The HERD FIT
Coach David Syvertsen discusses all things CrossFit, health, fitness.
The HERD FIT
Ep 238: Representing Team USA for IF3 Worlds
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We sit down with Dan Coda and Mandy Myers right after Aruba to get the honest version of what it takes to represent Team USA at the IF3 functional fitness Masters Worlds. We talk nerves, injuries, smart strategy, and the mindset that separates “working out” from competing.
• how IF3 works and why it standardizes functional fitness tests
• qualifying off CrossFit semifinal scores and deciding if the trip is worth it
• handling imposter syndrome and earning confidence through results
• the endurance beach run and farmer carry plus heat strategy without chip timing
• the five-minute snatch plus hang snatch test and adapting under pressure
• the row, box jump, pistol intervals and competing with a quad strain
• the bar muscle-up, handstand walk, toes-to-bar skills test and gymnastics training tips
• sprinting as a power test, hamstring risk, and when to pull out
• the thruster, double-under, burpee finisher and learning to live in the pain cave
• next goals for the Open, masters semifinals, and cracking the top 100
Be on the lookout for next week's episode.
Welcome And Podcast Mission
SPEAKER_01Hey everybody, welcome to the Herd Fit Podcast with Dr. Sam Marie and myself, Coach David Siverston. This podcast is aimed at helping anyone and everyone looking to enhance their healthy lifestyle through fitness, nutrition, and most importantly, mindset.
Meet The Team USA Masters
SPEAKER_01All right, welcome back to the Herd Fit Podcast. I am Coach David Siverson and I have two very special guests with me today. Uh, two members of the USA functional fitness team representing USA down in Aruba. They competed in the Masters 2026 Worlds Team. It was October 23rd to October 25th. Uh Dan Coda in the middle. He's off the he's been on the podcast a few times. And Mandy Myers, all the way to my right. If you're watching, yeah, to everyone's right. And you guys are about a week away from this being complete. And I always want to get your raw feedback on what this was like, not too far apart. Sometimes I sometimes I even try to get people on like two, three days after, because you know, you let things simmer a little bit, you know, you come off this like dopamine high of like ah, fun competing, and there's a lot of good and bad things that happen at a comp. And I'm thankful for you guys for giving the time on a Sunday so that we can really kind of expose what happened, this what is this, what is this all about, and then give us some cool stories about what happened down in Aruba. And so, so Mandy, I'll start off with you. Um, had leading up to let's say this time last year, did you know what this was? The USA Functional Fitness Masters 2026 World Steam, did you know what this was at all?
SPEAKER_00Not at all. I had no idea. No, I actually um found out through Dan okay uh in the spring, like right after semis uh had completed. Okay.
SPEAKER_01And you've been competing for a while, you've made quarters, you've made semis, you've you've signed up for competitions before. Is this the first time that you've actually really traveled this far within CrossFit sport to compete?
SPEAKER_00Yeah, absolutely. Um, I've qualified for a lot of different things, and I haven't really traveled outside this general area, New York, New Jersey area to go and do these. So this was this was an experience in that way too. Just, you know, the travel and figuring out how you're gonna get yourself ready, what you need to do when you get there, so that you're all ready to go, you know, on that first day of competition, not being at home.
SPEAKER_01And just for those who don't know, can you just give a little glimpse into what your competitive background is? Just sports, whether it's growing up college, after college, like what, because you obviously didn't start cross it three years ago and just all of a sudden go to something like this. Like just your your training age is a part of this. What is your athletic background?
SPEAKER_00So um in high school, I was all state and track basketball and softball. I played for all three of those teams. Um, after that, I came up to New York to play sports in college. I played D1 softball and basketball. Um, and then I coached D1 basketball for years after that. And when I was coaching, I was still working out with my team. Um, and then after that, you know, with kids and and all that, I'd stopped for a little while and then just got back into regular training, just going to the gym. Um, and then I found CrossFit a few years ago.
SPEAKER_01So yeah, it's kind of like a match made in heaven, right? You're kind of just good at everything. So cross it ends up being a good spot, right? Because basketball, softball, and track, there's a lot of different talents needed to be competitive in that. And for all of you that all of you that have kids out there, playing a lot of different sports is the way to go, you know. So that's really cool that that that kind of led you to here. It's always interesting to see like this like spider web of all these different routes of like what brought you to this, and that's a big part of it. Whether you reflect on that or not, it is a huge part. Like all that success and training and all those hours of playing really did bring you to this. Now, Dan, you are you've been around the globe, you've been around the country, I should say, competing, a lot of different comps over the course of 12 to 15 years now. You keep leveling up. It's been a lot of fun to watch you progress as your age progresses as well, which is usually just not a thing in the world today. Is this your first time you've gone international to compete?
SPEAKER_03Uh yeah.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, first time leaving the country to compete. Yeah. Okay. And what where did you find this? How did they find you? Can you speak for both you guys? Like, what made you guys eligible? Did you qualify? Did you have to do qualifiers for this? Or
What IF3 Is And Why
SPEAKER_01you did they reach out to you based on how you've performed in the past?
SPEAKER_03Yeah. So I I first learned about the um, it's the International Functional Fitness Federation, the IF3, yeah, uh, about 10 years ago, uh, through podcasts, General Podcast, CrossFit. I listen to everything CrossFit podcasts. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, uh I just love it. Zoom it all in. Um, so uh what they started as was uh it was a bunch of CrossFitters who loved CrossFit and were like, we want to make this into an Olympic sport, but we can't make CrossFit into Olympics. It's the the the concept of CrossFit is that's constantly varied, right? Right. And uh Olympics need something that's standardized. So what they went into was like, well, how can we standardize this? And so they they made it into um six events where it's like one endurance, one strength, one power, one mixed modal, one body weight, one skills. Um, and so you can still be varied within that, but there's a basis of what the workout should be uh about. Um so fast forward through these years, I've kind of seen like randomly through Instagram that like you know their growth of like creating these competitions. I've seen a couple of friends now who started doing these uh masters events. Um, and so I was like following it, I saw like they were in Hungary a couple years ago, then they were in Australia last year, and I was like, oh man, that's kind of a crazy thing. Um, and I didn't, and I actually I started seeing some some negative stuff about their Australia event that did very well. Um, but then this past year I was on a podcast and I heard um uh Dave Bulmore, who is the leader of the IF or the IF3 for the US Functional Fitness Federation for Masters. Yeah, he was talking about how they're gonna have this competition this year. It's gonna be an Aruba, and I was like, Oh, I like Aruba. And it's like, and we're not gonna do a qualifier, we're taking with whoever did semifinals this year, take your semifinal scores, plug it into our leaderboard, and see where you land, where you land. And if you qualify, I was like, Oh, you know, I don't mind doing that. I don't have to do anything else. I already did semifinals. I was really happy with my semifinals uh you know, this past year. I was like, Yeah, I'll throw my 20 bucks in, see where I land. And I aged up. I was uh I turned 45 this week, so I was uh in as the probably the youngest 45 to 49 year old at the competition. Yeah, maybe yeah, which is fun. Um, and I came, I took first in the in the qualifier for from that, and um, and that's when uh you know he reached out, or that's when I started letting everybody at Bison know, like, hey guys, if anybody who did semifinals, throw your your your scores in. I talked to Mandy about it. So um we had a couple people from Bison, you know, also Tracy was supposed to be down there, and yep, um, I don't know if anybody else submitted, but um, yeah, that's how it started.
SPEAKER_01That's cool. And I I like how a competition like this will use something that you've already done, like you didn't have to do another qualifier, which again, I love qualifiers, they're fun, but like there's a limit to how many you want to be doing throughout the year, and it's kind of like you're knocking two birds out with one stone that you're doing semis, you qualified, you did it. Now, even though this is not directly associated with CrossFit, they are using your performance for something that you did on a strong competitive field against a strong competitive field to see if, like, hey, can you hack it? I mean, that's the person, that's the point of a qualifier in a in a competitive sense is can you hack it and get it done well enough so that we will extend an invite to you? You know, we just got done doing these fittest at the coast at the gym, and that's a big part of what that qualifier really the goal of it is. So you guys submit your scores. It was good enough to make this team, and then the decision comes down to like all right, do I want to spend time away, spend money, go down there? Mandy,
Deciding To Go And Doubt
SPEAKER_01was this an like automatic, like, I'm gone? Because like right now, like you you're on a really like I you have like a lot of momentum right now. Like you're on fire. I always like to say there's people in the gym at any point of the year, they're just on fire. They're they're doing well, they're they're into it, they have a schedule that allows them to train. Um, was this an automatic yes for you?
SPEAKER_00Actually, it wasn't it was not at all. No, no, I put in my scores, I submitted my scores, I ended up being first in my age group too. Nice. And um just like you said, I mean, I'm a single mom of three, they're all in their own sports. It was, you know, at least four or five days away from work and kids and all that. And I was also going through a lot of like imposter syndrome for a while, to be honest. You know, I didn't know what to expect, I didn't know what the competition was like, I didn't know much about this organization at all. And so I had no idea what I was walking into. And I actually said no. And then Dave from the, you know, the USA IF3 reached out and he's just like, Hey, can we just talk on the phone a little bit? And I was like, I don't want to go there and look silly. I'm really worried about it. Um, I want to re from representing USA, I want to do well. And he just, you know, he came back and he said, Listen, I've seen your videos, I think you're gonna be fun. He's like, Do I know if you're gonna podium? I don't know that, but I I think when it comes to competition, like you'll be fine. Um, and so I talked to him about it for actually it took a couple weeks of him being back and forth with me on the phone. Um, and then I I spoke to my family to make sure that I had the support that I needed with the kids and all that. And uh and it it just it worked out. Everybody was really supportive and um and I was able to do it. But initially I was like, no way, I can't, I can't do it. And then I found out Dan was going. And then at that point, Tracy was also going. And so I also knew that like I would have people there.
SPEAKER_02Yep.
SPEAKER_00Um, it wouldn't just be me. Yeah, um, so I ended up saying yes, and I'm so glad I did. That's awesome.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, hey, I I think a lot of people struggle with that, the imposter syndrome stuff. It's like, do I actually belong there? And I I hope that and I would think that being I actually maybe you guys don't look at it this way, but being a part of bison and training at a gym like that where there's just so many good athletes. I mean, this is like an objective fact now with how many people make quarters and semis and even the games now, like that you don't need like that, gives you a great gauge for where you are competitively. Not that you guys show up to the gym every day trying to compete and beat people, but you generally know like, do I hang with this program? Can I hang with these people? Do we have similar scores? Where a lot of people imagine you didn't have that. That I think that would be even more like unstable feeling-wise. That man, like, yeah, I'm the I'm the best, uh, biggest fish in this small pond in a random cross-it gym somewhere in the country, but like no one else here really wants to compete. They don't train to compete. How how competitive am I? So I think moving forward, every time you do sign up for a comp or do a coffee or do the open, it's just it's good information to have that you guys you guys did earn it. You do just belong there, you do have the scores. And that that's uh these things should help build your confidence as you go for the next big thing. Because again, if you guys are gonna try to level up from here, which knowing you too, you probably are going to. I I hope you can take confidence from this situation and say, like, hey, I do belong in wherever I end up competitively, uh, especially in your age groups.
Team Scoring And Global Field
SPEAKER_01I mean, there aren't many people that can do what you guys do at your age. Now, Dan, before we get into some of these workouts, were you guys one person from each age group? Was it one guy, one girl from each age group from USA, or were there a few of you from USA in your age group?
SPEAKER_03Yeah, so each country could have up to three uh men and three women in each age group.
SPEAKER_01So are you competing individually or on a team?
SPEAKER_03Yeah, so the way it works is you compete individually, and then based off of podiums, of a team gets points. I don't I'm not sure exactly how many points, like a you know, maybe a third is you know, less than you know, obviously less first place is most, and then um over through all the all the age groups get added together, and the team that has the most points wins. So you're we're part of team USA, but we would also individual we're individually ranked in our division, um, you know, throughout the weekend.
SPEAKER_01How many different countries were represented? You remember? Was it you remember?
SPEAKER_03I I think 31.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, I was gonna say somewhere around 30. Oh, I thought those answers gonna be like 10. Wow, that's sick. That's awesome. That's what was there uh a language barrier at all with like judging and all that stuff? Like, were you guys like everything was English?
SPEAKER_03Like everything was English. Um, there was uh some people and like most people in most countries spoke English. Um, it's maybe come like you know the international language, but um that there were some people who were struggling, but they mostly always had someone with them that could help translate.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, one of my biggest things, anxiety-wise, heading out to France when I competed there in 2019 was like, are the judges gonna speak English? Like, are they gonna count? And they all they all they all spoke English, you know. Like you American, and I'm like, Yeah, and he goes, Okay, you guys don't know how to do anything, so we know how to do it all. I I speak four languages, so that that that helps. All right, well, let's go. I'm gonna actually gonna share a screen here for those that are watching on YouTube. Um, endurance. So this is a a very OPEX type thing. I think OPEX was at the start of this stuff. Are they associated with this, Dan? Do you know? Not that I know of. I'm not sure. I when I took my OPEX course and I listened to James Fitzgerald all the time, and they wanted to make this their competitive side of things, uh, an Olympic sport. Their biggest thing was you need to know the tests prior to, just like every other Olympic event, you know what they are. You don't find out the day of, and that's where there's a difference in opinion and and what is true competitive testing. How far in advance, Mandy, did you guys know what the workouts were specifically? I know you knew the macro, the endurance, the strength, the mixed modal, but when did you actually find out what the workouts were? I think it was about two weeks, right, Ann?
SPEAKER_03Yeah, around that.
SPEAKER_01Okay, around time. No, you guys didn't really have a lot of time to train these specifically.
SPEAKER_00No. Okay. We didn't.
SPEAKER_01All right. So
Endurance Test On Beach Terrain
SPEAKER_01on the screen here, I have test one, the endurance. It's um all age groups, 2,000 meter trail run, 400-meter farmer carries. That's 53 pounds, 35 pounds, and then another 2,000 meter trail run. That's long. Holy cow. Um, Mandy, what was I mean? This is actually, I do like starting workouts, uh, comps like this, uh, where it's like you don't have to think too much, you know, you don't have to think about mobility and skills and strength. Just go sweat and breathe heavy for a while. Um, approximately, how long is this? I mean, yeah, like how long does this take approximately?
SPEAKER_0020. I mean, it took me, I think 27 minutes, maybe.
SPEAKER_01Okay, okay. And what was the trail run like? Like what kind of terrain were you on?
SPEAKER_00We were on beachy, shelly, rocky, sandy, slight hills up and down throughout the race. I mean, it was also, it was on the beach. There was no shade. It was uh early morning, luckily for us, because we were the you know, the older age groups. Um it was hot and you really had to focus on your footing. Um sneakers or no? I wore my trail running shoes. Did anyone go barefoot? I needed the grip. Okay, okay.
SPEAKER_03No, it's it was there was never like soft, soft sand.
SPEAKER_01Like yeah, it doesn't sound like a trail run to me. I'm thinking like mountains and wilderness and trails.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. Then the shell was like coming up out of the ground too. So it was really like the footing wasn't always super stable. And then you had to make a decision like, okay, am I running through it and over it, or am I gonna go around it on the softer sand?
SPEAKER_01What'd you do?
SPEAKER_00I went over it.
SPEAKER_01I knew you would. That's gonna go around at all.
SPEAKER_00I had those troun and shoes. It was fine. On the way out, I kind of looped around a little bit, but on the way back, I was trying to make up some time. And so um, I actually got a few people because I would just went like straight through and they were trying to loop around.
SPEAKER_01Love that. That's what you should do at a comp. Nice work, Andy. Now, Coda, you're um let's see, with the running, were you training running a lot heading into this? Was that something that you really was a part of your training leading up to?
SPEAKER_03So I've been I've kind of made it almost like a standard throughout the year to keep uh running going. I feel like when you're in good running shape, you're in pretty good shape overall. I think you know agreed. Yeah, so um luckily I have an air runner at home. So you know, running on pavement generally for a long miles tends to hurt my knees um or Achilles. So the air runner has really helped me a lot with that. So I'm usually like once a week on that.
SPEAKER_01Okay, and the the 400 the 400 meter farmer carries, then was this um on the same exact route? Was it basically just like a hey, run straight, turn around, come back?
SPEAKER_03Yeah, yeah. You run to the end, that's where the the kettlebells were. You'd grab them, you'd go to another cone 200 meters away, back, put them back where you found them, and now you're back on your 2K run.
SPEAKER_01Okay, and how many were they sending out at once? Um, what do you think, Mandy?
SPEAKER_03Like like 30?
SPEAKER_00Um, yeah, I mean we had we had a few heats. It was definitely the biggest, the biggest sets of heats.
SPEAKER_01Okay. Uh-oh, lost Mandy. Dan, are you there? Uh yeah, I'm still here. All right. Mandy, are you there? All right, we'll see if we can get Mandy back. I'll text her. Dan, when you were racing, what do you like to do on stuff like this? Where do you like to go out and get out in front just to get away from the crowd? Because sometimes it's annoying to kind of get in and out with with people. Yeah or do you kind of pace it? Do you let other people and then you kind of almost attack a different part of the race, or do you like to get out in front?
SPEAKER_03So uh this one I did a little bit differently. And the main reason why is we didn't have chip timers. It was gonna be we had a number on, and it was gonna be a judge at the end that you know like clocked what time you came in based on your number. So generally, when I'm uh when I have a chip timer on and there's a huge crowd, like at Wadapalooza, I waited for the crowd to go out before I would get close to the start line, and then I would start fast um and just basically try to catch up to people, knowing that I started after them and that my chip timer would be the the the actual time. Uh in this case, I decided, you know what, I want to get to those kettlebells as fast as possible. I know that's gonna be a big separator and it's gonna be a time to catch catch up as far as like breathing-wise goes, and it's just gonna turn into you know a grip, a grip intensive. So um, I went out hot, you know, and and tried to keep up with the the top pack.
SPEAKER_01Mandy, what do you think? Just to wrap this one up, what do you what is in your head during a workout like this? Because it's all it's like you're not doing that many things, right? You don't have to think about form that much, but you're racing, and you know, I'm always curious. I always want to know what people think during during workouts like this. Like I could open up the door to what I think about long endurance workouts, and I do things that I actually think help me move better and quicker. But what do you think about when you're running a race like this?
SPEAKER_00Well, I mean, for me running, uh, you know, I I usually always start off and I try to just like pace myself from the very beginning. I feel like I have a good endurance run in general. And for this one, number one, I was really glad that, like you said, that the first one was endurance because the nerves really weren't there as much. It was kind of like the a really good one to get out of the way first.
SPEAKER_01Yep.
SPEAKER_00And then second, I just wanted to make sure that I stayed with the front of the pack. You know, you don't we had multiple heats, so I didn't really know what my other heat was gonna do, but it was really just stay with the front of the pack, you know, for the kettlebells break when they break, um, but just stay with them. Got it. Um, and I I mean, I think it it went well like that. But like I said, you just you never know what the other heat's gonna do. But it was it was a good first one to start off with.
unknownGreat.
SPEAKER_03You know what, you know what's funny is that uh I didn't realize that we had multiple heats of the age groups. I thought since we were doing a mass start, like that was my whole age group. And so this ended up kind of coming up to bite me in the end because I was I was racing my group, and uh it turns out my group was slower than the other, the other heat by luck. Um, and yeah, so that I came in, I think second in my heat, but um, and I'm I don't know that I had more or slowed or faster, you know, if I was with faster guys, but um I I had the mindset, like especially that last like half mile, I'm like, oh, I got this. There's no one kept looking back, I'm like, oh, no one's here. Like I'm I'm good. Um, so I was like, make sure you know the heats before you start.
SPEAKER_00It was the same. I I wish I would have I wish I would have, if we were all in one heat, right? Like I was like probably third in my heat too, but I ended up being like, I don't know, 12th at the end because the other heat was faster. So same.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, that's um, you guys are both like what I real competitors to me, in that like you you you will sometimes do what you have to do to get that win or get that placement. It's not about how fast or how strong, how slow you are. It's like, no, I'm more competitive. I'm going to beat that person. Like, and you and some people don't have that trait, but in and that in a live competition that helps you. That doesn't really help that much in like solo open quarters, unless. You have someone there competing with you. Um, and but I would put both you guys in that bucket that you guys do better when you have someone next to you trying to be. So yeah, that's that's again a good lesson. Be aware of of what's going on there.
Max Snatch Under Five Minutes
SPEAKER_01All right, test two. Dan, we'll start off with you on here. Uh it was a strength test, five minutes to establish a max load of a snatch plus hang snatch. And not much to this, like what can you lift? And first one's off the ground, second one's from this uh the hang. I think I saw your video of this one and I was watching with Ashley, and like you just you were so low in the squat. I was like, Oh my gosh, but's almost gonna touch the ground. Um, were you happy what'd you hit and what were you happy? Was it kilograms, by the way?
SPEAKER_03No, our our weights were were in pounds. Oh thank god. Okay, yeah, yeah. The the the the Europeans were struggling a little bit. I was like, just go based off the the size, right? It's like you know so how'd this go for you? Yeah, so uh what was nice is that um our corralling for to get from the warm-up era to this the floor was only about 10 minutes. Okay. Um, and so I was able to warm up right up to the moment I uh, you know, right before they called us. Okay. Um so in warm-up, um, I had I had a plan in my head I wanted to hit um 170, 180, 190, um, which would be really good for me. Yeah, um and this is definitely one of those things where you kind of stay in your own lane, there's nothing you can do to do better than other people. Um, so uh I got out, I hit 170 actually, just a regular snatch. I was squatting the whole time. That's what I wanted to do um in warm-up and I went out. Um hit 70 really clean. I was like, oh, it's feeling really good. This is gonna be a good, a good day. Um, I go out. Um, I actually the nerves actually did kind of get me a little bit. I was really excited. I had like you know, my family right in front of me. Um, I go for the very first one, hit 170 right over my head. I was like, oh, too much. Yeah, yeah, too light. That bar's too light. Yeah. Um, and so I took a second, composed myself. I hit I hit 170. I'm like, you know what? I'm going 185. I feel that I'm feeling really good. There's no no need to play around here. I want to see what I what I can really hit. Nice. Um, and I go for my snatch off the floor, hit 185, I'm pumped up. It goes up so nice. I go to to go to my hang and get up, and I and I'm I realized after watching the video, I I lost my full extension. You know, I I've you know, in the heat of it all, and the excitement, and you know, I don't fully extend the weight, doesn't get as high, and I miss it. I get overhead and miss it forward. Forward, um, yeah. And I'm like, but the first one felt so good. I'm like, why is this, you know, why is this happening? Um now the floor also was a little like it was um thin matte on on like a very thick um like turf. So it was a little bit softer than than what you would like in weightlifting. So not I'm not throwing excuses, it's just like what I was feeling. Oh yeah, yeah. So I I go, I hit 185 again, miss the hang again. I'm like, all right, well, I know I have 180 in me. Let me lower it down, make sure I get a better score. Um, so I hit I got 180. That's the one I posted. Um, I got real low on that second one. Um and I just hung out there, you know. I bounced for a second, hung out, and like I was never worried about getting the squat out. I just wanted to make sure I had the balance correctly.
SPEAKER_02Yep.
SPEAKER_03Um, and I got 180, which you know what I'm like I'm I'm really happy about. Uh, you know, on in general, like snatching has never been a big strength of mine. Um, I ended up 12th in that, which for me is is really solid. Um, I'm I'm kind of like realizing that I've kind of caught up to my age group enough to damage control the strength stuff, which used to be a big hit for me. Yeah, um, so yeah, I tried 185 one more time, but I didn't even get it off the ground. I had like almost no time left. And I had you know, five minutes is such a short amount of time to even go over five lifts.
SPEAKER_01That's a small window. Yeah. Mandy, were you happy with what you hit? And what did you have any takeaways from this event?
SPEAKER_00Yeah, so I actually did better in this event than I thought I was gonna do. I went into it thinking again, that imposter syndrome where I was like, oh my gosh, these girls are gonna be lifting crazy weight. And I really liked snatching. Um, I have been working a lot on squatting everything for the past four months, and I felt really good Tuesday before I left going in doing um the weight because I tested it just to see where I was gonna start. And then I got there and I don't know whether it was the nerves or the run or my quad or what was happening, but I just didn't feel good in the squad at all. Um, and so I while I was warming up, I was like, all right, well, let me try power and see how power feels. And power felt great. Um, so I was like, all right, well, looks like we're powering this stuff today. Adjustable. Um, so I got out there, my plan was one to open with 125, uh, then hit 130 and then go for 135. Um in the past 130's been my PR. Okay. I went out there, powered 125, felt really good. Um, put 130 on, hit that, put 135 on, hit that. And then I was like, well, I still have a little bit of time left, so let me try 140 and then threw that on there and it was not pretty, but it counted. I got it.
SPEAKER_01That's a lot of snatching in a short amount of time.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. Um, so yeah. And uh, and I ended up, like I said, I had I had to power up my squat, just I wasn't feeling it. Yeah, that's a PR for you all time. Yeah, that's an all-time PR.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, that's cool.
SPEAKER_00Actually, I ended up finishing second in that um in that event.
SPEAKER_01Oh, that's awesome. Good for you. Yeah, so was uh were event one and event two, sorry, I should say test one and test two. Were they in the same day? Yeah, okay, and then test three was the next day, yes, three and four. All right, cool. So three and four
Pistols Workout With A Strained Quad
SPEAKER_01the next day. All right, event three, body weight. Okay, so love this format. Don't love the movements, but um so we we've done this format a few times. It's a very popular slash common competitive format. So basically there's a two-minute workout, one minute rest, two minutes on, one minute off, two minutes on, one minute off, and then three minutes on. And at the start of each interval, you row 15 cals for the guys, 12 for the ladies, then you do 12 box jumpovers, 60 centimeters, 50. Is that is that uh 2420, or is that 30? Yeah, okay. So it's 24 inches for the guys, 20 for the ladies, and then whatever time you have left over, you're it's a max rep. And that max rep movement were were pistols, yeah. So you do, you know, Mandy, you're a monster on the machine, you're really good at the box. My assumption is that you were probably at the pistols before everyone in every set. And I am I right, yeah. Ding done. All right, so there you go. So that doesn't surprise me at all. You get there, and my guess is you probably were getting there with over a minute left. Am I right about that?
SPEAKER_00Yeah, right around a minute.
SPEAKER_01Okay, so a minute of pistols, there aren't many things that are more unattractive to me than that right there in life. Pistols for a minute. But you have you have decent mobility around your knee and your ankle and your hip. Was that something you were able to sprint through, like really high effort, so that you can just get there and bang them out, or did you have to pace this out a little bit?
SPEAKER_00So there was a couple of things going into this. So three weeks before this event, I strained my quad. Okay. And this was the event that I was the most worried about because I hadn't really tested it. Remember, I didn't squat the um snatches. So this was really the one that I was needed the most time. So my my strategy was blow through the rower as fast as you can, box jump as fast as you can, get to the cone before everybody so that you have a little bit more time to do the pistols. And and that was it, right? Like you just have to get into a flow and you just have to move. So I kind of lined myself up for a minute, and then it's just it's just straight go. I ended up overall doing 95 pistols. Wow. Which was a lot. That's a lot. Um, I hit I finished sixth in this event, and I was really surprised.
SPEAKER_01That's awesome, Andy. That's a really good job by you. And overcoming that little bit of fear, like a lot of people that compete, you know, you had this vision in your head that you're gonna go up there, you're gonna go there and just like you're gonna feel like a million bucks.
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_01And it's rarely, it's it's rarely the case that you go somewhere, especially as a competitor, but as a master's competitor, especially, there's always something nagging you a little bit. And I know you you you've been there before, you've been an athlete your whole life, you probably have dealt with that. That's part of where athletes have an advantage. You kind of understand that's part of the game. You know, is there something that you would give advice to anyone that's listening? Like, hey, hey, I'm dealing with this, but I have to go do this at a comp. This isn't a normal Tuesday workout at the gym. Like, listen to your body, but you know, you do at some point tell your body to shut up during a comp. Like that's you're there to compete. And there's there's limits to that. You don't actually fight through an actual injury. And but was there something that it helps you kind of overcome a little bit of that fear of that quad strain?
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I mean, leading up to it, I think is important, right? Like depends on how how soon it happens before the competition happens, how much time you have in between. I didn't test this workout at all. The only thing I did was the ski in the box jumps just to see how it feels, but I really didn't do any pistols and I haven't done any pistols in a while.
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_00Because my goal was try to get as healthy as you possibly can. I did a ton of recovery. I did a ton of PT the week before I left. And my in my head, I was just like, listen, once you get there, whatever happens while you're there, you can't hold back from it. Like you just have to push through. Clearly, it's one thing if if I had some shooting pain, that would be it. I started to feel a little bit of pressure in the third round, but it wasn't enough to set off any alarms that made me think I needed to stop. Um because I mean that's why we're that's why we train. This is what we do everything we do for so that when we get there, you can do your best. And at that point, I was just like, this you also have to know your body. And this was a feeling that I had that I knew wasn't enough to make me stop.
SPEAKER_01Got it.
SPEAKER_00Um, and then I could just push through it.
SPEAKER_01Good. Now, Dan, this workout for you, you're you're pretty good at both those as well. You're you're pretty good on the machine, you're pretty good at the box, and pistols, like that we just talked about your mobility. You you put a lot of time in on your mobility, you always have, and I think you're reaping the rewards of that years later because as long as I've known you, especially as you've always put attention on that. And I'm trying to get more people to do this, like literally just stretch more, do more mobility. And it's not because I want your squats to feel better tomorrow, it's that in seven years you're gonna be able to do things that most people won't be able to do in seven years because they don't do the mobility work. So, what was your approach to this workout knowing that you can hammer through these things?
SPEAKER_03Yeah, um, yeah, I'll say for sure. Like, if if you're out there and it mobility 100%, it's helped me so much. It's definitely helped longevity for sure. Um, one thing for me, uh pistols is the is the one thing is like I can do them. I I don't like to do them. I see, I think it was about maybe five or six years ago. I was I was I was like it was a movement I wanted to get better at, so I started really focusing on it and putting a lot of time on it, and I ended up tear getting a small tear in my patel attendant during that time. And you know, I was out for like six months of any kind of squatting. It was it was kind of a crazy time. So because of that, it was one of those movements I've been like, you know what? I'm okay if I never do another pistol again. Same. Yeah. So um, this is one of those workouts where it's like, you know, you talk about sometimes like you just it's like the luck of the draw sometimes, like is a is a competition programmed well for you or not. Yeah, and this one was kind of in the the overall comp was a little bit kind of in the middle because especially this one was uh really much a damage control one for me. Yeah, um, and I went into it with I changed my mindset completely because I was like, you know what, I don't I don't think I can compete with you know the top guys on this one. I saw them saw them warming up their pistols and I have to hold my feelings, you know, it's the worst feeling in the world, yeah. So I'm like, you know what? I need to, you know, a lot of stuff I've done with Rafi. Uh it's like I need to create a win for myself in this workout. What's a win gonna be? And I was like, you know what? There was every 25 cone, every time 25 pistols, you have to get to another cone. So I was like, I want to get past 50 and get to the last cone. If I get there, I'm gonna be really happy. And um, you know, I went out and the first round I did like 16 pistols. I was like, Yeah, let's go. I'm like feeling starting to feel good. And um, you know, the the head judge was being very tough on everybody, which was great. Um, so I he came over, he gave me a couple no reps, I fixed up what he was telling me. I was my foot was coming up and going behind my body, so I was starting making sure it was in front of me. Um and yeah, by the end of the workout, I did 64 pistols. I was at the last cone. I was really proud of the effort, you know. It was at the end of that. I was, you know, I knew it wasn't gonna be a great finish. I saw how much faster the guys got to the last cone than me, and that you know, the rest of the comp was gonna be an uphill battle. Um, but I was really happy about that. So I think like anybody could take that home. Like any workout you do in a gym, you know, every day when it's like, oh, this is not good for me, be like, or what would be a good score for me? And then, you know, put that in front of yourself and try to get that because you can make yourself really proud about it.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, it's funny how when I hear people talk about whether it's day-to-day workouts at the gym or competitions, I hear this all the time where it's like a workout that you know you're just not gonna do quote well in. Like, what does that even mean? But to you, like what you're normally used to doing, but you still do it, there's a level of fulfillment that comes from it that you don't get from crushing something that you're naturally already good at. And I hope every like when we talk about cherry picking, sometimes you know, a coach, myself including, get a little passive aggressive, a little condescending, maybe when like when you when you really call people out for cherry picking, you will stay away from that side of it. But when you do things that you're naturally not good at, that's probably the the quickest way to make yourself fitter. And there's a safety component to some movements. We know that. Just had a long conversation with that about someone last night um on Halloween night, uh, someone over our house, and we were talking about some of this stuff, like, yes, you're I don't want you to go get hurt because you know there's some movements that people don't do because of injury, but there's also up in it's much more common that people won't do movements or workouts because they're not good at it. But if the goal is to be fitter, if you get better at what you're bad at, that's the way to improve your fitness, that's the quickest, most efficient way to do it. And that feeling that you have, both of you, after this workout, it might be like a high that in normal circumstances you would have avoided it because of whatever reason. And I think that this is what a lot of people can take from competitors that even if you don't want to compete, that underlying theme of hey, I should go to the gym on the days where I hate the workout, long endurance, I hate it. Show up. I guarantee that you're gonna feel a different feeling after you get that done of pride for yourself and also physic uh physical fitness.
Bar Muscle-Ups And Handstand Skills
SPEAKER_01Um, so next one up, the skill. Okay, so this looks like a cool workout. Um, I think actually go down to the next uh 40 to 40. Oh, okay, good. I was like, wait, pullovers. I don't remember that. Okay, cool. Yeah, that's a much better version. All right, so for time, 10, 8, 6, 4, 2 bar muscle-ups. That's 30 bar muscle-ups, and then 10 meter handstand walk, 15 toes bar, 10-meter handstand walks. Let me know if I have this right. Was it 10 bar muscle-ups that go handstand walk, toes to bar, handstand walk, then do eight bar muscle ups? Yeah, okay, cool. All right, so basically it's a five-round workout of descending bar muscle-ups, and then after your bar muscle-ups, you were walking on your hands, doing toes bar, walking hands. I think that's a sick workout. Um, I kind of want to do that. So 10 meters, that's about 30 feet, right? Ish, yeah. 20, 25 to 30 feet, somewhere in there. Yeah, yeah. 15 down, 15 back. Dan, you this is kind of a wheelhouse workout for you.
SPEAKER_03Oh my gosh, it was so fun to watch him do this one. Did you crush this? Someone texted me and asked how much I paid them to write this for me. Yeah, I was I loved this. I was so pumped. These are all movements that are he was smiling the entire time, by the way. Dan's smiling, Mandy. No way.
SPEAKER_00The entire workout.
SPEAKER_03Um, yeah. So uh my plan was to go bar myself unbroken the whole time through. Um, to quite a stay quick on my hands. That I know I built up a lot of confidence on my hands, especially over the last like few months. I was practicing pirouettes because I thought they might be in this, but I mean, glad I'm glad they weren't. But um, that helped me out just a lot, just like my balance and everything. So, and toes the bar, you know, I knew like I did started round 15 unbroken, and then I was doing nine, six the whole way through. Um, so I got through the round of eight, got back to the bar muscle-ups for six, and I look over and I start seeing people breaking up muscle-ups or failing muscle-ups and struggling. And I'm like, Oh, I got this. This is like this is my jam. I'm ready to go, you know, breathing wise. Um, and I I had practiced this and I got, I think, to the round of four bar muscle-ups. And this time I got I was in the round of 15 toes to bar at the very end. All I had left was I think I was 12 toes to bar, so I was like three more toes to the bar and a handsome walk down and back to finish under the cap. Um, came fifth in the workout. I was really, really pumped. It was really fun. Um, yeah, I'm glad you got to do that.
SPEAKER_01That's a that's that just looks like a lot of fun workout. Yeah, and here's a good example like, yes, fitness, it should be fun, pursue fun, like do things that you're good at because it again, it is fun. And it's funny how in a workout that you know you're really good at, it's actually in some ways harder to push really hard at it. Like, you're so good at this stuff, so you know how to level up. It's not do more reps, some in some ways it is, it's learn how to go faster, like make it more miserable, you know, and like that like really push how long you're resting in between sets, what you're doing on broken. So that's a challenge that when when you get to workouts, and that's cool that you got better, you almost got to the end of it after not getting to the end. That that's you, that's fitness right there, objectively. You did more work in the same amount of time, and that's just you pushing harder because it wasn't you couldn't do the movements, it was how fast can I do these movements? Mandy, your gymnastics at bison alone, I would say over the past let's call it nine months is probably eight months has probably improved as much as anyone in the gym. If you're just saying, like, okay, from eight months ago to now, your gymnastics have improved as much as anyone, right? There's a couple of you, like Falia has gotten a lot better, Nicole Aquino with her butterfly pull-ups. Um but you really are a standout. Before, like, what did you have is are there particular things that you did over that time span that really helped you increase your capacity and ability and upside on gymnastics workouts like this?
SPEAKER_00So one of the things that you know we we talked about was just any when you're testing your fitness, you can do the things that you're really good at, right? And there are certain things that are my wheelhouse, which we know, but gymnastics is not one of those wheelhouse things because I have zero gymnastics background. So everything I've picked up has just been learning. And um, after SIMAs, I started working um doing extra programming with Bobby. And gymnastics is one of the things that I was just like, I have to get better, I have to get my endurance better at what I can do. I have to tighten up uh a couple skills that I do have, and then I want to learn one skill that I don't have at all, right? So I think a lot of it comes into not I not just drilling it, but understanding that you don't have to spend five hours a day doing these extra movements to get better at them. It's just I could find 10 minutes here or there, 15 minutes here or there, um, not every single day, right? Like three days a week, doing a little bit of accessory stuff. Um and I think all those little pieces compound into what does end up making things like this get easier when you do get to them. I knew this workout was gonna be my toughest because my my endurance with bar muscle ups just isn't really there yet. My handstand walks I've gotten better. I've drilled them a lot over the course of the past four months. Um, but I knew going into this, I had to be really smart about strategy and then just, you know, trust in what I've trust in what I've been working on that it's gonna come through when I need it.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. And that that's that's great. And that trust, you keep saying that trust, process, trust, process, like not just results, not just what happened at this workout. Because again, you still have a ways to go. And you have, you know, we'll talk about your end goals at the end of this at the episode. Got another couple workouts to go over, but that that word trust, I hope you can keep that front center, is just trust, whether it's Bobby, whether it's yourself, whether it's just the the path of progression in this sport, it takes longer than everybody thinks. I have not seen one person that's really kind of you know, really dove into the competitive side of CrossFit and had them not be as surprised at some point, like, wow, like this takes years, not months.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I think especially come from somebody who's who's an athlete my entire life. Yep, you know, I would look at some of these movements and just be like, my in my brain, my brain is saying, you should be able to do that. Like you can do that. And then you get up there and then your body's like, I think you need to work at it a little bit longer. And you have to be patient with that and be patient with yourself. I mean, a lot of these gymnastics I didn't even learn until over 40. So I'm, you know, I'm not in my 20s anymore. My body doesn't move like I'm in my 20s anymore. And that's okay too. I think that's another big acceptance that you have to trust the process that it's gonna come. It might take a little longer than what your brain thinks it's gonna take.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_00But you can still get there.
SPEAKER_01Yep. Awesome. Now, did you guys do test six before five? Yeah. Okay. Because yeah, okay. Because I know the story here
Sprint Event And Hamstring Pull
SPEAKER_01with this one. Uh, Mandy, let me hear about your experiences. Let's this one first. So this is a power output. I remember OPEX. I'm again this has OPEX written all over it, all this stuff. It's like they they do want to test things that are under a minute long. That that is really where the power energy system is truly tested. It could be a 15-second cow bike, honestly. Just how powerful can you be? A 100-meter zigzag sprint. So I'm assuming this means that they don't just put you on a field and tell you to run as fast as you can. You're kind of running left to right a little bit. Um again, you're an athlete. You are a former Allstate track athlete. There's something in you that that does this well. How excited were you for this? That because I know a lot of masters people are not excited when they see something that that looks like this on paper.
SPEAKER_00So in theory, I was really excited, right? I I like stuff like this and I knew that I had potential to do really well in this. And then there's the other side of it that's like, oh, I haven't really sprinted like this in a while. Have to not get hurt, right? The goal, the goal was make it through this workout to make sure that you can get to the end. I got there and actually an hour early to start stretching and warming up and sort of working into my sprints because I was, you know, going into this knowing that I have potential to do well, or I could come out with an injury. So I have to make sure that I balance it. But I was I was excited about this one. It was you sprinted out uh, you know, probably about 25 yards and then you did a little zigzagging and then it was a full sprint back. Okay. Um, about 50 yards. So um I I knew that if I could hang in on the on the zigzag that that longer sprint, I could probably catch anybody, but just because of my stride. And I ended up I finished second, I took second in this one. Wow, right. Was that your best finish? No, the snatch. Snatch and this one were second place.
SPEAKER_01Oh, nice. Good for you. That's awesome. Again, those are two power-based workouts, too. I mean, I already know that about you. Like you are a power athlete, and it's cool that they actually will specifically try to test like something like that. Now, Dan, you have a little bit of a story with this one, and the the the irony behind it is what Manny talked about. Like you're almost afraid to do something like this because of injury. And I have seen sprints at CrossFit Comps, and I have seen guys that are really good athletes, they won't sprint, they'll jog it, they'll they'll take the last place finish because you know they that's not a part of their training for whatever reason. Uh tell me what, tell us what happened on this event.
SPEAKER_03Sure. Um, so I mean, I when I got there, I uh I got there at the very beginning of the sprinting same because I wanted to get there early and just really warm up as much as I could. Um, I started seeing uh men and women, I think I saw probably before I went, like seven people pull hamstrings in the event or warming up. Uh it was like someone, there was like a sniper out there just like yeah. Um, and you know, man, you and I were talking about it before before the race. And it was like, all right, yeah, definitely, you know, don't you know try to try to get through this as best as you can. I'm like, yeah, I'm you know, we were sharing warm-up strategies, we were trying to get, you know, get warmed up. And um in my final right before I was gonna go to corral, I was like, all right, time to you know let it loose here and just you know make sure I'm really ready to go. So I I set I we had like a like a track right next to it that people had set up with zigzag and everything. So I did this, I did the same exact run, it's just shorter. And as I was coming up full sprint, I was even thinking to myself, right, keep your strides maybe a little bit shorter, don't don't overreach here, right? And then right before maybe 10 yards before I was gonna finish, I felt the the pull in the back of my right hamstring, and I was so angry. Um, you know, I was telling they were on the the MC during the event because he kept seeing people, he's like, Don't keep on, guys, like make sure you don't get hurt, don't try to go so hard. But it's so hard as a competitor to pull back, and you know, in my head, and I was talking to some other people too, like, yeah, you know, maybe we don't go as hard on this, you know. And but I couldn't, I couldn't help myself. I had to had to see, and I was actually really curious to see like how fast I am because I've yeah, I've built a lot of leg strength and I feel like I've gotten faster in a lot of ways, you know. At the end of like an 800 meter, I feel like I can unleash a little bit and feel good, but it's never full sprint, right? Um, so this is like really the only part of the whole competition where I felt like uh it was a little bit of like I felt like you could do better. You know, I feel like especially we since we only learn about this two weeks ahead of time, it's not like we could really prepare well for for sprinting and get you know, build that capacity. Um, and maybe that's just knowing that like if you're in an event like this, like that's it's a possibility. So for me, it felt like you know, hopefully they learn from this and see how many injuries happen. And maybe like you're saying, like an Echo Bike, you could you know certainly test power and yeah in a much safer way.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, the the sprinting that this has been brought up to me a lot over the past couple of years. It's like, why don't we sprint? And I do think it should be a part of fitness, but I also know that people are gonna get hurt if we do it a lot, and that's it's a really tough decision for me because I don't think it's necessarily the right thing to do to avoid it from a programming perspective. But I also don't think it's the right thing to do to put people in a position where it's it's almost inevitable, and you know, why don't I feel that way about snatching or overhead squatting? It's like I don't I don't even think it's close how many more people would get hurt sprinting than that. And so I have kind of like air myself towards like if that's something you want to do, like I'd like you to do that on your own. You know, I I do believe in the purpose of it, and I'm Dan, I'm curious too. I would love to know how fast I am. And I'd I'd rather it not be like running from a grizzly bear or you know, running after your son who's about to run into traffic or something like that, you know. But it's um uh it's an interesting conversation. I don't even know how I truly feel about it, to be honest with you, but it maybe a good good podcast episode. So, Dan, did that pull you out for that pulled you out for the event? Did that pull you out for the comp?
SPEAKER_03Yeah, at that point I could barely walk, unfortunately.
SPEAKER_01Um that's a crappy pain, it hurts a lot.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, yeah. And we had heavy thrusters, jump rope and burpees after that. So I I knew that there was there was no way I'd be able to even attempt those. So at that point, I pulled myself out of competition. All right. Um, which was it's the first time I've ever it's ever happened to me um competing all these years. So I mean I'm thankful. Yeah, yeah, I was pretty happy like to you know to say to say that it's you know, only once. Um and uh yeah, I I've that last event too. I've been working heavy thrusters for the last six months just randomly. Um, Bobby's having done a lot of that stuff, so I was really excited about it. Um, similar to the body to the to the skills one, but um yeah, just the way it the way it did you try, did you try squatting?
SPEAKER_01Or are you like, dude, I can't feel my leg right now, I'm not even gonna bother.
SPEAKER_03Um it hurt just to bend, yeah.
SPEAKER_01Wow, yeah. That's a yeah, yeah. I I'm like cringing just like is I've been there before, I've done the hammy before. It is like oh, it's like nails on a chalkboard. Just think about it. So all right, so Mandy, you did this last workout.
Thrusters Plus Burpees Grit Test
SPEAKER_01This is a very this like you would see this at across the gym any week, right? Three rounds for time, 60 double unders. All right, so six zero, sixteen thrusters, sixte bar facing burpees, 10-minute cap, so 60 kilogram, 45 kilogram. That's probably about uh is that like a 135-95 type thruster? Yep, yeah, guys. So that's that that's that's a pretty heavy thruster for that much volume. Um, what is your approach on this on a 10-minute workout? You know, it's probably not the easiest cap to finish under. It's not a sprint, you can't sprint through this. You probably don't even need to go unbroken. The burpee pace is probably gonna dictate a lot. What was your plan on this one?
SPEAKER_00So um, this is the one that I I wish that I had strategized a little bit better on for sure. Um I the double unders just always spike my heart rate. Like it's it's the one that I know that I need to do a little bit every day. It's like we talked about that, like even if it's just warming up, like throwing in some double unders to get better at them. Um, I ended up breaking up the double unders just naturally, you know, when I have would have a mess. I was gonna go um like a 30-30 uh initially. And then the thrusters, I ended up, um, I was gonna try to go in and do two sets at the beginning and then three sets after that. And then the burpees just keep moving. Um, and then you again you had a cone that you had to move like at the end.
SPEAKER_02Okay.
SPEAKER_00Um just this was just damage control. Not a whole lot of people finished this one at all in almost any of the age groups. Um, I think I've ended up falling like maybe 12th in this one, okay, somewhere in that in that range. But it was just hang on, it was just hang on as long as you can at the end and who could hold on to the pen cave the longest. Oh, you know, I say this all the time and I'm gonna repeat it because one of the things that you said on the podcast, and I've said this to you before, is like when you're getting into some of these hard things like, you know, the burpees or the jump rope or whatever, and even the thruster weight, like it wasn't, it wasn't the weight, it was just my heart rate and my breathing. I was tired.
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_00Um, is like I remember you saying once it's something like, um, you know, it's with the with the burpees, right? Like you're not, you're not gonna die. You're not gonna, you're not gonna fail it. You just gotta keep moving. You just gotta find that place to go to to just keep going, right? The the double unders, you're gonna miss, but you can get through them. You just gotta put your head down, go to that place and just kind of get through it. You're not, you're not gonna die. It just hurts, right?
SPEAKER_02Yeah, supposed to be.
SPEAKER_00And I think that's kind of the place that I with workouts like this that I just try to go to during a competition. I think it's really hard to train these before the competitions, too, in my mind, because I think we kind of just get caught up sometimes in like the class speed. And you need to know how this feels going into it. And again, because of my quad, I didn't really test this one at all. I just did like one round just to kind of get through it. So I knew I was gonna be, you know, it was gonna be hard breathing-wise, but um I think with better pacing, I think I could have done a lot better in this one. And that I think that's just a rookie mistake that I made.
SPEAKER_01It's okay. And I think if this was an open workout, this could definitely be an open workout, maybe not this heavy, but it could. Um, this would be one that I bet everyone would improve on if they did it a second time. Like you would just kind of anticipate where the breaking points are. And you know, you're still relatively new to competing. I think you know, you do enough of these workouts and you combine that with being mindful and reflection and kind of talking to people about it and hearing yourself talk about it, even helps that you in time can eventually create the best pace for yourself based on what you have experienced in the past. Like this is a pretty typical gnarly mixed modal crossfit workout. You know, you can switch up the movements and sometimes the inability to do toes bar, muscle ups, chest bar, like that could probably maybe change up the plan for a workout. But for this, it's just grit. And that it's good that you can already kind of pick up on that. Like, this is just like you gotta keep moving, and like we know it hurts, like, and it's so easy for someone watching tell you to keep moving, but you really they're like this. Is where I actually these workouts to me uh often will show me who wants to compete because you'll never get to a high level in the sport if you can't get through stuff like this. I'm not saying finishing in X time, just getting through it with the right mindset. Like, if you get through a workout like this with the right mindset, whether it's a random Wednesday at bison or at a competition in Aruba representing USA, if you can't mentally get through it, I don't think the sport is for you. Like that the vast majority of the sport is grit and effort, and then there's talent and skill and all this stuff, right? But it and this is where it's not even like a good or bad trait about people, it's just like, do you have that trait or not? I had someone at the gym this week, tell me. It's like I just don't, I can't go there. I can't go to that place anymore. I just don't want to. I'm like, that's okay. Like that's not that this is sport. Like, Mandy, what you're doing is sport, and this is one of the difference differences between sport and fitness. Like, I'm not gonna go to a random person at the gym and almost kind of like belittle them or make them feel bad about themselves because they didn't grit them their way through 16 burpees, like, oh god forbid they took a break. Like, they're there for exercise, mental health, physical health, whatever. Fine. But if you're competing and you say you want to compete, you have to get good at stuff like this. Like it's a it's a prerequisite to compete at a high level. And this often will show the person themselves when they think in a dark room by themselves, do I really want to keep pursuing this? This is the workout that can expose a big part of that truth.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, for sure.
SPEAKER_01That's awesome. That's awesome that you can reflect on that and say that and be like, hey, I applied it to a workout because that's a big part. I'm just letting you know, like that's what a lot of people who say they want to compete, they don't have that. And because they don't have it, they probably shouldn't compete unless they want to get there someday. And it takes time, you have to fail and be like, you know, I just didn't push hard enough. But if it's like, yeah, no, I don't want to do that, then I just I don't, you're wasting people's time, including yourself.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I also think that a lot, you know, uh in sport and in CrossFit, I think a lot of it is skill, you know, as we get older, especially getting up into master's athletes, I have conversations with people and I'm just like, you know, that crossing that line, getting out of that comfort zone, yeah, learning how to deal with the nerves, learning how to deal with the prep, like figuring out strategy, all of that. Like all of those are skills that I think as we get older, we get less and less opportunities to be able to find places to do that. And when you when you don't do it, you kind of get out of practice with it. And then you you really you learn, right? Like, is this something that I've I really want in my life? Yeah or like you said, and it's okay that some people are like, I'm just not there, I just don't want to do that anymore. Um, and that that is that's sort of like the balance to find when it comes to to doing this.
SPEAKER_01And I often find it's like people that do want to do it, they're like, Yes, I want that blood. Like, that's like, all right, this is for you. Like, you found your thing. Now let's go do the work. All right. So
Next Goals For The Open
SPEAKER_01to wrap this up, um, what's next for you guys? Dan, we'll start off with you. Like, what's coming up for you? You know, you have some rehab that you're gonna be going through with your hammy. Um, what's next on the gold plate for you competitively?
SPEAKER_03Yeah, um, yeah, so I'm pretty lucky. I think the hamstring is is gonna be pretty minor. It's already feeling a lot better than it was. So hopefully just another two, three weeks more weeks. Yep. Um, but all my focus is on the open right now. Um you know, being 45 in the 45 to 49 group, uh, you know, I'm really excited about it. I I um from my understanding, there's gonna be in-person semifinals again this year, and the goal is to be competing in an in-person semifinal for masters this year. Let's do it, baby. Nice, that's awesome.
SPEAKER_01Mandy, what about you? What's next for you?
SPEAKER_00Um, well, short term, I, you know, hopefully I would like to do at least one more comp in between. Um, we'll see about fitness of the coast. Um see if I can get there. I've qualified for it so far, but we'll see after everything shakes down. Yeah. Um, and then like just like Dan said, like I'm I want to get to the open. My goal overall um this year is to it's it was the this last year also was to hit the top 100. So I I made 109 last year.
SPEAKER_02Nice, okay.
SPEAKER_00And um, so I'm gonna I'm gonna keep that as my goal. I want to break that top 100 number.
SPEAKER_01Sick. Awesome. I think both you guys can do it. Both both those goals that you guys have shared. I think both you guys can do it. Just got to keep grinding, got to keep working out, gotta keep going to that place, but you also got to protect the body then. You gotta make sure that don't rush. It's a good spot to be in where you don't feel like you have to rush back. And you know, I'll say you don't have to, you'll make quarters this year. So you really like you, you're February is the start of the open, mid-February, it's early this year, by the way. But really, like you want to feel your tip top shape in mid-March. Like, that's really, and that's that's four months away. You got you got plenty of time to get there and and find other things to focus on too while you're letting that ham eat heal up. You know, I mean, I'm pretty sure your hamstring doesn't get affected on Shrick Tan Sand push-ups, Dan. No, definitely not. Got a lot of Shrick Tan Sand push-ups coming up in yours. Yep. All right, well, cool, guys. Thank you for the time. We went a little bit longer than I thought we would, but again, interesting stuff for anyone that kind of wants to compete and or just wants to know what these experiences are like. And uh thanks to Dan and Mandy for kind of opening up the door to what it was all like.
SPEAKER_00Of course.
SPEAKER_01All right, thank you guys, and we'll see you at the gym this week. Everyone, we will be back next week. Thank you. Thank you, everybody, for taking the time out of your day to listen to the Herd Fit podcast. Be on the lookout for next week's episode.