The Sevan Podcast - #181 - Annie Sakamoto

Episode Date: October 25, 2021

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We can book your reservation. And when you get to the main event skip to the good bit using the card member entrance let's go seize the night that's the powerful backing of american express visit amex.ca slash y amex benefits vary by card other conditions now we're live bam ah text from annie yes please email me ah okay matt can you email her this link i am live on the show. Annie Sakamoto today. Crazy. Takes 180 shows of courage before you have Annie on. I think Annie is one of the few people I know who, let's see if he's going to email it to her. Let me ask her what her email is. She wants the link. Uh, yes, Annie, can you shoot me an email? Ah, yes. That's important too. Uh, People who've been around CrossFit longer than I have that are kind of in my sphere that I still see.

Shit, not many. Not many. Annie Sakamoto. Definitely. Definitely. Definitely want one. Oh, definitely want one. And this video that you see playing here is her, Nicole Carol, Nicole Carol and Eva Twardoken.

We just called her Eva T. I think they've obviously changed the music to this song, to this video from when I first saw it. It used to be the Nasty Girl song. But I'm pretty sure this is what got me into crossfit i think i was watching this video and uh i was like holy shit i need to be able to do this five seven when i first got into crossfit that's when you first got into it 2007 brandon what's the word dude uh i watched it back in 2005 really it's that old holy cow okay i probably i didn't see this until 2006 i believe lauren glassman made that video oh there's annie look there she is there she is

hey thanks for doing this thanks for having me. 15 years, maybe. I think I'm going on about 15 years since I've been in the scene. Basically, metaphorically speaking, been in the same room with you for 15 years, but never the same car. And by that, I mean, we've never really talked. Like you and I were never like, oh, on the bus sitting next to each other, going somewhere and got to know each other. I like, yeah. You want to get on the bus, sitting next to each other, going somewhere and got to know each other. I like, yeah. You want to get on the bus together? Always, always.

Let's go on a bus ride. I hate getting on the bus with someone and sitting next to them. And that's why I have a podcast to face those fears. I like it. Where are you? I'm at the gym, at our gym. Cool. And what gym is that?

CrossFit Santa Cruz Central. And we are, if you remember the the gym, at our gym. Cool. And what gym is that? CrossFit Santa Cruz Central. And we are, if you remember the original gym, we are about 250 meters down the street from the original gym. And my mom is an avid CrossFitter and a member of your gym. She is indeed. I coach your mom maybe once a week or so, just depending on how many times she comes in and what class she comes to. I don't want to say this to disparage any of the other coaches out there, but my mom has been very fortunate to be with some of the greatest coaches in the world. Wes Pyatt, Michelle Moots,

Hollis, the people at CrossFit, Jude, the people at CrossFit, I think it was CrossFit 707 of Benicia who taught her just insane coaches. But man, the once a week that she, and I think she goes to your gym like three or four days a week. Correct. And the once a week that she is fortunate enough to have you, I always hear about it. Oh, I had Annie to like, just call me. Hi, Savon. I'm like, Hey mom, what's up? I had Annie today. I'm like, okay. I appreciate hearing that. She's such a love, Siobhan. She's darling. Yeah. And thank you. There's nothing that anyone could be more proud of is is probably, you know, than having members of your family who are healthy. One hundred percent. My mom just left the gym. She took the noon class. My mom works out with your mom sometimes. And yeah, it is just to know that, you know, obviously something that we're so passionate

about is carrying over to our loved ones. It's huge. Especially your parents, right? You want your, like, you want your parents to be healthy and you want them ideally to be financially stable. 100%. Yeah. I mean, that's independence. Right. Right. Good point. Um, so, so, and, and as I sit here, I'm probably as the crow flies, I'm up old San Jose road. I'm probably two miles from you.

Yeah. Not far. Yeah. Nuts. Um, and, and do you hear about theasty Girls video every single day of your life? Not every single day of my life. How about one day a week? No, at this point, not even one day a week anymore.

No, wow. No. That's amazing. It is. Because it ushered in so many of us, right? Like, I don't really remember, like, what really got me into CrossFit. But as far as like, I can check in my memory, besides the guy who told me about CrossFit, then that when I saw that video of you and Nicole and Eva was like, Okay, what is this?

You know, what's funny is it has taken me probably all of 10 to 13 years to really understand why that video is so, so magnificent to so many people, you know, really for so many years of doing CrossFit and being in the community and people telling me, Oh my God, nasty girls. That was, that's what got me into CrossFit. I was like, I don't get it. It was just another, another day, another video that Lauren and Greg decided to make. And even Nicole and I did it. And

I just did not understand kind of the impact that it had had on the community. And what do you know now? What insight did you have? I think a lot of it, obviously, for me at least, is the struggle that Nicole goes through. I think that that really speaks to a lot of people on a daily basis in a gym, right? Is, you know, you're going along in a workout and you're kind of like everybody's done and I'm still having to truck along and just the mental battle that presents itself a lot in CrossFit and that ability to overcome that. And I think that's huge. I think that's what is so unique about our community is we're willing to not be the best, to be the last and still push through with, you know, with some honor and some some vigor. to be in a gym where I was next to Nicole and Eva and we were really pushing each other. And I,

I didn't realize that not everybody was out there doing ring muscle ups and hang power cleans. And I mean, I, I kind of just thought we were, I mean, I knew what we were doing was different, but I didn't think it was that unique or that special at that time. We didn't even know we were doing seriously. seriously we the rest of us knuckleheads were i mean literally i mean now it seems so weird to say it now i can't even remember what it was like but like we were going to the gym and we thought and we were doing the lat pull down machine right and like this thing and we didn't even know what a hang clean was it didn't even make sense to us what you were doing when you watched it when we when we watched it and then when we watched the muscle-ups you immediately want to find rings

and then your first attempt you're like oh shit well and i mean to be totally honest like i didn't know what i was doing i'll never forget so back in the original days we did a lot of uh single arm dumbbell snatching. It was in workouts a lot. I remember there was one day it was just me and this guy, Peter Markle. And Lauren said, all right, we're going to snatch with a barbell today. You said who was doing it? Who was doing it?

Did you say Lauren? Lauren, yeah, was coaching. And it was just me and this guy, Peter, in the 7 a.m. class that day. She goes, okay, we're going to snatch today. We're going to use a barbell. I was so oblivious, Siobhan. I was like, oh, Lauren, I don't, I'm pretty sure you can't snatch with two arms at the same time. Like that's not possible. She was like, just trust me, Annie. We're going to give it a try, but I'm pretty sure you can't. I mean, that's how ignorant I was to what we were actually doing. Yeah. It's, it's, it's, it's so crazy. And then there's people like

your kids and my kids and thousands, maybe millions of kids all over the world who don't, don't know anything different. Right. Totally. I mean, look at the kids that are, you know, when you look at your Mal O'Briens and your Emma Carys and what they're doing, because by the time they were 10 or 11, it was already kind of a run of the mill thing. You know, people were doing CrossFit around them. Like you said, they've known no different. I can't, and I can't even imagine it. Like when I tried to, I can't, yeah, I can't imagine because it was such a profound impact on us. I mean, even the air squat, just going to a seminar and like, like just watching you guys do those air squats. I just remember sitting in a room with like four other people and being like, what is this? And it was pre YouTube, right? I don't even think there was YouTube when that video was first made, was there?

No, I don't think so. Or at least I didn't use it. Exactly. think so or at least I didn't use it exactly um how to um have are you born and just so you know um uh Annie just said her coach was Lauren and those who don't know Lauren is Lauren was Greg Glassman's wife at the time and the co-founder of CrossFit depending on who you speak to um depending on what you think founder means but um boy things have changed so much are you in contact with Lauren at all by any chance? I'm not. The last time I talked to her, I think was, it must've been at the 2016 games in Carson.

We, we bumped into each other and it was great. It was really good to see her. You know, while I, I started at the original gym and obviously I was lucky enough to be around Greg, but really Lauren was my first coach. I took the 7.30 a.m. class Monday, Wednesday, Friday. Greg had a private client at that time. And so Lauren was the one that coached the 7 a.m. class. I forget. I think it was 7 a.m. every day that I went. And Lauren is the one that taught me how to do a ring muscle up. Lauren is the one that obviously taught me how to snatch with both arms. I owe a ring muscle up. Lauren is the one that obviously taught me how to snatch with both arms. Um, I, I owe a lot to Lauren. Yeah. And not only in, I, I knew that and I'd heard that, but not only you, but she was also Nicole's coach for a long time too, right?

Yeah. I mean, we all took that 7am class. Um, it, it's not a pleasant, uh, I have seen Lauren a bunch in the last year, a few years. It's not a, it should be seen lauren a bunch in the last year a few years it's not a it should be its own whole show it's turned into quite a train wreck it's not a really a pleasant conversation anyone can google it and see what's going on and just from the headlines i can tell you it's even worse than uh reading but but it it's it's the only reason why i bring it up is is that the different paths that people's trajectories have taken. And basically you look at Annie and you see, you know, people see Lauren and she was the founder and she had this great life with Greg and all the money and all the fame and all the stuff. And she went one way. And then you look at Annie who stayed, I mean, I don't, we'll get to it, but has basically kept the simple life, stayed close with her feet, her feet on the dirt and, uh, and, and took the path of the tortoise. And, uh, and we know what

happened at the end of that race. Yeah. I mean, it's, it's really hard for me. Like you said, uh, Lauren was a dear friend of mine and she really still is. I have, you know, I have nothing but good feelings for Lauren, but when I first started, you know, she would, she would pull into the gym. Um, and at that point, either they rode what Greg or Lauren rode their bike to the gym, or they shared one car. They had one, it was a white Toyota Tundra. Um, and they would pull into the gym and Lauren would have on like a baggy sweatshirt with the hood pulled over her head and baggy sweatpants. She was very humble, you know, not flashy at all, but one of the most extraordinary coaches I've ever had in my entire life in her ability to impart information and get me to do,

get any of us as athletes to do the movement, the stimulus, like whatever she was trying to get us to do without ever showing us. She never showed me a ring muscle-up. I never saw a ring muscle-up before I actually executed one. I had no idea exactly what I was supposed to be doing. She had the ability to verbally teach me a ring muscle-up. I think that's exceptional. That is exceptional. And that's a remarkable coming from you. I should say all this stuff when you're not in front of me, because I don't want to make it seem like I'm pandering to you, but you truly are a remarkable coach. Every single person who crosses your path is like, holy shit, Annie Sakamoto is the greatest coach ever. And that's

tough, man, because you know, when you go to college and you'll be like, oh, that's the cutest boy on campus. And there's a thousand boys who are the cutest boys on campus. And in the CrossFit community, there really are a thousand of the best coaches in the world. But sitting on top of that, man, you're – the people you've worked with and the people who talk about you behind your back, man, it's crazy. It's crazy praise. And so for you to say that about Lauren is, is nuts. Um, and I've heard that about, I've heard that not only from you, but about other people. I mean, I've heard other people say that about, uh, her. Yeah.

How did you, um, how did you first come across CrossFit? Like what is like your earliest or how did you, let's go back even further. Are you, come across CrossFit? Like what is like your earliest? Well, how did you – let's go back even further. Are you Japanese? My father is Japanese and my mother is Romanian Jewish. So I'm a Jap. Okay. Right.

And what do you call those people? Is that what Hawaiians are? Does that make Hawaiian when you made a Japanese with a Jew? I'm joking. I'm joking. I'm joking. Because, you know, they made it the Spaniards with the Native Americans and they call them Mexicans. So I was just wondering, like, if you guys get a Japanese Jew, get something super smart. Is that the super smart? And guess what? I'm the worst at math. Go figure. Oh, man.

Your parents hate you. Exactly. It's like two negatives equal positive, two positives equal a negative here. In Hawaii, they're just called Hapa. So mixed race, Hapa. So I'm Hapa. Okay. And were you born in Hawaii? I was not. I was born in Lake Tahoe, California.

My father was born in Hawaii and raised in Hawaii. Most of all of his family is still there. My mom, Romanian Jewish from Long Island, New York. And they met in San Francisco and they moved up to Lake Tahoe to just be ski bums. And they had me. I'm an only child, spoiled, rotten, and I act like it. And then when I was a sophomore in high school, my dad got a job in San Jose. And my mom and I were like, no way are we moving from Lake Tahoe to San Jose, California. Uh, and so my dad said, all right, we're all going to move to Santa Cruz. So we moved to Santa Cruz and you know, in my heart, I was a mountain girl.

I was born and raised in the mountains. I love the mountains. And literally within one year, Siobhan, I was like, nevermind the mountains. I love the ocean. I love the coast. And yeah, I've pretty much lived by the coast ever since. Athletic from a young age? I was, I have played almost every sport except for softball and was pretty much not very good at any of them, but just always loved being on a team, trying sports, trying new things. But I, my hand-eye coordination is horrific. Um, I was chubby as a kid, uh, but I, but I did try out for every sport I could. Um, that's it. You know, what's interesting also is

that, so what is your husband? Is your husband Jewish? No, he is Dutch. Dutch. Okay. You know what's interesting also is that – so what is your husband? Is your husband Jewish? No. He is Dutch. Dutch. Okay. You know, my wife is 100% Ashkenazi, and I'm a Jew, and I'm 100% Armenian. So we're like – so my kids aren't – it's just fascinating to me that you're a Japanese Jew and I have these Armenian Jews. Yes, I like it. Yeah, it's so cool. And, yeah, it's fun.

It's things that I never thought of before I had kids. I didn't really care as much. But now going back and looking and looking at the history, did your parents, did your mom's parents, were they escaping from Germany? Did they come during World War II? My mom's parents, I think, were either, I think they were second generation. Okay. And same with my dad's parents. They were, they were, no, my dad's parents were first generation born over here. My dad's second

generation. And was your, were your grandparents on your dad's side in the internment camps? No. And they were living in Hawaii and then they moved to San Jose. Somehow they escaped internment camps. I don't know. You know, unfortunately, my grandma's since passed away. I don't know exactly how they escaped that, but they, yeah, they were never interned. Yeah. So, and what makes me bring that up is so you mix an Armenian and a Jew and you have a real potential for a real victim mentality. The Armenian genocide, you know, the Armenians love like talking about their, their past and the Jews, God, they love talking about their persecuted past. And then the same thing can be said, the Japanese are a little more quiet. You don't hear much about their internment camp shit.

They're more like just like, okay, we're going to get our PhD in math and show you what's up. But you do have – it's an interesting allotment of people, Japanese, Jew, Armenian. In the last hundred years, they've gone through a lot of shit. Not that a lot of other people haven't gone through shit either. Right. But it's a – Well, unfortunately, I just feel very Americanized. Neither of those things –

It is good and it's bad, right? Because I don't fully identify with either of those uh with either of those situations and in in some ways i'm very lucky but in some ways it's kind of sad i i'm um i'm just kind of americanized that way and um yeah again i i in some ways i regret that right well you know what's interesting too is you never know what your kids are going to do too because like your kids could get into that and revisit it. Yeah, when they look into their own stuff. I think it's good to – I don't know what the word is.

But as I get older at 49, I'm seeing more and more as I reflect on myself that I was raised to sort of – it wasn't in my home like, hey, hate Turkish people. But it was pounded into me what the Turkish and Armenian relationship was, which gave me a bias towards Turkish people. And I don't think that that was healthy. I shouldn't have looked at the world like that. Right. Well, it's hard when it's coming from external sources and you don't really have a control over it. Right. Yeah.

You just become conditioned into a way of thinking subconsciously. Yes, for sure. of thinking subconsciously. It might not have even been, you know, your parents or your grandparents conscious decision to, to make you feel that way. Right. It's just passed down. Right. And they feel like they're doing the right thing by commemorating their, their, their parents' history and whatnot. Right. When did, when's the first time you, when you started lifting weights? Um, really CrossFit. So I, uh, I, like I said, I was just kind of chubby, but I did sports. I did actually some water polo my very first year in college at UCSC. Um, and then when I came back to finish school at UCSC, I took this kickboxing class up at UCSC and it was really just like an

aerobics class. Um, and I really got into it And I ended up starting to teach kickboxing classes here in Santa Cruz. Okay. Did you guys hear that people? She went from taking to teaching. Now we have some insight in Annie Sakamoto. Okay. Go on. Yes. Yes. Yes. And I had known Eva Tordokens because we had taken a hip hop dance class from who is now my sister-in-law when I was like 18. And, um, Eva's your sister-in-law? No, no, no. Um, we took a class. Oh, lady Carolyn. Carolyn is my sister-in-law. Okay. So we took this hip hop class and anyways, uh, Carolyn then became my sister-in-law and she would take my kickboxing class. And so, and Carolyn was a good friend of Eva's.

And so Eva came to one of my kickboxing classes and was like, hey, you know, if you're into fitness, you should try CrossFit. And she kind of told me about it. And I was like, yeah, nobody barfs in kickboxing. I really don't have any reason to do something like that. Like I feel pretty fit and I don't barf and that's fine. And she was like, no, no, no, no. Just come and give it a try. Um, what year is this? Uh, 2004. So I come in and do a personal with Eva and at the original gym, we had a Palma horse,

you know, because Greg was a gymnast. Um, and so she gave me a workout. It was three rounds, 400 meter run, uh, 10 deadlifts at like 65 pounds. And that she gave me a workout. It was three rounds, 400 meter run, 10 deadlifts at like 65 pounds. And that was probably the first time I ever really lifted weight and 10 pass-throughs on the pommel horse. And I had only done kickboxing. I had no way to kind of by myself understand how to put intensity on this workout. So I'm jogging the 400s and it's 65 pounds on the deadlift. And I do these pass-throughs and it's three rounds. What's a pass-through on a pommel horse? Sorry to interrupt. That's okay. So you know that the pommel horse has handles. Yeah. So you start with your legs behind the pommel horse. You would kind of tuck them up,

bring them through and onto the other side and then back to the other. OK. A lot of people do with parallettes now. Yep. Yep. That's pretty athletic. Yep. OK. Got it. So anyways, I went home and I told my husband, like, I did CrossFit today and I didn't throw up and it was really easy. And like this is, you know, really, they should probably try taking my kickboxing class. He was like, oh, I've actually taken CrossFit before. Um, he w he's been a surfer for a long time in Santa Cruz and him and a couple of his friends had taken a couple of classes from Greg, probably like in the late nineties, really early two thousands. Wow. He's like, I would take a CrossFit class with you. So I was like, all right. So we went back to the gym, you know, maybe a couple

of days later and we took the 7am class and, um, there might've been like eight to 10 people in the class. And Greg was there that day and he designed the workout. It was a 500 meter row, like 30 air squats, some number of kettlebell swings, three trips around the cargo net. Do you remember the cargo net that we had at the original gym? I don't. I mean, just in pictures when I was there, I never saw it there. Yep. And then 25 glute ham sit-ups, three rounds. And the way Greg imparted intensity on us, me maybe specifically, I don't know, um, was he staggered the start and he said, don't let the person behind you catch you try to catch the person in front of you. Oh, and I was like, okay. Um, and so we did it and we did three rounds. Um, and I did all 75

glute ham sit-ups all the way to the ground and all the way back up. Was that your first time doing those? Oh, no. Oh, no. So you know how that story goes. I can literally do five of those and make myself sore. No shit. I'm not like. Oh, yeah.

So the next day I was like, oh, well, I'm pretty sore. You know, admittedly, you love it when your abs are sore. And then the next day I told my husband, like, you have to take me to the hospital. My stomach was distended. I couldn't bend forwards. I couldn't bend backwards. I couldn't laugh, cough, sneeze, fart. Like, I was just destroyed.

And so he went back to CrossFit. I couldn't even move. And he told Greg and Lauren, and they were like, please don't take her to the hospital. Please don't take her to the hospital. I couldn't even move. And he told Greg and Lauren and they were like, please don't take her to the hospital. Please don't take her to the hospital. I thought I had a hernia. And like two days later, I was okay. And I was hooked. I was like, okay, that was a good workout. I'm in. Wow. And to this day, you're terrified of doing that to one of your clients. I am. But you know, to be honest, I wasn't at first. It took me a long time, I think.

And you were there for the early days of CrossFit. A lot of the mentality was somebody comes in, they don't know about CrossFit. You need to just smash them so they understand what it is. And then just hope that they come back. And I think that a lot of us have matured that that's, hope that they come back. And I think that a lot of us have matured that that's, that's an unsustainable model. You know, you're, you're, you're not going to get a lot of clients that way. And there's really no reason to do it that way. How old are you, Annie? I'm 45. Yeah, I'm 49. Um, I, you would laugh at my workouts, but I probably have to do the same thing that you have to do at 45. I have to warm up. I can't do CrossFit now unless I'm already sweating.

So in my 30s, I could just jump in and force out a Fran. Now I would have to not only do I have to scale Fran, but I literally have to be doing the I have to be soaked. Right. but i literally have to be doing the i have to be soaked right i cannot just start doing thrusters with 65 pounds at 49 as fast as i i mean and even every time i go as fast as i can um i have to watch like when you're young you don't have to watch i almost have to have at this age an out of body experience and be watching myself to make sure like something doesn't fall off the bus yeah i'm not like i could always go, but I'm afraid something might break. It's so weird.

I mean, I'm not complaining about it. I don't mind it, but it's just something that comes with age. 100%. And I think until you have the age, you don't understand it. Because I remember even being 36 and being like, how big of a deal can it be? Like you just, you go maybe just a little bit easier. And then, you know, you hit 40 and you're like, no, that's different. And you hit 43 and you're like, oh no, that's really different. And now at 45, I'm like, oh yeah, no, that's really different.

And exponentially every year it gets a little tougher. But the thing that I think is so great about CrossFit is really, unless you're trying to go to the CrossFit games, that's okay. You're still doing CrossFit. You don't have to do Fran until you throw up for it to be CrossFit, right? Yep, for sure. Yes. Even the first time I did CrossFit, I did Fran, and I didn't know about the time piece. And so it was myself and Kerry Peterson.

You remember Kerry? I do. It was in 2006 and we um we did he did um 11 thrusters at 95 I did 11 thrusters at 95 then we went and got a drink of water we looked at some girls in the gym we walked back we did and we went through the whole workout like that right and um 28 minutes later you were like yes what's the big deal well we weren't we were like wow that's an amazing workout and I think maybe we did some other stuff, but we were so stoked. It was only after some time that we realized, um, that you needed a clock. Um, did, um, can you just get on an

assault bike and go as like, could I just wake you up at 7am, give you a cup of coffee and just put you on an assault bike and go as hard as you can? Like, do you like, I can't do that. I, I would break, something would break. I'm, um, I'm probably an anomaly that I'm not really great at warming up and I can probably, I pretty much just kind of get to it. If I'm good, I will do a better warmup. Um, but I, you know, I do, and, and I do better if I do warm up. Right. But you don't hurt yourself if you don't warm up. You're not like me.

Like I'm really scared to get, you're good. Knock on wood most days. Yeah. Yeah. That's awesome. Yeah. Like, uh, like I'll even be sitting down somewhere, like watching at the skate park. You probably can understand this since you have the skater boy son.

Yeah. And, uh, and then like my son will fall down across the park, you probably can understand this since you have the skater boy son yeah and uh and then like my son will fall down across the park you know 30 yards away i if i can't just get up and run over there no i have to like i have to like jog for a second like make sure like all my vertebrae line up it's just weird it's so fucking weird neck rolls yeah i'm just like okay is the machine going and then i'm like okay right leg left right leg, left leg. Yeah. Well, I hope that you never experienced it, but I mean, I'm not complaining by the way. I don't mind getting old. I'm enjoying it, but it's, but it is, it is a trip. Yeah, no, it is. And like we were saying,

like, you know, every two years it's wildly different. Um, so 2004, you get in the gym, you do that workout. Um, you you're hooked. And, uh, well, first, first of all, go back to Carolyn for a second. This is just a total sidebar. You're telling me your, your brother married your hip hop teacher. No. So, um, because I can just, I was just imagining like you haven't your brother coming to hip hop class and seeing your teacher move and be like, yeah, that's my girl. So I was like 18. I was, I found this hip hop class and, uh, that's my girl. No, that was me. So I was like 18. I was, I found this hip hop class and Carolyn was teaching it.

And I was like, I want to be that woman. Like she was so incredible the way she moved. And she had this little body. And so she's still in town. She's still in town. She teaches hip hop. She's awesome. So she, she's married.

She was married, excuse me, to Zach Wormhout. Um, Zach Wormhout is my husband's brother. So what happened was, um, but I, Oh, okay. Okay. Not your brother, your brother, your brother's, your husband's brother. Okay. Okay. And she actually is the one that hooked Jake and I up. I bumped into her at UCSC, and she was like, are you dating anybody? And I was like, no, I just moved back into town. And she said, I think you should date my brother-in-law. And I was thinking to myself, well, he sounds ridiculously desperate, because I barely knew her. I knew her before I took her class.

Spoken with really high self-esteem, Annie. He wants to go with me? What the fuck's wrong with him? Well, I mean, I barely knew. I knew Carolyn because I took her class, but she didn't know me that well. I was just another person in her class. And here I am bumping into her, and she's telling me that, you know, I should date her brother-in-law.

And I'm just thinking, he sounds so desperate. If you're just seeing any girl on campus saying, you should date my brother-in-law. but she, I guess she judged you for your body and your looks, how shallow and the way you move. Yes. The way we judge animals at zoo. Okay. Um, and you're still married. Correct. Yeah. Congratulations. How long have you been, how long have you been married? Uh, it was 18 years in September. Yeah, congratulations. How long have you been married? It was 18 years in September.

Wow. I was thinking regularly, I think that my relationship with my wife is kind of my crowning achievement in life. How long have you guys been together? We got married after Avi was born, but I've known her, I mean, the first time I met her, it was a five-year courtship, but I met her like in my early twenties, we were in college. So over 20 years. Yeah. Yeah. And then we worked, um, I ran a home for, um, uh, mentally disabled adults for five years and she worked there too. And we both started there at the same time. I just knew her from college. Then I got the job there and she got the job there. And so we worked together. And by the time we both quit, I was running the home with 20 people working for me and she was second in command. Actually, now that I think about it, right before I quit, I think they promoted her over me even. And so during that five years, I was courting her like crazy. This was in Santa Barbara. And I was just courting her like crazy.

And then one day she goes and she wouldting her like crazy. And I just, and then one day she goes, and she would tell me like, Hey, you know, I have a boyfriend. You need to give me a little space, you know? I'm like, okay, cool. And then one day she came over to me and she's like, Hey, I broke up with my boyfriend. I'm like, I'm in. I so here we are. But but relationships are. Are I don't want to say anything cliche, a challenge or hard work, but like there's a. I don't know what the word is, but I think of a good word for it during this podcast. OK, I'll tell you, I don't want to say anything cliche, but, but, but it's worth every second of it. I know, I know. I recognize the, the accomplishment. It's awesome. Especially if you have kids. Yeah. Yeah. And it's hard. I mean, there's a lot of days where, you know, we're, we're coming and going, we're two trains passing in the night and, but we're a team,

you know, Jake and I are a really good team and we're lucky enough to have two amazing kids. And and, you know, like in May, we went to Hawaii. And so stuff like that is really nice. We just get the four of us together and just some downtime because we're in the thick of it right now. Our daughter is 15 and she's playing volleyball and our son is 13 and he's playing travel baseball. And it's just like we're we're constantly coming and going. How often is your son skateboard? It depends on how how much into sports he is at that time. He he definitely took a hiatus. I mean, he would do it a little bit in the backyard, but he took a little hiatus during travel baseball,

and he's really back into it again. On and on, this last year, well, since COVID, he really got into it, a lot more like skate park kind of stuff. What's skate park? Okay, so I don't know if you know. So my brother-in-law designs skate parks for a living. That's what he does. Okay.

This is Zach. This is Zach. Okay. if you know so my brother-in-law designed skate parks for a living that's what he does okay this is uh zach this is zach um so like he designed the skate park for the olympics this year um uh-huh i don't know if you know that you know there's a famous skate park and he doesn't have any japanese or jew in them this is the other side what the fuck yes yes um he designed you know the the there's a really famous skate park in louville, Kentucky that has the full pipe. I don't know if you know. I don't, but I've probably seen it in videos. I'm a little behind you.

Mine's only six years old. So I don't have as much knowledge yet. You'll get there soon. So, um, and there, so Zach designs skate parks. Uh, so it's kind of, it's kind of in their blood. Um, you know, and then they're their uh zach and jake's dad designed derby park i don't know if you know derby over on the west side derby is like the total treat derby might derby and some people will say that's the oldest skate park in the country

i i think there's argument that there is so so my kid's grandfather designed that park wow yeah um that's like the total treat park that's like when you've gone to all the other So my kid's grandfather designed that park. Wow. Yeah. That's like the total treat park. That's like when you've gone to all the other parks like one time in a couple weeks. Like all the people will be like, hey, don't take your kids there every day. It'll just spoil them. They just get into it. For people who don't know, my kids call it a toilet bowl. For those of you, this is a really cool park, huge grass park, tennis courts.

No one's ever there. A couple blocks from the beach. And apparently Annie's grandfather, grandfather-in-law. My husband's father, yep. Okay. Yeah, my husband's father. Yeah, so it's your father-in-law. My father-in-law, correct.

Sorry. That's okay. So it's basically just like a long cement tube or like like a canal yeah a steep canal that goes into this huge bowl oh yeah and people have spray painted it full of graffiti so it's super slippery yeah is he still alive? He's not. He passed of pancreatic cancer in 96. Oh, wow. So he was a landscape architect for years. And somehow he got into, he designed Derby.

And then he designed a few more parks. He has a couple more in the Bay Area that he designed. And then when he passed away, Zach, who had gone to school for landscape architecture inherited the business because his his dad owned a landscape architecture business and zach basically turned it into a skate park design business oh wow is zach on instagram he is do you know his instagram by any chance yeah Yeah. What is it? At small wave. There might even be an underscore in there at small underscore wave.

That's it. Yeah. What is your Instagram by the way? I need to fix this on the screen. What is yours? At Annie Kimiko, A-N-N-I-E-K-I-M-I-K-O. Bam.

Fixed. Bam. Fixed. Bam. Wow. And this shouldn't be on the podcast, but it's going to be anyway. I would love to know if your son would want to earn money skating with my son. He would love to. And actually, the thing about Izzy is he's a really good teacher. I've seen him teach other kids in our backyard how to do stuff.

He's really patient. He'd be a great teacher. He would love it. OK. I'm going to bug you as soon as the show's over. This is really, really cool. My son also is – he's actually seven. I said he was six.

He just turned seven. We've been having to go over the hill. So he has a skateboard instructor here in Santa Cruz, but there's a guy over – it's a guy named Derek. I don't know Derek's last name. And then his other skateboard instructor is over the hill in Sunnyvale, and his name is Josh. And I wish I could remember Josh's last name, but he just started a YouTube channel that already has 40,000 subscribers. He's an ex-pro skater. It's called Skate skate park lessons or something but but these are older guys you know in their 30s and so it would be cooler like um it would

be cooler if he skated with a 13 year old boy totally yeah does your boy play tennis he does not i mean he probably plays baseball but but right. Okay. So, so you're, you're, um, you go to the gym, you do your first workout piece of cake. Your husband goes with you. You have a, um, basically some sort of rhabdo incident. Um, and, and you're off to the races. Do you, um, and this is before there's any seminars or anything, by the way, did you know Greg wanted to be told me when he would tell anyone that he wanted to be a landscape architect if the gym shit didn't work out?

No, I never knew. No, I had no idea. Yeah, he's told me that like a hundred times. Trip, right? Yeah. Speaking of landscape architecture. So then you, you, you just start going every day and there's no seminars then, or there's no trainer, there's no official CrossFit curriculum, right?

Well, um, so that was May that I started. And then, um, in the fall in October, Greg said, Hey, I'm doing one of my seminars. I think at that point he did one every six months. So he did, this was in 04 October before. Okay. Yep. Um, yep um and he said hey I'm doing a seminar you know I want you to do it and I was like nah that's okay you know I I teach my kickboxing manage a restaurant this is just my fun and he was like no I want you to do this seminar and so actually Nicole and myself and you know some other people um did the seminar do you remember uh i kind of just blanked on his name from canada from vancouver craig yes i can't believe i just blanked on his last name i know exactly i know you're talking about yep yeah and he started mad labs or whatever um so he was there

there was a couple other people there and so we did the seminar in october and greg like did you take it or were you helping teach it no i took it it was really just greg at that point he was the only one i think maybe rob wolf and those and everett and those guys were there um and so rob might have given the nutrition talk but otherwise it was just greg okay and so he was like okay i want you to start coaching and I was like I don't want to coach you know I don't think I want to do this and uh he kind of put the pressure on me anyway so I picked up like the 4 p.m class on Wednesdays um and then within a few months I was like no this is exactly what I want to do um did you do

the programming for that class or was it already set up? God, I can't even remember. I think usually it was kind of already set up. Like most of the classes would do whatever the class did that day. You might be the most – you are probably – you are – I'm switching to you are – the longest active CrossFit coach in the world. You think? Well, shit. I mean, who else was in that room when you were coaching? You know, Greg's not coaching.

Lauren's not coaching. I don't think Nicole's coaching. Was Nicole even on the scene then? Did you ever? Yeah, yeah, yeah. She took the seminar with me and then. Okay, that's right. Yep.

I, um. Man. Lonnie Lau was, I think Lonnie Lau was there. Remember Lonnie? I know the name. I can't put a face to it. No, you know who the longest standing coaches, Greg Robinson. Oh, wow. Yeah. I bet he would be. Oh shit. You're never going to win. You're never going to win. We got to off him. We got to off him. gonna win off him we gotta off him how yeah he's gonna have to get hit by a truck two trucks to run do you see i see greg all over the place do you see him all over i don't know i don't see him i know i wish i did because a lot of people do i love greg he's just a big teddy bear

dude he's i see him down around his gym and 41st street anytime i go down to the point a lot with my kids yep and man i i can't tell you how many times like i'll see this beautiful man running and i'll come up behind him in my car and i'm just like like i want to see who it is right and like see the whole body so i'm like acting all nonchalant and every time i look it's i'm like dude obviously it's fucking greg and he's running down the street with his shirt off my god and then i wave and honk like like i saw mickey mouse totally exactly because he's just like the most happy, enthusiastic human ever. Yeah, man. Isn't that it's there's so many great people in town.

Yeah. They're really, we're really lucky. I mean, obviously, um, you know, CrossFit started here in Santa Cruz, but it's, it's pretty amazing how many of those people are still here and have some part of you know coachings that that they're still doing his gym should just one day just one morning just run over to your gym and challenge your gym to a workout without even telling you go i like you know what i mean just run over there pack a 20 of them bang annie come out right now with all your members with your hands up well you know we did for years uh we just didn't do it this year and last year because of covid but we um i started in 2008 seven nine uh the affiliate cup here in santa we run it every year so that's actually

happened in some ways that's right and it got pretty big because I remember one year we did it in Scotts Valley at the office and it was nuts. It was nuts. Yeah. Yeah. Are you going to keep doing that? I would like to. I mean, you know, obviously last year we were still kind of locked down and this year it just still didn't seem appropriate just to get that many people together. But yeah, my goal is definitely to keep that going. It's a, it's a special thing and super unique amongst the Santa Cruz CrossFit community. Yeah, I agree. I think my wife's even done it a couple of times. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. So, so, so, so you, so you, then you start teaching that class and then at some point, and tell me if i'm missing a huge gap in there at some point um greg and lauren decide to move to prescott right what happened what

but in that in that 2004 when you take your seminar to before they move to prescott what what actually starts happening and do you feel it in the gym the nasty girls video comes out people start opening affiliates what's it like What's the scene like then you taught you, um, Dave told me you were the instructor at his, um, L one, you put into workouts at his L one. Yeah. Do you even, do you remember that even? Yes. Um, not completely. We, you know, we started, Greg started doing more seminars and like, I remember we went down to Bergner's Place and we did a seminar. And so we started doing more seminars. I think where you could really feel the growth of CrossFit was on the message, on the comments,

like on the message board, you know, because back then that was where the community existed. And it went from, you know, like 40 to 60 comments being a big data i remember where there were there were days where there was like 300 plus comments which board and so i think that was when you could really tell that crossfit was growing but there still wasn't like a huge influx necessarily of affiliates at least to my knowledge there probably probably was, but not, not like we saw like in the, you know, 2012 era, maybe. Did you, do you remember like all of a sudden just people like Kelly started showing up at the gym or just randos just showing up at the gym? Yeah. Yeah. And then like you and Carrie came on the scene and there was definitely more, there was a, there was a fervor starting to build. It didn't seem quite so underground, um, as before. So Greg and Lauren, it must've been in like 2006

or seven when they moved to Prescott. Do you remember? Yeah. 2006, I think. And the reason was they could not afford to buy a house in Santa Cruz. They were ready to buy a home, but Santa Cruz was just way too expensive. So they moved to Prescott and I managed the gym at that point. And there must have been about 13 of us that were trainers there. Wow. Yeah. And that gym was small. I mean, it was working, but it would be a situation where I would like, I would have to call Lauren and be like, can you order toilet paper? Can you order hand soap? You know, because they were there and she really was paying for it.

And so, and it just, it was obvious. And this is before Amazon. This is before like there were systems and like life was hard. Yeah, exactly. So it just became apparent that it was time to kind of split up that gym and for them to not own the gym and try to manage it from afar. So Brendan Gilliam and Ronnie Boos and Jason Bills and a little group went and started CrossFit Scotts Valley. You remember that? I do.

Broke off. They were the first ones. And then there was still a few of us left. I think I took my first L one there, by the way, at that one, Santa Cruz, Scott's Valley. Oh no, maybe it was CrossFit Santa Cruz. I don't know. I took one of my early L ones in Santa Cruz, Scott's Valley for sure. Yeah. Yep. Um, so Greg was still giving all the lectures. I think the one I went to was the first time Nicole had given a lecture. Oh, okay.

Yeah. I think, yeah. Maybe she gave the nutrition lecture there. And other than that, Greg did them all or something. Yeah. Yep. Yep. That sounds right.

So a group of us walked down the street and we saw this building that was for lease. And it was an old Volvo repair shop. So it had huge bay doors and tons of space inside. And it was just kind of rough and industrial. And we ended up signing a lease and opened up this space in 2008. And we're still here. Oh, that's the place.

Yep. Wow. Yeah, that's a great spot you're at. Yeah, yeah. It's great. We're really lucky. So the original five was Michelle Mutz, Rob Miller, Eva T, Jimmy Baker, and myself. Oh, did Jim Baker pass?

He did. Oh, man. I thought I heard that. Yeah, last year. Wow. Crazy. Okay. Yeah. FanDuel Casino's exclusive live dealer studio has your chance at the number one feeling winning, which beats even the 27th best feeling saying I do. Who wants this last parachute? I do.

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someone else on what how did Helene get in the mix? What is going on? Oh, thank God for Helene. Like, so I don't, like I'm the, I'm the, the, you know, Japanese, uh, Jewish lady that can't do math. So I can't do spreadsheets. Like any of that kind of stuff is super daunting and, um, I don't like it at all. Uh, and so that's Helene is, that is her jam.

She loves that. She like her and her husband's idea of a fun Friday night is to make an Excel spreadsheet. So it's perfect. And then, you know, I again, I have two kids and I just I don't want to own this business by myself. And the Helene is a great partner. We get along really well. We have the same values and morals and ideas on anything, and even when we disagree, we always come to an agreement in a very civil and amicable way, and so I feel really lucky about that, and then Kelly has been a member at this gym for years, and she's just wildly passionate about CrossFit, about the community, and so it just makes sense to have

the three of us own the gym together and share the load. It's probably never been harder to work with people. And I know that's pretty self-serving because like I'm only 49 years old, but you think there was a time when like, Hey, should we buy our, our kettlebells from rogue or should we buy them from again faster? And you get in a fight with the owners. Now it's like hey should we buy our our kettlebells from rogue or should we buy them from again faster and you get in a fight with the owners now it's like um should we have a blm sign should we have a a gender neutral bathroom should we i mean before it was like what kind of coffee to serve now it's like fucking just i couldn't get along with anybody yeah i mean it's crazy and i mean it's nuts should your mask cover your eyes. Should it cover your lips?

Should you have to wear a diaper? Are you allowed to sit on the toilet? I mean, it's fucking nuts. It is. It is. And so it's just really amazing to have two women that that we just see so eye to eye. And even when we don't, we can so civilly figure out where we're going to where we're going to meet, where we're going to agree. figure out where we're gonna where we're gonna meet where we're gonna agree it's pretty unique when you say to women um and i'm fully reading into this do you is there some advantage to it being someone else who has a vagina as opposed to a penis is there like okay it's better that it's just all women on the you know what i mean i think that i just take a lot of pride in being an all women owned business at this point. Yeah. You know,

how come? Again, because I don't think that we think of women owning businesses or being successful in business. And it's just, again, you know, I have a 15 year old daughter and I think as a role model for her, it's great for her to see like women can own businesses and um you can play

sports and they can lift weights and um yeah uh couldn't have been a better answer i was looking for a fight and soon as she says you couldn't be a better role model for my daughter you win every fight everything once you have kids people that's your reason for fucking everything. And if it's not, man, you either shouldn't have had kids or you got to refigure that out. 100%. When Annie tells this story, I watch from the outside. She makes it seem very smooth in the transitions. There were obviously a lot of really, really ambitious people in the community, a lot of go-getters, a lot of people who had a lot of ownership. Even though this thing was owned by Greg and Lauren, every one of us who has put our blood, sweat, and tears, there's no lying.

And Annie, correct me if I'm wrong, we all felt a piece of ownership. And as each growing step from the outside, it may have looked like it's all hunky-dory. It's hard. It's hard. Definitely. And I'm assuming that there, um, it's, I was, I was on the phone with a friend just now. I was actually on the phone with Dave just now before you got on, we got on and I was thinking, I remember when Greg basically took down the gym and gave it to, um, the and i remember um there being some frustration on his part and with the people who worked there about where the equipment was going to go and who was neglected

and who had put in this sweat equity and the time i didn't fucking appreciate that because i was just a new kid on the block but as this most recent thing happened with Greg Bean selling the company for $200 million. I probably experienced what you experienced at that time, and I have much more empathy and regard for it. Because it's hard when something you love so much has such massive changes. Not even love. It's more than love. Is there something more than love? It's like separating your, it's letting someone walk off with your arm. You're, you're so ingrained with CrossFit that when it, it changes, it's like someone took your arm off. You forget where you start and CrossFit begins or you end and CrossFit begins, right? Yeah. Yeah. I mean, there's a deep,

deep passion for the community, um, for helping others, because I really view that that's what we're doing here. You know, it's yes, it's about fitness, but it's it's really just trying to better people's lives in many facets. And so it yeah, it so just so you know, I'd love to tell this story. So just so, you know, I'd love to tell this story. When Greg broke down the gym, there was the name CrossFit Santa Cruz that he was going to give. And there was the equipment that he was going to give. And, you know, Eva had started with Greg eons before the rest of us. She started with Greg like in the late 90s at Spa Fitness. Wow.

And she knew Greg very well. nineties at spa fitness. Wow. Um, and she knew Greg very well. And when the five of us decided to open this gym, you know, he definitely, uh, he offered the name and he offered a lot of the equipment to us. And Eva was really the one that was like, I do not want to be beholden to Greg. want to be beholden to Greg. And I, you know, so we very purposefully did not take the name nor the equipment. We took out a loan, we've decided on our own name. And so that was a very conscious decision on our part. And that more than most of the listeners that really resonates with me. Yeah. Yeah. What you said, you don't, you don't want to be a behold. Yeah. I told you a hundred, I a hundred percent get that. And I don't want that in any way to, um, to mislead anyone in the amount of gratitude and respect that I have for greg of course on a daily basis

because if it wasn't for him and lauren and this original idea i wouldn't be doing what i'm doing every day of my life and for that i am forever grateful and indebted to him yeah uh me too me too i live a fucking uh i mean i mean literally when you when i came on the scene i was a homeless guy wow and and right now fuck yeah yeah yeah it's fucking crazy what i have it's nuts but but but it was all in and it was all hard work. It was. It was all there was all grind. Everyone, every fucker was grinding. One hundred percent. And so I don't discredit, you know, the work that we all individually put in for ourselves and for the greater good of the community to better this thing and to to make it what it is today. But, you know, I also definitely acknowledge that it was it is today. But I also definitely acknowledge

that it was originally his idea. I think to his credit, he got involved with a lot of the right people that took his torch and ran with it. Why didn't you, I wanna come back to that, but I don't wanna forget this question. I'm gonna ask you two questions, but the first one I'm gonna ask you, don't answer.

How are there so many fucking hard-working people around him it's nuts but i want to ask you this before you answer that um uh why didn't you enter the games in 2007 um i was really nervous to measure myself up against whoever competed. I thought that the community would have an expectation of how I would place. Yes. Yes, they would have. They do. They did. And I had an expectation of myself that I would be first.

And I was really scared of not being first. And so at that time, my daughter was just under a year old and that was my excuse. Like, Oh, I, you know, I just had a kid and I, I'm not ready. And, um, and that, yeah. Um, hopefully Jolie doesn't watch this show. She doesn't, she's too busy, but you would have won those games. Maybe. I don't know. I don't know. Yeah. You won those games. I don't know. You may have won the men's division. You may have won both, men and women, that year. Definitely not that. And there's definitely some regret because it would be a nice title to have. But even more so, I just regret that I was so reluctant to put myself out there.

You know, I mean, it's silly. And I think, like you're saying, like maybe the community would have had an expectation. But would they have loved me any less if I hadn't gotten first no no no right exactly well said well said yeah and that was a something that i had to come to grips with and i didn't until 2011 i don't know how magic works or chemistry works but did do you do you follow boxing at all no well there was a fight between this big giant irish dude uh 6'8 named uh tyson fury a couple weeks ago and he fought this giant black dude uh 6'6 uh deontay wilder and um pretty much everyone i know like tyson fury um the big irish dude right and deontay wildler was really boisterous and and he he had some darkness to him like some uh not his skin color but just in some demons he was going through and

he would express them and he he somehow in the third round every single person was watching the fight like started loving him because you could yeah you could and he lost the fight but like you loved him at the end like it like the whole internet like around the fight things like oh my and i don't i thought i was watching at home and i'm like wow i really i didn't i wanted this dude to lose and now i'm like i feel like almost like crying because he lost right and i really like kind of fell in love with him during the fight and i don't know why that happened but you never know what yeah like people are um people love to see someone try. Exactly.

And that is, I think that that's what I've come to realize. You know, I knew it as a coach and a participant of CrossFit, but I couldn't wrap my head around as an athlete in CrossFit is that like CrossFitters love anybody who is giving it their all. So again, like in that video in nasty girls, when Nicole, when Eva and I are done and Nicole is having to struggle through those last reps in tears by herself, like that's, she's the moving one. She's the amazing one in that video, not Eva, not myself for, for finishing first and second it's Nicole and it's her effort. And yeah, it just took me a lot of years to accept that for myself. You know, it's easy to think about that in relation to others, but definitely a lot harder when it's yourself. Are you competitive?

I wish I was more competitive. Oh, I mean, you know, if it, am I competitive? Yes. But it's almost like more of a fear of losing than a desire of winning. Oh yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I got that. I got that too. Yeah. That sucks. We got the bad, the bad guy. I mean, I wish it was more like, I'm just so damn hungry to win. I just don't want to lose that's me i don't care that i would rather be arrogant than insecure we're totally 100 can i get a little bit of your arrogance over there it's kind of just a little bit of that yes a small little they're both and by the way they're both the same thing people arrogance insecurity you're just indulging in

yourself get over your fucking self well and it's ego right and so it comes across in either you know a dominant way or a kind of passive way but you're right there it's both just ego yeah so so um how how did greg what that whole he he wasn't a boss. He was someone who shared this – he was an insane visionary. If you've never been around a visionary, it's fucking weird. He was an insane visionary. He never told any of us what to do, but all of us just did it, did, like, just participated in any – we contributed.

Like it was like a fucking potluck. CrossFit was like a potluck. That's great. That's a perfect way to put it. Right. Greg told you the vision, Hey, it's going to be a dinner and everything has to be red and it has to be 38 degrees and it has to be served with holding your hand over your head. And we're like, okay. And then it was up to everyone to show up with that. Yep. Yep. And everyone was nuts. Yeah. I mean, Tony Budding and holy shit. Did he ever sleep? Even, even still, I mean, it's like they say, like CrossFit is for anyone, but it's not for

everyone. And so it, it very much attracted a certain, certain kind of person. And obviously very specifically in those early years, because not everybody knew what it was, um, and was ready to latch onto something that was, um, you know, not a given like it is now. And so I think that a lot of us that latched on in the early days, I mean, I, yeah, we, we were a unique bunch. We knew, we knew what was happening was special and we just figured out the ways in which we could, you know, pass it forward and, and make it grow and live. If I could have never snuck in with a camera, I would have run from CrossFit. It would have

scared the shit out of me. But the fact that I could hide behind a camera, I was the dude who got picked after girls, like in high school, like in PE class, like all the boys would get picked and then some girls get picked and then my fat ass would get picked. It was, it wasn't, I mean, I was okay with it. I thought it was funny, but like, I, but I wasn't really, but I was afraid to put myself out there. You know, the presidential fitness exam, when you had run four laps for time, I would let people pass me and then run in with the group, like let people lap me. I mean, I was, I didn't want to sweat. Okay. So, you know, what's funny is actually that's the only time in my life as a kid doing athletics that I, that I shown was the presidential physical fitness test in sixth grade.

Like we were as as girls, we were just supposed to do. Yeah, I had to do that with the girls. Yes. I did seven pull ups. Wow. So they were like seven, you go with the girls. I'm like, OK, and I had to do the flex arm hang because I couldn't do one pull up. And they were like, Annie, you go with the girls i'm like okay and i had to do the flex arm hang because i couldn't do one pull-up and they were like annie you go with the boys that's awesome i think i i think i out pull up every boy in my grade except for one yeah seven's crazy and can you imagine now like can you imagine if our kid like my kids haven't had to do anything like that my kid would just destroy something like that now right right it'd be nuts now what now what do you want me to do finish the whole

Annie I was uh 23 years old I'd never done a pull-up in my life I was in the backyard of my in my house in uh Santa Barbara going to college there 22 maybe I was high as fuck on MDMA that's ecstasy I don't know if you've ever done that. And my, my, uh, roommate was this fucking juiced up steroid dude. Right. And he was on ecstasy too. And we're in the middle in the backyard and it's like 2 PM in the afternoon. And he's like, Hey, dude, do a pull-up on that branch. And I, and I go to do a pull-up and, um, he's like, dude, what are you doing? And I'm like, I don't know how to do one. And he puts his hands under my lats and squeezes them. He goes, it's not a pull-up. You have to contract that muscle. And because I was high as

fuck on ecstasy, I could just go right into that muscle and contract it. And I did my first pull-up. No way. It was nuts. Who knew? Who knew MDMA was a performance enhancing drug? Yeah, it was nuts. It was, and I just became, after that, I became a pull-up fanatic. And my highest accolade is there was a strict pull-up contest impromptu at HQ one time. And I walked in the gym as it was finishing. And Sherwood had done like 23. And they said, Sevan, do you want to enter? And I said, yeah.

And I tied him. I did 23, just cold. You know, took my backpack off. Yeah, I was like, yeah, good boy, Sevy. Kids, don't do drugs. I'm not, it's not, don't do that. She's stupid, stupid. Wish I never smoked anything. It's not worth 23 pull-ups. No, I mean, no, no, no. So there's another way to do it. My parents should have sent me away to Africa or something or something like some exchange thing. I could have learned something. So then you so you open your own gym and you've been there ever since. And how did what has your so now you're you obviously you've spoken about how you really like helping people.

That's like the premise of your gym. And yet totally on the other end of the spectrum, you're still performing at the highest level and you're still trying to compete at the highest level. And then you're also – I mean you're really involved in the sport everywhere, the commentating, the competition. You've done everything, the teaching. I mean you've done it all. You've emerged but kind of like on your own terms right yeah i like like like like i didn't do it on my own terms necessarily like i got swept up in the wave and i just went off and you've kind of you've really um done it on your own terms what's what is how does it work like being on the games team?

Like for the announcing for the commentating? Yeah. Are you just like in the middle of a class and you feel your cell phone go off in your pocket and it's like Dave or Justin and they're like, hey, do you want to do the games this year? How does that work? So I have always worked with Charlie. You know, Charlie. Yeah. Love Charlie. Love working for Charlie. Love Charlie. Love working for Charlie.

And so, God, I don't even remember. It must have been 2018, 2017 when they asked me to start kind of doing some of the stuff for regionals back when it was up at Scotts Valley. And they would stream it. And I think for them, my guess is they were looking to add a female commentator to the desk. You know, they had Sean. They had all these guys, Tommy, Pat. And they had Miranda. They had Miranda before you, right? I think so.

I remember being on the show with Miranda like in 08 or 09 or some shit. Like it was really podunk. Yeah, it was so easy because I live in town. So I was an easy grab for them. And so I did it and, and, you know, and, you know, that's, that's not, there's very few people who know as much as you too. I just want to throw that in there. Okay. Well, I've been in the sport for a really long time, but I'm, I'm not as much of a CrossFit nerd as I should be or I could be. Um, and you know, a lot of that is just having kids at the age that my kids are and I just

I wish I had more time to sit and watch and do all of that but you know I have two kids that play sports and do things and I want to be I want to be part of all of that right but I've been lucky enough to be on the media team for quite a while now. And I love it. It's like, I still get, I probably get more nervous when we're about to do a show than I do when I'm going to compete. I feel you. Yeah. I feel you. It's nerve wracking as shit, right? Yes, totally. The one thing I would say is Sean Woodland is so good. I mean, everybody's great, but Sean Woodland is so good that if I'm at the desk with Sean, I'm now at a point where I feel much more relaxed because I know like, you know, if I get a little lost or I stumble, Sean will just pick me right up. He'll

just carry over, you know, he's, he's amazing. Yeah. He's definitely a gift. Um, do you think he gets nervous? I think he probably does a little bit. Him and I have talked about it. There's certain moments where I think he gets nervous. But, you know, he went to school for journalism and this is what he does. And he does it so often at this point. But I think probably when it's the games, when it's CBS Sports or stuff like that, I think he gets a little nervous. When you're competing and you're nervous and they say go, it goes away when you're, um, regardless, a hundred percent of the time. But when you, when you're on air, you just hope it goes away. Right. Like sometimes it like lingers, right. Or like you're five minutes in and it comes back. You're like, what the fuck are you doing? I'm already going, go away.

Yes. Yes. Yes. I, it's a little bit are you doing? I'm already going. Go away. Yes. It's a little bit better now, but I'll never forget. There was a regionals that we were doing. And it was myself and Dan Bailey at the desk and somebody else. And we have these IFBs and they're talking to you. The production room is talking to you. What's an IFB? I don't even know what it stands for, but it's basically the little earpiece so that the production room can talk to you.

Like, you know, so if Sean's talking and I'm going to talk next, they can come in my ear and say, you're talking about so-and-so next. They can just prompt you or we're going to scratch this piece, whatever it is. So it wasn't Sean either. It was Sam, I think, you know, the guy Sam that's kind of hosted the desk a couple of times. Anyways, he was hosting and he said something and Dan and I just stood there like neither of us could think of something to say. And we just stood there and Irv came in our ear and he was like, react, react. And Dan and I just we couldn't even think of anything to say i think sam had to take it back because literally dan and i just sat there paralyzed like so that's that's our joke now react i this is totally off subject but i'd like to hear your

thoughts on it i love the ufc because all the it's so. It reminds me so much of CrossFit. All the talent is fucking homegrown. And I love CrossFit because all of the talent is homegrown. This man that Annie just mentioned, Irv, he started as an intern who probably didn't know shit the same way I started, didn't know shit. None of us knew shit. And there's a rawness and realness to us and we never really had to fake being commentators or fake we never had to pretend right and now you have one thing and then i'll let you run with this the ufc is now integrating people from espn like stephen a smith and max

kellerman and i don't want to disrespect their art, but they're fucking ruining the UFC. Right. Go ahead. Yes. Yeah, it just gets kind of like generic and just very plastic. They lose the substance of what's – and it frustrates me if I hear someone complain about Sean or Chase or Bill Grundler because you think the grass is greener on the other side. It's not. You guys need to just chill out. Like you're going to get some superficial cheese dick, and it's not going to have substance.

It's not going to have substance. It's not going to be real. You still hear real shit come out of the commentator's mouth who are involved with CrossFit and in the UFC, the Michael Bisbings, the Joe Rogans. When they start bringing in sportscasters instead of practitioners, I'm not saying that there's not a place. There are some great – I'm not saying there's not a place for those people, but I'm not adapting well to it when they do it. I don't adapt well to when I watch the CrossFit games and they have someone who's not a CrossFitter on. The new guy that they brought on this year was amazing. Derek. Big old. Oh, Derek.

Big old yoke, dude. But man, he had tough shoes to fill. I mean, Rory's amazing. He's a CrossFitter. Yes. You know, he does. He does like the local news and sports wherever he is, But he's a CrossFitter and that's it. There's there's nuance and there's passion that obviously comes across from anybody who actually is a CrossFitter and everybody else. And it's great because their presence and their, you know, their presence is there and they're eloquent, but they don't, there's nuances that they don't understand and that they can't impart to the audience. It gets missed.

Yeah, good. I'm glad to hear you say that because sometimes I think, am I just old and stuffy? But I really, I really appreciate homegrown talent. Yeah. And that was something we always had pretty much in the, in the culture. I think that one of the biggest missteps CrossFit Inc ever made was when they hired a guy to be the CEO outside of who replaced Dave outside from outside.

And I think it's one of the greatest things about working at CrossFit is they always, we always hired from within. You basically had to work for free. You had to do Fran and you didn't matter what your time was, but you had to work, you know, work for free, had to do Fran and you had to do fran and you you know it didn't matter what your time was but you had to work you know work for free you had to do fran and you had to climb the ranks yep 100 yeah and again these are people that are passionate about the sport and the community you know so they're gonna and that's what i think like when i think about charlie when i think about irv when i think about you um these are people that are so passionate about CrossFit as a movement, like as a health and fitness movement, but also just they understand the community element of CrossFit.

And that comes across in their work. And if you don't understand that, it's really hard to be effective to the best of your your ability in crossfit you know what i mean a hundred percent does any part of you like as you saw crossfit grow like we were saying you you've kept your feet on the ground you didn't get swept up in the in the sort of this the massive growth that happened at hq is any part of you like while that was happening you were like pissed that you weren't more a part of it and now in hindsight you're still there and you're like like like maybe in 2010 you're like fuck seven and carrie for fucking exploding and taking greg away from us and now you're like yeah motherfuckers look at me i'm still doing the show and you fuckers are fucking

fired like is there any party that's like yeah i did it no because. No, because I was never, um, I was never, I made a very conscious decision to not get swept up. That was a very intentional decision on my part. Um, and if I'm going to be just totally candid about it, you know, I, I worked close enough with Greg. It had nothing to do with anybody in the community other than Greg. And I had just worked close enough with him, um, and seen enough people get on his shit list. Yeah. Um, that my intention was to stay within the community, but at an arm's distance from him. Um, and again, that's not to, to discredit a lot of what he's done for me. No, I don't take it that way. But I just knew that for me personally, I needed to keep a little bit of distance between myself and him and that that would be better for me.

And and but I am very thankful that that's the decision that I've made because I feel like where I am is exactly where I want to be. And that's purely by my choice and not by circumstance. Yeah, you definitely, yeah, you definitely, it seemed like you controlled it. I always had this feeling while I worked at HQ, there were three places you could be with Greg. You could be riding the wave, you could be on the beach, or you could be in the break zone could be riding the wave you could be on the beach or you could be in the break zone and dave stayed on the beach and i rode the wave and fuck man people who stayed in the break zone it was not it was bad i don't think people realize um uh as weird as some of these champions are and as as anomalies as they are, like talking to Matt Fraser or, or I don't know,

Tia, I haven't talked to T as much, but I've talked to Matt a lot. Like they, they do weird shit. Like they have these really crazy discipline lives. They're not normal fucking people. Right.

And Greg is not a normal fucking person. Right. And if you're in the wrong spot, man, I mean, he will, he can emotionally, intellectually fatigue someone to a point

that like you didn't even know was possible totally i mean i and so you either had to keep your distance or stay real close you couldn't be in striking range i stayed like i stayed in his bosom some people stayed on some people stayed like three blocks away but if you were like within arm's reach man you're getting fucked up yeah oh yeah oh yeah he's a tornado i had been on some of the phone calls and email threads when he decided he was pissed at somebody and it was yeah it was not pretty at all to eviscerate them yes yep definitely and then he could be your friend the next day but most people don't don't heal that quickly no no not at all and I just yeah I I knew that for myself and I actually at one point pissed him off pretty good and he was pretty mad at me but um you know to be honest I think

I think he knew by then I was enough of a likable figure within the community that he couldn't just completely shit on me. Well, imagine this too. He, he, he made a bicycle and it was supposed to ride around the planet. And some lady named Annie Sakamoto wrote it to the moon and it's really fucking hard to hate that writer.

You're sweet. Thank you. You know what I mean? Like it's, it's yeah i mean like uh it's it's um yeah it's it's um it's petty at that point right you you you know it's um have you ever like there's people in my life that i don't that i don't like i wouldn't say i dislike them but i just don't like them i just i have no likeness for them and then all of a sudden they do something nice to my kid and I'm like,

fuck, I like you. Do you know, have you had that experience? Yeah. You're like, ah, you're fucking great. Well, I'm, I'm an anomaly in that. I like most people. Yeah. Okay. You really have to be an asshole for me to not like you, but I get what you're saying for sure. And so, and so you like his kid you love his kid you take you embrace his kid oh yeah his kid being crossed you know what i mean yeah you you take his kid out every day and bathe his kid and and you teach his kid shit and like you're you're like

the best you're the best babysitter his kids ever had so it's like it's really hard i acknowledge him as the creator of the kid you know i really do um do you see yourself just doing this forever yes some part of me was thinking that you're you're getting ready to totally get out of the gym scene never no yeah it's funny like my husband and i we're talking to our financial planner and, you know, Jake is very much. God, you're old. God, you're old. Did you say financial planner? Jake's very much planning on when he's going to be able to retire. And, you know, they're looking at me and I'm like, no, I have no desire to retire ever. You know, they're going to have to kick me out of the gym in my wheelchair or on my walker for me to leave. I never want to retire. I am truly excited every day I wake up and I get to come to work. I love it. Oh, that's awesome. Me too.

Isn't waking up great. Do you hate going to sleep too? No, I love going to sleep and I love waking up. Yeah. I like climbing into bed, but I hate actually going to sleep. Yeah, why? Because I don't want to go to sleep. I want to do stuff. I want to like keep like I want to keep like I want to like rub my kids back or I want to go play on my computer. I want to go vacuum out my garage or like there's always something like I, you know what I mean? I want to do a load of wash like there's like there's just things I love doing.

Yeah, I never like but when I climb into bed, I like it. And I like lying down and I like like going into my body, but, um, just too much fun stuff to do. Like vacuuming the garage. Yeah. Don't you like, yeah. Like there's all this, like I have a, I have a blower. I have a Milwaukee blower. Don't you love a blower? And I blow it all out and I organize it in a pile and then I give it one last blast and it goes flying out. Right. And it just feels so good. So good. Yeah. Ready to work out. Do you ever work out late? Do you ever work out like at midnight or 1130 at night? No, never. No, I'm sleeping. I like sleeping. Oh, I usually go to bed by like nine or nine 30, if I can. Wow. Yeah.

But I'm usually by four 30 or five. I won't hold you to this answer. So don't, don't get too stuck on it, but it's, it's free. It's it's, I'm asking you to pinpoint something down, but don't pinpoint it. What is your crowning achievement in CrossFit? Like, is it the first time you deadlifted 135 pounds? Is it the first time you taught an old person to pull up? Like, what are some of the highlights that you're just like, oh, that was great. Oh, that was great.

If I'm going to be 100% honest, it's my impact on the community. Give me like, and what is your impact on the community? I just think that I would like to think that it is obvious how much I love this sport and this community. And, you know, that being the greater global sport and community, but also my local gym, my local community, what happens inside the four walls of my gym. And my hope is that that is very apparent to my local community, to the global community, how passionate I am about it. And that that has impacted, inspired, helped others to either pay that forward, just have a better day. It is a, do people come in? How often do you get new members at your gym? Um, you know, it kind of ebbs and flows, but, um, it could be once a month to once every couple months at this point. And, and so is it, okay. And is it, so when you – I guess so when you get new people at your gym or especially people who haven't done CrossFit before and you see it's because – they've learned about it because of another client. Let's say my mom told someone in her book club and they come in. So those are the moments when you're like, holy shit, I'm spreading the disease in a good – like this is awesome.

I'm spreading the disease and this is awesome or I'm spreading what's the opposite of a disease because I think that everything is contagious I think if you eat like shit around other people they'll think it's I think everything is contagious I don't think it's a misuse

of the word I don't think it's a simile I don't think it's a metaphor I think shit is fucking contagious I agree and so basically you're a I don't know if cantagen is the right word, but you're, you enjoy what you're spreading. I do. And so, so I do enjoy. So a couple of things.

Wow. Wow. That's like meaning of life shit. I enjoy what you're spreading. That's a whole nother look on it. I'm going to write that book. I like it. Well, so I love when your mom brings in somebody and like wants to share our gym with her.

But like Matt Bischel's mom, did she come in? Yeah, yeah. She was great. She was awesome. She actually wrote Helene a card, you know, thanking her. And so there's two things. One, so a lot of visitors come in and then somebody like Kathy Bischel, she wrote Helene a card saying like, your community was amazing. She wrote Helene a card saying like, your community was amazing. We constantly get comments, especially from visitors, on how welcoming and warm our community is and that they've been to hundreds of boxes around the world and they've never been to a gym where the community was so welcoming.

And that always makes me super proud because I'd like to assume that that comes from the top down, right? Because I would, I'd like to assume that that comes from the top down, right? So the environment that Helene and I are setting creates an environment where our trainers impart that vibe, that feeling. And then our community members have that feeling. And then somebody new walks in and they're sharing that feeling. But the other thing is, you know, today I had a woman who always comes to my nine o'clock class. And she walked up'clock class and she walked up to me afterwards and she said, literally with tears in her eyes, and it's just an, you know, every day Friday and we did the workout. And she said, I cannot tell you the impact that this has

had on my life. And she was welling up with tears and she said, you know, I didn't even want to come in today, but I just knew, like, I would feel so much better after I came in. And she just, you know, without getting into it too much, she went into just her personal struggles that she's had as a mom, as a working professional, of trying to balance all of that. And how much CrossFit, you know, as a physical entity, but even more so the community side of it has impacted her life. And she said like nothing else ever has. And like, when I hear that, like, that's it, that it cannot get any better than that. When that's, when you you're what you're doing for your work is impacting people to that level. In my mind, like there is no better job in the whole wide world. And what goes back to your kids again, too, right? Yes. Look what mama does.

Right. Look what I'm doing. I hope this is. Yeah, dude, it's so great. And I want to show my kids like like, that's the other thing, like you were saying, you know, my husband has to go to work and, and I get it, you know, and that's what he does. I get to go to work and I want my kids to see that, you know, there are jobs and you're going to maybe have to work, but you can also get to work. Like you can love your job so much that I never wake

up in the morning and I never say to my kids, like when I'm leaving, mom has to go to work. You know, it's always like mom gets to go to work and I want them to know that in life, you can have a job like that. How did you, how did you stumble upon this life? How did you stumble upon this life? Because you were just working out, doing kickboxing, and then one of your friends who happened to be an Olympian dragged you over to this CrossFit thing. And then it was easy, and then it was hard, and then you didn't want to throw up. And then you took this seminar, and now you're a commentator on ESPN. And like, like, did you write all these goals down? How did you stumble on this? I don't know. It's a total pinch me

scenario. Um, and I am, I am super grateful for it every day. I acknowledge that I'm very lucky to be in the situation that I am. What I think I know the answer, or at least I know a paradigm that we can use to try to get to the bottom of it. What habits do you think you have? Like one of my habits is always to work on my habits. Right. And, and, um, but I didn't know that until like, I read some posts that Miranda, um, Alcarez, uh, uh, posted one time. She said,. She said goals are kind of vapid when you get there. Make sure you have good habits. Good habits, passion. So what habits do you think you have that you had instilled in you at young that you still have today that keep you going?

That have made it so that the tree of life keeps dropping fruit on you? I think from my mom, it's discipline. My mom was always very disciplined. So, you know, she did jazzercise from the time I was born and she would go out and have a bunch of wine the night before and whatever. And she would wake up in the morning and no matter what, she would go to jazzercise. whatever, and she would wake up in the morning and no matter what, she would go to Jazzercise. And I think that, you know, again, it's amazing what we learn from our parents,

not from what they say, but from what they do. And I think watching that discipline that my mom had very much impacted who I am today. I would say that, you know, I'm not extraordinary in the things that I do as much as I'm extraordinary in my discipline. Give me another example of discipline, because that falls under structure too, right? Like your mom had like structure and discipline. The structure was, is that she did it every morning, the discipline, and she did it hung over, right? There was nothing going to stop her. Right. Yeah. And that's the same, like, you know, with my, with my eating, with my nutrition, with training, like there's days where I I'm in the gym, everybody else is gone. And I have a list of things that I have to do for training and I will cross every single one off.

And I will, I will not only cross them off, I'll really try to enjoy it. I'll try to enjoy doing it even when nobody's in the gym to hang out with or chat with or do it with. I want to get the work done and not just again to cross it off the list, but to feel accomplished. When you say try to enjoy, you mean as opposed to like everyone's gone, you have to do stuff that you know is going to take time, like, fuck, I don't know, like a salt bike and GHD. It's like you have and and like you instead you like you'll feel yourself wanting to feel sorry for yourself. And instead you'll be like, no, I'm fucking flipping the script on that shit. Yeah. And not even so much sorry for myself, but like, you know, like, oh, this is laborious and I have to get it done. But it's almost more, yeah, to try to get in that mindset of, no, I am in a situation where I get to get this done.

I get to do these things. I have the time. I have the capacity, the ability, the means to do all of these things. Do you have to fake it or does that come normal to you? Like, do you have to? You got to fake it. I got to fake it sometimes, but I think, you know, obviously like you can fake it until it becomes real. Yeah. I, I don't drink so much anymore, like almost never now, but when I, when I was drinking a lot, I still like at 1130 at night or midnight, even one in the morning, once everyone was asleep, if I hadn't worked worked out i would force myself to go to the garage and i would just and i would just fake it i would be drunk and i

would go in there and i would just sit on the assault bike and just and i would just tell myself hey you just got to start pedaling like no and then after 10 minutes i start sweating i feel sober and then i start a workout but like i had to fucking fake it there was no like i hated it but but never once did i do the workout and be like oh my god i wish i wouldn't done that right it was always like holy shit i'm a fucking badass right you are if you can make it yeah you are yeah yeah um and the quality i think i got really from my dad my dad's side of the family is, is, um, trying to take care of others. You know, my, my grandma was the lady that like, she would ride the bus. She lived in

Hawaii. She would ride the bus and somebody would be sitting next to her and she would start talking to him. And by the time they got off the bus, that person was coming to her house for dinner and she was buying them a new shirt. And, you know, my grandma was just the type of person that always really tried to meet people, be friendly with people, and then take care of shirt. And, you know, my grandma was just the type of person that always really tried to meet people, be friendly with people and then take care of people. And my dad is a lot like that. And I think I've gotten that from that side. Do you think you're, um, I grew up with really, really nice family members. My mom is so fucking nice. And my dad is so nice that I,

I've had to work on myself to um not allow my niceness to i feel like niceness has come at the cost of um integrity and it seems like you do you know what i – say that again? No. Explain. So I would be nice to someone instead of being honest with them. Yes. I would be nice to someone instead of being true to myself. Yeah. And I didn't even know I was doing that. I wasn't conscious of it.

I thought that niceness was paramount to all. Like it was the most virtuous, best way to be. It was what we were – it was kind kind of raised the niceness, love everyone. And I feel like it, um, it took me until I was into my, you know, late mid forties, um, basically maybe even getting fired from CrossFit to just really realize that, Hey, I, that came at the price of my integrity, being nice and accepting things that I shouldn't have um I didn't have to fight against well I think there's probably there there could have been ways that you could have it's and it's not even not being nice but like you said just uh being true to yourself

you know you can be true to yourself without being mean to others right yeah but it is yeah right yeah you definitely don't need to be mean. Right. Unless you want to be, but you shouldn't be mean just because someone else is mean to mean to you. Right. Right. But yeah, yeah, I can definitely, I'm, I'm guilty as charged of that. Yeah. It's a trip with really nice people. And my husband always like, he'll get frustrated with me because I don't say no You know, so I could be asked to do a million things and I really struggle at saying no and um And that's me being nice and it but sometimes it's to the detriment of

Our family or you know, because then I get so stressed out because i've said yes to so many things Where I haven't set my boundaries. So yes, I guilty to so many things where I haven't set my boundaries. So yes, I guilty. And it gets you really far though too. Right. So like the reason why I got so far in CrossFit is there were people more talented than me, but smarter than me, but there weren't people who were willing to take the call at three in the morning, every single night, there weren't people willing to just, um, at Christmas time, every Christmas, um, you know, do whatever. And, but, but so it does get you far too. Right. I mean, like, like, like if,

if they call it, like if they call you to do a game show and it's one week out, like, yes, yes. And there's people who, there's people who don't, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's a trip. Yeah. It's a trip. I was always impressed with the employees that would like kind of set boundaries with CrossFit, but they did suffer because of it. Not in a malicious way. They didn't pay the price. But if you're not at the party, you're not going to get the drink. Right. Exactly.

100%. Well, and that's – it's being nice. Work your ass off before you have kids, people. Fucking grind in your 30s, 20s and 30s. It's also nice. Work your ass off before you have kids. People fucking grind in your thirties, twenties and thirties. I think to work too. You know, I think a lot of people nowadays could say they're setting their boundaries, but they're just like, I don't know. I don't want to be, I don't want to be nice, but lazy.

Yes. Sometimes you got to sacrifice a little bit, right. To get ahead or to. You got to do what you don't want to do a lot yes exactly do you have to go pee no okay then i then i ask that's amazing too because i was like for sure if i talked to him for a while i'm gonna have to go pee so this i would like to note that this is a miracle okay i'm only gonna keep i gotta take my kids to jujitsu on the West side. I got to leave in nine minutes, but I want to ask you this one more thing. How, so, so your close friend, Eva got into a plane accident and I thought a horrible thing for me to say, I thought she was going to pass.

And I recently see her on your Instagram and she's like working out, and she's up, and she's surfing. I almost started crying. I was looking at this. I was so fucking happy. I'm like, holy shit. Can you tell us what you're comfortable sharing that won't encroach on her personal life of what happened and how she is and what your role is in that? Yep. For those of you who don't know,a t's the the third uh girl in

or the first girl i don't care how you number them in nasty girls it was uh annie uh nicole and eva and eva was everywhere just like annie and nicole when i first came on the scene okay well and eva is a two-time downhill olympic skier um like i said earlier, she started CrossFit with Greg probably in the mid late nineties. She, I mean, the original female CrossFitter is Eva T 100% hands down. Nobody could ever take that title from her. Um, and she, um, she slowly kind of pulled away from CrossFit. She was doing a lot of Olympic lifting. She was one of the owners here.

She's, she was training here, but doing more Olympic lifting than actual quote unquote crossfitting. Um, and she had bought a small plane and, um, she was learning how to do tricks actually with the plane. She was, you know, she was a accomplished, uh, flyer. And, um, I think she was was, the story that we've heard is that she was doing a practice touchdown landing and something happened and her plane was demolished. And there was just her and her flight instructor and really neither one of them should have been alive with how bad this plane crash was. He walked out of the hospital on his own two legs about three days later. Eva was in pretty intensive care and in the hospital for upwards of nine months to a year. And the first couple of times that I went to see with a massive TBI, I mean, besides breaking all of her ribs and her collarbone and all kinds of bones, she had a massive TBI to the point where she was pretty much barely coherent when you spoke with her. She couldn't really walk. And even a year later, I went to her house to have lunch,

or even like a year and a half later, I went to her house to have lunch with her. And I remember specifically getting in my car and sobbing because this was, you know, to me, the most able bodied woman I had ever seen as far as when she introduced me into CrossFit. And she could not speak in complete sentences. She was like, you know, she looked like a 98 year old walking around her own home. And I was thinking to myself, like, this is it. This is the rest of Eva's life. And she's only 53 years old. And this is how she's going to live the rest of her life with somebody else taking care of her. And it's just an absolute miracle, the ability of the human brain to heal. Because probably about eight or nine months after that visit, I saw her again and she

was very coherent. And then shortly after that, she was back to deadlifting over 200 pounds. She was back squatting 242 pounds. Um, she, I mean, she would go, that's crazy. I can't back squat 242 and I do CrossFit every day. I deadlifted a 206 pounds yesterday. I mean, she would go. That's crazy. I can't back squat 242 and I do CrossFit every day. I deadlifted 206 pounds yesterday. I mean, granted for a shitload of reps, but that it was like, right. It was too, it was, it was too much. And that was the most I deadlifted probably in two years. Yeah.

And she CrossFit every day. All right. And she, she slowly got herself there. She was surfing a lot right before she got in this plane accident. And so for months when she would surf, she couldn't get to her feet, but she was so determined to surf against Yvonne that she just went day after day after day. And she's back to shortboarding. I mean, it's, it's the most inspiring story ever. Yeah. And so she's doing really well she's surfing she's squatting she's deadlifting she's fitnessing she wants to come back to the gym and coach again a little bit

what do the doctors say have you did is she tripping can she reflect on it at all she's um she's very emotional every time i see her that's the one thing i would say um that still is probably kind of one of the byproducts of the TBI. She she's, it's very easy for her to be in tears. Um, but I think some of it too, is just the realization that of how far she's come. I haven't ever talked to any of the doctors, but it's, um, yeah, it's any, I think it's a, um, it's a nod to the human brain, but it's also a nod to her persistence and her attitude. You know, she was not going to let this hold her down. And imagine this. I mean, I mean, if she I don't people will always say something like, oh, I got in a car accident.

And the doctor said, if I didn't do CrossFit, I wouldn't be – I wouldn't have survived so well or I had cancer. If I wouldn't have done CrossFit, I wouldn't have survived so well. But it's also just the – it's probably some of that but also her behaviors, right? What she learned as a CrossFitter that she could get back to just the basics and the fundamentals. 100%. But I think the doctors did say too like had she not been in the shape that she was she never would have survived how does anyone survive a plane crash yeah i mean i don't know if you saw any of the photos but it was it's literally

amazing she is alive yeah i the the thing that i kept hearing over and over the stories was the piece of her skull was like off her head. Right. And that that part was really, really like that. That's scary. Yeah. Yeah. But but the pictures you posted of her.

I mean, you couldn't tell. I know. She's amazing. Yeah. It's a really beautiful story. And it was actually so right after it happened. This is a nod to the CrossFit community. I, we decided to do a fundraiser at the gym and it was super last minute. And, and this is also like when you're like social media is amazing. And I, and I posted it and people reposted it and we made, you know, $50,000. I don't even

remember what the number was in a week. And it was all these CrossFitters all over the world. A lot that had never ever met her, maybe didn't even totally know who she was within the community. But it's like the CrossFit community sees somebody rallying around somebody and they're like, all right, I'm in. I'll rally around that person. They're like, all right, I'm in. I'll rally around that person. Well, you know what's cool about always supporting a CrossFitter, even if they don't know it, they are someone who is on the path of personal accountability, responsibility and personal accountability. And, and, and that is a, um, man, we need so much more of that in the world right now. Yep. We need so much more of that in the world.

Again, so, you know, you're investing in someone who has that world right now. Yep. So much more of that in the world. Again, so you know, you're investing in someone who has that mindset. Yep. Yep. Because 99.9% of CrossFitters do. Yeah. Yeah. Did you wear those earrings today while you were coaching or did you put

those on for the podcast? I wear these earrings all day, every day. So I knew it even during my workouts. Thank you for coming on. Siobhan, thank you so much for having me. It's really good chatting with you.