The Sevan Podcast - #80 - Alison Scudds

Episode Date: July 19, 2021

CrossFit Games Demo Team Captain @ASCUDDS @SEVANMATOSSIAN @BRAINFRIENDCROSSFIT The Sevan Podcast is sponsored by http://www.barbelljobs.com Follow us on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/therealsevanpodcast/ Sevan's Stuff: https://www.instagram.com/sevanmatossian/?hl=en https://app.sugarwod.com/marketplace/3-playing-brothers Support the show Partners: https://cahormones.com/ - CODE "SEVAN" FOR FREE CONSULTATION https://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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Is this part of the podcast where I don't know the questions you guys are asking and I just randomly talk? Phones, yes, yes. that's how we start everyone down and the bottom speaker setting you think she's gonna find it she's searching she's clicking to find it? She's searching. She's clicking. Oh. I like your chances. She got it.

Bam, no. Default. Oh, now we default. Oh, now we default. Oh, shit. There we go. Now we got a crazy echo. Aha. Is that okay?

So good. Great. Can you hear us? Yep. Oh, shit, Brian, you're breaking up. What do you mean? Oh, what do you mean, what do you mean? Don't tell me that.

Did you get your cable yet? Your cable comes on saturday that's tomorrow allison hello who is hi who is the greatest crossfitter who's ever lived crossfit games i mean we know who the greatest crossfitter who ever lived is that's me but who's the greatest crossfit games athlete who ever lived i mean it's got to be a toss-up between matt and tia i know that's the boring answer but no i think that's i think how could you say anything differently right i was just seeing if you were going to be sexist and forget about the women. No. You pass. I was trying to remember how she's had – I think that I keep a little bit closer eye on the women's side just because it's closer to me.

But she's had such a dominant win the last few competitions. It's a mix-up. It's scary kind of, how good she is it is it is who do you think that they would say is the better between them two wow that is a good question that is i need to get the both of them on and ask him that i'm gonna write that down get tia and mad on that should be easy i don't think did i just join the podcast yes oh you want to be on that show yeah no i'm just kidding hobart you're off scuds you're in allison there is the tdc yep And then there's the DTC. DTC, yes.

That's you. And that's you. Yep. And TDC is you got his logo on. I do. The Dave Castro. I went out of my way to wear it for this show. I thought it was apropos.

I thought, okay. I went out of my way to wear it for this show. I thought it was apropos. I thought, okay. How does that happen that Allison Scudds becomes the demo team captain? That's a great question. Ultimately. That's a great response, by the way.

Yeah. Use that as often as you want. I will. I will. Except don't say it if I ask you anything and you don't like that. Definitely. Definitely. True. The short answer, honestly, is that I just asked him, basically.

I kind of, you know, the longer answer is that I was a part of the demo team in 2017. Been around, I live near the ranch and HQ. So I've been around, you know, testing. I tested last year's games, workouts, and different workouts throughout the past couple of seasons. And as soon as semifinals were over, he hit me up to come back out to test this year's games, workouts. And I had actually just tuned in for a short little snippet on, uh, when he was on, on the podcast with you guys and heard him say that he asked Paul and that Paul couldn't do it this year. And so I was like, wow, I would love to, uh, to be the demo team captain. I had so much fun in 2017 and you know, it's kind of the best, obviously would love to be competing at the

games over anything, but it's kind of like the best backup gig and just super honored to be trusted with that position. And I was just testing and I was like, hey, can I, I don't know if this is the type of thing that you're supposed to ask about, but just wanted to let you know I'm available to be the demo team captain and I'm responsible and, you know, kind of gave my little pitch there. And a couple of weeks later, after some brutal testing, he asked me to be the captain. When you asked him, did he respond even? Did he like look up at you? Did he make eye contact with you? Yeah, I think he just kind of laughed. Yeah. No, he acknowledged that I said it for sure. um dave has a way without words he does um and had you been invited to be on the demo team first like were you going to be on the demo

team regardless so so you just went straight for captain yeah you weren't like hey could i be on the demo team and he's like yeah and then you, oh, I have a demo team captain. Because to get on SEAL Team 6, you first have to become a SEAL. Well, I guess I did that in 2017, right? Good point. I paid my dues that year. Why didn't you do any other demo teams besides 2017? And I remember you being there. That's where I first met you.

Yeah, probably because I didn't do well enough the other years. And he usually picks people that are within a few spots of qualifying for the games. And 2018, I actually don't even remember what place I got, but it wasn't very good. And then 2019 was semifinals. Did they have a demo team? Was that the weird year i don't i don't know 19 was when there were like 130 men and women competing oh yeah so i don't know i don't even remember who was on on on that year and then last year he chose um there was only three people on the demo team that um and they were all in phase one of the games because they had done the online part allison who was the captain of the games because they had done the online part. Allison, who is the captain of the demo team the year you were on the demo team,

2017 and Madison, Paul Trombley. I think he's been the demo team captain for a while now. I think it's a five or six at this point. Yeah. He must be bombed. He can't do it this year. Yeah. I talked to him to kind of give me the rundown on the team.

I think he's still going to be there, though. He's just running the Canada something for the affiliates maybe. Oh, that's right. That's right. He's like some sort of ambassador or liaison for the prison that we call the former country of Canada that's now a prison. No, that's totally fair. That's totally fair. I remember you being on the demo team that year, and the demo team was so fun.

And everyone on there was really cool. And it's a pretty crazy mix of doing something that's very, very serious and no time to screw around., but there's a lot of downtime. So you're, you're doing a lot of waiting. And because if Dave needs something tested really quick, you got to be ready to be able to do that. So you can't just be off in vendor village or anywhere. You have to be just kind of waiting on standby. But I think that that makes it fun because you get to spend a lot of time with the team bonding and media and anybody who's kind of behind the scenes just because you're not really doing anything, but you got to be ready to do something. It won't be nearly as fun as when I was there, by the way. I promise you, Allison. Probably not. It will not.

Go ahead, Brian. Do you always have to be ready for a game of knockout also? You do. Yep. That's part of the requirements. Have you ever beat David in a game of knockout? I don't think that I have. We played a few games during the testing week. I had a couple. I'm not a basketball player by any means, but I have the lucky zero technique but i feel like i have pretty good luck sometimes but i don't think i beat him at a game how often how often does dave win the game of knockout based on the last week i don't think he won any. His nephew, Max, it was so funny.

Max lives on the ranch. And we were joking, Lucas was joking, that anytime Max hears the dribbling of the basketball, he just comes running out. He's ready to go. So I think Max won and Boz, I think, won around two. Wow, and Boz got a bizarre shooting style. Yeah.

Bizarre. Yep. I think that's kind of my technique is just like the push. I was practicing a little bit afterwards with the flick. But you guys are all very competitive. It's very competitive, Brian. It's not a joke. The knockout?

Oh, yeah. I've seen it before. There's rules and standards and everything. I was walking off of the North Park in 2018 or 2019 into whatever area, and I was like, what's going on over there? And I look over, and it's just Dave and the demo team and some guys playing a game of knockout, and it was pretty competitive. I was like, oh, nice.

He's played so much basketball, knockout, and played so much with Max that he's basically injured himself at times. I mean, because he's no spring chicken. He's no spring chicken. And what time will you – when will you go to Madison? And do you know what time you report to Dave for the very first time? I get in Thursday, which is a day earlier than I was supposed to, but I guess the flights were a little bit cheaper or something. Thursday the 22nd?

Yes, like this coming Thursday. One week from yesterday. Will the entire team arrive on the same day? I think that most of the team is getting in Friday or possibly Saturday. And I think Dave gets in Saturday. So likely we'll be going as soon as Dave gets there. But when I remember in 2017 when I arrived, we actually flew into Chicago that year. It's like a two-hour drive.

And I step out of the car onto the turf and dave's like uh do a handstand walk here i want to see if it'll burn your hands like literally that was the first thing he ever said to me i want to say i vaguely remember that i was like all right we're doing it um whoa when when i would film the behind the scenes with him i would um he was usually that's where i would usually start my mornings and they would start very early i would meet him like i think at 5 a.m usually in the hotel lobby um what time do you guys report do you know yet i don't know yeah i don't have a day-by-day schedule or anything but we'll probably be ready to go as soon as he is too and do you know who

the dave whisperer is this year yes nicole christensen i think wow wow i always think um every year is going to be her last year that's amazing that's do you know when her first year was seva i don't i don't it was someone else in 2017 i think yeah she there's been some years off i think she had a baby i think she had her full full fill of dave um there were a couple break yeah i needed a break but man they sure do work well together that's awesome yeah i don't think i've actually met her in person but we've been texting a little bit he he told me i said hey how did you pick allison and he said um one you were destroying the workouts he said dude he said you will not you would not believe how good she is i said really he goes dude she's she's she was crushing the

athletes there and then two he said like you would finish a workout and there'd be another workout setting up somewhere and you would just run over there and start just helping the next group set up. And so I was like, okay, okay. I'm happy to, you know, crush the workouts to my best ability and just try to be an asset everywhere else. You know, I know there's a lot to do with the games, so just try to be helpful. And do you know all the workouts? Yep. Okay, well, let's go through them. Let's start at number 15 and work our way back.

I mean, you know, being close to Dave, they're not really official until they're official, right? Until the athletes are literally about to go. So there could be some, some plot twists in there that I don't know. And I've seen you guys have to deal with that. I've seen that like you guys get off, it's the end of the day. It's let's say it's the end of Thursday. You guys have been working all day. You guys are getting ready to leave. And he's like, take your backpacks off. We're going to test one of the workouts for tomorrow. I think I want to tweak something and bam. So yeah, I've, I've seen you guys get, uh, get work. Have you ever seen the, um, the dreaded, okay, stop. You're done where he does the thing where someone's working

out in the middle and they get told that like, yeah, not someone like personally, that's happened to me at the games that year at the games that year, it was one of those scenarios you're talking about wasn't at the end of the day, but it was in fact, I believe it was Sunday. So once the game starts, the demo team is pretty much done, we have to do all the athlete briefings. But usually the testing is pretty much done. We have to do all the, uh, athlete briefings, but usually the testing is pretty much concrete at that point. But, and Sunday of all days, most of the briefings are done at that point. So we were going to have like a relaxing morning. I get up and I have a text from Paul to the team. Like we need to go in five minutes, like get, get yourself ready. So I like quickly get ready.

No breakfast. Not even a drink of water. We get on site. And he's like, the girls are going to run the hay bale event from that year, which was, like, burpee, cheese curds over the hay bale, and then 800-meter run or something nasty. I think I was there for this, too. I think I remember this.

Yes. Yeah. We were all testing out different rep schemes and I think I had the least of everyone. I'm pretty sure. And I was running and Alex Parker was on the team. Who's, you know, one of the best runners in CrossFit. And I was just like, Oh, this is going to be so bad. Like, but you know, you just, you just put your head down and do the work to the best of your ability and i forget how many rounds couple rounds in and alex has basically already lapped me and i'm just suffering so hard and dave is just like yeah you can go ahead and stop while the others finished up the workout i love i love it when i see those yeah it was like it was

like a year ago i can't remember who it, but someone was doing clean and jerks or something out there by the pull-up rig that's outside at Aromas. And he just walked over to him. He's like, you're done. And they keep going. He goes, no, you're done. Stop. And the rest of the group's still going. I'm like, oh, man.

It's like in the gong show, like when the gong gets hit three times or when the cane comes in and just pulls you off. Someone's like in the middle of just roasting their soul and they're just told to stop. Well, maybe the worst is even when you're doing a workout and you know you're doing really bad and really suffering. You're so slow at this point. You know they're not going to get any good data from it, but they just make you keep going. That might be actually because you're like, there's no way they're going to use this or they're going to, you know, base it off of somebody else. Like they're not getting anything good from me doing this right

now, but I just got to keep going. What are, what are some, what's some of the feedback that he takes from you and the other athletes when you're demoing the workouts out there at the ranch? Usually just how it felt. I think the, probably the main thing that he's looking for is general time domains. And if certain, you know, parts of the workout will hold people up more than he thought or it wasn't maybe he wanted it to be this type of workout where this movement was the limiter, but then that was too easy or too hard. But I'd say, yeah, time domain and stimulus is really what he's looking for from the testers. When I see some testersers like veteran testers like yourself

but specifically i'm thinking of james hobart at this point literally when they finish they'll start giving feedback and i think dave really appreciates it like um uh like hobart will be like oh dude there's going to be six guys who can do this unbroken and dave will be like okay it wasn't too heavy and he goes no not at, not at all. He's always perfect. Or, hey, I would make it, if you want it to go even faster, you could do this. And are you in that place with Dave where you'll just give him feedback? Are you close enough to him to do that? Yeah, absolutely.

Yeah, and there's usually like a discussion, you know, that comes after it. Like this was my experience with it. This is, you know, this movement is a strength of mine. And he kind of can tell can tell that too, from watching you where I really struggle with this movement, but I think the, you know, top whatever games athletes will be able to handle it really well based on X, Y, and Z. Or there was the workout from last year. I think there was a workout. Wasn't there a workout last year that had bike and rope climbing it? Yes. Yeah. And I remember there was one of the only ones I didn't actually test last year.

Okay. Oh, yeah. And I saw you at testing last year. Yeah. And you did that final workout. At Atlanta. Yep. Yeah.

That was a fun day. That was one of my best best testing memories, I think. That was insane. Did you rip your hands on that workout? No. Can I ask you about that? Because I wrote about this, but I kind of always speculated. One of the things I noticed at the end of that workout was Matt and Tia didn't rip their hands.

But about half the athletes did, and I was like, how can they be so good at everything and also be the best at hand care? Like, why are some athletes ripping on that test and some are not? Yeah, that's another good question. You guys got a lot of this. For me personally. Actually, I gave that one to Brian before the show. All right, so Vaughn, you have the good questions. Thank you. For me, honestly, I basically never rip no matter what I do. I ripped really, really bad when I first started CrossFit because I didn't want to use grips. And then I was like, all right, I'm never doing that again. It was at a cross competition. So even worse. And it also just takes you out of training to like, even if you rip when you're

training, you can't keep training. So I was like, I got to figure this out. But for me, I don't have that crazy of a routine. I try to keep, I moisturize every night before I go to bed because the chalk really dries my hands out. And then maybe like once a month, I just really lightly run my regular razor over the top. Um, just to get any big ones, but your armpit like your armpit razor yeah yeah same one and like in the shower and you do that in the shower yep wow that's you need to make a video that that's hardcore why that would be good with a close-up shot i just think it'll get eyeballs i think it'll be good for your following it's kind of it is kind of i used to be a media director i know some shit it is very satisfying to pull your skin out of the razor i will say i don't know if that's weird but not weird it's it's satisfying oddly satisfying but yeah just

really lightly over it so it just takes off you know the extra callus um but i think the biggest thing in ripping is just how you grip the bar. And I actually did make a IGTV about this. So if you're interested, check it out. Um, is I use my grips and I, um, don't put the fingers in and then I almost do like a false grip on the bar. So my, my hand is like on top of the bar like that. And so it's kind of – it's pulling here up against here. So I have like calluses right there. But this part of my hand barely touches the bar at all. So I think that's probably got a little bit to do with it.

It just always – One of the worst – It's just fascinating to me that some people are always ripping. And if you rip early in a competition, especially it's like the games, it just kind of sucks. So it seems like as a top-level athlete, that should be something you have. You spend some time figuring out what's going to work for you. And I guess in that workout, they knew it was the last workout, so maybe they just let themselves go or something. But I was like, man, these people are not tearing and don't even look like they're coming close. And this is like a bloodbath over here. Yeah. Well,

and there could be so many different things that, you know, maybe they had another event where they build up a callus. Cause that's usually how you rip is you build up a callus and then that part of your skin doesn't move. So it just rips off. And it's all relative, right? If you're Brandon Luckett and you, your arm hyper extends in the first event a hand tears like no big deal yeah that's true too um one of the worst things about getting old is you stop having ingrown hairs and blackheads and those are like one that's like some of the most fun things about youth is popping those things is Is it? Is that your like main, main,

uh, I really liked it. That you miss. Yeah. I thought it was really cool. Yeah. It's probably one of my, do you still have a,

when I, last year you had a boyfriend, do you still have a boyfriend? I saw a boyfriend. Yep. The same one that I met. Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah. Looks like a model. Big old thighs. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. and do you like superman yes i could totally see that yeah he's got a whole clark kent vibe to him um and do you do you um pop his in how old is he does he have ingrown hairs or blackheads or anything like that he travels at 30 oh maybe he's through that phase already do you. Do you ever do any monkey grooming on him? Do you get excited to pop a blackhead on his back or something?

I'm more of the random hair person, so I like to tweeze those. Like one of those coarse ones that comes out of the eyebrow? Yes, one of those too. You know, it really sucks. I'm straight, and I have a wife, and my wife doesn't do any of that shit for me. And that really sucks because no, but – You secretly want her to? Not secret.

It's not even secret. It's here on the podcast. I tell her all the time. I'm like, yeah, it's like one of the core tenets of being a good wife is like to do that stuff. I could be like, hey, I think I have a blackhead on my back or I see one. I've been with her a long time and she doesn't even know how to do it. It's absurd.

It's absurd. Like a nice, I'll spot one on her leg when we were younger, fucking 200 yards away. Oh, can I pop that? Yeah. And just get a little,

you know, get the little hair. You know how like the hair is in there. It's so satisfying. It's that little rock comes out. So maybe you should start shaving your hands. Maybe you'll find that, you'll fill that void. Maybe. That does scare me though.

When you say that, that you do that. Very gentle, not hard. I mean, even if you do it hard, honestly, like you're not,

I mean, you, you do it against your face, don't you? True. And it doesn't cut your face. So true. Um,

do you do it in the shower when they're soft? When what? Do you do it in the shower when they're soft when what do you do it in the shower when they're soft like when they're wet yes yeah in the shower yep okay if if the guy who wins the crossfit games and the gal who wins the crossfit games is the coolest person at the crossfit games and then second place is the second coolest and it goes down to like whatever it goes down to are you saying they're the coolest are we just making that assumption for the sake we're just making that assumption for the sake of this conversation um where does the demo team fall

in that like are you are you guys as cool as like a 10th place finisher or like are you guys more like a 17th place or are you as cool as like the fourth place because when you're back there doing the behind the scenes like i used to do you guys were like shit you guys were top five to me you guys were like just like but i don't but i don't know i have i have a bias but i don't know if the crowd even knows who you guys are like well i think i probably have a bias too but it's funny that you say that because they just made a really cool graphic for us today with the announcement of all the other members. And someone made a comment that was like, demo team getting more hype than the third heat at the games.

Which I thought was pretty funny. More than the second heat at the games. Yeah. Go ahead, Brian gonna say i think the third heat is actually like the 11th through 20th because it goes one two three four so it'd be the 10 but that so that would be more credit for the demo team yes um does the uh the as the captain of the team do you have any in input or influence on who else gets to be on the team i was in the discussion of it but i wasn't really making decisions um you know that they were kind of just talking about different athletes who they thought would be a good fit and yeah i think i guess the what i was kind of envisioning where you could possibly have an influence is if they

said hey we're thinking about this person or this person, and we're trying to look for someone to kind of offset your skill set. Do you have a thought about which one maybe you've competed against them or something like that? Yeah, I think they do do that a little bit. I mean, most of the testing, like I said, is pretty much done. But I think they try to make, I think Dave wants everyone to be actually pretty well-rounded. Like he doesn't want someone there who can't do a certain movement. Um, but yeah, it's not really that strict of a process, I guess. It's kind of just like who did really well this year and who they think would be a good fit on the team.

How often do you think someone's asked and it turns it down or is unavailable? I don't know. Oh, who CrossFit asks and they turn it down? Or do you think like most athletes are like, oh, I got to do this. Yeah, I think that most athletes would try to make it happen at all costs. It's just such a special opportunity that you may never get again. So I think everybody who was asked this year accepted. I definitely know at least two people who tried to get on this year who did not get on.

I'm sure you know a couple. I'm sure you know a couple. I'm sure you know a couple too. Do you know a couple? I know you know at least one whether you know it or not. Chris Harris? Oh, no. Oh. No.

I heard that he was. Make it three. Okay. Go ahead. I heard that he was wanting to be because his teammate got popped. Okay. Go ahead. I heard that he was wanting to be because his teammate got popped, but I think at the point that that news broke, they had already, it was already finalized. Did Chris Harris pop? No, it was the girl on his team. I don't know her name.

I thought two people popped on that team. No, that was another team. Three, actually three different teams had someone pop, but only one per team. Three different teams now? I don't think that's right. I think there was a team with the husband and the wife. They both. Oh, well, yeah.

He's claiming that it was a tainted sample. It was a mistake, but that was. Katie Christian was a girl on Move Fast, Lift Heavy. And then Deshawn, I can't remember his last name, from Invictus Unconquerable was the latest one. Was that, this isn't what this show is about, but Brian, was that the one that had the numbers in it, the GW1516? I think so.

Because I just read it yesterday, last night. And so I looked that up. I forget what it said. But anyway, someone then, oh, it helps you with, does that mean it helps you with endurance? I think it helps with recovery. Okay. Is that the same thing Ricky popped for?

It is. And Sean Ramirez and I think Kelly Holm, at least those three. Oh, interesting. I wonder if they go to the same doctor. Well, I mean if it helps with recovery, that's the thing I would take if I was going to try to compete at the Games, because it's almost about just as much about how fast you can recover and perform again as it is your actual performance. Yeah. I mean, training is like that, really. You can only train as much as you can recover. Otherwise, you get hurt. How often does Dave talk about me? you can only train as much as you can recover. Otherwise you get hurt. Um,

how often does Dave talk about me? I can't recall a time. Wait, wait, wait. She didn't let her finish. She was going to say, I can't recall a time that he wasn't talking about you. Yes, that was it. You're a great co-host, wait. She didn't let her finish. She was going to say, I can't recall a time that he wasn't talking about you.

Yes, that was it. You're a great co-host, Brian. He's not like, oh, I wish Sevan was here. I miss him doing the behind the scenes. I just came up that he mentioned when he was on your podcast something that he had said, though. Oh, but not. But OK, but my podcast, not me directly me directly yeah but i'll tell him that you're wearing his hat breaks my heart yeah thank you please do maybe i'll send him a picture now

even better please yes do that do that did you do you ask him before you do these podcasts since you've been um anointed as a demo team captain allison i did not ask him personally i just ran it by lucas to make sure you know i wasn't um not this podcast specifically but i was on another podcast and then i was doing a q a on my page and i just wanted to make sure it was fine because i have an nda about all the secrets but i um it's fine to talk about my experience there. When one year, I don't remember what year it was. I want to say, did Matt and Rich compete once at the ranch against each other with a third person?

Maybe Dave was in the workout too? Ben Smith. There was an open workout. I think it was maybe 16.5 or 15.5. And Dave did that workout also afterwards. And there's a very unflattering famous picture of him that sometimes shows up on social media. I hate it when the words famous and unflattering are together. Infamous.

Infamous. and then one gym in Texas and then one gym in Oklahoma. And they finally pieced it together. And it was someone who worked in one of the vans for the broadcasts. And they saw the text on his phone somehow. And so right before we went live that year on the air, I can't remember if it was Dave or Joe Novella, but someone literally just walked in, this guy sitting in his position to do his job. And they're like, dude, leave you're fired. And he was gone. And then right after that, all the employees at HQ were required to sign an NDA. And I wanted to say, there was a reason why myself and one other guy didn't sign it. Cause it said something in there, like you could have to pay fines of up to like three hundred thousand dollars whoa and i'm like i'm not doing that

you know what i mean like yeah i'm not i'm not i can't sign that and somehow i just beat around the bush do they still have that thing in there with the three hundred thousand dollars did you remember seeing or did you even look at it you just signed it you're like i'm i'm a i'm a safe yeah i just signed it honestly i don't i didn't read it um i didn't read either someone else told me by the way yeah i think that you know it's kind of lame when people leak stuff because i think even as an athlete if i were competing i wouldn't want you know that's part of the cool part of the games is the unknown and unknowable right but just like the people who you know take drugs and stuff it's like they're just trying to get an upper hand

but it's kind of lame when people when people do that because it just it's like it's like ruining christmas in my eyes yeah totally i agree um does anyone ever try to come out to a Romas and spy? And all the times I know you've spent a lot of time out there. Not that I have witnessed personally, but I do think about that sometimes. I'm like, but it's so out in the middle of nowhere that the people that would either be close by are probably very few. And then if you traveled a really long way to try to get a hint on the games, it's like, okay, good luck. Right. And definitely, because that road is so isolated. Yeah. I mean, he knows every car that goes down that road.

So if you went down that road, he'd be like, oh, shit. What's Matt Fraser doing here? Gotcha. Gotcha. So what's your relationship like with Adrian Bosman? Because you'll be working closely with him, right? Isn't it like him and Todd Whitman? Aren't they the ones who are like, they'll be like, okay, demo team, send someone out. And then you choose someone and send someone out and they demo it for the athletes.

I don't know exactly what the play by play is going to look like in Madison. I think that it will kind of be a game time. Like we'll prep, you know, the days leading up for all the briefings. I think the whole demo team pretty much goes to every briefing, even if you're not all participating. At least that's what we did in 2017. And then you just, most of the workouts, you just do the fake go through and show the flow of the workout. I think that back in 2017, he had us do some parts. There was a clean ladder or something that year that I think he had some of the guys actually do the weights for, you know, spectacle, but that'll kind of all be decided out there. And one time in Madison, right in the stadium,

I feel like he had two of the demo team members. They didn't even know that they were going to do it, compete each other against each other in the event. Do you remember that? It was like Paul Tremblay and like Spencer Hendel or Austin Maliolo or someone like that, and the two of them had to do some crazy workout. Or was it – who's the guy who owns the gym in Hollister, the really cool dude? He's on the L1 team. Last name starts with a W.

God damn it. You know who I'm talking about you know who that is he was a games athlete he was at regionals in Del Mar Wes Pyatt Wes Pyatt thank you maybe it was Wes his gym's in Gilroy

oh shit sorry no wonder maybe it was him maybe it was him. Maybe it was Wes Pye. Do you remember that? No, I don't remember it. That's probably a little bit of CrossFit history that I know about that Brian doesn't know about, even though I don't seem like I really know about it. Yeah.

But that's not surprising, you know, if he does something like that. Yeah. And you guys could be called to do that. I think that the most high pressure situation I've ever seen a demo team athlete be put in was, I think it was 2018 when they had the parallettes and it was broadcast on national television. And I think it was Travis Mayer actually. And he had one chance basically to go up and do it.

I think it was McKenzie Flincham. She was just telling me that story actually. Oh, maybe there might've been one girl and one guy that did it like yeah because i think that was a live broadcast event so there might have been a girl before the girls went and a guy before the guys yeah i was like dang that that's uh that's a tough one to have to do on the spot and get it right one the first time yeah it really is travis mayor's been on the demo team i think he was in 2018 yeah well shit that was easy working his name into this show check check the box for that one um who's the other there's there's one other lady besides

yourself and then two boys on the team no three and three no six yeah oh and who are the two two other ladies china cho that's right uh christine i just forgot her last name colin brander thank you cole yeah christine colin brander and and and how did you do against them in the open i don't know honestly i did not look at the open leaderboard at all this year how did you do this year were you trying to go to the games this year yeah i'm trying to go every year actually i have a question for brian relating to this did you ever get a tommy his uh steak dinner so i you know i was kind of disappointed let's get a little backstory on that okay backstory backstory um tommy and i have had a couple running bets throughout the

course of the season and one of the by the way he's referencing tommy marquez the host of talking elite fitness along with sean woodland go on sorry that's right and uh one of the bets that we had had was relative to allison scud's performance at the west coast classic and i mean i actually set the over under at 11.5 and i gave tommy the choice i said do. And I actually set the over-under at 11.5, and I gave Tommy the choice. I said, do you want the under or the over here? I said, I think if I had the choice, I'd take the over, but I'll let you choose. And he chose the under, and I said, okay. So he made a bet.

It wasn't a steak dinner bet on that one. And it was coming into the final event. You were better than 11th place at that point. Top 10. You were inside the top 10. Yeah, I made it by the skin of my teeth into the last heat. And so she's in the last heat of the final event. And it's one of those workouts.

It was 15 ring muscle-ups and then five squat cleans at ascending weights. And that's a workout for me that when I looked at the totality of workouts, I was like, hmm, I don't know how her strength is relative to the rest of the field. She could slip down a few spots here, but you didn't. I was actually, I was really impressed with how you did on that workout overall. And I didn't feel bad at all. Losing, losing the bet to Tommy after that. I was like, obviously she's worked on that and it has paid off for her. And I think she finished ninth. Your ninth was your final placement. Yeah. Ninth overall. I got eighth on that event. Yeah. Well, it was like, I, for me, for you, it was kind of like bittersweet. Like,

I think you were probably really happy with the performance on that final workout and your overall placement, but you were also ninth and like eighth extends your season, right? Yeah. Yeah, for sure. I think that my execution preparation training in the last year was all the best I could do really. And that's, um, you know, at the end of the day, that's really the only thing that I can control is giving my best effort and being the most prepared that I can be. So I was definitely really proud and I really enjoyed the competition the whole time. Just my ability to execute and just, you know, move on from events too i wasn't really looking at the leaderboard obviously my goal was to make it to the games but i just knew i had to give my all for each event

and then move on to the next one and just keep doing that that all weekend but yeah it was it was definitely bittersweet you know i would have loved to do the last chance qualifier where obviously make it to the games but well your performances that weekend were a good like testament to what you said because you're but i think your best three workouts were your last three workouts you finished inside the top eight on all three of those yeah and then so yeah so tom well you had a tough you had a tough start you had a tough start yeah i mean it's was sorry brian the you know the placement like i said i didn't really look at my placement until on each event until after um the weekend was over so placement wise it looks like i had a tough start but this first event i pr'd my training time by

over a minute and improved by like a hundred percent from when I did that workout in 2016 regionals, it was just 20th in the field. And that's kind of what I mean by like, I can't, I can only control what I do. So like I PR'd my best time by over a minute and I couldn't control that there was 19 faster times than that. So I was really like, and same on the, same on the ruck run, like run it long running events have always been really tough for me. And I've put in a lot of work in that area. And actually it was four loops and the first loop I was basically in next to last on the first loop. And I was just like, well, I know this is the pace that

I can hold for this type of 40 minute long workout. And that's just, I just have to accept that that's like the best I can do and just keep pushing for the whole rest of the workout and don't walk, don't give up, even though I might get last place. And just each lap, I just started picking off girls that had started walking. And there was a couple of people who passed out in that workout who came out way too hot. And so even though those were my two worst finishes, they were some of the biggest wins of the whole weekend, honestly. And I even sprinted past two girls right at the end of the of the rec run, too. So it was really fulfilling to be like, um, you know, just

kind of embracing this like ultra realist mindset of like, okay, well I would love to be in first place right now, but I'm just, that's not my reality right now. So what can I control to maximize, um, my performance? It's a testament to your mental toughness too, because to come out with a couple finishes, a couple of 20th place finishes and to finish as strong as you did is, is crazy. I mean, it would be, you know,

yeah, it's crazy. And you did, I think, I think mental toughness, but also just her experience, you know, she's not new to the sport.

And so she's been in situations like that before where maybe, you know, I'm just assuming, but maybe she hasn't responded mentally as well to a tough start placement wise to competitions, but she's not, she's beyond that now, which is good to see. I think it's just easy to get wrapped up, like your self-worth wrapped up in like your placement, but then just knowing that you can have the goal to win and to qualify for the games, but ultimately that's only a partially controllable goal. So just because people did better than you doesn't mean that you're less worthy.

I know all the work and dedication that I put in and sacrifices I made, and I really don't think I could have done anything better. I gave it my all, and I wasn't good enough this year, but that's okay. I'm just going to keep building on that and hopefully the stars will align. How old are you? 28.

What was that final workout, the Red Closer 15? What was that? 15 ring muscle-ups or event 15 at the games. No, no, no. I'm looking at the West coast classic, whatever that is. Rag closer 15. 15 ring muscle ups. And then it was one clean at, I think one 50, one 65, one clean at one 75, one clean at one 80, one clean at one 90, one clean at 200. So five squat cleans. Danielle Brandon murdered the pack.

She did. She really did. She's super strong and great at ring muscle ups. That's crazy i was actually surprised to find out that a couple not everybody went unbroken like danny spiegel she also crushed that event but she didn't she broke up her muscle ups oh yeah she did do well but still 20 seconds and set behind danielle brandon and such a and such a um well that's short dan, Daniel didn't break up the muscle-ups. Yeah, that's amazing.

Yeah, Daniel's timing, that was a super outlier. I mean, she was the fastest off the muscle-ups and the fastest through the barbell, which you would not expect someone to be the fastest in both of those. Right. Last thing about your question, Allison, I was looking for you at the after party to apologize and commend you on your performance and tommy said you were there but we couldn't track you down so it's actually seven's fault because we did a podcast for like two hours before that otherwise

i definitely would have had the chance to say that oh that's right i remember that i can't believe you still went to the party um how did you hear about that story tommy told you tommy told me yeah at the after party he was like you won me a steak dinner i was like what and i was like who is this brian guy doubting me that i can't make top 10 like come on you should just keep pretending like you don't know who he is just to pay him back for that. I'll show up in Madison. I'll say, hey, Allison, how's it going?

She'll be like, anyone know who this guy is? Yeah, security. Hey, guys, I did a podcast with Siobhan and some other dude. I don't know who he was. If you're at the games this year and you see Brian and Dave are in the same space, will you introduce them to each other? Why? If you can, can you get a video of that for me? I just, I just think that Dave's jealous that I have a new friend now that I don't work at CrossFit. And I think he's, I think he wants to fight Brian or something. Like he thinks Brian's stepping on his, his boyfriend's turf. Plus Sevan knows that, that I won't, won't do anything more than just say hi casually to him in any other setting unless I'm forced to.

Anything special with the demo team this year in terms of like, are you going to get your own DTC line of clothing? Your own special shirt? Will you be wearing, you know know like the leader at the games wears a white t-shirt is there anything that will denote denote that you are the king shit you're that you have the biggest dick on the team if i don't i'm gonna be upset and noble awesome where is my captain's uniform yeah in the past i don't think they've done that right i don't think that the captain had a special no no but you need it that would be awesome yeah maybe i could get like a captain's hat uh my final question to you actually i'm not gonna ask that question

i think i'm done have you been in touch with all the people on the demo team already? Not really. Before it was official, I texted or Instagram messaged a couple people. I know Khan already and Tola. That's perfect. That's really what I wanted to ask was if Khan Porter had already set out a schedule for when you guys could drink beers during the weekend. a schedule for when you guys could drink beers during the weekend not to my knowledge he hasn't set that schedule but he'll have to run it by the captain before it's approved i'm i'm pretty sure he's about the uh the most fun like you you could you'd be hard-pressed to find someone that's more fun than that to have on a demo team yeah i'm super excited but i i got to meet Khan when we both competed in China back in the end of 2019.

And we got like just all the American athletes or not American, but I guess English speaking athletes kind of hung out and like, like figured out all the like good spots to go in China together. So we got to meet there and he's really awesome. He is a cool dude. Is he the only-american on the team james newberry oh that's right but but but james is already here in the states right i guess that was more my question i wasn't honest with my question so that means con con is coming from the the great prison of Australia to the United States? I think that he had already had plans to do so.

He announced a couple weeks ago that he was I think maybe he was coming with a sponsor or something but he was always planning to be there. How do you ever go back? How do you ever fucking go back? I've never been. You can't go. You have to stay in a hotel room for two weeks at your price, at your cost.

Your cost, their price. Because three kangaroos died somewhere. Fucking insane. And I don't give a fuck about your comments on YouTube. If you don't like this show, don't watch it. Um, Alison, thank you for coming on. Yeah. Thank you so much for having me. This was cool. It'll be fun to do a debrief with you afterwards when you can, uh, I can talk about all the good stuff. Yeah. Does your, um, does your, does your NDA expire? Um, I don't know actually, but I'm assuming like i don't know i didn't read it

i'm assuming once it's public knowledge it's allowed to be talked about are you liking this by the way too too is this fun is this is this an okay consolation the podcast no well the podcast definitely is i know you love this i mean being the being on the demo team is this like you you wanted to go to the games like when i asked you do you want to go to the games you're basically like yeah fuck you aren't you paying attention um but is this is this an is this fun like will you be able to be there and enjoy being on the demo team or will you be there watching the games and being like god damn it i could have done great at this workout yeah i mean it's a mix of both like i'm super grateful and honored to be on the demo team it's such a unique experience and a rare experience

too so i'm i'm super pumped for the games it's going to be awesome and to be hanging out with everybody it was great to see everybody at west coast classic it's been such a long time and so super pumped for the games. It's going to be awesome. And to be hanging out with everybody, it was great to see everybody at West coast classic. It's been such a long time. And so to just continue that into the games, but definitely, you know, especially testing almost all of the workouts it's, it'll be hard, but hopefully just motivating too. And yeah, so do you guys ever, is there ever any element of like, uh, while you're watching a workout go on and you kind of know, you're like, Oh man, I had a pretty good time in this one. I wonder how it's going to stack up against the field. Yeah, of course that happens. But you also know, like as, as a veteran athlete,

I didn't do the workouts exactly in a row, exactly how they're going to be, um, done at the games. And I will also wasn't really tapered and, you know, training for the games also. So there's so many factors in there that you can't really consider, but you'll definitely have that in the back of your mind. The other thing I was wondering is... Hey, just so you know too, Brian, there's some... It's pretty amazing and intimate, the position she'll be in. And I'll tell you one thing about being seen behind the scenes of the CrossFit Games. If you saw behind the scenes of what happens at Coca-Cola

on the fucking executive board or the executive board at Nike, or if you saw the shit shows that probably happened in a lot of these corporate juggernauts, you would not be impressed. You'd be like, this is a fucking joke. If you see behind the scenes at the CrossFit games, it will blow your mind. It's even more impressive than you can imagine. Just the amount of equipment being moved around, what a great oiled machine it is and yet how fun and the camaraderie it's a massive undertaking and it's crazy cool and you're the whole time you're so proud and you can't even kind of believe that you're put you're one of the the the cogs in the wheel i would say wouldn't you agree with that allison yeah 100 even just in the testing process

you don't realize everything that is going on in Dave's mind and what that means for logistics at the games and really the spectacle of the games too. He said before he wants a really good test, but he's also aware that it's got to look cool too for the sport and and to be like uh viewer view to get viewers and dave will do shit like this that no one will ever know about but like a workout will finish and i'm just making this up but i can totally see dave doing it this a workout will finish someone will have taken first place he'll lean over to allison and be like hey didn't you get a better time than that in the demo and he'll be like yeah and as the first place winner walks off he'll be like hey tia alison beats you in this workout when we demoed it i mean it's you see and hear the best shit it is so awesome and too bad i'm not doing that anymore oh it's fucking amazing and everyone or vice versa like whoa they really crushed you with that yeah yeah yeah yeah you doubled

alison's time and alison have to tail go between her legs. Totally. It can go any way. But it's so awesome. And he includes everyone. And it's really – I'm really stoked for you. It's so awesome. Yeah. Thank you. Okay, Brian, go ahead.

Sorry. I went off on my – he gave Dave and CrossFit Games a handy. No, you're exactly right. I've had a chance to walk around back there and see all the process, and it is very impressive. But the other thing I was wondering, because I know you give the feedback to Dave sometimes, and maybe it's not you, but it could be any of the athletes. I would feel like this.

If I said to him, like, yeah, I think it should be five instead of four, and then you get to the workout, and it's like, man, please help the athletes do well on this implement that I suggested that he actually took my advice on. Yeah, like you're saying to whatever way you change the event. Sure. Like if you gave him advice and he implements it, are you like then kind of like sweating it like, oh, shit, fuck up. No, I think because it's, it's really a group effort for the testing. You know, it's not just, I did it once and then I tell him and then he changes it.

So many people test the workouts and then we really like I've done multiple versions of every, nearly every workout also. And so then from that that data he just decides which one fit the best for his vision for that test there's this notebook brian that lucas carries around that i asked him one time where do you keep that he's like oh just next to my bed i swear to fucking god that thing should be kept in a safe you've seen that you've seen that notebook right right, Allison? It's like nuts. Yep. Just writing down everything. Yeah, but I think also, and you guys can know this from the history of the game's events too, he's not trying to make every event as hard as possible either. So some are meant to be short and fast, and he has a vision for, oh, certain, you know,

this part should be pretty much unbroken for most people, or most people will finish under the time cap, or I only want the very best people to finish under the time cap, stuff like that. So the feedback is all relative to what his vision for the test is going to be. Hey, you know,

it's weird. I'm looking at the, I'm looking at the, um, I'm looking at the Riverside FM recording features, like the options I have as the host, and it has an avatar photo for all of us. I sure as hell know you didn't load an avatar photo, right? Like an emoji?

It's just a picture. No, it's actually you. Do you see that? Do you guys see that? There's like me, you, and Brian. I can see mine on the right side. And I did not choose that picture. I don't know.

What is it? Yeah, what are you doing? Are you wearing a mask in that? Oh, maybe. Is it a picture of me like now? I guess so. I guess it just grabbed a still frame of you and stuck up there. Because that's the shirt you're wearing.

Yeah. And is that the shirt I'm wearing? Oh, it just grabbed a still frame of you and stuck up there because that's the shirt you're wearing. Yeah. And is that the shirt I'm wearing? Oh, it is. Maybe it saved it. You got sweatbands on? Are you working out? No, I just wear these. I wear these and socks for every show.

Actually, I wear them almost always unless I get too hot. I can't do a show bare. I't say that again to keep your hands dry no to keep me just no just to keep me warm oh okay just to keep me warm okay yeah and i won't work out with them because i don't want them to get sweaty i see i actually use socks as sweat bands when I work out with my cat's faces on them. Oh, like you cut off the ends and just pull socks up and what to stay warm. Yeah. To stay warm. So, uh, so the grip doesn't pull into my wrist. And so to help with sweat. Interesting. How many pairs of those do you have probably like four but my favorite one are the ones with my cat's faces on them i try to watch those you ordered those somewhere yeah i got them as a gift actually as like the

pup socks that were going around like a couple years ago but i have pretty small feet so none of the like standard size, one size fits all socks ever really fit me. So I was like, well, I would wear these every day if I just cut them off and use it, use them as sweat bands. So who gave them to you? I think Ralph got them for me. Oh, nice. I knew it. And he was okay with you cutting the feet off. Yeah. Yeah. I use them more now. Yeah. Awesome. That's a good dude.

You have him trained well. Can you imagine doing that? I can't imagine doing that for my wife. I should do that. I'm going to do that. Getting her a little like. I'm going to buy her. Like I don't mind going to Amazon and getting her something in one click in it and then

being like, all right, done. You know, like some sponges for the kitchen yeah but something like where i have to upload a photo yeah that's probably like first five years of relationship thing maybe 10 oh yeah i'm way beyond that i'm just one click on amazon prime now is there anything you'd like to say in closing to allison and a formal apology uh good luck next year things that you want to tell her she needs to work on brian yeah i'm open seriously open to all feedback i know you're the data guy so tell me uh no i was not uh i was not like kidding earlier i was impressed i was impressed at uh vague in vegas by your performances and your continuity of progression over the weekend, really.

All those little things that you shared with us, that's stuff that I can't really know. I don't have time to go talk and ask all the athletes, and they don't have time to tell me that stuff. So I just see the day of the competition. And you're scared to talk to them, and you're scared to talk to them. And I respect that they're in the middle of a competition. Thank you for reminding me of that, Savant. Okay.

But when I see, when I see someone that finishes a competition strong like that, and then does, does well on an event that I was unsure about based on some things from the past. And I see you're 28 years old and you've been around, you know, for several years,

but you still have several years if you want them. I think you're in a really good place, you know, to just continue to improve and see where, what that does for you. Thank you. I appreciate that. And I think that's kind of one of my goals too, as an athlete is again, something that I can control as a goal is just being consistent and around for a long time and just, you know, just somebody who's kind of always there. And I love doing the sport too.

And I think that that part of just like having that longevity in your mind is it helps you enjoy it for the whole time as well. It's not like, oh, I just need to make it to the games next year and then I'll be whatever. Because even if I make it to the games, I'll still be the same person after the games and want to have, you know, the, the journey to remember and,

and really like what's going to be really interesting. Go ahead, Brian, go ahead. I won't forget. I have a secret. I actually, Alison met you before I met seven.

Did you, but you probably don't remember on seven would not know that Allison, met you before I met Sevan. Did you? But you probably don't remember, and Sevan would not know that, because I met you at CrossFit headquarters when Sevan invited me there for 18.5 Trolling the Leaderboard, and he wasn't there. You were there with Emily Abbott doing something for RPM Jump Rope. Oh, yeah. Yes. Or maybe it was RX Smart Gear, one of those jump rope companies.

RPM. Did you shake hands with her? No, they were just in the gym there and uh i think it was just me and tommy who's like showing me around and her and emily were sitting there i think they just arrived and he's like you know he obviously knows them said hi to them he's like oh this is brian i said hi hi and we just went on our way so alice and i go back way past you seven Savan. Way back. Understood. What the real interesting question is is God forbid you and Paul don't make it to the games next year.

Who is going to be the demo captain in 2022? That is the... That's going to be interesting how Dave reconciles that. His next 10 days are very important in answering that question, if it should arise.

Yes, I got to do my best. I arrived one day, we had to be there at 10 o'clock and I pulled into the driveway of the ranch at 9.59 and Dave was waiting at the door telling me that I was late. Yeah. So I learned my lesson.

That's another weird thing about Dave. I'm going to tell you now. Yeah, showing up on time is not showing up. So I learned my lesson. That's another weird thing about days. I'm going to tell you now. Yeah. Showing up on time is not showing up. I actually had an appointment with him to do shooting with my kid, and it was so casual. It was like not a big deal at all. My kid got hungry, so I stopped and got him food. I don't even work for fucking CrossFit, and I got fucking berated when I got there.

I'm like, Jesus, nothing changes. But it was it was fun though because he was like every consecutive day he's like you just keep getting here earlier and earlier i was like yeah because i don't want to get in trouble again all right allison thank you thank you