The Sevan Podcast - Perrin Behr | Training Think Tank
Episode Date: August 3, 2024www.affiliatevideocontest.com FITAID, 40% Off: https://www.lifeaidbevco.com/fitaidrxz-sevanpod?utm_medium=pdcst&utm_source=sevanpod&utm_campaign=promo__pdcst-sevanpod-qr My Tooth Powder "Matoothia...n": https://docspartan.com/products/matoothian-tooth-powder 3 Playing Brothers, Kids Video Programming: https://app.sugarwod.com/marketplace/3-playing-brothers/daily-practice ------------------------- Partners: https://cahormones.com/ & https://capeptides.com - CODE "SEVAN" FOR FREE CONSULTATION https://www.paperstcoffee.com/ - THE COFFEE I DRINK! https://www.vndk8.com/sevan-podcast - OUR SHIRTS https://usekilo.com - OUR WEBSITE PROVIDER ------------------------- ------------------------- BIRTHFIT PROGRAMS: Prenatal (20% off with code SEVAN1) - https://marketplace.trainheroic.com/workout-plan/program/mathews-program-1621968262?attrib=207017-aff-sevan Postpartum (20% off with code SEVAN2) - https://marketplace.trainheroic.com/workout-plan/program/mathews-program-1586459942?attrib=207017-aff-sevan ------------------------- Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Transcript
Discussion (0)
BAM! We're live. Good morning.
Good morning.
Good to see y'all. Sebastian, what's up, dude? Thanks for the membership.
Nice clean shave. Sebastian Lofgren, thank you, buddy.
Isaac, what's up, dude? I can't wait to.
I'm actually a little nervous, believe it or not.
Like excited, nervous.
I've always wanted to meet Perrin.
Some of the people, it's kind of like, oh, I just feel like I have to do it.
But with Perrin, I was like, I'm so curious.
I'm so curious to hear her story.
Cory, what's up, dude?
How you doing, buddy?
Oh, don't forget guys
tomorrow kill Taylor 8 a.m. whoo! Two weeks in a row.
Taylor's with a lick and some wounds. David Weed I have strange feelings about
this. Me too. In a good way strange feelings. No conversation restrictions, none.
That was just me being paranoid.
Absolutely none.
That was just me.
I kind of get on my high horse.
That was all just my ego, just like, you know,
that was all me.
That had nothing to do with parent.
That was all my ego.
Chris. Oh. That had nothing to do with parent. That was all my ego Chris oh
Hi Travis nice to see you
Hear him Chris. I can't hear him unless we can are we gonna have a CTP?
Cameo here that would be crazy
Well, he's yeah, I'm assuming he's talking crazy. Alive? I don't know. Let's see if we can get his face in here.
Well he's, yeah, I'm assuming he's talking.
CTP, we can hear you.
Maybe I should text her.
Oh, J.R. Howell's in for the CrossFit Games Update show tonight.
I don't know.
Let me see, she has a nice setup.
Looks like she sent me a picture of her saying CTP hooked me up with a nice setup. I hear you. the Computer
Cross fat seven did you watch Lauren's love live show I watched a few probably like
Three as I was driving the kids around yesterday, I watched like three, five minutes parts of it.
Saban, have you figured out what you're gonna do to watch the NFL season?
No, I don't feel confident about my,
every choice is like such an expensive commitment
and I don't feel confident.
I looked at YouTube TV, they don't have ESPN.
I don't know what I'm gonna do.
So, I don't know what I'm gonna do so um I don't know FCTP wow
female CPT hi Heidi what's up good morning
someone told me I missed it I didn't see the whole Lauren show, but someone told me she was talking about how big her boobs were.
So I ran over there to watch that segment, but I missed it.
And then I popped in and out.
It's ballsy to come onto a show. From what I saw, the little bit I saw, she was relying on the chat.
She was just discussing with the chat.
And that's a, that's a real, I always feel like that's a really ballsy move.
Like I would never come on here and just be like, okay, I'm just going to talk to you
guys.
So, oh, Catherine was good on talking to me. Fitness. I didn't take it.
How about now? No, I still hear him. Oh, check the board.
The is the what if I call her?
CTP knows what he's doing. I don't need to call and like, I don't need to call and do
his what's that called problem solve with him? Problem solve? He could call me. Check gear on the bottom. Make sure you have the correct mic chosen.
You have a whole audio on road. We got this. I don't believe you. I don't believe.
Boy, that can hear him through here now, but I can't hear myself. I don't believe you. Wait, I can hear him through here now,
but I can't hear myself.
Yeah, but do you need to hear yourself?
No.
Yeah, she does.
Can you hear myself?
Yeah, I can.
I can barely see you though.
Okay, I can hear you now.
Yeah, you look like 1970s Atari.
He said he can barely see me.
I look like 1970s Atari.
But I can read the Travis Mayer shirt.
I have no idea. You're too young to know, you know, you know, like, uh, you know, like, uh, the
Atari games were really chunky and blocky.
Yeah, I'm not that young.
I'm not that young.
I know what you're talking about.
All right.
All right.
How old are you?
I'm 37.
Oh, please.
Oh, please. Child, please, child.
Child, child, child.
Hey, good to meet you.
Nice to meet you, too.
Sorry about all those issues.
We thought we had it, but we didn't.
That's OK.
I needed that.
For some reason, I'm a little intimidated by you,
so I need that.
I need you to have some like immediately come out
with some flaws and some errors to help settle me down.
What are you intimidated by?
I don't know.
Maybe it's just everyone at training think tank.
If maybe it's the name, I just think, you know, in my mind, your guys is IQ.
You guys are like all Ashkenazi Jews to me.
Like you have a, uh, uh, IQ of that's a standard deviation than the rest of the
population, you know what I mean?
Like everyone, they're smart.
Even Travis looks smart.
Even your athletes look smart.
You know what I mean? Like everyone there's smart. Even Travis looks smart. Even your athletes look smart.
I think you said, uh, you thought I was like a neuroscientist or something, which made me laugh.
Yeah, definitely not. Absolutely not. That's just my racism coming out.
Yeah. Is it the, is it the Asian? Yeah. So you assume I'm good at math and science. I have a, yeah, I have a strong, uh, discernernment here prejudice and discrimination. I like to avoid racism, but prejudice and discrimination runs strong
No, I read somewhere that you pivoted big time that you were like on a path
You had a path and that maybe it was a post you wrote or something
I read about you, but you were on a path
You're very thoughtful by the way in your post I was cruising through your post the one the one with Sarah Sigmund's daughter was actually really crazy
I was like wow this
Parent is might be too emotional for this job. I mean, I thought I thought you guys had to be like cutthroat, but you're so thoughtful
and
It seems like empathy runs deep through your veins
But I thought I thought I read somewhere that you were on a path and that you pivoted all of a sudden.
You're like, shit, this isn't making me happy. You know what? I'm gonna go all in this way.
Yeah, for sure. I, after undergraduate, I thought I wanted to go into business and finance and work on Wall Street and make a lot of money and be super rich. And I started working for a financial trading company
in the Philly area from 2008 until 2012, 2013.
And it just wasn't for me.
I didn't really like the lifestyle.
I didn't really like the work.
I was just kind of sitting at a desk for 10, 11 hours a day,
staring at computer monitors and it wasn't interesting.
So in that period of time is actually when I found CrossFit because it was a
gym a few minutes from my, from my work on my commute home.
And I stopped in there in 2010, took some classes and it was kind of what I felt I was missing in my life, in
my training. I did some collegiate sports. I've been an athlete my whole life and
yeah I was really kind of hooked from then from then on. So I started coaching
in 2011 and then left my job in finance in 2012 Uh, let me let me ask you some details about that
What school did you go to what college did you go to?
I went to a small liberal arts college in pennsylvania called it's called ursinas college
Her sinus. Yeah, it's kind of a weird name. Yeah, that is weird. It's a very very small school. Um
There is some actually some translation and I don't remember anymore.
And what ethnicity are you?
I was born in South Korea.
So I was actually adopted at three months old.
So I'm a Korean American, very American.
Oh, I like this.
This is good.
All right, here we go.
Um, how do you get a does how do you get? How do
you be born in South Korea and get adopted? You got adopted by people who live in the United States?
Yeah, my, yeah, my mom and dad, both Caucasian, they they had two boys at the time, weren't really
sure if they would be able to have a girl because my, my, all of his siblings, all of his cousins and everything,
everyone was just producing boys. There were no girls coming out. And my mom only had one
sister, so they had two boys and they were like, well, we want another child. But I guess
they just decided to go for the adoption. I'm not exactly sure honestly the reasons, but my mom like kept a journal
through the whole process and about the whole adoption process is actually very complicated,
very expensive, very stressful. And this was in 86. So I don't know what it's like now.
But they actually close to them coming to get me, I think the adoption agency wanted to give them
another baby. And so there was actually this whole kind of fight for my parents to be like, no, this
is the child that we're supposed to have, and you've sent us pictures. And so I very well could have
ended up somewhere else. But yeah, they flew over to Korea, scooped me up. I had apparently a horrible ear infection.
So I cried the whole plane ride home.
And then they actually did end up having a baby girl after me.
So I have a younger sister who's about three years younger than me.
Do you know why your parents put you up for adoption?
The only thing I know about them, my birth parents, I think they were college students
and it was just an unborn pregnancy, but I don't know anything else.
So I assume I have half siblings out there.
Yeah, that's wild that they would go to South Korea.
You think it would be just as easy or easier just to pick one up like in Philly.
Yeah.
Yeah, I don't actually, I don't think I've ever.
I think that Froning got their kids on Facebook.
Yeah. I don't know. I definitely think South Korea at the time was an easier process of
Asian countries than something like China or other, other places. But I've never actually
asked them those types of questions.
Maybe I should.
How do you, how old are you when you find out
that you're adopted?
How does that process come about?
How does it, as your awareness develops as a child,
when does that kick in?
I don't recall ever having a conversation with them,
asking them that.
I think it's all I've ever known.
I've never felt a difference in myself and my siblings,
me being adopted and them not being,
that was never a distinction.
My parents treated us all the same.
There's obvious physical differences.
My siblings are white and I'm not.
I grew up in like,
I would say mostly white suburb of Philadelphia at the time.
There wasn't like a ton of diversity,
but there was a girl a few houses down actually that was Korean.
My mom would try to get me to be friends with her and take me to these Korean
gatherings with other Koreans who are actually adopted, whether they be from Caucasian parents
or otherwise.
I never felt like I needed to have Korean friends or have necessarily connection to
the culture, which
has always been something that's been a little bit strange for me. Like, is this something
that I should be trying to investigate a bit more or learning the language? Like there
were periods of time where I tried to learn the language. Like I say, try very loosely.
And it just wasn't something I was ever passionate about but I will say the one one thing recently that I wish I knew
Korean because the two Korean actors that are competing at the games
Sun Young Choi and I forget John I forget how to pronounce him
We did we call her John Young to make fun of John Young who want Dwan Young or something? I think yeah
Yeah, yeah, I would love to I would love to communicate with them, but I just don't know the language.
Yeah, that's cool. Although I wasn't adopted, I totally get that because I was born and raised in a pretty Armenian household.
It was pounded into me that I'm Armenian. That should be part of my identity. But I forgot the language and I just grew away from it. But every once in a while, like I'll get into an Uber in Los Angeles, and there'll be an Armenian guy in there and I'll feel like an affinity for him. You know what I mean? Like I'll feel something for them. Or like when I see Jessica Collegiate, you know what I mean? I see the IAN and the last name and those things somehow as weird as it sounds it resonates with
Me so I get what you're saying you see them and something maybe intangible draws you to them
That's that's in yourself. I don't know what it is. Maybe it's close in the gene pool or
I mean the truth is is you probably aren't I mean, it's a
It's a small island. I mean Armenia was very very small, the inbreeding there was strong,
they're stuck in the Caucasus mountains, mountains, and South
Korea. I mean, same with probably like Iceland, all of
you guys are, you could probably, if you looked up the
history, somehow, if you had that passion that you would
probably see, like, you're not far from them in the family
tree. You know what I mean?
Yeah, I mean, Korea is very small country, but it's also, it's way
dense, more densely populated than something like I, somewhere like Iceland.
Um, and I do have some friends that I've met over the years that have moved to
Korea and then moved back to the States.
Um, and some other, another friend who's visited and, uh, her mother's Korean,
her father is white,
and she's kind of explored the country
to learn more about it.
And I'd love to go there at some point in time.
It's just like, if I wanna go,
I think I wanna carve out a fairly significant amount
of time and I just haven't planned it.
Is it learnable or is it crazy?
Is the language learnable or is it crazy? I think
it would be pretty challenging. The difficulty in comparison to something like French or Italian is
even the written words and characters. Like I can't even begin to try to connect.
And we share so many words. We share so many words. I don't I'm not a
Linguist or anything, but basically English French. What is it? They're all
They all have Latin roots, right us
Spanish dude, but Korea is huge. I didn't realize that 51 million people
In comparison Canada only has 39 million people
Yes, it is like some of those cities are I mean
They cram a lot of people in very small small areas.
Yeah, that's wild.
Okay, so so you come here and that's all you know, the kids only know what they know.
I mean, so shit like I hate to be crass, but kids who are beaten from a young age think
it's normal kids were molested from a young age.
It's normal kids were molested from a young age. It's normal
Fucking being born being brought being Korean in a white household is nothing like it's just you only know what you know
Like you can't can't know anything else. You just think it's yeah. Okay, and
and so so You were you played sports as a as a kid and you had two brothers
So I'm assuming you there was a lot of roughh housing and a lot of playing and a lot of physicality. Yeah I would consider
myself like a tomboy like growing up even elementary school like I played
soccer with the boys instead of playing with dolls with the girls like it was
just what I did I played as many sports as I could, um, through middle school, high school, tennis, basketball,
soccer, softball, and then, uh, ran track in college.
Okay.
Tennis that's Asian.
When we go to, uh, tennis tournaments, uh, my kids are the only Jews.
It's just them and Asian kids.
So that's that that's Asian.
They should get that.
Oh yeah.
I picked up, um, I picked up golf my senior year of college, actually.
That's actually pretty popular in Asian countries as well.
Did you like golf?
I love golf, yeah.
It seems so polar to CrossFit,
polar opposite to CrossFit
in terms of its physicality and demands.
I think that's probably why people like it.
I feel like golf is one of those sports you could play for the rest of your life.
Because just like CrossFit, like you never, you can always get better.
Look, Trump can play golf and Biden can play golf. Yeah.
Yeah. There's, I just saw something. There's a woman, a very old woman that,
I don't remember what her age is
But she's like crushing this like Masters League in golf
What if I what if I google old woman golfer long time? Oh, yeah. Oh shit. There's tons of old women golfers
Wow
In soccer in soccer's the great sport soccer as we know tons of running tons of great crossfitters come from soccer
The add up to if you got a big engine then you adapt quickly to crossfit
The soccer usually has a lot of foot dexterity
Coordination, I mean those guys are fucking animals people always talk about gymnastics and wrestling as being like the you know
The best sport to come from from CrossFit
But I think like stuff like water polo and soccer just crazy overlooked and in Miko
Salo proved that quickly right super high level professional soccer player comes over and
Quickly dominates so so you had a big engine I
Would say Quickly dominates. So so you had a big engine I would say
in CrossFit
I I don't know I was very I would say average but yeah like the longer workouts would probably be better for me and
Then and then you and then you go to school and I and I like you're thinking you want to be rich rich is fun
Money's awesome. Let's you do a lot of fun stuff
You could buy avocados without looking at the price and you could
doesn't matter which pump you use at the gas station just pump away and
That makes it and then 2008 you
Start working with a financial company and that's a rough time to start with a financial company, right?
2008 was a fucking train wreck as I recall
Yeah, I would say I the reason I wanted to be rich was because I grew up with not a lot of money
So it wasn't necessarily I wanted this lavish lifestyle. I just didn't want to be poor
So I think when you grow up with not a lot of money and I wouldn't say we were poor by any means
But you know, I was working when I was 11 years old
Like I was doing my own laundry and I was doing any job I could possibly have
because my parents really couldn't pay for anything. So if I wanted something, I had
to work for it. So I think I kind of grew up with this work ethic that, you know, if
I want to be self-sufficient financially, like what's the most efficient way to do
that? And it was through business, right? Like I think there's a lot of people in business,
very intelligent, smart people in business that could probably be doctors and lawyers and politicians, but they choose not to because they realize that that lifestyle might be more difficult than just using their brain power to build a business or build a company and make a lot of money. If you can build that, you could do anything you want later in life if you can retire at the age of 30 or 40.
That wasn't necessarily my plan and it didn't turn out that way by any means.
Yeah, 2008 was a horrible time to try to get into a financial firm.
I had some jobs lined up before I graduated and they all fell through.
Wall Street was crushed. There was a few companies in New York I was looking at and they just didn't have job opportunities.
So it was kind of hard to find a job.
And I got honestly really lucky.
I don't know how I found something that was not too far away from my house.
And it wasn't necessarily exactly what I wanted to do, but it didn't really matter.
I think any entry-level job at a good company is a solid job.
And now I think that company is doing very, is still doing very well.
Like the owner is I think the richest man in Pennsylvania.
Oh, wow.
Yeah.
It was, it was, uh, that company was built, the guy who founded it,
I think he was just like a gambler. Like he was
super smart, like potentially on the spectrum smart, and did a lot of horse, horse betting,
right? Betting on horses. And he's very good at financial models, like played a lot of poker, those types of things, kind of used that money and used those types of concepts to learn how to trade on the, like on the
Philex. So he kind of looked at, okay, I could go buy a seat on the NASDAQ or the New York
Stock Exchange in New York and pay a crap ton of money to set up a company in New York or I could just buy a seat on the PhilEx in Philadelphia, but then placed his business
across the street of the county line of Philadelphia and Delaware County so he could pay less
taxes.
So like our company was like basically in Philadelphia, but on the other side of the
road.
Did you have proximity to him?
Did you work for him?
I mean, he was the CEO. I didn't really talk to him.
He was a very chill guy, probably the most chill financial firm you ever go in.
We could wear sneakers and jeans and polo shirts.
So he sat on the trading floor with everybody else, but I never really talked to him.
So you go there in 2008. How much older are your brothers? with everybody else, but I never really talked to him.
So you go there in 2008. How much older are your brothers?
About three, I think it's like three years
and then another two or three years.
My oldest brother is actually special needs.
So he's in his 40s now.
I don't interact with him as much.
And then the brother that I'm closer to,
yeah, I think he's about three years older than me.
And when you say special needs,
can you tell me what exactly?
Yeah, he was born very premature.
I forget how, maybe three months or something like that.
So he was a preemie, very small baby.
And I just think had a lot of health complications.
So he had a preemie, very small baby. And I just think had a lot of health complications. So he has some stuff, he had some stuff physically
with like walking that he needed occupational therapy for
and just developmentally, he went through high school
but had to have like some special needs support.
But functional enough, like where he lives on his own,
he works in a grocery store, like he's, but needs, like doesn't drive a car, needs some other assistance.
Because that's challenging living at home as another child with a special needs child
in the house.
Yeah.
I mean, I guess again, it's all, you know, yeah.
Yeah. Yeah, I mean it was I
Didn't really see it that way
Probably because it's not like it's very different than if he had Down syndrome or something right that needs a lot more support I would say it's like a social disability like if you had a conversation with him you you would know there's something off
Okay Yeah, and at 11 years old you remember what your first job was Like if you had a conversation with him, you would know there's something off. Uh-huh. Okay.
Yeah.
And at 11 years old, do you remember what your first job was?
I babysat.
I babysat, which like looking back on them, I'm like, I can't believe parents would ask
11 year old to babysit their children.
But just like my neighbors, and then where I lived you had to get
working papers to work if you were I believe under 16 years old and I so I
think at 14 I started working for like Rita's water ice or something or in
like a restaurant yeah and were you a good babysitter I think so yeah I guess
that was pretty cell phone so it's not like you were sitting around on your cell
phone the whole time.
No.
Yeah.
Pre-cell phones.
That was a great time.
So at 11, babysitting, so you could make money, so you could get things for yourself.
And then at 14, you got like a legit job.
Yeah.
I usually had like two or three jobs.
And you were going to school?
Yeah.
And were you a good student? Pretty good. Yeah, like a 4.0 student?
I think it was like a 3.9. Wow. And were you hard on yourself for not being a 4.0 student? No. I
don't know. It's like I want my grades good enough so I can go to a college that I want but I don't really care about the numbers.
Sevan, can you ask this girl, you mean Perrin, how Alexis Raptis smells? We'll get to that. I want to be gentle, slow. I want to work my way to that.
That's on the top of my list though. Thanks for pointing that out, reminding me how did Alexis smell? Okay, good. Got that. You can't, oh, she just said
you can't smell her when Travis is in the room because his body odor is so strong. Okay.
And then, so 2008 to 2000, what did you say? 14, you had the job in that financial company?
2013.
2013. But then in 2000, was it 2010 or 11? When did you see the CrossFit gym?
2010.
2010. And were you, so tell me about that. You drive by it every day and you see it?
I just searched online. I wanted to find something that was within my commute.
So either close to my house or close to work and this was like right by work.
And did you just type in gym? Had you even heard of CrossFit at that point?
I didn't know much about it. One of my roommates in college who was on the track team, she had mentioned something about CrossFit.
She was doing some type of kettlebell training. So I just looked it up and yeah I just looked for a few gyms that I thought
looked reasonable. I didn't really know what to look for at that time. And this place was like
stone's throw away. So did you take loans to go to college?
Yeah but I got a fair amount of scholarships and financial aid.
So I chose my college based on the like paying the least amount of money.
I didn't really go to the school I wanted to go to, but I didn't want that.
Smart.
And are they all paid off?
Yeah, I think I paid them off in like a year and a half.
Oh, dang.
Good job.
Well, if you didn't don't worry.
They're going to make the rich people in this country
pay for everyone's.
That was also a long, it's a long time ago.
I don't know what the cost of college is now.
It's probably absolutely insane.
I mean, it was insane back then, but.
So you go in there and do you remember your first,
what was the name of the gym?
CrossFit 215.
It's now called, it still exists.
It's now called Requisite Fitness. Oh, and it's not a CrossFit 215, it's now called, it still exists, it's now called Requisite Fitness.
Oh, and it's not a CrossFit Gym anymore.
I don't recall if he, if he unaffiliated.
I wonder if I can, uh, Requisite, who knows if I even know how to spell that.
Yeah, it's...
Requisite Fitness.
Yeah. No, I don know how to spell that. Yeah, it's... Requisite Fitness. Yeah.
No, I don't think it is anymore.
I don't think it is either.
Yeah, I don't see the word CrossFit on there anywhere.
Well, good on them for still being around.
That's a long time.
Yeah, they've been around for a really long time.
So you...
Oh, Requisite Fitness is the home of CrossFit 215.
Oh, okay.
All right.
So maybe... Maybe they are. Yeah.
Here you can find season coaches that hold CF level one certifications as well as
advanced certificates from both CrossFit and OPEC schools. Okay, so you go in there and you take your first class.
Do you remember your first workout, Perrin? Yes, I do. It was Helen. Oh, wow. Okay.
And Helen's the one with
pull-ups running and kettlebell like five rounds or something or four rounds or three rounds or something.
And you do it, and could you do a pull-up at the time?
No.
Not even, not one pull-up?
No.
And today, what is, what's your all-time best for max pull-ups I haven't tested
anything like that for a while I right now probably would not be that good I
could maybe do 30 but what you do so now not not not trained you could do 30 just
being just a regular crossfitter I think so 30 to 35 maybe yeah look at you beast
I eat and beaver good Good morning. Hi. Good morning
It's weird I never think those names are weird until I have a guest like you on I'm like
I just funny how much is just normal until you have a guest on
And it's like when you hide it's it's like you don't notice your underwear on the couch until someone comes over then you're like, ooh
Your underwear. Why would you put your underwear on the couch? I don't, but I just,
that fast first example I could think of.
I wish you would have let that slide, Karen.
Okay, so then you do that,
and do you just fall in love with it right away?
And if so, how come?
Yeah, definitely the, what did I say?
Drink the Kool-Aid, that's the expression in CrossFit.
Yeah, I think it just checked all the boxes.
It was challenging.
That was probably the biggest thing.
Like I could not move for like a week after that workout.
And I was doing banded pull-ups and like kettlebell swings
with maybe 20 pounds.
But I was good at running because I had been running like 5Ks and half marathons after college
because I didn't really know what else to do.
So the running part I was pretty decent at.
So I was like, oh, well, I have a lot of work to do, but this is actually kind of fun.
And I also think it was the context.
It was only a few people in the class, but they were all very good. Like
they were fire breathers and they were very competitive. So, so I was intimidated by that,
but also a little bit inspired that like, wow, these people are super strong. They're
really good at this. They are kind of serious about it. Um, so yeah, immediately I was like, I want to do this. And I started taking classes regularly.
And then I think pretty fairly early on, I was wanting to get competitive in some aspect.
So I think my first goal was to try to make it to regionals.
Actually I did the Open in 2011, which is the
first time the open started the first year the open started, but
I couldn't I didn't have a muscle up. So I couldn't do all
the workouts. So I didn't sign up for it. And then 2012.
Actually, I've done every single open since 2012. I've done every
single open ever. Wow. But yeah, 2012, I was, I would qualify for a team for regionals.
I think I got that like the last spot.
And so that was kind of the start of like, Oh, maybe this competitive thing could work
out.
And it's also, that was some motivation to leave my job so that I could train more.
Yeah. To compete. Yeah. job so that I could train more. Um, yeah.
To compete.
Yeah.
Um, with that first class you went to, um, with, uh, with all the good people when you did Helen, were they boys or girls in the class?
It was both.
Oh, like a good mixture.
Mm hmm.
You weren't like, man, this is all girls or this is all boys.
There's a good mixture.
No.
And I think the two girls were
Very competitive rugby players. So like even just their physique like you could tell they were super strong
I was like, I kind of want to look like that. I kind of want to be like that. Yeah
Look formidable
Yeah, yeah now I'm gonna put a theory theory out here I've never put out here before.
I'm going to judge you for being an Asian woman.
If this was a man, he would say when he fell into CrossFit, he started consuming all the
videos.
I'm going to guess you, being a woman and Asian, you started reading all the journal
articles.
Am I right?
I definitely did both. Oh damn. I did both. I would actually
print out. Oh okay okay. Points to the box. Alright okay here we go. Go ahead. Yeah I
printed out the journal articles and I would like three hole punch them and put them in
a binder and I would read them. Social discernment put them in a binder. And I would read them.
Social discernment and stereotypes.
Ding, ding, ding.
Savvy point.
Yeah.
I remember.
Yeah.
I got so into it.
There was like a lot of people wrote a lot of athletes wrote blog or I shouldn't
say a lot, some athletes wrote personal blogs back then.
I remember a lot.
I remember that.
Yeah.
I remember that was a blog spot and all that.
So I remember like at work anything to distract me from actually working. I would read Blair
Morrison's blog. I think Austin Maliolo had one. Yeah. And then I would play fantasy football and
poker. so you so
But regardless of how you did it because you liked it so much
You just started consuming everything you could about it you you immediately were in you were one of those people
And did you go to the website every day at 5 p.m. To see the workout too
Would you be refreshing CrossFit calm to see the workout of the day?
You remember that?
I'm not sure I might have. I definitely looked at the website
a lot. I like I would say that first year I really paid attention a lot of the
CrossFit.com stuff and then when I got into coaching I started looking other
places for more information and just like learning, strength and conditioning. So, um, uh, OPEC now, O P T at the time.
That's when I started to get into there.
They had like a coaching course, uh, education.
I forget when I started taking that maybe 2013.
For your level one.
No, no, I did my level one. And
then maybe the Olympic weightlifting level one. I went up to Connecticut. I did a strongman
course with Rob Orlando, which was not a CrossFit course at the time. Yeah, I mean, I did anything
and everything I possibly could. I think that was at hybrid athletics.
I remember seeing like Dave Lipson and Camille there.
I did some seminars with Rudy Nielsen from Outlaw Way.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Wow.
Damn, you've been around forever.
So you hit all the big ones.
Those are all the big ones.
Rob Orlando is big then, Mike Bergener Rudy, OPEX. So you dove in
and those weren't cheap. So you're paying your you were dedicated, you were putting
up your hard earned cash, paying for hotels, flights and running around the United States
of America getting as much knowledge as you could.
Yes, absolutely. Yeah, you got to. If you want value, you got to pay for it. You know,
I think that everyone that we work with at TTT,
and that was one thing that kind of attracted me to Max was,
he's always hired specialists and coaches to learn from.
Like you could figure it out on your own.
I'm sure if you wanted to, you could watch a million videos,
but there's nothing like going in person
and learning from somebody and having a conversation with them and trying
things out for yourself. So I've always been a big proponent of investing in education, which is also why I think, like
here, we create our, we are creating our own courses now. And that's been an awesome thing to be a part of in some capacity, because I think educating future coaches on how to be really great coaches is, is going
to, is going to be what supports kind of the future generations. I think more coaches, even just regular Jim
CrossFit coaches, want to learn more about what, you know, how they can be better or how they can leverage
themselves to maybe make more money instead of just coaching group
classes. And I think that's an important evolution.
How long were you doing CrossFit before you took your Level 1?
I took my Level 1, probably, I probably got it within a year.
So right away. And how long before you started coaching?
Mm-hmm and how long before you started coaching I
Started CrossFit in like
The mid 2010 and I think I was I was coaching in 2011 at 215
Yeah And so you go get your level on and do you do you walk up to the owners of the gym and are like hey?
I want to coach or is just one day a coach is not there. And you're like, I got this.
No, I asked and they gave, they said, sure, go ahead.
I had to do some shadowing, which I think was good.
Like I don't think it should be just, Oh, here's my level one, like go coach.
And I was, I was pretty shit at it to begin with.
I remember I had to do, teach some mock classes
and I was stumbling over my words.
I was talking too fast.
So it took me a period of time to feel fairly comfortable
with what I was doing.
And then when you went to OPEX,
what was your impression of that?
The OPT stuff, was it a brain candy?
Did you love it when you
went over there yeah I mean I think it was a bit intimidating at the time
because kind of put some of those people on a pedestal because they're super
smart they're intimidating and Max was over there right and he was he was played
a huge part in the development of that right yeah so Max and I crossed paths
for a very very short period of time, which I joke about
this story because it's the first time we met, but he has no recollection of it and
I wouldn't expect him to, but he was on his way out, which I didn't know, but I had gone
out to Scottsdale to do a course and I was able to book like a one-on-one session with
him. They had a requirement of learning how to
make S-S-scores where you basically like, it's like body fat with calipers. So you have to sweep certain sites and
you measure it with a caliper. And in order to do that, you kind of, you kind of want to have a feel for people's
bodies. And I didn't want to do that on somebody for the first time. So I did it on him.
So like my first interaction with him was like, he's like, hi, I'm Max and takes
a shirt off and I am squeezing his body fat.
Oh, wow.
Wow.
Yeah.
And he doesn't even remember it.
No, I don't.
I don't want to know how he would.
I wonder how many people Max has been calipered by
Oh That's great. Okay, and I hope there was someone else in the room. Was there someone else in the room? I
Don't remember probably very inappropriate Mac very inappropriate. You never get away with that in
2024 okay, so you go there and you get your certificate from that from OPEX also, to be an OPEX trainer?
Yeah, you had to do the courses like separately. So there was a program design course, an assessment course,
business systems, nutrition and life coaching. So you would, sometimes they would have two in one weekend
or over a course of a few days and then sometimes you had to sign up for them individually. But yeah, I took all their courses, a few of them, a few, uh, multiple times actually.
Um, and then you had to do a practical, like you had to write programs for
different types of clients and kind of prove that you knew what you're doing.
And you were graded on that.
And then you would receive your certificate.
And then, um, and you're doing all that while you're at 215?
Yeah.
Do they pay for any of that or do you pay for that? That's all out of pocket.
I think I paid for it, but the owner of the gym
helped me with some other things. Like he, I hired a coach
in 2012 to try to qualify for regionals in 2013 and he I think paid he paid for that for a period of time, so
He was yeah, he was aware that it's
The coach life is not easy. You know, you don't make a lot of money
But and he knew I wanted to to try to pursue kind of athletic goals. So he's
supportive.
And then so so you have all that and where do you go from there from 215? What happens
next? What's the next evolution in parents? How do you say your last name? Bear?
Yeah, yeah.
Bear, bear, bear.
Okay.
So I there was a period of time where I had another job offer come through, uh,
with Wattify, uh, they were trying to open up a physical gym location, New Jersey.
So I met with them.
Um, but I, it just was like too far away.
It was a little bit too, it'd be too difficult, but I didn't take that job.
But I took a different job with another gym in Center City, Philadelphia, CrossFit Center
City, which does not exist anymore. It's like about a block away from City Hall in a basement.
And so I switched to that gym, which was kind of tough, you know, leaving my previous gym,
but I ended up coming back to my previous gym. But
I was attracted to that place because the owner had set up a model that I've not seen anywhere else, especially at
that time. This was 2014. She had a full-time coaching staff. So the staff was salaried. They had, they had like full coaching shifts. There were two coaches on every class. She had like over 300
members. And she was very, very supportive of helping develop the coaches. So we would go on trips, take
educational trips up to like do an air Cressy course in Massachusetts together and stay in Airbnb and, or she would bring other specialists in our gym and pay for
that so that we could become more educated. So it was like, I was a part of a coaching staff. And so that was a
unique opportunity that I just wanted to be a part of because the other gym I was at, it was just kind of me and
the owner and some part-time coaches, and I felt like I wasn't able to grow. So I made
that shift. And that's kind of when I started coaching more individuals and competitive athletes. I had a group of
people who wanted to try to make it to regionals. And so I would coach them four nights a week, starting at 7.30, 8 p.m. until whenever we're done, 10, 10.30 p.m.
for, for like three years, just to, you know, try to improve their abilities. And that's kind of where I would say I
gained a lot of my experience that's really helped me to this day.
That's really helped me to this day. So, um, what year was that?
That was 2014 to, I forget what, 2014 to maybe 2017, 2018.
Hey, so at that point you're kind of just living the mad scientist life.
You're waking up in the morning.
And it's just being, you, you, you're pairing the coach, um, eat where you can, work out where you can, and just fiddle with athletes,
tinker with athletes, try to make, optimize human performance.
Yeah, I was training a lot too. I mean, I qualified for regionals in 2013 as an individual, then qualified on a team in
2014, and then transitioned to weightlifting for a few years and then came back to regionals in 2018 on a team in 2014 and then transitioned to weightlifting for a few years and then
came back to regionals in 2018 on a team.
So there was still that.
Did you get the impression that your athletes liked you?
I hope so.
But you didn't, you, you weren't like, man, these people really like me, man.
I'm really killing it
No, I I mean I
think you I think building strong relationships with athletes and your clients is
vital to the coaching relationship, but you have to be careful because
If you get too close to people you can kind of blur relationships and friendships. And I've done that. I've certainly made mistakes in that department before. And now I think because I'm older, there's a natural, more of a natural
separation because I have a bigger age gap. But some of the athletes I was coaching, they were also my friends. So
navigating those lines sometimes can be a bit tricky. But I do, you know, I think that people like me, but I also
think people that, they respected me. Like I was, I wore my coaching hat most of the time, but, you know, also I'm a
person too. And like you said, kind of in the beginning, I think one of the things that can be hard for me sometimes is I can be so empathetic
that and I just want to help people that you know it doesn't allow the person to be independent and
kind of work through things themselves. So kind of trying to find that balance has always been
something that's been challenging but I also think it helps build a relationship and understanding, you know,
when people need support, like you have to be there for them as a person first.
My kids have been doing a bunch of different activities since they've been, you know, four, and my oldest is now
nine. So I've seen these relationships that they have with they've had with coaches a bunch of coaches now for five years And it's kind of crazy
To watch their relationships even the coaches who are the most serious as a heart attack like the tennis coach. I've seen him like
The line got blurred like sometimes I seem joking around with my kid and I can tell it's out of character for him and that
I can tell that he has these rules but he's been with my kid since my kids four
couldn't even make sentences and now they're like they've been together you
know five hours a week for fucking five years religiously and it's it's it's a
trip the boundaries is in and especially like the jujitsu instructors also they
got a handful of them they're really close with and also also there, there's a ton of physicality, right?
So you're wrestling with the kid who's four and now he's nine.
And it's like, you have to be serious with them, but they're also just kids, but
they're also, you know, they're, they're also now like cross that boundary into
friends. It's a trip I could only, uh, imagine.
And you're working with athletes who when they're at their peak performance are
probably the most vulnerable
For sure. Yeah peak performance and then I think the hardest times is when they're facing adversity
So they're either have an injury or something's going on in their life
It's the same reaction where it's very emotional
And it's difficult to kind of discern the emotion from the logic
So I think it is...
And you're so close to it, you're getting mixed up in it too.
I mean, that's the hard part, right?
I don't really know if there's a right or wrong answer of how you handle that.
But I do think...
You ever cried at a competition?
Like when your athletes cry?
Like some athletes come up and they're crying, you're like,
oh shit, my tear ducts are turning on now too.
For sure. Yeah, absolutely.
Is that okay?
It's 100% okay. Yeah.
I think crying is completely normal.
I think it's just a release of emotion.
Everybody has their ways of expressing emotion.
Some people cry, some people get angry, you know, some people grunt or yell.
I wasn't suggesting that crying is not okay. But...
Is it okay for me to cry? You mean?
Yeah, like if my wife's mad about something, right? Or my kids are mad about something, I try to just hold the space.
I try to just start breathing and hold the space and let them work through. I try not to react to their anger so that you know what I mean? So you
ever been in a fight with someone and then you just hold any space and they work through their
whole shit and they come out of it and then next thing they know they're like, that was stupid.
I'm sorry. You're like, oh, that was easy. But it's hard, right? Because part of you wants to be
like, fuck you. I didn't do that. You know what I mean? So I'm just wondering like if if if you know, one of your
athletes who's one of your female athletes now? Bethany Flores. And who's one of your
male athletes? I don't have a games individual I I will be coaching Trav. I will have Travis
Mayer's coaching pass at the games this year.. So Travis comes off crying.
You ever seen Travis cry? No. No.
I can't even picture it.
Yeah, he can't cry.
And not because he's a boy or nothing stupid like that.
He just can't, he's got too, like,
when you have that many kids, you just can't cry anymore.
You're just like, I can't do it.
You just can't do it.
If you do it, like, anytime I cry now,
I go behind closed doors. You know what I mean? Or it's like I'm in a movie with them and
they're laughing at me. Like some Disney movie and I'm crying. They're like, okay, so Bethany
comes off the floor and she's crying and you don't even, all of a sudden you're just one
person, right? Like the emotion, her emotion just floods over you. It's okay for you to
cry too? I mean, I think. It's like for you to cry too.
I mean, I think it's like that, right? She's a powerhouse. She comes off the floor. She looks like she's otherworldly. And
then you just feel as she comes close to you just feel the
emotion pour off onto you too, right? It's like a bubble of
emotion, everyone like she just walks by people who don't who
have their back to her and they start crying.
I think it depends on the context. If they're crying
because they're sad or upset, or if they're crying because they're happy.
I think I respond, I will cry if it's happy. Like it's like we're celebrating something like, yeah, we just fucking did something awesome.
You know, you just showed that you were trying to prove something to yourself and you accomplished that and it's been a very long road to get there. Like, that's awesome. But if she made
mistake in something and is upset, I don't, I probably wouldn't respond by crying. I would respond with empathy
or like, you know, like, let's try to reframe this and move on. So a bit more stoic in that sense.
Right. You seem very stoic back there when I see you. Very stoic. You seem the most
stoic of all the coaches that I see back there. You're very calm still. Would you say I have a
resting bitch face? Not at all. I think that's true. Really? No, no, not at all. That's an improvement then.
Someone in here said, wow, she's really cute. I think I find I find you is very cute. I think yeah
Yeah, you have good skin and you look young you look you look ageless and timeless, but but you look very stoic
You're back there
Do you ever think about what well you podcast so you probably see yourself on video a lot
Like do you ever think about how you look?
Because I have no idea what I look like
on camera or to other people, right? We only see each other in ourselves in the mirror,
or if we're doing something like this. So I have no idea. But I will say, I think in years past,
I don't know if I'd call it criticism but I certainly heard a lot of
things said about I look so serious or intimidating so a little intimidating
well it's because because we're reading Pete I'm always reading people so I
don't watch myself I'm just watching so like yesterday had Maddie stirred on and
I started talking to her about
her the first time like that if there were sparks between her and Jay crouch and what it was like, like working out barely
close with him. And I'm just reading her face the whole time
seeing like how far I can push it. You know what I mean? Yeah.
So I'm just constantly looking but you don't you don't give off
anything.
Oh, that's great. That's why I want it.
Yeah, I mean, you don't have any wrinkles or nothing. You know what I mean? Like you like there's I just see you and I'm like,
Fuck do I can I even say her name? Right? Am I gonna fuck her name up?
I'm so glad to have you on the show to get over this hump people mess up your name all the time
Well, my i'm used to it, right? I'm used to it. I'm totally comfortable with whatever anyone calls me
But I see I had trouble remembering your name, parent.
And so like a word name, I was close classic.
I wanted to talk to you. But and usually I'm very like, I don't care.
I usually don't care. But for some reason I didn't want I didn't like, I don't care
if someone thinks I disrespected him or not.
But like I'm not I know what I'm doing.
But for you for some reason, I didn't want to.
All those like insecurities came back to me.
You know what I mean?
Is, is have you had that feeling with anybody else?
Yeah, a lot.
I mean, look, even Bethany, I didn't talk to her at the games too, because she's I have
a very difficult time reading her or even even to you to me.
I used to only when before when it was okay that that I talked to her I still wouldn't talk to
her I would just talk to Shane like there's just some people I just cannot
read and so I just if I can't read you at all and there it's not conscious
reading but like as a beam back there I'm looking for signals right I'm
looking for you know Brandon Luck it's like a perfect example.
Like he'll definitely give you the signal that it's okay to approach him. You know what
I mean? Whereas with some people, um, some people there's just no signal that I can read.
And so I'll just stay away. You know what I mean?
Yeah. It's an interesting time when you're approaching them if it's in a competition because I do
very unique things.
For sure.
Especially when that's your whole job to just approach people at this fucking crazy
time, right?
Yeah.
I mean, they probably see you out of the corner of their eyes too.
And if that's something that would stress them out, you know, they might give off body
language, like, don't talk to me. Right. The thing is, to go into this subject a little deeper, the thing is, is I don't know if this is true, but this is the story I tell myself.
They might not want to talk now, but in two years or in six months or in five years, they'll be so happy that they did because there'll be a record of it.
Like, I always feel like probably like I'll anytime I've ever gone back, I usually don't watch any of the behind the scenes or any of that.
But occasionally something will pop up or I'll see something and I'll be like, wow, I'm never like that was stupid.
I'm like, fuck, that was amazing.
I'm like so much better than I thought.
And those people are so much cooler than I remember them.
Like all that shit always seems to age so well to me.
And so I kind of feel bad for people
who don't wanna play back there or make that sacrifice
because they won't, I don't think they'll regret,
in five years, I think they'll be like,
oh my God, I'm so glad I did that.
That's, I don't know if that's true, but that's what I that's my story. I
Also feel like there might be people who in the moment they don't want to talk to you
But they also they also want you to ask like they actually do want you to approach them because they want to be recognized
Yeah, they put in all this fucking hard work
What when you say like whether or not you did a good job?
What does that mean? Like you ask them the right question or approach them at the right time?
Yeah, and I want people to be I want to give people
I
Feel I think the people that I work with I think the athletes are so fucking amazing
Like as people like I just like them all so much as people even the ones I don't like I really admire and like them like I read I and I
Enjoy glorifying them. And so if I feel like I
I enjoy glorifying them. And so if I feel like I,
and whenever I see the behind the scenes,
I'm like, even the people who are like doing poorly,
I think that they come across amazing.
I just think, oh man, that person really is so cool.
You know what I mean?
When I go back and see like 99% of the time,
like man, that person's awesome.
And I did a good job,
or they did a good job representing themselves.
And so that's, that's, that's, that's all I want to do. I want, I want there to be,
that's how I feel about the podcast, too. I want people to come on here, and then more people to like them.
Yeah, because you're actually getting to know them as a person and not just what you think,
who you think they are. Right, right.
Yeah.
I had an idea after semifinals this year,
I was thinking about all the athletes
that are in the first heat.
So they're like the lowest ranked athletes.
Like as the weekend goes on,
you know, obviously if you're in the first heat
after a few events, it's like, okay,
you're not the first heat after a few events, it's like, okay, you're not
doing as well.
But all of those athletes, whether they be rookies or maybe even veterans who were surprised
they qualified or maybe a future up and coming champion, I actually feel like they have the
most interesting stories because usually what it takes to get there either for the first time or come back and qualify.
I don't wanna say it's more
because the athletes of the highest level
are working extremely hard
and their capacity is probably greater.
But a lot of the lower level athletes
are sacrificing quite a lot to get to that stage.
And now, especially this year with us cutting how many athletes qualified, it was even harder
to get there.
But they're like never highlighted, right?
Sometimes they're not even broadcasted.
But I find them very interesting.
I would be curious what's going through their head knowing that like they can kind
of do like run their own race because they don't have cameras in their face.
Like they know they're not getting the attention that the other athletes are getting.
And so I don't know.
I just found it interesting.
I thought about it.
It would be an interesting project.
I don't think anyone would ever do it because I don't really know who would watch it.
But I take offense to that. Um, I
Um, I like I like although I like all the weirdos I
Know you do. I know you do I'm saying like I'm level
I mean how Chris Shelby Neal's black but she's red-haired blue eyes Colton Merton works on a fucking pig farm and he's fucking
Four-foot nothing. I love the weirdos a page. Samenz is so fucking like
Complex and wound tight and yet also free and like I like these
These
It sucks that um, Daniel Brandon went into the stratosphere because she's so fucking complex and it's so far I love the
The the weirdos. But I also can't even believe that...
But I also like scratching the surface of these like people like Alexis
Raptis who are fucking like beauty queens and the girl next door and just
so fucking normal but inside it's just a fucking... there's a Godzilla in there. You
know what I mean? I don't know. I think that there's room...
I don't know. I know what you're saying though. Like I'll be at the West Coast Classic and there'll
be fucking 40 people on one person. Like Tudor Magda, like what a fucking trippy cat. How cool
would it be to fucking get into his head for a minute? What a fucking trip Yeah, I mean I'm talking about literally the lowest ranked at semi-finals or the lowest ranked athletes of the games
They're gonna get cut probably after two days. Yeah, like if I spoke Korean it would be crazy to do Dwan Young
Find out yeah, it's some crazy shit, right? Yeah, I agree. Yeah, you're right. You're right
this year, um, Yeah, I agree. Yeah, you're right. You're right.
This year.
Yeah.
I wonder I wonder and it's kind of easy to know who they are the bottom tenor are you just kind of know right?
Typically, I mean, yeah.
So you'll so when you go to the games this year,
will you be just glued to Bethany Flores?
Your eyeballs will be glued on her the whole time.
So I'm not gonna have Bethany's coaches pass.
Her husband's gonna have her coaches pass.
And I'm not really sure how they will navigate the rules
with coaches this year.
The packets that we've received seems like
it's going to be pretty strict, but because it's in one venue, maybe it will be easier. So my primary responsibility is
actually going to be for Travis. And then assuming that I can get in the Orem area for Bethany, I'm going to do that as much as I possibly can. But it's Bethany's always had Randy, her husband as her coach in competition.
He's a competent trainer himself, right?
Very, very competent.
And he, he sees her train.
He spends the most time with her.
She is very calm and reassured by his presence and it, it absolutely makes the most sense. I think what's worked best is when we can
kind of both be there, and we, we communicate a lot. But it'll just kind of depend what the rules are. So I'm hoping to
be, like you said, glued next to her as well. But I also have responsibility to Travis as well.
have responsibility to Travis as well.
Is there anyone else there for Travis too?
Max Max will definitely be there.
Yeah.
But, um, Max is also coaching, uh, Linda Kaisman and she's a rookie this year.
Oh yeah. Like she's a good example.
No one knows who she is.
Everyone in the Netherlands knows who she is.
A lot of people in Europe knows who she is.
Yeah.
But maybe not, but not here.
Yes.
Does she speak English? She does. Okay. Yeah. But maybe not, but not here. Yes. Does she speak English?
She does.
Okay.
Good.
All right.
Okay.
Um, and, and, and what about, uh, Ms.
Raptors, Raptors will have Adam called her Raptors.
Alexis will have Adam.
That's right.
Yeah.
Okay.
Well, and that must be kind of fun to have all of you guys down there.
You, but by fun, by you guys, I mean, um, you, Adam and Max. So to have the, all three of you be down there.
Yeah, competitions are so much more fun when we have a group of people. Like it just takes,
I think it takes the pressure off because we can,
we almost can rely on each other. Like it's not just, it's your sole responsibility to take care of this one person and you're completely focused on them.
You know, all of our athletes can utilize any of our coaches. And we also can spend time with each other outside of the competition as well. So it's so much more enjoyable. Like West Coast classic was probably one of the most fun experiences I had
coaching in a while, like usually I leave those competitions very, very, very drained.
Um, but I roomed with Mike Goldrick and, uh, Kyle Ruth was out there and a few of
our other coaches and we would drop into gyms, train together, um, go out to dinner
afterwards, like talk, talk about whatever, like it's just so afterwards, like talk about whatever.
Like it's just so much, so much more fun.
Is Mike McGoldrick, is he, did I say his name right?
McGoldrick.
McGoldrick.
Is he a coach at the same gym you're at?
Oh yeah.
Yeah, he's a coach.
He's there at that gym and you're in Georgia? Yeah, he's a coach. He he's there at that gym in urine, Georgia. Yeah
That's crazy
He he I mean he has a crazy recognizable face to me. What's the other guy's name?
That's on the pot training think tank powder castle. Is it Brendan?
Brannon Brannon god, no wonder I can't I'm always why I can't remember his name. Not because it's fucked up name. Brannon.
No, who's the new? You know any other Brannons?
Yes, just like maybe one.
Brannon Perrin. I won't get you too confused.
We have another coach that has a weird name that people always mispronounce.
It's Rhyne. R-Y-N-E.
Does he have any games athletes?
No.
Okay, good. I won't try to remember his name.
This boyfriend of yours...
Oh, my fiance.
Oh, your fiance. What's his name?
Chris Kingeski.
Where did you get him at?
I met him at the gym.
Oh shit.
Look at him.
That's a lot.
He's got he's on a games team.
He is.
Yeah.
Was that how long have you guys been together?
I think seven...
Seven years?
Seven or eight years.
And you met him at Training Think Tank?
No, I met him in Philadelphia.
He was a client, actually.
Was that frowned upon?
That you harvested a client?
I don't think it was frowned upon.
I forget what Jim... I think it was when I was at center city.
So it was fine as long as you just kind of let the owner know
like, hey, we're dating because those things can go very well.
Usually I feel like they go very well.
I think most of my coworkers met their husbands or wives coaching at that gym.
Or it can go poorly sometimes, right? If it doesn't work out.
He's Polish? Is that a Polish name?
That's a Polish name, yeah. Italian and Polish.
Okay, so this is going to be my second. This one isn't sexist. This one's just a stereotype.
I'm guessing he was hitting on you
and you were oblivious to it
because you're an Asian girl.
No, he would tell you-
Please come on, the last time you said no too
and I was right.
You did the real one.
He would tell you the opposite.
He says that I'm the one who went after him.
He likes to describe our origin story as a top gun, I guess. It's one of his favorite movies.
Yeah, I'm one of my favorite too. I like him already.
Yeah, so that's kind of how it was.
He was playing volleyball and you saw him?
No, it's just working out.
So what do you think happened though? Do you think, am I even remotely right that
he was hitting on you and you didn't know it?
I don't know. I don't think that's right. He's very, I would say more on the shy side. So I think
we were just spending a lot of time together and I was coaching him.
We like took a trip down to Annapolis
to check some things out at the Naval Academy.
And yeah, we were just spending a lot of time together.
And I think he was kind of like,
I feel like something's going on.
But I don't think he was sure.
Cause it is a weird situation, right?
When it's your coach and you don't want to overstep boundaries.
He's very polite.
So it was not a scenario where he would be
hitting on me necessarily.
And coaching is a very intimate process.
For sure.
Yeah.
Jordan Vance, related to JD Vance.
Congratulations on your brother being nominated
Vice President.
The parent equals great dude.
Oh, Jordan.
No, not related to JD Vance.
Definitely not.
Come on.
There's a lot of famous people or famous adjacent people.
Heidi Krum, wrong, savvy men are the oblivious ones.
That's probably closer to the truth with our situation.
I'm very open-minded. My coaching is extremely intimate.
All right, Heidi. All right.
So in seven years is a milestone. Congratulations, by the way.
Thank you.
I think relationships are like I say
this on my show all the time. I think the crowning achievement of my life is my relationship
with my wife. I'm like so fucking proud of it. Yeah, it's a lot of work. Yeah. And it's
fun and it's like putting money in the bank. It just starts really paying off. It's like
every it just keeps paying off to have a rock in your life.
It's good. Yeah. Yeah. And I think everybody needs it.
Everyone needs a good healthy relationship. Yes. And and you're engaged. How long have you been
engaged? While. Yeah, everyone. That's like the number one question we get when you're getting married.
It just hasn't been a priority.
I don't, I we've engaged for over a year, year and a half.
But you're not stressed about it.
Like who cares?
Whatever.
No.
God, he must love you.
You sound like the perfect girl.
You should tell him that.
Yeah, that's perfect.
I mean, no one wants to be bugged about that shit.
My wife and I didn't get married until
we had a two-year-old and then she got pregnant with twins.
And then we went to the courthouse.
But I remember, I never thought we would get married,
but I remember being on a plane and there was turbulence
And I just remember having this thought that was so loud It was almost like I could hear it and it was like you idiot
You should have married her because I thought I was gonna die on the plane. I
Was like where the fuck did that come from? You got bigger fish to fry now
You're gonna need this plane to land and then I just remember thinking I better fucking marry her
And then we went to the courthouse
Yeah, and and the lady who married us was Chinese and she did the it was in Oakland and she did like
She did some of the
Some of the vows in Chinese it was kind of wild I liked it. That's cool
Yeah, even what you know, even if you get married in a courthouse, you think you would go in there and just sign papers and walk
Out it's not like that like they take you into a room and you still have to say all the shit to each other.
Nice.
I look like a homeless guy. We have photo. My mom took some photos with an iPhone.
I can look. It's fucking ridiculous.
So you're go- when do you go to the games?
I'm gonna leave on Monday.
Okay, me too. And the way you say that is you're going by yourself or you're going with Travis? You'll be honest.
No, I'm gonna drive by myself.
Oh, how far is that?
It's about 13 hours.
Perrin, are you a good driver?
Depends who you ask.
Alright.
Okay.
What kind of car do you drive? I could guess.
You probably think it's an Asian car.
I think it's a Subaru.
Oh, no, it's not a Subaru.
I drive a Mazda
CX-5. Oh, oh
Let me see this thing
It's nothing special. Actually, I think I'm gonna be driving. We have a truck. I think it would be driving
We have a Ford Maverick. Oh, man, your relationship really is serious. It's we
Yeah Your relationship really is serious. It's we Yeah Oh, that's a nice car the cx-5. Yeah, it's a nice car. It's a four-door. Yeah. Oh, yeah, that's a cool car
Yeah, you should take that that's perfect as
Opposed to what's the truck a Ford maverick? It's
Ford Maverick it's
Gen if we want to bring anything back it'll have a little bit more space like if you buy stuff from rogue there Oh, that's a nice car, too
Does he does does what's your fiance's name again?
Chris Chris does Chris have a preference of which car you drive like which one he thinks is safer for you. I
Chris, does Chris have a preference of which car you drive? Like which one he thinks is safer for you?
I don't think he has a preference. Oh, okay.
All right, I bet you he does. Ask him. I bet you he does.
Does he worry about you a lot?
Okay.
I don't think so.
No, he's not, no, okay.
And does he have a day job or is he a full-time athlete?
So he
Was an engineer. He was a marine engineer. He worked on ships
he went to school at a maritime school and
Got into that because it was something
Brother to California. Did he go to that school?
No, he went to SUNY Maritime in the Bronx, New York.
Okay, sorry. Okay, go on.
No, it's all right. I mean, well, usually the maritime schools are on the coasts, right?
So you probably have them in California and then there's a bunch in like Maine, New York,
I think, Maryland, Rhode Island. I'm not sure.
Um, so he started to try to get out of that profession a few years ago.
And so he's not doing it anymore.
And he actually works for training think tank now.
So we spent a lot of time together.
Wow.
Is he going to the games?
Yeah.
He's on a team.
Oh, that's right.
You said that and you're not going together.
Well, he is going to fly because it does like, he doesn't need to sit in a car for two days.
Um, I'm driving cause I've, I typically drive to the games.
Like I used to drive to Madison.
It's a bit more convenient if you want to bring things.
Um, and there's also, I don't know, I'm a bit cynical
about flying these days because of like all the delays and all that stuff. So I just want
to be able to get where I'm going and like know when I'm going to get there and not have
to like wait in the airport and stress about that. So it just makes sense for him to fly
there. He'll get there quicker, be with his team, and then I'll come and we'll have a car
and then we'll drive back.
I can fully relate.
I drove to, Greg invited me to Idaho
and I live 16 hours from there.
And he's like, hey, I'll fly you up.
I'm like, nope, I'll drive.
I'm dread, that's the one thing I'm dreading
about the games.
I do not wanna go to the airport. I don't wanna see any other human beings thing I'm dreading about the games. I do not want to go to the airport
I don't want to see any other human beings. I don't want to get in a plane
I don't want the door to blow off. I don't want to be late. I don't anyone touching my luggage
I don't want to look at the sea of fucking disgusting humanity
That is my colleagues and peers in the airport fucking stuffing their face with caramel popcorn. I just a fucking ass
I'm just an asshole.
Yeah, I'm jaded because I'm going to go to the CrossFit Games and it's going to be
15,000 of the most beautiful people congregating in one place on the planet.
That is true. Yeah.
All right. Well, I could keep you on forever. But I gotta take the kids to the skate park. I'm really glad to meet you.
You're, you're, you're God, man.
You, you're way cooler than I even thought.
Thanks.
Yeah, it was, uh, we could even be, we could even be friends.
I think I would love to be friends with you.
Awesome.
All right.
So you'll be less intimidated when you see me at the game.
Dude, I'm going to stick to you like glue. You're going to be like, oh fuck, I made too so you'll be less intimidated when you see me at the game dude. I'm gonna stick to you like glue
You're gonna be like, oh fuck. I made too good of an impression
Okay
And it'll be good to reunite with Travis the last couple years
I or the you know the last year at the behind the scenes
I didn't get to spend much time with them, but it'll be good. We have some really good memories
Together and I really enjoy filming with them. So it'll be cool and
Speaking of someone who's acclimated to the camera, that dude's acclimated.
Yeah.
Travis is a good dude. You should definitely, you should definitely chat with him.
And I think this is going to be a great year for him.
It's been really busy.
Um, we just, our grand opening, we just moved into a new gym today.
Um, well today we're having our grand opening.
We've been moving for the last week. So he's been
wearing all sorts of hats.
Really? Travis just moved his gym?
Yeah, we just, we just merged with his CrossFit gym. So, um, he works for Training Tank now and we're all in the
same facility. So we have our, our company has like our individual athletes, all of our coaching staff, all of the
affiliate coaching staff, and we run classes in one space now.
Oh, okay. We're not going quite yet. So my impression was there was Travis Mayer's gym and Training Think Tank was inside of there as a separate entity, but they cohabitated.
Now you're saying that that whole operation has moved somewhere else, but it's no longer a Travis Mayer gym. It's a training think tank gym.
That's correct.
Oh, cool.
Wow.
So that's, that's gotta be a huge relief for Travis.
Yeah.
I don't know.
I've, I'm sure it's probably a mix of emotions, right?
Like if, um, something that you've owned for a long time and it was maybe,
it's a different phase, he's's still very much involved with everything,
but he's not the owner of the gym anymore.
So I think it's going to be a transition for him for sure,
just in shifting roles and not having sole control of things,
working with us and Max to kind of figure out some things
that we're going to change culturally
and just how we function in this building.
Because the way that the previous place worked,
it was like kind of shaped like an L.
We were in the same building, but you could almost,
you didn't actually see everything going on
on the TTT side and the affiliate side.
And now we're literally in like one big big box, you know, so everyone can see
everything going on. So we kind of have to figure out some new rules and logistics of how everyone can function
really well. And Max has kind of brought all the coaches together to figure out how can we even enhance and improve
How can we even enhance and improve the affiliate side, right? With our processes and improving quality for the members.
How close is it to the old gym?
I think it's like six minutes.
Oh, that's awesome.
Look it, CTP cam.
I got a path and day in the life of Travis will drop on our YouTube next week.
Awesome.
Yeah, he what Chris wanted to say thank you if he doesn't know how influential you were
in that but nevermind.
Thank you.
Okay.
Love you, parent.
Whoo, dodged a bullet.
Okay.
I love you, parent.
I'll see you soon. I'll see you. I'll see you in a week
Awesome. Sounds good. Thank you
Thank you. Thanks for coming on
Parent bear she fucking deserves three hours. Holy shit
Wow
Wow
I say I say this with no fucking hyperbole complete honesty. That's the most uh,
Invigorated i've been about going to the games. What a cool chick. What a great point of contact and content she will be. Holy shit.
And that'll put me smack dab also with Travis and Alexis and Bethany. Fucking awesome.
Yeah, we need more of her. Even David knows that. Yeah, that chick's cool.
I wonder how... You know what? I was thinking the whole time, final thought on Perrin.
I was thinking the whole time, I wonder if she could hang on just like a CrossFit Games Update show and shit.
Because we get crazy in there, but man.
She could really add some value.
She's the shit.
Yeah, I do need a cigarette.
I really like her. Her dude scored.
Yeah, I could listen to her all day too. She's dope.
All right. Love you guys. A big CrossFit Games Update show today.
Sounds like I got John Young and J.R. Howell. I'll try to get one more.
Bill Grendler denied me again.
Fucking Bill.
Bill prioritizes his family before the CrossFit Games Update show. I hate that shit.
Okay, love you guys. Talk to you guys soon. Bye-bye.