The Sevan Podcast - #98 - Andrea Nisler

Episode Date: August 6, 2021

The Sevan Podcast EP 110 - Andrea Nisler & Brian Friend @AENISLER @SEVANMATOSSIAN @BRIENFRIENDCROSSFIT 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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Let's go seize the night. That's the powerful backing of American Express. Visit amex.ca slash yamex. Benefits vary by car and other conditions apply. And maybe restart? No, it's okay. I think this is the best we're going to get. What kind of computer are you on?

Great question. Is it an Apple? No, it's an HP. Holy smokes. Our second HP. I'm not into technology. I just got an iPhone, and I don't like it. I'm an Android person.

Why'd you get the iPhone? It was a Christmas gift. Are you returning it? I wanted to, but actually, because of COVID, all the Verizon stores were closed, so I got stuck with it. She could have sold it.

Andrea... Oh, her Android? No, she could have sold the iPhone and kept the Android. Oh. Could have. Andrea, I'm Sevan. I don't think we've ever met before, right?

I don't know. Met a lot of people over the years, so maybe, maybe not, but nice to meet you. Yeah, nice to meet you. Do you know Brian? We have met. We've met. We've met. We have. I don't know where.

But, yeah, I can't remember either. And just briefly, just small conversation. Yeah. Yeah. Rich Froning, Chase Hill, Taylor Williamson, and Andrea Nistler with one S are all on the 2021 team that won the CrossFit Games. It's called the Affiliate Cup now again. Shit, the Affiliate Cup. Thank you, Brian.

And it's a remarkable feat on so many levels. Obviously, the competition is freaking insane. But the fact that you guys just came together as a team and this is your first year and that there are the rules that you guys all have to live in the same closet for a number of months in order to call yourself a team, the whole thing is remarkable. And congratulations and thanks for coming on. Yeah, thank you. and congratulations, and thanks for coming on.

Yeah, thank you. Before we start, I want to – this is – it's weird how I got on this thought, but have you ever – where do you live, Andrea? So after the games, I moved back to Minneapolis. And is that home for you? That's where you were born? And how close is Minneapolis to the Canadian border? I don't know. It's probably like an eight-hour drive.

I've never been there. Oh, okay. How close is it to like Fargo? Also never been there. I don't know. Okay. So it could be 10 hours or 15. No, it's less than that.

We border. Do you know why I'm asking? No. Oh, okay. We'll get to that in a second. So in California, that's where I live.

There's there, we have a ton of seagulls on the beach, like a shitload of seagulls. And there's this unspoken rule that like, if you're at a beach with a lot of people, or if you're anywhere where there's a lot of people, and it's kind of like this in the city too, like in San Francisco or New York or wherever that you don't feed the birds. If there's a lot of people, and it's kind of like this in the city too, like in San Francisco or New York or wherever,

that you don't feed the birds if there's other people around. And the reason why is if you're feeding seagulls at the beach, they'll come by the thousands. So literally there'll be no seagulls in the air. You'll throw a piece of bread in the air. A seagull will see it from somewhere, and they'll come, and they'll start being everywhere. And do you know why you don't want seagulls around? Brian, you can answer too. Do you guys know why? I think it's better if we don't answer they're giant fucking birds that

take giant shits and they'll start mobbing everyone's like areas where they're sitting and they just fucking ruin everything now i actually like seagulls they're amazing birds they're huge they're beautiful they have cool beaks they have that little orange dot on them they're awesome but you don't want them around when you're at the beach because they shit on everything and so there's this there's this there's these cities all over the united states where people with a certain ideology are basically feeding the fucking seagulls and they're exacerbating the problem and making it so fucking bad and one of those cities is Portland. The people there run that city that make it, but they don't feed seagulls.

They feed zombies. So have you ever been to Portland, Andrea? Maybe once for a business trip years ago. In the last five years, it's turned into a complete fucking shithole because the people who run that city, all they do 24-7 is feed zombies. And zombies are just ruining the city. And what are zombies? People who are addicted to fentanyl, heroin.

They're on the streets fucking everywhere. Stealing is now okay there as long as it's under $950. You're allowed to light buildings on fire. In Seattle, they took over three fucking blocks. They took over a police station. And there's people there who, there who think that's cool. And it's just completely fucking up the city. And I just thought the seagulls was like a perfect metaphor for it.

I was like, those are the same. There's people in our cities who are feeding the zombies and destroying these cities. Stop fucking feeding the zombies. Your ideology is feeding the zombies. But how I got to this is that city Portland is sitting in a state, and I heard you say that state's name. Could you say that state's name for me? Oregon?

Oh, you said it. There you go. I was watching your interview. I don't know which one. There you go. I was watching your interview. I was watching your interview where you and Taylor and Hayley Adams and the youngest female froning. I think she's the youngest female froning.

Lakeland? Yeah. We're sitting in front of the camera, and I heard you say a bunch of words. And I'm like, what is up with this girl? Where is she from? And I just assumed you were from – I thought you were going to say you were from Fargo. And why do I think Fargo? Because I watch TV sometimes and you have, you say, yeah, I say Oregon and you said Oregon.

Or you said it very different. And I rewound it like five times. I'm like, wow, we're like from, we speak different English. Yeah, I mean, the Minnesota accent's pretty weird. It also might be me just changing words because I don't really know what the words are. It's okay. It makes you very friendly. No one likes how I say beg. Beg?

Yeah. Can you say cupboard? Cupboard? Oh, yeah, that's how my wife says it, too. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. cover it oh yeah that's how my wife says it too yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah when i love it when my wife says it because it's it's always gives me a few minutes for my stand-up routine to make fun of her northern um are you excited that you won is it like holy shit we it? Or is it kind of like, duh?

It's a weird mix of feelings. Like, I know I should be really happy. I am happy. But also, like, I wanted that fight for the podium, I guess, too, that we're used to. So I guess mixed emotions after it. I mean, it really, that was obviously the goal. I'd love to do it again. I'd like to see maybe less Affiliate Cup,

more Super Teams again, but I guess long story short, yeah, I'm happy. If you got on a team with Brian and I, if you and Taylor got on a team with Brian and I, it would be a hell of a fight. You'd have to carry the whole fucking team. I mean, I've never

seen either of you work out, so I guess I'm not going to put you down first. But yeah. You get frustrated quick. Yeah. It's kind of a weird situation because everyone there was a lot of hype around you and Taylor

and just that the powerhouse and just how much you were bringing to that team. And that like, you know, it's always been said that the team is, you know, either won or lost by the, by the women. But then at the same time, you, you have the guy who's arguably, you know, the biggest star in CrossFit on your team. Um, what was that? Uh, like, did you, did you feel like that you guys got the notoriety or the attribution for your contribution that you guys deserved?

I don't think we really went in looking for that at all. It is nice to be recognized. And I think being on a team with Rich kind of helped propel that. I mean, I understand Reverend. It's Rich Froning. I mean, you're always going to have fanboys, fangirls for him, and

living in his shadow is something we're super fine with, but also he does a great job also giving us the props for doing things for the team as well. He doesn't take all the credit. Right.

He lets you guys – I noticed he was a gentleman at the awards ceremony. He had you guys go up first. Yeah, so stuff like that. Or he'll put us in front for like an interview, knowing that they want to ask him the question and maybe on the off chance they'll ask one of us instead. Did that ever happen? Did they ever ask you a question?

A few times. I'd rather they didn't, but yeah, a few times. Oh, you're a great speaker. Yeah, you're very confident in the camera. I'm surprised that you don't like that. Confidence is something I've never heard before awkward though i've heard that a handful of times so i can't believe how confident she is what do you mean confident she's awkward as fuck uh in 2000 in 2020 um i was watching i was just digging through

all sorts of videos of yours last night in 2020 um event event two of the CrossFit Games, which I didn't pay attention to the CrossFit Games, I guess, very closely in 2020, you front squatted 287 pounds. I don't remember. Yep. Was that your PR then? It's probably close. I don't really know. That was all a blur. I didn't take it very seriously and we just kind of got through it. But maybe. Why is that? Why is that? Why didn't you take it seriously? I don't know. I didn't really want to do it, but obviously that was the only option. So I did it. I don't like individual stuff. So I wasn't too hyped, but there was the off chance I could still win some money. So we went ahead with it. So I didn't really take the time like I should have or really remembered it.

Why don't you like individual stuff? I don't know. It's because I think I'm not afraid to let myself down, but I am afraid to let a team down. But that's not the only time. You do some individual competitions occasionally. When I'm forced or when there's maybe some money. That's it.

Haven't you done the Granite Games a bunch of times? I did that, well, technically individually twice. That was my first competition ever, but then also I think a few years ago, I did that individually because they denied our team. So. So doing the team competition is facing your fear. Is that what you're saying?

And doing the individual comes kind of easier for you? No, it's just that I don't really mind if I let myself down. So like if I did an individual workout and did really bad, um, I don't really feel bad for myself, but if I let the team down, I feel horrible. So I try harder, I guess with a team. Boy,

some, some, some part of me is, is, uh, having trouble believing this, but we'll get to the bottom of this. We'll get the the bottom of this.

And on January 29th in 2021, I forget what the competition is because I didn't take the notes down, but you made a post. You obviously did an individual competition, and you said in that post, I never thought I'd do another individual comp. And that caught me so off guard because it almost seems like everyone else or at least my stereotype is that people go to the teams for less pressure because they're avoiding the discomfort of individual. But I'm almost feeling like I'm hearing the opposite from you, that the teams bring the best out of you and you go there because it is more uncomfortable. And it brings the best out of you and you go there because it is more uncomfortable and it brings the best out of you. Yeah. I forgot I did one in Texas at the beginning of the year. I guess it's not the discomfort. Usually the team workouts are actually easier. I don't like that. I wish they would make them harder. But it's just you become really good friends with these people. So it just happens because you're spending so much time together. So it's almost like, you know, like when you're a kid, you just didn't want to disappoint your parents. You didn't want to let them down. You

wanted to like do good. So it's the same kind of feeling of wanting to like, wanting my team to rely on me knowing they can. Right. Um, let me ask you a real superficial question. Don't you think you would get more accolades and more money and more attention and more recognition if you want individual? I mean, you're, you're, you're a freak. You're kind of a freak of nature. I mean, you're, you're, you're, you're extraordinarily talented. You're kind of a freak of nature. I mean, you're extraordinarily talented. Thanks.

Sorry about my dog. Bad dog. No, it's okay. We can't hear your dog because there's a fan at Brian's house that drowns out everything else. That's great. I don't really care about the media attention. I hate social media. I have an Instagram because I was forced to get one at one point and I remember to post every like couple weeks maybe. So it's not really for like the notoriety on social media

platforms. The money thing mostly would be why I do it but I think on team this year there is a better chance of me winning more money there. Plus, I like having friends when we do stuff. It's nice to, like, redline with people. They're going through the same thing as you. Individuals, just this, like, empty, vast sadness. You're just alone. You're suffering alone.

It's so nice to look to your right, and there's someone there doing the same thing. How old are you, Andrea? I'm 32. That's the other thing. I'm old, and there's someone there doing the same thing. How old are you, Andrea? I'm 32. That's the other thing. I'm old, so. I don't want to compete. I work out with Haley all the time, and I know what it's like to get my ass kicked every single day. I don't want that either.

Well, well, but Haley lost to a woman who's 35 this year at the Games, and another who's 32. Who's 35? Kristen Holta. Oh, good good for her i did not know that yeah did she retire brian did i see she retired she did she did i consider kristen holta kind of like uh in the sport of crossfit of of the consummate professional maybe similar to andre she doesn't like a lot of attention on her but but she just shows up every year and does very, very well. So going back to the 287-pound front squat, so you did that in 2020 at the CrossFit Games event number two,

but there is a remarkable video on your Instagram, which you hate Instagram. I do. Sorry, you guys paused for a second there too. So if I just look stupid sitting here and you ask a question, everything paused for like a hot 30 seconds. No one looks stupid on our show. When the host has the lowest IQ of anyone who's on the show,

that's the cool part about this show. Anyone like a Smurf could come on here and look smart. But after that, um, you did a 300 pound front squat. Is that your PR? Yes, that one is. I know that one for sure. Cause that was pretty recent. Yeah. That's, that's incredible. It felt good. That's like a number, you know, you always have those like numbers you want to hit. That was one of them. Yeah. It's a, it's kind of remarkable. And you put on that extra 13 pounds in a hit. That was one of them. Yeah. It's a, it's kind of remarkable. And you put on that extra 13 pounds in a year and you're, and you're an old lady. You're 32. Yes. I don't, I don't know.

Part of it too, is like when you work out at the bar and for some reason you feel this pressure. Um, so I remember that day as being like, I don't know, it was a big dudes group and they're all front squatting and you're like cheering each other on high-fiving inflating egos. Um, and I kind of wanted to be like, screw you guys. I'm going to go do this and PR. Yeah. It's, it's insane. Could you do, can you, once you do something like that, um, can you do it again? Like later on today, could you just go front squat 300 pounds? Is that a challenge?

Well, I will try. No, ma'am. I don't know. We're going to try now. Because it's not like that with a snatch, right? Like you could set a PR with a snatch and you could not see it again for a month right a month try like three years okay three years so is is a front squat different is it easier to get that front squat again i think so because you can do it with crap form so that's why i like squatting also any power movements like dead lifting you don't need to have this

precise form you can just kind of grunt through it, risk your body parts to get the weight up, and usually you're fine. Are you – Like a snatch. Sorry. Go ahead. Sorry. I was going to say, but a snatch, you catch that little bit off,

and everything goes to shit. Right. Well said. And then your back squat, you have a 310 back squat by five. Sounds right. If I had a 310 pound back squat by one, I would have a t-shirt made. It's also fascinating.

And a lot of people are going to think this is dumb, but it is fascinating that it's interesting that you could do 310 pounds by, by five with the bar. I don't know. I don't know how thick your neck is, but let's say five or six inches thick, but five or six inches behind the position of the front squat. It's just kind of,

it's just kind of amazing how important the midline is, right? I mean, it really lets you know like, Hey shit, you get something on the midline and not that it necessarily makes you that much stronger. It's only 10 pounds, but it's by five.

Yeah. I guess too, I don't know, back squat seems easier because you're not... It's easy. I don't know. Tell me. I don't know details. Tell me. I just know my back really hurts when I front squat, and when I back squat, it doesn't hurt. So it's easier to do more weight that makes sense because it's just it's because it's pulling you

forward the whole time right and it's just crushing your core and if you kind of turtle it up that's never good what is your max back squat it's like 355 damn crazy so. I like squatting. I wish I liked running or something like that. It doesn't come up very often, but squatting it is. It is something that I, like back squatting never is in a Metcon, or hardly ever. Was that the games this year for us? But, yeah, that was actually a treat.

You're right. I can't think of one time. I don't ever remember seeing it on.com. I don't really look at.com, so I don't know. Me neither. Okay. Maybe that's why I don't see it on there. Okay, Andrew, so you're born in Minneapolis, and that's like some – is that where you're born?

Yeah, St. Paul, Minneapolis, same thing. And that's some city in the middle. Is that by Kansas? Because we interviewed Jacob Heppner yesterday. It's not by Kansas, but it's kind of by Madison where everything just was. It's only like four or five hour drive maybe from Madison. Yeah, it was like four hours. We had a lot of, I mean, Minneapolis has been on the news in the last year or two.

Oh, yeah, that's right. That's right. Minneapolis, that's where George Floyd had the run in with the police. Yep. So you're born in Minneapolis and are you raised there? Were you raised there? You're 32 years old and you're back there. So that's always been home for you. Yeah. Um, the only time I've left is for like college or CrossFit. So yeah. And where did you go to college?

Oh, I went to college in Iowa, so not very far away. Wow. Big job. Drake University. Drake University? Yeah. And, uh, do you have siblings? I do. Um, we are very different. I have a younger brother who is getting his PhD in biochemistry. Um, and then you got me who just does exercising. So is he, is he younger than you? Yeah, he's two years younger than me and a lot, a lot smarter and not, and not as strong and a lot, a lot weaker. No, gosh, no, he doesn't work out. So very different. And, um, did your parents work out? Do you come, were your parents athletes? So my parents weren't really into CrossFit per se until I bought a gym. My mom's still not so much.

That's fine. She still supports it. My dad has gotten really into it. He's 65. He's killing it. About to get his first bar muscle up. Front squatting over 210 pounds. Wow.

I love hearing that. There's actually my neighbor, he's been asking me about the gym a lot and he's 62 and he's like you're sure you're sure i'm not too old to start i should tell him i'm like no way man come on in that's why i wish kind of like the age group divisions got more uh notoriety for what they do i saw a picture yesterday on uh instagram of the 65 plus division for the men like holy crap if you're 65 plus and you're that jacked, good for you. Yeah.

Those men are beautiful. That should be a commercial. I saw that photo too. That should be like a commercial for something. It, it, it was, um,

it almost didn't even look real, right? Yeah. Those guys are fit. And they look so happy and vibrant. Yeah, that was incredible. It was on, do you remember the Instagram account? I don't.

I think I reposted it in my story. But I know I sent it to my dad. Yeah, so that's just awesome. I mean, I know, I feel the aging effects just being 32. Like, it's harder for me to get my knees warmed up, harder for my back. I can barely sit on the toilet without hurting, but like they're 65 and doing this. So that's, so that's something about CrossFit. That makes me feel happy that you say you have trouble sitting on the toilet without hurting. Cause I wake up every morning and I'm stiff as a board,

but by the time the podcast starts, I'm ready to go. I think my, my alarm went off really loud this morning and I jumped out of bed so quickly that I think I tweaked my back, but I'm 49. Yeah. I have to, um, in the mornings I always had to walk down the stairs backwards cause my Achilles hurts so bad. I don't think that's normal, but maybe it is. Maybe there's people out there that have to do that too. I walked down the stair there. That's our first, that's our first really deep thing that we've uncovered. Andrea Missler walks down the stairs backwards in the morning. So, by the way, I hear how proud you are of your dad, that he's working out. And for any parents out there who are listening, all of us kids are like that, even though I'm 49. I can't tell you how proud I am of my mom.

tell you how proud I am of my mom. I'm more proud of my mom that she works out and does CrossFit at 77 than like, I'm as proud of her as I am of my, my little boys achieving their highest achievements. I mean, it's like so cool. And it's a giant stress relief to know your dad's taking care of himself too, isn't it? Yeah, it's cool. And I know like their, group, they weren't, they didn't grow up with fitness front and center like we have it. It's not, it wasn't readily available. So for them to kind of switch that mindset later on in life, it's pretty cool. to the CrossFit Games in 2016, and he'd known that I'd been doing CrossFit for a while but never had much curiosity. But when he saw the Masters divisions competing, because back then they were also earlier in the week, and saw men his age out there

doing all these kinds of crazy things, or in his mind that were crazy things, it did motivate him to change the way that he exercises. It's funny. When I watch videos of you, you're so cantankerous and you're pretty amped up. But this morning we got definitely a more docile version of Andrea Nistler. But we'll get her wound up. Don't worry, people.

I'll say something. I don't know what that first word means. Cantankerous? I don't really know what it first word means but um cantankerous i don't really know what it means either it's like but but it sounds good right let me wait what do you mean wound up i guess i'm confused i didn't uh let's see can't take a risk let's see if i can spell it right let's see if i got let's see here we go bad-temperedative, and uncooperative. Shit, that's not exactly what I meant. Rich listens, you might disagree. You might say, there it is.

That's the word. That is the word. So were your parents born in Minneapolis too? Are your roots there? No, they were actually born in small towns around Madison. So I always like going back to the games because I get to see my grandma, aunts and uncles. It's kind of like a little family reunion. Let's see what crazy things Andrea is up to type stuff.

So, nope, Wisconsin. And are there people in your family or people in your circle who think what you do is crazy and dangerous? Or have you already gotten rid of all those people? I mean, I have noticed that most of my friends now are CrossFitters. And I mean, it is what it is. So there's definitely people who still think it's a little silly or that maybe trying to get big as a female isn't really ideal. I've more or less shut them out at this point. You're always going to find those people. I want to say one thing about you being big.

You are not big. One of the trippy things about how strong you are is that you don't have – you see a lot of strong girls on Instagram outside of the CrossFit community and they have big old mandibles and big old jaws. And they just – they don't look like girls anymore so much like your traditional girls. You still look like a girl. By that, I mean you haven't developed – and actually you don't see it in the CrossFit community even. I mean don't get me wrong. It's not like you don't have a lot of muscle on you.

But, I mean, you're very feminine still in the traditional sense. I just feel like if you see someone back squatting 310 by 5, whether they're a man or a woman, the men start to not – they look more like gorilla. And the women start to look more like men. Maybe that's an evolutionary step backwards. Are women more evolved than men? And so if they take a step backwards, they look like men. And if men take a step backwards, they look like gorillas. Yes, that's obvious.

But I also think it helps that CrossFit does drug tests. So, I mean, it's kind of a barrier to entry there where other sports that don't. I mean, it's kind of a free-for-all. Right. So that probably helps with that look. Right. Were you tested mid-year at all? Does the Mayhem Empire team get tested mid-year?

Yeah. So there is a list of us two that are on that tested list, and they randomly will come have someone watch you pee throughout the year how do they do how do they do that with girls i've talked to a lot of boys about it obviously they can just like stare at your penis and like they can see where the pee's coming out of how do they do that with girls like like like you're are you hovering and then you just hold a cup under you like how do they how do they know you're not cheating like what if you had like a tube running down your back through your butt crack and you were just like pouring pee into it?

I mean, I guess you could be doing that. Um, you would have had to work at the games. You would have had to work out with that on your back. Cause they take you straight from the last workout drug testing. So that would be a risky move. That'd be a hell of a contraption. Yeah. So, I mean, they awkwardly watch me take my pants down, and then I just stand there for a minute while she looks at me to make sure it's real. I don't know. And then, yeah, I just hover over a toilet. So I guess in theory you could, yeah.

So not only do you not have to. Do you have PA anxiety when someone's sitting there watching you? No, no. I try to be the first one in, first one to pee, fill the cup all the way up, get out of there. Oh, yeah, that's nice. That's how I would be too. Get this the fuck over. Because there's some people in there who are in there for hours, right?

Like just the pee won't come out. Actually, Rich was one of them. The first time he tried peeing this past year after the games, he filled the cup up maybe this much, and then he just had to sit out on a couch holding his pee cup while his body made more pee. Oh, God. And you can't drink water, right?

You can, yep. Oh, you can. You can actually have alcohol, too. We didn't know this until Dubai, whenever they had it last. That helps you pee a lot. In that situation, do you feel bad for Rich, or do you guys make fun of him? Oh, that's hilarious. I don't care.

You should tell him to do this to his penis, rub it back and forth in his hand like Play-Doh. That makes the pee come out really fast. Now we're getting weird, but yeah. So you're raised in Minneapolis. You said you owned a gym. What gym do you own? So I own the gym, but I'm not the affiliate owner. Just going to make that real clear here

because that's the rules for a team. Yeah, I own Timberwolf fitness in Minneapolis. Oh, okay. And that's why you made the post that it was sad for you to leave because that's your, your home gym and you've invested so much into it. And that was sad to leave that. Yeah. Um, it's just, that's my community. I've been part of this community now for like six years. I bought the gym maybe two years ago from the other owner. And yeah, it's like my family. And does Taylor live near you? No, she lives in Knoxville. So also in Tennessee. But you guys are homies. Yes. So she recently moved to Tennessee for PA school. But she lived in Iowa before that. So very confusing. We're just like little CrossFit hoes moving around. And how many years

have you guys been on the same team together? Well, if you count 2020, this would be year four. So four years. Yeah. She DM'd me randomly one night out of the blue, wondering if i wanted to have her team with her and it's been a paradise ever since so wait a second you didn't know her and you get this dm from a girl named taylor williamson and she's like yo i'm taylor you want to go on a team together we kind of knew of each other so back in that day we knew each other i knew her as shaved head girl and she knew me as Purple Hair Girl.

So she had a shaved head, and I had purple hair before we were teammates. And I don't know. We competed against each other at, like, Granite Games. So, yeah, I went with Shaved Head Girl. And did she have a team picked out for you guys to go to when she asked you to come on a team with her? She was already on OC3 at the time time and they just needed one more female. So I guess that was kind of their last ditch effort. I was not their first choice, but, um, I think I was like their third choice.

Well, they got lucky with the, that the first two said no, I think. Sure. Thank you. Um, who was their first choice? Do you know? I honestly don't remember. Was it like Tia? Maybe. Uh, honestly don't remember was it like tia maybe uh i don't know we'll take tia annie and if we can't get them we'll get andrea nissler yeah she sucks but she'll be okay am i saying your name right andrea nissler you actually are yeah okay good job thank you i'm surprised too so So you're in Minneapolis and you're growing up there. What did you do as a kid?

What was childhood like? Were you in sports right away? Did your parents get you into like? Yeah. I played a lot of softball growing up. That was my main sport. And swimming. So we grew up on lakes.

Like my parents live on the lake. We had a cabin, lots of outdoorsy things. I was kind of happy to see that kayak show up. Done a lot of kayaking here. And I could see softball. I don't know much about softball, but I could see softball not being like a big running, like you guys probably didn't do a ton of running in softball. But in swimming, that should have helped build your metabolic capacity up quite a bit, right? How many years did you swim? I swam for probably like 10, 11 years. So it's kind of like riding a bike. Once you learn it when you're young, like you'll never forget. It's great trying to learn it as an adult.

I've seen like CrossFitters trying to get into that. It's rough. I'm so happy I had that. Because of the breathing, the breathing patterns, learning how to breathe or. I honestly don't know. It just watching adults try to do this is just horrendous. It's they just try to, I don't know, survive. It looks like survival rather than swimming. Like just some goofy ass shit. You're like, really? You're a CrossFitter? Yeah. If I didn't have that in my back pocket growing up, I would be swimming every day not to look like some of these people. And did you excel? Were you on a winning softball team? Did you set any school records in swimming?

Did you excel in any of your sports? Yeah, I did actually. I only played them through high school. I had no interest for whatever reason in college sports. Um, went through a little rough patch there, but, um, I was all state in softball right away, freshman year. And then in swimming, I set some state records back in the day. Um, yeah. Just curious, what were your, uh, what were your like preferred events for swimming? Oh, it was just the 50 freestyle, short, fast sprint, or the a hundred free. Those are the, I used to swim as well, but the freestyle was my worst stroke and the shorter the distance, the worse for me. So opposites. Oh, so yeah, it's been fun watching the Olympics though with that. I forget how good people actually are at swimming outside

of CrossFit. Yeah. It's crazy. What position did you play in softball? I was center field, so just ran around. I was also the first one at bat, so I was a slap hitter. I was the fast one. What does that mean, a slap hitter? So I used to be fast. What does that mean, a slap hitter? Slap hitter, they go from the left side.

On the left side, just kind of dink the ball into the field of play and then use your speed to get to first base. And in starting your freshman year, you were great at it. Yeah. Did you make varsity your freshman year? Yep, varsity and then all state. We went to state. And what year did you graduate high school?

Yeah, this was so long ago, so I can't really relive the glory days. I graduated in 2008 and um a long long time ago you posted this picture on your instagram and you used a word i don't allow my kids to say and i let my kids say a lot of words and it's no what do i need to delete no you don't need to delete it. And you may have actually used it accurately. We're going to find out here in a minute. My kids don't know how to use it accurately, so I don't let them say it. It's a picture you posted, and it's a picture of you in 2011 next to a picture of you in 2016.

And you said, I can't believe I used to look like this. This is disgusting. And I don't want to say that it's disgusting, the picture of you from 2011, but I w are you going to look on Instagram right now? But I would, I don't think PCs can get on Instagram. I don't think PCs can get on Instagram. And, and I, um, it. And it's unfathomable to me that the girl in that picture from 2011 has a 300-pound front squat and a 350-pound back squat or whatever you said it was. It's fucking unfathomable. It's unfathomable to me that that girl in two years made it to the CrossFit games. Like I, I, do you see the picture? Um, no, sorry. I was, I'll find it. Who, who is, who, who was that? Who, who was that girl? And the reason why I don't let my kids say that we're disgusting is

cause they'll, they'll look at a spider and say, that spider's disgusting. And I'll be like, dude, that spider's amazing. What are you talking about? Yeah. So like I said, I went through a little bit of a rough patch. Had some problems with food and over-exercising a bit. Not CrossFit. So that's kind of why I ended up not playing sports in college.

And then actually right after graduating is when I found CrossFit. Um, so that's kind of why I ended up not playing sports in college. And then actually right after graduating is when I found CrossFit. So it all worked out. So this is kind of like my redemption. How does someone get problems with food? What does that mean? Like you just didn't want to eat, you want to be skinny. If I knew the answer to that, I would be so rich. Um, yeah, it's a mental problem obviously. So like a mental disorder, it's just, I can't, I don't disorder it's just i can't i don't know why it just happens happens to a lot of people um and i think that's where a lot of people find crossfit and they kind of realize that food is fuel i know that's cliche and cheesy but um

i know so many people that have kind of flipped that switch um so i'm not sure why it starts, but I'm, I know this can help. I'm trying, I'm trying to understand it. So the other day I was every Monday, Wednesday, Friday after jujitsu, I take my kids to swimming. And so today's Friday. So on Wednesday before I knew I was going to go swimming, I knew I was going to take my shirt off at the pool. And so I not only – and I work out anyway. But after my workout, I was like, you know what? I'm going to do 100 burpees because I'm going to go to the pool after this workout because I'm going to go to the pool today.

And I just – I don't want to look like a fat slob. And then instead of eating right after, I'm like, oh, I'll just eat after I come back from the pool so I don't feel or look fat. Is it like that and then you just become obsessed about it. Is it just a little spark like that? Or does someone have to like, no one, like no one ever, it's all, it's all around my pride and I'm okay with that too. But what happens? It just gets out of control and you're just like, Oh, I feel like I look better when I don't eat. Or I feel like I, and then it just spirals and you just kind of become obsessed with getting skinnier and skinnier? I think so.

I think it's more of like a control thing too. Like you feel good knowing you can control that part of your life. Yeah. And it might be when something else is not working out correctly, you focus so much on that. And it does feel good to have that control and then also be skinny I guess it's I don't know it's something where you just mentally go to a different place and then when you're on the outside looking in again I don't really know how to explain it

it's just something that sucks it really does when you When you're in there, you're so invested in it, and you don't understand what you're doing. I don't know. Is that all you did? Was it all just caloric restriction and working out? Yes. Yeah, I would run like seven miles before I'd let myself eat food. And that's someone who doesn't like to run. Yeah,

I know. I'm so sad that that didn't even work in my favor and make me a better runner. And you spent a lot of time, um, in a bathing suit in your life, right? Like, like you said, swimming, going to the lake. So your body's also exposed you like a lot of your life. Yeah, I think that was, uh, the eating stuff was more college based that was later after swimming. So I don't think that really played a part in it. Um, I don't know. I wish I had answers cause then we could help so many people if we did, but I just don't know. And how does it go away or does it never go away? but I just don't know. And how does it go away or does it never go away? I don't know. Um, I actually went and I studied abroad and then, um, somehow just let go. I think it,

I'm not sure. Something just changed. Where, where did you go study? Um, I went to Australia. So I think, uh, there's just so much going on there. It was so cool. I kind of forgot about being obsessed with me. And do you know when you're in it? Are you like thinking to myself, I'm doing something wrong, like I really should be eating more? Yes and no. Some days, yeah, but otherwise it's kind of, it's an addiction, I guess. So look at it that way. People that are alcoholics, they know they shouldn't have the alcohol, but they don't really care, and it feels good, so they take it anyways. It's the same thing. Deep down,

you know, but you just don't care. Was there a catalyst for it? Do you have the story where the swim coach is like, hey, Andrea, you would be so much better swimming if you lost 10 pounds? No, my life isn't a movie. There is no catalyst. I should make up a story. I don't have one. I really don't know.

Yeah, that's fascinating. And you didn't get help for it. You just started doing CrossFit. Or you went to Australia. Yeah, mostly that. Yeah, I didn't really get help. I didn't want it. Because, again, you think nothing's wrong.

You're fine. Yeah, fuck you. Mind your own business. Pretty much, yes. I got this. Don't worry about it. Yeah, I was over 18, so I wasn't a lot. Like, I could make my own decisions legally.

So, yeah, I did not get help except ended up all right. And then how did you find CrossFit? After college, I was actually starting to get a little fluffy. And I know I shouldn't say that, but it was kind of that what's that mean like soft and chubby yeah yeah everything was just kind of fluffy on me so my face was a lot bigger i could tell and i was just becoming unhappy with that um and then someone showed me a video they're like oh there's this thing called crossfit but i really don't think you'd like it and then then that was kind of like, how dare you say that? So I went and tried it just because they said I wouldn't like it. And then I liked it. So jokes on them. But that was it. Yeah.

The first gym I went to was in Iowa. It was fun. And how old were you? and how old were you? I think I was 23. Good thing they didn't say to you, Hey, there's this drug heroin. It's so awesome, but I don't think you'll like it. And you're like,

Oh yeah, we're really lucky. It was just CrossFit. Watch this fucker. You're, you're very right on that. And, and tell me about your first CrossFit.

Tell me about your first experience in the gym. No details too small. I don't even remember it um oh remember i had a full-time job and it was a gym where like they would put a workout on the board but there wasn't any classes so it was just open gym just sounds like a great gym sounds like a great gym i mean it was back in the day so i'd be at work googling all the movements and watching videos so that I could go later on and do the workout. And that's all I remember. I know for a while I thought the clean and jerk was the snatch, and snatch was clean and jerk.

Had the two confused. Me too. Yeah. Yeah, I remember working on rope climbs for like three hours straight. And, yeah, that's really it so so basically the workout would be like fran and it would be this thing called thrusters so you just google thrusters and be like what the fuck is this thruster thing and then be like make sure i watch at least like yeah i watched like 10 videos so i made sure i was watching the right thing

and then i'd go try it and i'm sure I looked nothing like the videos, but no one was there to really help me. And, and, and when, when did, when was the first time you hurt yourself doing CrossFit? Like, or did you, did you always know, Hey, I'm going to do, cause you don't look like or sound like the person who takes things very slowly. I'm guessing like if it said the weight was six, 65 pounds, you didn't scale it. I'm guessing you tried it. I don't know. Uh, I probably did not.

I don't know why I have such a bad memory. Um, yeah, I remember actually this one gym after I moved back to Minnesota, they told me it was kettlebell swings and they told me I couldn't do the RX weight. And I was so angry that I drove to a snap fitness instead and did the workout there with the right weight did you do it first at that gym or you just left no they wouldn't let me so i just left holy shit that was rude wow so so it's a class you do the warm-up then they're getting ready to do it and you have the kettlebell with the rx weight and they're like andrea you can't use that and you're like all right eat a dick and you have the kettlebell with the RX weight, and they're like, Andrea, you can't use that. And you're like, all right, eat a dick, and you got in your car and went and found it. Yeah, because I probably had terrible form.

Like, I was the worst member. Owning a gym now, I would hate me. But, yeah. So I just stormed out of the class like a little brat. Is that characteristic throughout your whole, like, do you see that characteristic everywhere in your personality? I guess. I mean, I don't like being really bad. Yeah. I mean, I'll – I guess. Yeah, I'm a brat. That's what you're asking. Do you have a mate a significant other yeah i've actually been engaged for about three years but the thought of planning a wedding just

so i'll just probably be if you watch the office i'm just pam i don't watch it but you know it's so funny every crossfitter that i dig through their instagram has clips of the office on there. It must be just like, it goes part and parcel with elite athleticism, the office. And, and is it the guy I see in your Instagram? What's his Instagram handle? Something strength,

BD strength or. Yep. That's it. That's the one. And, and how did you meet him? I feel like courting you might be like courting an alligator. So it was on Bumble. Dating app. Uh-huh. did you meet him? I feel like courting you might be like courting an alligator. So

it was on Bumble dating app. Pretty embarrassing. And how long have you guys been together? It's been like six years. And he lives in Minneapolis? Yeah.

He lives also in this house. And in six years, so when you met him, he was stronger than you and now you're stronger than him? Unfortunately, he's still stronger than me. But if you do the men's to women's conversion, I am stronger on a few lifts. Okay. And would that bother you to be with a guy who had a 200-pound back squat by five and yours was 310, or would you be okay with that? I don't know. That's a good question. If they were really nice and a genuinely nice person, then probably not.

But if they're just like a skinny asshole, then probably. It wouldn't work. So kindness is more important to you than strength yeah kindness or like supports right and he does have a very in my endeavors yeah and he does have a very nice body it's not just that he's strong he does have a nice physique i'll let him know yeah i mean anyone can go on your instagram and see him see his body body. What is he, did he move to Cookville with you? No, he stayed here. So we have dogs.

I have this house. He kind of helped manage the gym when I was there. It's just a long distance. I'm not a very like clingy person, so I'm fine leaving, coming back a few months later. But he must be okay with it too. Well, he doesn't really have a choice. He had a choice, but he said he was fine with it.

I mean, that was a big commitment by both of you to make that team situation work last year. Yeah, yeah, it definitely was. I would come back for like a weekend or two, so it wasn't like I was gone all five months or six months. And then who did you live with, or where did you stay down in Cookville? So I either stayed with Taylor in Knoxville, and if I knew, she could drive back and forth, or this nice lady named Jen that does the Mayhem. She's on the media team. She's very nice. So she is fun to live with. I think that they have a lot of people on their team that are open and willing to hosting various athletes when they come in town.

Yeah, I think it's just like a normal thing there, which blows my mind. It's like that gym and that empire that they have going on is just amazing. Thank you for calling it what it is. You and I are the only two people who actually call it what it is. Thank you. No problem. Being a gym owner myself, it's kind of embarrassing. Like, gee, I'm stressed out managing this like small gym and here there's all of this. And like, I don't know, it puts things into perspective.

What's impressive about it? Just how much goes into it. It's not just a gym. It's like the gym, the programming, the bison farm. They have a whole clothing store there that sends out hundreds of orders a day. I mean, there's just so much going on. The coffee shop. I mean, just one company after another, just adding itself to this brand.

Yeah. And so going back to what Brian said, so people know that athletes come and go and that they come there to train. So like it was you were obviously there longer and Taylor was there obviously longer. But people like Samuel and Royce and they just – they'll come there and they'll be employees who have like an empty room, like employees at the Mayhem Empire. And they'll be like, Royce, you're going to stay with so-and-so and you're going to stay with so-and-so. Royce, you're going to stay with so-and-so and you're going to stay with so-and-so and it's going to be $287 a month to be in that room and make sure you don't throw a tampon in this toilet. I think they more came because their countries were kind of locked down still. I know Royce came early. Australia has their shutdown stuff going on. Same with Sam. It was hard for him to train, I guess, in Canada.

And then they are part of the Mayhem family. So it was just nice. They came to also train for a little bit so that we have this, like, group. So Bailey was also there, who's a women's individual. So having this group train together is a lot better prep for the games, I guess, than just doing it by yourself. So it's a lot better prep for the games, I guess, than just doing it by yourself. So it's a, it's a welcoming environment. I mean, if you have the means and you can go there, they welcome you in. And there's someone always with an extra room that you can rent. I mean, within reason, sure. Yeah. Like you couldn't have brought your dogs and let's say you had two kids

no probably not but like also you have to be there for a reason you can't just email them and be like hey i want to move to mayhem for a few months and you're just some random person like there's got to be a reason you're there do you ever did you ever clean the gym uh nope no there's someone who does that i asked before i offered to mop and all of this Did you ever clean the gym? Nope. No. There's someone who does that. I asked before. I offered to mop and all of this, and they said there's people that did that.

Seven, are you asking about while she was at Mayhem or in general in her career of owning a gym? No, at Mayhem. At Mayhem. Oh, at Mayhem, no. But do I clean my own gym? Yes, every day. Right now is my cleaning time, and I'm getting a little antsy that I'm not going to get to it. Andrea, I went to college at UC Santa Barbara and I was at this house one night at a party. A bunch of kids, you know, high on ecstasy and weed and drinking and lots of female male courtship.

And I was in the kitchen grabbing a beer, probably like a Natty Ice. And I look over on the wall and there's a poster. And it was all of like these major events that had happened in history. And I look over at the wall and it said 1977 or something like that. It was in the 70s, I'll never forget. And it said the first time a Great Dane and a dachshund had a puppy. And I was fascinated by that because, first of all, how does a Great Dane and a dachshund have sex?

But two, it had to have been the Great Dane as the female because if a female dachshund got pregnant by a male Great Dane, those babies would kill her. They would grow so big. The puppies would be bigger than the dachshund. That's a good point. I didn't think about that part. Yeah.

Do you own a Great Dane-dachshund mix? I do. Did I hear you say that? So I think that's what she is. She's a rescue. And can I see that dog? Do you have that dog there? Yes, I do have that dog.

Annie, Annie, come here. I have a treat. I have a treat. She only responds to food. She's fat. What a remarkable mix of dogs. I had three Great Danes. I've never owned a Dachshund, but I wanted one.

But what a bizarre. All right, I'm grabbing her. Yeah, no, she's a rescue. So that's what we think she is. But this is a giant wiener dog. Put her on display here. Wow. And what makes you think she's massive?

What makes you think she has Great Dane in her? So it was a very heavy. If you Google the Great Wiener uh-huh you're gonna see some shit but um you're also gonna see this dog oh everyone do to pause the show and google that up right now and then erase your history go ahead but you're also gonna see this exact dog and it's what you get when you breed a great dane and a wiener dog and what are does it have giant paws uh her paws are pretty big yeah but it's more it's not as she's not as big as i would assume with a great i think i don't know more

wiener dog than anything then but that's what she it was on the there's a dog show every year and one of my friends was watching and they realized like oh that's your dog so we looked it up have you ever seen another great wiener before no that's the only one you didn't see any of its siblings uh no she was just a rescue wandering the streets on her own alone. So you're just driving by and you're like, Holy shit, a great wiener. And you jumped out of the car and grabbed it and put it and brought it in the car. Like this one's mine. She's like, I would recognize one of those anywhere. I'd take it.

No, she was actually a foster fail. So I foster dogs as well on the side. And you kept this one. I did. Yes. Cause who doesn't? I'm you're of course i'm going to keep a great wiener that's so unique it is it is everyone should have one um so you're you're you're you're way into pets that's clear from your instagram like you love animals

um but something else that that's kind of when we touched on this a little bit earlier in your Instagram that's a little obvious is is that as you embarked on this journey with CrossFit you realized that like maybe you weren't going to have a lot of friends you were like this thing was going to take over your life and you were willing to accept that. Is that accurate? Yeah. I guess as you, I mean, every phase in life, you're going to cycle through friends as you kind of grow as a person. So this is just my next journey in life. And it's, I mean, I'm changing and something I love, so I'm not going to not do it to keep the friends that I had. So, I mean, I'm gaining a lot of friends that I'm meeting at my gym. So it's kind of like a, just a churn. I always have like the three best friends from middle school. They're never going

to go away, but otherwise everyone now is basically just my CrossFit friend. Did you have to say that in case they're listening? Yep. Just so they know. Katie, Katie, and Allie, you're still my best friends. Are you going to do the team again next year? What's the plan over at Mayhem? Hot-button question. So there were some talks.

I mean, if Rich wants to have us back, cool. Let's go. Taylor and I were actually just discussing yesterday. We both thought maybe this would be our last year, but it doesn't really feel like it should be. So maybe one more big year.

The way I'm picking up the story from watching the games, and this is just from the interviews that they've done with the team after you guys win events. Basically, it sounds like from the outside, they've done with the team after you guys win events. Basically, it sounds like from the outside, and I haven't spoken with Rich, it sounds like from the outside that he was done. He had accepted that he was done and that one of his family members, the Chase guy,

always had dreams to be on a team. So Rich was like, okay, fuck it. I'll go on a team with you just to help you with your dream. And then it sounds like they recruited you. Like Rich knew that you and Taylor would be the winning – you guys would make the soup taste perfect. And so they brought you into the stew. And then they won.

But then – so you would think maybe just from that narrative that you guys would be done. But then in one of his exit interviews at the games this year, he said, well, I think they asked him even, are you going to do this again? He goes, well, I'm not good at anything else. Might as well. So maybe – not maybe. I am making a presumption, presupposition. So it sounds like for sure Rich and Chase are going to go again, but you're not sure if they're going to have Taylor and Miss Nistler on the team.

Would that be more accurate? Yeah, I'm not sure who the team's going to be. But there will be a team team i think it sounds like it i'm even before the games like a couple weeks before rich was starting to like drop like oh next year is stuff like that so i kind of had this feeling he wasn't going to be done i mean the man just can't quit um it's i feel i get it like If we're not going to train for something, then what do we do with our lives? What's the point of training? I get it.

Is it like that in the gym? Go ahead. Go ahead, Brian. Do you think there was any element for him of just the nostalgia of it, of being back out there and doing it again after not being able to do it in 2020? Hey, this show is so informal. Your dog can bark as much as it wants. Don't give a fuck at all.

She's barking at another dog going by. She is not trained well. Perfect. Don't care. Perfect. I love it. Sorry, Brian. Go ahead.

Go ahead, Brian. Sorry. So I don't really think Rich loves. So we were lining up for the last event, and he looks at me and he goes, I just don't really like Rich loves. So we were lining up for the last event and he looks at me and he goes, I just don't really like the competition part of things. I love training, but I just don't like the competitions. And that blew my mind because I feel like I'm the opposite. So I feel like he, I don't, I don't know what it is.

He said that to you at the CrossFit games in the final event. Hey, Andrea, make sure you give it your all. By the way, I hate this shit. I mean, what? Rich Froning is the greatest leader in the history of CrossFit, and you're telling us that's his hype speech before you go out there? I don't really like this shit. Oh, wait.

He knows I don't like hype speeches. He knows that. We got to know each other like that's that i love hearing shit like that um no i think too he puts so much pressure on himself um just because it's rich froning so um he's an amazing athlete and it would just i think it's just a lot of pressure for him did he uh did he say anything to you guys or give you guys a look at all when dave announced um tia as the most dominant athlete in CrossFit Games history? Or did you guys even see that?

I didn't see that, but also I don't disagree with that. I mean, she's amazing. Yeah, she is. But it was an interesting claim for him to make because she has won the same number of titles as Matt, so I don't know how he distinguishes between the two. And Rich has a total of nine titles at the game, so there's people that feel like that's a conversation worth having. So for Dave to just make that announcement, I was just curious if you were with Rich at the time or if you even heard it. And Rich has done it with so many different people, which kind of gives him even more street cred. Not kind of.

Gives him significant more street cred. Sorry, go ahead. You're making so many of that's what she said jokes. But also. Throw them out there. Go. You start talking this shit. We'll come back at you.

Go. You know Dave doesn't really respect teams the way he does individual competitions. I mean, he said it to me before. Teams are just a way for people, like a cop-out for them. So I think when he says that, he doesn't take into account Rich's team wins. It's just his individual wins. So I think that's where he's coming from when he talks about Tia being the most dominant. I mean, we talked about it on the show before the games and I,

and I, I do believe that the most exciting thing about the team competition is wondering if it isn't necessarily even the team competition. It's wondering if may, if when is rich going to lose? Do you know what I mean? You were, so I,

it's a pretty fascinating thing going on there. Pretty. It's, it's pretty amazing, right? Yeah, it's a pretty fascinating thing going on there. Pretty. It's pretty amazing. Right. Yeah, it's cool. I mean,

being his enemy for so long, I felt the same way. Like this is the year they're going to lose, but when they, when I get the excitement over that, were you, were you guys already kind of like a enemies or nemesis of him before the 2017 games? Or you guys kind of came the next year, I think.

So I actually started teams at the games in 2014. So I was on team well before Rich. One year before Rich. Fun fact. Yeah, before. No, it kind of started more in like 2018 i feel like i don't know was it i think the other years i was just happy to be there so when they lost in 2017 to wasatch was that satisfying for you to watch or do you not really care at that point i mean don't get me wrong. I was slightly happy. I didn't know them at the time. Like I just, you don't want to get to know your competition. That's just my thing kind of. So I didn't know them at the time. But like, so yes, back in the day, I was happy.

Right. But knowing these people now, they're great. And then, well, I mean, and also I'm just reminded of what you said at the start of the show is that you like it when the competition is close. So like that was a fun year for the team competition because you didn't really know if Wasatch or Mayhem was going to win. And then they were just like trading blows the whole day. So it was an exciting competition, whereas some years on the team side, it's been just a runaway. Yeah, yeah. I think it's always fun to really earn it, um, and not earn it your first day. And then the rest of the competition is just

kind of there. So yeah, it's, it's more exciting. And then that 2018 years, when is that when, um, that's the year that Taylor reached out to you and you guys started like making the OC three team that people probably are familiar with. That was kind of like, well, you guys were the, I think the biggest challenge to mayhem for at least two years and probably set up to be a third before, uh, you know, we had really high hopes for 2020. Like we were positive. That was the team. We finally made this team that's going to beat mayhem. And then it just never happened. So I'll let you guys decide if we would have beat them or not, but I think we would. But before that, in the 2019 season, you competed against them at Rogue,

and obviously some people will have watched that. Yes. That was probably a pretty special weekend for you. Yeah. I forgot about that. Yeah, yeah technically we did i only count the game stuff but yeah i forgot rogue was really fun yeah we won that and do you do so so you're at the 2019 rogue invitational and the team that you're on is what oc3 yes yeah it was the oc3 team and you beat rich's mayhem team. We did. It was heavily programmed for females, which was great.

And it was just a heavier competition in general. So it worked in our favor. Seven, there was a cool, there was a very unique event at that game. There was a tug of war at the Rogue Invitational. And so I think... That was actually weird to win. We had the skinniest guys on the field. So your team went against Rich's team in the Tug of War?

Yeah. And you saw Rich come forward and like... Was Rich in the back or the front? I don't remember. Oh, God. I'd start crying if I saw you guys beat Rich in a Tug of War. I'm glad I didn't see that. Out of sadness? Yeah, out of sadness.

Rude? Yeah, well, I'm just telling you. I would have cried. And did you guys talk there at that event? No, I don't. I'm not a bitch, but in competition, I don't really like talking to the other teams, so I come off that way. So So no, we did not talk.

And Rich talked about this actually. Like when you guys were first announced that you guys were making this team this year, it was December or January. And you guys had that little video that came out and interviewed each of you. And he said something like that. He's like, you know, these girls are like mean, like a competition, like they won't talk to you. They give you these looks like whatever. He's like you know these girls are like mean like a competition like they won't talk to you they give you these looks like whatever he's like so i wasn't really sure yeah i mean i'm not gonna i go harder when i think i don't like the people i'm against so

once i get to know them if they're really nice people that sucks because then i don't know like if you would have found out rich had a wiener dog you would have been like oh that fucking ruins everything because i saw you holding his wiener dog in one of the interviews. Oh, that's Taylor's wiener dog. Rich has two very cute cats, though, and two very cute dogs. So, yeah, I got to know his animals, and now I really like him and his family. So it would be really hard to go up against him again. Wait a second.

Taylor brings her dog to the gym? Yes. She has this little seven-pound wiener dog. I saw him. He's cute. He's so cute. Are there rules about that at the Mayhem Empire? Are you allowed to bring... Could anyone

bring their dog, or do you have to be on the team? Do you have to have a certain cachet before you can bring your dog i'm not really sure of the rules i think hers was out of necessity because she couldn't find anyone to watch him and it's just tiny dog you can just tie him up you ever seen a dog defecate in the gym in rich's gym yeah no my dog shits in my gym all the time but that's it. I wonder if you shit in the gym at Mayhem Empire if a lightning bolt would come down from the skies, the heavens, and fucking kill the animal. Oh, sad.

It could happen. Honestly, I don't think it would really get noticed or just get cleaned up. It's really not as uptight as you would think. I mean... Andrew, remind me of the guys that were on your team in 2020 oh in 2020 that was gonna be travis williams and uh was it gosh was it roy gonna be yeah thank you roy gamble that's that's what i thought i wanted to tell you a little a quick little story from the 2019 game. So the 2019 games, there were only 14 teams there. Those are the, that was like the only

super team year that we really had, um, at the games. And I was talking to Travis Williams before the competition because he told I had, um, projected his team below another team. And he's like, no, no, we're definitely going to beat that team. And he goes, you don't know enough about the team competition. And he starts telling me about every every team in the competition strengths and weaknesses and he gets to your team and so he was not on your team that year and uh he gets to your team like those are the two best team female athletes in the world andrea and taylor and then next year he ended up somehow on your team so he must have had uh been motivated to get you guys. So it was actually, he asked us the day the games ended that year.

We had already kind of been friends before. We did Dubai with him. So we'd been on a team with him. And he was super drunk. We were kind of drinking too. And he's like, hey, let's do a team next year. And then we said, yeah, let's do it. That's that.

Was that Travis or Roy? So wasted no time. Travis. Can you imagine that? So like most guys need to get drunk to ask a girl out at a party. This guy has to get drunk to ask her to be on the same team. I fucking love it.

Oh God. He's like, I know one more beer and I'll have the balls to ask her to be on the same team as me. And that was a really good team. I was there in Dubai watching you guys. I think it was a Misfit P10 performance was what you guys were competing under.

And you guys were very good. And I was pretty excited and curious to watch you guys compete and see if you could do it that season. It was a bummer that it didn't happen. And especially then that the event that Mayim was trying to put together also didn't happen. Yeah.

Anyone who's listening, you can go on Bumble. Although Andrea is dating, you can't date her, but you could find her on Bumble and ask her to be on a team if you want. I don't think I'm on there anymore. Oh, shit. Damn. It's been like six years. Sorry. So this is a fascinating thing about you.

Think of all the people. I wonder how many athletes have your experience. Misfit, a proven training cadre of insane talent. The Mayhem Empire, nothing needs to be said there. Think Tank Training, nothing needs to be said there. Where else have you – I mean, you've dipped your toe into every gold vat that there is. Where else have you gone? No, that's just it.

I started with training Think Tank, then went Misfit. I still love Misfit, but then being on Mayhem, that was kind of conflict of interest, obviously. So now I'm on the mayhem track. So it's, I don't know, it's not that many. Three? I feel like that's normal. It's a lot of big names and big brains in the fitness space. I mean, I know the Misfit guys take it serious as a heart attack.

I know Max Elhaj is like a, I mean, I don't even have proof that he's human. He might even just be a computer. And then the Mayhem Empire, I mean, it's clear they just handle their business. And it doesn't just seem that they attract talent, but that they make talent, right? What's that kid there with the gray spot on his hair? Where?

Are you talking about Angelo? Angelo. I mean, look at him. I mean, he was made from the ground up. Does Angelo still have that gray spot on his head? Maybe. He buzzes

his hair pretty close. Yeah the barn yeah i think yeah i think that's it the only the thing that always amazes me about the mayhem is like all of a sudden dre strong who's their cameraman comes out and he's amazing and i think that there's another guy in the media team that's pretty damn fit too that might be trying to compete next year yeah ben yeah it's it's incredible yeah are you are you allowed to say his name and all the other shows his name is always bespoke the cameraman and then no one says his name what's his name ben what uh just let's go with ben then just ben all right yeah and then you got luke luke's there luke parker luke parker he just put a video up on Instagram. He snatched 305 in Vendor Village at the games.

He said seven. Anyone can do that in Vendor Village. In Vendor Village, everyone's 50 pounds stronger. This guy, he said to – I was talking to some of the media team from Mayhem, actually, and they told me they're like, well, Luke, this guy Luke Parker, he did the whole track, like the whole buildup to the games training with all the guys there. So he's like, I'm not going to let this fitness go to waste. I'm going to go win every competition in Vendor Village.

That's awesome. Yep. So you were away from your boyfriend for six months? Yeah, I was like, yeah, about six months yeah it was like yeah about six months is that is that hard you're at you're at an age where um i mean i mean you're you're 32 years old you're attractive he's how old's your boyfriend yeah it's 32 fiance he's 32 he's attractive is this like is it like is was there any is there any jealousy or stress on the relationship like here you are trying to train and he's like hey i just watched a video with you and you know i saw when you walked by rich you came within three inches of

them don't do that again or do you have any of that like no no um like i said we're very independent people it's there trust. It's fine. And you couldn't have that, could you? I mean, that would be a disaster to have a jealous boyfriend, wouldn't it? Yeah, that would be horrible. But also, like, everyone I'm around is married and stuff. So, no. It's fine. That doesn't stop a lot of people, just so you know. I actually like getting taken away. people just so you know well that's that's okay uh it would stop me so uh yeah no it's actually i like being pulled away too just because that's then i can focus on training versus like i don't know as much as i hate being away from home i also it was really beneficial being away from home

and your relationship with taylor seems like the like in a place that it really needs to be. Um, it's basically, uh, it doesn't seem like there's secrets between you guys. It seems like all of your energy is spent on training and that you guys don't have time to put on a facade for each other. No,

uh, me and Taylor are probably, I call her one of my best friends. So we know everything about everything. And we kind of know, I know she's had a really stressful year with school, so we try to help with that. I mean, it's just, even in the off season, we talk every day. So it works out really well.

We don't really, the only time we try to one up each other is in workouts, try to beat each other, even if we're competing with each other. In the years that I've been on the field, um, and I've been, uh, very, very close to the team competition, um, the like feet away from them filming. Um, I've seen teams like start to like fight with each other in the middle of a competition at the CrossFit Games. Athletes yelling at each other, people getting angry. Do you guys have any of that?

Or do you guys, like, is that all talked about ahead of time? Like, hey, we all have to be moving forward. This isn't the time to get angry at someone for fucking up. Or if anyone's going to get angry, it can only be the team captain or like, do you guys have a plan in place for that? No, but I think if you're experienced enough, you know that that's not going to help anyone. So, uh, we don't really do that. Um, I've definitely been on teams where that has happened and it just, that's just the beginning of the end. I mean, you're not, nothing good is going to come out of fighting mid-workout.

So, no, we haven't had that. I would guess that when you're manipulating the worm, that timing is everything. And that if the person you're adjacent to isn't on the same timing with you, the worm can feel like something you can move easily to something that punched you in the face right and so as you're right i mean like literally like if the guy lowers it in front of you lowers it too fast or puts it up too fast all of a sudden there becomes a disproportionate amount of weight on you and it's just draining and slash that's where i would see most of the fighting.

I just remember the teams when they would move the worm, I would start to see them like that's where you would start seeing fighting happen in fighting. Is the worm just horrible? No, I think we've done it enough to where you just kind of have this like intuitive sense of when it's going to move and how you're going to move it. I think definitely at first, like any newer teams, that would be super frustrating. But I guess we look forward to the worm. It's just, you know, how the other people around you move. So that's where like practicing as a team is super important. I noticed like you guys are all pretty similar in height. Like maybe there was a three or four inch disparity between the shortest and tallest. And I think it was similar with Travis and Roy also,

when you go up, go to competitions and you see a team that has a guy who's six, three and a girl who's six, one or who's five, one. And you're like, Oh man, you guys are, you guys are off. Yeah. I mean, that's not ideal at all. You want teammates that are similar. So similar in height, similar in your strengths and weaknesses. That really helps a lot just because if you all suck at running, great. You know, you'll do bad at that running event. But if two of you are great and then two of you are weak, then you have two events you're going to do bad at. You know, so kind of that's Travis actually taught me that. And it makes sense. Yeah. I always, I always wonder that when I see these teams at the games and I'm like, I get it that these are like the best athletes from your gym, but man, it just seems like this is going to be a struggle. Yeah. That would not be ideal. I think Kilo actually. So Colton Mertens, you know who he is, he's an individual. He was on a team at the games one year with a girl that was over six feet tall so just think of that dynamic i mean both very great athletes putting them

together on the worm was hard do you know colton mertens um i know yeah we've trained together uh i was on a team from iowa so we'd go to kilo he'd be there training we trained with that team yeah did you ever talk to him yeah and was he friendly yeah he's super nice he's very quiet very quiet very we've had him on the show twice I kind of want him to be like always on the show just like off to the side and like not saying anything but his his picture up here, like I would love it if he was just on the show. He's so I'm fascinated by him. I want him to be like, God,

I just want him. I want him to win an event this year. So bad. And I think he could have won that event if he wouldn't have cramped up, but he's like, I'm so on the Colton Merton train. If Travis retires, it'll be,

it'll be a lot. If Travis may retires, it'll be a lot. If Travis Mayer retires, it'll be so much easier for me. So I could then just parlay all of that love for Travis on a Colton. Yeah, I mean, Iowa pig farmer turned CrossFit Games athlete. That's a great story. Yeah, and he didn't even turn

CrossFit Games athlete. He's still, he's a hybrid. He's still pig farmer. You know what, after we interviewed him, my mom said, I hope you weren't making fun of him for being a pig farmer. I'm like, no, I'm fascinated by it. Because don't make fun of him for that. I'm like, mom. Even my mom's getting like on the Colton Merton train.

I'm like, Jesus Christ. You stick to Josh Bridges, mom. I'll deal with Colton Merton. He's my guy. In that final event, you had to put the worm up over your head and do the lunges with the overhead worm. Had you guys ever practiced that? No, that never crossed our mind to seem a little dangerous. So no, and never in practice where we're like, Hey, let's hoist it overhead.

Um, it worked out, I guess it was really shaky. So no. Crazy. And you guys still killed it. Yeah. Yeah. I don't know if that was a smart move yes kind of made i think there were two things they put in that made cross it look kind of silly um just because those were the two live streamed events as well it's like for the outside world to kind of tune in and see us like fumbling around with the worm or the individuals fumbling around with handstand push-ups um i feel like i wouldn't have put those in workouts but or or or or maybe

not in the final event when the most eyeballs were on it correct yeah but i will tell you we want to showcase i will you guys did look it did not i thought the overhead worm was great i thought you guys look great i thought the um we were talking about this the other day with someone else too. They were saying that they thought that the workout should have been broken up for the individuals, the lunges, and been in three different sets. But I personally, as a fan, like it because it gives the – some athletes who are going to do it unbroken and not put the bar down in transition a time to shine. And some athletes took advantage of that, so I thought it was pretty awesome. And for the handstand push-ups, you guys did that in the teams too? No, just the individuals, but I know that was on the lives,

like that was on the TV, CBS or something. I had friends asking me. It made me very, very anxious. I'll tell you that, like that it was going to be a complete shit show. But they kept the camera on the people who were winning, and they were like, they killed it. Like, I thought they killed it. They didn't like have it on like, oh, man, sorry, Jason. It's not like they had the camera on Jason Hopper, they were watching him just, like, get crushed by it.

They had it on, what's the guy who won? Mr. Medeiros and Pat Vellner, and it was a race to the finish. Yeah. I don't know. I thought it was a silly movement, but that's just me. Do you try to beat your teammates in every workout? Like, when you're swimming with Rich, are you like, okay, I'm try to beat your teammates in every workout? Like if, like when you're, uh, when you're swimming with rich, are you like, okay, I'm going to be rich in the swim.

Yes. Anything. So like any workout we do, or if someone like takes more toes to bar, I get jealous like, Hey, I want to, I want to do just as much work. Or like if Taylor and I are doing a synchro movement, we always try to like race the other one. So every day is a race, yes, and a competition with your team. Do you have kids on the horizon? Like more dogs? Sure. No, like that guy, that handsome guy that you're with, like you guys pull the goalie and then like nine months later you have a baby. Yes.

Gross. This is disgusting. Pulling the goalie is disgusting or kids are disgusting? Both things. This show is over. This is disgusting. Nah, I like animals too much and kids seem expensive. They are.

Did you get to interact with the bison much down in Cookville? I did. They're terrifying. Those are some powerful animals. They have a bunch of bread there that you can always feed them. So, like, you'll put a whole loaf, like, set the whole loaf, like, out here, and the tongue will just wrap around the loaf, and then the whole thing will be gone. They are insane. Will you make an instagram video of that when i go back yeah i will actually the world needs to see yeah it does what a totally missed opportunity that you haven't filmed that and it's got a huge tongue huge like this huge black tongue just comes out of its mouth and just

wraps around the loaf do you uh were you inspired or motivated at all by the into the storm mentality? No. It's a real, it's a really cool like how they kind of played that into training and all that. Like how bison run into the storm. Like I get what they're trying to say and it's really cool. I just don't like motivational stuff.

You find it. I want the opposite. Sure. Or I want someone to tell me I just suck and then like I go do better. Oh, God, I'd love to hear your conversations with your fiance. Fascinating. This dinner is terrible oh thank you um you put were you the prom queen in your high school no no not even close oh because i saw a picture of you uh wearing a princess, like a crown.

And I was like, oh, was she the prom queen? I don't know where you saw that picture. But, no, I was not. I don't even know who was, to be honest. Did you go to prom? Yeah, I went to a small private school so um no we didn't really place a lot of emphasis on like prom king and queen popularity stuff i don't really know i mean i graduated with a class of like 80 so

i don't there wasn't many groups of clicks. Speaking of dangerous moves that make people look foolish, you have a video of yourself climbing a rope upside down. Oh, my God. How far back did you go? To the beginning, young lady, to the beginning. Lordy. The thing I deleted. What inspired don't ever delete, you should archive?

Someone just taught me that the other day, archive. Oh, I didn't know. I didn't know either. I deleted so many pictures because they were getting reported and I should have archived them. Why were you climbing the rope upside down? Who gave you that harebrained idea? That's a really good question. I don't know. I actually remember what you're talking about because I thought about it the other day for some reason. It made me really uncomfortable.

Yeah, me too. Let's just ignore that. I'll go archive that later today. Okay. No problem. Don't archive it. I just had a lot of time on my hands back in the day. I don't know. I thought maybe... Just doing silly things. Okay. You weren't drunk? No.

No. You were just looking for challenges. You're like, shit, I'm amazing. I need more challenges. I'll climb this rope upside down. Someone probably told her it was impossible. Yeah. Someone.

Yeah. I don't know. I bet you can't. Yeah, that is how everything works with her, right? I bet you can't climb a rope upside down. Oh, yeah? Five minutes later, it's on Instagram. I mean, you could be right yeah um the goldfish off the treadmill oh my gosh that was fun that also looks very dangerous

now did your lip actually did your lip touch the treadmill when you did that no you got to catch them in the air. Right. But your face is so close to it. And I'm thinking that's a great way to catch some sort of meningitis or COVID. No, this was before COVID, well before COVID. So that didn't exist. I'm just joking. You can't catch COVID by eating goldfish off a treadmill.

I was just joking. You can't. I'm a doctor. Okay. I mean, yeah, I remember doing that. That was fun. Like I said, I feel like I had a lot more time on my hands back in the day. We'd just fuck around in the gym for hours doing stupid, stupid things.

I thought that was amazing. I thought there was no chance in hell that you would get the the not you but one of the other girls lays on her back and they launch it was like skittles and they launch into her mouth that's not you right that's someone else no that sounds fun though but that that looked easier than what you did you caught them like coming straight at you and that that looks scary, like your bottom lip could hit the treadmill and just suck you into the treadmill, like by your lip.

Yeah, well, I guess we didn't think about that. I was young and dumb. Yeah. This was like five years ago. I know. Isn't Instagram amazing? No, it's cringy.

You can go back and just look at anyone's shit all you want. There's a picture of you in Las Vegas doing the jumping splits in front of the Las Vegas sign. Yeah. Can you still do the splits? Yeah, absolutely. And how long did it take you to get that? How many times did it take you to get that?

How many times did you have to jump to get that photo? Oh, I'm pretty sure that's just a video, and then you just still shut. Like, you press pause. Ah. I was really impressed with the photographer, the way they captured that. You got to work smarter, not harder. Gotcha. Gotcha, gotcha, gotcha.

Yeah, no. Actually, Bob took that. Who? Bob, the guy whose body you like, took that. So you can give him props. Oh, your fian that. Who? Bob, the guy whose body you like took that, so you can give him props. Oh, your fiancé. Yeah. You play board games. Yes.

That doesn't seem... Are you the only girl in the world who plays board games, or are there other girls who play... What's the game? Settlers of Catan? Yes. No, there's lots of us us so one of my other good friends here always plays with me i mean we we have a group there's actually like three of my good girlfriends that play i think brian plays board games i do i've played that board game do

you play katan yes yeah i actually was really bored one day and i watched up it was the canadian world championships for settlers of Catan, and they made so many mistakes I couldn't believe it, that that was the Canadian World Championships. But then I assumed that probably the people who are really good just couldn't get there because of the lockdowns. Probably. Yeah, do you play on your phone so you can get really good with the computer? I used to do that. I've switched to a different different

game on my phone when i'm when i have time but yeah you know who's also really into that is chandler we were gonna play at the games but then there's just never a time because our schedules are so different yeah it's gotta it's gotta be either it's gotta either be before or after and there's no way during i don't think no How long does it take to play a game? If you have people who... 45 minutes to an hour and a half. If the people don't know what they're doing, it can be frustrating.

But if it's a good group of people, you can get through it pretty quick. Yeah. I thought it was one of those games that lasted days. That's cricket. And then there was another game you played too uh like the the org oregon trail that's when i heard you say oregon trail yeah oh yeah well that was in grade school i think everyone played that right

no people around our age yes people around savann's age probably not no we played oh you didn't have computers in school no we, we played Dungeons and Dragons. And we had paper and pencil and shit like that. You play any Dungeons and Dragons? No. I have played Dungeons and Dragons, yes. Of course you have. And do you play Settlers of Catan with your boyfriend?

Yeah, he plays. You guys open up a bottle of Zinfandel light the fire put the dog to bed and start playing the game of settlers of katan no so you need to have at least four people that's the minimum actually that's not necessarily true i have come up with a version where you can play with two players oh i can teach you if you want write it down yeah that'd be great um andrea nissler uh really cool born in minnesota 32 years old won the crossfit games this year on the team competition did it with her best friend one of her best friends not katie katie and allison but another newer best friend very hard to become friends with uh Nistler.

The window of opportunity for her friendship gets narrower and narrower every day. But Taylor made it in. They won the CrossFit Games together. Super proud of her dad, 65 years old, doing CrossFit. She's a huge fan of the Great Wiener. Yeah, and all ducks. Yeah, and all animals. My final question for you is, do you ever, when's the last time you've been in a gym that's not a CrossFit gym?

Well, I used to have a family YMCA membership, but my parents canceled that like last year. So probably a year ago. And would you ever go in there and just do freaky shit like put 185 on the bar and like do 10 power cleans, 10 pull-ups, three rounds, and everyone would be like, what the? And it's like one of those bars that doesn't even spin. And everyone around you is like, what the fuck is going on? Yeah, I used to actually go to the Y like once or twice a week just to like show off. I don't know why I was doing that. I don't even know why.

I like the stair stepper, I think, a lot. And also, yeah, I did like going to the men's weight room, men's, and being the only female there, kind of flex on them. So, yeah, that was always fun. But, no, I think my days of global gyms are done. Yeah, flexing on people is fun, isn't it? Yeah. Something to be said about that. I mean inspiring people.

Sorry, did I say flexing? I mean inspiring. Inspiring others. Yes, of course. Yeah. Thank you for not doing this on your phone. Thank you for accommodating us. Thanks for the great picture behind you. Thanks for being nice to Brian.

The only wall I have that's not a window. No problem. Mr. Friend, would you like to say anything to the dog lover, Andrea Nistler? Animal

lover. She's waiting. No, it was great getting to learn about you in a capacity that's not as an athlete, but also I think, you know, I don't know. I think you sell yourself short a little bit. I think you're actually very good as an individual competitor too,

even though you might not like it as much. But I hope that you guys come back next year and compete again because it's definitely hope that you guys come back next year and compete again, because it's definitely fun having you guys out there. Wow. Brian gave you some feedback. I'll take it home and I'll marinate it.