lot, but it didn't. Well, and along with that, I'm also curious, like currently, as far as like your body's concerned, you mentioned that in your training, you're training much heavier. Now you're increasing strength, doing more three, one rep maxes. Are you also trying to put on some mass and muscle currently? Or are you trying to like just stay the same weight and get stronger to help with your performance on the sled?

So I was actually talking to my coach about this the other day. actually talking to my coach about this the other day. Um, so right. So like ideal weight for me with like the pilots and everything is around 170 pounds. Um, so that's where we're going to stay. Um, but I would say like the goal right now is maybe a little more like body composition wise, like trying to lean out to make sure I'm not basically like every part of me is being useful for, you know, moving this sled. Um, so that's what I'm focusing on now. Um, and I definitely gave myself like a few weeks of lots and lots of treats and I definitely feel it. Uh, so I'm back, back on it, um, which is good. And that's the thing. Like I, every once in a while, like don't get me wrong. I love, you know, having whatever, but then it

just, you know, I crave eating how I normally eat because it just makes me feel better. So, so yeah. So that'll be the goal for, for now. And this actually makes me curious about one more thing. Um, as far as like, cause compared to probably what you're doing in CrossFit, I would assume, and I could be totally wrong, but I would assume that the workouts now overall burn less calories. Um, so if I'm right in that assumption, are you eating less too right now because it doesn't require as much food or am I totally wrong? You know, I, I don't know exactly, like I've never actually tracked like how much I was burning back then versus now.

But, um, I would say that, you know, it's super interesting and maybe it it was just because my training also changed up a little bit. But when we first started getting on the ice and everything, I actually started losing weight. And I, which was so weird for me, because in CrossFit, it was, it felt almost impossible to get below 170. And then, you know, a few months into bobsledding, I was like 167. And I wasn't trying to lose weight or anything. And I was like, what is going on? I was like, no, now's the time to like be heavier. And like my body was just, but I think my body is just figuring it out too. I think also sometimes with like the days we go to the track because we're gone for such long periods of time and like we do pack snacks and stuff like that. Sometimes it's just hard to get enough food in. So while I was still tracking, I think there were probably definitely days where I wasn't eating as much.

So I'm sure that played a role into it too. And less resistance training too, right? At that time. Yeah, yeah, for sure. So I think that was also a component. We weren't just because being on the ice was the priority. So we kind of were just making everything work around that. So probably lifting like maybe twice a week, like depending on what the schedule looked like. And you're pretty much just eating probably lean sources of meat, vegetables, starchy carbs, that kind of thing. Yeah. Yeah. A hundred percent. And then, yeah. I mean, right now I'm going like full, uh, trying to reel it in as much as possible,

but what kind of treats are we talking about here? Uh, well, open up to us. You can tell us we won't let anybody else know. Uh, so right after we were done in Lake Placid, my boyfriend and I took a trip to Chicago to this really, really awesome brewery. So there were some beers and then there were also these really good cinnamon roll pancakes that we had earlier in the day. See, that sounds worth it. That sounds like a good choice to me. But we also on our way to get the cinnamon roll pancakes and lots of other things, there was a donut shop. So, of course, we had to stop at the donut shop to also get a donut. That makes you feel really fat when you're going from one place to another and you still have the box.

You're rolling through In-N-Out Burger and you have McDonald's in the back of the car. You're just like, man, I'm really going downhill fast. Yeah. I needed a donut for the road, you know, to hold me over until I could eat the pancakes. So, you know, how long have you had your boyfriend for? Uh, about, let's see. Um, probably like three ish months. Yeah. That throws another wrinkle into the whole equation, you know, because you want to enjoy each other, right? You're not going to sit down and eat chicken breast and broccoli, you know? That's not really... Is he a bobsledder as well? Yeah, yeah.

So he's on the men's team and he's been bobsledding for a few years. He actually went to the Olympics in 2018. Um, and he was a, a javelin thrower at UCLA. So like, Hey babe, let's go out to eat and,

bring our own Tupperware, bring our own food and sip on some water. You would be like, absolutely not. Yeah. Right. You gotta, that happens a lot in couples when you're trying just to enjoy some good times together.

So having some drinks and having some delicious food is a good way to do it. Oh, for sure. It was 100% worth it. Yeah, absolutely. That'd be so sick if you guys both ended up being able to go to the Olympics next year. That would be crazy. That would be so cool. Wow.

What else you got going on? Is there anything else that you're, you're going to school, you're bobsledding, you got a boyfriend, all kinds of shit's going on all at one time. Yeah, I know.

Gotta stay in really busy, but it's just awesome. I feel like very, very at peace and happy with where I'm at right now. And actually my parents just moved out to Arizona. So that's even cooler. Um, that's great. Yeah. To have a family nearby. I mean, I, that's always been like a dream of mine to be at least near, I'm the oldest of six kids. So like to be at least near some of them, um, I figured I'm like, probably not realistic that we'd all be in the same state,

but, um, but most of them are in California. So that's really close, uh, to her in Dallas. So, um,

but it's so cool to have them here. So like for holidays and stuff, everyone will be coming to Arizona. So that's super nice. And, they're definitely enjoying the weather from, uh, Illinois.

It's a big change. You know, were you doing any bobsledding last year in 2020? Yeah. Yeah. So how, okay, obviously it's probably much easier now, but with all the crazy shit that was going on last year, how did that affect the training for bobsledding? Because, I mean, with all the preparation you guys had to do, et cetera, like, I don't know, how was that for you? Yeah. So there were lots and lots of, so basically when I flew out there, so in past years or

what, um, I think happened, like you, you could more so come and go as you please. Um, obviously like with, uh, you have to make sure with housing and everything at the OTC. But this time around, and that was one of the things that like normally if this was any other year, I could have been like, oh, I'm going to go try bobsledding for a week. And then if I don't like it, I'll just leave. But it was a bigger commitment in that I had to go and then quarantine for a week. And then, so you're just kind of there for a few months. Um, you can't just keep coming and going. Um, so yeah, so when we went out there quarantine for a week, um, and then, you know, wearing masks everywhere, we, uh, were tested, um, twice prior to getting out of quarantine. Um, and then when we started doing races and everything, we were tested every week just to make sure that no

one in the bubble, um, had gotten it, um, or that, you know, would spread and stuff like that. So, um, definitely a lot of you know rules that were not in place years prior um but yeah and as far as like i guess competitions this year and next year are there any rumblings about athletes needing to be vaccinated before competition or just precautions that like because like with jujitsu tournaments now you're starting to hear some organizations talking about like vaccine requirements. Right. So as far as like the Olympics are concerned,

I'm just curious on like what, what if anything has been kind of rumored to be going around, around about competing and COVID. Yeah. So I haven't heard anything specifically about like what the IBSF would require for like next year's world cup and stuff like that, or at the Olympics even. Um, but I do think that for at least the USABS with the OTC and everything, um, we might be able, like if we get the vaccine then we wouldn't have to quarantine um but there hasn't been any like mandated stuff as of now okay yeah i think

when you go back to crossfit i think you're going to do really well i just think like having a break from it for a while and clearing your head like you might you might just like not try so hard. So then it might come to you easier. Like, I don't know if that makes any sense to you, but I have a feeling that that's probably going to happen. Yeah. I don't, I don't know if I would go back. Um, yeah, I'm not, I guess I haven't really, you'll be back.

You'll be back. Why do you not think you might? I'm just curious. You know, I, I just, there's, I mean, I love being an athlete. I love competing, but there's also, um, and I don't know, like, I don't know how many more years I want to do bobsledding. Um, and I also, I'm really excited also at the same token, you know, kind of as I've been like setting up the next chapter of my life, um, and seeing what that looks like. Um, and it's definitely been something

that, uh, yeah, I've been thinking a lot about. Well, I feel like, like I said before, like pretty much laser focus on just this year for now, but also setting myself up for years to come. But yeah, I don't know. Do you think you want to have kids? I know it's a big question because you've only been with your boyfriend for three months, but just in general. No, I definitely want to have kids. know it's a big question because you've only been with your boyfriend for three months but just in general yeah no i definitely want to have kids yeah no definitely want to have kids so that's a component too right um yeah so yeah and also i mean i'm just curious about this too so you're not sure how many more years you might do bobsledding and there's all this other stuff right across it but are there any other sports, um, that you may have wanted to compete

in, in the future? Any, any other type of athletic things that you may have wanted to learn and just do? Or, uh, cause I mean, you have all these, like this with the water background too, right? Like in the pool. So I'm just curious about that. Yeah. So, I mean, recently it's been funny. I, so I started golfing a little bit, so that's been fun. I've got a lot, a lot of, a lot of learning to do, but that not necessarily, I don't think I'll be competing in golf anytime soon, but more just for fun like i started it because my um my brothers and my sister-in-law are avid golfers and i was just kind of i had a little bit of fomo every time they went to the golf course and i was like i want to do this too so i was like i should probably learn so i'm not

holding the holding the crew up but um and then uh and my boyfriend really likes golf so i think that'll be fun to do together um but uh yeah i've been doing that um uh not really anything else that i could see like competing in now um i feel like sometimes they're you know, I look back, even though like, I don't regret anything about my swimming career and choosing that path. And that was absolutely amazing. Sometimes I'm like, man, it would have been cool to like play ice hockey or play water polo or something like that. Um, or I don't know, uh, football would be really fun.

I would love to just like hit people. It's hard to explore other things when you're a scholarship to athlete, right? It's like, yeah, no, for sure. They don't even want you to mess around with anything else. Yeah, no. And, and I mean, it makes sense, especially when you're trying to, you know, win something like an NCAA championship, it takes, you know, a hundred percent dedication and it's, yeah, like you said, kind of hard to explore other avenues. How are you able to squeeze, how are you able to squeeze in time for having your vlog? I've

seen that you, you've been putting out more stuff on YouTube. Is that, is that fun for you? Or is it kind of a pain in the butt? Cause you're so busy with so many other things. a pain in the butt because you're so busy with so many other things? It's actually been really fun and something that I think has been something I feel like I needed. And I didn't really know that I needed in a way. And I mean, there are definitely weeks, I would say it's not, it's never, or I've never felt like, oh, I don't want to post anything. Sometimes I get through, actually, I did a Q&A on Instagram the other week and someone asked, like, do you ever not want to post on social media and stuff like that? And it's, I've never gotten that question, but there's never really come a time where

I don't want to post or upload a video or anything, but sometimes I feel like I don't have exciting enough things to post. And I think starting the vlog, I was kind of like, man, but like, will people actually want to watch what I'm doing? Because some days just aren't super exciting. And, you know, especially right now, you know, training for any sport, sometimes it's just like day to day is very mundane because you just gotta, you wake up, you eat, you train, you sleep, and then I study and like, think it's, um, allowed people to get to know me a little better. Um, cause I think through, I think I thought people knew me and I think you do, you get a glimpse of like who I am through Instagram, but I think it's just so different with, um, long form content and stuff and just getting to know my personality more and stuff like that. I think also it's been good for me, one, just to be comfortable in front of a camera.

I mean, I remember getting interviewed in like high school and college for swimming and I was deathly afraid of talking in front of a camera. And I was like, this is the worst. And just like getting used to carrying a camera around and just, I mean, there are still days where I'm like, I look so strange. But then you realize that people aren't paying as much attention as you think they are around you. And I think that's been good for me to let go of like, it just, it doesn't matter. Like if people think I look strange or weird,

just talking to myself and an inanimate object, but, um, but it's, it's been a lot of fun. So I really enjoyed it. Yeah. Just talking to the screen when you first wake up with no makeup on, right? Right. Yeah, exactly. You're like, damn, what are people going to say? Yeah. Well, I think that's the thing too is like with instagram i think um you know it's so much more or at least for me uh like i remember watching my first few videos and i was just picking myself apart and like that's one thing i was like i'm always gonna have makeup on and my hair is always gonna look a certain way and i got it like and then i was like i can't that, that's exhausting. I'm like, I can't do that.

Um, and I mean, there are definitely times where I watch my blogs. I'm like, man, I look rough. But I mean, I think that's part of it is like, I mean, that's why I like watching, um, you know, YouTube and blogs and stuff. Cause it's, it's raw. It's real. Like you get, um, and that's the thing. Like I, um, yeah.

So it's just nice to kind of let that go a little bit. So, yeah. Awesome. Where can people find you? They can find me on YouTube, just calling Fotch and on Instagram. Also calling Fotch.

Great having you on the show today. Appreciate your time. Thank you so much. Thank you so much. Thank you. Bye. See you later. Bye. Yo. She's a badass athlete, huh? She is. Man, after what she said about the two-man, four-man thing, what other sports in the Olympics do men have something that women don't like i never really even thought about that i thought there was always just a man and a woman component but it's kind of weird that they're like yeah dude's gonna have four men but woman yeah i

think i think uh the women's movement uh you know is is always in motion you know because like i think um i know there's like olympic style like, I think, um, I know there's like Olympic style, like wrestling, but then I don't know if there's, I'm sure at this point, there probably is a female component to that, but I don't. Yeah. There's a lot of different wrestling, like Greco Roman. There's, there's a bunch of, I wonder if women have all of those too. And I think, uh, it's, you know know going off of old uh ideologies and then on top of

that it's to change things now would just be difficult because they would just have to have money you know and so i think that would you know and i think that's why they have the one woman uh bobsled is because they were like well if we open up more spots that's more people that have to travel you have to pay for, and so on. I'm just speculating. I don't have any idea, but I'm just kind of making excuses here because it doesn't really make a lot of sense. It doesn't. It's like it's fucking 2021.

I mean, you can't spit a few extra fucking dollars to give them the same thing. Well, and I think realistically, you know, when people propose certain things, there's no reason why you can't meet them halfway. And maybe that's what they think, you know, throwing the one man in there. Maybe they think that's meeting them halfway. But what I would propose instead would be like, okay, well, we need to figure out ways to get money for this and get everybody together and figure out ways to get money for it. Yeah. I'm just like imagining this. We want to force that team no we're gonna give you here's one yeah all right you can have one yeah yeah and then they go through the trouble of like that you know making the one man version of whatever you know it's probably like expensive as it is it probably doesn't really make any sense yeah there's a lot of shit like that

damn where it takes it takes a group of people to push something forward because maybe you know we weren't aware of it until an hour ago or whatever it was you know yeah that whole sport i mean i just don't know nothing about it don't know anything about it and then you know something as simple as like yeah where do you look when you're going down and you know she's like oh i might look through a hole in the or close my eyes like oh my gosh like yeah that's fucking crazy it's gonna be tough to make yourself want to do that every day but i guess you do it as a team as well so that's another people are counting on you yeah it's another component that makes it easier and probably makes it fun and then you probably don't go on the

ice every single day yeah and if you do it's probably just for a short period of time so it makes it that's cool i just think it's uh interesting to jump from one you know sport to another she was very successful in crossfit she actually won i believe i i believe she won one of the crossfit opens like she flat out won the entire thing she was number one in the world which is wild because there's that won one of the CrossFit Opens. She flat out won the entire thing. She was number one in the world, which is wild because that's one of the biggest competitions in the world. There's like 150,000 or 200,000 people that compete in it. So that's pretty amazing. Man, I'm rooting for her.

She'll make it. She'll make it. Bring home some medals. That'd be so cool. That'd be so sick, man. Yeah. That'd be so cool. That'd be so sick, man. Yeah. That'd be so sick. But that just makes me, like, yeah.

What other... Because, I mean, everyone knows about bobsledding, but it had me thinking about just Olympic sports in general. Curling is the one where you, like, go like that, right? Yeah. So many Olympic sports you just don't know about. It's wild. Well, yeah, especially when it comes to the Winter Olympics. It's, like, definitely... I think the olympics are coming up i think pretty soon i think so yeah

i think they did they it was supposed to be last year i think was it i think you're right no yeah you are right yeah i think it's the first time they ever like not maybe not the first time ever but one of the only times in history that they were moved in Olympics. Let's see. I just Googled oddest Olympic games. Trampoline. Rope climbing. Oh, wow.

Race walking. Oh, yeah. Power walking. Yeah, Bart was talking about that. What the fuck? Tug of war? Bart can walk really fast, so he started looking up times for that and he was like nope that makes me wonder about the form like there has to be like a form of walk because like you could just start like going a little like oh yeah no no you ran yeah didn't uh you motherfucker

you ran you were in flight you were in air I could be totally wrong but didn't somebody they were you know a walking athlete and I think they like

totally cheated and they got caught I don't shit were they doping for their walking competition no they like hopped in like a car

or something type of thing oh my god yeah fuck I probably you know what sport has a lot of doping surprisingly is uh power lifting uh yeah it's weird power lifters man they take all this shit and they get huge um like uh motocross whoa really yeah what i was shocked so they have videos like like more plates more, and some of these guys exposing

people that aren't natural. They got the same thing in the motocross community. They're like, he didn't look like that when he was 16. They're like, look at him now. He's 19 and look at his jawline. And they're like, I'm like, what? Jawline? I'm like, really? Jawline? I'm like, what the?

That's where we're going now. I'm like, maybe he's just chewing some mastic gum. I don't know. Damn. Motherfuckers. But then this guy, we're working on getting him on the podcast because he was super knowledgeable about PEDs and stuff. But he was saying, he was like, oh, a lot of coaches and a lot of people try to downplay

the use of performance enhancing drugs in this sport because they're like it's not going to really change your time yeah it's going to make you a little bigger a little stronger and he's like that's total bullshit he's like it will change your time by a lot i guess if you're stronger and you can absorb you know some of the you know shock of some of it it's just it's just like any other sport there might be some guys that need it there might be other guys that can perform better than the guys who use shit yeah and you know and okay mind you motocross because i was actually talking to ryan kura about this um what is it that ryan kruder kura does bmx motocross right he might do a little bit of both but i think he mainly did bmx yeah he does be he does bmx i can

understand being a factor in bmx but motocross with a bike? I get it, but I feel like you could just get to strength training with that strength training. and they're somehow getting exposed whether it's through like a coach or whatever yeah this is like there's a lot of money on the line you know where there's where there's money there's it's always going to be some uh people fucking around use okay this is great so in the 1900 olympics hot air ballooning was a uh we got to bring that back yeah that was exciting i remember that and then between 1920 1928 and 1948 there was town planning town planning as an olympic sport i think so that's got to be a joke what do you think we should do with the library on main street i don't know but you got a gold medal what the fuck gets a gold that's the thing like that town is uglier or that's a horrible layout

They just didn't have shit to do I guess Because in the 1900 there was a swimming Obstacle course that sounds like fun That actually sounds interesting Tug of war that's That'd be a great show just to have all The dumb stuff that's never made it you know I'm so curious about the history of the

Olympics like When did they Have all the dumb stuff that's never made it, you know? I'm so curious about the history of the Olympics. Like, when did they... How long has the Olympics been going on? I think thousands of years, right? I don't know. Where we were competing against other countries and stuff like that. Like, thousands of years? No. I think some form of the Olympics has been going on for hundreds of years.

Yeah, the Greeks had shit like that. Yeah, and I think Olympics as we know it now, going against different countries probably hasn't been that long probably. Yeah, I'm curious about that. But the 1896 first summer Olympic Games. I wonder how many countries were a part of that. I think before that i

think i mean we're talking going back a couple thousand years i think but you know i don't know let's see winter olympics says 1924 fuck it's really interesting like uh you think about it like that doesn't sound right you're some like you just like moving rocks around you know and then like you chuck one and then i throw one a, like, you're just like moving rocks around, you know, and then like you chuck one and then I throw one a little bit. And you're like, I can throw this one further. And you're like, well, that one doesn't weigh this. You know?

And immediately it turns into like a thing. It's like, well, let's weigh it. We got to, you know, or let's, they got to, or let's just throw the same rock, you know? Then Andrew gets involved and then, you know, and then it's like, no, no, no, you, but you stepped over that line. You got to like, start to make rules for it. uh-huh gets to be really weird really quick and then how do you end up in a bobsled how do you end up in like a spaceship that goes down a fucking mountain of ice you gotta want yeah i wonder how the hell that sport came like a lot of these sports came to be not just bobsled but curling curling curling

curling what who was just like let's turn this beer game or this bar game into an olympic sport right football is really like football is really weird like it's like kind of territorial and there's like so many rules to it you can kick it and throw it but not when you're you know if you're past this line you can't do it you can't throw it to those guys. The big fat guys can't throw it to, but the skinny guys, you can throw it to them. You know, it's like, who? Wait, pause. Who made some of these?

You can't throw a football to a lineman? You can throw a football to a lineman if you have an extra down lineman who's at the end who would be then eligible to be a receiver but then you have to announce to announce that he's eligible hey number 66 is eligible because he doesn't have a number that represents the skills players the skills players have either like low numbers like a running back would be in the 20s uh maybe even just anything under 50 i think is the uh uh the running backs and then the receivers are uh 80 and up i think pretty much oh this just got deep for me and then college it's like it's a little bit different but you're you can't have like number 77 running out for a pass wow i didn't know i didn't know that wow okay that's weird right that is very weird but you

can occasionally if you have the right setup and you have an extra guy at the end of the line, he would just be considered an extra tight end. And then he could be eligible for a pass, but you have to announce it to the ref, and then the ref says, hey, number 77 is eligible. And then the other team then knows, and they can... Yeah.

Yeah, and then the guy still scores a lot of times. Because it's like, I don't know, sometimes they just have like certain players that or do that yeah yeah and then if you get pushed out of bounds as a defender if you don't make an attempt to get back inbounds right away you are no longer able to be the first guy to touch yeah yeah opposing team yeah there's a lot of weird rules really weird things yeah so you can't and and the reason for that is like, you can't intentionally like leave the field. Yeah.

Because then you can leave the field and like run through the bench and then come back on the field and catch the ball. So all the rules are like, all the rules are made up so people don't fucking cheat really bad, you know? Oh my god. That reminds me of JaVale McGee. I don't know if you guys know JaVale McGee. Of course. You remember that though? I don't. Okay so so like they were they were on their side of the court um and he

like faked that he was injured and went out of bounds his defender left him and then he's like he came up for an alley duck because he like limped off for a couple years there javel mcgee was a walking talking meme like everything that guy would do would just be like no like no that's made up like nobody actually did that but not to veil mcgee wow basketball is so simple compared to football yeah you get the ball in the basket you have three pointers two pointers three throws and yeah it's easy there's yeah there's not there's a few things but it's not like yeah traveling traveling double dribble traveling doesn't really apply if you're LeBron James, though. Yeah, right.

It doesn't matter. Yeah, traveling, double dribble. I'm trying to think if there's any, like, really. I guess there's, like, weird rules towards the end of the game if you fouled X amount of times. Yeah, five fouls, yeah. Well, yeah, you get kicked out of the game. Or two within the last two minutes Right right

And then people get to shoot a free throw Even if they're not in the act of shooting That's when you start getting like Yeah and then like other rules It starts getting weird quick Other rules have been implemented to just Try to help the game but like Defensive three seconds

Shot clock offensive three seconds It's still easy shit compared to just what i heard with football right now court violation of football is wild this guy's a lot of rules if you call a timeout while in the backcourt you have to inbound the ball in the back or if you call a timeout before you move the ball you get to move it to the half court line yeah all kinds of dumb shit like that football stuff is really weird like fumbling the ball you know you can't like you can't like fumble it forward you can't fumble forward what do you mean you kind of can but you kind of can't like you've if it just happens to be that you like yeah like you but you can't like just like roll it forward and

then have someone else like scoop it up yeah it's weird imagine like towards the end of the game and you guys you need to score a touchdown and you start it'd be considered a forward pass if you did it that way yeah you have to like fumble it backwards or toss it backwards flea flickers and laterals that's another fun one too wow john. John Madden wrote a book called One Knee Equals Two Feet. Really? What? Yeah. So if you go to score a touchdown, you get one knee in the end zone, it's touchdown. Or even if just you're on the sidelines and you're only able to get one knee down, then that counts. So one knee is the same equivalent as landing both feet inbounds.

Oh, okay. Oh, okay. So you could have, you could land a knee inbounds and the rest of your body can go out of bounds and that would be a reception. But if one foot's out and one foot's on the line, one foot's in and one foot's out, then you're out of bounds. It's an incomplete pass. The touchdown rules are so insane too.

The touchdown is really weird. Yeah. Because you just got to break the plane and the plane goes on forever. It's infinite. The goal line goes on forever. Wait, what? I know. I know.

Yeah. And then you have to be in. Cause you don't have to actually like land into the end zone. I thought you just need to put, just go past the line. The ball just needs to go. Even if you just went whoop and you came back, you're, you're in. The ball breaks the plane. The play's dead. Oh. But then if you, if you. But whoop and you came back, you're in. The ball breaks the plane. The plane's dead.

Oh. But then if you. But does it have to touch the ground or like can. No. No. Oh, so that's why they. Okay. Imaginary line there.

And you can jump and put the ball over the pylon and. But then if you. The pylon. What is the pylon? That's the orange thingy. Okay. Okay. Okay.

Okay. Okay. Yeah. But then like if you, if you're a receiver and you catch the ball, you can't catch, put two feet in the end zone, and then throw the ball away. You have to catch it, receive it, and be like, yep, I have this. Yep, you definitely finished the act of catching the ball,

so that's a touchdown. You also can't, you also can't. Wait, wait, catch, right? Catch two feet in. Okay, you drop the ball. Just like, you're good. Yep, I'm out. Nope, you have to actually finish the whole thing

because there can't be any argument against you being able to maintain possession of that ball. There's only been a couple of times where it's like, come on. It gets a little iffy, yeah. But for the most part, they get that part right. But I just think it's funny that they have to include that rule in there. Yeah. It's pretty fucking wild. Football is complicated, man.

You can only throw the ball forward twice. I mean, once. So if you throw the ball forward and a defender bats the ball back to you and you catch it, you can't throw it forward again. You have to just eat it. What are those sometimes we say? Lateral. Lateral, yeah.

Backwards. You can throw it backwards infinitely if you wanted to. I want to go watch a youtube place i know there's something that's probably on like here's an interesting thing if you if you were to throw if you were to throw the ball so if you throw the ball forward out of bounds then the play is dead and the ball goes back to the original line of scrimmage yeah if you throw the ball if you throw the ball backwards out of bounds then it goes to wherever the ball was at yeah wherever the ball is at so when i was a kid kid, our freshman quarterback, he played on our varsity team.

It was the first time he ever got in. And the coach said, hey, remember, just kill the ball. You know, like just, he said, just, he tried to make it easy for him. He's like, just throw the ball to me if you're in trouble. Meaning like throw the ball to the sidelines because then it's an incomplete pass. Nothing bad happened. You just lose it down. That's it.

Oh, no. So we're like on like the 30-yard line. And we're like, you know, heading towards the end. He starts scrambling around. He's like looking for someone to throw to. He avoids a couple tackles. Yeah. The coach is on like the 50-yard line.

He guns it right to him. The coach catches it. And you should have seen the look on his face he was like mother fucker so we lost like 25 yards in one play man and then gotta be embarrassing yo okay i i was on the field and i was like oh might as well start running that way that's where that's where we're setting up for the next play. I was like, shit. On the kickoff, if the kicker kicks the ball out of bounds, then it goes automatically up to, I think, the 45. It's super embarrassing if the kicker can't keep the ball. The kicking game gets really confusing.

Especially now, because didn't they change the distance on it? Never mind. Did they make it longer or something because kickers are getting better? Well, no changed the distance on it. Never mind. Did they make it longer or something because kickers are getting better? Well, no. They actually did kind of the opposite. They moved where you kick from up so there's less kickoff returns

because it's really dangerous for the players. But on the field goal, they did that point after. They moved that back. They did move that back. Yeah, that's right. And so you did start seeing a couple more misses. It's more dangerous for the players?

Like how? Because I mean like... Kickoff is just dangerous because you're running you run full speed at each other from like 50 yards apart oh yeah yeah athletes that full clip running into each other yeah that's not good yeah that's i used to love that was the best part football right there you love that oh my god bigger than everybody's wedge breaker yeah just go down there just slam into everybody doesn You don't have to think about anything. You just run full speed. Sway for him to catch the ball.

After I did it a couple times, like when we play other teams, I think other teams would just have tape and they would just scout and they'd be like, that guy's a maniac. Just get the fuck out of his way. Because they would just always part open and I'm like, oh, I got no one to hit. That makes sense. You had a reputation wedge breaker.

Yep. Yep. That's sick. Want to take us on out of here, Andrew? I will. DrinkLMNT.com

slash Power Project. Watermelon. Yeah. Oh, yeah. I don't know. Do you guys know if that one's out yet? It's out.

It's out now. They sent me a, ooh, the watermelon flavor. It's really good. It's really good. They sent ice cubes with it, too. Oh, yeah.

To make watermelon ice cubes. Always doing something fancy. So head over to drinklmnt.com slash powerproject. Pick up the watermelon flavor. I haven't even had a chance to try it, so I feel left out. But, yeah. I think I have some in my car. You won't.

Yeah, I think I have one in my car. Heck, yeah. All right. Head over there right now. Pick up a value bundle and go ahead and mix in that new watermelon flavor. Please make sure you follow the podcast at MarkBell'sPowerProject on Instagram, at MBPowerProject on TikTok and Twitter. My Instagram is

at IamAndrewZ. And Seema, where are you at? I'm Seema Indiang on Instagram, YouTube, Clubhouse. No. TikTok. Thanks for wearing these short shorts today, bro. Oh, yeah. Step a little bit. There you go. I mean, they're not that short. Now I can't see you, though. You disappeared. Step a little bit to your right.

Right there. Yep. This is what I'm going to be rocking all summer long. People don't understand what Andrew and I have to go through every day. Yeah. Are you getting this on camera? A little bit. Next to someone so handsome.

A little bit. Not the arm, though. No, I was getting the leg, man. Look at those hamstrings. Wow. Yeah, man. You must work out. These shorts are comfortable. Mm-hmm. Com Wow. Yeah, man. You must work out. These shorts are comfortable.

Mm-hmm. Comfortable. Bring short shorts. I have short shorts. I have short shorts. I have short shorts. I have short shorts. I have short shorts.

I have short shorts. I have short shorts. I have short shorts. I have short shorts. I have short shorts. I have short shorts. I have short shorts. I have short shorts.

I have short shorts. I have short shorts. I have short shorts. But I want to get some pink ones. I think you just brought them back. Some yellow ones. Are you going to get the three inches? All these bright colors.

It's going to be great. Hey, now. Hey, now. Three-inch inseams. Three inches? Yeah. That's like the super runner thin ones. These are five inches. Don't do that. Don super runner oh yeah those ones don't these are

five inches don't do that don't don't go yeah don't don't go yeah no no no it'd be like yeah like yeah three inch inseamers pro tip for all of you guys who do have um pro tip yes for all you guys who have lululemon shorts they will hem your shorts for free so i'm gonna go get all of my longer lulu shorts hem to like a cool five inches. You're about to be seeing all this leg action. That would be amazing to have. So they do it in the store? They do it in the store.

So it'd be great to have them hem them, right? And then be like, I think I want them shorter. And do it again and again and again. Just come out in a Speedo eventually. Yeah. Like, yeah, yeah, I'm digging this. This is perfect. This is good. Make all of them like this.

Strength is never weak. This week, this is never strength. Catch you guys later.