The Sevan Podcast - #243 - Jeff Adler

Episode Date: December 28, 2021

Today we are joined by CrossFit Games athlete Jeff Adler from Canada. Most recently, Jeff has impressive finishes with 3rd at the Rogue Invitational and 4th at the Dubai CrossFit Championship. As fans, we are excited about Jeff's trajectory in the sport. We were then joined by Caroline Lambray, Jeff's coach but more importantly his fiance.Follow Jeff - https://www.instagram.com/adlerjeff/ Follow Caroline - https://www.instagram.com/lambrayliving/ The Sevan Podcast is sponsored by http://www.barbelljobs.comFollow us on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/therealsevanpodcast/Watch this episode https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC59b5GwfJN9HY7uhhCW-ACw/videos?view=2&live_view=503 Support the showPartners:https://cahormones.com/ - CODE "SEVAN" FOR FREE CONSULTATIONhttps://www.paperstcoffee.com/ - THE COFFEE I DRINK!https://asrx.com/collections/the-real... - OUR TSHIRTS... Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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Benefits vary by card. Other conditions apply. Bam, we're live. Jeffrey, hi. Caleb, uh-oh. Caleb, hi. No. Jeffrey, hi. Caleb, uh-oh. Caleb, hi. No. Caleb, hold on.

No. That's the guy in the back end. He wants to come on the show so bad, he keeps clicking the button to try to come on. See? And then I just click him off. Like, no, dude, you stay back there. Hi, Jeffrey. Hi.

Jeffrey again? I mean, everywhere I search for him, he's a Jeffrey. And then you guys are telling me it's Jeff. I'm like, but I know how to read. I know how to read. Everybody calls me Jeff, but Jeffrey's fine if you want to use that. Someone's just practicing for the time in the future where he's in a live setting with you. And he says, Jeffrey,

you're going to know for sure who it is. Jeffrey, can I sit with you? I imagine it being in a breakfast hall somewhere. I don't care what anyone says about this and I'll fight you for it or I'll fight your mom for it.

Winning the Open is as big as winning the games. I don't give a fuck what you say don't be like oh you can do the workouts as many times as you want how about you fuck off how about you look at who how about you look at who won the open in 2021 tia to me yeah she went and also won the games after that i didn't so it's so it's okay it It's crazy that you won the Open. It is nuts. Hey, it's even more credit because you can do the workout more than once. Like when people are like, well, you can do the workout more than once.

Well, yeah, that's why it's even harder. I didn't do them twice. See? See? Even better. Who wants to fight? Go ahead. Someone say something in the comments. I'll fucking ban you for life.

Make you send you back over to Talking Elite Fitness forever. Don't worry. Brian goes over there. You can still see your favorite guy. Are you ready? I'm pretty pumped up. It's just crazy. It's just so awesome that you did that. I mean, people...

I think most people agree with me. I think, like, the... I mean, people take 20,000 in the Open and are stoked. Guys, you know, I was... 35,000th one year in the Open. I was pretty pumped about it. But it's more about just, you know i also uh 35 000th one year in open i was pretty pumped about it but it's more about just you know being able to execute the workouts well or better than i did last year and feeling like i could understand them better i'm not putting a jack unless you're uh an athlete that wants to go somewhere the open is just there to compare yourself with your past self like that's the only

that's the main reason for it but for athletes like top athletes that want to move to the next stage then yeah you want to perform your best but since the open is now top 10 percent i think it changed a little bit it's like well i'll just do the open whatever and move on like the most important part is after the open it's not the open anymore um but but people see your um uh scores and in the open other athletes and then they know they know that if they see you in competition they're not beating you. They know. Stefan, I respectfully disagree with you. I understand.

But you smoke also. I quit smoking in my 30s. Did you ever smoke cigarettes, Jeff? No. Never? Never. Did you go to college? I did not.

Oh. Well, no wonder you didn't smoke. That's where you learn how to smoke. That's where you smoke weed. That's where you have unprotected sex. And that's where you do psychedelics. So I didn't miss anything then. No.

And your parents get to waste a shitload of money. Well, it depends. I'm from Canada. It's not the same. Oh, right. Well, they pay it some other way in taxes uh all right so so tell me about Dubai how was that uh it was good Dubai is always a nice competition um how many times have you been out there now the this year was the third so I was there in 2018 2019 and then again 2021. um I did improve a little bit every time.

Still, the podium eludes me again. It was nice. It's always nice, Dubai. I like the competition. I like the venue. It's an easy venue to compete at because the hotel is in the same

court as the tennis court. It's right behind you can walk to like between events i would go back to the room chill and then come back um i'm i'm not disappointed of my performance a little bit i'm disappointed of one event actually but uh uh yeah the last day was was hard it seems like dubai the last day is always the the the day that i crash and lose my spots so that happened again this year is it the the echo bike toes about workout yeah yeah i was you know i was i don't know what platform was on if it was just a private conversation but i was looking back at the results afterwards and i'm like man i'm just really surprised like jeff's so good at so many

things this isn't the workout i thought would have got him uh no the the echo bike is still something that i really do not enjoy doing and uh i mean after the games like at the games one of the worst workouts i've done was the 21-59 eco bike and snatches. And after that, I was like, because I've never been a good sprinter. Those 21-59s with like a machine and any other movement, it's not my strong suit. So we've worked on that since the games between games and Rogue, because we knew Rogue would have an eco bike somewhere. But at Rogue, I was lucky it was paired with thrusters and i can do thrusters in my sleep so that's that's not an issue and the the rep scheme was

different um when i saw the 2159 come up i was like oh no i mean that was but those were the that was the athlete's choice right yes stupid choice why because we talked you know what like every everything they had so we they picked two athletes one woman and one man for a and b or whatever and um they gave us eight choices and you had to choose we couldn't choose both the same so we couldn't do like the 21 59 bike and then do again the 21 59 bike we had to choose something else and everything that was on the list i was like it's it was all short and most of these workouts had a machine again in it like we've done all the machines we rode twice in that competition i'm like well just at that point put the runner in and we'll do all the machines. Like it was just so many machines.

And then, yeah, that 21, 59, I was like, I was excited to test it and see how I'd improved. And well, I did not. So I guess I'll have to work on that a little bit more. I actually lost the podium on that, that specific event. Like I finished that 21, 59. I wasn't even at the row and burpee yet i was like i just lost the podium like that was so bad because because the three guys that you were contending with all

placed on that workout yeah brian is there truth to what he's saying i'm translating to what he's saying is is that um that short time domain workouts aren't his cup of tea that he prefers stuff longer than three minutes is is well if it's very short like a one rep max clean and jerk you like it no so that that's the thing like let's say we take dubai the workout with the uh biker handstand walk and overhead squats was a technically a sprinting event and i finished third fourth on that event like I fit I did I did the um I did the the whole the whole five rounds and I was I was surprised at myself I'm like wow I can sprint like I was happy I could sprint and that made me like happy for a bit but uh yeah I don't

know that it's the the echo bike the stupid echo bike i don't know i can't i just can't do it it just won't it just won't go i was beside roman like he was right next to me and i was at 12 so on the 21 cows i was at 12 calories and he got off the bike and at that moment i was like oh no that was either a huge mistake from his part or a huge mistake of mine and it turned out it was mine but this happened this happened to me one time too except the guy next to me was matt fraser i was in uh granite games this past year doing his uh like he was doing with a bunch of fans and it was an imam and i just got in the back of one line and he's like you know briefing the whole crew and then he just gets in the back of the line and he's like you know briefing the whole crew and then he just

gets in the back of the line right next to me and i'm like oh no and we get on the first skier and it's 15 cows and i'm on seven and he's moving forward i'm like what the heck this is 40 minutes long he's like no problem bro i was like and you know he just kept the same pace all the time but roman's the like the best in the world on the machines yeah that's true he is he he sits on top of that mountain he won the i think he won the thousand meter row but i think he's pretty much there at the top like top three what was he like do you even get to talk to him um jeff or i wish i wish we could but his english is really difficult like i wish we could talk to him that he could be interviewed more like i would

like to have him be more have more media around him but it's so difficult because of the language barrier um he looks like a very chill dude he's like he's very quiet and then he gets on the bike and smashes you it's like you just don't see it coming like it's so weird um he's a really fit individual that's for sure um we were we kept hearing that he's put on 20 pounds since uh his last competition could you see that when you huge okay his back looks giant it's surprising to see him because i i haven't seen him in well actually dubai 2019 i guess and he is big like scary big we were like oh roman's gonna be slow no no no is is your is your wife your coach she is is that your wife or your girlfriend uh fiance for now fiance for now okay um how is that so so this morning i i this morning i wake up i need no external shit for my own happiness i have no

tattoos i have no piercings i don't have a prince albert i'm like good to go i i've cracked the code on happiness but i have a wife and so our shit's all twisted up right if she's in a bad mood i'm in a bad mood if she's mad at me it's like god i'm gonna get in trouble with this it's like it's like when i was in high school i couldn't leave the house and enjoy partying i couldn't have a good day at school if my mom was mad at me i just couldn't i just needed to know that that one person was okay with me so so my wife is still my one weakness and this morning i woke up and uh she said she 6 a.m and i'm getting ready and she goes hey good luck today i love said she 6 a.m and i'm getting ready and she

goes hey good luck today i love you and she gives me a kiss i'm like oh this is gonna be a good podcast this is gonna be a good one and um you have your wife there at the events your fiance and i'm tripping on that because you're don't your moods um isn't that the one person you can't separate yourself from like even uh the morning chalk up did a piece on you in dubai in 2019 and um she says something to you about um you didn't go hard enough on something and you snap at it man maybe snaps not right but you go next time you do the swim and And I'm like, Oh, Oh, that's why I can't. I sometimes say that she's like, Oh, go fast on the eco bike. I'm like, you go fast on the eco bike. Like, tell me how it works and I'll do it. Like, um, our chemistry is really good.

It is good. You like it. It's fine. It's fine. It works well. And I think she puts a lot of effort on trying to keep me in a good mood and perform well. So like our lives are revolving around CrossFit, around competing. So the goal is for me to perform as much as I can and she's in it as much as I am. So we're working together to get where we want to go. That's, that's the way to do it. There's no other way. I mean, cause you get, you guys can't get into it. It can't crossfit games the the night before the last day and you guys get in a fight about someone leaving the toothpaste off toothpaste cap off the toothpaste in your hotel room like that just can't right well it never happens anyway so okay shit all right good all right it's not gonna happen like no i don't

see why something wouldn't work the day before the games. Like the goal is to perform. We're just going to do what we have to do. She's like, hey, at the award ceremony, I better never see you sit that close to Danielle Brandon again. Like none of that. Like you can't have any of that, right? It's got to just be like, she passed the push. She has to push that down and then tell you like a month later.

All right. I'm always amazed at how athletes do that because relationships are delicate. And especially someone like you who's performing at the highest level, I would think – I think the analogy works perfectly. It's like a Formula One race car. It can go 200 miles an hour, but if it hits a pothole it's done right yeah so i just picture you got go ahead well both right now both champions like that won the most are in it in a relationship tia's with shane and matt was with uh with sammy so i mean and these guys have won because i think the team that's around you is what is going to make it work.

Like, you can't do that much. You can't win that much alone. It is not possible. I don't think so. And, I mean, we've heard it now since Matt has retired, like, how much Sammy did, like, work so hard around him food cleaning like he had to train and sleep and eat and that's it and that's what made him that good like yes physically him he's good but all of that help around him was what helped him win so by so much. And I think he has the same, like she has Shane Shane's there. Shane is working as hard as her, not doing CrossFit,

but doing everything else. And it seems to work very good. So why not? Why not us? Yeah. Hey, those are two. I mean, those examples can't be beat. It was very clear. Those relationships look like solid as shit. I mean, those examples can't be beat. It was very clear. Those relationships look like solid as shit. I mean, I know we're only looking through the lens of social media and media, but yeah, those look like teams. Teams, yes. Yeah, Sammy's definitely not just on the sideline cheering him on, and Shane's definitely just not on the sideline cheering Tia on.

I think Caroline just said in the comments, it really is two horses pulling one cart. That's so apropos. It's like she nailed it. Okay. Man, I'm impressed. I'm impressed. Are your parents together? They are.

They've been married for a long time now, 29, 28, 29 years. Do you think you know how – you learned how to have a relationship, a strong relationship from them? Is that where you get it? Probably, I guess. I think I've seen in my whole life my parents fight once, maybe. And where do you meet a Caroline at? Where does someone meet a Shaneane or a caroline or a uh or a sammy i i don't know how these guys met but we met in a gym actually i met carol she was my coach she was she was coaching

at the box and oh i love and you know what the the start of our relationship was not so good i did not like uh carol at all she wait what do you call her what do you call her? Caro. Caro, okay. Now I know why she likes you, by the way. I thought it was just your body, but it's how you say her name. Go on. No, but she... I actually skipped her classes. When she was coaching, I was

either very far in the opposite corner or just going into open gym. But I think I was a little bit cocky then. Like I was starting CrossFit. I was okay, like good okay, and trying to do my own stuff my own way, and she wouldn't let me. So it wasn't – I didn't like her that much at the beginning.

But the more time we spent together, the better it was. So we ended up together. I remember her being in the media pit when I was allowed in the media pit. And she's very forward. Yes. She's very sure of herself. She knows where she's going. And when she has something in mind where she's going and uh she has when she has something in

mind she's going for it and there's not many people that can stop doing it so but i mean that's that's what we want in life we want we want to we want to aim for something and we're both going for it as hard as we can so yeah um there's some people out there who um who go to the crossfit games who just don't seem like they can win the games and i hate saying that that's something that only brian should say but um but but you can win the games i can yeah uh like you can taste it, huh? I did. Yeah. Tell me about that.

Tell me. Tell me what do you mean you did? Well, these past two competitions, Ziroga and Dubai, because my game's performance was not good. And after the games, I had a little brief period of, am I good enough to compete for the top spots at the games or not? Because 2020, I think, was a little bit of an outlier. So 2021 was for me to prove that that performance was valid and it didn't happen. And I think Rogue and Dubai, even if Dubai wasn't perfect, I think those two competitions validate the fact that,

one, my 2020 Games performance was good, and my 2021 was just, I just was too sick to perform. Like, something happened. I was just not top performance-wise. So I'm happy I touched the podium on at Rogue that that was like that was basically the men's field at the games minus like three three or four so I was happy to be able to achieve that and then going to Dubai like just building confidence that I can push for the top spots and then hopefully this will carry on in the next season.

And I'll bring that experience, that good experience at the games and hopefully make a pretty good move then. And it's good people you're with up there, man. Vellner and Medeiros. I mean... Yeah, I was happy to put him with Vellner, actually, because I remember taking a picture, and I have that picture still of me in 2016 when the Games was in Carson.

And I took a picture after the event. I was volunteering back then. I was like this big, took a picture with Pat. And now this year, my picture with Pat is on a podium at Rogue. Like, it's pretty awesome to think that in just a few short years, like, I'm able to actually compete with these guys and follow them, not beat them yet, but at least being there. I mean, hopefully one day I can go on the podium on a higher step than Pat, hopefully. But he's going to make it work for us. fine caleb uh how old are you now jeff i'm 27 and how and how tall are you five nine and how much do you

weigh uh 196 seven and is that is that good for you? Yeah, yeah. Peak weight is like 198, 199, just flirting with the 200. And then training weight is 95, 96, a little bit lighter. And how long have you been doing CrossFit? Six years now. and what sports did you play before crossfit nothing nothing you didn't ice skate played hockey a bit hockey but that's what you guys call it in canada we call it ice skating you guys call it hockey that's awesome you guys are allowed to push each other down a little bit carry a stick while you ice skate and that's it that so so were

you gifted athlete as a um as a kid uh i'm yes no like i played i i like to play sports i was in like in high school i was in um sports as well, like sports concentration, where we did more, well, physical education. I don't have the English. Physical education. Physical education. We have a very smart crowd, by the way. If you want to say words in French, you can. Our crowd speaks, is bilingual.

Yeah. So you were into physical activity, but nothing specific. You weren't a standout anywhere. You weren't like a great gymnast. No. You weren't the strongest. You didn't win the arm wrestling contest at your high school. Yeah.

And you don't have any tattoos. I don't. And you don't have any tattoos. I don't. Maybe you don't have the pathology to win the games. Like, I interviewed this guy yesterday. He's the greatest bullfighter who's ever lived. He's 35 years old.

And, like, you could tell, like, he's trying to prove something to God. Like, that's what I would say after the interview. Like, he sees God as his daddy, and he's trying to prove something to god like that's what i would say after the interview like he sees god as his daddy and he's trying to prove something to god like hey you didn't fuck up by giving me a chance on the planet or you get someone like um rich froning who had very too close relatives as a kid you know uh dying car accidents but maybe you're maybe you just like like you don't have any tattoos you You're not acting out. You never smoked a cigarette. Can a squeaky clean guy win the games? I'll try to prove it to you. Yeah. Ben Smith.

Ben Smith, yes. There we go. He's like the Canadian Ben Smith. Actually, I never thought of that analogy before but i kind of like it i feel like you guys both came up kind of like naturally like you weren't like amazing when you first started necessarily you had to like earn it you know he obviously started years before when cross it was in a different place than it was when you started but i kind of like that. Is this a valid question, Brian? Jeff, why didn't you try 368 pounds at the Rogue Invitation and go for first rather than 360 when you already secured second? Still want to know that.

If it's for injury, why do a third lift at all? I had that question asked to me a few times, actually. question asked to me a few times actually um the first i didn't i didn't have time to think about that because gi went gi went for his third well did not do his third lift i had lazar and then i was next so that's 20 seconds of time between thinking and lifting and um i did hurt an elbow on the first workout on the rope climbs, those stupid 30-pound rope climbs. Like, before the – at the warm-up, I couldn't front rack a barbell. And 360 was scary on my elbows.

So I was like – I didn't want – I was the last lifter to go, and I didn't want to just bow down and not do the lift. I'd rather do my three lifts, even if I knew that the second place was secured. And I mean, I was happy to do 360. Not many can do 360 for two clean and jerks. So I was pretty happy with that. But yes, I could have tried 368,

but it would have been a huge risk and most likely a fail. And I did not want to fail. So once the three 60, but you didn't have to do the lift at all, right? Nope. And I knew that. So the only one that put 355 on his bar was Saxon Penchik. He was maybe, he was in the first row in the middle. So I saw him at 355 and I was like, oh, I'm going to be tied for second. And then I thought the tiebreak was the first bar and I had him on the first bar.

So I knew then that I was second already. So I just made the decision to do my third lift at 360. What do you think, Brian? Should he have not even done that lift? I'm not going to question his decision in the moment. But I am curious how you liked the format of that compared to the format of the lifting event in Dubai. It's much better than the Rogue one. Dubai was, you know what?

I can clean and jerk in my sleep and I have no issues clean and jerking 365 at any time in the year. And that event was the most stressful event of a lift perspective that I've done ever because they had they had the the 50 percent uh minimum work requirement so if you failed both lifts you were out of the competition which makes no sense on the lifting event like if you want if you want me to take a risk on higher weights you have to give me the chance to do it and two lifts was not enough like and i i could have done 170 i could have done it but with the third lift not two i can't do it with two and that's that's

that's the reason why i did 155 which i think is 342 for my first lift. 342 is like not a big deal for clean and jerk for me. So no, the road, the Dubai clean and jerk event, I did not enjoy that at all. Man, I mean, watching it was also one of the most stressful things for me because I was like until and some of the, you know, it wasn't like everyone lifted once and they're like, okay, we're done with round one. Like some of the guys didn't lift until people had already done two lifts or everyone lifted white or whatever. I wasn't sure how much time, I think you guys had bars you could actually be using in the meantime.

And these, we asked for these because at the briefing, there was no warmup bars. And we said like, how would you want us to clean your 370 pounds from zero to three 50? Like that's like, you go from the warmup area to the floor, it's 15 minutes. And then we had to wait for every bar to pass. And then once like, uh, like the guy started lifting around one 40, one 35, one 40. So every lifter would go and then it's even more time so

let's say for me that I want to start at 155 160 I had to wait an extra 15 minutes that's 30 minutes between the last lift and the lift on the floor and then you give me the the stress of if you miss both you're out I'm like well I can't do that. Like, it's not possible. It doesn't work. So we asked for warmer bars. They gave us warmer bars. We also asked for a third lift, but that we didn't have. We didn't get the third lift.

You guys did ask for a third lift? Yeah, I did. I also partitioned them to get a third lift in there just because, you know, people like to see heavy weights being lifted. Yeah, there you go. Like, what do you want? You want a heavy lift or you want to stretch out the athletes? Actually, you know, Bill Grundler said it well on their review of the programming.

He said that was not a strength test. It ended up being a strategy test. Yeah. And that's not, you know, there's times that strategy is obviously relevant. But if you're going to have seven, eight events and one of them is a strength test, then give the opportunity for the athletes to show their strength. Well, Tola, Bronisla and I were like, what do you guys want to do?

Because we're just going to stop. Like if you wanted to push, like for me, Tola and Bronisla to actually battle it, even three lifts would have been, like we could have gone four lifts to try and hit that 175 maybe but with two lifts it's like well where do you where do you guys want to tie like we'll just stop there so why are you so good at those lifts why are you so good at the olympic lifts i'm not good at the olympic lifts i'm good at the clean and jerk. Okay. So let's be clear on that. I'm good at the clean and jerk. The snatch is such a stupid movement.

I hate snatching. I think right now my 1RM snatch is like 255. Like it's just stupid. I don't know. I just, the clean and jerk, I don't have to think. It just goes. And I think that's why I'm good at it. And why don't have to think it just goes and i think that's why i'm i'm good at it so oh and why why don't you like this natural how is it so different i mean you have an incredible press i

was looking you have a 207 pound press that's nuts you would think that oh being oh anything overhead is great for you you would love it uh no well i wouldn't say 207 is a great press it's not brian is it a great press 100 pounds more than i can do it's it's a good press it's not a great press like if i could press 250 220 that would be nice um but that's not the issue the snatch is just more technical it gets in my head a little bit more um we've had some issues with shoulders and elbows and wrists in the past and so we had to change the technique a little bit every time you change the technique you have to learn it again so it's it's just uh it's just a pain to figure it out like it just doesn't work um yeah that's weak that's very weak thank you um there you go there she is so weak here's the

thing here's the thing with the snatch this is how i think about this the clean and jerk is stressful at max weight because it's not one and done you get you you get to the 50 yard line you're like oh shit now it's on my shoulders now i gotta get it overhead but the snatch is one and done right yeah but the chances of missing is just greater it's okay for me for for me personally i know like athletes that there is some athletes that just prefer snatching and they'll they'll like i know tola loves to snatch and he can snatch 315 320 and he's going to clean and jerk 360. I can clean and jerk 360. I can't snatch 320.

Like that's the issue. Like my clean and jerk is here and my snatch is like down there. Like it's just, there's such a big space in between, which I want to get closer, but I don't know. Maybe I'll never have a great snatch. And that doesn't matter. Like as long as I can do good enough, I'm going to be okay with that.

Like if it's the top five on the snatch, I'm going to be good with that. Because with the past year, year and a half, like what I've learned is not how strong you are that'll get you to the podium at the games, is how fit you are. Like you have to be able to run fast, swim fast and CrossFit fast, but you also have to lift heavy enough.

You don't have to win the heavy lift. So I don't, I'm not looking to win the heavy lift top five, top three is fine for me. If I can get also top three on the chipper and then top three on the sprint, that's what I want. can get also top three on the chipper and then top three on the sprint that's what i want i can get that brian you think no we i mean we uh you know uh john young and i did an article collaborative article for morning chalk up about this and we kind of said you know you only need to be about 90 percent 92 percent of the heaviest lifter at the games to be like you know a factor

or strong enough like you say so and you're not that far off on the snatch and obviously you're above that so yeah are you are you running this winter uh well i'm actually right now in florida so yes i will be running you guys you guys spend a lot of time down there yeah so well i i did spend between games and rogue. I spent like the three months here. Now I wasn't supposed to be here this winter, but something, something happened here with my parents.

So I had to be here for the winter. Well, for the winter for now, it's the full month of January. I don't know if I'm going to be here longer or not, but even, even if I'm in in Montreal like I'll run at least two times a week uh just running on the the runner um I know Carol wants me to run outside

but in the winter I'm just not doing it in Canada you want to but in Florida you in Florida I'll do it any any day I don't mind but in the winter I just hate it You guys are staying down there through January? Yeah for now Will you guys be in Miami? Carol will be because she has an athlete there Benoit? Benoit exactly

he finished 10th in the qualifier so he's pretty excited to be elite she's been working with him for 6 months now six eight months um he's getting pretty good yeah i'm pretty i'm pretty pumped to see him he's only 21 years old i think right yeah uh so she's gonna be there for sure i am going to be there i just don't know how long am i gonna be there for the full weekend i'm not sure yet but uh yeah i might be doing some stuff yet but yeah I might be doing some stuff there what do you mean

you might be doing some stuff there I'm in contact with Waterpalooza I think they if I'm going to be there I might as well do something like I don't know what's possible yet but I'll be there for sure right

like setting up weights and shit. I will not be setting up weights. No way. I've done that in the past. I'm not doing that again. Maybe a round of disc golf. Yeah, why not? Why not?

Let's do that. I'm down for that. Do you play that? I do not. Yeah, it's bad for your health. Don't do it. it's bad for your health don't do it um so so so you're in i mean you're you're a games caliber podium finishing athlete and yet something happened in your life that made it so you had to switch your camp from canada to florida for three months does that affect your training

uh as of right now no because we're just easing back into it. We're at one session a day, two hours max. So I'm just doing one session for the next few weeks. It's going to be easy, easy training. But after that, I'm not sure. I'm not sure what the winter will look like. I mean, I have to get ready for semis, actually, which are in June. I'm going to try and pass through the open without being stressed because i don't think i don't think it's necessary to stress about the open anymore

so i'll try to go through that easy and then really focus on being ready for semis i like the way you say try to go through it um you guys i was kind of curious here with the new structure of the format because you just i mean in of curious here with the new structure of the format because you just i mean in in your explanation there you just bypassed the quarterfinals do you kind of think of the semis or the opening quarterfinals as like almost one competition yeah well yeah pretty much i i wish they would be closer together like that week in between if they do the week in between again that week sucks like it's just let's let's i'd rather just do i don't know five week of five week open and you can qualify for the last two weeks

like something like that oh that would be cool i'd rather do something like that than have three weeks and then one week off where you want to train but you're not going to train too much because you want to be ready for the quarters like it's just a weird week uh i'd rather just keep on going but yeah um when how long would you have to spend in florida before your semi-finals wouldn't be a canadian semi-finals uh actually right now i can't stay until semis because i can i can't stay in the u.s for than six months, so I'll have to go back eventually. But I can also do back and forths. So I don't know.

I don't know. That's far away. Do you like Florida? I love Florida. It's so different than Canada, right? It's different than anywhere else in the world. Yeah, good point. Florida is special.

Very good point. And where in Florida are you i'm uh in sanford which is uh 30 minutes away from orlando 30 40 minutes away and do you is it most do you just get up in the morning put on shorts and that's it like you never have your shirt on it's always warm it's always nice it's even if it's raining it's warm water it hasn't rained yet it's uh but it in the morning it's pretty chill. It's not that warm. It gets warm in the afternoon, but at this, at this time of year, it's, uh, around 15 degrees in the morning. So that's 60, 65 ish. That's like a hot summer day in Canada.

ish that's like a hot summer day in canada no that's uh no it's hot in canada it's it's it's hotter than you think in the summer um god i would i would think if you were going to spend time in florida you'd go closer to the'm good. I can go to the beach once in a while, but not every day now. And your parents have retired in Florida? No, no. My dad works here. Oh, okay. They're permanently in Florida. Oh, okay. But so, but they're not, so you're in Canada all by yourself. Well, I'm with the Carol, so I'm not by myself. Your parents had you in Canada and then left for Florida. Yeah.

Wow, that's awesome. So you're going to end up there. I don't know. Maybe. And do you train with any other Games Caliber athletes? No, not here. I have some people that train with me here. The gym is five minutes away from the house, but I do have some people that train with me here we have like the gym is five minutes away from the house so uh but i do have some people that train with me

uh i think the games people that are closest to me would be noah and i think travis is i'm like right in between i think what do you mean right in between you You mean where they live? Yeah, so I'm three hours away from Noah, and I'm approximately maybe three to five hours from Travis. I don't know. Maybe I'm mistaken. I'm not sure. Okay, so when you said closest, I was thinking in terms of friendship. You mean in terms of distance?

Of distance. Have you trained with either of them? No. I mean, um, you should go train with Travis clean and jerk together. One of you will get injured for sure. Yeah,

probably. No, I've seen Travis a few times in, in competition. He's a really cool guy. I would probably, I would be glad to train with him. He,

he seems like a, a very good training partner. Um, it's just, I don't know. I'm just, it's, it's just far enough'm just it's it's just far enough and yeah it's yeah um who is your coach before carolyn uh it's been caro for from the start

wow have you ever considered switching coaches like like sorry carolyn i'm going to mayhem every year so every year but that's not the answer i expected it's not even i i don't even bring that up she brings that she brings it up because the the goal is to perform and if you don't perform you have to make changes so what can you change and every year after the games we reassess she's like are you happy with your performance do you think we do we keep going together do you what do you want to change what do you you want to do? And I think that's a big part of why it worked for as long as it did and why I think it's going to work for even longer is that every year we reassess and we do it. And she's just messing with me on the chat. We reassess and then we work from there so and it's been working well um i i don't think

that changing coach every season is a good idea right you have to let the coaches do their job and sometimes it can take a little bit longer and i know athletes are not patient people you want to be good right away you want to be able to do stuff right away and it doesn't work like that even for myself like if i take the snatch like i want to snatch 300 pounds tomorrow but it's just not happening you just have to let time go sometimes i see switches like athletes switching and switching and switching i'm like well just pick already like pick someone work with them put a hundred percent effort in it. And then, then if it really doesn't work then switch, but I don't know.

I think that that's an incredibly insightful comment is that the, you know, athletes tend to not be patient. And if anything from studying this sport, what I've learned is that you have to be like you had, and it's a, it's a day-to-day thing i mentioned this all the time you know brent fukowski talked about it sometime this year he's like when i not if i'm feeling something at the end of a long training day and i have one more session left sometimes i just skip it because i know that if i can stream together an entire year where i don't have any setbacks where i have to take a week or two or three off because I overdid it in one session that is a total product that year is going to be better for me.

Yeah. Um, Jeff, where are you most confident in, in your movements? Like what, what of the 15 workouts that pop up at the games where are you? And maybe it's not even a workout. Maybe you're like, Hey, I'm best when I'm fresh or I'm really a good finisher. I'm best on the last day. Where is Jeff? Where do you usually just shine? Well, usually the strength events. But that's one thing that I and I think it's maybe me. Like I look at a workout and I'm like, oh, how good am I going to be at this workout? I'm not sure.

I'll rip myself apart in the workout and see where I go. And that's one thing that I've been able to feel at Rogue and Dubai is I was able to go in a workout, a chipper or gymnastics heavy workout, and I'm not going to be good at that, but I'm going to try and then perform super well in that workout hey but you know i've actually i wanted to ask you about it because at both if i'm not mistaken at both rogue and dubai you actually placed third in the long chipper workout yeah and i thought that that was like that must be something that feels really good for you felt awesome to be able to be like on that at rogue it was with the muscle ups and the

handstand push-ups and i was ahead of justin and pat i'm like oh shit like i'm beating pat at a muscle up workout and that was that was the main part of the workout it was it was the muscle ups and the handstands and then same thing at in dubai it was a big chipper and i was hanging out with with roman and lazar and i'm like oh like good that's for me that's wow but I'm not looking to be oh this work I'm gonna smash this workout but I like to surprise people and I like to surprise myself like surprising myself was something very that I've I liked a lot this year so I'm gonna try and keep doing it I can't remember how exactly he said it but um Chuck Carswell who's who's you know a staple in the CrossFit community and arguably one of the best trainers in the world he said something

him and Nicole Carroll I think we're having a conversation I filmed it once this is maybe 10 years ago and they were talking about the importance of going to the games as a training piece like there's like even if you don't win the games, even there's a level of training that occurs there that can't occur anywhere else. And Carolyn mentioned it in that piece that the morning chalk up did on you

in 2019. And I really liked the way she worded it. She was basically saying, and I'm paraphrasing, but the big disappointment of you getting cut from the 2019 games wasn't so much that you got cut or didn't get a chance to win, but that you didn't get the site,

the practice of the psychological component that the week offers. Yeah. Can you talk about that? Like what, what it's like being at the games or at these high level competitions, like the physical mental training that happens there. That's not just competing mentally with you from competition to competition. So that's, that's a hard thing to, to, to be able to prepare for the games are mentally and emotionally the hardest thing ever. And those

stupid cuts make it so stressful. As soon as the cuts were done this like at 20 in 2021 and I was I was outside the cut like I was 26 27 I was like oh no this is bad and I finally like well luckily for me the run run and cleans just bumped me over and then in the just over the the cut line but as soon as the cuts were done like the the stress level went it's like okay now i can enjoy the workouts i can actually do the workouts and i can actually try to perform like it's so weird and and you can't i did not feel that at rogue i did not feel that in dubai because you know you're doing the full weekend you know you're going there to do x number of of events and that you're going to be able to perform on them fully.

At the games, you're like, well, I don't know. Maybe Friday my games are going to be over. Maybe Saturday my games are going to be over. I don't know. So it's just that stressful part of the games. And for some, like, I don't know. I really don't enjoy that part if if the games could be like they were before like 2018 and prior where you would get to the games and compete at the games that would be a such a different such a different vibe like i wish it would come back well i think we should say because you know some people would

be very mad if we didn't there were some cuts prior to 2019 but a majority of the athletes got to do a majority of the events for a majority of the years up until that point um i don't know about these years like the cut the years that they had cuts was like 2012 2013 like it was yeah but they were usually on the last day on the last day and they and they weren't advertised like you didn't necessarily know about it they didn't you know so you could still compete more freely but i mean this year like 2021 we got to the games and you're like okay well there's a cut there and the cut there cool if i paid twenty thousand dollars to come from australia to compete and you're now telling me i might do

three workouts well my decision would have been different probably if you would tell me like two months before like i i don't know i I don't, I don't like these. I don't like these cuts at all. If they're, if they're going to be there in the future and that's how the games are going to be, I'm going to deal with it. But, uh, I think, I think no cuts would be really different. And I think the leaderboard would also be very different. For sure. Speaking of, speaking of leaderboards, this one's really hard for me to get my head

wrapped around i have nothing this is not going to bring out the best side of me how can you be how can you win the open and be the fittest man on the planet from the open and not be the fittest man in canada how the fuck does that mess work? It's where you stand at the end of the season that makes you the fittest in your country, which I think makes sense. That's not how CrossFit builds it. They'll send out stuff to people and say you're the fittest and whatever because you placed highest in the open.

Yeah, but if they didn't go to the games, then in that country, that's the highest placing in that country. That's why so in canada well you have pat and fukowski and many other athletes that'll get all the way to the end of the games and most likely podium that's the end of the season for that country i think it makes sense i don't think the open should should crown the fittest in the in the country i don't think so unless the open is the last uh the last the farest in the country. I don't think so. Unless the Open is the last. The farthest in the season for that country. I see what you're saying.

I see what you're saying. So if you would have done better than him at the Games. I would have been fittest in Canada. So that placement supersedes the placement of the Open open and if you don't have anyone from your country go to the games then it's it's the it's the step before if it's semis it's semis i think if it's if it's quarters it's quarters and then you're going to be crowned the fittest in your country wherever you end up in the season all right all right right. I guess. Okay. I'll settle down. I'll settle down. Do you win any money winning the Open?

Yes, I did. And how much is that? Can you tell us? So that was the first year, actually, the Open was paid. And I'm pretty happy I won that one. It was $15,000 for first place. They should make that $150, 150 000 i'll talk to someone i'll send some i'll send some emails after take that 150 000 and and spread it to the 21st to 40th of the games very very kind of you um is this a true statement um when ad john young says when adler said someone had if when adler said someone has to beat me, he can't win everything in the games in 2020.

Then he proceeded to – oh, wait. No, this isn't the one. No, hold on a second. Not this one. There was a comment in here where basically you say, I don't care who wins as long as it's not Matt Fraser. So I didn't get a ton of shit for that, but I think for some people they didn't understand what what's what was i

saying like he was winning all the events imagine being us four guys being destroyed in every workout i was like i don't care who wins the event please someone beat matt yeah i couldn't beat him pretty much at anything like i was i was happy i could beat him pretty much at anything. Like I was, I was happy. It could beat him on the, on the, on the, the total. And that was by seven pounds, which is not much, but I was like the run, like someone has to beat him on the run. I can't beat him on the run. I knew that, but someone please do it.

Like he went on to win all the events and that was crazy. That was crazy for us to see because it's just, it just showed how how much fitter he was than us that's just what it is and i mean we're all competing and the the goal the goal was to give give matt the best competition that we could by challenging him in every workout that was that was the goal of what I was saying. Let's challenge him and try to beat him. We're competitors. I want to beat you.

But I'm also realistic in the sense like I can't beat you on this workout. No, I can't. But maybe Justin can. Maybe Noah can. And maybe Sam can. So that was my thinking behind that. One of the best things about watching the CrossFit Games this year and every year is when it comes down to the last five or six workouts, last day or two, you start to realize that the guy who's in second place and in third place, not only do they have to beat the guy who's winning all the events, but they really could use some help from some other people to get in between them. But that also, on the other hand, allows the champion to really shine.

So even when Patrick would beat Justin, Justin would come in right behind him, it seemed like. And he just wouldn't let Pat make that space that Pat really needed. I think at that point of the competition, what happens is like, and I lived that on the last event of, of rogue is you just have to follow someone. You have one guy or two max that you just have to follow and you just stay a rep behind a rep in front. Like you just have to, and that you don't have to worry about the whole field. You just have to, and that you don't have to worry about the whole field. You just have to worry about one or two guys. And I think it just makes it easier to be one position apart and to be just following or just beating. And that's what, that's what happens.

I think on the last few events at the games or any competition is that like, if you want a podium or if you want to win, you just have to beat that person by one spot. And just, so you focus just on that. As the as the competition goes on. I think I even talked to you about this at the games this year. Like you start focusing on a group of guys. You're like, I know that at this point, these five guys are out of touch. But these five guys like that's those are the ones I'm trying to pick up, pick off as I go.

Yeah. Where will you compete next? The Open. And why not do Wadapalooza? Just tired. I just don't want to. I just can't. I don't know.

Yeah, I think that two of the three Rogue Dubai and Wadapalooza is plenty for someone that's already up at the top of the sport. I think there's a few that are doing the three. I know Emily Rolfe is doing the three. She's going to be a Guadalupe.

I don't know if in the guys there's some that are doing the three, but the turnaround between Rogue and Dubai was very short. And between Dubai and Guadalu water pool sites, even shorter. I'm just, I just don't want, I don't, I don't, I'm not in the right space mentally to just go in,

in another competition and nothing against water Palooza, but I've done that competition before. And it's, it's, it's, it's a hard competition. It's going to be somewhere around nine, 10 events,

maybe even more. I just, I'm just not ready to fully go full gas in actually any workout at the moment. So it's interesting you say that about water pollution, because we did also hear that a lot about Dubai. We would be told that Dubai was basically just, just a grind. Yeah, that was different this year. It was really different this year. I think you'll see the Wadapalooza program, it's not too crazy this year either in terms of volume,

especially volume per day. I feel like the competitions are starting to get a sense of that, you know, we want these athletes here and we have to give them a good test. But if we're beating them into the ground, then that's a turnoff too. Yeah. As we get closer to, do you feel like you're missing out at all like are you like ah maybe i is there any party that's like okay maybe i will jump in no no no not at all and it is interesting that you said that not only do you not want to compete right now at a competition but even in your own training, it sounds like you've dialed it back a little bit.

Yeah. I'm going easy, easy on my mind, easy on my body. The secret to longevity. You can't stay in that, that ultra competitive mode for the whole year, year after year.

It's impossible. Um, uh, Jeff, have you, do you know any CrossFit athletes like know any crossfit athletes who do performance enhancing drugs have you ever no have you ever seen anyone no yeah me neither have you brian no i don't think it's something that we are going to see like if you are doing

pads like something you're going to advertise or talk about but i hear you but part of me thinks that like um like like the like the guys in the high school football team who did it in my high school they all did it you know what i mean they talked to each other and they did it you would just think it every time i hear about it it's always just like speculation and i'm just so fucking tired of hearing people fucking speculate speaking of peds how is ricky in uh dubai i i mean going in and i i know this is long i have two minutes left by the way um but yeah she said going in going in dubai like i was i was i was open-minded about ricky i mean he he did his four years, and I think he's coming back. But he's a cool guy.

He's just a guy. He's just an athlete. He's good. He's fit. As long as he's tested right now and not using anything, just bring it on. My goal was to beat him on week like on that weekend i was like i got i just gotta beat you i was close i could i could have beaten him like it's not impossible to beat him and um but yeah i mean i mean uh i'm not happy he's back but like yeah he's back let's

do it now let's let's let's compete let's compete clean and see what you're worth and see what i'm worth against you how's his english is it better than romans oh yeah love it well i'll you know like you said assuming that he's clean and that he's you know he's competing clean i like it because he's obviously another guy thrown into the mix and one of the things i always liked about the games is that you get a bunch of different competitors from all over the world and we haven't had very many australian guys threatening for podium over the years. So to have one is, you know, if, if you can do that is, is kind of cool to just round out the field a little bit globally. Yeah. Uh, guys, uh, Jeff told us, uh, before the show started, um, that he's only going to be able to be on here for an hour. So we're going to let him go, but Jeff, we are

going to bug you. Yeah, sure. Anytime. Are you going to be, are only going to be able to be on here for an hour so we're going to let him go but jeff we are going to bug you yeah sure anytime are you going to are you going to be watching wadapalooza i'm most likely going to be physically there so okay cool so we're probably going to try to send you some links throughout the the week yeah and uh try to get you to pop on the podcast like we had christoph and patrick velner and others pop on in the past um low stress but if you can, we'd love to get your feedback on the events as they go and help build my popular, I mean, our popularity. Yeah, I'll do that.

Okay, great. Cool. All right, brother. Thank you. Thank you. See you, Jeff. Ciao. Oh, Jeff, one more question.

What do you think about Colton Mertens? Someone actually wrote that in the comments. I would love to have seen that. Oh, that was nice of him. In the private chat, he said three minutes. Yeah. That hour went very fast. That's like what I whispered to my wife's ear.

I don't give her three minutes, but I whispered to her ear, you have 10 seconds. You have 10 seconds. What did you say? That hour went quick. It did. You know, he's – I remember even a couple years ago when he first started doing some of these podcasts and interviews and stuff. And he was – you know, he didn't have the same presence in front of the camera or, you know, an interview that he has now. But he was great.

Could have kept him for another hour, think oh for sure i always got the impression from um that's the first time i've talked to him um but that he was squirrely that he was combative like i i've heard that he um combative squirrely um a contrarian that he likes to like okay kind of like how i um maybe a little bit more like Velner. Although that's a little harsh to say that about Velner, a little strong, not harsh, strong. No. Yes. No comment. I mean, you kind of just lost me with all of that.

And you didn't hear that. You didn't that, uh, Adler was, um, yeah. Or just strong opinionated that he was going to be just a little bit more – no. Anyway, I like his attitude. When you interview him, he sounds like a champion. Are you reading the comments right now? No, no. Bring her on.

Felner's a libtard. Sevan, she's ready. Send the link. I'm ready. Oh, to come on? Yeah, yeah. Do you have another 20 minutes, Brian? Sure. Sure, I have another 20. I don't know how to send her the link. Caleb, do you have any thoughts on that? How to send her a link? Oh, you're muted. You just need her number. Oh. Oh, she's going to call in. Oh, no.

This is someone named John George calling in. Let's see. Hello? John. Yeah. How are you? I'm great. How are you guys doing?

If you're not, what's his name? Coach. I don't think you should be on the show. What are you guys doing if you're not um uh what's his name coach I don't think you should be on the show what are you doing I'm driving and I just got on and I missed the interview but I have a uh I have a question for you and um for you and Brian okay hold on okay go ahead and ask it I'm not listening though how do I

send Carolyn a private chat with this uh send her a link I'm trying guys I don't know how i try to send it on ig oh yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah good who came up with that you get a raise burpees okay go ahead ask the question ask brian while i find a way to send to carolyn all right hey brian i got a question about the pride purses for some of these out-of-season events. So, like,

the Dubai. Do you think these contests or these competitions can continue to attract the big-name athletes if there's going to be such a huge disparity between, say, first, and in that case, even fifth? I mean, it was kind of, it was kind

of crazy. Um, yeah, no, it definitely is. I mean, there's big prize money at the top, like you said, and obviously that's alluring and, and appealing for the athletes, but yeah, you go down just, uh, I mean, morning chocolate released an article today that had the final payouts from Dubai. And after like four athletes, it drops all the way down to around, I think maybe $10,000 or something like that, 12,000, depending on event wins. But, uh, I mean, the athletes know what they're getting into for now. I think that, right. I think that it'll continue to evolve. And I mean, what I'm really hopeful is that there's something in the future where you recognize that if you're able to make it into the elite divisions at one of those competitions, that there's like a baseline that you walk away

with, like kind of like how Rogue has. But for now, you know, like, you know, Wadapuz is a good example. There's, there's like 45 men in the elite division. Like that's a lot of men competing there. And there's a lot of different avenues that they could get there relative to a Rogue where it's only an invite. And that invite is, you know, for the most part based on extremely impressive competition results. So I think there's still some evolution that has to happen there. And, you know, even though we're at the point where we want more, more athletes to be competitive in the sport, we still have to like, keep in mind the big picture that it's fairly young

in the sport as a whole. And there's a lot of you know figuring it out again after what happened in 2018 2019 so hopefully just continues to improve it seems like is i didn't look at the wada flusa payout but it just seems like man it's great if you're winning 50 000 but you drop down the you know, fifth place and it's like 700 bucks. Like, come on, man, that's not even buying their food. Yeah. And we highlighted, no, no, no, you're, you're right on the money. And we highlighted this year. We've talked about it on the show too, that there were, you know,

guys who made the top 20 at the games that lost money on the game season because of the registration fees outweighed the total prize purse that they were able to pull in. Right. Cool. All right. Appreciate you taking my call. You guys have a good day. Word.

Carolyn, you have the link in your DMs. No, this isn't a Garth. This is Garth Taylor Jiu-Jitsu. This is where my kids train. I have a beard here. Seven, check this shirt out. Look at this. Disc Golf Christmas shirt. I know. That is pretty

cool. You know, the coolest thing about Disc Golf is the basket. There she is. There she is. Look at Caleb just tossing her in the mix. I know. That is pretty cool. You know, the coolest thing about Disc Golf is the basket.

You're listening to the... There she is. gonna turn it on oh carolyn you have to uh close the youtube window and then we'll unmute you because we're getting a crazy feedback i think you have two windows open on your computer it's okay very normal very normal situation how's my first time yeah everyone has their first happy you're mine uh ladies and gentlemen this is the she not only um bathes jeffrey adler and puts him in bed every night but she coaches him and tells him what to lift where to lift and how often, uh, thanks for doing this. Pleasure. Um, I asked Ben, I asked Ben Berger on this question. I want to ask you this comment, um, this question, who should just not bother? How do you know if you should even bother wanting to be a games athlete?

Like as Colton Merton's just too small at five, four, like, should he just say like, should he be a jockey instead of buying one 85? Should he, I mean, he might be too big for a jockey, even if he dropped a one 15. I think everybody should fully pursue what they want to. So if you want to see if you can be the best, then put a hundred percent effort and try. And you know, I, I don't think, I don't think people should be afraid of failing. You're going to put your best foot forward and really try. I think eventually, yes, as an athlete or as you're working on any particular goal,

you're going to realize what your upper limit is. But I think that's for most of us because it's hard to put 100% effort into something, we are never as close to that upper limit as we truly should be. And I guess when you mean, well, could you define 100% effort? I guess when you say that, it's also like, not only putting 100% into something, but letting all the other shit fade away. I mean, yeah, for CrossFit, like we focus on training a lot. And I'm happy in the last few years, like recovery has taken a little bit more space, but it is about your nutrition, it is about, you know, your body work, it is about your sleep and everything that comes into it. And

everybody is going to have a different protocol that's going to maximize their chances at doing and being their best. Um, and I think that's a path that everybody kind of needs to figure out for themselves, but doing a hundred percent of everything that needs to get done, that's eight hours of sleep or more if you need more, right? Like that's just one example. Um, is there any, what about people who are working? Can you go to the CrossFit Games? Can you be a successful athlete and have a full-time job also? I don't think that it's for everybody, but I definitely think some people can do it.

And we have seen it in the past. Griffith, what's her first name? She did it. Vellner was in school full-time, you know, still working. I think Fikowski, one of his first years at the game, was doing it. And I think eventually, and that's the thing, like once you get there, you're going to make the choices based on where you are at that time. So in order to make it to the games, I think some people can do both.

It's just a question of structure. And if you're saying yes to a job and yes to training, then you're saying no to everything else. And that's fine because that's your goal. But then once you make it to the games, where do you want to be on that leaderboard? And I think that requires another set of questions, another set of protocols. I started when you were saying that I was imagining a hot air balloon and it's at like 10,000 feet and you really want to get to 11,000 feet. And so you have to start throwing shit off. You got to take your shoes off, maybe your pants off. And not your

socks. You have to have those on. Your teddy bear that you think you have to sleep with every night or you're not going to get a good night's sleep. And then I guess that brings me full circle to the person who's in the hot air balloon with you. And I think you nailed – I think Jeff nailed it. You look at Sammy. You look at Shane. They cannot be – they have to make themselves – what's that called? Not expendable. The opposite of expendable. Oh, um, and expendable. The basic, yeah, essential. You have to, you have to make yourself like essential. If you're going to be a mate, you can't even like, because you want to push this hot air balloon so high that you have to be basically helping blowing hot air into it instead of just sitting there and going along for the ride right i mean yeah and then you hear about these couples where where the mates like i mean i think rich just talked quite openly about it and i've heard

other people where the mates like hey enough is enough i like i i i i don't want you doing it anymore like i need you back at home but your relationship's not like that with Jeff, right? Yours is like, Hey, we're, we're, we're going higher. Uh, I think, do you even talk about it? Sorry. Oh, I don't mind talking about it. I think everybody needs to find the right relationship for them and for, you know, for as an us. Um, and so we, from the beginning, we're very symbiotic. Like we started talking and we were talking multiple times a day, every day. But it came naturally. Like I was never, oh, it's three day rule and like all these things.

And like we didn't have to mess around with that. And it worked for us. And since that, we've spent every day practically almost, I'm in Montreal, almost together. And that works for us. I think not every person in every relationship and every couple needs or wants that in order to be successful. So, you know, as an athlete, that's, you know, very, that's one category of, of persons. Some people will want to spend a lot of time with their significant other. And some don't, some people can be coached by their significant others and others can't or won't, or maybe that's just not the right person for that role.

And that's perfectly fine. But for us, it works. Do you work out with him? Define with. I mean, like, will you guys ever be, I mean, like, even like if you guys went to, or did a hotel room workout, like would you guys ever do a hotel room workout together

or something like that? Yeah, we train together. Okay. Oh, why do you, when you say with, like you guys ever do a hotel room workout together or something like that yeah we train together okay oh why do you when you say with like you'll go do a beach run and you'll sit on the beach and yell at him to go faster that's working out with him part of it because i can only work out for like i'll do one workout i'm not doing his full day of of programming i do not have the time or desire to do that right now because we have the box i'm running the box i'm doing the programming like i have other tasks and and i take my responsibility as a coach very seriously and he takes his responsibilities as an athlete very seriously meaning i need to put my time and energy into being the best coach that i can be for him and for my athletes. If I'm spending six hour a day training, that's not the

most value for my time as a coach. So, um, I do spend time with them because yes, I want to see him move. I want to see him react to certain stimulus. I want, I want that input. But other than that, like I'm, I'm not trying to follow him on every workout. I'm perfectly fine with scaling workouts, things like that. I enjoy doing CrossFit. I like working out. I like taking a class. I'm not fit. Thank you. I'm not fit. Hey, Stefan, do you know anyone who follows the

CrossFit.com programming? Who is just telling me that they do? I think Hobart follows it. He writes it, so hopefully he follows it, right? I don't know if he's followed it for years on end or anything like that. I know my wife, Cherry, follows it. He writes it. So hopefully he follows it, right? Yeah, I think. I don't know if he's followed it for years on end or anything like that. I know my wife cherry picks it. I know she cherry picks it.

I would follow it if I did anything besides a salt bike. I just do a salt bike. I think that Caroline and Jeff have followed it, or at least some semblance of it, for quite a while. Since 2016, we've been three on, one off. Wow. You mean at your gym? Yeah.

Yeah. You know that the people— Well, no, not the programming for the gym. I do the programming for the gym just out of convenience. But Jeff's programming and training has integrated the.com since probably 2016. The people who, I will tell you this, the people who do that programming take that shit like very, very seriously. It's good programming.

Yeah. It's those people. Yeah. That's awesome to hear that. What's the name of your gym? CrossFit Wonderland. And you've had it since 2016 17 so we affiliated and that's i was talking to paul trombley about that we affiliated in 2016 but we opened our doors in 2017 so february is and then this dude just walked in jeff adler we met

at another gym so we started we started this gym together we met We met at another gym. So we started this gym together. We met in 2015 at another gym, which as he was saying, he was not having it. And you were a coach at that gym? And so this dude just walked in? So he was already a member when I started, but he started maybe a month or two before me. Like he was a new ish member. Um, and then I started working there and me being me and very controlling. I was like, you're not, you're late. You're not doing the class. And he was like, fine, just like scroll off into open gym and like go do his own stuff or like wait for the next class and, and stuff like that. So the first, the first few weeks were, we didn't really talk to each other well is um is that part of like i have friends who like part of

their courting process is being a dick to girls actually they're not my friends anymore but i used to see that as a method like in college like the dudes who were dicks would get all these hot chicks uh was that part of your courting process or no that's it no no you weren't like oh this dude's cute watch me step on his dick and he'll like me no not at all no no that i mean i was new at the box there was definitely like i was trying to be a good coach and be a good employee um at the same time there's just certain things that i was like well the warm-up is done like if you start now you're not warmed up like this is not safe this is not to the your

benefit to like hop into class right now so there's things like that that I've always kind of been very adamant about but in general I've always been very frank and direct with people so are you taller than him but at the same height I think yeah i remember you being tall

i'm tall um so when when do you when do you decide is he your first um games athlete yes is that him on the left there yes that was That was a big feet. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Unless you're standing on two plates, you're four inches taller than him. I think my shoes. So depending, like, if we're not wearing shoes, we're about the same height. But as soon, like, this was the winter, so I was probably wearing, like, winter boots and had a little bit of a heel. Michelle LaTondra is just a little snack. Like, you could just pick her up in, like, two bites. She'd be gone.

So is he your first um uh games athlete yep he's my only games athlete how well you got this ben dude yes um uh two two questions how is how do you think programming eventually i'm assuming you're going to get a a lady how is the programming going to differ for a lady or coaching a lady going to be different than a man? And do you ever feel nervous like you might throw the wrong thing out of the hot air balloon to make it go higher? Like when your margins of improvement are like starting – I mean everyone's – like all those games athletes, everyone's just pushed up against the glass ceiling. Do you give yourself anxiety about that shit? Like, oh, my God, I shouldn't have had him do burpees today.

I slowed him down with his lift or. No, not for things like that. It's definitely been a learning curve for both of us. Like, I'm happy that we've made it this far and that we've done it. We've done the whole thing together. But I mean, I was unproven. So yes, everything, every decision that I've taken up to this point was like, not flipping a coin, because I obviously do my research. But it was like, I want to try this out. I want to test this theory out. Like, we've done three on one off, which is the CrossFit methodology. And I was

like, very adamant, like, I want to try this. and I want to see if this would work to make it to the games. And we've proved it. Like I didn't want to just do like everybody else. So, you know, but at this point and that's where like Jeff was saying, where we'll reconsider things. Is this still the right way of doing things at the level that he is now? Or should we be modifying? Should we be changing things this season and things like that? So nervous, no, because I think that when I make a decision, it's an informed decision and I'm very comfortable with it.

I'm also very comfortable if it doesn't work, then it doesn't work. And then you just change the plan. Like I'm not, that doesn't stress me out. And what about a woman? Would she do the exact same thing? How would it be different if you trained a woman? I am coaching other athletes. So Ben is one of them. I'm coaching a woman also, who's looking to do masters. Oh, another, another big shift that may even be bigger than the difference between doing a man and a woman, right? Yeah. Yeah. I mean, like someone who's like 35 or something. Yes. I'm also masters. So, um, it it's, it's mostly, I'm very, it's very much focused on

communication because I need to make sure that you know she's feeling more recovered that the progressions are are smoother I would say like obviously with Jeff and because he was so young like it was very easy to kind of throw things at him and just like try stuff and see and if you fail you fail but I know you're not going to hurt yourself and things are going to be fine with master's athlete then it's definitely not the case. Like I don't like you can't injure someone. I mean, you don't want to injure anybody, but I would definitely be way more careful with, um, those age brackets. And then for the women, the only thing for me is now learning all the stats on their side. Cause I'm,

I'm not as well versed that I am on the, on the men's side of like, what do you need to make it to the next step? What are the benchmarks? What is, what do you need to progress? And same thing with, so whether it's a woman or the masters or all these different categories,

what's that 1% look like, which is, you know, everything that I've learned with Jeff and now I can put onto Benoit and it's just like, I already know these things. So education on my side of how, how, how fast can we progress? Where are we heading to? Like what's the goal? How are we going to get there?

And managing all of that. I want to ask you a question and maybe you have not thought about this, Caroline. And that's, I don't know if it's really relevant or not, but I've been thinking about it recently. I have to think that when, like when Greg Glassman first started doing this and he was writing benchmark workouts

or creating the original girl workouts or whoever did that, that there was some degree of testing. Like he would go in the gym and he'd say, all right, you know, Amundsen, put on 135 on the bar, Annie Sakamoto, put on 85, and we're going to have you do 30 clean and jerk short time and see how close the times are.

Oh, the girls are winning. Go up to 95. Do it. Let's see how the times compare. And they came up with this seemingly 70% number. And it seemed like back then, my guess is, most of the times were comparable for similar fitness levels, male to female. But I think that's changed over time.

And I feel like basically the potential of women wasn't realized compared to the potential of men because it wasn't as common for women to lift heavy weights as men. And obviously, this is not that relevant for gymnastics, except for maybe something like a deficit handstand push up or something like that. But do you think that there's any precedent for redefining because women have like they basically move the line forward? What's comparable? Like, I feel like great should be 105 for women now, because that the weights in particular should and could be readjusted. I think that and I'm surprised that, you know, if we take the game as a test and we see and we use that as as comparable values, if the women are beating all the men in terms of time and they're doing everything, well, maybe it's not heavy enough. are beating all the men in terms of time and they're doing everything well maybe it's not heavy enough or maybe you know if they're sometimes like on the handstand push-up they'll have a little bit less reps well do we need to give them less or can they actually handle the

volume like you have the best athletes that test these theories for real so I definitely think that in the last three years we have some that that can point to that that's some of the workouts i'm not saying on all of them but for some of the workouts there should definitely be some consideration and if you look back at the open weights from like 2010 2011 2012 they don't make sense in terms of today's standards like you had clean and jerks at 165 for the guys and 105 for the, and you're like, what? Like, so we have adjusted the weights over time. I don't see why we can't do that for the future and actually look and really research this

and make sure that we're still giving the women a fair test. Christian Clever remarked on that in the earlier. She basically just said that.com wasn't, people would ask, what is the women's weight? And she would say, that.com wasn't, uh, people would ask, what is the women's weight? And she would say, there is no women's weight or men's weight. The way she looked at.com was, Hey, that's the weight and everything else is scaled. And, and you know, who's to say she's wrong. I mean, she won the CrossFit games. Well, Jeff is always mad at me because I'm five, nine, and I'm the same height as him.

And I had get to do my wall balls at nine feet and I get to do my box jumps at 20 inches and like right in that regards like I think I think that and as coaches if we look at what the stimulus and what we're trying to get out of our athletes I have a certain idea in mind of the effort of the intensity of all these things whether i'm programming in men or women's weight like for me it'll just be easier because in men's weight because i'm used to not doing it for jeff but i could just use that and then guide all my athletes whether they're male or female to hit that and so as a woman if it was 135 95 well if you can do it 105 in the same time then do it at 105 like why would i pigeonhole you at 95? Like, why am I blocking someone's fitness at a certain weight? Because like, yes, for comparable measures and,

you know, leaderboarding and all that fun stuff. But I mean, at some point, if the goal is fitness and health, and let's be clear on what the rules of the games are, and then let's see what, you know, people can actually do. Are you hating being away away you've been away from him for three months no no no so after the games we went to florida on vacation with his parents we decided to stay in florida when we got the invite for rogue because we're like we're not crossing the border and paying a bazillion covid test that's stupid so we stayed after road we came back to montreal to prep for dubai and then we left together to dubai and road we came back to montreal to prep for dubai and then we left together to dubai and then we came back to montreal together but um he went to go see his family in florida to deal with some stuff there and so that's why right now we're separate because i have

okay trying to move and and things and the gym was supposed to be open gyms are closed by the way you're gonna love this one oh man you want to talk that's that's that's the way to make people healthy oh man in the last two years how many how many how yeah thank you i appreciate it though in the last year uh two years how many days has your gym been closed you know more closed than open way more closed could you get in trouble right now if someone saw you in there like can someone come look in the window and be like what are you doing in there I'm the owner I'm on the lease like

I'm not training so I think it's more a question of providing the service I'm not providing the service right now how do you do it how are you how how the fuck are you staying open how are you staying alive how do people pay their bills so we have been very wonderland we've been very lucky with our coaches our members um i think and crossfit is supposed to be about the unknown and unknowable.

Like you're supposed to be fit and just, you know, welcome any challenge. When we first closed March 2020, Atlas, we, the next, like that was on the Friday or Saturday that the government announced that we were closing. On the Monday, we had Zoom classes and we had three classes a day until we got to reopen in June or something. And we provided the same classroom day until we got to reopen in June or something. And we provided the same classroom experience, but at home. We lent out some equipment.

People were being coached. And so when we shut down the second time again, we were just like, all right, guys, we're back online. And we just switched to service because the goal of fitness is to be fit. It's not to train in the gym. You can train in your garage. You can train outside. Like at this point, I don't care if you're running, if you're skiing, if you're doing whatever. The goal is to be fit.

So if you don't enjoy training at home, I understand that. My hope for you is that you're going to stay fit somehow. So if my service, you know, and that's whether you sound like a leader. You sound like a leader. Thank you. OK, so that's how we've been able to survive is that our message was very clear. Do something. And ideally, if we can provide the service that you're looking for, that's going to help you. And luckily we have for the members that we have. That's it. that we have that's it yeah um are you faking it till you make it like like you do you have to tell yours how do you stay in that positive mindset how do you stay in that like isn't there another

part of you that's just always clamoring like knock this off you fucking idiots let us fucking get the gym going again like like there's no there's no end there's no end game there's no end game here is the problem there's no that's the problem same with new zealand same with australia like you see them doing these things and you're like dude where where is your end game like you can't is this isn't sustainable that's what's frustrating is like the information communication from the government things like that. The first time we closed, it was fine. Cause you know, we all thought this was going to be temporary. The second time it closed, like now it's, you know, it's becoming endemic. We're going to deal with this.

We're in Canada. We catch cold, like winters are coming every year. Like what you're going to shut me down again next year. And at this point I'm already planning. I'm like, well, am I going to shut down the gym from December 15th to January 15thuary 15th like every year i mean people go on vacation for three weeks to a month in france in the summer every year like why don't i just reorganize at that point like i'll just reorganize and i'm not gonna leave it up to the government to like play dice with my gym yeah but um this time around is very frustrating because we're like what 92 vaccinated like you know everybody who's been

following the rules and doing the social distancing and wearing the mask and doing everything and it's like oh we're gonna shut you down again because we're scared i'm like well you know scared of what did you have any clients um pass away no no all right i'll leave it alone well thank you being you. Thanks for doing such an amazing job. Thanks for giving people hope. Thanks for like staying positive. Thanks. I mean, it's important. Not everyone can be a curmudgeon and a bitch like me. Someone has to be like, all right, well, someone's over there complaining. I'm going to run a class here. Turn on your, you know, computers and let's get going. Let's shake a leg. Sorry, Brian. I've had my moments like but you're you know you know about going back to the jeff thing real quick you're you're uh you remind me of uh you're like greg glassman and you're like what they teach you at the l1 you want to they basically say i remember when the l1 saying hey you should experiment it's your body.

And you experiment on yourself and you experiment on Jeff and you guys have had the trust to let you experiment on him. It's fascinating. Do you talk to any other super high-level coaches? Do you ever text or email with Max Elhaj or Ben Bergeron? Or do you ever pick anyone else's brand? Or maybe Michelle LaTondra. Yeah, Michelle LaTondra.

Which is weird because we're really close to each other. Like I said, I kind of do my research on my own so I've read Ben's books and listened to the podcast and this and that. Follow Henshaw. I would love to talk to Henshaw if anybody can hook me up. Stalk him. just stalk his ass he's such a nice guy yeah i would love to talk to him um and that's something like again me as a coach like to

develop is something that for the next year i was very much wanting to do so talking to max talking to yami talking to otherami, talking to other coaches. And I mean, you can look at my programming, you can look like, tell me what you think, like, what am I doing right? What would you do like an exchange? And I think I would hope at least, you know, for the top level athletes and for the sport, it would be beneficial if we like, like get all the coaches together and let's like open our books let's see what other people are doing because if we can that will make the sport advance because someone somewhere is going to think of something and you know if we're going to create another super mat or super tia or something or give more competition so that doesn't happen again

right love them and it's super like what they're doing is absolutely amazing, but how good is it for the development of the sport or getting people into it or, you know, things like that. So. I mean, I think that's more is more or less what the idea that Max had when he started training think tank is he brought in a bunch of minds that all have experienced maybe in some different realms and domains, and then just put them in into an environment where they could share those ideas and collaborate to just continue to move the evolution of training forward yeah i mean i'm always i'm always open to talking to other coaches regardless of their level of you know experience or fame or whatever i mean we went to our local pool and we took swimming lessons from you know

there's no and i mean he's good he a teacher. That's what he does is swimming. So let's do it. I'm always, I'm always open to learning. Hey, when you do open, do you have to check to see if people are vaccinated, if they're allowed to work out in your gym? Yes. So as of September 15,

we needed a vaccine passport to be able to train. So everybody in the gym is vaccinated double really like there's not people like me who would just tell you that so they could come work out there no you need a code qr code i mean you can try and take it but then wow that's that so is that how all the businesses are there uh so non-essential businesses like if you go to the supermarket you can go to the supermarket Wow. So is that how all the businesses are there? So non-essential businesses, like if you go to the supermarket, you can go to the supermarket because that's essential. Like everybody needs food and medication, pharmacies, things like that. But going to the movies is not essential. I mean, going to the gym, and I agree,

going to the gym is not essential because you can do your squats at home and you can go fucking run outside. You don't need the gym to be fit so the service i understand in the government's mind is not essential because you can do those things on your own or outside um it's snowing right now and cold so it's not i i i don't want to argue with them on their own ideology but just for the sake of argument because it's so fucked up i'm 99 of the food in the supermarket isn't essential either matter of fact it's the opposite and i agree with you on that yeah it's it's so i i heard it's going to be like that the mayor of chicago just said i wonder if brian's going to lose his job the mayor of chicago just said that they are going to make it as difficult as possible for people who aren't vaccinated to live their life in the city of Chicago.

It's fascinating to me that they would – that people do that to their citizens. It's such a – wow. Wow. And and if someone did try to come into your gym without a QR passport and they like they didn't they didn't have it and then you see them like they're working out in there, what do you do? You just call the cops on them? They would they wouldn't enter the gym because that's the first thing you do. I have to scan. I have to confirm your identity and scan your QR code if you're a new member. So we've done we do consultations at the gym like you can't just like drop in and try out the gym. Like, no, we meet you online first. And, you know, through Zoom and we talk to people and, you know, we go through, you know, what do they need? What do they want? Are we the right fit for

them? Our gym has, you know, every CrossFit gym is is different we all have our own culture we all have our own vibe and and and and you know community is what i was looking for so we make that very clear and we make sure that the people who are coming to us um it's we're going to be a good match for them so yes by the time they you know cross the door i know that we've already verified online and then we scan their qr code and and the people in canada for the most part are cool with this are not cool with it they are i mean i would think the large majority yes i mean we're not like i'm not against the vaccine i don't i don't mind i think it's it's the cost of living in society i mean i would love to fly in first class

and for all of first class to be the whole plane but that's not how life works so like sitting next to someone then i want to make sure that you know i took my precautions to to protect you and you're doing the same so i think that you know we're aware that we're doing this for the greater good and for the benefits of everyone. But then what the government does is another thing. Oh, say it, say it, say it. No, no. Here's the thing. here's the thing.

I appreciate you sharing this all with me. I really do. And as my mom reminds me that you're guests on your show, you need to take care of them. You're the guests on the show. I'm not here to change anyone's mind or to beat anyone up or to talk shit to anyone. I just, I just see it so differently than that. I just don't see, you know, they say the greater they see on one hand, theoretically, yes. If everyone took the vaccine, it is for the greater good.

Everyone gets healthy, everyone's protected and it stops spreading and everyone gets to keep living their life. But I just don't see the vaccine is working that way. I don't see any proof of it. I don't see the science behind it. And I just see it as, as like, actually it's, it's, it's, it's done. It's done worse. But let's even, let's even just pause there. If that's, if that is something that we want to agree is going to be good for everyone, can we not, and we're talking, hopefully we're talking about everyone's health. Then can we not also agree that it would probably be good for everyone's health if the government decided to make some changes to what was available to buy in grocery stores or what restaurants were open while everything else was closed? Right.

There's no consistency. Is that what you're saying? There's no consistency. Yeah. If you want to, if you think that masks and vaccines are going to push forward the health of a population, but you're not going to, going to be a proponent of pushing forth more regular exercise and better nutrition for everyone also, then I can't get behind it. If they were pushing all of those things forward and saying, Hey guys, this is really affecting us as a community, a country, whatever, because we're not healthy collectively. We need to improve our diets. We need to improve our lifestyle choices in terms of sleep and exercise. And if

we do those things over time, then we won't need things like masks and vaccines because as a collective community, our immune system will be stronger and more capable of dealing with viruses like this that are going to come along. But there's been zero of that on a massive global level. And so it's difficult for me to get behind the other part of it. Well, we're at the two year point where no one can say we couldn't have changed fast enough. By now, every single person on the planet could have taken the precautions to save their own life without the vaccine based on the stats of who's dying and who's not dying. Well, I mean, there's a percentage that would have died because they weren't healthy enough to begin with to fend it off but for the

well we can turn it off now but but i agree with you but let's say we would have said hey guys for a year we're going to protect all the fat and old fuckers and every and everyone's going to comply with this but after a year but on the other hand all everyone has to do this for the next year because after a year we're opening the floodgates we We're going to let the virus run free. We're going to let all our kids get it so they can be protected for life. I mean, we have a narrative in this country that people think that they're doing this to protect kids. The amount of kids that have died in the United States is statistical noise. There's no proof. There's no data outside. There's nothing that will be able to measure the psychological effect that it has on kids for their lifetime.

We'll be able to measure the psychological effect that it has on kids for their lifetime. Yeah. Yeah. I think it's a shame because, as you said, we're two years, we're going to be two years in. Like for us in Quebec, in Canada, March 15th is like the date that everybody's going to remember. And for me, I feel like we're still managing every crisis instead of leading. Like what are the changes that we all need to start implementing? Yes. As a society.

And then let's work towards that. Because again, like I said, like people were catching the cold and people were dying of pneumonia before all of this was happening. We're sacrificing a lot of the adult population right now with mental health and all these things for COVID, is it still worth it? Can we ask those questions? And can we have that discussion of, are we still willing to shut down economies? Like this is affecting my life. This is affecting me and it's affecting my members. It's affecting individual people. And we're just like broad stroking these

decisions without having a conversation of is this really like if i'm doing this for the greater good if i'm getting the vaccine for the greater good then are your decisions also for the greater good or you're just managing because you're afraid or you know the next election or or whatever um i think that i wish and i would want that leaders would get together and kind of make a plan for the next five years and be like hey this is this is the goal so that we can prevent this instead of treating this all the time. Like we keep treating what's happening instead of trying to prevent it. And that takes a long term planning. just said carolyn there's an affiliate owner yesterday who posted a picture of her two kids probably seven and nine years old and she's rewarded them with these giant donuts because

they went and got the vaccine and uh maybe it's the first time they have donuts she's right she's a nurse and he's a type one diabetic and they're rewarding their kids with they gave their kids a vaccine to protect them against the disease that only gets people who eats donuts and they rewarded their kids it's like i i just can't do it but that type of change is going to take years and decades. That's education. Like my first degree is bachelor's of education. Like that's what I went into and I've, you know, we're going the wrong direction. Yes.

But, and, and that's where I'm saying, like, we keep managing these things instead of taking the time to say, Hey, we need to take five years to reeducate, to change. What is a good diet? What kind of exercise do you want to do like i was learning how to play basketball and volleyball and that's great in phys ed but like how often do i do that nowadays no i'm in the gym like what do you actually need to do in order to be healthy like i'm super lucky because i went it's not yeah pre-reform and i had a cooking class

when i was in high school. You don't see that anymore. So we expect like, where are kids? Where are people getting that information? You get bombarded by information from anywhere and everywhere. But how do you decipher what's the good information? So are schools going to do it? Are we relying on parents to do it?

Whatever it is. But I think that right now, this is a global pandemic. Can we get the leaders to lead us into and agree on? We're in Dubai. like whatever it is. But I think that right now, like this is a global pandemic. Like, can we get the leaders to lead us into and agree on like we're in Dubai? I need another plug. Like, can we just agree we can have one plug for the whole the whole world? Like, let's that's the thing, right? We're all we all have our own little like, this is the best way to do. Let's decide what the best is. And let's's all do it and let's all get on board. Yeah, I just my there is nothing there is. This is for ninety nine percent of all the sicknesses on the planet.

There is no cure. And so anytime I hear the word cure, I hear propaganda. There's not you're not you're not gonna add something to yourself that's gonna make you better what you have to do is stop poisoning yourself they've known that since the 30s they know that with cancer anytime i hear about cancer research i want to fucking vomit on myself it's like it's a waste of billions and trillions of dollars as opposed to buying everyone on the planet an assault bike and being like it's now in your hand and and some people might think that's crazy you think spending trillions and billions of dollars barking up the tree for

cancer research and every year only more people are dying of cancer it's it's it's like uh it's the same thing of why i'm not a democrat anymore all the cities that are run by democrats have all the worst crime all the people that they claim they're worried about have the highest poverty levels in those cities. OK, I did that for 40 years. I want to try something different. And it's like, yeah, we've been trying cancer research. And I feel the same way about this. I feel the same way about this injection.

But anyway, anyway, anyway. Back to CrossFit. Yes. Oh, here we go. OK, this guy's from British Columbia. Let's see what he's got to say. Let's see what he's got to say. It's amazing that people can still call in.

Hello, Mr. Canada. Siobhan, how's it going? It's going pretty good. I'm staying calm. Carolyn, you're on the east coast. I'm on the west. I'm trying to stay calm. Say that again. I'm on the west coast.

Carolyn's on the east. Yeah. Oh, yes, yes. things are a little different over here the gyms are actually staying open because we're not complying so but you were ordered to close weren't you some are some are but you know what some of us out here don't think the vaccine actually work. And we're staying open because food courts are full of people eating fast food. And this whole thing is bullshit. It's not about health. But even if it was about if it was about health, they would actually show us it's about health. It's not the vaccine's not working.

But even if it did work, you could stay open. If it did work, you could stay open. True. True. But it did work, you could stay open. True. True, but it's not. My whole family's double, they're all double jabbed. They all have COVID right now. It doesn't prevent you from getting COVID. It just ideally diminishes the symptoms and you don't have to go to the hospital.

Correct. They're all sick, though. They're all sick at home. Like, we're all sick though. They're all sick at home. Like we're, we're all, we're all being forced to be vaccinated and it's not, and you're saying, and you're staying on here, Carolyn, and I'm not trying to be argumentative first off. I just want, you know, just conversation, but you're saying on here that you're protecting other people and you're not because everybody's getting it. It's passing, passing through people with the vaccine and the new, and the new, um,

stipulation is that if you're vaccinated and boosted you don't even have to quarantine if you're double vaxxed you have to quarantine for five days and if you're unvaxxed you have to quarantine for 10 to 14 so tell me how that works that might be a bc thing i don't think it's the same here but um no i what i'm saying and it's not a cdc so in the states it's a cdc thing look it up it's brand new today cdc so you don't even have to quarantine now if you're double jabbed and boosted tell me how that's right like it's just there's just there's no logic behind the fact that the vaccine is working or the fact that you have a vax pass at your gym. Like, it just, it makes, it makes no, not just your gym, Carolyn.

I'm not pointing a finger at you, but like these gyms should not have, we should not have vax passes. And like, I literally, we were in the mall yesterday and I could not believe the hundreds of people sitting in a food court, stuffing their faces, A&W and McDonald's, and we're not allowed to go to the gym. Like, it's just bananas how they're trying to make it seem like it's about health when it's just not about health at all. I definitely think that they're not doing a good, and by they, I mean like the government and people in charge, they're not doing a good job of communicating why and giving people enough information. Because I agree, if it was for health reasons, why are you closing gyms? Why are you not allowing people to take actions on the things that would actually improve their health? So I don't think that that is it. on the things that would actually improve their health.

So I don't think that that is it. In terms of the health system that's overloaded, okay, we need to make certain sacrifice to make sure that our health system can keep working optimally or as best as it can. That'd be one thing. I don't think that the reasons that we are given right now, especially in Canada, are well articulated and justified. That's one thing. When I talk about the greater good in the vaccine, the virus is there and the virus is going to spread. I'm just saying I, and I debated

because I'm turning 40 next month. And when the first vaccine first came out, I was worried for my own reproductive health. And I had to go through that process of, am I going to get it? Am I not going to get it? You know, even if it's a chance in a billion, I mean, do you want to take that chance to win the lottery? Yes. To get something that you're not looking for? No. So, um, but at the same time, it, you know, it, it will diminish the symptoms. If I were to get it, I do want to make sure that I am healthier or able that my immune system is better equipped in order to fight the vaccine in order to fight COVID. So if the vaccine is going to help for that, I have, you know, my mom is, doesn't have the best of health. So I definitely want to make sure that if I'm vaccinated and therefore less viral, like the viral load is not as high and I don't have as many chances of transmitting it to her, then I'm willing to do that.

But I think that's a personal decision. And what's, I think, a shame is that we've all been pushed and not given the time to go through those, you know, inner dialogue for that particular choice. Carolyn, but that's where you're wrong. The viral load is still there. Like I have not been vaccinated and all of my family has been, they all have it. And they're actually more sick than me. Well, you know, there could be so many um variables there is a lot of only point at the vaccine is is one thing um but there's more i think there's more variables as to

who's going to get it and why and and how sick we're all going to be seven can we move on please yes caller thank you very much uh we will beat up carolyn without you thank you for getting her down and uh brian and i will now no that wasn't my point no no i'm joking i'm joking i'm joking dude she's running a small business and one of the most fucked up i know social political i don't want to get open man yeah uh thanks for calling though um uh um is any party like, fuck, Jeff, just go. We worked so hard. Just get in there and do Wadapalooza.

Quit being a pussy. So I wanted him to do all three. Yeah. Yeah. Just because of how they lined up. But go get some money. Well, he needs to win to make money which all right so um but no so after i mean we all saw it on social media after rogue a lot of the athletes got sick jeff got sick so that kind of

derailed some of our plans to lead up to what what did they get sick with were you at rogue what happened there was there were there allergies what was it Gastroenteritis. Like, basically, they're all. Shit in their pants. Yeah, both. Yeah. Oh, is that, that's what Samuel got? Sam wasn't there. Samuel Cournoyer?

He wasn't at Vogue. Oh, was it Houdet? Who was it? Houdet, like, pulled out saying he was sick. So, I don't know what he had and if he's the one that gave it to everybody. But I think BKG posted that. And if i'm saying this wrong you guys can correct me but i think bkg had it alex was sick vigno um but we're not sure if that was food or if it was that um who else caroline uh privo oh yeah he's sick sick. Was Emily sick?

I can't remember, but I know, like I know on social media, like the week, like the 10 days post rogue, if you go back and look like a lot of athletes are like, ah, feeling better now. And it's like,

Hmm, what did you have? So there was a bug. Okay. There was, there was something. And so, so that derailed, like it was already a quick turnaround between Rogue and Dubai. That did not help. And so after Dubai, and just even before Dubai, when we were starting to calculate the dates and what we had to do and this and that, it was like, well, do we want to focus on Whatapalooza or do we want to focus on Games 2022? on you know games 2022 so i think rogue gave us enough information dubai was good practice and

i'm tired of practicing and gathering information i want to execute so i just want to get to the 2022 season and be full full steam ahead will um will alex a podium at the games this year Will Alex podium at the games this year? Alex? Sorry. Will Adler podium at the games this year? Will Jeff podium at the games this year? My goal has always been for Jeff to podium to win the games. That has always been my goal.

I've been very open about that since the beginning. My goal was for him to win the Open. My goal was for him to make it to the games. My goal was for him to win the Open. My goal was for him to make it to the Games. My goal was for him to win the Games. Now, whether or not that's doable is... How early on did you guys set those goals?

I did. He didn't. And I think, like, you saw him early on in 2016, and you're like, this guy's got potential. I saw him do burpees, and I thought he had potential. That was like a little Jeff moment. Why?

What did you see in the burpees? They're just so smooth. They're fluid and fast and strong and explosive. Yes. All that. Yeah. Yeah. There was just, I think, I mean, I enjoy watching.

I enjoy coaching. I watch, I enjoy watching. I enjoy coaching. I enjoy watching people move. There was just something when he was doing... Let's see. Is he going to move? Oh, actually. There was just something in his movement. A little bit like he mentions,

the clean and jerk. Things just came naturally to him. he moved like some people are good at math like he just moved well in certain aspects i was like ah like there's potential there let's let's see i have always been very goal oriented so i was the one setting those goals like okay we need to make it to regionals by this year we need to like if i want you to win the games we need to win the open right because past games winners won the open so just looking a little bit on statistics and making sure like

well if we hit those marks then that's a good indication that we can pursue the next goal right if we can make it to regionals then you know you're good enough and ideally we're able to make it to the game so So those goals were always stepping stones. He was more along for the ride and along for the experience. I just love this explanation. What? Just that he's along. I mean, you're a scientist.

You're a fucking scientist. And this guy's your lab rat. I love fucking love it. At first. And Brian can attest to this. Even for me, there's definitely been a shift in the last six months in his personality and how he talks about his events and how he talks about his finishes and what he wants and what he now starts to admit and his goals.

I mean, you can talk to Bill and Chase. They want to shake him and be like, you know, want this a little bit more. And it's just Jeff has always been kind of like, we mean, you can talk to Bill and Chase, like they want to shake him and be like, you know, like want this a little bit more. And it's just, Jeff has always been kind of like, Oh, we'll see. And basically like my standing will define me. And now he's like, no, I want to set those goals and go ahead. So I don't think he tastes it. He tastes it. Yeah. So I mean, we can see it as fans of the sport. can see like oh this guy's now as a real threat to the podium brian this is supposed to be a one-hour podcast we're now two hours are there still people i can't see oh yeah over 200 it's been it's been quite a full house this morning thank you for saying for me full house uh brian do you for saying for me. Full house.

Brian, do you have anything else you would like to? I'm excited to see you in Florida. I'm really excited to see Benoit. He's kind of been peripherally on my radar as a guy who might be able to break through, but I, you know, this would be a good opportunity for him, I think, to put, you know, pit himself against some of the better, better athletes and bigger field of good athletes that we have. And final, final question. Are you taking on any more athletes? If someone wanted to take you, have you as their coach,

where and how would they contact you? They can reach me on Instagram, I guess would be the easiest way. Okay. And my athletes, yes and no. Um, I definitely don't want to, I want to be able to invest Colton, Colton, Colton. Um, I definitely want to be able to invest my time and energy into any new athletes that I take on, but I cannot let that pull too much out of the focus of what I, of the plan and that we're set in motion with Jeff. So it's kind of like as a coach for me, it's a balancing act. And again, it's regardless of people's levels, like if you want to make it to the games in five years and you're committed to that and you want to talk to me, like go ahead. I've also always, always, always encouraged people

to look at a local coach. Like I was local coach with Jeff, like Jeff took a chance on me. And if you have someone who's willing to put as much energy and dedication, like I've learned everything along the way, anybody can can do that I think it's just a question of of wanting to and if you know you want to be the next best coach big coach whatever and you know make it to the games or you have that it I was very lucky to have found Jeff because I had met other athletes in the past in 2014 and 15 who had mentioned that they you know back then and wanted to make it to regionals was the big goal but things would happen in their life and you know we never made it that

far and it was never consistent Jeff stuck with me and we were able to prove it and I think that there's enough people in the community there's enough coaching there's enough expertise out there like I'm always reading, always listening to podcasts, like reading everything. There's enough out there to make coaches great. And if coaches are great, athletes can be great. Like you just, it's, it's all about trust.

And if you are a great coach and you're looking for a job, you should go to barbelljobs.com. Did I mention that? Yep. Right there. All right. Thanks, Carolyn.

Thank you for your time guys. Brian, I guess. Thank you to you too. Savon. Thank right. Thanks, Carolyn. Thank you for your time, guys. Brian, I guess thank you to you too. Savan, thank you to me. Okay. And...