Mind Pump: Raw Fitness Truth - 1395: Hunter McIntyre on Steroid Use in CrossFit, Avoiding Negativity, Surviving a Business Downturn & More

Episode Date: October 5, 2020

In this episode, Sal, Adam & Justin talk with the ever colorful Hunter McIntyre. Hunter’s CrossFit experience. (3:44) Shout out to Dave Castro. (9:00) The realm of steroids in the CrossFit industry. (13:10) Will he compete in their court again? (17:38) The difference in cultures between OCR and CrossFit. (19:03) His hot take on the Greg Glassman debacle and the future of CrossFit. (20:00) Why he thinks a lot of CrossFit coaches are idiots. (21:58) No pain, no gain. (24:53) How if you put anything in his mouth, he will survive. (27:20) Why he doesn’t watch TV and tips to avoid negativity. (29:51) How he balances the negative baggage. (32:38) Why he is removing himself from the playing field. (34:36) Shifting his environment in a positive direction, the creation of OCR Stars. (37:00) Surviving a business downturn. (42:07) How exercise is therapeutic. (48:47) How he accelerates his healing capacity. (52:31) Hunter’s COVID queen. (56:14) Featured Guest/People Mentioned Hunter McIntyre  (@huntthesheriff) Instagram Hunter McIntyre Website - Hunter McIntyre Hunter McIntyre Organization – OCR Stars Dave Castro (@thedavecastro)  Instagram Paul Chek (@paul.chek) Instagram Related Links/Products Mentioned MAPS Fitness Products Mind Pump #905: Hunter McIntyre Hunter McIntyre on His Rookie Season and What Comes Next Promera Sports Mind Pump #922: John Romano Greg Glassman resigns as CrossFit CEO after controversial statements about George Floyd My HONEST Thoughts On Crossfit – Mind Pump Blog How to Eat, Move and Be Healthy! - Book by Paul Chek HAOS - Hunter's Academy Of Strength Hunter McIntyre breaks 'Murph Challenge' record, raises money in Memorial Day tradition  

If you want to pump your body and expand your mind, there's only one place to go. MIND, MIND, MIND, MIND, MIND, MIND, with your hosts. Salta Stefano, Adam Schaefer, and Justin Andrews. In this episode of Mind Pumped the World's Top, ranked fitness health and entertainment podcast, we interview the always entertaining, super athlete Hunter McIntyre. Now this guy is a phenom. He's one of the top 50 fittest athletes according to sports illustrated. He was the undefeated champion of the reality show Broken Skull Ranch, six-time OCR World Champion, four-time OCR

national champion. The guy is a two-time, tough-mutter champion, and he sets records all the time just for fun. He's very entertaining, he's very outspoken, and in this episode, we talk about his temp deck, competing in CrossFit, his speculations on the steroid use. He gets a little colorful when he talks about CrossFit. That was a lot of fun. Talks about what he's doing in his life, the book that he's writing.

You're gonna love this episode. Now, if you want to find Hunter McIntyre on social media, you can find him on Instagram at Hunt the Sheriff. So it's at Hunt the Sheriff. His website is Hunter McIntyre. McIntyre spelled MC-I-N-T-Y-R-E. Oh, and by the way, he has this awesome organization he's putting together,

raising money for athletes because, you know, the fitness industry has been hit very hard by COVID. Make sure you go check that out and show your support. It's O, C, R, stars, dot com. Now, this episode is brought to you by one of our favorite sponsors, Paleo Valley. They make some incredible, healthy products and supplements. One of my favorite products from Paleo Valley are their grass-fed beef sticks. These are not like your mama's beef jerky. They taste amazing.

Their grass-fed, they're not dry. The macros are phenomenal. It's one of my favorite things to eat in-between meals. Make sure you go check them out and because you listen to my pump, you get 15% off, just go to paleovali.com-mindpump. That's paleovali.com-foward-slash-mindpump. Also, don't forget Mind Pump Trainers, that's Adam Justin in myself.

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They all come with a 30-day money back guarantee at mapsfitnisproducts.com. I'm liking the hair and the mustache and the poncho and just I wouldn't think it goes together, but it does. Dude, I mean, honestly, I've been picking them all up and then when I woke up first thing in the morning, it's morning to get to you guys. I was like, what am I gonna bring today?

I had the hair in the mullet, the mustache, but I was like, gotta bring the poncho too. It's a mullet protector. Do you guys see this? It comes up in the back and protects my mullet. This one tries to run out with a smash. I like to take a half hood. I don't know, man.

We're on a. We're on a. I was to say what you get an extra warm buffalo exchange down of Venice literally has gold. Like honestly, don't spend your time anywhere out shopping. Just come down to Venice Beach with me for

one day. And I'll let you guys walk on. So we're okay. The last you sac your way. We have to we have to recap where we were last, right? So the last time we hung out, you were preparing for the CrossFit games, dude. You guys are the first people to believe in me. We got there.

Yeah. I was actually really upset you didn't win. I thought you had a chance to win this thing. So you got to get us up to speed on what went down and then where you're currently at now. Well, I would have been a contender to do some really great things, but I'll be totally honest. I was not going to be a winner. Like, I wanted to go in and be the dude who went up against the Titan

and punched him in the face a couple of really good times. People were like, well, fuck, he actually did swing pretty hard, but he loses in the end. I knew I wasn't going to win within one year period. And then from there, I got invited to the games, which was a very new thing for their entire environment. Like they had never invited anybody before, so that was awesome.

But they also changed up a bunch of other rules, which kind of fucked me in the long, honestly, it fucked my opportunity and a lot of other athletes. They implemented the cut series to the games. So basically, they invited athletes in, and athletes earned, and were invited, and basically I was the only one who was invited.

And basically, if you were in the top 50% of every single workout, you got cut. And I own, at first workout, I was like top 30%, top 20%, so I did great. But then the second workout, I was back 25% and I got cut. And then the next workout was a workout That was like designed for me. It was a ruck run where it's like put weight on your back run as fast as possible So I literally was just like

Literally a day away from being able to shine and be able to throw that knockout punch and I got cut But in reality dude like the guy who took third and the open that in the year, which is a qualifying event, he got cut first event. Like people who were just spectacular athletes were cut just because it was like a role of the dice. You didn't know it was gonna hit that day and CrossFit's an interesting sport. It's not like, it's like more like the Tour de France

than a marathon. It's like you're the best person over the 21 days and the 21 events, rather than the person who just fricking nailed it that one time. So you had to be a really, really well-based versed athlete, like Lance Armstrong, could sprint and he could beat people up in the hills and he just had the best overall run of the 21 days.

That's what made him so special. If you took that same Lance Armstrong type athlete to a sprint event or just like a Rey and a mountain event, he may have lost that whole thing and he wouldn't be considered Lance Armstrong. So honestly, it was a very different experience than I thought it was going to be, but at the same time, we made it, we showed up and we fucked it up. Well, the most difficult event that you had to do. Well, I only got two events in.

Event one was really fucking hard just because it was, I mean, damn, it was just gnarly. I'm not that great of an Olympic lifter, so you immediately start by doing a 400 meter run. That's in my wheelhouse, three legless rope climbs, 25 feet up. That's in my wheelhouse. I didn't use the technique like these guys do.

They're fricking wizards climbing up ropes. And then it was into 185 pound snatch seven times four rounds. And to be honest, if you give me 185 pound bar right now, I'll chuck it over my head. But if you put all of those things in succession, like that's where it's like, that was like, probably within, that's like 80% of my max. Oh wow.

And yeah, so I was just like, oh shit, but I made it. And I was like, yes, I did this thing. Next event was a thousand meter row or eight hundred meter row into 70 shoulder press into a handstand walk for 140 feet, but you had to cover, I think, 40 or 60 foot sections. And I was the first person off the row and the first person off the shoulder press

because it's just capacity, capacity, capacity, which I'm great at. And then that's where I just started to fall apart, dude. I covered the first 40 feet and I was in the lead. And I was like, I might as well try to win this thing just so I can secure myself and show people like I'm actually here to do something. And then dude, I just went the next 40 feet

and five feet from that cut mark, I fell. And I was like, okay, I got six minutes, I got six minutes, I went back, shook out my arms, went another 35 feet out of the 40, and then I fell. And you can just start to hear the crowd go, oh, and I'm like, oh fuck, is this really happening right now in front of these people? Like, I'm just this close, and it just happened again.

And again, I think- Your shoulders just gasped or what? Just gasped, man. The big thing that I think I fucked up on, and I'm usually such a good student of sport, is I never walked on my hands and astroturf. And like the difference between walking on your hands across a hardwood floor, which I had done a thousand times,

and then across astroturf, which is just that spongy kind of compression. Oh, interesting. Dude, I never thought about it. Wow, interesting. Yeah, it is. Just the stability change. Have you ever done like,

I'm just like, the way I get explained to somebody is like, do a deadlift with two dumbbells and then do a single lead deadlift. It's just like the level of instability that you have is enormously different. Like, I can take 200 pound dumbbells and rip deadlifts all day long. If you give me like two 35 pound dumbbells

for a single leg deadlift, I'm like, ugh, yeah. And it's just, if you don like, uh, uh, uh, uh, yeah. And it's just if you don't train it, then you're not ready for it. And now did you know these events before were you able to train before they don't just browse that? No, it's literally the night, the night before, the hour before, the minute before. So there's no way to know. There's nothing.

Which one did eliminated you? What was the, what was the workout that day? It was, it was that was the one. It was a, I got basically through that. And to be honest, dude, like, I can't prove this, but a lot of people side with me on this. We were not supposed to be cut workout too. I, I base, I basically was guaranteed the third workout. And I think Dave Castro, who's a fucking asshole, uh, I think that dude

basically when he found out, he found out when I made it through the second cut, he immediately walked into the stadium with the rest of us and he goes, guys, we're doing another cut right now. And I just don't think that he wanted me to move on and he knew that my one week spot was hand-stam walks and he listened to it, he put his card down, I can't say it's 100% but I can't say he's a son of a bitch. And I stand by that word. So who is he in CrossFit? I don't know he's a son of a bitch. And I stand by that word.

So who is he in Crosshead? I don't know, I use it. Dave Castro is the director of sport. He organizes the workouts. Yeah. You can read a book about him talking about how hard his job is, but all of us could do it. And I'm just giving you a big shout out, Dave.

Anytime, anywhere. I will fuck your day out. Yeah. So he isn't actually doing me just giving you a big shout out Dave Anytime anywhere. I will fuck your day out He isn't actually doing me just tell you guys he just writes it down on a piece of paper I'm like this honestly. I could give you guys all a piece of paper right now And you could be the director of the CrossFit games. That's how we feel about the whole Yeah, yeah, there he is right there. That's a so you that one. Yeah, cartwheels and yeah I'm sure he's not I'm sure he's not the biggest jerk in the world. He was a jerk to me multiple times,

and it's okay. Really like when he met you, he was just a jerk? He was a jerk to me. Like the first thing he got to say at the CrossFit Games, he made fun of me. He literally got up on the stage in front of all the athletes that had just earned their spots from all over the world. He's like, congratulations to all the athletes

who earned their spot here, and then congratulations to the people who are giving it. And he just looked right at me and I was just like, I was like, dude, you're so lucky that I really wanna work out tomorrow because I'd bend your fucking face up. If they could. And-

I bet you that gave you a lot of fuel though, right? It gave me fuel, but there's nothing I could do. I mean, like I did my job on the first one, I didn't do my job on the second one. And now I wanna earn a spot back to get the chance to do it again, because to be honest, now that I went through the whole process, it's not something I want to continue,

but it's something that I will do just despite him. Now, why do you think he has a problem with you? Because you're a likable guy. I mean, it's hard to understand to see why anybody would not like you. You're pretty, you're pretty, you're pretty, you're pretty, you're pretty, you're pretty, you're pretty, you're pretty, you like you. You're pretty, you're pretty, you're pretty, you're pretty,

you're pretty, you're pretty, you're pretty, you're pretty, you're pretty, you're pretty, you're pretty, you're pretty, you're pretty, you're pretty, you're pretty, you're pretty, you're pretty, you're pretty, you're pretty, you're pretty, you're pretty, you're pretty, you're pretty, you're pretty, you're pretty, you're pretty, you're pretty, you're pretty, you're pretty, you're pretty, you're pretty, you're pretty, you're pretty, you're pretty, you're pretty, you're pretty, you're pretty, you're pretty, you're pretty, you're pretty, you're pretty, you're pretty, you're pretty, you're pretty, you're pretty, you're pretty, you're pretty, you're pretty, you're pretty, you're pretty, you're pretty, you're pretty, you're pretty, you're pretty, you're pretty, you're pretty, you're pretty, you're pretty, you're pretty, you're pretty, you're pretty, you're pretty, you're pretty, you're pretty, you're pretty, you're pretty, you're pretty, you're pretty, you're pretty, you're pretty, you're pretty, you're pretty, you're pretty, you're pretty, you're pretty, you're pretty, you're pretty, you're pretty, you're pretty, you're pretty, you're pretty, you're pretty, you're pretty, you're pretty, you're pretty, you're pretty, you're pretty, you're pretty, you're pretty, you're pretty, you're pretty, you're pretty, pretty, you're pretty, you're pretty, you're pretty, you're pretty, you're pretty, you're pretty, pretty, you're pretty, you're pretty like just they weren't so upset that I had qualified to the game. Oh really? Through the invitation.

Oh right. People were shitting on me, dude. I can go back into the feed and my Instagram posts and you can just see people shitting on me. They're like, just assholes about it. And to be honest, I just played the rule that they put in the book. It was literally in the book. It was in ink.

You can't lie about it. Like there's no hiding from the fact that I just played the rule that was given. They were inviting athletes outside of it And I think he was one of those people and like it's just a Lot of people think that this is such like a holy event in the fitness industry that you know They didn't want it to be watered or dumbed down by some jock who liked to mudburn Yeah

It says studio and pretend like you know what you're all worth. Somebody who plays an actual sword. Yeah, dear, you come into our exercise studio in Britain, like you know what you're doing. By my standard, man, I told everybody who is competing against me. It's like, there's a very easy way to solve this. Just beat me. Like that's all you gotta do. Like if you work hard, then that's the whole point of sport. I don't think people compete in sport to exclude people.

They compete in sport to see who's the best at the sport. And that's all whole point of sport. I don't think people compete in sport to exclude people. They compete in sport to see who's the best at the sport. And that's all I wanted to do. I just wanted my opportunity to shine and share. And that's what I do for a living. Like I will literally, if you guys called me to a badment in tournament, I'm showing up in my tight-smart shuttlecock. Shuttlecock in my face.

And that's what I'm gonna do. Whether it's the CrossFit Games, Spartan Race, Powerlifting, I just, it's sport. I'm in love with it and I CrossFit game Spartan race powerlifting. I just it's sport I'm in love with it and I'll continue to love it That's a great attitude now you were saying that there's a I guess a slew of athletes now that are getting busted with Performance enhancing drugs. Yeah, I was looking under a table at all the supplements you guys have down there And it just made me think I was like, can I take those things and really not worry about what's in them? And I'm like, yeah, of course I can. They're just supplements.

But somehow in the CrossFit industry, I guess this is a shit on CrossFit day. But these catalysts, it's dirtier than, like, you know, tortor-francicling. These guys, these girls are like, how did I buy accident and eat tainted horse meat? I'm like, what was the chance that I was going to eat horse meat with steroids in it? So, I worked with this company who Primerah Sports are a great supplement company in the CEO of it mark. He used to run a testing lab So anytime someone got caught I would just run it by him. I'm like, hey, this athlete got caught for this and this performance

And he's like, dude, there's no way for that to buy accident fall into your diet It just isn't possible and also at that level of dosage. Is that the claim that they're all making? Always. Like one girl was like, oh, I definitely didn't take so arms. I was just making out with my boyfriend and I didn't know that he had just taken it.

I was like, what are the fucking chances? That you guys are all mistakenly falling into the, you know, this realm of steroids. I'm like, you guys all have chest hair and you're women. There's something wrong here. Oh, wow. That's the whole, that's like the whole thing. So how, I got pregnant from the toilet seat argument.

Yes, yes, yes. So, but your opinion, how rampant do you think it is in the games? It's terrible. Oh, really? It's terrible. I mean, dude, I'm just gonna say, you guys all work out a ton,

and maybe you're not all world-class athletes, but you've worked out enough that you know the body type of a guy who's natural and not. And I'm just stepping into a gym, and there's like a hundred people in the room that are like, you know, somewhat of a six pack, somewhat of shoulders, abs, arms, all that kind of stuff. And then there's this one person

who looks like a bike pump was attached to their backside. Just like, sssh, ssh, ssh, ssh, ssh, ssh, ssh, ssh, ssh, ssh, ssh, ssh, ssh, ssh, ssh, ssh, ssh, ssh, ssh, ssh, ssh, ssh, ssh, ssh, ssh, ssh, ssh, ssh, ssh, ssh, ssh, ssh, ssh, ssh, ssh, ssh, ssh, ssh, ssh, ssh, ssh, ssh, ssh, ssh, ssh, ssh, ssh, ssh, ssh, ssh, ssh, ssh, ssh, ssh, ssh, ssh, ssh, ssh, ssh, ssh, ssh, ssh, ssh, ssh, ssh, ssh, ssh, ssh, ssh, ssh, ssh, ssh, ssh, ssh, ssh, ssh, ssh, ssh, ssh, ssh, ssh, ssh, ssh, ssh, ssh, ssh, ssh, ssh, ssh, ssh, ssh, ssh, ssh, ssh, ssh, ssh, ssh, ssh, ssh, ssh, ssh, ssh, ssh, just like, no, there's not enough power. Someone else help me pump this thing. Be me my vitamins. You're not, something's different about you. I'm like, if they all came from one village, I'd understand, but they don't. Right. And they all end up having this kind of like very dominant physique.

And it's like, whatever, I'm not going to shit on you. Like, if you get caught, then you get caught. If you don't get caught, so be it. That's how you want to live your life. So how does the testing work though? So because we had John Romano on the show a couple of years ago, now, right? And he talked about that, that's the really the game

and most all these professional sports, including CrossFit, is not whether you take it or not. It's just all about how you cycle it so you don't get caught. So how does the testing work? Is it random? Do they know when they're gonna get tested? Do you know how that works? It's random testing.

I think that once you sign their waiver and as a participant, you are now filed under the opportunity for random testing. So literally four days after I signed my paperwork to accept to go to the game, which was like the beginning of June, I was in at an event and they literally called me and they said, hey, I work for such and such agency,

we need you to be tested, we're here. And I literally went into a Roman head to PNK cup. It was like instantaneous. Do I think that they wanted to catch me? Coming in dirty right away, yes. Do I think that they wanted to catch me? Coming in dirty right away, yes. Do I think that they tested like all their top level athletes who have just been dormant, living in like some kind of corn fed town pumped up on the juice?

No, they just forgot to test those people that year. Do I think that these people are all dirty and that the business is dirty? No. Do I think that there's a lot of people going under the radar? Yes. And listen, it's not a very, it lot of people going under the radar? Yes. Wow. And listen, it's not a very,

it's an expensive procedure to chase these people down. And there's a lot of up and coming athletes, and then there's a lot of just standard, like they're gonna be there no matter what athletes. Well, and it's also just like the NFL and the NBA and the MLB, it's good for television. Totally. So there's that side of it that, you know,

no matter what you say, people like to see that the more superhuman they are, the more eyeballs are gonna be on the television watching it. And to be fair, they have caught quite a few people, right? So that kind of shows that they maybe are trying and they're publicizing it. So that's a good thing. Yeah, but I don't know about that.

I would make the same thing that they used to do with the MLB in NFL. You don't always do a couple of sacrifice. Yeah, exactly. You don't always do a couple of sacrifice. Yeah, exactly. So you don't take your, you don't take your holy, you don't scapegoats. Yeah, you don't take the face of CrossFit. You don't take the main guy or girl.

You take a couple other people out to make it look like you're, you're trying to enforce something. So now, now you're such a competitive guy after that. Are you like, I want to go back and do it again. I want to try again. Are you having any of those thoughts? Yeah, I definitely am. Like, dude, I literally left go back and do it again. I want to try again. Are you having any of those thoughts? Yeah, I definitely am. Like, dude, I literally left and then within a month later,

I was competing back at Spartan Race. And I did this invetational thing and I competed and I beat the piss out of those guys there. I invited a couple of CrossFit Games athletes. They were in my court again. I did my job. And like, I'm not saying that, like, I don't want to go back into their court.

Like, I want to make sure that this is constantly a thing where I'm on their turf, they're on my turf, they're on their turf, I'm on their turf, because I really want to find out who's the best. Like I assigned an NDA and I can't give details, but Spartan race is doing something very soon, similar to this in their own thing. So now they're back in my court again, and I'm frickin' pumped.

Oh wow. And I'm ready to rampage, I'm primed right now. So it's like I want to and the only we always invite them over because we're like just come on in. They're very particular and like that's their standard. I'm going to play by it. So I'm going to try to qualify back again and I'm going to make sure that I can get in. Is there a rivalry between obstacle course racers and CrossFit? Is that what's happened? Because that's kind of fun. It's just me. racers and CrossFit is that what's happened because that's kind of fun. It's just me.

Oh, my God. Come on, my yard. I'll tell you what's up. I don't feel like, yeah, I don't feel like there's a lot of obstacle course racers that feel that you go compete and hang in a CrossFit like you do. Yeah, yeah. I think you're the only one. I'm just filled with piss and vinegar.

I love it. How different is the culture between the two? Was there a massive difference, or is it similar? Is there just competitive people want to do well? It's competitive. I think I would say the majority of the people in both sports are very similar in their demeanor. Just like, hey, we're athletes.

Like we're really lucky for the opportunity. And then there's always the asshole, and then there's the quiet guy. It's pretty similar. I would say that it's a little bit more revved up in the crossfit industry because they get so much more media attention. Sure.

Like if you go and watch one of our events, it ranges anywhere from like a thousand people to 10,000 people watching. If you go to one of their events, their stadiums are filled with tens of thousands of people and they have like a hundred thousand viewers online. They just have so much more of a, such a bigger marketing vessel and like funding behind them. It's just, it's hard to compete.

So that also comes with a level of intensity and just, you know, behind it. So these athletes are a little bit more ordinary. Have you been following all the drama that was going on with Glassman the last like 90 days? Yeah, dude. They certainly know how to screw the pooch when they do yeah So did you have did you have any idea of any of this while while you were a part of it and going on or is it like news to you what was

What do you think? I don't know any of the behind the scenes stuff to be honest like I met Glassman He seemed like a really nice guy. I think if you took any of our phones and read through it We'd all look like assholes to be honest. Like let's just shoot it straight. That's true. I'm not necessarily a pervert, but I definitely say some ridiculous things

between me and my friends. And I think you maybe did something stupid and then got scrutinized really hard for it in a really hard time to just be a person of significance in the world. Oh, okay. It doesn't matter who you are, dude. Like if you just take your phone and you get caught

at the wrong time by the wrong people, you're in trouble. You know, I just, so, do I think he's a terrible person? No, do I think he got caught up in a bad time? Yes, and he sold while his company was still worth something and they're trying to rebuild it with a whole new CEO and probably a whole new team. If I had to guess the guy on the screen

is probably gonna get canned too. I think they're gonna probably have to clear out the shop and just bring in fresh blood just to really save the image of the company. Wow, do you not do you think it happens? Do you think they can or do you think they're gonna take a massive hit from all this? I think they're gonna take a hit, but at the same time,

it's like, fuck dude, companies have been re-inventing themselves for years, like, codec cameras's like, fuck, dude, companies have been re-inventing themselves for years, like, Kodak cameras is like, now like a, like, healthcare agency. I actually thought they didn't exist. You know, when that, their stock exploded and people were asking us questions, what do you think about Kodak and I laughed, I was just like, that's an old,

they went out of business a long time. I thought they went out of business. Exactly, dude. So, there, the companies re-invent themselves, for sure. And I think they can save themselves out of this thing. I mean, it's too much of an exciting sport. Do I think it's gonna take a hit? Yes.

Do I think that anybody can take a beat up business and give it a little bit of extra juice? It will get back going again. How did you change anything in your training after that performance? Where did you go home and say, yeah, like, okay, here's some things I need to focus on or is it the same? I think I trained like an idiot getting ready for the games.

To be honest, I wanted to play on the court that they had set up and I started to train the way that they did. And to be honest, I just like, I think this is a broad statement, not necessarily pointed at any one person, but I think a lot of CrossFit coaches are idiots. They don't understand the direction and just progression of strength and conditioning. I think they all get a certification that takes 24 hours or a weekend long through CrossFit, which is a great education system. I already have like five certifications through them, but then they think that they're like a sports performance coach ready to enhance you and anything you want to do in life to fight by five back squats and totabars like it's just it's not the case and I started working

with some coaches and I started to read into the things that they were doing and looking into the programming that was online and to be honest like, I'm running probably five, six hours a week and biking almost double that some weeks and doing strength training. And I PR my power clean while doing all this cardio because I'm just on the basic strength and training progressions that are just universally known throughout the strength and conditioning world.

And I'm using that and I'm just hitting PRs. I benched three 15, like six weeks ago. I PR 300 pounds, like a week ago. Like I'm just, I'm cleaning that and it's just snappy. And I'm like, how is this possible? Because based on the way that they designed it, it's not effective. It's too much, it's too sporadic.

It's never consistent and continued. I'm not saying everybody, I'm just saying from what I witnessed and what I tried to do. So if I do go back, I'm going to go in my own way and I'm in a show up the way that I like to. And obviously I'm gonna earn my spot, as I said. So you feel like you made a mistake by trying to train like them.

It's just, did you feel over trained? For sure, dude. I mean, dude, I can show you, I posted pictures yesterday of just this kind of like transformation through me and my athletic career. 2016, I was 178 pounds running professionally for Spartan race. 2018, I was competing in Tough Mudder X,

which is like kind of like a combination of CrossFit and Tough Mudder and I was like super strong. I could run a 15 minute, 5K and deadlift 500 pounds. Like no one can do that on the planet, as I know of it. And then I started to go more towards CrossFit. Year after that, I was 217 pounds, like very puffy and flamed and just kind of beat up. Like, my middle back is still messed up from snatching.

And I'm not saying that the programming hurt me. Like, my own technique and my own influence, like, nobody put their hands on me, and forced me to lift that weight. But now I'm back down around 205 to 208 and I can move all the same weight and I'm like way healthier. Now, do you feel like that's because a lot of the programming is probably geared to enhanced athletes and they can handle that amount of volume and beating the body up in recovery?

No, I mean, listen, I don't want to harp on like the enhanced thing because I don't want people to think that I'm just saying everybody who does it is on the stuff. I just think that this like, you remember like no pain, no gain? That is like so their motto. So like if you have, don't have like micro tears in every tendon in your body,

you are not achieving your level of excellence. I, it's like, it's not. Even though you're not moving forward. It's okay, that pain is meant to be there. That information is going to be grave. Well, this has actually been the biggest knock that we've highlighted a lot of positive things that CrossFit did for the fitness community and what they did as far as bringing back squats and deadlifts and compound movements that just people were doing. So there's a lot of positive things, but the big knock that we've always had

is the program design, the way they've programmed. It's always been about intensity. It's always been based around that. And we know from training so many bodies for so many years that that's a failing method for like 90% of the population, you know. It's tough. Except for that maybe the 10% outliers that can handle that abuse.

Yeah. You end up progressing in spite of, I think sometimes people do well in spite of poor programming, but because they do well, other people may think that's evidence. Like, oh, this is a great way to work out. When in fact, it's not for most people. It's just too much.

So now talk about the like Spartan races. Is that still going on with all the COVID and everything else? Shoot, dude. Everything's kind of been kicked in the ass. Like I was saying, there's five people going to the CrossFit Games this year. There was 150 last year. This Spartan invetational thing,

there's a very small amount of people going compared to championships last year. There's like 15,000 people, including the open classes. So everything has been shrunk down. Everything is just kind of just challenged. And as I said, I think that these companies are going to get out of this thing because I bet you gym signups are going to be bigger than ever once things are pop back open again. And like race signups, like once it's greenlit, everybody's going back. Because people are just sick and tired

of sitting and waiting. So I don't think they're gonna flop, flop, but I will say that my life is a professional athlete and whoever else is in that realm is probably not gonna exist until like March or May next year. Are you pretty specific with your diet? Is that change at all as well? I mean, when you talk about workouts,

you definitely sound like a coach. Like it's very meticulous and planned. Are you like that with your diet too, is that a little looser? It's definitely looser because it's just, to be honest, like I worked with macro coaches, I worked with nutritionists, I've studied everything that I can, I continue to buy books,

like I just bought Paul Chex book, and I'm like reading through that and gut understanding, like I'm never gonna quit on that. But to be honest, you could just put anything in my mouth and I'm going to survive. I may not. And I mean, rock. And you guys want to go there? If you guys want to go there, let's get there.

No, I'm just saying, that was a sex joke, but I'm just saying. In case you were blind, case you were wanting that out. Yeah, so I can eat anything I want, but my staples are right now, just yogurt, rice, pasta, honey, eggs. I have the other day, I didn't have anything else. Well, you act like you're not being mindful of what you're putting in your mouth,

but you really are. I mean, those are all solid foods. They are. It's not like you're not being mindful of what you're putting in your mouth, but you really are. I mean, those are all solid foods. They are. It's not like you're eating McDonald's every day. No, no, no, no, no. It's because I don't like necessarily McDonald's. I'm not bad mouth and McDonald's, but I'm just saying, I'm not inclined to wake up

this morning, but God, a MacGriddle would be so hot right now. No, it's just, it's not like this vegan, it's not this special carnivore diet, it's not this special anti-inflammatory bioavailability. I don't touch vegetables unless you have a gun to my head to be honest, like there's just no point. I just don't have time. I do eat seaweed chips.

That's my guilty pleasure. Yeah, that's probably my only, there's a lot of bouts in a minute. So back to kind of Sal's question around the nutrition, then are you not even like, you know, counting calories or even measuring, you're doing so much movement that you kind of just,

as long as you stay within those food groups and eat from that, you just eat when you're hungry. Four to five thousand calories a day is just it. I just got on the horn with my macro coach and nutrient coach just like maybe like three days ago 5,000 calories a day is just it. I just got on the horn with my macro coach and nutrient coach just like maybe like three days ago and I was like, hey, I have been a little bit unguided for a while.

You wanna just kinda ring it back in, maybe have a pop up, like just kind of a, just sit back on, have a pop up combo of what we should be doing. And I just went over it with him, he's like, dude, are you winning and I'm like, yeah, he's like, do you feel good? I'm like, yeah, he's like, don't change it. There's a good coach.

Yeah. Sounds like a very good coach. You know, talking to you off air, it sounds like you have a lot of other practices that lead to your success besides training and diet. One thing you said that I thought was very interesting is that you don't watch TV. And you don't really watch TV.

When did that start? Why don't you watch it? I'm when you're younger and you got like biker mice from Mars and all that kind of crazy shit and he man on the television show, I'm locked in. But biker mice from Mars, what are you talking about? Do you remember them? No. What?

And I remember everything too. Just give me a little screen pull up. Like my smart like he's like, ripped my ride motor cycle. I do not remember that. It's the most randomly I've ever heard. That sounds so awesome. Yeah, it is a freaking fun show. So, honestly, I think just because if I have

so much time in the day, I'm on my phone all the time. It's just work related. There's no reason to go on, if I sit in front of a television show, it's usually CNN, you can see the mice right up there, do you think? They got like Harleys and shit. I am watching that.

Dude. I don't know if we missed this. Tight jeans. Dude, they're all jacked. They're ripped to the bone. That's great. That's great. Awesome, there's a video game.

I just think that you have your own television on Instagram, you can basically create exactly what you wanna see, and I don't follow anybody anymore. I only follow the people who sponsor me. I follow three people, and I realize how much like terrible content I was ingesting every single day. Like it was just like hot, nasty women that were like making me sweat while I was looking at my phone.

I was like, this is weird. I was like, yeah, stop. And then there's like r, nasty women that were making me sweat while I was looking at my phone. I was like, this is weird. I was like, yeah, stop. And then there's like rips from distracting. And I'm like, fuck you, man. You're not as ripped as me. And I'm like, look at my phone. I'm gonna break this thing. And then all of a sudden, like I turn on the television and it's just like tornadoes,

people dying. Black lives matter. Trump is ruining everything. I mean, I'll show you what I woke up to the other day. This is what was popped up on my phone. It's like most of the most fucked up thing that I've ever witnessed on my screen. Right here, Washington Post goes,

the coronavirus has killed at least one million people around the world. There is no end in sight. That is the header of what they are putting out there. I'm like, who the fuck approved that? That's real uplifting. See, I'm not gonna pay attention to this shit. This is crazy.

It's like, give me something. Let's go back to reading Rainbow. And it's crazy. That's so stressful. And if I could just hang out in this room with you guys all day long and then go about my business and then come back, it's like we control this environment. But as soon as we turn on that screen,

that's this portal of danger. So. Tell a vision. I remember when Paul Chex said that, right? Tell a vision. Literally to tell you to be afraid, and you're totally right. I think I'm plugging, makes a big difference.

Do you have other practices like meditation, spirituality practices, or things that are outside of the traditional realm of exercise and nutrition that help? To be honest, not really I try to have like probably the only thing that really helps me is I talk a ton Like I try to sit down with people and I try to really Go through my thought process with people regularly like I used to go to a therapist very often Not because I'm a psychopath just because like I used to go to a therapist very often,

not because I'm a psychopath, just because like I don't want to become a psychopath. I wanted to. That's a lot of awareness there. Well, to be honest, they made me go to a therapist like twice a week, we even got to the point where it's court mandated when I was in rehab and stuff,

but I didn't go through a therapist from the age of seven all the way until I was 20 years old twice a week and I hated it. But I also did understand, like he's like, tell me about your feelings. I'm like, why is that so important to you? So I'm asking you about my feelings. God dang it, man.

And to be honest, that seems like a loaded question, kind of just like a weird way to open somebody up. But if you don't just sit there and process everything that's going through your system, it is going to grow on the inside of you and become internal baggage. And just, I just work through it with a lot of people. That's probably the healthiest thing that I do

is if I have a fight with my girlfriend, I'm like, if we have to stay up until like one in the morning and process this shit, we are going to do it. And if I have a problem with my friend, like right now I'm trying to run this business right now and like some people have been not so responsive and I just will call them out. I'm like, hey, listen, if you can't handle this,

tell me you're busy otherwise show the fuck up. And like just, that's probably the healthiest thing I got going on in my life right now. So I've just literally gotten no layer between me and what I'm ready to say. And yeah, meditation I think is too internalizing. I don't want to do that anymore. So before we got on, you're kind of saying you're hiding out a bit like in the mountains here. Yeah, you take us to a re-explosive location. Yeah. That was not on the close. I mean, I been living in that place in Malibu for years,

but I will admit that it's pretty funny. Like at first, I came back to Malibu and I was like, oh, I'm so excited to see people. And then all of a sudden I was like, God, this world's kind of shitty. Like people are starting to really just treat each other poorly. Like people screaming at each other for not having a mask on or screaming at each other

for like taking their parking spot. It's like almost at this time in the world where people should come together and support each other, people are almost becoming more abrasive and hostile. And so now like it first has started out where I'd come down every single day and get my groceries and like say hi to a couple people and then it would go like by two days where I'd get enough groceries to not come down and then day and get my groceries and say hi to a couple people, and then it would go by two days

where I'd get enough groceries to not come down, and then all of a sudden, my girlfriend goes to work every day. I'm like, bring home groceries, I'm not coming down. And I'm at the point now where it's like, I'm kind of just waiting it out. I'm not any different, I'm not trying to avoid people, but at the same time, I'm not trying to include things that aren't necessary. And I don't think that it's going to last like this forever,

but my intentions are so focused right now that I just can't allow myself to somehow absorb any of the stress and anxiety and anger that's being passed around the world right now. I get hurt my heart the other day. I had to go into Los Angeles and go to a meeting and there was just like these homeless villages. And I don't want these people to be living in the streets at all,

but like the people screaming at each other and like the people with the signs, like stepping in front of cars and shaking the signs so that they have to see what they have written on the sign. And I was like, what the fuck happened? Yeah. And I'm sorry. I'm sorry that I'm not on your team

and ready to shake a sign with you, but it doesn't mean that you have to violently put your opinions and energy into my life. And that's what the world's becoming right now. And I'm not trying to say that I'm any better than anybody else, but I will remove myself from the playing field if it means that less problems are in my life and in their life.

Because I know that if someone gets in my face at some point, like it could potentially be bad, not necessarily violent, but I'm just waiting for myself to pop. Yeah, that's good boundaries within yourself. I think that's an important practice. So what are your intentions right now? What's on the horizon?

What are you focused on? To be honest, like my biggest focus this year was writing my book, and I was really cranking it out hard, and I was doing greats, and I was really passionately loving the idea of sharing what I'd learned and experienced over the past. I'm only been alive for three decades, but at least there's been a dense part of that that I really wanted to share with people because I feel like there's something to be gained. And then all of a sudden,

kind of this COVID thing just kept on getting hit more and more and more and I was like, whoa, I was like, honestly, I was like, this is not gonna get any better. So I sat down with a team of people and I told them that I was like, I'm gonna put on an event to raise some money for all the athletes who are losing it,

all the people who have been fired and furloughed in the industry, all the people who have been, all the people who don't have direction in their lives, so I decided to start that business. And I just like, I was like, I think if I really just put my head to the grindstone on this thing, I could do something that's gonna shift the entire environment.

And honestly, dude, I keep myself in my room on this project all day long. And you guys are the first people I'm seeing this week, and then I'm going right back to Malibu, and I'm getting back to business. And I think by the end of it, I'm going to end up winning this year rather than losing it. Can you talk a little bit about this? So you're putting something together to raise money for people because the fitness space and the competitive athletic space

is really taking a big hit. Totally. Yeah, huge hit. I mean, we know people who own gyms and they're just totally screwed. So can you talk a little bit more about this? Yeah, totally. Just like originally it started because I was like,

whoa, everything's getting canceled. And all of a sudden, I'm talking to my friends who own gy started because I was like, whoa, everything's getting canceled. Then all of a sudden I'm talking to my friends who owns gyms and they're like, dude, everything, like none of my members want to come in. And all of a sudden I'm talking to my friends or coaches and they're like, dude, none of my athletes are dropping off. I was like, whoa, whoa, whoa. It's like everybody I'm knowing around me is getting hit.

And this is going down fast. So I was just like, all right, I'm gonna start an event very much similar to the CrossFit Open that's basically just like, all right, I'm gonna start an event very much similar to the CrossFit Open that's basically just like it would find the fittest OCR athletes in the world, the fittest endurance athlete in the world. And we created this event called OCR Stars. I put $30,000 in my own money into it.

My brother gave me $30,000. We said, if we're gonna start this thing, we are gonna put our own money behind it because I've lived my entire career for the past 10 years and people are just giving me tens of thousands of dollars to wear a t-shirt and travel around the world for them. People have literally given me my dream on a silver platter. And I was like, I'm literally watching all the people who have helped me out and all the people have been by my side for the past 10 years like literally go up and smoke. So I was like, I gotta do something. Some of this money that I've been saving up has directly come from these people. So I was like, I gotta do something. Some of this money that I've been saving up has directly come from these people. So I was like, I gotta do something.

And eventually, starting around July 4th, my brother and I sat down, he's like, do it, dude. Let's light this thing up. And we decided we were gonna launch events starting in November 2nd called OCR stars, four weeks, four workouts. And it's all gonna be done from the safety of your own home or in a gym like your guys own.

If you guys were like a host gym, you basically have all the equipment here that people can come and use it because they don't have it at home. And we were basically gonna qualify people for one of our championships physically. OCRWC has partnered with us. You can actually compete and qualify

for the world championships next year through us. Two, we are gonna give people the opportunity to compete for cash again. Like, I want people to be able to have their livings earned again. Like, if you guys are working out all the time, it's like I'm giving you a chance right now. Like, we've immediately put down a $31,000 cash prize

purse and we're going all the way up. If we hit our numbers, we're gonna give away $140,000 to athletes. Wow, that's great. Yeah, and I literally am traveling around, talking to gyms, getting everything going, and we're basically gonna put on a pro show for four weeks every Monday when we launch the events.

We're gonna fly pros in and put on like a, in like a, you know, basically from your screen to your phone to watch professional events. Very cool. So, all the bases are covered. It's a TV show. It's an event for people and a fundraiser. And we're cranking every single day, bringing on great sponsors, great sign-ups, and I'm

fucking pumped. How are you driving revenue to it? Can people donate to the cause or what's it look like? I'm basically telling anybody here your options. It's either you're an athlete and you want to sign up and participate or you're supporting you want to sign up and donate. It's $30 to sign up. And if you want to, you guys to sign up and donate. It's $30 to sign up, and if you want to, you guys can sign up and also buy a t-shirt,

which is another $30. I'm literally telling everybody who's listening to this right now, it's like, we are taking the money, we are earning, and we are putting it into the cash prizes and athletes. We just brought on a sponsor for $10,000. I hired two people to help me cold-call gyms and bring things up.

We're just trying to get people in the industry working again helped out. So if you are listening to this and you love working out, it's an awesome opportunity. Two runs outside and two gym workouts inside. And you know, it's four weeks of your life to just kind of find out what you're made of and really kind of be able to help a good cause and support our sport for going into 2021 stronger. That's awesome. We have a way to give back. Now, you're, you know, like you just said,

one of the more successful, I said, you know, athletes in that space, monetarily speaking, have you had to change any of your strategies or, you know, pivot in order to continue to earn because things have changed so much since COVID? Dude, I was totally fucked. In one week, one to two weeks, I was going for making almost $400,000 for the year guaranteed.

Earning is a company, and I wouldn't go that right into my pocket. I have a bunch of employees who helped me run my business, but Hunter Mac and Tyre, Mac and Tyre Media generated that much money. Within two weeks, we went down to $36,000. Wow. Yes. I have a manager. I have a finance team. I have my buddy, Benny, who runs all the gym, all my fitness app stuff. And it's like, I'm not only am I working myself to have to also pay my own bills. Like, I'm

working with other people. And it's not like these people completely depend on me. But I was like, we worked for years to build this thing up. Like we worked so hard. Like, Augie has been my manager since I was a model back when I was 20 years old. He's been helping manage my whole career for years. And like, literally, I'm sitting there and I'm getting calls by my sponsors.

Like, we have to cut the loose hunter, I'm so sorry. And I'm like, I get it. I'm a non-essential. Like I'm not boxing things up. I'm not doing anything for you guys on the daily. I'm just more of a like a flat, like you know, someone carrying the flag for you guys when it goes to events. And I literally got taken down to less than 10%.

And I was like, whoa. And dude, it was just intense. Like I, you know, I have my normal expenses, dude. I just went through with my finance guy, like I spend $3,000 a month on food. And I'm not going out and buying like Dom Perion and like, you know, rib eyes that have been like massage by a Japanese man, like these are-

Those are delicious. These are fucking nice. But I'm telling you the truth, like I'm just eating things like yogurt and chicken kebabs and stuff like the rest of us, but I just eat at a capacity of 4, 5,000 cows. Yeah, exactly, I ate at the capacity of just, you know, a handful of people rather than one.

So it was intense, man, and like, you know, not to go back to my business, but I realized that every other athlete that I know is getting hit the same way. It's not like all of a sudden, like I'm at the top of the list. The people below me got calls before I did. And I'm like, holy shit, this is gonna be crazy. And I had a savings account,

so I'm gonna be able to kind of survive this storm and bunker down, but the reality is, it's a totally changed industry, man. Like the fitness industry, I think got hit almost harder than anything else. I would agree, yeah we feel that way too. I would 100% agree, but the demand for fitness is still high.

People still want to work out. It's just different. You know, I know trainers that lost almost all their business and I know other trainers who were able to effectively pivot to online coaching and even in-home training, because there's still people that want, and they're doing pretty well.

But if you're not ready to pivot or unable to pivot, and you didn't have enough money to carry you into that, boy, what a tough position to be in. Did you figure out any other ways to generate more revenue during this process? Dude, I immediately sat down and I was like, I am starting back up my training company. Two years ago, I started a company called House,

Hunter's Academy of Strength, and I was just like giving people one-on-one coaching. I have eight certifications getting my ninth one now, and I read books on, like, you know, working out all day long. I was like, I love it. I love it for myself. I love it for other people.

I was like, I could teach you how to get stronger, leaner, fast, or anything you want. So I started a couple years ago and I was like, damn, this is way too much. I was like, I cannot train and sit at a computer all day long. So I was doing individual emails and prescriptions for every single client. And I had like 30 to 40 clients. I was like, whoa, this is exhausting. So I shut it down. I told everybody, I was like, guys, I'm not giving you the attention you deserve for the money you're paying me. So then I was just like, since then, in the past two years, there's all of these apps

that you can basically design yourself as like a straight, like a Hunter Mac entire shop. Hunter's Academy of Strength, you can go to my app and literally go and you can either go through my look good naked program, my running program, my like daily training, and it's just like, it's pretty easy. I design it, and I sit down on my computer for a couple hours a week, I put it all down,

and I put it out there. People message me every single day and ask questions, but it's not nearly as involved as somebody who was like, hey, I just want you to know my hand strings a little bit tweak this week, and my bike tire popped, so how can I change up with these workouts to do this? I was like, brrrrrr. We didn't get any sign ups. I was like, oh my god.

I was like, I am washed up. Nobody cares. I'm like, COVID is really taking us down a peg, Hunter. He's like, you are not hot shit anymore. And then all of a sudden, I don't know what the heck happened, but like mid-April, boom, sign ups popped up. And then all of a sudden, I gave everybody a $10 discount to $10 a month

I called F the virus and I was like fuck the virus. I was like I know you guys are having a hard time My program is only $10 a month now and then all of a sudden Number spiked and then after I did that for a couple months I brought it back up to the numbers that I thought were appropriate for the work I was putting in and numbers are still growing Oh good and to be honest dude like that literally put the food back on the table. If it wasn't for that, I was like, holy crap. Yeah. That's excellent. Now, anything new in the future for you, like, what are you looking to do moving ahead with all this? You know what? I, as soon as this company's done, OCR stars only runs for a month.

I am literally gonna go deeper into the mountains. Like, I'll probably get a place in like, you know, somebody big bear or something like that. And I'm going to finish this book. Like, I swear, I've been doing it for too many years. I've been working too freaking hard. It's just probably only gonna take about two months, more, more of the more work, and it'll be good.

After that's done, I really am going to take all, invest about 50% of what I'm earning right now in my training company and I'm hiring a full-time cameraman and I was like, we're literally gonna do all of the hunter adventures, but now there's a red light on. I was like, we're gonna fucking tear it up. Yeah, that's, that's all, I love hearing these, these kind of stories because so many people in our space

need to hear how people are making it and what they're doing it. Hey, does exercise and working out carry you through those hard moments? I know it does for me. When I'm feeling stressed out, I work out and I feel so much better. Is it meditative for you in that sense? 100%. Do when everything got canceled, all my events got canceled, I literally was just sitting there and I was like, I bought a whiteboard at Target, old Tarjet. And I put that thing up on the board and I was like,

what do I do? And I just started looking online. I was like, what's close, what's close, what's close? It was like Memorial Day, Murph. So I was like, I'm gonna set the Murph World Record. I gave myself two months of this the most intense training cycle I've done to date. I gave myself like,

Rabdo on multiple days, joint pain that still doesn't allow me to sleep at night. And I just said, I'm gonna do it. I was like, I'm not going to allow this to tie me to the ground. There's no rock around my waist. I was like, I'm gonna smash that thing and start running now.

And I went for it. And it was just the carrot that was going to survive long enough to keep me busy. And it kept me happy. And it kept me focused. And then right after that was done, I was like, next goal. And did you set the world record? How did you do?

I got it, I got it. Oh wow, I wanted to go sub 30. Nice. And I was close and then I over trained myself. I was with them one minute of the record and then when I did the actual event, I was four minutes behind my goal. I beat the record by four minutes,

but I'll tell you dude, like I almost had too much focus four minutes behind my goal. I beat the record by four minutes, but I'll tell you, dude, like I almost had too much focus, and I was almost too intense on myself. I was like, if you're not gonna go train and be a world champion, I was like, you're gonna be a garage world champion now. Like, you're just gonna murder yourself daily.

And I just, I talked about this recently, I believe very much so that having a goal in life is important having some purpose and direction, but I also believe in like these micro goals, like you just always have to have something. You can't allow yourself to just even get through the day without having a goal. Take us through a little bit of what that training

looked like for Merf. I mean, what did you do right? What did you do wrong? I mean, sounds like you know you kind of over trained a little bit, mean, it sounds like you know, you kind of over trained a little bit. So, you know, but what did you, obviously you did something right if you broke the record. It started out two month training cycle

that should have probably been spread out over six. I started out with a power like in strength block as like a hit every position with maximal strength. So I went through a squat cycle of like five reps than three reps than one rep, not five three one, but I did that like downward wave of intensity, and I built up to like a heavy squat. I was like, I can move weight in this position.

I can bench weight in this position. I can pull weight in this position. So structurally, I was very strong, and then I added intensity. No, and then I added endurance. Then I started just pumping reps into that thing. Like I was doing probably several thousand reps of squats, pushups, and pullups a week. And then I had endurance, then I started just pumping reps into that thing. I was doing probably several thousand reps of squats, push-ups, and pull-ups a week.

And then I added intensity. I just put, like the last part of my block was literally taking E-Mom clock. And I was like, you have to hit 25 push-ups and 25 squats every single minute for 10 minutes with a mile on each side of your weight vest on. Oh, wow. And I was like, I just started to take things

and I just started to take the workload and just started to make it tighter and tighter and tighter and tighter and tighter. I was like, can you put all of that into a smaller box now of time? And if you spread that out over six months, you allow these ups and then a down, then a up, and then a down.

Like, you guys know the waves. Yeah. I, two months has just stopped. Yeah, I just can't see any down. There's no downs. I think that was the problem. Like the structure of the design was perfect, but the implementation and the intensity was too much.

And I probably would have done maybe two days a week of heavy calisthenics, five to six days a week of more heavy cardio and maybe two days a week of heavy lifting, where I was hitting four heavy lifts a week, five days of calisthenics and five days of cardio. What do you do for recovery and for just rejuvenation? Because that's, I mean, obviously you're a highly trained athlete. I'm sure there's a genetic component there as well.

You seem to, you probably have a recovery ability much higher than the average person, but I need some interventions I can't and yeah, I can't imagine though that you don't you know do something to accelerate your healing process because that's just insane Um if I had the perfect world I'm doing those those pump up the leg pump up things like norm attack. Yeah, those are great those help out of ton I was getting a massage twice a week when I had availability to massage therapists The leg pump ups things like Norma Tech. Yeah, those are great. Those help out a ton. I was getting a massage twice a week

when I had availability to a massage therapist. I hang upside down all the time. Hanging upside down from those gravity boots. I'm telling you right now. Now what do you get from that? Lengthening your spine, adding fluid to your spinal tissue, and lengthening your joints, kind of separating things,

because as we stand, everything's compressing, everything needs to decompress. People do yoga and stuff. I like that passive kind of lengthening. Honestly, if I go to a yoga class, it feels like somebody is taking me through some kind of Chinese torture. It hurts.

Like, you know when you just like try to get into pigeon, you're like, you're struggling to breathe. Like, the skin feels like it's tearing. I'm tight because of the work that I do. Like sometimes your body needs to be tight instead of supple. So I allow that lengthening of hanging to really help out. Like, I'll hang for 10 to 20 minutes a day.

And I went from like six, two and a half down to six foot and three quarters after doing heavy crossfit because of like just the amount of disc, like my body was so big. Wait a minute, how much did you press the forces? Yeah, how much height did you lose? About an inch and a half. Holy cow.

And when you're hanging it, when you're doing the traction upside down like that, do you gain it back to you? Oh yeah, dude. I mean, your body is able, your body, just like anything, can just get like knotted up. I mean, honestly, like, you ever seen somebody who's got Lordosis, like that backswing, like, stand there like all crooked like this?

Either that or they're just posing for Instagram. Yeah, exactly. Your body will naturally become like that. Your hip flexors get so tight, your spine gets so fucked up that your pelvic system tilts actually. So now all of a sudden, instead of having this incredible alignment of bone structure, you're now using muscular

and tendon tissue to kind of like hold you up and it's like almost, like someone's pulling a string backwards and loading you almost cocked. And so that's been very helpful. I know that was a really long answer for just hanging upside down. And to the one thing I have to say that I think is amazing for recovery is water.

Like I will put a bet down cash that most of you guys do not hit a gallon every day. Yeah. And if you're not hitting that, like I'm sitting right now here talking to you guys sweating, just because I think my metabolism and my muscular system is just always running a little bit hotter. You also have a big furry poncho. Yeah. Yeah. Might have something to do with that. And you got a neck carpet. Yeah, that's really kicking you warm. No, but like even if I do, I'll sleep like naked

on top of the bed at nighttime sweating. It's crazy. Dude, when I was training, this was crazy. When I was training for the CrossFit Games, I was so over-trained and so beat up. I would literally take a wet shower, obviously there's a wet shower. It was a freezing cold shower, and then I would wet my towel,

and then I would literally turn a fan on, and I would take a protein jug that I filled with water and then frozen during the day. I would wrap it in the towel, and I'd put it between my legs on my like, you know, for moral artery down here, and I would hold it like a little goose egg down there that would cool me down and just sleep naked on top of my sheets and everything because my core temperature was just up. Like so fucked. That's crazy.

You know, you mentioned your girlfriend a couple times. How long you guys been together? And how supportive is she about with all this insanity? Ah, you know what? I have to say I'm not the easiest guy. She's been here with six months. She's my COVID queen. Basically I, I'm my queen, COVID queen. She, this is crazy. So I knew her for two years, a year,

before I actually started spending time with her. And I would go into this jam and I was training full time and I was like, I don't want to talk to anybody. And that's not usually my energy, but like I just was like someone tense and focused at the time. She thought I was a total asshole. And then I was dating another girl at the time and she was dating somebody else. I was like, that girl's beautiful, but you know, off limits.

So I just like, I stayed away. I just know that there's no point in touching hot coals unless you want ready to get your hand burnt. So I just stayed away from her and then all of a sudden I broke up with my last girlfriend and within like a couple weeks, I turned on a dating app just to see what's the like out of here. Boom, DM from her and I was like, oh, that's that pretty girl from the gym.

So we meet up and we have a great date. It was my birthday, I invited her to my birthday party. It was a pirate party, it's pretty sick. And- What's up, pirate party? We all dressed up like pirates. Everybody dressed up like normal pirates and I dressed up as a space pirate.

All my friends were so pissed like, what the fuck? You're supposed to be a pirate. I was like pirate from out of space, Mitch. So I just wear an astronaut outfit with an eye patch. Sick outfit. And. It's totally what I would have done.

Yeah. So I ended up, this is a funny story. This is not a PG story. I was so high on mushrooms and beer at the time when she came to meet me at the bar. I was just like out of it. She came to like talk to me. I was like, yeah, wait for me.

I can't, I can't. I was like, I'm just too high. So then I go run outside with after the bar close. I go up to her and I was like, come home. Well, just go hang out and party at the house for a bit and she didn't get in the Uber with us because it was fully packed. I was like, sit on my lap.

She's like, no, I can't do that. So I was like, I gave her my address. I typed in the wrong address. So she shows up. So the next day I text her. I'm like, what happened to you? I was like, we had such a fun night. She's like, I showed up at your house

and you guys weren't there. And I was like, what do you mean? I go back to the text, totally wrong address. So she shows up to a house in the middle of the night and tries to open the door. So I was in barris, I was like, I'll make it up to you. So I took her out to ice cream for the next night. Had a great date. Then I went and flew to New York City to go, uh, surprise my dad for his 65th birthday. It was March 10th. And I show up and then all of

a sudden, like, I'm in a gym working out with somebody and my buddy is like, y'all do. Look at my friend just sent me and I was like, what? He goes, dude, this is from one of the, you know, the broadcasters at CNN. They're like, y'all do, look at my friend just sent me and I was like, what? He goes, dude, this is from one of the, you know, the broadcasters at CNN, they're like, they're about to shut down New York City because this COVID thing, I was like, what COVID thing are you talking about? He's like, you know that disease from China?

He's like, what? And the China disease. I'm like, I don't know what the hell you're talking about. And then all of a sudden, like, my family starts contacting me. I have this ridiculous text from my dad. He's like, he's like, we're going up state. He's like, leave with us now. What are you talking about?

This is obviously a piece of garbage. There's a lot of lips. So I literally caught an overnight flight back to Colorado and I was like, holy shit. And it was like all unraveling. I'm like, the United States is going into lockdowns. Like everybody must stay six feet away from each other. Do not leave the house for the next two weeks.

Do not smile. Yeah, it was fucking freaky. So then I called this girl over for a date and I'm like, listen, this sounds really weird, but the world's about to change. And I was like, you're my plus one. I was like, we're about to go on lockdown. And I was like, I can only have one person in the house

besides my house, besides myself, my roommate said. I was like, you're my plus one. And I was like, you're by my side for the next, like, X amount of months until this goes over. And we immediately spent like every single day together from this point on, till today. And I was like, I basically shot that show. I was like, I know, you don't know me well,

but we're in lockdown now. I was like, the world's about to end. Crating. Yeah. And it worked. We're gonna figure this out. Yeah. Romantically.

I know. So that was a crazy way. We might die tomorrow, so we should have sex this. Exactly. That's exactly how it worked out. So she became my COVID queen, dude. She's's a crazy way. We might die tomorrow, so we should have sex. Yeah, exactly. That's exactly how we're done. So she became my COVID queen, dude. She's been my mind to my side. We've traveled the country.

We've done a lot of incredible stuff. She's a great girl. I'm really well supported. And as I said, I'm not the easiest guy. I'm an absolute mad man. Like anytime I come up with an idea, I can call her. I'm like, I'm like, we're waking up at 3am tomorrow.

We're driving to San Jose. She's like, what? I was like, just don't ask questions.am tomorrow, and we're driving to San Jose. She's like, what? I was like, don't ask questions, it's gonna be awesome. And so we're here now. What rider dies? That sounds great. I like to hear that, so that's good. So only six months, so it's new in the relationship.

It's new, man. I'm realizing that I'm getting a little bit older, and I'm definitely not like, why has you guys got more experience than I do, but I'm just realizing that. You guys are old. You know what I'm saying? You're just a little bit why is it than I? If you guys all more experience than I do, but I'm just realizing that. You guys are old. Yeah, no, I said you're just a little bit wise than I am.

You guys all have families. Yeah, so it's like, you know, the thing is, I don't know when all of a sudden it's just gonna take off and happen, but like I'm just having fun. My last girlfriend, I think I was just a little too serious and I thought like, you know, I was like, this is the time, I was like, we should just level up

and start to like move in together and like maybe get married and stuff. And like that actually built more pressure in together and like maybe get married and stuff. And like that actually built more pressure in what I thought the relationship could have been. Now I'm just like, fuck it. I was like, if the wind blows, I'm going with it and if she follows, it's gonna be great.

So I'm happy to have a girl by my side and it could be until the day that I die or it could be until tomorrow. I don't really care. That's awesome dude. Dude, you're always a blast, bro, it's always fun to have you come in Oh, yeah You're talking and yeah until next time I guess but again always fun to have you on I'll make sure that we put your

Your your donating or where people can go to help donate to your cause. I think that's a great Yeah, so thanks, bro man. Thanks guys. Yeah, I don't appreciate it. Pump me here guys Thank you for listening to Mind Pump. If your goal is to build and shape your body, dramatically improve your health and energy, and maximize your overall performance, check out our discounted RGB Superbumble at Mind Pump Media.com.

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