The Sevan Podcast - Jimi Letchford | GORUCK President

Episode Date: January 24, 2024

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That's BetterHelp.com. exciting games and events. Plus, find amazing hidden gems in cities full of adventures, delicious food, and diverse cultures. You'll love it so much you'll want to extend your stay beyond the matches. Get the ball rolling on your soccer getaway. Head to visittheusa.com. And bam, we're live, just like that. Can you hear me jimmy i can't hear you can you see me hey buddy yo i got you man how you doing dude so good are we live we are live oh my gosh didn't tell me it was going to be live oh always live always live jimmy

i uh i have a very long relationship with jimmy when i started at crossfit jimmy started at crossfit and um and we grew up in the space together and um it was fun because and i'd be curious to get jimmy's take on this but it was kind of it kind of had that feeling that i imagine it was like being at Apple in the beginning when Steve jobs was like bringing the Apple computer to the world. Yeah, that's right. Um,

I re I remember when I started, I thought I was the King shit and, um, Jimmy worked there too. And we were kind of in different lanes and everyone was remote. So we were kind of in different places. And, um, I was talking, I can't remember to Greg or to Lauren one day. I'm like, Hey man, this guy, Jimmy's like bossing me around.

And Greg's like, that's my general. Anything he says is like my voice. I'm like, son of a bitch. Jimmy helped me get distribution for every second counts. He had my back for fucking 15 years that I was there. Similar to Dave where I had a fucking tough entry learning that these mill guys work hard. They have chain of command. They believe in getting shit done.

They don't do the Berkeley boy fluff talk like I did. It took me a while for us to – I had to fight with them a bunch in the beginning like I did. It took me a while for us to, um, I had to, I had to fight with them a bunch in the beginning, like I did with Dave. And the next thing I knew we were fucking brothers and I fucking, I appreciate everything you ever taught me there, dude. It was people like you and Dave that taught me what real leadership is. And it took me a long time to grasp it. Unfortunately, I only got it by the time I got it, I only got like a two year reign. By the time I understood, by the time I was able to understand what leadership was and fucking my team was decimated. Um, dude, I, I want to say this.

I was thinking how lucky, um, uh, GORUCK is to have you dude. Like they are so stoked. Um stoked um i know it's a i know it's a super cool company i know it's crazy focused i know it's crazy focused on product and movement and and getting people moving and obviously delivering the fucking highest crazy quality um yes um product i know you guys are the you know the the mount i don't want to say the Bentley, I want to say the Mount Everest of gear. Your shit can fucking take it. But all that being said, dude,

they're so lucky to have you, dude. You have so much experience. It's insane. When I heard you landed there and then you guys partnered with CrossFit, I was like, holy shit. Because I know you and Dave and then you guys partnered with CrossFit. I was like, holy shit. Cause I know, I know you and Dave are super close and I know Dave's a crazy rucker.

And I was just like, this is, this is crazy. Do you, are you, do you trip sometimes? You're like, holy shit. This is. Yeah. Well, first of all, in a way I'm not at home, but you're back at home with your boy. I got the same aberration for you too, buddy. I remember like really the first time i think it was it was either 2008 or 2009 games when you know you and i like really started to get close together you know in fact i if you remember we were selling at the 2009 games we were like hey we need to have a beer garden. And we looked, reached out to the

local distributor and they had some beer that was about to expire and they donated it to us in operation Phoenix. Oh shit. I forget that story. Barely, barely tell me that story. I love that. We're startup. We need expired beer. That's the best we can do it was almost expired almost expired but uh yeah they donated it to operation phoenix and we sold them for three bucks and took the money and gave it to operation phoenix but we got all this like got the big tent and the beer garden all this stuff and they gave us these bottles and we didn't have a bottle opener not one and you had your uh you know your your winnebago rv thing there and you're like in the middle of shooting i'm like bro you gotta do you have a you have a bottle opener and you're like you just like go check in my rv or

whatever so we ran in there and i'll like ravage the drawers and all that stuff we ended up getting it but uh anyway i i dude i appreciate you did i ever get my bottle opener back jimmy or do you still not you on my bottle opener i mean i'm going through the drawers and finding all kinds of paraphernalia you know so i just i'm like okay got it you saw some hippie candles uh some weed, some condoms. Big, long mushrooms. Jimmy, how old are you? I'm 43.

And how many kids do you have? Five. Five kids. Good job. Good job too, dude. That was something that I was always blown away. I'm like, this guy does all of this hard work. He does all of this travel. And I think when I met you, did you have any kids? You know this, and any man out there that's got a strong marriage knows that the backbone of the family is the wife. Madeline's just a pistol. She's a foundation of all this, and especially in military. They man the command center, right? If you've got a strong woman, she mans the command center.

She's in charge of the base. Yeah, that's right. And in the military world, right? She is. She is that COC. While you go out and do the things that you need to do, she keeps the family glued together. She, you know, raises the kiddos, you know, while you're not there, but then integrates you back into the systems when you get back. Right. And we had an easy transition because we had been deploying, you know, like the family. I've been deployed a lot um and you know she had been

used to it right and crossfit was yeah it was felt like i traveled a shit ton which we were always on the roads tons you know and sometimes it felt like like why are we doing this but we were growing a brand growing growing relationships going to places and throwing our love on them. And it was, it was fun. It was spectacular. But yeah, it was, so we had three kids at the time and, you know, she was used to it and we did it well and, you know, and it grew and, you know, it's kind of a similar situation now. I mean, I'm still, still a reserve Marine. I travel a lot for GORUCK. It's one of those things where we're used to it. We use the analogy in my house.

I go out and hunt, and I bring the meat home, and I help process it. She's the one that does the rest of the stuff. It's a great relationship. I'm really honored and proud to have a wife like Mads um we'll get to the details guys as we go through but like I said Jimmy and I started CrossFit around the same time we were there through all the fucking epic growth we were there through the transition and um and and so we have that in common. There's probably, I don't know, a handful of us who took that journey. And I always, when I was a kid and I would go to school, I always enjoyed going to class because of like a friend I had there, you know.

And I always remember any trips I went on, I would always be so stoked to see you. I'd be like, oh, there's Jimmy. And I would try to hang out with you as much as you. I was like a little kid. I try to sit next to you at the dinner table. I always enjoyed our conversations. I enjoyed like the way we interacted with the world. And I just appreciated that. And I, it was so cool. Cause there was never any, um, with our group, me, you, Greg, Dave, Nicole, uh, et cetera. A lot of people I'm not naming. You never had to be fake. Like, and there was never that awkward re-entry.

It was like, it was like we were just all siblings and we just all were back in the van together cruising. That's right. Yeah, I agree. I mean, that was a special, like we had some really good times, like just great laughs, a lot of fun experiences, met a lot of interesting people in a lot of different countries.

And I agree. Like I always come home and tell, you know, a lot of fun experiences met a lot of interesting people in a lot of different countries and uh i agree like i always come home and tell you know mads what we were we always had a good time together you and i um and david up early up early and stayed up late like that's right fucking grind just right yeah bumping into you in the hotel gym pretty regularly. Yeah. Yeah. But yeah, it was, it was a good time. And like, yeah, we, we had something special with, you know, Greg, Dave, Nicole, you know, you, you know, a few others, but like that was a core, you know, that was really the, the heartbeat of what we had. Um, yeah, it was pretty special. Um, you, it's, it's interesting. You say you, um, when you're 43 now. I had my first kid at 43. Crazy.

But you're still having them. That's permanent. There is no more of that. You're stopped at five. Yeah, we're done. We're done. I mean, we took a nine-year break between number three and number four. So we have a six year old and almost four year old turns four next week. So we started over and it's been magical. Like people, people ask me all the time, like, or say to me, you're like, you're crazy. You're crazy for doing that. And I kind of look at them and look at the little ones and I'm like, you're crazy for not

doing this. Right. This is amazing. This is a real, yeah, look at that. Yeah, that's a few years ago. But yeah, you're crazy for not doing it. Look, I was 24 when my son, James, Kieran, Jimmy. How old is he now? How old is he now? He's 19. Okay.

He's 19. So he's at AS he's 19 um so he's at asu arizona state the one on the left there the beautiful one with the yellow shirt on that's my corinne she's 17 she graduates high school and the piercing look on the right that's michaela she's 14 she's a freshman we took a long long break but i'll tell you like with that first batch we were young you know our pants were on fire like we just it was one of those things where me especially I was like hey I can't I can't wait till they do x you know I can't wait till they walk can't wait till they talk I can't wait till they do this right and you know and that was for the first three it was kind

of like well you know let's rush it along and i'll tell you for the last two it's been the exact opposite you know it's like push the pause button you know enjoy it like you realize how fleeting and precious those moments are and you don't want to give them away you don't want to give them away because it's a whole different feeling when your son goes off to college and now I've got my daughter. I was just at her senior night for wrestling and they put a video up of her throughout the years

on the big jumbotron. And I'm sitting in the back, hoping no one sees the tears rolling down my eyes. Dude, i love it yeah it's like your daughter's wrestling jimmy yeah both my daughters wrestle well it's it's pretty special i mean girl girls wrestling is an up-and-coming sport it is empowering it's exactly it's the exact opposite of what you think it would be exact opposite in the um in the jiu-jitsu scene um the the powerhouse is for sure the girls when at the age my at the age my boys

are at like there's this whole you know cadre cohort of girls who are under 14 years old who are on all the instagram reels the the shit they can do, their reaction time, their intelligence. It's, it's, it's on a whole, uh, it's on a whole nother level. It's crazy. And like, they don't, they don't have the egos that you and I have. You know what I mean? Like, I'll tell you that, um, growing up in New Jersey wrestling is his life wrestling, football, baseball. And that's what you did. That's what you did. You grew up in New Jersey. Yes. Okay. Outside of Philly, um um on the Jersey side of course but um you know

wrestling is a big big sport right you know you start when you're four that's when you can that's when I did and you just go and and wrestling I, wrestling rooms are packed. Gymnasiums are packed, especially for big rivalries. But the boys, like, you know exactly who the other guy is. You open up the Philadelphia Inquirer and you're looking at the rankings and you see who you're going to wrestle. You see the results. I mean, you know. And there is no friendliness around that. And there's no friendliness in the world of like coming off the mat and you lost or you won or it doesn't matter.

If you got a rivalry team, there is no sportsmanship, not to an extent. Right. It's not focused. Let's just put it that way. These girls, they are so. They have such sportsmanship and the way they treat each other with respect and they hug each other and they help each other up off the mat and they smile coming off the mat. Like they're just like, good job. Like you would think that it would be something a little more catty, I guess, like they'd be at each other in a different way. And it's exactly not that. It is. Is any part of you disappointed in not that it is is any part of you disappointed in that jimmy is any part of you being a boy being like yo don't help that bitch up

you're doing hugging her you know what you just smashed her face and you're gonna have to wrestle her again next season i'm a little tough on my girls you know as i feel like i should be you know i don't i don't look at them as being you know your girl like and madeline's not either right like here's a right email that also grew up around wrestling. She grew up in South Jersey. And again, wrestling's life. And, you know, she's very hard on them, very hard on them as well. It's just like, look, it kind of doesn't matter.

Boy, girl, you know, like win, loss. Like you've got to put your all into it. And so, yeah, I mean, there's some moments where I'm like, you know, like when lost, like you've got to put it, you're all into it. And so, yeah, I mean, there's some moments where I'm like, you know, I'd ever seen your night the other, the other night I told you I was up in the back. So people didn't see me cry, but the moment she got on the mat and I'm down on the front, you know, front bench screaming my face off, you know, tell her to like circle out to the left, you know, and like, be like, don't relax on the side of the mat, you know? Yeah. So I'm pretty hard on them. And in Utah, Utahns are not very, they're not confrontational. What time? Say that again. What times? Utah. Like I live in Utah now.

Oh, Utah, Utah, Utah. Okay. We used to live in Southern California, but we got out of there right before COVID. We live in Utah now. Nice move. Good job. Good chess move. Yeah. Timing was perfect. Perfect.

But the Utahms aren't like that, right? You don't have a lot of guys sitting on the side of the mat, you know, screaming their face off like you would see at every single mat at a new jersey wrestling tournament right so yeah it's how are you as a dad every time i have josh bridges on here he got another story his son plays basketball and every time he's on here you got a story where he had a confrontation with another parent well so i how are you kids, um, my kids went to park city, uh, high school last year. And is that bougie is park city, Utah, crazy bougie. It's like turned into Aspen. Oh, that's awesome. What happened was we got in here right in time. We probably

could have got in a lot earlier. Right. But this whole COVID thing happened and people, you know, you're talking about 60% of Park City at the time was all second homes. So people coming from San Francisco and New York and all these places came out here because they, you know, they were locked down in the places they were. So it kind of swelled. And then the real estate market went bonkers like everywhere, but especially here, you know, we got, did you get in before that? We got in before it. Congrats. Yeah. And so you got expansion to deer Valley mountain here, park city and canyons merged into one. And so you got the largest ski resort in the country is here in Utah. Now, then you have deer valley starting a new program or a new mountain they actually they are going to manage a new mountain but it kind of doesn't matter

world-class skiing beautiful homes outdoor school system looks really good on paper um salt lake city mount uh airport 45 minutes from here great outdoor lifestyle great medical system here so like a great airport too by the way it's not like fucking the shit like denver or chicago those airports are fucking bonkers it is so we you know the kids are going to park city high school both my daughters are wrestling in the system but my son was also wrestling and the coach like they didn't they haven't hired a real good coach in a long time right and so I'm volunteering and like so I'm on conference calls rolling into the wrestling room going on black for practice and then getting on conference calls afterwards but anyway we took a small little team you know you're talking seven or eight boys

never filled out a lineup within five six girls and we just with some other dads that their kids had already graduated they just did it for the love we'd go around to these tournaments and these matches or whatever and it's like I always said to my I always said to my wife I was like hey like my dad I I love my dad I like I have an enormous amount of respect for him but he was hard on me like he should have been when I was a young buck you know I mean like I I do remember a time where like I came off the mat and lost a tough one and everything and I'm waiting for a hug you know and I'm crying I must be 10 12 years old it kind of doesn't matter and I and I'm waiting for a hug you know and I'm crying I must be 10 12 years old it kind of doesn't matter and I'm I'm looking for some solace in my old man and I get hit in the

face with my my shorts and my shirt and he's like you deserve to lose that damn off and uh my dad is like I mean you know SWAT team kind of guy, just jacked up. Was your dad a cop? Was your dad a cop? Yeah, 28 years. Wow. Yeah, 28 years, retired on drug task force, leading the SWAT team, that kind of stuff, right? And I always like said to myself and to my wife, I was like, you know, I'm not going to be like that.

I'm just going to be super chill on the side of the mat and everything. And the moment my son stepped foot on the mat, that hole went out the window. He became your dad. Oh, my gosh. I'm 100 times worse than my dad. I'm on the side of the mat going, you're not going to – every shot that you don't take is the one you don't score on.

Like, you know, you like get your ass back in the center of the mat, like going nuts. Well, I would take that to my coaching too. And so the amount of referees that aren't used to that kind of coaching on the side of the mat, like taking them to the table and going you know challenging their calls and stuff the amount of times i've been thrown out of matches is kind of insane oh really really yeah my wife would just i mean i'd come home and she'd like how to go and i'm like it was great in the parking lot it was yeah yeah hey i want to ask you about that with your dad um as a tenor because i Yeah. You know what I mean? Like I have a toy and I'm walking down the street and I trip and fall. My toy hits the ground and breaks. And my dad's like, don't worry. And he walks me right back to the toy store and buys me a new one. And I'm like, those memories like stiff stuck with me my whole life. Right. But on the other hand, like now that you're a parent, you know, your dad maybe didn't want to treat you that way, but felt like it was the best choice in order to get the best out of you. Because at the end of the day, someday he's going to be gone. And his son, Jimmy's going to be left alone in the world and needs to be tough. Tell me about the,

you remember that moment he did that? How did you process that? How does a kid process that? Are you able as an alchemist to turn that into something positive? Are you able as an alchemist to turn that into something positive? Yeah, for sure. For sure. Like, you know, like I think today there's a lot more of the, you know, the, the, the condolences and the solace and the, you know, like, Hey, you tried really hard. Right. And that's really good. You know, you, at least you tried and that's not how, you know, that's, that's, it's like, I got some of that and I got

as I got the perfect amount of what I needed of that. Right. But, you know, he, he also knew being out, I mean, being a, being the oldest of eight, he's the oldest of eight in a Irish Catholic family, you know, in, you know, of all blue collar workers, you know, going in and, you know, he's got all his brothers and sisters to take care of. And he's got his new family to take care of. You know, my mom worked for the state as a court reporter, like just hard work and family. He knew that like, you know, the world's not going to give you, it's not going to give you stuff on a silver platter, right? You got to go out and you got to work for it. And like my old man, um, he was always, always engaged, right? Like it wasn't like,

he would just sit in the stands. He helped coach wrestling. He helped coach football. He helped coach baseball. So he just, and what's important about you saying that is he wasn't just a dick. He earned his right to be a dick. You respected him. It wasn't like you were getting beaten by the drunk dad it was like no he earned he earned his spot at the table in your life to give you that feedback oh yeah yeah yeah i mean and like i still have an enormous amount of respect for my old man me too he's just he's just a great person he's a great person and uh i got to i get to take like some of the the hard love that he gave me pretty regularly.

And that generally came in around sports and academics. It was always like, Hey, school is number one. That was always it. Like in my house, school's number one. And I'm going to give a shit how good of a wrestler you are or a football player. You're not playing if you don't have the grades and the grades were A's and B's in my house. Don't bring home a C. Do not bring home a C. And if you did, it was like you waited till next semester and it didn't matter if it was like summertime. Next semester, you get the proof when that report card came home because there's no, if you, I mean, you remember it was like it came home in a paper,

yeah, yo, a manila folder kind of thing. And that was when the grades were out. All these systems today where I can go check my girls grades this moment to see if they can go out like on some app or whatever that didn't exist. So it was like, yeah. I remember that four times a year. That was, those were, that was the quarters were scary. That was some scary shit.

Yeah. That Manila folder comes out and you pull it out and you're just nervous as all hell. But it looks like a fucking, it looks like a speeding ticket. They even write it on the fucked up weird paper like that. Like one of these? Yeah, totally. And it was yellow. I don't know if it was that yellow, but I remember it was that flimsy paper and you're like, oh shit, here we go.

Jimmy, I'm going to come back to your high school. Hey, what's the hardest, what's the hardest ruck in your life that you've done? What's the hardest ruck? Jeez. We used to do these, it was called a McCree. McCree and any Marine that was working up in deployment would know what a McCree is. Is that named after somebody? Is that named after somebody?

I can't remember. No, no. In the Marine Corps, it's dumb, the amount of acronyms that we have. Okay. And they change regularly. But I can't remember what it stands for. But any Marine that was working up in the earlier days of the Iraq War and enduring freedom would know what a McCree is. And you'd

cringe because part of the McCree was a 25 mile hump is what we would call them. So it's a hike, a rock where you have all that you need, all that you need. And you're going, you move from point A to point B, it's 25 miles and you do it as a unit and you're carrying all your weapons and all your ammunition and all your radios and all of that. And those are really difficult, really difficult. Are you doing that at Camp Pendleton? Is that where you did it? Yeah, Camp Pendleton. Yeah, each unit will have their own kind of – Camp Lejeune will have their own or 3rd Marines or whatever, but –

Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center, 29 Palms, California. Oh, no, that's. But yeah, that's what it is. Evaluation exercise. Okay. Yeah. So you do it. So that right there.

So it's getting a little bit deeper than probably necessary. But when you form, see, there's all these different units in the Marine Corps, right? And the Marine Corps is unique in how it structures itself different from other units because it'll form what's called a Marine Air Ground Task Force. It'll take infantry grunts, they'll take force reconnaissance guys, they'll take intel battalions, truck battalions, and it forms this larger unit. And this is what makes the Marine Corps unique is that it bases that unit on the mission set, right? And once it forms that MAGTAF,

Marine Airground Task Force, then it trains to it and tests against it. It's pretty special, but that McCree hike is no joke. Does anyone finish? How much does that weigh? How much does all your gear weigh? I mean, you're talking 100 pounds with flak, Kevlar, what you're carrying on your back, ammunition, any of this.

You probably wouldn't be carrying ammunition at this one. I don't recall. But anyway, you simulate that with weight, right? You will be carrying, excuse me, you'll be carrying radios and batteries, weapons, all that stuff. I love your, uh, you know, your, your money penny here. Just keep him pulling. Oh yeah. Caleb's the shit. Yeah. Yesterday I had a guy in the show and he's like, Hey, how come you're not bringing stuff up? I'm like, Caleb's not here. Um, in that, that 25 mile, um, journey, how many, you said the whole group does it how many is that

how many dudes is that you're talking several hundred several hundred you know so how many times did you do that did you do that more than once i've done that once the mccree i've only done once but we've done you know mile, 25 mile hikes pretty regularly. Um, when I was not with a hundred pounds of gear, not with that. No, no. Does anyone make it easy? And do some guys not make it at all? Some guys don't make it.

Some guys don't make it, you know? And like the idea is that you, you move at a rate that you can, well, first, what they're trying to do is make sure that you are training to be prepared for it right that's the bigger thing it's not like they go hey wake up and we're gonna do a mccree hike today it's not like that it's like hey part of this whole evolution in the training is will be this day will be a mccree and back off that make sure your units are prepared and so um yeah it, it's one of those. Are your feet fucked up from that? Dave did a, they are fucked up from that. Yeah. You get me. Cause that's the other thing, right? Like it's one thing to go out on a,

just a ruck where it's, you're in a controlled environment right now. Right. And I could go out into the mountains and I do pretty regularly here, um, where I just got my perfect shoes. I've got my perfectly distributed go rock on like it's, it's that right. But when you get out and you start putting gear, like real life gear on your back, um, with different statement pouches and things like that, it's not always perfect. Right. And so you could be two pounds off to the left, you know, you could, you know, things could be off centered in the center of your rock. Like and this is field craft one on one where you really try to disperse that evenly. But what happens is you're going up and down. You're on rocks. You know, you're stepping on the foot of the guy in front of you.

They just become, you know, your weapons off to the side. There's those kinds of things. And like you, if you're going downhill, which is the worst, I mean, I'd rather be walking at a 45 degree angle uphill than down because your foot hits the ground and your toes slide just the tiniest bit. Do that. And that happens 10,000 times. Exactly. And I'd come back and like, I still have nails that won't grow off my toes. Yeah. That kind of stuff. Dave did a ruck with Thomas DeLauer. And it was 35 miles with 35 pounds.

It was supposed to be 50 miles with 50 pounds, and at the last minute, they cut it back to 35 pounds, 35 miles on a very simple – on a trail in Monterey, like a perfect setting, none of that shit. And he did it, I think, with two other SEALs and Thomas DeLauer, and he said when they got back, everyone was – their feet were just destroyed. He said one guy's feet, the bottoms were just completely just yeah hamburger meat yep yeah they were fasting too I think I remember that yeah yeah he's like do you want to go on that I'm like yeah but I'm not carrying anything he's like well I'll just put a backpack but nothing in it I'm like no when I was at the basic school which is like the first the first thing you do is a Marine Corps officer so like you get, but you don't just get to go to the to the fleet. You go to through the basic school and the basic school is six months of like this, how you become a Marine officer.

Like the Marine Corps looks at every Marine as a rifleman. That's how they say it. Right. Doesn't matter if you're a truck driver, Intel guy, sit behind a computer, you know, radio operator or a radio geek, right? You will learn how to shoot, move and communicate. And in the officer side, you go through the basic school and you, you are, they basically take you through as if you are an infantry officer and how to lead Marines to shoot, move and communicate. And so like I was there six months, we'd had our final hike. We came out of the field. It was, I want to say January in Quantico, it's really cold, snow on the ground. You know, if you, this is where I started to learn, like my field craft was not that good at the time because you're out in the cold and you're just trying to stay warm, right?

You're gobbling up calories, gobbling up calories, and you don't really want to drink water, you know, because it's freezing outside. You just like you should be drinking water. You should drink a lot more water. But we had a 20 mile hike from out of the field back in. And I didn't change my socks on the the um on the stops like i should have and i just got got lazy i didn't do that when i got back from the end of that 20 mile hike i had blisters on the bottom of my feet oh my god this big and on my heels and everything the next day we had a land navigation course oh and it was like our final land navigation and i could barely walk it was miserable and it's timed

so like i'm like duct taping my feet and everything and it's just like anyway probably more information that you guys need no no no you, no. You're here to tell these stories. I love it. Jay Hartle, good socks and boots make a huge difference. That was interesting to hear Jimmy say that you needed to change the socks. Jeffrey Birchfield, Dave Castro is doing a ruck at the Health Summit, which is on February 3rd, 4th, and 5th, I think, in Austin, Texas, in conjunction with Go Ruck. Oh, that's cool. Are you going to that? I'm going to be on military duty. But we'll – Kerry going to go carry okay awesome and he represents goruck yeah carrie yes

when he got let go you know you know carrie he's just a great person yep you know and uh we've got a excuse me awesome culture at goruck awesome culture and carries that kind of person you know we got great people with amazing capabilities and just like just really good people and he fits people work at go rook jimmy how many employees do you guys we have about 55 yeah yeah growing fast and when you say it has a great culture you came from a company that had a fucking insane culture i mean everyone there was just so excited to come to work and grind is that what you mean what's the culture like at goruck yeah i mean i i would say goruck feels a lot like crossfit circa 2009 through to 2000 wow yeah it's it's amazing our founder jason is just a great person he is he's a visionary like

greg always was you know he's he is steadfast on what's right about around gear and durability and on like this is that you know he's an sf guy special forces guy this is on brand for sf in fact we we have jason keeps richard rice look him up i mean he is he's been in every war he's been in he was at blackhawk down in mogadishu he was in vietnam i mean this is a crazy decorated um green beret jason keeps him on staff he runs he's ahead of product at this moment but he's a lot of product at this moment, but he's a lot of Jason's kind of right hand to go, am I stepping away from my SF roots? And so anyway, we've got this great culture at GORUCK and it's like, you've got a bunch of people that are excited to come to work. You've got, yes, Richard Rice. There he is. Legend. Hey, Jimmy, was he in World War II?

I bust his balls. Yeah, I bust his balls all the time. No, but his semen. But he was a sperm in World War II. His dad was in World War II. He was just hanging out in the nuts in World War II. Look at that. Go down a little bit.

You know, Eagle Claw, Granada, Panama, Nicaragua, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Battle of Mogadishu, Black Hawk Down. Look at his favorite animals are donkeys. They aided in the Mogadishu resistance to the Soviet occupation, even though it is favorite. Whose favorite animal is a donkey? Jesus. Workhorses. Guys that know that those things just carry weight. Has this guy become a friend of yours, Jimmy?

Yeah. He's a great person. Great person. And he's like, it's crazy because. So you're getting, you're getting crazy stimulated at go ruck. You're getting crazy stimulated. You're in hog heaven. Yeah. I mean, look, you, you know, you go, this is the thing with rich, right? I'll bust his balls or whatever about being old, but you shake his hand and there he stands in front of you. I think he's 75 or so. You think about that guy when he was 30. Or I look at him and I'm like, man, this guy is stone cold.

He's doing some really serious stuff. Really serious stuff. And this is just a sidebar. stuff really serious stuff and like this is just a sidebar but i've had a lot of interactions with veterans throughout all these different wars right world war ii vietnam korea or whatever and like there's this this crazy amount of respect that goes between all of them you know world war ii guys i look at them like, these guys are nuts. Like picture being on one of those boats and landing under fire. And it's interesting because this respect

that they have for my generation of Marines or soldiers or service members, they're like, you guys are nuts. Like at least we knew where the enemy was and it was in front of us, right? You same thing, Vietnam, Korea, all these different places right and there's this mutual respect between them all and i look at rich and he's been through so

many of these things and i'm like man he he was in g y right but he was also in vietnam and granada and panama and all that stuff anyway, just kind of a tangent. Was that guy special forces, forces too? Yeah. Yeah. As, as a Marine?

No army special forces, Green Beret. Well, and he, so he was probably in even before there was a Delta force. He was one of the founding guys. Oh shit. Wow. Yeah.

Yeah. Wow. How fun. Yeah. And you're're home it's your home what yeah back to the culture of bill rock it's like look we we make really great gear with like that's good enough for these special forces dudes right like we we like to say internally which means it doesn't fail which means it doesn't fail because there's you're not going to Amazon prime something in to the places where like that you need something. Right. So we make it so that it will test, you know, the hardest conditions. And like we offer a lifetime guarantee against that. Meaning like if you figure out a way to rip, tear, break one of our rucks, we'll fix it. And if you don't't want to fix we'll send you a new one and we've got a repair shop right on right across oh wow our ceo sewers that mostly do customizations you know but do some repairs but most of our guys like they want they love their ruck and they're

like hey i wanna i want an inside panel that's you know digital, digital, right? I want digital camo inside, or I want this one strap to be this color and people customize for rucks all the time, but yeah, we it's, it's such a great culture. I'm so like blessed to be there. And I I'm honored, like I'm honored to have the opportunity to help grow this brand because, you know, being so close to the Reebok relationship in the beginning, I found it, helped negotiate it with Steve Weiss and some others, like across the table from all these heavy hitting, you know, billion dollar company executives and me, like not knowing what the hell I was doing at the time, you know, just knowing what was good for CrossFit. Now I'm like on the other side, which is really cool. It's really cool because it affords go rock the opportunity to work with some friends that I trust. Dave, Don, like others,

like I've just, the faces I got to see on their all hands when they, um, when they announced this to the employees. You were on, you were on a call with, um, all of, all of the employees at CrossFit when they announced the partnership, the relationship. Oh, that's cool. Wow. And it was, it was really awesome. It was a zoom call and there was probably eight, 10 pages of 50 people or what, I don't know how many people I should have counted. There were a lot of people like tiny little tiny little you know yeah um cells of these faces that i recognize and i'm going through and i'm like this feels so right and i'm getting private chats in the zoom thing it's like so good to see you this is really good you know and so like i'm just really happy about our opportunity to like show up for the crossfit community for the people you know for my friends you know i i remember going back to

the durability and the importance of of equipment not failing i had never thought of this but i remember greg saying one time he's like yeah man you cannot be on the top of mount everest and your zipper break on a jacket. You cannot because at that point, one tooth on your zipper is you're dead. That's right. And yeah, it's in it. Although it's not combat, it's the same thing for the soldiers. You can't have something fucking go wrong.

You can't have your radio stop working or your gun stop working or something stop working or your pouch fucking broke open and your ammo fell out. You can't have any of that shit happening. The shit has to be, the errors cannot be there. Well, everything's got to be perfect. You're right. And like, I go back to like people, this is important and it'll come full circle. We were talking about our feet, right? We were talking about our feet getting torn up and everything. And like, if you, if, if any, if you rock at all, you know, right. Like, you know, baton death march that, you know, when you're out for raising money, you just, you're out exercising or you're a military person, you know, at the extreme ends ruck as a concept. And then we moved more, we got a little bit more focused on how we design that ruck for rucking particularly, right? Because we have a GR series, which is you can ruck with, but it's a really great travel bag, GR 1, 2, 3.

And that's what we started with. and you could put a plate in it you could put weight in it and you could rock but like then we started developing a rucker which is just for rucking you know handles on the outside limited yeah that's the gr series limited kind of like not as many bells and whistles for laptops and things like that. Train, right? Put a plate in it. Not a lot of zippers because if you break it, you know, you drop it on the ground, which you can, no problem. You won't break a zipper, right? But we were doing all these things, and we start to think, like, you know, if you had a choice between, and anybody knows the answer to this that rucks a lot. If you had a choice between the ruck that you carry or what you put on your feet you'll choose what you put on your feet all day long because

you'll carry whatever right but you really really want to have you know your footwear dialed it needs to fit right it needs to you know not have those extra little things that make blisters or cuts and all that stuff so that we start to get getting footwear and we make a great ruck and great footwear because it's what, you know, what, for anybody who moves, moves weight on their back, those are the two things that are completely necessary. How about socks? Do you guys do socks? We do socks. We do Merino wool socks. You know, we've done,

we're going to be doing some more athletic kind of socks for the crossfit space those are really those are great boat socks how often do you on a ruck let's say let's say uh the 35 mile ruck with 35 pounds you uh someone should change their socks during that oh yeah probably a minimum of 35 miles for four times three four times wow three, four times. Wow. You know, like, guys, like – Can you put the old socks back on, Jimmy? Can you just rotate between two pair or no? I wouldn't do that, but if you had to, do it.

Why do you need to change them? Because they get wet? They get moist. They get moist, and what happens is, like, that moisture, like, that moisture will start making the sock move like this, right? Against your skin. And you'll start getting hot spots. Like if you've been out on long walks.

So it's friction. It's friction. You want to limit all friction. Exactly. Exactly. Now guys like Dave or whatever, like here's, Dave's a seal, right? Those guys are so used to misery that they'll work their way through it. But like, if you knew that you needed to move 35 miles and then also in, you know, perform whatever that performance is, right? Like get on

target, do things on target. You, you want to take care of your feet. Or if you got to march out the next day. Exactly. Take care of your feet. Yeah. Crazy. Jimmy, so what high school did you go to? I went to a high school in South Jersey called Cherokee. Cherokee High School. Did you go there all four years? All four years, yeah. And as a freshman, you wrestled? Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. And what was that like? You had already been wrestling, right?

So you joined the program as a freshman, but you already have experience? Yeah, for sure. Starting at four, it was like I was actually my friend Doug Eastlick and I were both going up to the high school practices while we were in eighth grade. The middle school was right next to the high school. And just for some extra training, we would go up to Cherokee. We'd practice with them. And then when we got into our – Doug was a year behind me, in fact. When I got into high school, you know, I hit the starting lineup.

I wrestled 119 my freshman year. Wow. 119 pounds. And how much do you weigh right now, Jimmy? Sorry. I know it's so embarrassing. I'm like 200 pounds. Yeah. I mean, I wrestled 184 184 pounds in college so so you're 80 pounds heavier now

you're 43 you said yeah and so and you were probably 14 so from 14 to 43 you've put on 80 pounds that's amazing yeah i put on a lot yeah that was me in college okay so so you get there and um feel free to tell any stories you want but i want to start digging around into your high school wrestling career and then so you're wrestling do you ever want to quit like are you like okay i've done it up until the eighth grade like in high school i want to try something else or i don't want to do no like no not really i'll tell you my freshman year was tough 11 pounds. I come to find out was the toughest weight class in all of all of the state of New Jersey. It's kind of like that in all the fighting sports, the small, the small. Unfortunately, everyone, we all want to watch the big guys, but all the little guys is where all the shit's happening. I'll tell you a quick story is that I get to my first – we had a quad meet, okay, one day.

And this is – I'm up there, quad meet. What does that mean, quad meet? It means you're going to wrestle four schools. So there's a bunch of different mats and, like, you just kind of rotate. I'm zero and zero. That's my record at the time. And I come out and I win some really hard fought matches for no right and I'm kind of like I I look back on this moment this time because at the time I'm thinking like yeah of course I won all my matches you know because I came out of eighth grade and seventh

grade like just you know I win you know what I mean it It's kind of like, of course. And then I hit the regular, the regular season. And I'm talking hitting guys that are, you know, state champ types and all that stuff. I'm just getting. Are you wrestling seniors? Oh yeah. I'm a freshman. I've got, you know, I remember some names, you know, Greg Bauer, Curtis Huff, you know, these guys that were just studs that just go out and wipe people up. And they whip me up, too.

So I come out of my freshman year just pretty like, man, what just hit me? You know, maybe a 500 record or whatever. Go to sophomore year, wrestle 135. Somewhat similar, right? Like I've had, I'm moving along, right? And at that point, I was like, everybody's good. You know, like if they're on a high school starting team in New Jersey, everybody's good. You know, like I'd come in and like think I'm hot shit.

And the next thing you know, I'm getting my butt whooped. So the transition between my sophomore and junior year was really where it happens. Like I went and I trained my butt off that summer. I lifted and I ran and I, I did that several times a day. And I was like, I am several times a day, seven days a week. You're getting it all the time. And I'm talking running in the humidity uh you know in the summer time i had a moped because i was busting tables at a crab shack what kind of moped did you have it was like a target it had the pedals on it it had pedals yeah it had pedals like i remember you know you used to call it boring it out like it was top speed at 25 miles an hour and you bore it out

i remember how how you did that but you got a special muffler or whatever. And next thing you know, thing goes like almost 32. Yeah. You know, you're just like, I was able to get all around. So, you know, finish work at midnight, 1am, go home, wake up in the morning. It was kind of like, yeah, it's more like the one on the left up there yep and uh yep something like that don't you wish you still had that it was like a thousand bucks yeah and you know i felt like i was just so cool um but i you know i went up to this this gym that was nearby and it was run work lift train eat protein that kind of thing i went back into my junior year i wrestled 152 that year and you know had a pretty decent season

pretty decent season and um came out of that and i was just like I was very focused uh going into my senior year going into my senior year and uh I went pretty I went undefeated until States um and I'll I'll never forget like I lost a a one point match to um I remember the guy's name but I'm'm not even going to give it to him right now. But it still haunts me, still haunts me. And then went to the state finals in Atlantic city. And I just, my head wasn't in the game. I shot a deep shot on a guy. He stepped over me, put me on my back, pinned me. And that, that moment right there was like, I'm never going to put down my guard again.

And I ended up wrestling that guy in college. He went to the University of Maryland, and I beat the snot out of that guy. Do you think he remembered you from state? I'm sure he did. He wasn't supposed to win that match, and he caught me. And, you know, it's one of those things that all wrestlers get right you just get caught and uh i beat the snot out of him in college and it was just like you know take it on to the rest of uh you know the rest of my wrestling career but you know i got yeah go

ahead you graduate from high school and then what did you want to do after that i wanted the whole time i wanted to go to the naval academy you did oh yeah i knew i wanted to go to navy um anybody who knew me knew you know by by seventh grade i was like i want to be a seal i knew i wanted to be a seal terribly like it was just i was obsessed with being a seal and, my dad took me to a father son camp at Navy and it kind of just reinforced all of that. So going through high school and everything, this is what I wanted to do. Was it hard getting into the Naval Academy? Were you scared? Were you nervous? Like you, I'm assuming you apply. That's the one where you got to like get a letter from like your Congressman or some shit. It's not easy. It's not easy. It's, uh, you gotta have great academics. You gotta be, you know, you gotta be well-rounded. They

want to see like your, your volunteering in the community that you play sports. You've got, you know, captain of your team, all of they want a robust kind of candidate. And I applied to army, Navy, air force. And there's someone, I think someone along the line is like, it'd be great. You just want to show that you want to go to service Academy. I got, Hey, were you the captain of your wrestling team in, in, in high school? Yeah. Yeah. Junior and senior year. Sorry. I want to take, go back there a second. Was that your first time in like a leadership position? What was that? What was that like? I mean, naturally to you, what was that? Did someone teach, did someone teach you or guide you on how to lead the team? Or you just remember from the kids before you, or how does that work? Yeah. I kind of remembered how I looked up to

them. Right. Like I've always looked at leadership as, as like, Hey, I like that. And I don't like that. I'm going to take that and put it in my quiver, you know, and like, Hey, I like that. And I don't like that. I'm going to take that and put it in my quiver, you know, and I'm not going to do that. Right. I've always looked at it that way. And there were, there were, there were some pretty, um, there were, I remember really looking up considering I was coming up from eighth grade from the middle school and practicing with these guys. And I looked up to a lot of dudes that were captains of the high school wrestling team prior to me but i come to find out that like these are guys that you know some of them were smoking and stuff in the office you know when they weren't in the practice room and just doing the things that they they're not setting the example for the rest

of the team that was one of those things where I'm like, Hey, this guy wrestles really hard on the side of the mat or on the, on the mat. And he's nasty, you know, and he's aggressive and all that stuff. And he's like, really guys, the opportunity to be good. But when he's off the mat, he doesn't act right. You know? And so for me, it was like, I take these things and I put them in my quiver and be like,

this is how I want to be. How did you not, why didn't you go down that path? Why didn't you be like, okay, that guy's the best on the team and he smokes and he drinks on the weekends. I should do that. And it was, it was one of those things where I'm like, Hey man, like you want other young kids to look up to you, like do the right thing, make them, you know, show them the right path so that they, they know what it's, you know, they know what's good, what's good wrestling, what's good leadership, what you should and shouldn't be doing. That makes sense.

Yeah, totally. I was, um, I've learned, it's funny of these two huge lessons I've learned from Miranda Alcarez in the last couple years who's also – I know a good friend of yours. Yeah, she's great. One of them, she talked about – it's interesting because you have goals. You had goals. I never had goals, but I've lived a really, really good life with a shitload of progress. I have progress around every corner. And I was thinking to myself, how is it that I have so much progress, but I don't have any goals?

And Miranda explained to me that if you have good habits, discipline, and passion, you'll end up going the right way. You'll be swimming in the right stream anyway. Discipline, passion, and what was, what did I say the other one? Discipline, passion. What did I say the other one? Discipline, passion. Habits, habits, habits, discipline, and passion. And I'm always trying to refine my habits. But then the other thing that I heard her say recently that I always knew this at maybe the 500-foot view, but I heard her give the 30,000-foot view perspective of it, and this is what you're saying. A character is contagious. Yeah, it is. A character is contagious, and it's like there's this healthy kind of peer pressure, right? And you've seen it at the table. As soon as you see someone smoking on your team, there's a subliminal message from you that it's okay to smoke.

Yeah, that's right. Or when you're around someone who's eating like an asshole, you're like, okay, they're kind of giving the okay for everyone else to eat like an asshole. Yeah. And as a leader, you have to spot those things and not do those things. Yeah, that's right. Yeah. And you got to do. You have to set the example.

And sometimes it's not comfortable. You're uncomfortable socially, you know, you might be physically or emotionally uncomfortable, you know, there's those things. And it's like, you know, you think of, think of these people, think of, I have people in my mind that you just look up to and you're just like, man, they're just a beacon for, for what's right. You know, they're a beacon for, you know, setting an example. They're, you know, filling the blank, you know. I remember talking to you one night, this could have been 10 years ago. We were at dinner and I was just tripping that you went to the Naval Academy. And I remember saying something and I'm paraphrasing, but basically you said,

Hey man, it was a fucking lot of work. It was almost like, it was a fucking lot of work. It was almost like too much work. It was – the four years went by, and I didn't get to even smell the roses at all. And it was a fucking grind. And you didn't go as far as to say I wish I didn't do it, but you alluded to the fact that maybe you missed some other things. the fact that maybe you missed some other things but now you're 43 and you're the president of goruck and you've come up through one of the you you got an insane education through the upbringing your parents gave you the wrestling then fucking the military then fucking watching what the miracle of crossfit now and is every day goes on. Does your perspective, is your perspective changing on that on your time at the,

I mean, as I get further there, you know, like, would you want your son to do that? Would you want your daughters to do that? You know, it's interesting because my son,

he's applying right now. He's what? He's applying. Oh, to the Naval Academy. Oh shit. I'll tell you that story here in a second but like to answer your first question is like as i get further out like there's a saying there's

two sayings that i always kind of like think about right and one of which is the naval academy is a great place to be from it's just not a great place to be at. And, you know, like some people thrive in that environment, but I'll tell you the athletes specifically, the athletes have a hot, like they might get a little bit like of a better look as they come in because they're athletes, right? They're not, there's kids there that 1600 on the sat sat 4.0 or 5.0 weighted whatever you want to say like look they have perfect grades but you know they're not your athletic they're not there's no athletic prowess there right there's that kind of midshipman and there's midshipmen that are like 1200 sat you know 32, but they're also captain of the wrestling team or whatever,

um, or football team or pick the team. Right. So you have, there's a good, um, there's a round off if you will, for the type of midshipman, but when you get to the naval academy it is point of place of duty is academic year right so there's there was a lot of times where we would get in at 3 a.m from a tournament all weekend and it's like doesn't matter you need to be a formation at 6 a.m and you better be shaved you better have all your academics done you know you need they're not giving a waiver for the wrestling team they're not like oh we know you've been out all weekend. No athletes. No, you're, you know, you, this is what they expect of a military officer. You come back from an operation. You need to be on, you need to be on duty. You're on duty. Like you figure it out, make sure all your shit's done.

Make sure you you're coming presentable, your uniforms tight, you've shaved, you know, and you're on point, right point right you know there's no skipping class there's no like hey i'm going to take this semester and only take six credits it's like a lot of places where you know a lot of colleges there's and i don't know if this is the case but i'm i've heard this is that if you want to take more than 16 credits or you want to take 16 credits, a lot of times you got to see your academic advisor to take it. Like at the academy, they're the threshold, I believe is 16 credits. Like you got to see your academic advisor to not take that. Right. And there's core classes, you know, chemistry, physics, all the calculuses. And then you have like

thermodynamics and electrical engineering and all these courses that are like serious.uses. And then you have like thermodynamics and electrical engineering and all these courses that are like serious. Right. And my regret is that I know I could have been at least an all American in college. And I didn't, I didn't, I felt like. I mean, if you would have went to another college where you could have gotten a couple extra hours to sleep. Extra hours of sleep, you know,. You eat what you're served at the academy. It comes out on trays at your table and your squad. It's like, good luck. Like Jimmy Chongus. There it is. You know, being

around all these years around CrossFit, it's like what a great nutritional regimen or plan can do for an athlete's performance. Right. We didn't really have that. And so that was one of those things where I'm like, maybe I should have taken a scholarship somewhere else and then just gone to OCS and went to the military that way. But I'll tell you, like, as I get further out, I appreciate the Academy even more. You know, some of my, some of my best friends were, yeah, that was, uh, look at that fucking neck. Jesus Christ. Yeah. I was, I was, I was ready to rock and roll as a Marine.

That's, that's Rumsfeld secretary of defense Rumsfeld. Oh shit. I see him there. Wow. Oh, shit. I see him there. Wow. And that's General John Allen, who is one of the most amazing Marines I've ever had contact with. This is your graduation? Yes. That's me getting my diploma at the time. Damn, Jimmy.

I was probably 215 at that point. Who took this picture? Do you know? does school takes it and gives it to you i don't know i i think i think yeah someone got that picture and gave it to to everybody at the time um but yeah good find caleb i i um i'll tell you though some of my best friends that people i would call on would be on a plane today if I just said, hey, I need you on a plane to be here, come from that academy. You know, godparents to my kids, you know, that type of thing. And so, you know, I got to I still, you know, have met some of the most amazing people. most amazing people and i'll tell you that you know it's probably a it's not arguable to me but i think the naval academy is probably the best institution to come from you know the network and you know the academics and then what you get to do afterwards but the network of of individuals

that sit in you know the seats like don fall don fall is a naval academy graduate you know was he there when you were there is he a few years ahead of me he is years ahead of me did you ever see him on deployment i did we we crossed paths on deployment um so do you remember that or when you talk you just yeah it's more that i when we talk you know he's like i was here and you're like i was there too don is uh don's you know don's a a legit marine i'm just gonna put it there i'm not gonna tell anything his stuff but like and that's he went on jobs he he he did jobs yeah work was probably very good for him and so you know like I've got an enormous amount of respect for someone like Don fall. He's a, he is a professional, very professional person. You know, he's got a lot of success in the out on the outside, right. In the corporate world,

he's come to CrossFit with bringing a lot of that experience. You know, if anybody's positioned well at this moment in the in the current environment it is that man um uh he he recently um yesterday he uh he there was this publicly uh uh an affiliate wrote hey i had a run-in with don and don basically told i'm paraphrasing but don basically told me hey i need to stop disparaging the hq and the guy said hey i'm probably not going to do that so don um told him hey well then i'm going to de-affiliate you and it sounds like it was from it sounds like it was both a good call but it was kind of cool to see that uh because we know greg would be quick to be like here's your fucking money back get the fuck out yeah and it made it made the ship air

tight like it made us fucking bomb proof and it's kind of the first time i've seen it's well it's the first time i that i can remember seeing don's balls and i and i liked it i enjoyed working at crossfit knowing that there's a lot of dudes around me who have balls who'll come up and poke you in the chest and he gave the guy a chance to even but but i i enjoy seeing um manly confrontation. Yeah, I mean, he's straight up. He's crazy professional. He gets out there, but he's empathetic, but he's decisive. And I guess it's time for me to, like, Greg is a friend of mine.

I have an enormous amount of respect for that man. Still a close friend. You talked to him on the regular. I mean, I talked to him yesterday. Funny, you were telling me about the girls on the Jiu Jitsu mat. He was sending me pictures of videos of Riley going up

against the boy. His chick is a savage. His oldest girl is a savage. She's fierce. She'll fuck Avi up. She fucks my oldest boy up. Like fucks him up. It was sad to see what happened with that. You know, very sad.

You mean just kind of the trend, the ungluing of it all in the pandemic and all that. Yeah. Yeah. It's like, yeah. And I, like, I, I, my, I have a lot of loyalty to Greg. A lot. I, I, my, I have a lot of loyalty to Greg a lot. He's a great person.

Give me crazy amount of chances like to do, to get to where I am today. I'm just going to be clear about that. Like I was a bad guy. I was a bad, all I did was, and I thought I was going to be, you know, a retired Marine, like 20 years ago, just go and, you know, do the world's work, you know, freedom's work and when i it's funny i one of my marines lance can too in fact did you know he was one of my marines no that's fucking wild for those of you who don't know lance can too is married to uh the founder of birth fit who's one of the sponsors of the show. Wow. Crazy. This world is so small that we fucking swim in. It's crazy.

It is. And there's a, it's funny, like a couple of those kids ended up doing really good things. Like Mike Richmond, he goes by the Marine Richmond, bare knuckle fighter. He was a UFC. Well, yeah. MMA kind of kid. He was in the platoon, but like Lance will tell you that we used to train differently. Right. Cause I come from, I w I come from the wrestling world. And then when I got to working up for deployments, it was kind of like, I hadn't found CrossFit yet.

And it was like, all right, so we're going to ground fight, tire flip, do kinds of that, that kind of stuff. Lance was the one that was like, Hey sir, you got to check out this CrossFit thing. Oh no shit. Wow. Yeah. And I was like, and he was formidable. I think Lance went to the games at least once. Oh yeah. He was super fit, you know? And I'm like, okay, this kid's fit. So I go check it out. I remember going to CrossFit.com and there was one day where they had this dude go, he was on a like jungle gym, like red, blue, green kind of jungle gym on a jungle gym, red, blue, green kind of jungle gym on a small little bar that was clearly made for a kiddo.

It was a video on.com. I click on this thing and the dude's on his knees in the wood chips and he does a pull-up. He goes right past it straight up into a bar muscle-up. I remember that video. It was the worst

video in the world. It was 240 shot on a flip phone i watched that thing a thousand times i was like what the fuck am i watching yeah i i went out to the pull-up bars and i was in my camis i go out to the pull-up bars and i try to even get my chest up to the bar and I was like, holy shit. So I started doing these workouts and again, long story short, I took it to, I took it to the infantry training battalion and I was just basically like, it was.com. It was a blog and I'm just following this stuff. I'm just like, this is cool workouts or whatever. Why did you accept him? If you were, if you were in charge, why did you accept Lance's... protect that lead. That's like 2FA on Kraken. A surefire way to keep what you already have safe and sound. Go to kraken.com and see what crypto can be. Not investment advice. Crypto

trading involves risk of loss. See kraken.com slash legal slash ca dash pru dash disclaimer for info on Kraken's undertaking to register in Canada. Look for new value programs when you shop at Loblaws, like Hit of the Month. So you get the best deals and low prices on amazing products every month. And did you know PC Optimum members save more for exclusive offers and members only pricing just scan and save. And don't forget in stock promise where you can count on great offers being in stock or get a rain check. Discover more value than ever at Loblaws, in-store and online. Conditions apply. See in-store for details. I mean, like, look, a good leader, in my mind, like, you have respect for the people you lead, you know what I mean?

And he's a Lance Corco, right? I'm, at the time, way in a ranking system, way above him. But, like, the truth is, is, like, Marines that love you, you know, or whoever, people that love you, they want to know that, like, the truth is, is like Marines that love you, you know, whoever people that love you, they want to know that like, you're one of them. And so like, I didn't, I didn't, and hopefully they would say the same thing, but like, I didn't carve myself out as being an officer and them Marines, like I kicked in the doors with these kids, you know, I was always up in the front with them. And like, that's, they want that from their

leaders and they know when the decisions need to be made, who makes the decision, but like no good, no good leader is, is, is out and making themselves special. Right. Like you are one of them. And I always say like loyalty up requires loyalty down. And you always have to be looking at those, looking at it that way. right? Care about your people, you know, listen to your people. They bring a ton of resources and ideas and all that kind of stuff. So like when Lance brought that to me, I'm like, yeah, I'm going to check this out. Next thing you know, I'm in a school setting and I'm training all of my Marines with CrossFit. It was like, we have companies of 300, 400 kids. And I'm like, all right, I know that my infantry guys are going to this range on this day. I mean, I have the program of instruction laid out in front of me. I know my machine gunners are going to this range

on this day. I know my, my rocket men are going to this range on this day. I put a program together, all CrossFit workouts that I programmed. We put sandbags and tires and all this range on this day. I put a program together, all CrossFit workouts that I programmed. We put sandbags and tires and all this stuff on these ranges. And when the kids are sitting around smoking and joking, it was like they were required to do some workouts. So I got a call in my office at one point from Colonel Brian McGuire, who I remember. I remember him. In fact, I keep in touch with him. He's a very professional, respected Marine, and he's over at Training and Education Command, especially on the force fitness side.

He's got an enormous amount of experience. Him and Greg have an enormous amount of respect for each other. He calls me up, and he's like, and I'm in my office, like writing fit reps or something up and he's like and I'm in my office like writing fit reps or something and he's like hey Captain Letchford and I'm like yes sir he's Colonel McGuire and I'm like oh shit I did something wrong like captains don't get full bird colonel calls regularly in their office I'm like oh no he's like headquarters Marine Corps. And I'm like, Oh shit. He goes, what's your fran time? And I'm like, huh? He goes, what's your fran time? And I tell him, and I can't remember what I told him. Uh, but he's like, really? And I'm like, yeah. And he's like, Hey, we're seeing the numbers

that are coming back from, from, um, SOI out there specifically your company. And we heard you're doing CrossFit. I'm like, I am. And he was like, he's like, you want to tell me about it? I tell him what I did and all that stuff. He's like, we want to send you to a seminar. And I'm like, okay. I didn't even know what a seminar was. Wow. I've never heard this story. This is wild. Oh yeah. He goes, I want to send you on a seminar. And I'm like, huh? And he's like, yeah, we'll fly you up to Gagetown, Canada. We'll fly up to Gagetown. And, you know, you'll go to this seminar, come back, write a report, give it to headquarters Marine Corps. We'd like to know there'll be a

couple other Marines up there from the East Coast. Lieutenant Colonel Shusko, who is one of the founding fathers of the MCMAP program, Marine Corps Martial Arts program. And I was like, OK, cool. So I hang up the phone, I call Madeline. I'm like, hey, babe, like they're going to send me to the seminar. She's like, what's that? And I'm like, like, because CrossFit seminar, they're going to fly me up there. And she's like, OK, let me get this straight. So you spend most of the days in the field with your Marines, and then they're going to fly you up on the weekend. And you're going to go to the seminar for that crazy shit you're doing, where you're like swinging the kettlebell and running out the double doors.

And she thought I was nuts at the time. Nuts. Cause you know, area, the gym that we had, it had like the double gym doors. So you like the double doors and then another set of double doors. And I'm swinging the things in the gym and then I'm running out and running around the building and then opening the doors to come back in. She thought I was nuts. But I went up there and I met Greg. In fact, this is the funny thing, right? Madeline knows me as James. You know, I grew up, you know, Jim or no, everybody called me Jimmy. And it was kind of one of those things when you grow up as a Jim or Jimmy, you like Jimmy

makes you feel like you're a little kid, you know? So it was always Jim, you know? And then I introduced myself. And then when in the military, it's like let's go, James. So I introduced myself to my wife as James she calls me James my name tag I was they put me front and center in front of Greg and right they had all these rows or whatever and the funnier thing is that Air Canada lost all my gear so I had I had to go into the um Nicole and Dave and all of them remember it too. I had to go into the lost and found stuff in.

Well, I had a size, like no kidding size, medium pair of shorts. Color red, a medium Oakland Raiders shirt and a pair of boots on. Wow. Wow. Wow.

And so they started in the back introducing themselves. Everyone had to stand up and introduce themselves because it was like all these Gage Town Army guys, Special Forces dudes, Marines. And I was like probably second to last because we came to the center and introduced – like I had to stand stand up stand up in these like nut huggers and everything and introduce myself i didn't know who nicole was i didn't know who dave was i didn't know who andy was i didn't know who greg was you know in fact like i honestly looked at nicole i'm like what do they have this girl here for right right like what is she doing here and then i you know so fast forward i stand up i'm like hey my name's james like this is i give my background or whatever and i'm like and air canada lost my stuff and everyone's like oh cool because i'm looking at

this guy wearing and everybody like air canada is known for losing everybody's stuff, right? So anyway, fast forward, you know, I later find out that why Nicole was there. She smoked these dudes in the overhead squat thing. Like she was in on like the demos and all this stuff. I'm like, oh, I get it, right? So I meet Greg and he's like, kid, I like you. Let's keep in touch. And a couple months later. Even with the outfit, even with the outfit, he liked my, my stuff came in the last day, my stuff came in the last day. Um, but I came out of there and

he's like, let's keep in touch. I'm like, okay. You know, I didn't even, I didn't even know there was a business around this. Right. And as I was considering getting out, Greg and I were talking, he's like, Hey, a kid, I want you to come work for me. And I'm like, okay, what would I do? And he's all, he's like, look, I can't really pay you right now, you know, but eventually we can, you know, and he's like, why don't you train for me? So I got on the seminar staff, operation Phoenix, CrossFit store, sponsorship. You went to the games too. Didn't you go to the games?

I went to the games. Yep. Yep. 2008, 2009. Yeah, and that's right. God, that's so long ago. I forgot you were in charge of all that shit. The store, the Reebok deal, and you were still in.

Hey, when did you finally get out of the Marines, and was it kind of like what Dave did too? in hey when did you finally get out of the marines and was it kind of like what dave did to like how did you how hard was that decision when you're you're you're obviously having success in the marine corps and was it the job of crossfit that pulled you out you're like fuck i gotta make this decision yeah it was it was a tough decision right because i'll tell you was that the decision though like if cross it wasn't there would you just would you know i'll tell you was that a decision though like if crossfit wasn't there would you just would no i'll tell you this is a really wild story and like when i was so you come up on like a time where you have to make this decision at the time it was called augmenting in the marine corps and you come up and far enough out they're gonna they want to know are you staying or you going right because there's a lot of things that go into that where are you going you have what's called a monitor and i'm an

infantry officer and the monitor is a guy who sits above you and he knows all the infantry officers in the entire marine corps and he knows that letchford's coming from his b billet which is some time off from deploying and what they're going to do is they're going to go Letchford, chess piece goes here. You're going to this unit, right? So I'm coming up on this, the end of my contract, five years, and you have to decide whether or not like you want to do this. And this is where officers get really cold feet, right? Because you like what we have an enormous amount of responsibility, you know, especially at the time where you've got you know like a lot of things are written in blood right i mean this is this is this is freedom's work and but how's that translate to the outside world in a lot of ways like at that five-year mark is probably that you're at the pinnacle

of it because after you do that it it's just bigger kind of responsibilities around killing bad guys. You know, it's like it doesn't branch out from there. So at that five-year mark is where a lot of Marines like really need to make a decision. So I start to get cold feet and I augment and I go on what's called Marine Online and I put in my preferences and I email a monitor. Right. So four or five months go by and Greg and I were talking and he was like, dude, I want you to do this. And we Madeline and I like knew what the next five, 10 years were going to look like. It was deploy, you know, keep going down range and everything. I'd lost a bunch of friends, lost some of my own Marines.

And it was kind of like. You were overseas and you lost your own. You were in fights where you lost, like you deployed somewhere with a bunch of dudes you were in charge of and you didn't come home with all of them. That's right. Yeah. Holy shit.

Lance knows some of these people, you know? Holy shit. Yeah. And you were in these fights with them? Yeah. Yeah. Holy shit. Yeah.

I mean, it's, look, this is the, this is, this is what we've all forgotten, you know? Yeah. I don't want to get into too many politics or whatever, but, you know, we just lost two SEALs this week. Right. And like, these are guys we lost two SEALs. Right. And like, these are guys, we lost two seals. Right. And it's like, we don't, they've got emotional dude. Dave did a weekend review and you could tell that he was disturbed,

even though he hasn't been in and fucking 10 years, you could tell he was, he was rad. I never seen him like that. Actually rattled like that. Dude, like this kind of thing rattles me more now than it did then right it's kind of like one of those things right the the afghanistan pullout that rattled me a lot and i've never been in afghanistan but i'll tell you what it like meant to me right because on at that seminar that and then i was talking about at gaugetown i got got Greg pulled me aside. Greg and Andy pulled me aside. My wife, Madeline wrote into customer service at CrossFit.com and said, James needs to call home. And was that pre cell phone? That was, no, there was a, there were cell phones, but I didn't have

one in, uh, in didn't have one in Canada. And I called home and they pulled me into a room and I called home and she told me that my best friend Travis died. He was killed in Iraq. And I had just seen him. And it was like, this was the time, right? That was in the middle of the seminar. They fucking told you that yep and so that guy travis right there i wrestled with him um at the naval academy's great person that guy brendan looney was my he i was his squad leader at the naval academy so he's a seal um

his bird rolled over in af. He was killed in action. His brother, Steve Looney was actually, who's also a SEAL was in my squad at the Naval Academy. And so those two were actually roommates at the Academy as well. But anyway, like this was the time, right? This was the, this is what we, this was normal. Right. But back to the SE the seals this week, it's like, this is the cost of our freedom. You know what I mean? And that's like these documents right here behind me, like there's just so much like, I don't know, I'm going to go down a political route that I probably shouldn't.

But I'm just saying that like, you know, there is a lot that goes into making sure that everybody has the ability in the United States of America to say what they want to, to rest their head at night and know that someone's not going to come knocking on their door, kicking in their door and taking your wife and children and murdering them in front of you. Right. Right. Right. We're not used to that. That's that happens in other places. And it's men that, you know, like Dave,

like the two seals that just, you know, past, you know, defending other people's freedom, because I'll tell you that we don't want what happens in other countries to be on our front doorstep. You know, we don't want them standing at our borders right now, you know. So the border issue freaks you out, like it freaks

me out. It freaks me out. It freaks me out a lot. Yeah, the border issue is crazy. You know, and I'm not saying, look, we're all immigrants to this country. You know, absolutely. We just need to do this proper. Right. Properly. And it's not happening proper right now. And the amount of military age men that are standing on that border right now concerns me a lot, too. But, again, I don't want to go. It's kind of.

Are you in the National Guard? I am. What's the difference between the reserves and the National Guard? So the reserves is a department of defense um mechanism you know i don't know whatever they can pull the national guard is technically a state um asset now there are things that could be maneuvered around to change that but what you're seeing with greg abbott in texas at this moment like he is activating his national guard and then caleb are you in national guard or reserve caleb national guard oh okay am i saying this right caleb

yep that sounds right there's like a i think it's like title nine and title ten that's the difference that's two for two specific but yeah you're correct good to see the national guard the kind of the governor has control over, and the reserves are – the federal government has control over, but it's kind of the same thing, meaning you were former mill guys. Or I guess you don't even have to be a former mill guy, but you're more of a weekend warrior as opposed to living it day in and day out. Yeah, yeah, you could use it that way. But again, there's other – Why do you do that, Jimmy? Why are you still doing that? again there's other there why do you do that jimmy why are you still doing that i i went back in in 2019 because i was just i didn't know what what i was going to do with crossfit you know um at the end of the day it sounds cliche but i missed leader marines being around marines you know

even though i'm probably the oldest captain in the Marine Corps right now and all my buddies are like lieutenant colonels, my peers, whatever. It's just there's something very special about a young man, you know, because I lead. I went to fourth force recon and I'm with very established, you know, Marines. Right. You're talking guys who have been in for a long time, very capable. We do very dangerous things, you know, and the Marine Corps trusts them. I'm now a commander at an infantry unit where you're talking about 19, 20 year old kids that are willing to raise their hand and go out. And we were out this week in the snow freezing and shooting and training, right? And there's something very special about a young man

who's willing to raise his hand to do that right that recognizes that doesn't fully understand you know what what's going you know what could happen but is willing to be out there and and and put their you know go into the arena if you will when you're interviewing for the job at go ruck are they like, Hey, you're going to have to quit that. We can't have you get deployed or we can't have you fucking end up in the board. No, they don't. They're cool with it. I mean, look, these are, these are, these are our people, my people, right? Like these are, these are all service. Jason, Jason's an SF guy.

He enlisted after nine 11 because he wanted some. And his wife is a former CIA case officer. I am, you know, my VP of operations with was with 10th mountain division. We have a cadre that runs our events of a hundred and hundred and so SF guys, Ranger battalion guys, guys, Ranger battalion guys, um, force reconnaissance Marines. Like this is the, the, you know, this is the backbone of what go rock is. Um, and I'll tell you that until we went international, which we are, in fact, we launched the European site in about seven days. Oh, congrats, dude. Congrats. Crazy. We, we've always said we build better Americans, right? And we do that through communities. We do that through these very, very, very similar

to a CrossFit gym. We have ruck clubs. These are miniature churches. These are the people that are, you're rucking with, and you're standing around the cooler with at the end. And then you're also asking them to watch your kids or move your furniture, all the things you and I are very used to in the CrossFit community. Right. And that's why, like, we feel like it's a natural fit for us to be in this ecosystem. Yeah. These are our events.

Right. So we do a lot of challenge. We're redoing this website, by the way. But for those who, like, want to have a really good time and want to challenge themselves we have everything from level one to level ten meaning like 150 miles my god yeah short short courses and short events like one to two hours a hundred percent success do kids do them jimmy like like the 5k do i do that with my son with my story success rate. Do kids do them, Jimmy?

Like the 5K, do I do that with my son? With my three sons? Oh, yeah. Totally. You can totally do that. I want to go back to you getting out. So then what happened? So I augmented. I did that in the MOL,

Marine Online, and I told the monitor. Four months later, I'm starting to have doubts. I'm really enjoying what I'm doing with CrossFit, like my personal growth. And Greg and I are just still talking, you know, and you know how personal Greg is. Greg can make anyone feel like they're the only person in his room. I mean, at the suite, at the games, or it doesn't matter where, where like he and I just started having a great relationship with him. And he's like, I'd like for you to come work for me.

And at the same moment, I get a call from the monitor in the same moment is like a moment in time, if you will. I get a call from my monitor. He's like, Letchford, what the fuck? What are you doing? And I'm like, what do you doing? And I'm like, what do you mean? And he's like, you,

you haven't augmented yet. You haven't even said, I'm like, sir, I augmented on MOL. And I did it. I sent an email to the old monitor and he goes, well,

we don't have any record of it. He's like, and augmenting means that you were going to continue. Yeah. And like, once you lock in, you are locked in. Yeah.

And he says to me, he says, you lock in, you are locked in. Yeah. And he says to me, he says, you have one week to get it in. And I went home to Madeline and I was like, babe, what do you think? I was like, I honestly, I believe that's a sign, right? That's a sign. Yeah. And I fucking sign. Exactly. And I was like, God is telling us something right now. And she's like, yes, she's like, let's get out. And so I did at that moment. And at the time I'm hustling around trying to find a job. I have friends that have lined me up with Johnson and Johnson and Ernst Young and Goldman Sachs, all these like what you're supposed to be doing, right? Like I got an economics degree from the Naval Academy. I'm going to go be an investment banker. I'm going to get rich.

And I'm like, here we go. Let's go. You know, like, you know, I love the Corps, but I'm on to the next thing. And I'm right at that moment. You did your service and now you're ready to take care of your family. Yeah. And now I'm 28 years old. I've been in combat.

You know, I've had responsibility. And now I'm a young buck full of piss and vinegar. And I'm talking to Greg and I remember telling my dad, I'm like, pop, he's like, what are you going to do? And I'm like, I think I'm going to go work for CrossFit. And he's like, what? He's like, he's like, what? He's like, you got, you've got all this opportunity with these major investment banks and you're going to go work for a fitness fad? Yeah, exercise company. I go, Dad, and there's, I don't know, 50 gyms, 100 gyms at the time.

And he's like, you're going to go do that with all the degrees and stuff? I was like, Dad, I think it's going to be big one day. I think this is going to be really big. And fast forward five, six, seven years, he's an affiliate. Oh, that's awesome. Yeah, it was just a magical time. That shows some real support from your parents. Yeah, they always have, man.

They always have. They're at a part of a rec club right now. And they met Greg and they always talk. Like, Greg and my dad rec club right now, you know, like, but, and they met Greg and they always talk like Greg and my dad texts back and forth, you know, and Greg always asked me, Hey, how's Jen and ginger. And like, you know, he's like, I love those people kind of thing, but you know, it was, it was, it was a major moment, but I'll tell you all the way back to my respect for Greg is like, I got no experience in anything that he gave me. Right. I didn't have any experience in anything he gave me either.

He just believed in you and you went. Yeah. Well, think about the hodgepodge group of individuals we were, you know. You know what's crazy too? I never doubted anyone to my right and left either. Like the team was always eminently capable. It was never like, well, what the fuck does, um, seven know about making a movie or what does Jimmy know about running an online store? We just got shit done.

Yeah, that's right. And murdered. Hey, I ran into John Wellborn by the way, just the other, how is he? Holy shit.

He is awesome. I don't know what, like, cause I'm thinking about your every second counts and, you know, the DVD and the distribution and some of the you know i have boxes of those still sitting around my office well that was awesome man like that set the standard for all these documentaries

going forward where did you see john at how is he doing so i was at an event in uh in austin forever strong this past weekend, this Forever Strong event, where I met some amazing people, by the way. And I'm talking to this guy, Yako, who is in Tim Kennedy's camp. And he was, Yako's a third degree black belt, amazing individual. You look at him and you're like, if you don't know who someone dangerous is,

you would just be like, oh, OK. But I know what dangerous people look like. And that's right. Right. And but he's super humble. He's the head of security for Five Finger Death Punch. He was security for this event because they live right there. Anyway, we're just shooting, you know, back and forth.

In comes this monster of a man and i look and i'm like john comes right over to me i haven't seen him in 10 years and he looks amazing he is he's one of the most intelligent dudes i've ever i've ever had an interaction with and he's training i mean he's he's um doing strength he did he's, he's a blue belt at this moment. No shit. Yeah. Crazy, scary. Wow. And he, and he does a lot of the strength and conditioning for six blades, you know, for John G and solo and the crew down in the Austin area. Right. So he's got some really, really, um, really, really good practitioners down in his world. But he's doing great. We're going to reconnect and everything here soon.

What's he doing? Is he running a business? Does he still have a training academy? Is he still training? I think so. We didn't get to really rap, but he texted me afterwards. We're supposed to do a call here soon. But I introduced him.

I'm like, man, this is John Welborn, like Eagles chiefs tackle. That's one of those individuals from the NFL that like was smart, invested his money, went out. He's got masters in education. Humble enough to get into the CrossFit games. Yeah.

And here's a dude. It was like, what, what was he? Six, five to 50 running up that Hill, that Hill bigger than maybe bigger than 250 dude maybe closer to three well he looks massive 235 and ripped and healthy right now man

wow he looked great but i'll tell you that was the worst workout i've ever done in crossfit hands down which one carry the bag and run up the hill or no that was the years those were two years that was one or two years later you're in 08 when you ran i'm talking about the loop and then back up and down the one where uh the wheels came off the bus for josh everett and he just crumbled like a crumble oh yeah you know and wellborn crashed there too everybody crashed that was yeah that was that was the year yet there were three workouts you remember and you got to pick what order what was and yeah i didn't pick the right order i just tell you that that was terrible jeremy world really loving jimmy story i will spend my next paycheck on go ruck apparel ah thanks jeremy i didn't know it was going to be live jeremy i thought like

savon and i were going to do this and goof off and then he'd cut it. You could have never, never. What, what, so tell me what happened. How did you end up reunite reuniting with CrossFit? So you land, you land it, go rug. There's so many, I got to have you on again so we can talk about more – fill in more holes of the story. I have to do that. 96 minutes, but tell me about how – so you're the president of GORUCK, and who calls who? Do you call Dave?

Does Dave call you? Can you tell me how that relationship began and how it got to where it is today and what the relationship actually is? I don't really know except I just know that you now are somehow affiliated with the games in a big way. Yeah, I'll tell you. It kind of starts when I was actually at CrossFit. So you remember the year we did the Go Ruck event? Is that the year Fraser was there and one fell out of his pack or something? Okay, yeah.

I remember that. That was the year. And Jason and I met there. And it's funny, this comes full circle. Jason was wearing a TMF shirt, Travis Mannion foundation. Oh, the guy that I was telling you about this family started a foundation. I'm still extremely close with the family. I help them out to any capacity I can, but he was wearing a TMF shirt and he was standing

with Dave. I think that part doesn't matter, but I was like, Hey, like Travis was a great friend of mine. Thanks for your support. And he's like, really? And I'm like, yeah, my name is Jimmy. And he's like, I'm Jason. And anyway, he's like, you know, Ryan. And I'm like, like, Ryan's a sister to me. Ryan Mannionion is runs the traps manion foundation at this point he's like really so jason takes a selfie sends it to ryan and she's like no way so jason and i end up keeping oh ryan's a girl ryan's a girl i was wondering why you said like a sister to me yes sorry yeah ryan yeah female all right um all right very successful female too like beautiful and just i mean she's she's a force, but like sends a picture.

She's like, no way. So Jason and I keep in touch. Right. I hadn't known Jason before, before then. And he's just like, Hey, what do I like? What's the success? Like, what do you define as success? And how are you successful in the CrossFit space? I was like, well, defining success in the CrossFit space is very difficult. You know, it's easy for some of these brands that, you know, come for a land grab or like to snatch and grab kind of thing. And that's not how you're successful in the community. Right. And he goes, well, what, what would you do? And I was like, you got to keep showing up. You got to, you just got to keep showing up. And it's not about all the things that make it look like they're the things. You got to keep showing up.

You got to be a part. That is the key. You have to be a part of the community because this community is like no other in that they recognize who is them and who is not. And so we kept talking over the years and he was like, Hey, as I was getting ready to leave CrossFit for my own personal reasons, it was just like, Hey, I want to try some new things. I feel like I've got some growth to be had left on great terms with Greg. I drove up to Santa Barbara and sat with him and he was like, kid, I understand.

I hope I get to back, get you back. And it was just really healthy. Um, when I did that, Jason's like, I'd like for you to do some more with, with, uh, GORUCK. And I'm like, okay, cool. He's like, come and be on a board of advisors. Right. And I went to a board of advisors meeting. And the next thing, you know, it started like, Hey, we got to do more with you. What year was that, Jimmy? And the next thing you know, it started like, hey, we got to do more with you. What year was that, Jimmy? That would have been end of 2019.

Okay. End of 2019. And I started doing some more with them. And they're like, let's get you on contract. And bigger and bigger and bigger to the point where like, hey, full time. And I'm like, great. Like, I love this. And I did some other contracts. And I just didn't, I didn't, it wasn't me.

You know, it was successful successful and I was doing really well financially but I'll tell you that I just wasn't excited when I woke up you know it sounds cliche no no I dreading getting on calls with some of these groups and stuff and I was just like hating life and I wasn't with go Ruck So when I went full-time over there, it was kind of like, all right, here we are, like, this is it. And we kept showing up in the CrossFit space and things. And what was your position that you, so you went from being on the advisory board and then what was your first full-time position there? I was the chief growth officer. So it was basically, and that is a real term. It's like,

you're responsible for driving top line revenue, right? Opportunities, all the partnerships, you know, you name it. If it contributes to the top line, that's your kind of role, right? And that's kind of where sales and marketing and all those things kind of collide. And so recently got recently seven or eight months ago, got promoted to the president. Okay. So you went straight from there. You went from chief growth officer to the president. I actually had an additional, so growth officer and marketing officer at the time, you know, tighten up some of our marketing initiatives. There's really kind of to glue some of the things together.

But then now it's president. So I oversee a lot of those things still. All of that comes to this, right? We continue to keep showing up at CrossFit in CrossFit world. And we're doing it the way Go Rock does it authentically. You know, big initiative was like, hey, let's put rocks on people's back. Like, no, we're direct to consumer brand. We need to make sure that, you, let's put rocks on people's back. Like, no, we're direct to consumer brand. We need to make sure that, you know, put these things on people's back and make them understand,

help them understand what the quality is of our gear so that they, you know, that they'll want to be our customers, part of our brand. We were doing that for two years. We're at the games, did really well the first year. This last year, we were at the games and. The booth was crazy this year at the games did really well the first year this last year we were at the games and the booth was crazy this year at the games by the way crazy crazy and and the way you had the rucks laid out with the american flag sewn and that was fucking that was like that i just would walk by there as fast as i could that was like a candy store i was like sebi don't go in yeah don't go in there and like there was there was word that you know cross was going to go a different direction

and everything. A year and a half ago, we were talking. Jason and I flew up to talk with Don. Early on, you already talked with Don. Right when he landed. You're obviously close with Dave.

Dave might even be in your favorites like that close. Like, yeah, for sure. You call David 24 hours a day. I don't think Dave has favorites. No, well, you're he no, no, no one's in his favorites, but he might he's in my favorites. Oh, that was a terrible day that we did, Chad. Yeah. Not 2018.

Crazy. Look at Adrian's hair. Yeah. 2018. Crazy. Look at Adrian's hair. Slick. Okay. So, so early, early on when Don took over, you, you, you knew him and you're like, Hey,

Jason, let's go meet with my homie, Don. He's now the CEO of CrossFit. It was not entirely like that. The partnership team, you know, there was some new people at the partnership team and like, you know, throughout the time they were like, would you be interested? And we're like, yeah, we'll be interested. But that team at the time was like, really, you know, they were like, would you be interested? And we're like, yeah, we'd be interested. But that team at the time was like really, you know, they were doing what they should be, trying to drive revenue for the games and things like that.

So we were in the conversations, and they put something in front of me, and I was kind of like, look, you know, like I used to be in your role. You know? Right, right. You know, like, in fact, I kind of started. You know the ins and outs of CrossFit probably, in all better than 99 of the people who work there i mean that's not i'm not discounting anyone but we were fucking me and you were like in the basement yeah i think i think so too yeah we were in the engine room we saw it all timing was a really big thing for us you know and like our

opportunities were there but like yeah you're right and they you know there was they put something us. I'm like, look, we'll just keep doing what we're doing on, you know, keep being a part of the community. No, thank you. And, um, and that was the plan. And we got to the games this past year and we just showed up like, let's do it very go rough. And for those of you who don't know the, I just want to just throw this out there. The biggest contract in the history of CrossFit ever signed, Jimmy was the linchpin there. Jimmy was the liaison between CrossFit and Reebok, who was owned by Adidas. And this was a multi, multi hundred million dollar agreement. And Jimmy was the one that got Matt O'Toole and Greg in the room a dozen times together to make it happen.

So when he says he's been there, that jimmy's like he knows that um and and that's probably why he probably hates being in some of those meetings because he knows everything from the bullshit to the sincere shit so i just wanted to let people i also know like i'm not like i don't you're right in a lot of that stuff i also like I really give a shit about the success of CrossFit. Right, right, right. Table what happened to my friend, you know, and someone who I have a lot of admiration for that gave us a chance and everything. All that aside, there are. Well, it's his life work, too.

Let's not forget his life work. I don't not be trained, Greg, by any means. Yeah, no. By saying you care about CrossFit. I mean, it's just. No, I know. I don't – you're not betraying Greg by any means by saying you care about CrossFit. I mean it's just fucking – No, I know that. And I called Greg up and I was like, hey, we're going to do a deal. And he was genuinely happy for me. Us.

Yeah, of course. He was because you know, I really, besides Don, besides Dave, besides Nicole, besides the hundreds of people I saw on the conference call when they announced it and that we're chatting, like besides all those people that I have hundreds of friends that are CrossFit affiliates. And you were an affiliate owner for a long time. Yeah. Yeah. For 10, 11 years. And like, I know what it's like to be an affiliate. And like, so when we approached this, I was just like, Hey, well, yes, I know what's

Nobles, you know, hemorrhaging this moment. Right. And, and, and Mike and Marcus are good people. You know, I just, they got way far out in front of their skis, you know, over their skis. And it's, it's unfortunate, right? Whatever. That's going to, that'll take the course it's supposed to take. But like when we started talking about being a partner with CrossFit this past year, like this last games time season came very fast.

And we were just like, look, we will do this very differently. We believe, and so does CrossFit, believe that CrossFit needs a different partner in this world. They're so used to what I use with my team. And even with the CrossFit team is, you know, all those years in Wisconsin, it was like, there's the big Reebok booth, row right across the street, you know, There's the big Reebok booth, row right across the street. You know, there it is. 2001, two, three, four, five, six, all these years.

And then what happened? New sponsor, Noble right there. Same thing, you know? And I'm just like, look, we're not going to be that. Like we are going to be a part of the community. We're not there to peddle shoes. We're not there to peddle rucks. We're there to be a great partner to the community. And I don't know entirely what that looks like,

but I know it's not going to be, you know, 75 people that don't know the go rock brand with their earpiece on running to get. Oh, right. Right. No restocking the noble, you know, the shirts and all that stuff. That's not us. By the way, those little things mattered. I did love the Reebok tent. It was like a candy store, but it was ruined by the fact

that it was non-CrossFitters working there. It was fucking ruined by that. It was just like, you could tell they didn't give a shit. Yeah. They didn't give a shit. We like so for us shit yeah we're going somewhere new i will be out next week in texas and we're looking at like how do we flip this on its head you know that's how we do things we're very very different and and it's really like

you know like besides the business model of trying to stand up a half a million dollar booth to pedal shoes to like you know it's just not us right people do i i do want to say this i do want to go to the crossfit games and come home with and i do want to purchase a uh you know like the one-of-a-kind go ruck 2004 ruck you know i mean i want to purchase the i do want to see the shoes that colton mertens is wearing and i want to purchase the – I do want to see the shoes that Colton Mertens is wearing, and I want to get those shoes. I don't think it's – it's fun doing that. I know I shit on Disneyland all the time, but when I go there, I don't mind buying the $27 thing that blows bubbles that's worth like 80 cents in China so that my kid can have the Disneyland the disneyland yeah it's part of it right it is we'll make sure that happens it is fun to get yeah the yeah we'll make sure that happens it'll

look a lot different than it has in the past which is awesome and it's unique and like we're still sussing that out um but like we are the athletes there be wearing a shirt that's like when they call jerseys and stuff right now that will look a lot different that will so so the athletes are going to be wearing go ruck stuff yeah just similar to how the other ones were wearing like there's a there's a uniformity that's so awesome for broadcasting it will look it will look a lot different um yeah we're working through some of that stuff right now you know we're people are like you know are you guys going to make make other the games athletes wear this that and the other thing

like no like you know we want to be a part of the community right we want to be a part like we want to make sure that you know what we've developed around the semifinals which i don't know has been announced just yet like is a unique relationship that crossfit's never seen before oh excited the community and i'll tell you why and crossfit hq needs a lot of kudos on this and i'm gonna take this to go ruck gets a lot of kudos on this because this is a move not for crossfit hq and it's not a move for go ruck and that'm going to take this to go gets a lot of kudos on this because this is a move not for CrossFit HQ and it's not a move for go rock. And that's going to be very clear. It's for the community. It's going to make it's going to ensure that those semifinals have the ability to be very successful for both the brand and the individuals that have been shelling out a lot of their own cash to make sure that that, you know, keeps, it stays alive.

Can you give me a hint? Can you give me a hint? We have a partner that some would be considered what, like it'd be very easy to, to look at that and be like, those people are competitive with GORUCK. And from a category standpoint, they are, but they're good people. And they've, they've made a deal for the semifinals. That is, that will be very beneficial. And CrossFit, seriously, CrossFit is, should like, this is a great move for the community.

Great move. I don't want to, I don't want to. Is it rising tides of a rise all ships? That's exactly what it is rise all ships exactly what it is that's exactly what it is and we are going to make sure that that continues to happen um would you personally be in carson uh it's not in carson it's texas no sorry for the semi-finals uh probably okay okay yeah awesome i'm gonna try to go i'm trying to i'm gonna try to go there did you know that they let me do the behind the scenes last year oh yeah i saw you running around

yeah it's murdering dude it is it i remember you telling me the model i released it behind a paywall right now and you know i would tell you something else talk about giving kudos to hq so they have a policy that when you go there and film, you're not allowed to release any of it for commercial use. Yeah. So I filmed it all. It's expensive, you know, probably $60,000 to get it all done and packaged. And then I asked, I met with Don and Dave and I said, hey, how about letting me recoup some of my cost? I'll put it behind a, um, a paywall for

two months. And then the two weeks leading up to the open, I'll release one every single fucking day up until then. And they said, yeah. So, you know what I did? And you'll appreciate this. I made sure I made a level one commercial and an open commercial. They didn't even ask for it. Just, you know, just like, just trusting each trusting each other scratch my back i scratch your back i put one in front of every single show i got athletes saying take join the open all it's so fucking cool but um it was a risky move on their part right to let me do that and and and i and i'm very close to recouping all my my expenses from it and uh and then and then I'm going to release it. It'll be the two weeks before the open.

Yeah. So mad kudos. That's a huge risk for them too, right? They could have just been like, no, Savan, you know that you can't release for commercial. And I would have been cool with that too. I wouldn't have been upset. But the fact that they did this is now letting me be like, okay, now I got this money and I'm going to go to semifinals now. I love it.

You're going to do it this year again? Yeah, I'm going to do it again. of my finals now with i love it you're gonna do it this year again yeah i'm gonna do it again i'm gonna do i'm gonna try to do some i'm gonna try to start doing all the behind the scenes as long as i don't fucking like open my big mouth and shoot myself in the foot yeah you you'll be you'll be fine you got some top cover too okay well i'm really i'm really fucking excited i'm pumped yeah it's gonna be a great year man and like i i'll tell you that it it felt different when dave came back last year i mean of course it felt different and i've been a couple games before that you know and like he's a great leader you know and he is an anchor to the um the og

world right it's just he's an anchor to that and this year is going to be even better you know and if look there are i'm going to say this very tactfully right okay there are a lot of unsigned for you thanks buddy because i know where this could go um but i'm i'm okay with it there's a lot of people that just sit on the outside and just wait for moments to happen, right? They're not really in the arena. They just take pop shots. And it's not good for anybody. It's really not.

It's not good for the community. It's not good for the methodology. It's not good for any. It's just rhetoric. And it's just it shouldn't happen, honestly. Like, this is a magical thing. Take, you know, this was always a unique thing because CrossFit is a brand. Like you look at the logo, it's a brand. It also, this is, you remember this, right? This was a, this is one of those

things that was a difficult kind of a, it was difficult to really suss out and divide up, right? Cause you have the brand, right? Like what goes on a shirt and all that stuff. And like CrossFit was also like a verb, right? Like that person's CrossFitting in the corner. He's doing squats and running over to the pole bar. That's CrossFitting, right? And it's a sport, right?

But it's the methodology, right? That's the magic of it all, right? And CrossFit HQ, whether or not it survives, I think it absolutely thrives, but whether or not there's still CrossFit, it's what Greg built and everything. And like when, when people are on the outside taking pop shots at it, you know, on the decision that was made here, what was done to make, you know, whatever be more healthy or have a stronger foundation or to do the things that people have been asking for for a long time. Like those are tough decisions.

And sitting on the, you know, in the cheap seats, you know, throwing rocks into the arena, it's just not, it's not how it should be. And, you know, and like, it's unfortunate that they're out there. Right. And anyway, I just need to get that out. Hey, does Jason own, does Jason own GoRock? All of it. Yeah.

You sound like a guy that works for a company that's owned by a guy. Yeah. And there won't be outside money. There won't be an IPO. There won't be, you know, VC dollars. There won't be outside money. There won't be an IPO. There won't be, you know, VC dollars. There won't be a sale. Like it's, there's something magical here that I feel honored to be a part of. Well, congratulations to Go Ruck for acquiring one of the most standup dudes I've ever met. Funnest guy I ever sat next to in the classroom for 15 years. was excited to go to work every day because people like me jimmy we oh look at oh shit oh shit why did you guys let me ride that bike why did someone tell me to cut my hair what the fuck you guys hated me what am i wearing you remember we rode from oh that's why i drenched this was uh this is rich alvarez he's about to he's

shot me a text the other day this is these are my friends that i was talking about richard alvarez is i'm going to his i'm going to his i'm going to the reunion yeah he texted me the other day now it's like on the it's on my anniversary weekend so i probably should i should be elsewhere nothing better than madeline wants to do than visit a gym in Southern California. Yeah, like, you give that guy a hug. He's great people. Yeah, look at that. That's funny.

God, I got a fucking flat tire in the fucking ghetto there. Fuck, that was crazy. Holy shit, you guys hated me. Look at me. What am I wearing? That bike all folds up for all his, uh, all, all the, uh, people that love seven, that bike folds up into like a suitcase.

All right. This show's done. Hey buddy. Love you. Uh, come on anytime. Um, anything you ever want to share any stories, uh, anything I can do to help you with the Travis Mannion Foundation, anything I can help you with GORUCK. Love you to death. Thanks for doing this. I know you're busy as shit and you're always welcome, dude. And tell the team at GORUCK, congratulations. Thanks, Doug. Appreciate you. All right, dude. Love you, Jimmy Letchford. You too, brother. James Letchford. James Letchford.

Later. Oh, bye. Dang. all right dude love you jimmy letchford james letcher james letcher later bye dang i was hoping i could see that what thanks caleb i appreciate it dang i that's kind of i kind of miss uh it really was like that like if we went to breakfast or lunch or dinner, I'd always try to sit by Jimmy. He was so good. I get social anxiety. Like I don't want to meet new people. And it was my down. It was kind of probably my downfall, but he was so good at meeting new people. So he knew everyone. I wanted to ask him about that, about networking. They call it networking, but it never felt like networking with him. He was just personable. He just talked to people, would get their phone numbers. Frank, you said something interesting in here. Let's see. Frank, I think there was zero risk and zero cost for them letting you release the behind the scenes.

That way you're doing the job for them. I agree, but they could have ego-wise, but they had to get past their ego but i do agree i agree with you i i mean it's a enormous win for them i'm not like gonna try to act humble um but but it still is an ego thing they could have been like nope you can't it's our sandbox you can't play in it but i agree frank uh keith knapp thank you for the kind words keep scratching sebi very much appreciate the love and support you've been giving us open oh one hell summit affiliate stories all of it thanks dude mike halpin i rock every day bought 125 in socks and accessories while watching this holy shit all right look at you my dad loves their shoes yeah yeah he buys all their shit

uh alright I um I am organizing sorry Caleb and I are organizing Caleb doesn't know this yet maybe he does Caleb and I and S. Caleb doesn't know this yet. Maybe he does.

Caleb and I and Sousa and Will Branstetter and Taylor and JR, the group at the Sevan podcast, are organizing what we call Friday Night Lights. And what it's, I don't know if it's really going to be called that. I don't know shit about that football. But basically, we're going to do Taylor against the world, Taylor Self against the world. And on Thursday nights, the open workouts will be released. And then we'll do a show after that, a live show.

And then on Friday, from CrossFit Charlotte, we will do a show after that a live show and then on friday from crossfit charlotte we will do a show i'm guessing you'll have commentators like me and grunler and hiller and tyler and the gang with john young of course our senior analyst how dare i forget him and um we will have, uh, it'll be Taylor against, you know, week one, uh, Jason Hopper week to, uh, down pepper week three, Colton Mertens. We don't have the athletes locked in yet. If you are an athlete and we, we need a sponsor for it. We don't really need a sponsor for it. Um, but it'd be nice to, it would be nice to get a sponsor for it um but it'd be nice to it would be nice to get a sponsor for it some you

know someone who's like willing to take care of the minimal cost that's going to run this but it is going to be dope um we're going to get to see our very own taylor self uh put it all out on the line and uh there's going to be it'll be uh you saw the last show we did fucking most beautiful clear fucking open workout i've ever seen and uh you know is taylor doing the water palooza workouts we'll add one or two cameras um i do believe from the little bit i've heard from taylor that it will be open to the public but you will have to turn your cell phone off and put it into a bag we will be collecting all the cell phones we don't want anything interfering with the signal in the room. And even if you're not on the wifi,

we're hearing that the signals in the room are, or what's fucking everything up. I think we should get some Faraday bags. We'll put everybody's cell phone in a Faraday bag. And then like, do they make a big one of those? You could probably turn them off and put them in a Faraday bag. Yeah.

Yeah. So, um, it is going to be, it is really going to be something cool and special and i know you guys are ravenous and i know you guys like to party um and watch these guys do the workouts so i'm so excited that we're doing this uh doing this with you guys but it'll be a three two one go and taylor against the world and um it's going to be great if you are an athlete and you would like us to bring you there and you would like to participate um no schmoes you know what i mean no no no like you never you never been to the games or

you're not like crazy hot don't don't don't reach out um but if you are hot and you've been to the games, you're good. You're welcome to submit your hat in the ring. And if you're a sponsor. I don't know. We would like it to be someone who we can get behind. who we can get behind. I honestly, we don't need a sponsor, but I think it would be an honor for any sponsor to do it. I would want the sponsor to feel like they're honored to do it.

So we've reached out to some people and they, you know, and they're kind of normal. They're like, well, we need to see your stats or your numbers. And I don't really want to share any of that with someone, a sponsor. I want you to be like, oh, shit, yeah, we know what the Sevan podcast is and what you guys are going to do. And we know you're a needle mover. So if anyone wants to be a part of that, you know, we're not. The sponsorship is just to pay for the travel and shit like that. So, hotel.

So, anyway, there's that. I'm really pumped about that. Episode 6 is enormous. It's over an hour long. It's live now. Everything 100% positivity. I'm so stoked that you guys like it. I really, really am stoked you guys like it.

And episode 7 will not be coming out Wednesday. But, Stefan, I paid for my membership. I need it. I need it. Episode 7 is not coming out Wednesday. Instead, on Wednesday, members will be getting the Wadapalooza behind the scenes with Hopper, Dallin and Ricky Mac, Hopper, Pepper and Ricky Mac.

And then on Friday you will get episode seven of behind the scenes. And then, and then we won't miss a beat and we'll get back on Monday, Sunday night or Monday morning, give you episode eight. So you guys are stoked. Coke and hookers. Yeah. Most of the money will be spent on is that uh raw and joe biden standing side by side who is that anyway eric weiss behind the scenes six is so cool the shot of all the athletes pouring past you was

great nice blue shirt Seve yes uh these shirts are available at Vindicate um Richie Rich I've ordered my first two CEO shirts the purple and gold is oh, that's one of my favorites. King shit. Excuse me. Will Greg's appearance at the games be in behind the scenes? I didn't see Greg at the games. Yeah, he was there for a little bit. Yeah, if anyone else, maybe, I don't even know. I haven't even seen all the behind thethe-scenes. I haven't seen episode six. I haven't seen episode seven.

So thank you. Mike Albin talking about the Wadapalooza behind-the-scenes. It's real good. Hopper mic'd up. Chasing Noah is gold. Yeah. I think it's the best behind the scenes ever. That's really good. What's happening in San Diego? Seve, is your house okay? Are you close to San Diego? No, I'm nowhere near San Diego. What's going on? I think I drank too much coffee again. I'm getting all crazy. I'm breathing through my mouth. I feel like a rabid dog. There's a flood.

In San Diego. City of San Diego and city of Coronado. I don't know what's happening on tomorrow's show. Tomorrow's show is supposed to be Greg Glassman. I do think that today at some point I'm switching locations. I'm going to a ski resort for a couple days. I don't know what's going to happen.

And I'm going with Greg. So. Phillip Kelly. Greg stood in the affiliate lounge with endless line of people waiting to meet him for three hours. I know. I heard. Crazy. crazy so cool He just got mobbed Yeah that's dope But I didn't see him I was doing the behind the scenes buddy

Greg Weiss God is taking care of California And washing the streets. How about Jorge Ventura yesterday on the show? Was he good? Yeah, dude. He's so fucking excited. Hey, I want to send you this in the private chat.

I saw this. Those of you who don't know, I'm sure all of you know, Jethro, a regular listener of the show. Jethro Cardona, a police officer. Opened a gym somewhere on that skinny island, the Long Island. The Long Island. And it's called Chief Crossfit chief nation crossfit chief nation and look at this he the news the news already came out and did a piece on him yeah i love seeing this you might have to like skip to the middle or something i think there's

like there's a long intro where they're like blah blah blah yeah yeah look at this look you can you can watch jethro be interviewed a little bit on the news station there so however many parts we have we explain it thoroughly part one part two or part three it could be even one or two parts we do have a warm-up that's proper so everyone's safe and everyone's on the same page so even if there's someone that can do something local news did a local news did a three minute and 20 second piece on his gym it's dope pretty cool, it's awesome. So congratulations,

Jethro. Look at you wrong shirt. You should be wanting to see your shirt, but I ain't hating. Nothing's perfect. Look at that. Uh, by the way,

uh, guys, it does look like, um, Greg Glassman will be making an appearance on shut up and scribble you're not going to want to miss that either uh watching jr and taylor interact with greg is going to be gold gold gold gold and um it'll be a sign of a side of greg you know just like you got a side of greg from Sousa that you hadn't seen before.

When I'm on the show with him, you're going to see a side of Greg. I mean, he loved, Greg loves programming. I don't know if loves, but loved, loved programming. It was nuts how much he was into programming. So it'll be fun to watch Taylor and JR geek out with him. So that'll be scheduled soon. All right.

Hunter versus Self. Yeah, that might be cool. That might be cool. Oh, Taylor Self versus Tyson Bajan shit god you guys you guys are thinking way out of the box

I appreciate it wow wow I didn't even think about that that would be pretty cool actually yeah that would be really fucking cool

holy shit I feel like we need a live call in right now I know me too it's been a minute but I gotta go. I have this fucking giant booger I'm about to pick out of here as soon as I'm off the air.

Fuck, it's massive. You know, when I breathe, I feel it. You know, like when you have one, it's like you feel it shifting with each... Those are annoying. You just wanna... I mean, I can pick it out so easy right now, but I'm a fucking classy man. All right.

I lost my $150 Wool Filson hat while I'm here at Greg's. If anyone finds it, let me know. Talk to you guys later. Bye-bye.