 I'm liking the hair and the mustache and the poncho and it's just I wouldn't think it goes together, but it does Dude, I mean honestly I've been picking them all up and then when I woke up first thing in the mornings morning to get to you guys I was like, what am I gonna bring today? I had the hair and the mullet the mustache But I was like gotta bring the poncho to yeah, it's a protector. Do you guys see this? It comes up in the back and protects my I was gonna say would you get it extra warm buffalo exchange down in Venice literally has gold Like honestly don't spend your time anywhere else shopping Just come down to Venice Beach with me for one day, and I'll literally let you guys walk home So where okay the last you sack your way We have to we have to recap where we were last right so the last time we hung out you were preparing for the CrossFit games Dude, you guys are the first people to believe in me. We got there. Yeah. I was actually really upset you didn't win I thought you had a chance to win this thing So you got it you got a kid get us up to speed on what went down And then where you where you're currently at now Well, I would have been a contender to do some really great things, but I'll be totally honest I was not gonna be a winner like I wanted to go in and like you know Be the dude who went up against the Titan and punched him in the face a couple really good times People like well fuck you actually did swing pretty hard, but he loses in the end I knew I wasn't gonna win within one we're one window one year period and then from there I got invited to the games which was a very new thing for their entire environment like they had never invited anybody before So that was awesome But they also changed up a bunch of other rules which kind of fucked me in the law Honestly fucked my opportunity in a lot of other athletes. They implemented the cut Series to the games what's that so basically they invited athletes in and athletes earned and were invited and basically, I was the only one who was invited and Basically, if you weren't the top 50% of every single workout you got cut and I own at first workout I was like top 30% top 20% so I did great But then the second workout I was back 25% and I got cut and then the next workout was a workout That was like designed for me It was a rock run where it's like put weight on your back run as fast as possible. So I literally was just like Literally a day away from being able to shine and be able to throw that knockout punch and I got cut But in reality dude like the guy who took third in the open that year, which is a qualifying event He got cut first event like people who are just spectacular athletes were cut just because it was like a roll of the dice You didn't know it was gonna hit that day and CrossFit's an interesting sport It's not like it's like more like the Tour de France than a marathon It's like you're the best person over the 21 days and the 21 events rather than the person who just freaking nailed it that one time So you had to be a really really well based Versed athlete like you know Lance Armstrong could sprint and he could beat people up in the hills And he just had the best overall run of the 21 days. That's what made him so special If you took that same Lance Armstrong type athlete to a sprint event or just like a rain of mountain event He may have lost that whole thing and he wouldn't be considered Lance Armstrong So honestly, it was a very different experience than I thought it was gonna be but at the same time We made it we showed up and we fucked it up. Well, it's the most difficult Event that you you had to do well I only got two events in event one was really fucking hard just because it was I mean damn It was just gnarly like I'm not that great of an Olympic lifter So you immediately start by doing a 400 meter run. That's in my wheelhouse three legless rope climbs 25 feet up That's in my wheelhouse. Like I didn't use the technique like these guys do they're freaking like wizards climbing up ropes And then it was into 185 pound snatch seven times four rounds and to be honest Like if you give me 185 pound bar right now, I'll chuck it over my head But if you put all of those things in succession like that's where it's like that was like probably within That's like 80% of my max. Oh, and yeah, so I was just like oh shit, but I made it and I was like, yes I did this thing next event was a Thousand meter row or 800 meter row into 70 shoulder press Into a handstand walk for 140 feet but you had to cover I think 40 or 60 foot sections and I was the first person off the rower and the first person off the shoulder press because it's just capacity capacity capacity Which I'm great at and then that's where I just started to fall apart, dude I covered the first 40 feet and I was in the lead and I was like I might as well try to win this thing just so I can Secure myself and show people like I'm actually here to do something and then dude I just went the next 40 feet and five feet from that cut mark I fell and I was like, okay. I got six minutes. I got six minutes. I went back shook out my arms Went another 35 feet out of the 40 and then I fell and you can just start to hear the crowd go Oh, and I'm like, oh fuck is this really happening right now in front of these people like I'm Just this close and it just happened again and again your shoulders just gasped or what just gasped man the big thing that I think I fucked up on and I'm usually such a good student of sport is I Never walked on my hands an astroturf and like the difference between walking on your hands across a hardwood floor Which I had done a thousand times and then across astroturf Which is just that spongy kind of compression interesting dude. I never thought about it. Wow interesting just a stability change Have you ever have you ever done like I'm dude just like the way I get explained to somebody is like do a deadlift with Two dumbbells and then do a single lead deadlift It's just like the the level of instability that you have is Enormously different like I can take 200 pound dumbbells and rip deadlifts all day long If you give me like two 35 pound dumbbells for a single leg deadlift I'm like, uh-huh. Yeah, and it's just if you don't train it then you're not ready for it And now did you know these events before we're you able to train before? No, it's literally the night the night before the hour before the minute before so there's no way to know There's nothing which now which one did eliminated you what was the what was the workout that day? It was it was that was the one it was I got basically through that and to be honest dude Like I can't prove this but a lot of people side with me on this We were not supposed to be cut workout to I I base. I basically was guaranteed the third workout and I think Dave Castro who's a fucking asshole I Think that dude basically when he found out we found out when I made it through the second cut He immediately walked into the stadium with the rest of us and he goes guys We're doing another cut right now and I just don't think that he wanted me to move on and he knew that my one week Spot was hand-stam walks and a listen dude. He put his car down. I can't say it's a hundred percent But I can say he's a son of a bitch I stand by that word so who is he in in CrossFit? I don't know Dave Castro is the director of sport. He organizes the workouts. Yeah, you can read a book about him talking about how hard his job is but all of us could do it and I'm just giving you a big shout out Dave Anytime anywhere. Oh fuck your day up. Yeah He doesn't actually do me. Just tell you just write it down on a piece of paper Honestly, I could give you guys all a piece of paper right now and you could be the director of the CrossFit games Well, that's how we feel about the whole Yeah, there he is right there. That's a son of a bitch. Event one, you know cartwheels and Leg curls. I'm sure he's not the biggest jerk in the world. He was a jerk to me Multiple times and it's okay. I'm really like when he met you. He was just a jerk He was a jerk to me like the first thing he got to say at the CrossFit games He made fun of me. He literally got up on the stage in front of all of the athletes that had just earned their spots from all Over the world. He's like Congratulations to all the athletes who earned their spot here and then congratulations to the people who were given it and he just looked right at me And I was just like I was like, dude You're so lucky that I really want to work out tomorrow because I'd bend your fucking face up And I bet you that gave you a lot of fuel though, right? It gave me fuel, but there's nothing I could do I mean like I I did my job on the first one I didn't do my job on the second one and now I want to earn a spot back to get The chance to do it again because to be honest now that I went through the whole process It's not something I want to continue, but it's something that I will do just despite him Now, why do you think he has a problem with you because you're a likable guy? I mean, it's hard to understand to see why anybody would not like you you're pretty bring some entertainment value What do you think the problem is well, dude It was really interesting like there was this huge divide which like just it was very confusing When I got invited to the games a huge group of people online just started to berate me like just they weren't so Upset that I had qualified to the games. Oh, really through the invitation People were shitting on me dude I can go back into the feed and my Instagram posts and you can just see people shitting on me They're like just Assholes about it and to be honest like I just played the rule that they put in the book It was literally in the book. It was in ink. You can't lie about it Like there's no hiding from the fact that I just played a rule that was given They were inviting athletes outside of it, and I think he was one of those people and like it's just a Lot of people think that this is such like a holy event in the fitness industry that you know They didn't want it to be watered or dumbed down by some jock who liked to mud-brun My standard man, I told everybody who was competing against me. It's like there's a very easy way to solve this Just beat me like that's all you got to do like if you work hard Then that's the whole point of sport I don't think people compete in sport to exclude people they compete in sport to see who's the best at the sport And that's all I wanted to do. I just wanted my opportunity to shine and share and That's what I do for a living like I will literally if you guys called me to a badminton tournament I'm showing up in my tight smash that shuttlecock And that's what I'm gonna do whether it's the CrossFit Games Spartan Race powerlifting. I just it's it's sport I'm in love with it, and I'll continue to love it. That's a great attitude Now you were saying that there's a I guess a slew of athletes now that are getting busted with the performance enhancing drugs Yeah, I was looking under a table at all the supplements you guys have down there And it just made me think I was like, could I take those things and really not worry about what's in them And I'm like, yeah, of course I can they're just supplements, but somehow in the CrossFit industry I guess this is a shit on CrossFit day, but these athletes it's dirtier than like, you know, Tour de France cycling These guys these girls are like, how did I by accident eat tainted horse meat? I'm like, what was the chances that I was gonna eat horse meat with steroids in it? So I worked with this company who Primera Sports are a great supplement company and the CEO of it Mark He used to run a testing lab. So anytime someone got caught I would just run it by him I'm like, hey, this athlete got caught for this and this performance answer He's like, dude, there's no way for that to by accident fall into your diet It just isn't possible and also at that level of dosage Is that the claim that they're all making always like one girl was like, oh, I definitely didn't take Psalms I was just making out with my boyfriend and I didn't know that he had just taken it So what are the fucking chances that you guys are all mistakenly falling into the you know, this realm of steroids I'm like you guys all have chest hair and your women. There's something wrong here. Oh, wow That's like the whole so how I got pregnant from the toilet seat argument. Yes. Yes. Yes, but your opinion How rampant do you think it is in the games? It's terrible. Oh really? It's terrible I mean, dude, I'm just gonna say you guys all work out a ton And maybe you're not all world-class athletes But you've worked out enough that you know the body type of a guy who's natural and not yeah And I'm just stepping into a gym and there's like a hundred people in the room that are like, you know Somewhat of a six-pack somewhat of shoulders abs arms all that kind of stuff And then there's just one person who looks like a bike pump was attached to their backside No, there's not enough power someone else help me pump this Something's different about you. I'm like if they all came from one village, I'd understand but they don't right And they all end up having this kind of like very dominant physique And it's like whatever I'm not gonna shit on you like if you get caught then you get caught if you don't get caught So be it that's how you want to live your life So how does the testing work though? So because we had John Romano on the show a couple years ago now, right? And he talked about that that's the really the game and most all these professional sports including CrossFit is Not whether you take it or not It's just all about how you cycle it so you don't get caught like so how does the testing work? Is it random do they know when they're gonna get tested like do you know how that works? It's random testing like I think that once you sign Their waiver and as a participant you are now filed under the opportunity for random testing so literally like Four days after I signed my paperwork to accept to go to the games, which was like beginning of June I was an at an event and they literally called me and they said hey I work for such and such agency. We need you to be tested. We're here And I literally went into a room and had to pee in a cup. It was like instantaneous Do I think that they wanted to catch me? Coming in dirty right away. Yes Do I think that they tested like all their top-level athletes who have just been dormant living in like some kind of corn fed town Pumped up on the juice. No, they just forgot to you know test those people. Wow Do I think that these people are all dirty and that the business is dirty? No Do I think that there's a lot of people going under the radar? Yes? Wow and listen It's not a very it's an expensive procedure to chase these people down and there's a lot of up-and-coming athletes And then there's a lot of just Standard like they're gonna be there no matter what athletes well And then it's also just like the NFL and the NBA and the MLB. It's good for television totally So there's that there's that side of it that you know No matter what you say people like to see that the more superhuman they are the more eyeballs are gonna be on the television watching And to be fair they have caught quite a few people right so that kind of shows that they maybe are trying and they're publicizing it So that's a good thing. Yeah, but I don't know about that I wouldn't I would make the same thing that they used to do with the MLB and NFL They don't always do a couple sacrifice. Yeah, exactly. You don't you don't take your you don't take your holy Good. Yeah, you don't take the face of Crossfit you don't take the main guy or girl You take a couple other people out to make it look like you are you're trying to enforce something So now you're such a competitive guy after that. Are you like I want to go back and do it again? I want to try again. Are you having any of those thoughts? Yeah, I definitely am like dude I literally left and then within a month later I was competing back at Spartan Race and I did this Invitational thing and I competed and I beat the piss out of those guys there I invited a couple crossfit games athletes. They were in my court again I did my job and like I'm not saying that like I don't want to go back into their court Like I want to make sure that this is constantly a thing where I'm on their turf They're on my turf. They're I'm on their turf I'm there because I really want to find out who's the best like I Assigned an NDA and I can't give details, but Spartan Race is doing something very soon Similar to this in their own thing. So now they're back in my court again, and I'm fricking pumped Oh, wow, and I'm ready to rampage. I'm primed right now So it's like I want to and the only we always invite them over because we're like just come on in They're very particular and like that's their standard. I'm gonna play by it So I'm gonna try to qualify back again, and I'm gonna make sure that I can get in Is there a rivalry between obstacle course racers and CrossFit? Is that what's happening? Cuz that's kind of fun. It's just me I don't feel like yeah, I don't feel like there's a lot of obstacle course racers that that feel that you go compete and hang In a CrossFit like you do You think you the only one I'm just filled with pissing vinegar. I love it How different honor McGregor of OCR? Yeah, how different is the culture between the two is it was there a massive difference or is it similar? They're just competitive people want to do well It's competitive I think that I would say the majority of the people in both sports are very similar in their demeanor just like hey We're athletes like we're really lucky for the opportunity, and then there's like, you know There's always the asshole, and then there's the quiet guy, you know, it's it's pretty similar I would say that it's a little bit more revved up in the CrossFit industry because they get so much more media attention sure They're like if you go and watch one of our events It ranges anywhere from like a thousand people to ten thousand people watching If you go to one of their events their stadiums are filled with tens of thousands of people and they have like a hundred thousand viewers online They just have so much more of a more such a bigger marketing vessel and like funding behind them. It's just It's hard to compete. So that also comes with a level of intensity and Just you know behind it. So these athletes are a little bit more ornery Have you been following all the drama that was going on with Glassman the last like 90 days? Yeah, dude, they certainly know how to screw the pooch when they do. Yeah So did you have did you have any idea of any of this while while you were a part of it and going on? Or is it like news to you? What was What'd you think? I Don't know any of the behind-the-scenes stuff to be honest like I met Glassman. He seemed like a really nice guy I think if you took any of our phones and read through it, we'd all look like assholes to be honest Like let's just let's just shoot it straight. That's true I'm not necessarily a pervert, but I definitely say some ridiculous things between me and my friends and I think he maybe Did something stupid and then got scrutinized really hard for it And a really hard time to just be a person of significance in the world Okay, it doesn't matter who you are, dude Like if you just take your phone and you get caught at the wrong time by the wrong people you're in trouble You know, I just so do I think he's a terrible person? No. Do I think he got caught up in a bad time? Yes, and he sold while his company was still worth something and they're trying to rebuild it with a whole new CEO and probably a whole new team if I had to guess the guy on the screen is probably gonna get can too I think they're gonna probably have to clear out the shop and just bring in fresh new fresh blood just to Really save the image of the company. Wow. Do you know, do you think it happens? Do you think they can or do you think you're gonna they're gonna take a massive hit from all this? I think they're gonna take a hit but at the same time, it's like Fuck dude companies have been reinventing themselves for years like Kodak cameras is like now like a Like health. I actually thought they didn't exist, you know with that when that their stock exploded and people were asking Those questions. What do you think about Kodak? And I laughed I was just like that's an old that they went out of business a Long time I thought they went out of business. Exactly. So they're they're the companies reinvent themselves for sure And I think they can save themselves out of this thing. I mean, it's too much of an exciting sport Do I think it's gonna take a hit? Yes Do I think that anybody can take a beat-up business and give it a little bit extra juice? It will it will get back going again How did you change anything in your training after that performance? Where did you go home and say? Yeah Like okay, here's some things I need to focus on or is it the same? I think I trained like an 88 getting ready for the games to be honest I wanted to play on the court that they they had set up and I started to train the way that they did and to be honest I just like I I think This is a broad Statements not necessarily pointed at any one person, but I think a lot of CrossFit coaches are idiots. They don't Understand the direction and just progression of strength and conditioning I think they all get a certification that takes 24 hours or a weekend long through CrossFit, which is a great education system I already have like five certifications through them But then they think that they're like a sports performance coach ready to enhance you and Anything you want to do in life? 5x5 back squats and Tota bars like it's just it's not the case and I started working with some Coaches and I started to read into the things that they were doing and looking into the programming that was online And to be honest dude like I'm running Probably five six hours a week and biking Almost double that some weeks and doing strength training and I PR'd my power clean While doing all this cardio because I'm just on the basic strength and training progressions that are just Universally known throughout the strength conditioning world and I'm using that and I'm just hitting PRs I benched 315 like six weeks ago. I PR 300 pounds like a week ago Like I'm just I'm cleaning that and it's just snappy and I'm like how is this possible because based on the way that they designed it It's not Effective it's too much. It's too sporadic. It's never consistent and continued. I'm not saying everybody I'm just saying from what I witnessed and what I tried to do So if I do go back I'm going to go in my own way And I'm gonna show up the way that I like to and obviously I'm gonna earn my spot as I said So you feel you feel like you made a mistake by trying to train like them It's just yeah, you feel over-trained for sure dude. I mean dude I can show you I posted pictures yesterday of just this kind of like transformation through me in my athletic career 2016 I was a hundred and seventy eight pounds running professionally for Spartan race 2018 I was competing in Tough Mudder X which is like kind of like a combination of CrossFit and Tough Mudder And I was like super strong I could run a 15 minute 5k and deadlift 500 pounds like no one can do that on the planet as I know of it and Then I started to go more towards CrossFit a year after that I was 217 pounds like very puffy and flamed and just kind of beat up Like my middle back is still messed up from snatching and I'm not saying that the programming hurt me I like my own technique and my own influence like nobody put their hands on me and forced me to lift that weight But now I'm back down around 205 208 and I can move all the same weight and I'm like way healthier Now do you feel like that's because a lot of the programming is probably geared to enhanced athletes And they could handle that amount of volume and beating the body up in recovery No, I mean listen I don't want to harp on like the enhanced thing because I don't want people to think that I'm just saying everybody who Does it is there is on the stuff. I just think that's this like Remember like no pain no gain. Mm-hmm. That is like so their motto. Yeah, it's like if you have don't have like Micro tears and every tendon in your body. You are not achieving your level of excellence It's okay that pain is meant to be Information more pain or growth. Well, this has actually been the biggest knock that we've had we've we've highlighted a lot of positive things that CrossFit did for the fitness community and You know what they did as far as bringing back squats and deadlifts and compound movements that just people were doing So there's a lot of positive things, but the big knock that we've always had is the program design the way they've programmed It's always been about intensity. It's always been based around that and you know We know from training so many bodies for so many years that that's a that's a failing method for like 90% of the population You know tough except that maybe the 10% outliers that can handle that abuse. Yeah, you end up progressing in spite of I think sometimes people do well In spite of poor programming, but because they do well Other people may think that's evidence like oh, this is a great way to work out when in fact it's not for most people It's just too much. So now talk about the like Spartan races. That's still going on with all the COVID and everything else Shoot dude. Everything's kind of been kicked in the ass. Yeah, like I was saying There's there's five people going to the CrossFit games this year. There was 150 last year the Spartan Invitational thing. There's a very small amount of people going compared to championships last year There's like 15,000 people including the open classes. So Everything has been shrunk down Everything is just is kind of just challenged and I as I said like I think that these companies are gonna get out of this thing Because I bet you Jim sign-ups are gonna be bigger than ever once things are pop back open again And like race sign-ups like once it's green lit Everybody's going back because people are just sick and tired of sitting and waiting So I don't think they're gonna fly up flop, but I will say that My life as a professional athlete and whoever else is in that realm is probably not gonna exist until like March Your May next year. Are you pretty specific with your diet? Is that change at all as well? I mean when you talk about workouts You you definitely sound like a coach like it's very Meticulous and planned are you like that with your diet too? Is that a little looser? It's definitely looser because it's just to be honest like I worked with macro coaches. I worked with nutritionists I've studied everything that I can I continue to buy books like I just bought Paul Chex book And I'm like reading through that and gut understanding like I'm never gonna quit on that but to be honest You could just put anything in my mouth and I'm going to survive. I may not You guys want to go there. Let's get there. I'm just saying like that was a sex joke, but I'm just saying Yeah, so you I can eat anything I want but like my staples are right now just yogurt rice pasta honey Eggs I like like the other day like I didn't have any like anything else. You act like you're not Being mindful of what you're putting in your mouth, but you really are I mean those are all solid foods. They are easy It's not like you're eating McDonald's No, no, no, no, no, it's just I don't it's because I don't like necessarily McDonald's I'm not bad mouth and McDonald's, but I'm just saying like I'm not inclined to wake up this morning But God and McGrittle would be so hot right now No, it's just it's it's not like this vegan. It's not this special carnivore diet It's not this special anti-inflammatory bioavailability. I don't touch vegetables unless you have a gun to my head to be honest Like there's just no point. I I just don't have time. I do eat seaweed chips That's my guilty pleasure. Okay. Yeah, that's probably only it's there's a lot of Back to kind of Sal's question around the nutrition then are you not even like, you know Counting calories or even measuring you're doing so much movement that you kind of just as long as you stay within those food groups and eat From that you just eat when you're hungry four to five thousand calories a day is just it I just got on the Horn with my macro coach and nutrient coach just like maybe like three days ago And I was like hey, I have been a little bit unguided for a while Like you want to just kind of ring it back in maybe have a pop-up kind like just kind of a Just sit back down and have a pop-up convo of what we should be doing And I just went over it with him. He's like, dude, are you winning and I'm like, yeah, he's like, do you feel good? I'm like, yeah, he's like don't change it There's a good coach. Yeah. Yeah sounds like a very good coach You know talking to you all fair you have it sounds like you have a lot of other practices that lead to your success Besides training and diet one thing you said that I thought was very interesting is that you don't watch TV Yeah, you don't really watch TV. When did that start? Why don't you watch it? I'm when you're younger and you got like biker mice from Mars and all that kind of crazy shit and he-man on the television show I'm locked in but my sir mice from Mars. What are you talking about? Do you remember them? No, I remember everything Just give me a little screen pull up Ripped mice that ride motorcycle Remember that it's the most random thing I've ever heard that sounds so awesome. Yeah, it is a freaking show so honestly like I I Think just because if I have so much time in the day like I'm on my phone all the time It's just work-related. There's no reason to go on like if I sit in front of a television show It's usually like CNN. Yeah, you can see the mice right up there. Wow like Harleys and shit. I am watching that dude How do we miss this tight jeans? Dude, they're all jacked. They're ripped to the bone. That's great They're awesome. There's a video game. I just think that You you have your own television on Instagram You can basically create exactly what you want to see and I don't follow anybody anymore Like I only follow the people who sponsor me. I've got three. I follow three people and I realize how much like terrible Content I was ingesting every single day. Like it was just like hot nasty Women that were like making me sweat while I was looking at my phone. I was like, this is weird And then there's like ripped guys and I'm like fuck you man You're not as ripped as me and I'm like look at my phone I'm gonna break this thing and then all of a sudden like I turn on the television and it's just like like Tornadoes people dying black lives matter. Trump is ruining everything. I mean, I'll show you what I woke up to the other day This is what was popped up on my phone. It's the most the most fucked-up thing that I've ever witnessed on my screen Right here Washington Post goes the coronavirus has killed at least one million people around the world There is no end in sight that is the header of what they are putting out there. I'm like, who the fuck Approved that it's real uplifting. I'm not gonna pay attention to this shit. This is crazy It's like give me something like let's go back to reading rainbow. Yeah, and it just is It's crazy. That's so stressful And if I could just hang out on this room with you guys all day long and then go about my business and then Come back. It's like we control this environment, but as soon as we turn on that screen That's this portal of danger. Hmm. So tell a vision. I remember when Paul checks that said that right? Vision, right? Yeah, literally to tell you to be afraid and you're totally right. I think I'm plugging makes a big difference Do you have other practices like? Meditation spirituality practices or things that are outside of the traditional realm of exercise and nutrition that help To be honest not really I try to have like probably the only thing that really helps me as I talk a ton Like I try to sit down with people and I try to really Go through my thought process with people regularly like I used to go to a therapist very often Not because I'm a psychopath just because like I don't want to become a psychopath. Hmm. I want a lot of awareness there Well, to be honest, they made me go to a therapist like twice a week And he even got to the point where his court mandated when I was in rehab and stuff But I don't go through a therapist from the age of seven all the way until I was 20 years old twice a week And I hated it, but I also did understand like he's like tell me about your feelings It's like why is that so important to you stop asking me about my feelings like God dang it man and To be honest like that seems like a loaded question kind of just like a weird way to open somebody up But if you don't just sit there and process everything that's going through your system it is going to grow on the inside of you and become internal baggage and Just I just work through it with a lot of people That's probably the healthiest thing that I do is if I have a fight with my girlfriend I'm like if we have to stay up until like one in the morning and process this shit We are going to do it and if I have a problem with my friend like Right now I'm trying to run this business right now And like some people have been not so responsive and I just will call him out I'm like hey listen if you can't handle this Tell me you're busy. Otherwise show the fuck up and like just that's probably the healthiest thing I got going on in my life right now because I've just literally got no layer between me and what I'm ready to say and Yeah, I'm meditation. I think it's too internalizing. I don't want to do that anymore So before we got on you're kind of saying you're hiding out a bit like in the mountains here Yeah, yeah, I'm just on disclose I mean I've lived in that place in Malibu for years, but I will admit that It's it's pretty funny like at first I came back to Malibu and I was like Oh, I'm so excited to see people and then all of a sudden I was like God This this world's kind of shitty like people are starting to really just treat each other poorly Like people screaming at each other for not having a mask on or screaming at each other for like taking their parking spot It's like almost that this time in the world where people should come together and support each other People are almost becoming more abrasive and hostile Mm-hmm And so now like at first it started out where I'd come down every single day and get my groceries and like say hi to a Couple people and then it would go like by two days where I'd get enough groceries to not come down and then all of a sudden My girlfriend goes to work every day. I'm like bring home groceries. I'm not coming down And I am at the point now where it's like I'm kind of just waiting it out. I'm not any different I'm not trying to avoid people but at the same time I'm not trying to include things that aren't necessary and I don't think that it's going to last like this forever but my intentions are so focused right now that I just can't allow myself to somehow absorb any of the stress and anxiety and anger that's being passed around the world right now I get hurt My heart the other day I had to go into Los Angeles and go to a meeting and there was just like these Homeless villages and I don't want these people to be living in the streets at all But like the people screaming at each other and like the people with the signs like stepping in front of cars and shaking the signs So that they have to see what they have written on the sign and I was like what the fuck happened Yeah, yeah, I'm sorry. I'm sorry that I'm not on your team and ready to shake a sign with you But it doesn't mean that you have to violently Put your opinions and energy into my life and that's what the world's becoming right now And I'm not trying to say that I'm any better than anybody else But I will remove myself from the playing field if it means that less problems are in my life and in their life Because I know that if someone gets in my face at some point like it could potentially be bad not necessarily violent But I'm just waiting for myself to pop. Yeah, I think that's good boundaries within yourself I think it's an important practice. So what are what are your intentions right now? What it what's what's on the horizon? What are you focused on? To be honest like my biggest focus this year was writing my book and I was really cranking it out hard and I was doing great and I was really passionately loving the idea of sharing what I'd learned and experienced over the past like, you know I'm only been alive for three decades But at least there's been a dense part of that that I really wanted to share with people because I feel like There's something to be gained and then all of a sudden Kind of this covert thing just kept on getting hit more and more and more and I was like whoa I was like honestly, I was like this is not gonna get any better So I sat down with a team of people and I told them that I was I was like I'm gonna put on an event to raise some money for all the athletes who are losing it all the people who've been fired and furloughed in The industry all the people who have been All the people who don't have direction in their lives. So I decided to start that business and I just like I was like, I think if I really just put my head to the grindstone on this thing I could do something that's gonna shift the entire environment and Honestly, dude, like I keep myself in my room on this project all day long And like you guys are like the first people I'm seeing this week And then I'm going right back to Malibu and I'm getting back to business And I think by the end of it like it's I'm gonna end up winning this year rather than losing it Can you can you talk a little bit about this? So you're you're putting something together to raise money for people who has the fitness space and the competitive Athletic space is really taking a big hit totally of it. Yeah huge hit. I mean, we know people who own gyms And they're just totally screwed. So can you talk a little bit more about this? Yeah, totally I just like originally it started because I was like, whoa, everything's getting canceled then all of a sudden I'm talking to my friends who owns gyms and they're like, dude everything like no none of my members want to come in and All of a sudden I'm talking to my friends or coaches and they're like, dude, none of my all my athletes are dropping off I was like, whoa, whoa, whoa It's like everybody I'm knowing around me is getting hit and this is going down fast. So I was just like, all right I'm gonna start an event very much similar to the CrossFit open That's basically just like I would find the fittest OCR athletes in the world the fittest endurance athlete in the world and we created this event called OCR stars I put thirty thousand dollars in my own money into it. My brother gave me thirty thousand dollars We said like if we're gonna start this thing We are gonna put our own money behind it because you know I've lived my entire career for the past ten years and people are just Giving me tens of thousands of dollars to wear a t-shirt and travel around the world for them People have literally given me my dream on a silver platter And I was like, I'm literally watching all the people who have helped me out and all the people who've been by my side For the past ten years like literally go up and smoke. So I was like, I got to do something some of this money that I've been saving up has directly come from these people so I was like, I got to do something and Eventually starting around July 4th, my brother and I sat down. He's like do it dude Let's light this thing up and we decided we were gonna launch event starting in November 2nd called OCR stars four weeks for workouts And it's all can be done from the safe to your own home or in a gym like your guys own if you guys were like a host Gym you basically have all the equipment here that basically people can come and use it because they don't have it at home and we were basically gonna qualify people for One one of our championships physically OCR WC is partnered with us You can actually compete and qualify for the world championships next year through us To we are gonna give people the opportunity to compete for cash again Like I want people to be able to have their Living's earned again. I'm like if you guys are working out all the time I was like I'm giving you a chance right now like we've immediately put down a $31,000 cash prize prize purse And we're going all the way up if we hit our numbers, we're gonna give away a hundred and forty thousand dollars to athletes Wow, that's great. Yeah, and I Literally I'm traveling around talking to gyms getting everything going and we're basically gonna put on a pro show for four weeks every Monday When we launched the events We're gonna fly pros in and put on like a in like a you know, basically from your screen your phone to watch Professional event very cool. So all the bases are covered. It's a TV show. It's an event for people and a fundraiser And you know, we are we're cranking every single day bringing on great sponsors great sign-ups And I'm fucking pumped how you driving revenue to it or can people donate to the cause or what's it look like? I'm basically telling anybody here your options It's either you're an athlete and you want to sign up and participate or you're supporting you want to sign up and donate It's $30 to sign up and you know, if you want to you guys can sign up and also buy a t-shirt, which is another $30 I'm literally telling everybody who's listening to this right now It's like we are taking the money we are earning and we are putting it into the cash prizes and athletes Like we just brought on a sponsor for $10,000 I hired two people to help me cold-call gyms and bring things up like we're just trying to get people in the industry Working again helped out. So if you are listening to this and you love working out it's an awesome opportunity to runs outside and to gym workouts inside and you know, it's four weeks of your life to just kind of find out who what you're made of and Really kind of be able to help a good cause and support our sport for going into 2021 stronger That's awesome. What a great way to give back now you're you know, like you just said one of the more successful I said, you know athletes in that space monetarily speaking Have you had to change any of your strategies or or you know pivot in order to continue to earn because Things have changed so much since COVID dude. I was totally fucked in one week one to two weeks I was going for making almost $400,000 for the year guaranteed Earning as a company and I wouldn't go that right into my pocket. I have a bunch of employees who helped me run my business But it we Hunter McIntyre McIntyre media generated that much money within two weeks. We went down to $36,000. Wow Yes, I have a manager. I have a finance team. I have my buddy Benny who runs all the gym all my fitness app stuff and it's like I not only am I Working myself to have to also pay my own bills like I I'm working with other people and it's not like these people completely depend on me But I was like we worked for years to build this thing up like we worked so hard Like Augie has been my manager since I was a model back when I was 20 years old. He's been helping manage my whole career for years and like Literally, I'm sitting there and I'm getting calls by my sponsors like we have to cut you loose hunter I'm so sorry and like I get it. I'm a non essential like I'm not boxing things up. I'm not doing anything for you guys on the daily I'm just more of a like a flat like, you know someone carrying the flag for you guys when it goes to events and I literally got taken down to less than ten percent and I was like whoa and Dude, it was just intense like I You know, I have my normal expenses, dude Like I just went through with my finance guy like I spend three thousand dollars a month on food And I'm not going out and buying like Dom Perignon and like, you know rib-eyes that have been like massaged by a Japanese man Like it's like these are those are delicious. They're fucking nice But I'm telling you the truth like I'm just eating things like yogurt and chicken kebabs and stuff like the rest of us But I just eat at a four. Yeah, four or five thousand calories Exactly. I eat at the capacity of just you know a handful of people rather than one So it was intense man and like, you know Not to go back to my business, but I realized that every other athlete that I know is getting hit the same way It's not like all of a sudden like I'm at the top of the list It the people below me got calls before I did and I'm like holy shit this is gonna be crazy and I I I had a savings account So I'm gonna be able to like kind of survive this score storm and bunker down, but the reality is It's a totally changed industry man. Like the fitness industry. I think got hit almost harder than anything else I would agree. Yeah, we feel that way too. I would a hundred percent agree But the demand for fitness is still high people still want to work out. It's just different, you know I know Trainers that lost almost all their business and I know other trainers who are able to Effectively pivot to online coaching and even in-home training because there's still people that want and they're doing pretty well But if you're not ready To pivot or unable to pivot and you didn't have enough money to carry you into that Boy, what a tough position to be in did you figure out any other ways that to to generate more revenue during this process? Dude, I immediately sat down and I was like I am starting back up my training company Two years ago. I started a company called house Hunters Academy of Strength and I was just like giving people one-on-one coaching I have eight certifications getting my ninth one now and I Read books on like, you know working out all day long. I was like, I love it. I love it for myself I love it for other people as like I could teach you how to get stronger leaner faster anything you want So I started it a couple years ago and I was like damn. This is way too much I was like I cannot train and sit at a computer all day long So I was doing individual emails and prescriptions for every single client and I had like 30 to 40 clients Whoa, this is exhausting. So I shut it down. I told everybody I was like guys I'm not giving you the attention you deserve for the money. You're paying me So then I was just like I since then to you in the past two years There's all of these apps that you can basically design yourself as like a straight like a hunter-mack entire shop Hunters Academy of Strength you can go to my app and literally go and you can either go through my look good Naked program my running program my like daily training and it's just like it's pretty easy I design it and I sit down on my computer for a couple hours a week I put it all down and I put it out there People message me every single day and ask questions, but it's not nearly as involved as somebody who is like Hey, I just want you to know my hamstrings a little bit tweak this week and like I I'm my bike tire tire pop So like how can I change up with these workouts to do this? I was like Like 15 20 minute email to like come up with a new idea for them on the training plan You do that with 30 40 people a week it gets crazy difficult to scale Yeah, so I launched that business and it literally grew to like 320 members and Four months first month. I will tell you like I was ready to like string myself up We didn't get any sign-ups. It's like, oh my god. It's like I am washed up Nobody cares like COVID is really taking us down a peg hunter. It's like you are not hot shit anymore Mm-hmm, and then all of a sudden I don't know what the heck happened But like mid-April boom sign-ups popped up and then all of a sudden I gave everybody a $10 discount to $10 a month is called f the virus and I was just like fuck the virus I was like, I know you guys are having a hard time my program is only $10 a month now And then all of a sudden number spiked and then after I did that for a couple months I brought it back up to the numbers that I thought were appropriate for the workouts putting in and numbers are still growing Oh good and to be honest, dude like that Literally put the food back on the table if it wasn't for that. I was like holy crap Yeah, that's excellent now any anything new in the future for you like what are you looking to do moving ahead with all this? You know what I as soon as this company's done OCR stars only runs for a month I am literally gonna go deeper into the mountains like I'll probably get a place and like Yosemite Big Bear Something like that and I'm going to finish this book like I swear. I've been doing it for too many years I've been working too freaking hard. It's just probably only gonna take about two months more more work And it'll be good after that's done I really am going to take all invest about 50% of what I'm earning right now in my training company And I'm hiring a full-time cameraman and I was like we're literally gonna do all of the hunter adventures But now there's a red light on I was like we're gonna fucking tear it up Oh, yeah, that's that's all I love hearing this these kind of stories because so many people in our space need to hear How people are making it and what they're doing it did does exercise and working out carry you through those hard moments I know it does for me when I'm feeling stressed out. I work out I feel so much better. Is it meditated for you in that sense 100% to when everything got canceled all my events got canceled I literally was just sitting there and I was like I just I bought a whiteboard at Target old Tarjay And I put that thing up on the board and I was like what do I do and I just started looking online I was like what's close? What's close? What's close? It's like Memorial Day Murph So I was like I'm gonna set the Murph world record I gave myself two months of this the most intense training cycle I've done to date I gave myself like rhabdo on multiple days joint pain that still doesn't allow me to sleep at night And I just said I'm gonna do it. I was like I'm not going to allow this to tie me to the ground There's no rock around my waist I was like I'm gonna smash that thing and start running now and I went for it And it was just the carrot that was going to survive long enough to keep me Busy and it kept me happy and it kept me focused and then then right after that was done I was like next goal and did you set the world record? Yeah, I got it. I got it. I want to go. Wow. I wanted to go sub 30 and I was close and then I over trained myself I was with them one minute of the record and then when I did the actual Event I was four minutes behind there four minutes behind my goal. I beat the record by four minutes, but I'll tell you dude like I Almost had too much focus and I was almost too intense on myself I was like if you're not gonna go train to be a world champion I was like you're gonna be a garage world champion now It's like you're just gonna murder yourself daily. Yeah, and I Just I talked about this recently. I Believe very much so that having a goal in life is important having some purpose and direction But I also believe in like these micro goals like you just always have to have something Mm-hmm You can't allow yourself to just even get through the day without having a goal take us through a little bit of What that training looked like for Murph? I mean, what did you do right? What did you do wrong? I mean sounds like you you know, you kind of over trained a little bit So, you know, but would you obviously you did something right if you broke the record? It started out two-month training cycle that should have probably been spread out over six I started out with a power like in strength block as like I hit every position with maximal strength So I went through a squat cycle of like five reps than three reps than one rep not five three one but I did that like downward wave of intensity and I built up to like a heavy squat. I was like I can move weight in this position I can bench weight in this position. I can pull weight in this position. So structurally, I was very strong and then I added intensity No, and then I had endurance then I started just pumping reps into that thing Like I was doing probably several thousand reps of squats push-ups and pull-ups a week and Then I added intensity I just put like the last part of my block was literally taken emom clock and I was like you have to hit 25 push-ups and 25 squats every single minute for 10 minutes with a mile on each side Weight vest on wow, and I was like I just started to take things And I just started to take the workload and just start to make it tighter and tighter and tighter and tighter It's like can you put all of that into a smaller box now of time and If you spread that out over six months You allow these ups and then a down then up and then a down like you guys know the waves. Yeah, I Months is just up. Yeah, I just don't see any down. There's no downs I think that was the problem like the structure of the design was perfect, but the implementation and the intensity was too much and I I probably would have done maybe two days a week of heavy calisthenics Five to six days a week of more heavy cardio and maybe two days a week of heavy lifting where I was hitting four heavy lifts a week Five days of calisthenics and five days of cardio Do you do what do you do for recovery and for for just rejuvenation because that's I mean Obviously, you're a highly trained athlete. I'm sure there's a genetic component there as well You seem to you probably have a recovery ability much higher than the average person Yeah, but I need some intervention. I can't and yeah, I can't imagine though that you don't You know do something to accelerate your healing process. That's just insane If I had the perfect world I'm doing those those pump up the leg pump ups things like Norma tech. Yeah, those are great Those help out a ton. I was getting a massage twice a week when I had availability to a massage therapist I hang upside down all the time hanging upside down from those gravity boots. I'm telling you right now Now what do you get from that? lengthening your spine adding fluid to your spinal tissue and Lengthening your joints kind of separating things as we stand everything's compressing everything needs to decompress People do yoga and stuff. I like that passive kind of lengthening Honestly, if I go to a yoga class, it feels like somebody is taking me through some kind of Chinese torture It hurts like you know when you just like try to get into pigeon. You're like Struggling to breathe like you're the skin. It feels like it's tearing I'm tight because of the work that I do like sometimes like your body needs to be tight instead of supple So I allow that lengthening of hanging to really help out like I'll hang for 10 to 20 minutes a day And I went from like six two and a half down to six foot and three quarters after doing heavy CrossFit because of like just The the amount of disc like my body was so bad I mean, how much did you yeah? How much height did you lose about an inch and a half? Holy cow and now when you're hanging when you're doing the traction upside down like that you get you gain it back Oh, yeah, dude. I mean your body is able your body and just like anything can just get like knotted up I mean honestly like you ever seen somebody who's got lordosis like That backswing like stand there like all crooked like this either that or they're just posing for Instagram Yeah, exactly Your body will naturally become like that your hip flexors get so tight your spine gets so Fucked up that your pelvic system tilts actually so now all of a sudden instead of having this incredible alignment of bone structure You're now using muscular and tendon tissue to kind of like hold you up and it's like almost like someone's pulling a string backwards and loading you almost cocked and So that's been very helpful. I know that was a really long answer for just hanging upside down And to the one thing I have to say that like I think is amazing for recovery is water Like I will put a bet down cash that most of you guys do not hit a gallon every day Yeah, and if you're not hitting that like I'm sitting right now here talking to you guys sweating Just because my I think my metabolism and my muscular system is just always running a little bit hotter You also have a big furry poncho Yeah No, but like even if I do I'll lay I'll sleep like naked on top of the bed at night time sweating It's crazy do when I was training. This is crazy when I was training for the CrossFit games I was so overtrained and so beat up. I would literally take a wet shower like cold shower Obviously, it was a wet shower. It was a freezing freezing cold shower And then I would wet my towel and then I would literally turn a fan on and I would take a protein jug that I filled with water And then frozen during the day I would wrap it in the towel and I put it between my legs on my like, you know For moral artery down here and I would hold it like a little goose egg down there That would cool me down and just sleep naked on top of my sheets and everything because I would my core temperature was just up Like so fucked. That's crazy. You know you mentioned your girlfriend a couple times How long he has been together and she's how supportive is she about all this insanity? Oh, you know what? I have to say. I'm not the easiest guy. She's been here with six months. She's my COVID queen basically She this is crazy So I knew her for two years a year before I actually started spending time with her and I would go into this gym And I was training full-time and I was like, I don't want to talk to anybody and that's not usually my energy But like I just was like so intense and focused at the time She thought I was a total asshole and then I was dating another girl at the time and she was dating somebody else I was like that girl is beautiful, but you know off limits. So I just like I stayed away I just know that there's no point in touching hot coals unless you want ready to get your hand burnt So I just stayed away from her and then all of a sudden I broke up with my last girlfriend and within like a Couple weeks. I just I turned on a dating app. Just see was like what's the like out of here? Boom DM from her and I was like, oh Like that's that pretty girl from the gym So we meet up and we have a great date. It was that my birthday invited her to my birthday party. It was a pirate party It's pretty sick Pirate party we all dressed up like pirates everybody dressed up like normal pirates and I dressed up as a space pirate Oh, my friends are so pissed like what the fuck you're supposed to be a pirate I was like pirate from outer space bitch. So I just wear an astronaut outfit with an eyepatch. Yeah sick outfit And it's totally what I would have done. Yeah, so I ended up This is a funny story. This is not a PG story I was so high on mushrooms and beer at the time when she came to meet me at the bar I was just like out of it. She came to like talk to me. I was like, get away from me. I can't I can't I was like I'm just I'm too high So then I go run outside with after the bar close I go up to her and I was like come home We'll just go hang out and party at the house for a bit And she didn't get in the Uber with us because it was fully packed I was just sitting on my lap. She's like, no, I can't do that. So I was like I gave her my address I typed in the wrong address So she shows up so the next day I text I text her. I'm like, what happened to you? I was like, we had such a fun night She's like I showed up at your house and you guys weren't there and I was like, what do you mean? I go back to the text totally wrong address So she shows up to a house in the middle of the night and tries to open the door So I was embarrassed. I was like, I'll make it up to you. So I took her out to ice cream for the next night Had a great date Then I went and flew to New York City to go Tell surprised my dad for a 65th birthday. It was March 10th And I show up and then all of a sudden like I'm in a gym working out with somebody and my buddy is like, yo Dude, look at my friend just sent me and I was like, what he goes, dude This is from one of the you know the broadcasters at CNN They're like they're about to shut down New York City because this covert thing I was like, what covert thing are you talking about? He's like, you know that disease from from China And China the China disease. I'm like, I don't know what the hell you're talking about And then all of a sudden like my family starts contacting me. I have this ridiculous text from my dad He's like, he's like, we're going up state. He's like leave with us now So I literally caught an overnight flight back to Colorado and I was like, holy shit And it was like all unraveling like the United States is going into lockdown It's like everybody must stay six feet away from each other Do not leave the house for the next two weeks. Do not smile. Yeah, it was freaking freaky So then I called this girl over for a date and I'm like, listen, this sounds really weird But I the world's about to change and I was like, you're my plus one I was like, we're about to go on lockdown as like I can only have one person in the house besides my house Besides myself, my roommate said I was like, you're my plus one I was like, you're by my side for the next like X amount of months until this goes over And we immediately spent like every single day together from this point on till today And it was like I basically shot that drill. I was like, I know you don't know me well But we're in lockdown now. I was like the world's about to end great angle. Yeah And we're gonna figure this out. Yeah, romantically. I know. So that's a crazy way. We might die tomorrow So we should have sex So she became my COVID queen, dude. She's been by my side. We've traveled the country. We've done a lot of incredible stuff She's a great girl. Um, I'm really well supported and as I said, I'm not the easiest guy I'm an absolute madman like anytime I come up with an idea like a caller. I'm like, I'm like We're waking up at 3 a.m. Tomorrow. We're driving to San Jose. She's like, what? I was like, just don't ask questions. It's gonna be awesome Yeah, we're here now Ride or die, that sounds great. I like to hear that. So that's good. So only six months. So it's new in the relationship It's new man. Yeah, I'm realizing as I'm getting a little bit older And I'm definitely not like wise you guys got more experience than I do But I'm just realizing that you guys are old You're just a little bit wiser than I am. You guys all have families. Yeah, so it's like, you know, the thing is I don't know when all of a sudden it's just gonna take off and happen But like, I'm just having fun My last girlfriend, I think I was just a little too serious and I thought like, you know, I was like, this is the time I was like, we should just level up and start to like move in together and like maybe get married and stuff And like that actually built more pressure on what I thought the relationship could have been Now I'm just like, fuck it. I was like, if the wind blows, I'm going with it and if she follows, I'm she You know, it's gonna be great Um, so I'm happy to have a girl by my side and uh, you know, it could be until the day that I die Or it could be until tomorrow. I don't really care. That's awesome. Dude, you're always a blast, bro It's always fun to have you come in Yeah, until next time, I guess but uh, again always fun to have you on I'll make sure that we put your your what you're donating or where people can go to help donate to your cause. I think that's a great Thanks, man. Thanks guys. I don't be here guys If you ever think to yourself like man, we should have government do more stuff go to the dmv Because that'll be a good a good reminder of why you don't just to find forms and fill them out and then go to different Locations within just one building. It's just a wonderful example of uh, just complete inefficiency and redundancy