The Sevan Podcast - Brandon Luckett - He's back and they are worried

Episode Date: May 11, 2024

*My Tooth Powder "Matoothian":* https://docspartan.com/products/matoothian-tooth-powder 3 Playing Brothers, Kids Video Programming: https://app.sugarwod.com/marketplace/3-playing-brothers/daily-practice ------------------------- *Partners:* https://cahormones.com/ & https://capeptides.com - CODE "SEVAN" FOR FREE CONSULTATION https://www.paperstcoffee.com/ - THE COFFEE I DRINK! https://www.vndk8.com/sevan-podcast - OUR SHIRTS https://usekilo.com - OUR WEBSITE PROVIDER ------------------------- ------------------------- *BIRTHFIT PROGRAMS:* Prenatal (20% off with code SEVAN1) - https://marketplace.trainheroic.com/workout-plan/program/mathews-program-1621968262?attrib=207017-aff-sevan Postpartum (20% off with code SEVAN2) - https://marketplace.trainheroic.com/workout-plan/program/mathews-program-1586459942?attrib=207017-aff-sevan ------------------------- Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Make your nights unforgettable with American Express. Unmissable show coming up? Good news. We've got access to pre-sale tickets so you don't miss it. Meeting with friends before the show? We can book your reservation. And when you get to the main event, skip to the good bit using the card member entrance.

Let's go seize the night. That's the powerful backing of American Express. Visit amex.ca slash yamex. Benefits vary by car and other conditions apply. Good to see you back, dude. Good to see you, dude. It's been a minute, huh? Yeah, I was a little bit concerned.

Maybe it was bittersweet, our last interview, because I enjoyed hanging out with you so much. And then I was like, I'll never talk to this dude again. He's fucking riding off into the wind, going to go work with daddy, make some loot, have kids. What are the chances of me ever talking to that guy again? And look, here you are. Here we are. Slim chance is the start of the month.

Change your name from Brandon Luckett to Random Luckett. I seriously cannot believe that you're back at it again and that there's so much hype around it too. It's kind of wild. Yeah. I mean, the same person dragged me back into it. Oh, I can't wait. I can't wait to hear. Brandon, can we go back a little bit?

Just kind of do a rush, a crash course of your CrossFit journey, like how you found it? Yeah. How far back you want to go? All the way to the beginning? Yeah. Let's go to just how you found it. How old are you now? 29.

Yeah. And you look even younger. Last time you seemed so mature. Now I watch your videos and you look like a kid again. Thank you. Yeah. I'm like, what is this guy drinking from the fountain of youth? I got more gray hairs than I had then, dude. I'm starting to get grays in my chin and shit. Yeah, I'm like, what is this guy, drinking from the fountain of youth? I got more gray hairs than I had then, dude.

Started to get, like, grays in my chin and shit. Yeah, so how did CrossFit pop on your radar? Yeah, so, I mean, I wrestled in high school. And just, like, you know, had no desire really to go wrestle in college or anything. And so I was just going to stay home, get a degree in physics and uh yeah but there's like that you know there's obviously always that like competitive side of you that never really dies and my brother and his roommate were doing crossfit um in new orleans about like an hour away and uh he started kind of introducing me to what year do you remember the year 2012 was when i

graduated maybe 2013 2012 2013 somewhere around there um what weight did you wrestle brandon my senior year has 160 pounds okay yeah and how tall are you about six foot dang just about six foot yeah so you were doing some serious weight cuts uh i was probably like more like 5 10 or 5 11 when i was a senior okay um and i like my last two years of high school i didn't really cut weight very much um because the first two years like my freshman and sophomore year i cut pretty extreme and my sophomore year i mean i was you know 5 10 5 11 still but 130 pounds um okay did you have a small frame or did you just have a metabolism that was crazy I just I mean you kind of just cut down my natural weight probably would have been closer to 145

and so about 15 pound cut and so that was a pretty tough year I mean it paid off because the season was good but uh sorry sorry sorry sorry 18th interruption uh sema uh kansas is this the guy that pulled the girl up by her bra yes that's me damn i wish kayla was here i'd love to pull that damn yep that's this is the guy all right i've saved her saved her life by her bra there we go she's the same person who pulled me back into crossfit so you know just returning the favor i guess you know but uh yeah my brother was doing crossfit started kind of pulling me into some crossfit workouts uh and there was a gym that was two blocks from the house that i was living in and so like the summer after i graduated i started going to the gym with my brother while he was home from college and just kind of immediately fell in love with just like the grittiness of crossfit you know you go to the gym it's it's

like you know barbells and plates and everybody's dropping stuff and running all around and you know immediately fell in love with just like the grit and that was 2012 and then when did you do your first competition um probably that same year i think i want to say like we had a regionals team that year that i actually happened to hop onto back when it was like three men three women um like i couldn't handstand walk 25 feet to save my life or whatever but it's like yeah i think i went to regionals that first year i did crossfit maybe the second year. But yeah, I mean, I jumped into competing decently quickly, like local competitions, you know? And how did you know you were good?

Like what lifts were good? Were you like the guy, you know, the first day they showed you muscle-ups, you could do muscle-ups and you could run? And like, were there some things you were like, okay, I can carry my weight here. I'm good at these. Yeah. I mean, the first day I did do a muscle-up, my brother just wanted to see if I could, but I wasn't strong. I had zero lifting background in wrestling. I mean, all I did was calisthenics really. Like I ran, I did pushups and, you know, skip rope and.

But your body weight to strength ratio was, was probably insane relative if you could do a muscle up on your first day, right? I think it was just body awareness. Body awareness. Okay. Okay. Strength. I would not say that i was ever like a strong person for my body weight um what did you bench did you did you know what did you bench in high school dude i couldn't even tell you maybe 135 pounds okay okay maybe i remember we did cleans like squat cleans when i was a senior like during the summer going into like our last year we were doing squat cleans for strength and conditioning and i think i could barely squat clean like 165 okay um so yeah like as a strong like i've never been like a very strong athlete

not uh but i think wrestling definitely taught me like body awareness and how to move my body through space okay um and to move it quickly so uh and then so so you right away you get into the competitive aspect of it yeah it's pretty quick and that you And I started CrossFit to just kind of stay in shape. But you get thrown into the competitive environment just within your class pretty quickly. And so I guess that's just the competitive nature of athletes, just dives right into it head first. And were you living back at home at the time after high school? Yeah, I lived with my parents for four years while I went to undergrad. Okay. So I stayed at home at the time after college after uh high school yeah i lived with my parents for four years while i went to undergrad okay so i stayed at home so you get out of high school and it was

out of high school you started doing crossfit yes sir so you get out of high school still living at home going you have a parallel you're staying fit you're dabbling in competitive crossfit but and you're also going to college and you're trying to get a degree in physics. Yes, sir. For some reason, I thought you were an engineering major, no? No, sir. I got a bachelor's in physics. Okay.

And then is that hard? It sounds hard. It was pretty tough. I mean, I think it's, like, denoted as, like, the second hardest major at Louisiana State University, LSU. Was math the hardest? Chemical okay chemical or biochemical engineering okay um i mean we started with like 50 something students and i graduated with seven individuals one of them went on to berkeley and got his phd at berkeley okay and what do they look like what's the makeup of that is it is it it's just you and all black

dudes or you and all asian dudes or you and all jews like what's that look like no i mean it was uh i mean we were all kind of just nerds dude we i mean i was i was certainly like the the largest human in class okay but i mean they were my best friends too i mean there was like four or five of us that just kind of gutted it out. We graduated with a couple of people that took like, you know, five years to get the degree or whatever. So I didn't know them as well.

Do girls, do girls take physics or is it dominated by boys? There's girls. I'd say it's probably like, you know, four dudes, three, three girls that graduated in our class.

And I still keep up with a few of them. One of them, the one who went to Berkeley, him and his younger brother who was also a wrestler, they ended up going to, they started at the same CrossFit gym that I went to during undergrad. Do you know if any of those,

did you play a musical instrument? No. Do you know if any of your, if that guy who got his PhD played a musical instrument? I'm not sure that he, I'm not sure. I ask because obviously wrestling is just hard as shit. It's just hard.

Physics is just hard. Usually, those people will have some parents that they'll be like violin players and shit. You know what I mean? The slouches will be playing the trombone and the piano. That's just what they do. Those people do hard shit. Simon's parents parents i think his father was a professor but i got you

almost want to say like simon this the kid who went to berkeley he was like one of my best buddies in undergrad um and he's also the one who did crossfit and his little brother did crossfit but you almost want to say like he's just gifted but the kid worked harder than i've ever watched But you almost want to say he's just gifted. But the kid worked harder than I've ever watched someone work. The way he studied, he had a very specific process and just grinded through school. And I just stuck by his side and just did what he did and ended up getting a degree in physics, which honestly was only because I surrounded myself with those guys and worked really hard for it. When did you decide you were going to do physics?

What grade in high school were you? I had already graduated. Oh. It was like that summer. Wow. Yeah. So, like, I mean, my father's a physicist. He's a consultant physicist.

And I remember the conversation just, like, sitting outside of his office, not really knowing if I, you know, my mom's a physician. My brother was going to school to go to med school. I just wasn't quite sure what I wanted to do. And my, you know, my dad owned the company and he really enjoyed the work that he did and the flexibility that he had. And, you know, I remember the day that I decided I was going to, you know, we like laid out the plan, like go get a degree in physics, go get a master's in medical physics, go to a Camp Ep accredited residency, get board certified, start working. Eight years and you start working.

So we set out the plan that day and figured it out. And when did you decide you were going to try to get on the wrestling team in high school? So I started wrestling whenever I was in fifth grade. Oh, okay. So I was pretty young when I started wrestling. Like at a community program? It was at the high school that I went to. They had like a youth program that was like during the youth season.

And so I did that for four years, then went to the same high school and wrestled for four more years. And did you wrestle straight from fifth grade all the way to your senior year every year? Holy shit. Wow. Did you ever get into jujitsu? In 2022, whenever I moved back home and i was like you know retired i wasn't doing crossfit anymore i did do jiu-jitsu for a little while i loved it i was broken all the time like my spine my neck my fingers my toes like everything was always beat up and i truly loved it but as soon as i started competing again in 23 i

like you know kind of pulled back on that when you're when you're um did they start you did you have to start at a white belt I know a lot of um wow okay because I know I think a lot of competitions if you have a strong wrestling background they won't let you compete at a white belt yeah I don't know what would have I never competed okay um the community that I was going like that i was training at uh they they wanted me to compete pretty bad so i don't know what would have happened but like i stayed at a white belt i had zero stripes um because i mean i probably wrestled or probably did jujitsu for maybe three or four months and then kind of hopped back into competing in late 22 so okay do the 23

season okay um uh thanks for uh being patient with me as we go fly around the timeline and stuff yeah okay so um uh you graduate in four years pretty impressive so then through that entire four years um do you do at least uh between the graduating from high school and starting crossfit around what what did you say, around 2012? Yeah, 2012, 2013. So that 10-year journey of CrossFit, do you compete every year at least somewhere, at least in some local comp, at least something? Yes, sir.

I went to regionals as a team member I think three times, two or three times. There was one gap in there because one of our team members qualified for individual. So she pulled that – she accepted that invite and went individual, so I didn't compete at regionals that year. So I guess like from 2013 to 2017, I competed at regionals every year except for one. 2017 was my first individual regionals back in the day when they had regionals.

2018 was my second individual and the first time i qualified uh for the crossfit games oh you did qualify in 2018 yes sir did you go i did and how did you do terrible at what place i say terrible i mean i was like 36 i think i think that's 36 or 30 yeah out of Out of 40? Out of 40. Were you surprised you qualified in 2018, or did you set an expectation? I don't know if I've ever expected, even still, never in any of my career have I expected to win. I think I've always believed that I was capable,

but to expect to win and to believe that you're capable are two different mindsets, I believe. I'm going to try to put up this. We'll get into that in a second. I'm pulling up the games leaderboard in 2018. So in 2018, Fraser won, Vellner took second, Lucas Hoberg took third, Brent took fourth, BKG took fifth, Noah Olsen took sixth, Cole Sager seventh. Rasmus, wow, that's a name I haven't heard in a while. Ben Smith took

12th, James Newberry took 18th, Saxton took 19th. Alex Smith, I didn't know Alex Smith ever went to the games either. Josh Bridges took 31st that year. Brandon Luckett, you're between Jared Enderton and Marquand Jones. I didn't know Marquand ever made it to the games either. Jeez, my games knowledge is rusty.

And Roman took last because he didn't get to come. Yeah, at least I beat him. Yeah, and you beat Alexander Caron. Who withdrew with an injury. So it really is out of 38 people. And when you took that 36, how did you feel? Were you just excited to be there? Were you pissed?

So, I mean, I was like 23 at the time. And, like, all I ever wanted to do was qualify for the game. I was like, dude, I don't care if I come in dead last whenever I qualify. I just want to qualify. Then you get there. The competitive aspect of all of us, we compare ourselves to the field that we're competing with. To be at the bottom of the leaderboard is a

really tough pill to swallow for anybody regardless of like what you initially kind of had your visions of or like your thoughts of about the games and so like i remember that being a really like i struggled with it mentally really bad um and it was at like a kind of a tough time with graduate school as well and so i came home from the CrossFit Games and took a board exam for like to start my path on board certification for physics and failed it. So I was like, dude, I just went to the CrossFit Games, came at the very bottom of the pack, then came home and failed a board exam. and failed a board exam i was like dude what am i like what am i doing you know and so i struggled with that took the i think that's part of the reason why i took the year off um because i just i felt like i was not doing well at either of the things that i was doing and uh needed to kind of just narrow and focus on things because i was struggling pretty bad mentally. So, so even though you made it, you were top 40 fittest men walking the planet. And I'm looking at you, you qualified through the South regional, Sean Sweeney, Gamboa,

Brandon Luckett in third, Logan Collins in fourth. You, you felt like you were doing, you weren't doing anything epic. You weren't doing every, anything at the top. You were like, you finished 36th at the games or 38th at weren't doing every anything at the top you were like you finished 36th at the games or 38th at the games 36th at the games and then you didn't pass your your test and so you were like hey i i'm i'm doing two things in my time and efforts are getting divided yeah was it really like that like that simple like just kind of like that cliche line okay i'm doing just everything at the great level when and not at the best level you compare yourself to the field right right and so it's it's it's very hard and like looking back now it's like dude like that was amazing like you accomplish your goal to go to

the crossfit games you were a rookie you knew nothing you had no experience um and like you went and competed like you did the best that you did and the best that you could with like the cards that you had like you just you maybe you could have played them better but you didn't um maybe you couldn't play them better maybe play them as best you could but like you're still like you accomplished that goal and you did like you were in the top 40 in the world for that year but like again like you compare yourself to the field and so i legitimately struggle with it and i didn't enjoy my time there i remember being kind of like just very upset and which sucks because i didn't enjoy my experience there and i was like i gotta come

back and i have to like prove like i have to prove that i can do better than this. And then the next year I was like, okay, I'm done. You saved all your money as a little kid to go to Disneyland. You got there and you didn't enjoy it. The lines were too long. It was too crowded. Parking sucked. You're like, this sucks. Yeah.

So it's a super shitty thing mentally on my part to have that mindset. And it's a shitty thing to feel as well. And the next time I went as an individual in 2021, I was like, dude, enjoy every moment because you may never be back here on this floor. That's your mindset this year? Yeah. Yeah. I mean, and then 2021 was the last time I went as an individual as well and so like i remember 2021 i was like dude just enjoy being here and take it all in and stop worrying about like where you fall and just like have some gratitude for the opportunity because that first year dude i didn't have i

didn't have the gratitude for what i got to do and i think that was a big uh misstep on my part so you went to the games in 2021 also? Yes, sir. Oh, and you did better. You got 27th. Yes, sir. In 2016, did you go to the regionals or the semifinals or whatever they had then as a team? As a team, yes. And were you the team captain?

I don't know. I don't remember who our team captain was. I was the youngest guy on the team, so probably not. Okay. And why did you decide to go from team to individual? A couple of things. The goal was always to qualify as an individual. I think that was like the lofty goal, like maybe I could do it one day. I think that was like the lofty goal. Like, you know, maybe I could do it one day. And so in 2017, our gym had four males who were very competitive. One of them being my brother. It was my brother and a couple other guys who were close friends and then myself. And then we had three pretty good girls. And like we knew we could qualify a team, team but obviously only three men three women can go on a team um and it's like i don't think our team would have ever been in like the top running for like a top five spot or like a qualifying position and so like that year was the first year that i qualified for individuals in regionals in the South Central. And so the thing is, if I had accepted my individual opportunity,

like my individual invitation, the team still would have gone with the other three guys and the three ladies. But if I went on the team, it would have been like a better team, quote unquote. It would have been because my scores would have been better or whatever. But they wanted me to go team so that they could have whatever. But the third person would have been my brother.

And so if I did not accept my individual invitation, my brother would have never gotten to go on that team. Was that his first year going team it was his first it's his first and only year he ever competed at regionals so if i had accepted that if i'd gone team he wouldn't have competed um and if i didn't he would have gotten to compete and so um there was i mean i also wanted to compete as an individual uh because i wanted to kind of see like what I could do. But there's also that other side of it is like if I go team, then he doesn't get to compete this year.

Did you enjoy the journey in 2017? Were you devastated when you didn't? No, I didn't expect to qualify for regionals. I didn't expect to place as high as I did. I think I placed seventh, and they took five, and it was my first year. And so, dude, that was an awesome year. I was super stoked. Okay.

Super stoked. Jake Chapman, Seve looks like an office employee at Jurassic Park. I was going to get a haircut, and instead I decided to put a hat on. I think you look great. Thank you. I think I look you look great. Thank you. I think I look great too. Thank you. And there's no one can tell me different.

Yeah. So then, okay. So when I talked to you last, I basically, what I remember was is this is your last year, and you're going to still do CrossFit, but you're just going to do it for fun. So that must have been – in 2022, did you go to the games? No, sir. I was a coach for a master's athlete, so I was there, but I didn't compete. Okay, so I must have talked to you around 2021. Yep, 2021 was the last year I went. And then, so, okay, I think I do remember that.

I remember you saying you were going to coach for a master's athlete, or you were at the time. And then what happened? So what was that like decompressing from trying to be the elite of the elite in terms of fitness and then kind of decompressing and just going into coach mode as you went into 2022? Did you enjoy that? Was that comfortable for you?

So I say I was a coach. I had the coach's pass. I wasn't the individual's actual coach. I didn't tell him how to train or anything. But he just needed a buddy to be there behind the scenes with him, and I accepted that and went there with him. So he made it to the games? Yes.

And so you went there. And how was that experience, just being there? It was cool. It was cool. It's weird seeing everybody you've competed with. Some people that you had competed with, they're also doing the coach thing. So it's kind of fun just to catch up with everybody and be back there. At the same time, it's also reminiscent. It to catch up with everybody and and be back there at the same time

it's also like reminiscent it makes you want to go back and compete you know like every time you watch a competition you're like man i miss like i miss kind of finding out like what i'm capable of not wanting to be there and so there's both sides of it um jeremy world i'm late is this the guy john young said is washed up i just remember him for a while saying when we asked him how fit he was he said he's about as fit as brandon luckett yeah um god john's wonderful one more hold on shout out to brandon for being ninth in the open this year when john was 13 000 come on come on on. Come on, guys. Jon's my boy. I'm sending him one of these shirts. And I asked his permission before we ever made the shirts, actually.

I was like, hey, man. I'm not doing this unless you're cool with it. It's a fun joke. Yeah. He's such a good sport. What's funny is I saw this, and I thought this was Photoshopped. I didn't even realize that this was. I thought this. is a real shirt i'm wearing it right now oh that's awesome that's awesome hey he's probably flattered that someone heard his voice from wherever fucking in the middle

of the country he lives yeah uh john young what's your address i'll send you a shirt yeah that's awesome did he really say that too, that you're washed up? I mean, in effect, really. The first thing he had said was like after all the Dubai stuff and said like, you know, I think what he had said was, you know, I know Brandon went to the CrossFit Games in 2018, but he's like barely any fitter than I am or something. And so, in essence, washed up, I guess.

I don't know. Yeah, I'll take it. I'll take it. Coffee pods and wads, shirt ordered to Ireland. Good luck shipping it. Hey, we'll figure it out. We'll figure it out, Peter. Get it to the island.

Okay, so you go as a coach for Masters, and then that season ends that was 2022 and then tell me what you did in 2023 yeah so alexis johnson great friend of mine so like i said in 2019 i didn't compete um i came home filled my boards decided you know i'm gonna focus on school try to get into residency so i didn't compete get into residency moved to oklahoma she pulls me out of retirement to compete team um this is 2023 this is 2000 no this is 2020 okay we're talking about okay we qualified for the games but covet happened so then i i'd qualified through the open so i competed as an individual in 2020 2022 i decided to quit

competing again to focus on work and work was the business with your dad right yes sir okay and she texts me it's like hey this is going to be my last year we never got to compete together at the games in 2020 will you do team with me this year so i was like i was like yeah like we can make it happen but i'm not changing the way i train i'm not like i'm not gonna train like a games athlete i'm just like you know works my focus i'm not okay i remember you sharing that with me yep yeah so i mean the same thing had that in 2020 happened in 2022 um or 23 rather and so yeah we uh we put together a team we qualified out of the west and uh wouldn't compete at the games and i got to pull her up by her bra strap um i wonder if

she knows how hot she is yeah she will now now that you've uh told her yeah like i always like i wonder and she's a she's a dork she is she's worse than i am yeah that's crazy i mean yeah it's crazy she's got a math phd and you're tied to her right here yes my sweater's tied around her waist do you have are you married i am wife better have a talk with alexis i know my goodness my wife and alexis are very good friends actually um and um so uh it's the glasses no it's it's not the i mean the glasses are cool but i wear glasses and they don't make me hot the glasses are the door part all right thank you it's okay i enjoy i enjoy not being hot it's my superpower okay um and so you you so you go uh that was so so you go back so

you end up going do you end up going to the games in 2020 as a team uh no because they didn't do teams for covid right okay right so i did the online okay the online games for the you know the top 20 out of the open and then like the sanctional qualifiers okay i know you said that but i was ogling uh alexis sorry um i think it was like 30 people. Then, so then 2000, so then you go to do the master's of fake coaching and then you take a year

off. Tell me about that year off. Please. What about it? What did you do? what did you work out did you start decompressing did you put on five or ten pounds did you watch i started the imam company in like late 21 early 22 um and just because i love training i love out. I love like grindy workouts. I love being fit and lean. And so like even whenever I was, you know, working a ton and not competing, like I still love exercising. And so I was just doing like 30 minute EMOMs once or twice a day in my garage. And I was actually like lighter and leaner than I ever was whenever I

competed um I was probably like about 13 pounds lighter than I am now um and just you know just doing basically just doing crossfit uh in my garage for the most part this is a hell of a following yeah it exploded out of nowhere in the beginning of the year from like one video yeah this is crazy this i didn't realize that this is a huge following yeah okay so you start so you uh come you come back from the games and you start the emom company yes sir it just started with like 30 minute emoms because they were that's just what i was doing it was like okay i got like you know i got an hour to get in the gym after work um i want to do something that's like you know pretty pretty mindless but gritty and so i would throw

together a few different movements into a 10 round piece of you know basically a 30 minute emom and i they were super effective for me. Are they all every minute on the minute? Not anymore. Okay. So that's kind of how we started, but they're, they're definitely not that anymore. We, I still try to throw in a 30 minute imam once a week at a minimum or like an every five or an every six. So, yeah, I mean, we, we, our foundation was the 30 minute EMOM. And do you, what do you do for 2023? The games rolls around and what do you, what do you do with yourself? Where are you? Did you go to the games?

Yeah, we went on a team. Oh, in 2023 you did. Yes, sir. Oh, sorry. I missed that. Explain, explain that to me sorry go back that's that that was when alexis pulled me out uh for for her last year of competing so okay okay yeah that was the year i pulled her up by the bra strap that was 2023 and and how did you do at the games we were 11th i believe and did you stay true to just like hey i'm not doing any crazy training i'm just uh i'm just chilling or was that just bullshit you just told

yourself that to get past the pressure i ramped it up a little bit as you'd expect um but i wouldn't say that i definitely didn't train then like i'm training right now. Okay. Okay. Okay. Yeah. You go to the games in 2023 as a team with Alexis. And do you think that that's it? Like when you're at the games and Sunday rolls around, are you like, okay, I'm done. There was a big question mark at the end of the weekend.

Oh, there was, did you feel, did you feel it? Yeah, I felt it and I knew it. I didn't know what like the next year was gonna be but there was like a big question mark in my mind so you weren't like

hey i'm going back as teams uh again now or i'm going back as individual it's just like oh i you enjoyed that or some the fire was lit yeah yeah and training was very different that year and i i felt really good physically and mentally. And so, yeah, there was a big question mark after that. When the 2023 season was over, you know that Rogue's right around the corner. Did you try to go to Rogue? No, sir. And why didn't you try that?

I don't do a lot of out-of-season competitions just because, you know i work a lot and so just i mean just preparing for semi-finals or the games is a lot of like there's a lot of times like put into that and it takes a quite a bit of focus off of all of the other focuses of life of work and family and things like that and so to do out-of-season competitions has never been kind of viable for me and when you went back in 2023 what did your dad say who is you know your your business associate was he cool with it or was he like hey dude yeah as long as it's always been like as long as i've gotten you know my my duties my responsibilities accomplished it's it's okay and like it's kind of like free reign um especially now that i've been working for him for three years um there's a little bit more trust in there but

this is it's always been like as long as everything's taken care of um you can do you have the freedom to do what you like which is why i get to compete um at all i think it would be much harder if my schedule wasn't quite as flexible um you know where i can i'll i'll work saturday and sunday so that i can train thursday and friday if i have to um do you make that decision with someone else is your wife involved in the decision of competing or working yeah of competing yeah we talked about it a good bit before the season um because at first i'd actually contemplated doing team again kind of tried to put put a team together it fell through and uh so i was actually for 2020 this is this year. Yeah. I was actually really, I was really afraid of competing as an individual this year. Um,

and, and fear almost stopped me from, from seeing if I could do it. There is a, there, that is a theme. There's, that's interesting.

You say that, Oh, could you define fear for me? There is that theme in your, um, in your posts. Yeah. Uh uh would you define fear for me fear of embarrassment fear of failure uh fear of putting in the time and not achieving the goal oh okay yeah i was i was very afraid of saying like I'm going to go try to qualify for the games

and then falling short because it had been so long since I attempted this and tried. And everyone's gotten so good. And so I was... It was almost like crippling fear for a little bit. No shit. Yeah.

Yeah. This is the line that hit me um i think i'm i think i'm tired of being afraid let me rephrase that i'm tired of letting fear stop me um that's a great line i'm so it's almost like it's not like you overcame it's not like you overcame it with you just got tired you were having this one feeling over and over and over. It's kind of like if you wake up in the morning and you know you have to go outside and mow the lawn. And finally at 3 o'clock, you're just tired of just like fuck thinking about it. So that's what pushes you to do it instead of it needing to be done. Yeah.

Yeah, it's just – I mean the fear is still there. yeah it's just i mean the fear is still there but it's like am i gonna let that just keep me in like the in the corner and and not answer the question of like can i do it um am i capable like let me go find out even though i'm deathly afraid like let me let me see what i can do and and i guess it's kind of a win-win, right? Because no matter how you do, the question will be answered and it'll go away. Yeah. So whether you make it to the games or not, it's like, fuck, I'll be able to get this off my plate.

On Wednesday, I go back to work. Yeah. Yeah, that's awesome. Good job. And then if you wouldn't have made this journey, you might carry the question like, until get fucking alzheimer's yeah i mean i had i had to answer a few questions to myself to to kind of make the final decision to compete this year um one of those being like why why do you even do this right like do you do this because you qualify for the games or like because it feels good to like stand on a podium or because like

you care what other people think about like your success or failure or do you do this because you truly love like the 360 days that it takes to achieve this one thing and the answer was like well i just fucking love the journey i love the grind i love the discipline i love like all the things that go along with it and that in fact like every time i've qualified i really wasn't like that excited right like you qualify and it's like okay it's done like now i have to now i have to prepare for the games like once the games is done it's like okay like i did that now it's time to like look forward to like what's the next thing and so like i realized that it's really it's not the result at all that now it's time to like look forward to like what's the next thing and so

like i realized that it's really it's not the result at all that matters it's really just everything i've done in preparation for it and all of the work that gets done all year and so like once i was able to kind of reason myself with that it's like okay well then like it doesn't really matter if you qualify for the games or not like you you love the work and you love the journey to get there and the result is just a flash in the pan and that comports with what you said earlier uh in regards to the 2018 games uh had a shitty time down on yourself and now it's 2024 and that's changed into that pile of shit's turned into like oh that's cool i did that yeah and it's like there's no it's like almost it's almost the only embarrassment is the fact that you ever thought it wasn't cool right yeah that's awesome i fucking love that

and and that all makes uh that all makes sense um so okay so, so 2023, you come back and you're going to do it. You're thinking, okay, I'm going to put together a team. And then walk me through when it decides, like, you're going to become an individual. And what – was it after the Open? This year? Yeah. So I had started reaching out to a few people to do a team this year and i was i wanted to have a team that would like could really make a run for a podium at the at the games

um and so the the first person that i really reached out to was ally wise um that's the girl it's the younger sister and so she's did she go to did was she on the winning team last year no it's her younger sister okay okay ali wise is the younger sister okay and she knew kyra milligan both of them were underdogs okay and we're going to be training out of the same gym in las vegas kyra milligan is that what you are you're an underdogs are you an underdogs athlete now nope no no emom company athlete did you get a call from kotler and he's like hey don't call my bitches no no okay uh i had a call with keifer and kotler about the team um and like you know kind of like the vision for it and got to talk to kyra as well

and so since alley wise was moving to vegas to go train with that whole camp over there, they would be in the same gym. It was kind of like a perfect setup to have two athletes in the same area who could train together. So the only thing we needed to find was like another male. And it was actually very challenging because it seemed like every male wanted to compete as an individual this year. every male wanted to compete as an individual this year. But we got John Wood to say, like, you know, I'd be willing to explore the opportunity to compete as a team. What about Travis Mayer?

Was he ever a consideration? Never thought about Travis Mayer. And, you know, I think maybe travel would have been difficult because he's got a full family, you know. Full family. Yeah. Two families maybe for all yeah um and so but john wood had agreed to it he came out to like we all flew out to vegas we trained for a little while um and then he's he basically told us like hey i want to competeupalooza. I want to see how I do. If I do really well, then I might end up going individual because, like, my ultimate goal was to be an individual athlete at the CrossFit Games.

I was like – kind of the whole time, I was like, dude, to the whole team, I said, like, I want you guys to all do what you want to do because if your heart is set on individual but you agree to do team because you feel obligated or you owe us something like that's not really fair to you and it's not fair to the team because you're always going to have like this question in the back of your mind of like whether or not you should be doing this so it has to be a full commitment and a full desire on your part um and kyra and john wood were definitely on the fence of competing individually or competing on a

team because they're both insane athletes and uh after wadapalooza john wood ended up buying an affiliate and it's like hey i got an affiliate i can't travel that much i'm gonna be running a gym so i'm out of team i was like all right like we're not going to – I'll talk to Kyra and Allie, and I said, at this point, we're not going to scramble to find another guy. Allie was dealing with some back issues, and so she was going to take a little bit of time off. Kyra Milligan almost had her question answered of whether or not she should compete as an individual on her team.

So she's like, all right, I'm going individual. So then I was left with the question of do I compete or not she can she should compete as an individual on her team so she's like all right i'm going individual so then i was left with a the question of do i compete or not you know and that's where i like wrestled with the the questions in my head of uh were you fully in for a team then like had you pushed individual completely away yeah because i was i was so afraid of competing as an individual but team team is way less stressful for me. Because with a good team, you can go be very competitive and have a good bit of confidence, and it's not nearly as nerve-wracking or anxiety-provoking for me. I truly enjoyed competing on a team the previous year.

And so, yeah, the only question that was now in my head was should i do individual or should i just be done um did you ever consider asking john young um i didn't know john young at the time otherwise i totally would have awesome good answer great answer and um what month was this that um that that uh the team dissolved the week after wadapalooza i think wadapalooza is in january was it not okay and then how long did it take you to process that okay i'm gonna go individual it was a it took a while um it it took probably a month or two uh maybe you know maybe not started had the open started no okay no it hadn't started yet it's maybe a month before the open and uh but i settled on the answer of like i will i will take it one step at a time.

And if I continue to enjoy what I'm doing and like the anxiety and the fear isn't crippling and it's not like, you know, it's not affecting my day to day or like my mental headspace, then I'll continue to the next stage. And so like the Open came, really enjoyed competing in the open um ended up doing like way better than i expected at all so i was like oh okay like maybe i can do this i'm enjoying it like we'll take the next stage we'll do quarterfinals quarterfinals went really well enjoyed it um a little bit more anxiety provoking a little bit more nerves there um but nonetheless like enjoyed that process and so it's like okay

the next step is semis and it's either semis or bust um because like once you're there like you either you either qualify for the games or you don't it's pretty black and white and so my season will either continue or end um in may and i'm excited about that I want to talk to you about the workouts in one second. And these are all good signs, right? It says this is – when was this? This is two months ago. Last time I had a clean PR was 2020. I honestly figured I would never touch 360 again,

so I skipped it and went to 365. Are you alone in the gym here? No, this was at Underdogs Camp in Vegas. Kyra's right to my right. Kiefer's over there by her. Justin Kotler's probably on the other side of the frame. They have a great crew over there, and so it was definitely like a full gym. Do you know you're going individual at this point right here?

That's basically when i decided i was like okay like i'm gonna see if i can do this or like i'll take it one stage at a time and as long as i'm enjoying the process then i'll continue i'll continue the journey like keep chasing the dream um and do you still go there and train um i'll be going there on Tuesday. So I've been there. I went for the first week of the Open, was there for about a week. Quarter finals was like a pretty quick turnaround, so I hadn't been there in a minute. But I love going over there to be with Kiefer and Kyra.

They're awesome. And so I just love going to train with them. And it's good to get away from what I do because I tried to work all day and train all day. So my day will kind of start at like 5 or 5.30 a.m. And I'll work until 7 or 7.30 p.m. And that includes training for CrossFit. And I try to shut it down at like 7.30.

But whenever I'm around them, like the whole day is kind of centered around training. And so, you know, you wake up and you go into the garage and you work out, then you have a breakfast and then you go to the gym and then you train and then you come home and you eat dinner and you go to sleep. And so it's cool to kind of get away from like my, my regular day to day of like trying to do as many things as I can in 24 hours. And,

and that's okay that you're an EMom athlete and that you go over there and train with the underdogs there's no like weird it's weird it's welcoming from underdogs perspective like yeah they're they're super welcoming um from the emom company's perspective i don't think they can say anything because it's your company because it's just me well it's not just it's not just me um my brother-in-law's in it with me i have a couple people like who really helped me out with you know programming and marketing and coming up with ideas so we got a team about four or five now um but like and from the competing side of it is like i don't think anyone's gonna get upset with me going to train with underdogs yeah that's interesting are there are there people there from other training programs also

not i'm not sure okay and and you like the environment there i love it and so it's basically their um their intensives when you go there focused intensives yeah it's very focused and it's a super supportive community and it's just like it's just cool to be around that where like everybody's like just like throwing down competitively then i think a big part of it is that the fact that like i get away from like my work i i i have not uh perused your EMOM site. I definitely know you've been around since 2012. But when I look at the programming for the Open and the quarterfinals and the semifinals, I see my first just gut feeling is, oh, this is the best programming I've ever seen.

And probably the reason why I like it is it looks like the most crossfit programming i've ever seen like it looks like what we learn in the you know in the l1 back in 2006 yeah it's it's like a lot of beautiful couplets and triplets i love that yeah do you do it's um are you loving it too what did you think about the programming for open and quarterfinals now you look at semifinals i mean it's just it's just i don't know it just looks so it feels like we're back home or something yeah that's that's a great way to put it as like we're kind of back home i feel like for i don't love the aspect of like always trying to one up the year before in terms of like i don't believe that complexity lends itself to beauty i think beauty is in like the simplicity of the movements and like the style of like the programming and so

whenever you try to like make things complex and add like all these little tidbits and all these little rules to like to the workout itself it just like complicates it and distorts it and so like to bring it back to like these grassroots of simplicity and like you actually realize that like when it's simple is when you find out like like okay like dude there's there's so much beauty in how simple these things are and how effective like the the stimulus and like the build like the all of it is and so like i freaking love it did you get any penalties uh for your um quarterfinal workouts yeah i got one you did get one on my event too i got a one second penalty um i wouldn't say the penalty is a score adjustment they said my feet touched at 16.01 instead of 16.00.

Okay. You know, it's interesting. You sound like Greg when you say all that stuff about the simplicity and the beauty of it. And when I talked to Greg recently the other night, it came up about the step-ups. And I was telling him that there was some question about both legs being fully extended. And his response was, that's ridiculous. And I said telling him that there was some question about both legs being fully extended. And his response was, that's ridiculous. And I said, why? And he said, because it's about work capacity across broad time and modal domains.

And you stand up on the box. And if your center of mass is as high as it can go, it doesn't matter whether you're on one leg or two leg. And that's when he said, hey, that's like saying if someone did a 500-pound back squat and they only had one leg, it doesn't count. It's like it's fucking completely ridiculous. And it kind of fits along that line. Like, hey, don't, especially in the competition setting, don't worry about what the other leg is doing. If that center of mass is at its highest point and it doesn't matter what the other leg is doing, you're good. And it was good.

I remember the burpee first being explained to me like that in 2006. The reason why it's the best calisthenic is because you lower your body mass to the lowest point it can go. And then at the top of the movement, it's as high as it can go. And everything in between is like up to you. Yep. And,

and, and yeah. And that, and that's the simplicity, right? Yeah. Yeah. I mean,

and that's what you're eating. that's what the EMOM company is. The EMOM company, just from that quick just look I looked, clean and simple. Yes, absolutely. And I think that's kind of like – I think that's what makes what we do very effective. It's insanely simple. it's insanely simple has your training in games you think um distorted your ability to be fully effective with the emom company at all meaning as you fine-tune this thing and you fall into the weeds of nuances and getting every last you know you know uh second out of your times that it's affected your ability to see what you're trying to do there clearly?

It's possible that it may slightly. The thing is I'm not an insanely detail-oriented person. I don't look at a workout. I'm like, how can I squeeze out the very last second of it? It's more of like, how can I make this hurt? How can I make it effective? What is the total volume that I'm trying to hit what is the time domain I'm trying to hit I'm not you know we have a few different programs and so like we have like a daily that is really just meant to be like an

hour long in your garage um it's like a lift and a mechon and with that it's like you know I don't allow like the competitive side of CrossFit to like squeak into it too much. Even with movements, I don't like programming like complex movements in there very often. But on the competitive side of like what we program, there's definitely more like nuanced things in there. Like in terms of just accessory work, but like even still, I keep things as simple as I can in terms of just accessory work but like even still i keep things as simple as i can in terms of training um do you have someone to do that for you because as you get to the games the example i'll give is i don't remember what the workout is but there was some workout with a dumbbell and the rules were you had to start with your back to the dumbbell and

you saw a lot of people start with the back to the dumbbell and turn around and then as that evolved we saw the boys and girls figure it out that like hey instead of turning around take a step back yeah um are those things are important as you get to the games because there are going to be seconds that matter right yes yes and do you have eyes on if that's not your strong suit is that some of the things that they do at underdogs they'll be like hey do this to get an extra second here and yeah yeah um and and whenever you like get into that yeah like there's definitely i don't consider myself a coach though i i program for the imam company and i have help with that now um but whenever i look at like programming, I'm not thinking about like, I'm not thinking about those insanely small details. I let other people.

Like you don't care if someone steps up on the corner of the box or on the side of the box, or it's like, Hey dude, let me just get the work done. Like, I don't care. Yeah.

As I mean, if it, if it's like to the standard and like you're getting the work done, I don't really care how you do it. As long as it's like to the standard and like you're getting the work done, I don't really care how you do it. As long as it's like if it's designated a certain way, just do it that certain way and just get the work done. Like I'm a big proponent of like just do it and don't worry so much about like all the nuances until it's apparent that the nuances really matter. it's apparent that the nuances really matter. So you finished the quarterfinals and you get an invite to semifinals.

And which ones are you going to? Where do you go? Do you go to the East or the West? West, Carson. Oh, that's awesome. That'd be super cool. Oh, yeah. I'm going to be there. I can't wait to see you.

That's so cool. And have you looked at this field of dudes that you're going with? Yeah, there's pretty damn good athletes there. Yeah, it's a – are you excited? Are you excited now that – oh, and John Wood's going to be there. Hell yeah. Wow. Maybe I'll just hold on to this shirt and skip paying the shipping.

Maybe I'll just hold on to this shirt and skip paying the shipping. So you see this, and we don't know. I don't know if we know this, but as far as I know, we don't know how many are going to go, but let's say it's 11. Have you looked at this list at all? Have you played any of those games like, hey, I'm going, I'm not going, it's going to be between me? Doesn't matter.

Explain that to me. Why doesn't matter and tell explain that to me that what why doesn't it matter because my my projection of like where i could place against these like these athletes is a waste of time it's a waste of mental energy as well it's like all i can do whenever i like step out onto the floor is run the absolute best race that i can like run like yes like a little bit of like knowing where your competitors at onto the floor is run the absolute best race that i can like run like yes like a little bit of like knowing where your competitors out on the floor matters but ultimately like if you are optimizing that event for you as an individual it really doesn't matter what anyone else is doing in the other lanes next to you it only matters like what you are doing

and so whenever i step out there like i have i have my potential hopefully i i hit that potential on that event but like i cannot control what anyone else in any other lane is doing or how fast they can move or like what their what their lactate threshold is what their max heart rate is like i can't control those things and so to play these games in my mind of like i think i can beat this individual here on this workout and i think i can beat this individual here on this workout i think they're going gonna beat me here that's a waste of my time and energy and it doesn't really matter because like all of that goes out the window at three two one go and like you just run your race and the cards fall where they fall and like you

either did your job the best you could or you didn't and the the results will be what they will be and whatever they end up being is what they're supposed to be and so if i don't qualify but i ran the best race it's like well like i just i wasn't good enough and that's okay like on wednesday i go back to work if i ran my race as best i could and i qualify then like i hope that i can like accept that like to enjoy that moment and like appreciate it in and not lose out on that moment but like there's a billion different instances that can happen i've got the snatch ladder that tore my ucl in 2021 i've got to do that again like there's a there's a million things that can happen that are out of my control and to try to play into all those factors that that are completely random and completely like just trying to hold on to wet sand

is pointless um did you have your what what after you had your ucl torn um did you have it repaired nope um do you need the ucl so it had completely ripped off my elbow oh your elbow i thought it was something in the knee okay it was the last snatch at 265 in vegas in 2021 um which i think is why you interviewed me the first time because i had torn that uh and was able to still qualify as the first event in west coast yep. Yep, that sounds familiar. That sounds familiar. Yeah, by the grace of God, it reattached naturally to the joint, which can happen.

It's just rare. But there was enough blood flow and circulation to the area that it kind of actually reattached on its own. Wow, that's awesome. Yeah, I was pretty lucky about that. How do you know that like reattached on its own wow that's awesome yeah i was pretty lucky about that so how do you know that it reattached i got i got an mri someone looked at it crossfit games uh did you did you hear that brandon what i said how do you know that it reattached yeah i i got an mri after the crossfit games in 21

ulnar collateral ligament. Oh, shit, this is a big one. Yeah, I think it tore on the first snatch that I actually was able to stand up because I felt it pop and crunch, but I didn't really know. I remember shaking out my elbow after the first snatch at 265,

and then I went back for the second one. I thought i'd hyper extended it it like crunched and it sounded it sounded nasty in my head and i was like okay like i just did something you know i walked off the floor after that attempt so basically you have these two bones that are in like your tricep section of your arm and then you have two bones that are in like the forearm section and these are just like pieces of string that hold it together so you can do we can do this is that so we can do this shit i i think with all that stuff that's what i always wondered how that worked it all holds it together i'm not quite sure but kind of loosely so that we can

rotate we can do all this stuff yeah so there's four bones and they're tied together by these things called ligaments. And so that we can rotate. Wow. That's that's a big one that that yeah, that thing holds you basically it looks like it holds it's one of the ropes that holds your top of your arm to the bottom of your arm. Yeah, it's it's like, right in here. So it uh, yeah, I'm not sure where the connection points are. I'm not sure like the connection points are i'm not sure like the all i know is that hurt i couldn't do much for a while oh it did hurt it did hurt like crazy yeah and then it really bent my arm for a for a minute and and then and then it reattached that's awesome that it reattached that gets god the human body's fucking amazing yeah i just i did a lot of like isolation

movement with it a lot of like forearm stuff like try to strengthen everything around it instead of like trying to get surgery because i was going to compete at the crossfit games all right this is the last one um after i get like after i'm going home like i'll get ucl surgery and i'll probably be done um so just like you know kind of f it i'll just i'll just go compete so i try to strengthen everything around it as best i could so forearms tricep bicep and whenever i went back for an mri after the games they're like dude like you kind of actually reattached and so keep doing what you're doing hey how cool is that that your doctor he could have been a douche and said hey we're doing the surgery anyway he could have been i don't think he wanted i don't know that it's not

that he he didn't want to do surgery. It's that we were going to wait. And so after, like, you... Because it was, like, three months, basically, from the time I tore it to the time, like, I went back after the CrossFit Games. When you wait that long, you need to go see, like, you need to see what's been happening in there. Like, we didn't think that it reattached,

but the MRI just showed that, like, it kind of, like, healed up a good bit and scarred over. Tell me you don't have any fucking clue what you're talking about. We use physical optics to standardize those endpoints. Yeah, no shit. Locked knees are one of those for step-ups. No, not locked knees. You're totally fucking missing the point.

And here, Justin, you're missing the point too. The CrossFit game season should set the standard. It should set the standard, but if the standard is wrong, and by wrong it doesn't fit what CrossFit is supposed to be teaching, which is a moving center of mass, then fucking the CrossFit Games are wrong too. You're one of these people that fucking believes in democracy over liberty. You don't understand how it works.

And their standards should be such that normal class settings can easily be replicated day to day. Yeah, okay, I agree with that too. Why the fuck would it matter? So you're telling me someone with one leg um i know i'm reading into a little bit of what both you guys are saying but you're telling me someone with one leg can't do crossfit because they can't lock out but they can't uh fully extend both legs i bet you eat a big dose to shut the fuck up all right back to the show good morning oh yeah yeah good morning good morning All right. Back to the show. Good morning. Yeah, good morning.

It's like, dude, why would you need – why would you do that, especially in the competition setting? I could see maybe in a class, like you're like, hey, today we're going to do the entire workout breathing through your nose. Or today we're going to do the workout we want both feet on the box but in the competition setting uh it's just about getting this if the center of mass can't get higher than than where it is there's no point in then make then making sure that both legs are locked out you've done the fucking work putting that second leg up there only complicate shit and there's no uh physical extra physical capacity being shown i think that's fair thank you you're welcome yeah chris beesterfield free page yeah i'll call you later and explain it to you no don't

today's a crazy day today i'm so busy today i'm overwhelmed already i can't wait till today you know when your day's so busy or i feel guilty for saying this but you kind of are like you need it to you just have to start yes and you're just like man i kind of can't wait till today's over i hate to say that because we only have limited days here on earth but it's like man i hope i can't wait for today just to keep moving forward i never have that thought but i I can't wait for today just to keep moving forward. I never have that thought. What? I can't wait for today to be over. But maybe sometimes the task at hand, I can't wait to be done with that task.

Or just start it. Greg's giving this talk today at his house, and there's going to be like 100 people there. And I have to make sure the audio and video and everything's right and people are happy. And I just have to be on my A game. There's a lot of pressure. Yeah. And so I just want, like,

I just want that to start. I just want to get there and like, see everything. Okay. Everything's good. People are happy. Greg's good. Sound check.

Yeah. So I'm kind of there. Uh, Bernie Gannon. I always wish for more hours in the day. Yeah, me too. Going to sleep sucks.

It's fun, but it sucks. Okay, so you're prepping to go to the West. Yes, sir. You have a place to stay? Yes, sir. And you have your tickets? Yes, sir. And you have your team in place who you're going with?

Yes, sir. And your fitness is where it should be uh you never know the answer to that question until like you it's like studying for a test man like you never know what the test questions are going to be um and in this instance it's like yeah we know like we know what the events are for the most part like there may be some parts that we don't quite know yet but there's all these other factors of like every other competitor is also part of like that test question. So it's like,

yeah, I'm, I'm studying as hard as I can, but I don't know if I will prepare well enough until I go take the test. So, right. And are you healthy? I think so.

Yeah. Like, like the body feels good. Body feels pretty good. It feels stronger and healthier than it has in quite a long time. When Brent was on the show the other day, and he mentioned, we asked him, how do you feel about the workouts coming out so early? And he said he would have preferred to wait to the last minute just because of the anxiety that builds around knowing what they are.

Can you relate to that? At first, it was very anxiety-provoking, but as I get to know each event a little bit better, it kind of eases some of that anxiety. Again, I go back to the mindset of all I can do is prepare as best as I can with the 24 hours every day from now until then that I can and I try to ease some of that anxiety through like okay like you only can prepare as best you can and then once you've done that like you've done everything you can and then you go compete and so um everyone's got like the same number of days and the same anxieties and whatever

and like questions in their mind and so just to me is get to know the test as best you can and then go see if you can can compete when you when you had decided you retired how how sure were you that you were done i think there's always a question in your head like should i go one more time okay so you never saw the fire go you if you look back in there you're like fuck there's still a little some embers burning what the fuck go out i mean dude i i realize that like i realize now like i always need something to kind of push for and maybe it won't always be like competing in crossfit or trying to compete at like you know semis or the games um but like there's always got to be something like i want to go do that and see if I'm capable.

So maybe it'll be like an Ironman. I've always wanted to do an Ironman. So maybe when I'm done competing, I'll go see if I can just get through all of that for an Ironman. I think that'd be really cool to do. There's a lot of other things that you can go test yourself with without having to compete in CrossFit. But yeah, dude, I just like the setting a goal and seeing if it's possible.

In years past, I would say that there was... I'm open to being wrong. In years past, I would say there was much less external pressure than there is this year. Meaning that in years past, I would say there was much less external pressure than there is this year, meaning that in years past, you were just one of the guys just going, right? You were just one of the guys for Brent Fikowski and Pat Vellner to beat up on. This year seems like it's a little bit different,

that there's probably more external eyeballs on you than ever before. Do you feel that? Maybe. You're in denial but i also i think it's fair to blame john young i think it's fair to blame john yeah yeah uh but i mean also like my performance in quarterfinals was pretty good so like you know to finish second in our really third in region. I don't count myself second because Patrick Vellner was ahead of me. And he got hit with that penalty. But to be like top three in your region going into quarterfinals,

I guess it definitely adds more external pressure. But the thing is external pressure is only external if you allow it to be. And it's only external because you care what other people are saying about what you're capable of. In reality, none of that shit matters. So I try to remind myself that the only pressure I feel is internal. It really doesn't matter what anyone else predicts or thinks or cares about. It doesn't mean, though, it's still not there. So it's like it doesn't mean though it's still not there i guess so it's like this so like let's say let's say you're running a race and you're in a stadium with people cheering

or not in a stadium with people cheering it's still just you right but but but there's gonna now there's gonna be people there sure and so like that could interfere with your ability or enhance it. I try not, I simply try not to think about it because that external pressure really doesn't. You don't find value in it. There is, to me, there's no value in it. To put that much value in the thoughts of someone else that isn't me is like i believe i'm capable of qualifying for the crossfit games but like i said like to be capable and to do it are two

different things and that's the difference in like expectations to have the expectation that i will qualify for the crossfit games is kind of silly because that means that like i'm in control of what everyone else also does and so like to say that i'm capable does not mean that i expect it is are the semi-finals more stressful than probably the games yeah again to me the games has always been bonus and maybe that like i think that's also probably something that's probably a wrong mindset because like i'm blessed to be able to be there and a very small number of people get to be there so like in that essence it's like okay like you did this it's bonus but like there are a lot of people who are going to see like that is their goal and like they want to go see how well they can do with the games i think that's part of why like i've come back a few times is like okay like maybe maybe the approach going to the games has always been wrong and maybe like

you really want to see like what you're actually capable of there instead of saying okay like i made it and basically saying like now the season is just kind of you know you you built up you peaked and now you're just riding this line all the way through the games and i don't think that's fair to the other 39 athletes to have someone there who's like yeah i made it like i'm gonna i've never like gone there and like not competed as hard as i could but i think maybe the mindset's a little bit more lax, um, than, than it should have been. And so I don't know if that's quite fair to everybody else. Um, let me go to the other side of this, going back to the last question about external pressure.

It is though nice being recognized, right? So here you are. You're working. It's just for you. You're going to the games. You want to win the games. And you're just this guy going. But there are people around you who there's tons of external eyeballs on, like shitloads and shitloads, right? So you're going to be in the West, and there's Justin Medeiros.

But is there something also nice about being recognized by your peer group and the CrossFit community is like, oh, look, this guy Brandon Luckett's back. And getting notoriety, recognition, attention, those things. Don't those things feel good? If you let them. I think that's just pride. And I don't want to be prideful in this season like i don't want to be i don't want to do things because of like what other people might say

because that was that was the same fear the roses without picking them though can't you enjoy it without it being prideful can't you i'm afraid i'm afraid that it would it would play into my ego too much yeah Yeah, yeah. To care. I see that. Because it's the same reason. It's the same thing that kept me so fearful of competing this year to begin with. What might people say if I'm not as good of an athlete as I was in the past?

That's just your pride and your ego carrying what other people say. It's the same thing on the reverse of it. Of when, oh man, he's doing well this year like he could he could he can maybe punch another ticket it's like okay that's just playing into my ego and my pride again but on the on the reverse side of it like i want people to to see me or like i don't care about being seen like it doesn't matter to me like i don't i don't i don't need it um and like yeah like And yeah, it does play into those dopamine receptors at times. And it makes me feel good to see a name there sometimes. I got to check myself.

Dude, this isn't why you're doing it. You're not doing it so that someone knows who you are, puts you in their top whatever. None of that matters because that's just pride and ego, and I don't want that. It reminds me of this realization I had. I don't remember when I had it, but that basically insecure and cockiness are the same thing. I'm going to be hyperbolic about about it but they're both just narcissism like you can you can totally be feeling sorry for yourself and think you're a piece of shit and that's still narcissism because you're just focusing on yourself it's just right it's all it's me it's all it's

still a big picture it's all me me me me me me me yeah and it's like yeah right and so so many people like they don't realize that that man insecurity and like in in in pride and all that shit they have the same daddy it's you just focus doing shit like focusing on yourself yeah i'm like yeah i've just tried not to have those those ways of thinking i guess okay then then let me let me push back on it a little more let me dig in here a little more i agree with you but can't you smell the roses without being attached to them without wanting to um cut them and bring them home can't you look up into the sky and see the beautiful bird and enjoy it without wanting to bring it home can't you enjoy the attention without it um letting it affect brandon luckett i think that my family and friends and the people in my community

i think they really enjoy it i think they like to see yeah i mean we're all enjoying as fans we're enjoying it it's fun to see just like you probably we're all enjoying it. As fans, we're enjoying it. It's fun to see just like we're fucking loving it. But for me, I love the things that I'm doing day to day. And that's the part that I'm trying to stop and smell the roses with. And I don't – I've never actually really seen any of the recognition until it's sent to me. And so, like I said, like, yes, it can play into, like, those feel-good receptors. Like, yeah, it's like, okay, it's cool to be seen, but then, like, I have to check myself. And so, like, I've already got the roses, man.

Like, without, like, the compliments and without the recognition, I've already got the roses, man. Like without, without like the compliments and without the, the recognition I've already got the roses. And so like I'm smelling them every day and I'm okay with that. If no one knew my name and what I was doing this season, like, that's okay. That's fine with me. And it's, yes, it's, it's cool. But like I, I'm, I'm fearful of allowing like the pride and ego to get the better of me. Oh, I think I get it because then it could exacerbate the fear. Yeah.

Okay. I finally made that connection. Okay. I know you said that. I just finally made the connection. Okay. Yeah. And then, okay. Awesome. God, I wonder how many athletes, okay. And so that's what we've seen. That's, and we've seen athletes crumble under that. They're, they, they touch the, the, the, um, they touch the accolades or the love from the outside world and that fed the fear could you imagine being afraid to lose recognition you don't have control of it yeah yeah yeah wow fuck show's over solve the show needs a good name we solved it sweet well dude i'm stoked i'm i'm really excited to hang out with you in um in carson that's going to be cool to hang to hang with you and um to film with you doing the behind the scenes and who are you going with who's your

who will have your coaches pass roy vj the of my affiliate, a very good friend of mine, will have my coaches pass. Is that Indian dude, Vigier? He's – I think he's like French. It's Louisiana. It's V-I-G-E-R, pronounced Vigier. I think it's French. All right.

All right. Hey, dude. Thanks for coming on. You're as cool as I remember. You're one of the coolest people. I really enjoyed the first podcast with you. Thanks for coming on. And I'll see you in a couple weeks.

Yes, sir. See you in a few weeks, man. All right. Brandon Luckett from the E-Mom Company. Going back to the games. Have a good day, dude. Thanks, Siobhan. Ciao. Shit.

Fuck. That dude's cool as shit. That's the kind of dude you want to marry your sister. Date your mom. Uh, that's, that's the kind of dude you want to marry your sister, date your mom. Um, what, what, fuck, what a cool dude. I know, right, Eric? Uh, I'd like to dedicate this show to, uh, who was it?

Dildo and Jake Chapman for giving me inspiration to let off some energy. Thank you. I wonder if he'll do something before the games, like to get in the mindset, like shave his head or something. Sevan is still tripped up. There's a lot of dates and numbers and timelines and shit today. So much of that. So many pieces. Okay, now check behind your couch.

Alright, I think I should go, um, uh, yeah yeah all right let me see if there's anything out All right. Let me see if there's anything out. Sevan, did you pick the wrong week to stop sniffing glue? You don't even know.

You're closer than you think. You're closer than you think. Sevan, you didn't ask Brandon about his John Young shirt. Eric Weiss, you didn't watch the whole show. Oh, shit. I fucked you up. Fucked you up. Sorry, Eric.

I like you. But even my friends got to get slapped around. All right. alright Saturday's show is going to be crazy guys Kill Taylor it'll be $1500 what's this god damn it I don't have time for this shit what is going on Oh, what's this god damn it

I don't have time for this shit What is going on Hey What What you need Who this what you know, you know who this is, uh, you know movie that's from who dis Who dis you don't movie that's no. I don't know. What is that You know who this is. You know what movie that's from? Who Dis? Who Dis? You know what movie that's from? No, I don't know.

What is it from? Boys in the Hood. Oh, shit. I haven't watched that in a minute. Who Dis? Hey, you have standards for your kids' behavior, right? Yes, sir. Oh, for the love of God.

They get out of line. I'm going to fuck you up if you don't agree with me. Do it. Go ahead. Do it. I want you to fuck me. But they don't agree with me. Do it. Go ahead. Do it. I want you to fuck me. But they get out of line, you got standards.

Like, hey, this is how it has to be, right? You're not mad, but like, you know, hey, this is how it's got to be, kiddos, right? So professional sport, big picture, huge picture. They got to have standards, right? I don't care if my wife jacks me off with her left hand or her right hand. I don't give a fuck. How's that for a metaphor? And so if she wants to give me a standee with her left hand, I'm not going to be like, well, I was watching some porn yesterday. And in the porn, they do it in the right hand.

No, I don't care. The point is to get a standee and to let the baby batter, let the poison out. And so if you stand up all the way so so what you're saying is that you wouldn't let one-legged guys what if you set that precedence in crossfit it's going to be worse than it already is no one's going to be doing anything to any sort of standard at all you're going to have people stepping up to the height that they want to step up to they're gonna freaking use one i mean you have to have uh this is this this is what it's got to look like whether it's a one person one foot one leg no that's the word that's the word that that's the

word that's wrong if you're disagreeing with me that's the word that you have wrong um, it's not, it's not what it has to look like necessarily. It also has, why would you make someone put their second foot up on the box? Um, uh, and have be in full extension if it doesn't increase work capacity across broad time and modal domains. Because that's a big thing here. It is. Students talk about this a lot. There is a difference between the CrossFit games and CrossFit. Yeah. There's a big thing here to students talk about this a lot. There's a difference between the crossfit games and crossfit Yeah, there's a vast difference. Yeah, and I think

I think someone's doing that i'm not no rep But yeah, but I think you have it backwards. I think in the gym Maybe you tell them hey you have to have both feet up there But in the games, I think all you're testing is work capacity But how does that look like if you don't have a standard you do the standard is just one leg the standard is just one leg one leg at least so you change that specific standard that's fine that's cool i guess you know one leg's got to be out there but does that leg have to come to full extension what is the other leg doing you take a push press hey

are we actually allow gonna allow people to still be looking up or does their head have to go through do they have to lock out at the top there's all like standards that like for a professional sport to be legit you know i see your point i do i do see your point i would need to see it executed my way but i think my way is right still but i but i do see your point but i'm open to like you're not wrong often you're not wrong don't fuck with me don't try to placate this monstrosity of an ego i have i love it i love it but yeah i know you gotta get going you gotta get going but i you know the i had to i had to bring that up i I had to do that now. Excuse me, Haley. I'm going to need another standee.

Well, why is that? Well, you used your left hand, and I noticed you started on the upstroke instead of the downstroke. And everyone knows a standee has to be done with the right hand with the downstroke as the first stroke. There you go. You just set the standard. Boom. She's got to live up to it. Fuck that.

I'll just be thankful I got a standee. I just need full extension, full release. Oh man. I love it. Good stuff. Excited for you today, man. That's going to be awesome. Get to film. Is that, you're going to release that to, to the channel? I'm filming for a BSI, so I'll hand the footage over to Emily Kaplan and

Greg over there. It's cool because Susan's going to be there and Heidi's going to be there. Richard Johnson's going to be there, the guy who wrote the book, The Fat Switch. This guy that I've become friends with named Dan from RX Sugar is going to be there. I'm pretty excited. A lot of these people I've never met before, so i'm pretty excited to go meet those people my hopefully my

kids get to come i never know what these events if kids are welcome or not so we'll feel that out sure no that's awesome dude very excited cool cool cool all right hopefully they have some high standards there love Love you, dude. All right, talk to you later. Bye. Peace. Oh, Graciano Rubio will be there. That's cool.

Awesome. All right. See, it only keeps getting better. I'm assuming at broken science dot org is where the footage will be Audrey's asking where can I see the footage no it's not live it could be live all right Kristen Keller get some close-ups of Emily Hey, you know, it's crazy which RX sugar bar tastes best well, you know, it's crazy is I

Watched Andrew Hiller show with his chick, uh, Alexis yesterday, and they were reviewing the, um, RX bars. And she said it tastes like a shitty,

uh, Twix bar. I think she said Twix, Twix or Kit Kat, but I'm not a fan of, I mean, I mean, I can't remember the last time I had one of those anyway,

but I'm not a really a fan of those. If I ever ate a candy bar, I always like something more chewy. I think RX Bar is more like a Milky Way bar and just a little less sweet. The texture is absolutely amazing. It's like caramel. You know when you get caramel on top of ice cream? It's like that. Those RX Sugar Bars are crazy. The regular chocolate one is the best i like them all my kids say stupid shit like i don't like

the mint one i'm like what like um oh the mint then mint yeah anyway those i i when we have i still don't i'm still out the jury's out on whether like we're supposed to be eating those probably we're not because they're packaged but if you have to do something bad i guess that's the thing to do but man those are they they are good blueberry there's a blueberry i mean they are really good i love the texture and and the chocolate on the outside um and i'm not a fan of twix or kit kat so if she's a fan of those i could see why maybe she's not um i whenever i bite into like besides like almond roca whenever i bite into like cookie chocolate it always feels cheap to me oh rx bars suck now they're sold out yeah um the one of the guys who's coming is one of the owners

of rx uh sugar and he says they can't keep that shit in stock i like creamy things creamy things are good obby's not a huge fan of ice cream doesn't make him feel well that's crazy that you know that yeah he got he got i got talked to the other day i think i told you guys by one of the parents because kids were eating ice cream and he said ice cream is for pussies he actually said ice cream is for pussies but he but anyway whatever all right uh i'll see you guys later um no no no obby is not lactose intolerant no one in my family has any weaknesses okay so saturday make sure saturday saturday saturday saturday it's going to be the biggest kill taylor show uh tell your friends uh who want to compete the workout will be released i think a half hour before i try not to interfere in the workout um but taylor told me what the workout is and and basically we're arguing over some standards now. I don't want to say argue,

but he's setting some standards for it. I'll just write back. And I said, are you sure you want to do that? I'll just say, if you say so. I wrote back, okay, if you say so. That's some passive-aggressive shit. Seve's only weak... Sevan's family's only weakness is height

love you guys talk to you soon bye