S02E98 2023 CROSSFIT AGE GROUP MASTERS QUARTERFINALS WRAP UP

Special guests and 2023 CF AGOQ Quarterfinalists Karem Saldana @ksaldan and Dan Coda @dannehnj discuss with Dave and Sam the experience and the challenges, including the highs and lows competing over three days with four events (one with two parts thrown in for good measure).

Congratulations to the 20 athletes from @crossfitbison who competed together this weekend! Truly an amazing group and a lot learned from t heir experiences!

@crossfittraining @crossfit @crossfitgames #crossfit #sports #exercise #health #movement #crossfitcoach #agoq #clean #fitness #ItAllStartsHere #CrossFitOpen #CrossFit #CrossFitCommunity @CrossFitAffiliates #supportyourlocalbox #crossfitaffiliate #personalizedfitness

S02E98 2023 CROSSFIT AGE GROUP MASTERS QUARTERFINALS WRAP UP

[00:00:00] David Syvertsen: All right. Welcome back to the Her podcast. I'm Coach David Syvertsen here with my co-host, Dr. And coach Sam Rhee. To the far right, we have not one, but two special guests with us today, we have quarter Finalists, agent Group, quarter finalists, Dan Coda, and Karem Saldana.

Hi. Am

[00:00:21] Sam Rhee: I right

[00:00:21] David Syvertsen: there? Yeah. Doctor, never, actually, never said your last name of my time. Guys, thank you so much for coming back onto the Herford podcast. Dan and Karen, this is your first time and these guys, no, we've had Dan, haven't we? This is Dan's repeat. Yeah. Yeah. Karen's first time. Thank you. And. They just got done like literally within the past hour or two with the long quarter, final weekend.

And we're gonna dive into the workouts, dive into some of, uh, some of their personal experiences, maybe some macro level stuff as well. Uh, but before we get into that, Karen, we'll start with you. Um, opening thoughts on the weekend, just everything. This is Karen's third time making the quarter, final stage.

Two years ago. It was the open division last year, uh, age group. And this year age group. Am I right about that? Yeah, it's the third year. Yeah. Yeah. Third year in a row. So, hat trick. Uh, so. Karen opening experience. What were your thoughts on the weekend?

[00:01:11] Karem Saldana: Uh, I think this year, uh, quarter finals was a lot harder Okay.

Than I thought it would be. Um, I saw like it exposed a lot of my weaknesses. Yeah. But I loved the weekend and I loved that I actually went in for all the workouts. Mm-hmm. Versus the first year I did it, I think I only was able to do three outta five. Right. The second year I was able to do all five. And this year it was a lot harder, but it was a lot of fun.

Um, I was more excited about seeing all the new people that came. Mm-hmm. And seeing how like all these athletes that are made quarter finals did so good. Yeah. Like it was really exciting.

[00:01:42] David Syvertsen: Yeah. That's awesome. Dan. Opening thoughts. Yeah.

[00:01:45] Daniel Coda: I mean, I guess if I had to put it into one word, it's grit. Like this weekend, like she say, I think it was, it was harder.

It felt harder than the last few years. And, um, I'm sure we'll get into why, but it just, it, the body took a toll.

[00:01:57] David Syvertsen: Yeah. Sam, opening thoughts on your weekend.

[00:02:00] Sam Rhee: Agree. It was fantastic to see everyone. We had This is number four for you, right? Sure. I guess so. Yeah. It's, it's, it was 20 athletes this year. Yeah.

Which was like amazing. Yeah. And what I took away was everyone. Is skilled and talented, but they all have strengths and weaknesses. And I bet you if you broke up, if you looked at everyone's splits or like how they did on every part of it, you'd see such a disparity in terms of results. And I love seeing that.

It's like you could see where people's strengths are, where they're, where they're challenged, you know? And compare that to me and, uh, and the strategy that people had in terms of the workouts, the order of the workouts, how they attacked each workout was, it was amazing.

[00:02:44] David Syvertsen: Mm-hmm. Yeah. I, I think that the really cool part about them expanding the quarter, final stage, right?

It used to be just top 200 in the world, in your group would move on. And the fact that they moved to top 10%, it, it's good and bad. It's bad in that there ends up being a lot of people that cannot do the workouts at the next stage, right? Because the open programming is very different than quarter finals, but it's good in that, You can come, you know, you can rank down here towards the bottom right in the open, and then once the weights get heavier, the movements get a little bit more complex.

You th you see things shift and when you're looking at what is the quarter final, like, what is it actually, it's the simply the second round of the competition. You know, as much as the open is about community celebration, fitness, fun, it is the first stage of the competition season. So the CrossFit games champions, they have to do the open, this is the second stage.

Now you have the semi-final stage coming up, and then you have the CrossFit games and you see that. You can obviously see how much more complex the movements are here, like the gds, the strict wall facing hands, hand pushups, the weights, right? Um, so we'll definitely get into that. You know, from my perspective, I did not participate this year.

Um, and it was really like overwhelming at times because of how many people did 'em and some of the formats of the workouts, how much space and equipment we needed. But it, I did get to really soak in a lot of different experiences from different athletes, whether they talked about it or just watching them, um, from a movement perspective, from a load perspective, from a, a background perspective.

And like Karen said, this is the first time a few of these people have moved on to the next stage. And, uh, I was telling Dan before this, that. This is an ideal environment to do something like this because I know of a lot of athletes that are the only person at their gym that made the next stage, and you don't really know where you stand.

You don't know where you sit. You don't have something pushing you again, when you, when a weakness pops up, um, there is no barometer. Right? We just did a podcast last week about a leaderboard being blind, right? And this is kind of a blind leaderboard from a macro perspective, but here you do know how people in this gym do in certain workouts.

Like you really want to see, you know, how much do the strong athletes lift on that clean? How mu how many rounds did the gymnasts get on that wall facing shorthand stand pushup workout? Who could bench the weight? There really is such a wide variety and different kind of athlete, even within our 20 person group that you really did get to see you.

It, it's actually nice to see people struggle, you know? But also to see those same people succeed in another workout. Mm-hmm. Because I, I think that's why you guys are such different athletes and even in this room, but it's good to see other people go through very similar struggles as you just on a different workout, and it kind of ties this whole thing together.

So that was a really kind of just cool thing to watch from my perspective. Um, so what do you guys think? Let's get right into the workouts. I really, I think what we'll do here is we'll go into the workouts, break 'em down. If you're a CrossFit bison athlete, you can get some advice on how to approach these workouts, because you might see some of these.

Um, but let's go, we'll just go down the ladder. We'll go Dan and Karen and Sam, and then we'll just, you know, open some gener, uh, generate some discussions. So the first workout was the dumbbell workout with the gymnastics. So basically you had to do three rounds of. A 50 foot double lunge. All right? And this one, they had to hang in a farmer carry type position.

So just picture yourself holding dumbbells on your side. All right? You have to walk 25 feet down, walk 25 feet back, unbroken, by the way. All right? And then you do 20 toes bar. All right? So that's first part of your workout. Three rounds of that, right into two rounds of now. You put the dumbbells on your shoulders, you walk down and back twice, sorry.

You walk down and back, and then you do your 15 chest of bar pull-ups. You do that little couplet twice. All right? And then the last one, which is really, this was like this exposed a lot of people with the overhead mobility. And that's kind of the point of this was 25 foot down, 25 foot back, double dumbbell overhead walking lunges.

And then you end with 10 muscles. So basically the concept is the, the volume of each kind of couplet goes down, but the complexity of that complex, you know, really complex, really goes north, gets, gets a little bit tougher.

[00:06:52] Sam Rhee: And the dumbbell weight for the 18 to 54

[00:06:54] David Syvertsen: was 50 pounds for the guys, 35 for the girls.

And, uh, the master, I think it was 25 for the women, 20 I think 20 for for 55 plus and 35 for the men. Okay. So, you know that it's, it's a, it's with one dumbbell, it's a pretty lightweight, with two, it changes, it does add a strength element. You don't have to be incredibly strong to move that weight, but you can see the guys that, you know, have a good squat, guys and girls that have a good squat, they held onto it without much of a problem until the overhead mobility came in.

So we'll get into that. Dan opening thoughts on that workout, because Dan, just for anyone that doesn't know, Dan's has very good capacity on the rig. Um, and I'd say average capacity with his lower body. It's something we've been working on for a long time and it's definitely gotten better. Um, what were your opening thoughts on this workout?

Yeah,

[00:07:38] Daniel Coda: I mean, going into it, the, I definitely was very confident on, on the rig knowing, especially TODA Bar, that's one of my strongest movements. I want to kind of go for it there. Mm-hmm. And I did a set of 20 to start, and then I, I think I broke maybe twice on each of the rest. Um, the lunging. It's interesting.

You can, you can move it, especially when you're in farmer carry, um, and front rack, it feels like it's not so taxing on the legs. It's not so heavy. Um, funny enough, the front rack felt a little even easier cuz you're even more stable. It's more controlled. Yeah. The, the farmer was kind of moving you

[00:08:13] David Syvertsen: around a little bit.

Yeah. You guys look drunk. You guys all look drunk when you were doing that one. Yeah. Moving left to right.

[00:08:19] Daniel Coda: Um, but the overhead, it definitely hit me hard. I wasn't, I wasn't expecting it to be so hard, and I think part of it was just not focusing on my core. Mm-hmm. Um, mainly because I, you know, doing 60 tobar before you even get there, your core's a little bit shaky.

Mm-hmm. Um, and if you don't, if you're focusing too much on your overhead and getting into good position coming down, um, the second time I, I failed, failed a rep and it wasn't necessarily because my shoulders gave out, it was because I just lost my balance. Right. Um, so it was really focusing a lot on.

Good, good stability. Staying, staying, um, staying tight

[00:08:55] David Syvertsen: on that. Did you get to a point, so these, these in the past in workouts, whether it be quarter finals open, they used to have five foot grids, right? Where as long as you get five feet unbroken, you can, you know, if you drop, you can go back to that line.

This was 25 feet. If you don't get 25, if you get 24 feet, 10 inches, which actually happened a few times and you. You have to go all the way back. Did that happen to you? It, uh,

[00:09:17] Daniel Coda: luckily it didn't. Okay. But it, it got close. Okay. The very last, um, the very last lunch

[00:09:23] David Syvertsen: overhead, like, if it was 30 feet, you wouldn't have made it.

No.

[00:09:25] Daniel Coda: Yeah, yeah. And I hading five, you know, five or six people run up to me and it was so great. They were all, you know, just yelling in my face to keep going. And it was just like, you know, you have to dig deep in that moment and, and just give it all you got because you definitely don't want, cuz I feel like if you get to that 24 foot line and you fail you, I mean, mentally

[00:09:43] David Syvertsen: you're done.

It's gonna be, you're gonna have to wait like a minute or two. Yeah. Karen, um, all thoughts in this workout, because you are kind of almost the opposite of Dan in regard to this workout. Like, you're a monster with lunges and lower body capacity and then, you know, the, the gymnastics capacity is something that we're working on right now.

What did you think prior to the workout and then what was your thought process kinda like during, after? What was the contrast

[00:10:05] Karem Saldana: there? So, like, I had a plan for the Toast Bar. I figured out that my magic number is seven three. I can keep jumping back on and off. If I keep it at seven three, if I try to go 10 10, I'm just gonna get tired.

I'm my third round, I would've died. Um, but that was good. I was able to do 7, 3, 7 3. The lunges didn't look terrible to me. Like didn't, I didn't think it was gonna be terrible because I'm able to do it like my legs. I have legs. Right. It wasn't until the third round that I was not focused on my course.

They must stand right that I dropped the dumbbell twice. Um,

[00:10:33] David Syvertsen: on this. On the overhead. Or the

[00:10:35] Karem Saldana: overhead. Okay. Overhead. I dropped it twice and it wasn't until Dave came over and said, stop focusing so much on your, like, balance with the dumbbells overhead. Cuz that's what I was thinking. I'm like, balance 'em, because if they're not balanced, I'm gonna like sway, I'm gonna fall.

And then he was like, just stop focusing on the balance and just walk it. Walk it as if you were holding them in front of you that I was able to walk back without even like, you know, without dropping them again. Mm-hmm. Um, I thought the third part was very challenging with the dumbbells overhead. Mm-hmm.

Last year we had 'em, uh, one arm overhead and it was 50 pounds. Yeah. And that.

[00:11:04] David Syvertsen: Awesome. So it was a, he, it was a heavier dumbbell, but it was only one, one

[00:11:06] Karem Saldana: arm. Yeah. Yeah. And I, but it was, I felt great. Last year was a lot better, but this year with two, I'm like, it's a challenge. Mm-hmm. Um, but I thought it was really fun and I thought it tested us out, like my, the strength there for my legs.

Are good. I just have to have more confidence in actually just trying to walk down Right. Straight through. Yeah. But it felt good. And the Chester bars, I've like been having a left shoulder impingement mm-hmm. That I've been like fighting with. Yeah. So the, I had to go singles on that and I can move all day singles.

Mm-hmm. But, um, I couldn't go five. I like heard Dave pass by and go five, go five. And I'm like, yeah, I would, but I couldn't. I was like, can't. I was like, I just like let, just keep attacking up singles. Like I can do that all day, which is fine. Yeah. But it was a, it was a good workout. I liked it.

[00:11:46] David Syvertsen: Yeah. Sam.

[00:11:47] Sam Rhee: Yeah. It's challenging. Um, I don't know how these women are carrying 70 pounds, like 2 35 pound dumbbells. I'm gonna get into that next. Yeah. Fricking amazing. And for me, Two 50 s was, it's a challenge. It's a lot. And it, it was definitely the, probably my worst score of the, of the weekend. Okay. I did it second.

So I did two, number two on Friday, and then I did this one Saturday. And what really got me were the front rack lunges, like I'm also having an issue with my left shoulder. And just holding it in that position really felt like it didn't feel good for me. Mm-hmm. And um, and so when I got to the second, like I failed a bunch of times.

I would go maybe like halfway of the 25 feet and then I just couldn't keep it stable and it would just drop. And I got really frustrated. And at that point, like I was like, Forget this. I, it was, it was a bad, it was really a bad time and I ended up, um, sorta cutting. It's a 20 minute cap, right? Yeah. 20 minute cap.

I was about 17 and a half or 18 in, and I was just like, I can't do this. Mm-hmm. And I don't know if it was frustration or worry on my shoulder. I just, but I stopped. Yeah. And, um, I think some of it was positioning of that front rack, like I was really trying to hold it vertical. Yeah. And in retrospect, maybe if I just kept more of it horizontal mm-hmm.

It might've helped me a little bit. Yeah. I can see how that would like

[00:13:12] Karem Saldana: that pull there. Yes. Yeah.

[00:13:14] Sam Rhee: I held it like right in front now. Yes. And I think maybe if I had just done that, that might have been a little bit better if I had played with it. Um, listen, I'll, I'll count a small win just for doing 60 toes to bar.

Yeah. Like, and then a bunch of the chest to bar like, I mean, I thought the rig work was challenging for me personally, so it was one of those gotcha moments for me. But that's what these workouts are like, you get frustrated, you see where your short, your shortcomings are and you're like, okay, well that was a mental challenge.

I'm gonna work on that aspect of it. It was a physical challenge and I'm gonna work on that aspect of it. Mm-hmm. So, so. I felt sorry for myself for about five minutes or 15, maybe an hour. Mm-hmm. And then after that I was like, all right, now I know what to do, like to work on this in the future.

[00:13:58] David Syvertsen: So one thing I just wanna say about the midline, right?

Like the midline controls everything. And one of the advantages of lifting free weights as opposed to being at a, like a global gym and, and using, you know, Smith like the machines with pulleys and everything is anytime you lift free weights, your, your core is stabilizing something, right? And even further than that, if you do want to get a stronger corn, you don't wanna just go do V ups and GHG sit-ups all the time.

If you work out with dumbbells more often, your body will naturally have to stabilize it more. So, and this is the thing about midline. When your legs are burning, you know, their legs are burning. When your core is really fatigued, you don't necessarily always feel it, you know? And you sometimes don't know until you're trying to do something where you're trying to be stable, uh, drunk walking.

That's why I saw that. Yeah. And so I, I think that that's something that can just be trained or just thought about throughout the year. Is core strength goes so much deeper than doing hollow rocks and holding planks, right? It's, it's really controlling exterior loads and, you know, keeping yourself on a, on a nice even line.

And you know, the, the weight, just so those, if you don't use dumbbells and you can't really relate to how, right? Why does it, like, why does it seem that heavy? Whatever weight is in your hand for a dumbbell, put that on a barbell. All right? That's approximately how much weight you're moving. So guys that had 50 pound barbells, think about a 1 35 barbell.

Imagine doing that with a 35, with a, especially the overhead component to it. Um, with a 1 35 barbell ladies. Imagine doing that with a 1 0 5 barbell. That's really, if you're, if you're not really kind of knowledgeable about the dumbbell and how it feels and why it feels heavy, that's about how much, because, and the reason I bring that up, the barbell stabilizes the plates, all right?

And they're, they're locked in with clips, right? Imagine doing a barbell lue overhead with, uh, a barbell with no clips on. So the second you go left to right, that shit would start going left to right. Mm-hmm. That's what it feels like, you know? So you don't realize a lot of times when you are using a barbell, there is some stability.

Stability that comes from those clips.

[00:15:53] Sam Rhee: You can also compensate with your strong side. Correct. Like my left side

[00:15:57] David Syvertsen: was, there's no hiding there. Yeah. Yeah. Really exposed. Yeah. So that, that was the tough workout. Did you guys feel any lingering effects from that workout? Like after like a lot of these workouts left a mark, I could tell on some of you guys did this.

Yeah.

[00:16:09] Karem Saldana: Yeah. Like where my glutes were on fire glutes after that workout. Like, I've never felt soreness hit me so fast. Yeah. But that workout, I was like, I can't, I can't even fit.

[00:16:20] David Syvertsen: What about grit? Was the form kept banged up at all? Because that's, there's a lot of grip in that workout. No, a lot. Yeah. You

[00:16:26] Karem Saldana: guys were okay.

Not for me. I felt my forms were fine. It was, it was all legs, all glutes and hammies. Well,

[00:16:31] David Syvertsen: you're a nurse, you're always like, like pro people and sticking needles in people. Your forms are probably, or like moving people around. Yeah.

[00:16:37] Daniel Coda: Yeah. No, the grip definitely. Um, it lingered for sure. Especially, um, depending on how, what older you do them all in.

Right. You know, I, that's part of it. Yeah. I, I did the second and then I did the rope climb one within like an hour and a half and I just definitely felt my grip starting to go a

[00:16:53] David Syvertsen: little earlier than it would've.

[00:16:54] Karem Saldana: Yeah. I mean, now that I think about it, Going back to the, uh, the rig. Yes. My grip was like everybody wanted, like, I made it to the bar muscle at 1816, I think it was.

Yep. I know myself, and I know that I don't have bar muscles right now. I did at one point, but I don't, and with this shoulder bothering me Yeah. I, I didn't wanna like push it. Right. Um, so I knew I wasn't gonna get that there, but like the grip was worse. By the time I got to the bar muscle, my grip was just like, I can't, I don't, I can't hold on long enough to like swing into it and get comfortable as opposed to when you're coming and you're well rested and you're able to like really get into that like kipping and then work your way with like, but no.

[00:17:29] Sam Rhee: Interesting. I think I, I saw a lot of that. So the people who got to the bar muscles, they, they're usually quite good at it and their form is so clean, but by the time they got there, a lot of them had to really kind of chicken, chicken wing and just, just get, like, just get there. Mm-hmm. And, and a lot of that was just, um, experience.

Executing that movement under fatigue. Yeah. So the people who knew how to do that under, like, there's the difference between doing a movement Yeah. And then doing one when you're fatigued. Yep. That's a great point. And you really saw that on

[00:18:00] David Syvertsen: the bar. Muscle ups. Yep. Yeah. Great point. All right, so on to workout number two.

Um, a lot of, a lot of athletes did this one first. Um, I, I wanna get into that after we're done in terms of like, you know, just kind of when we wrap this thing up, like what, what are some just future considerations for how to pick the order for workout anyway. Okay. Workout. This is two workouts, guys. Okay.

So test two A is an am wrap for 10 minutes. Six chest to wall handstand pushups. We call them wall facing handstand pushups at the gym, so they're strict. Nine GHD sit ups, 12 box jumps to a high box. 30 for the guys, 24 for the girls. Please note these are not box jump overs. You had to get onto that box and stand all the way up.

Little extra juice on the legs. That's a 10 minute Amara. Pretty simple, straightforward at the 10 minute mark. You now have just five minutes. All right. Immediately after that workout to find a one rep Max Clean. So there we are. That one rep Max lift. We were saying like, ah, I don't think we're gonna see a one rep max with Boz.

I'm wrong. Mm-hmm. Um, and it was, that's I, when I looked at some of the weights from my age group, it is just ridiculous actually. What is it? I mean, I feel like the top, I think a hundredth place was like three 20. Whoa. Wow. It's just ridiculous. Holy cow. You know, like just looking up and down the leaderboard, like how strong some, some of the guys and some like the girls' weights were like, I think a hundredth place for them was probably like 1 75.

180 5. Wow. Just ridiculous. Um, so let's get into this one, Dan. Um, you know, again, from a coach perspective, this is a kind of a CrossFit gymnast dependent workout. And, you know, I, if Dan has a weakness gymnast wise, it's straight handstand pushups. So going into that knowing what was your, what thought? Yeah, I mean,

[00:19:41] Daniel Coda: a hundred percent.

I knew that was gonna be, I was gonna get to a spot where I just need to do one. Get off the wall, do one, get off the wall.

[00:19:48] David Syvertsen: Keep in mind these are, you have to do a wall walk to start off your set. So if you do six in a row, you don't have to do one walk. But if you get to a point, you're doing singles or doubles, you're.

Times that many wall walks. Yeah. It's just, it's, it really does compound how hard that gets. Uh, and it's

[00:20:01] Daniel Coda: incredible because, uh, over the last few years I found that wall walks actually are super strong for me. Yeah. I can do those all day. Yeah. But there's something about just break, like, you know, my arms and, and not, and getting

[00:20:11] David Syvertsen: You're long to, you're long.

Yeah. Yeah. Um, that, that's a big part of it, you know, not an excuse, but that, that does make the, the pressing a lot harder. Yeah. So, I mean, the only reason Mike McKinney did well in that workout was short rhymes. I judged

[00:20:22] Daniel Coda: Nice. I judged him. It was incredible. He's a, he just, yeah, I know. It's unbelievable. Um, so I knew that, um, I just had to kind of just get in my head of.

You know, find a good pace on them. Keep moving. The rest of the workout was not, was not an issue because I just, I, I couldn't get my breathing so high because I, I had to do the, the strict handstand, push them

[00:20:43] David Syvertsen: slowly. Um, so did you try to go a little faster GD box? Yes. Just because you knew your heart rate would come back down?

Yeah. Yeah. A hundred percent.

[00:20:49] Daniel Coda: Oh, smart. That's smart. And the GD in nine, it's, it's not so much, it builds up over time, but it wasn't, it wasn't a number that I was afraid of. Mm-hmm. Uh, the high box. Again, it was making sure I stood up every time. Come down, go, come down, go. Did you jump down, step down? I, I stepped down for most of it just to A little extra safety.

Yeah. But, um, uh, then towards the end I was starting to jump down. Okay. Trying to move a bit faster where I could, um, this is one of those that like, mentally I, it was a mental challenge for me. Mm-hmm. Like, I, like when I finished, you know, I got just short of four rounds. I knew it was not gonna be a competitive score.

Mm-hmm. And I, and essentially I knew my weekend goal was over. Right. Um, and that was a little bit of a tough pill to swallow at first. It is. Um, and, you know, I, I tried to reverse, reverse, you know, the, the thinking of like, well, you know, now I found something that I can spend this next year working on and Yep.

You know, be excited to, to hit it again next year. Yep. Um, but on the other side of that, getting to the lift, um, you know, my best. Clean ever is two 70 and I was able to hit 2 61. Wow. Um, and, you know, I felt strong. I was, um, you know, I, I powered up till I think two 40 and, um, then I was able to even, you know, keep my legs and, and squat into the last, the 2 51, 2

[00:22:08] David Syvertsen: 61.

How were your legs? Because the, the two things that, obviously the box jump taxes your legs a little bit, but I think a lot of people don't realize how much your hip flexors and quads do get smoked on the GHD a little bit. How, how did that, did that take a while to come back? Or was it, you know,

[00:22:21] Daniel Coda: are you Okay?

I think, I think because I just couldn't get that many rounds in Right. Cuz of the, the handstand pushups I was Okay. Okay. I felt actually very nice and warms. Good point. To get into the bottom of the squat from, you know, every time in those, those 30 inch buck shops, I was basically bottling, squatting out.

Yep. And, and getting, and getting up. Yep. Um, so that all felt pretty warm for me. Great. And I think it. I, I could see if you had like two or three more rounds, that being much,

[00:22:43] David Syvertsen: that could be a factor. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Karen?

[00:22:46] Karem Saldana: Um, this was a, I was excited about this workout just because I really wanted to get to those GHS and box drums.

Yeah. Those are like two of my favorite things. I think I'm strong in that. Yep. But I knew that was gonna be a huge challenge cuz I don't have strict, uh, handstand pushups facing the wall. Right. So I basically spent most of my time there, but I'm glad that I did it. Uh, two years ago when we did the first one, there was two workouts I couldn't do.

Yep. And it had started with a strict movement. Yep. And I just heard Dave in my head like, you ha just give it a go. Doesn't matter. Just try it. Right. And I also wanted to get to the second part, so. Mm-hmm. Yeah. Um, I just stood there. I was able to only get two. That's awesome though. It's the first time you've ever done that though, right?

I got, yeah.

[00:23:24] David Syvertsen: It was the first time that's went right there. I know it sounds like moral victory, but that, that's a big deal to know that you can do that moving forward. Like Dave said, we're gonna work on

[00:23:31] Karem Saldana: them now. We know. And, and the feeling was so much different for me because instead of being like down about it, I was like, Liz would was there and Nicole was there and they were like talking me through it.

Everybody was trying to tell me a different way to like give it a go. And every time I gave it a go, I got more wall walks, that's for sure. Mm-hmm. But it was really cool. Yeah. And. And I hit a PR on the second part. Like, um, what'd you hit? 1 73. Wow. It's supposed to be 1 75. Nice. Damn. But I also had the, I wasn't as tired from doing box jumps, so I had that, that one like advantage.

Um, so I gave it five tries. I failed 180. Um, but it was nice. I, I was a lot of fun. That's awesome. I was not tired at all from the squad clean. Yeah.

[00:24:09] David Syvertsen: Yeah. So you can move on. You can move on to the next workout. That is one advantage of having workout. Hey, I struggle with this movement, the advantage. For the rest of the weekend, you're not as beat up as you could have been.

Right? Yep. So what did you fail on? The clean? Was it the squat? Was it the pull? Like did you catch it because you could pretty much stand up anything you catch,

[00:24:27] Karem Saldana: right? I, yes. Yeah. You're one of those. Um, but it was, it was weird. I think I had two last attempts. I gave 180, I think two tries. Okay. The first time I tried it, it like slipped right off.

I think I went into it too fast. Mm-hmm. And the bar came right off the second time. I got into that, but I was unable to get outta that squat. I was like halfway outta that squat and then I just failed it. Yeah. But um, yeah, I'm not sure. I think by that time six tries was like Yeah. You gave it a lot of

[00:24:52] David Syvertsen: tries, girl.

Yeah. Yeah. You did a lot of lifting and hit a PR already. Yeah.

[00:24:57] Karem Saldana: It was fun though. I love, yeah,

[00:24:58] David Syvertsen: Sam,

[00:24:59] Sam Rhee: uh, I'm pretty good at pressing. Um, I don't do KIPP handstand pushups, so all year I've been doing pretty much strict. Okay, so you were ready for that? That part wasn't an issue. And the gds, I've done some, not a whole lot this year, but it's only nine like Dan said.

So it wasn't awful.

[00:25:13] David Syvertsen: And you've gotten banged up on those before, right? Yes. So do you have any sort of, I don't PTSD time? Like when you got, do you do them any slower? To be careful. The, the

[00:25:22] Sam Rhee: first couple rounds I went very deliberate, right? And then at the end I started pounding 'em a little faster. I could.

I'm starting to feel it actually today with In the low back? Yeah. Uh, no, my core, my core, my, my abs and, you know, yeah. We had a couple people on that, uh, A G O Q workout, the million, uh, GD workout where Yeah. From two years ago we had, yeah. Some people had rhabdo from now for sure. Absolutely. But even if you, I got five rounds, so that's only 45 gds.

That's not so bad. Okay. Um, the box jumps are a problem. I'm very short. My inseam is 29. Yeah. The box is 30, so I'm basically jumping to my belly

[00:25:58] David Syvertsen: button or do you guys know you're ins seam by the, you don't. My in is, you don't care because you can't, we can find pans all the time. I have to look, otherwise the pans

[00:26:06] Sam Rhee: run all the way down to my toes.

So I was like very deliberate with those. Yeah. Um, so, but like I said, like we all have our limitations. Like if I was a faster box jumper, then I could have done more, but I was happy with that. Yeah. Like that worked out for me. Um, the lift, uh, I. Got to my first one and I squat cleaned it and I fell on my ass cuz I had nothing in my hips.

Yeah. And my kids were there and they showed me the video. They're like, dad, look, you just fell on the first one. We're like, what's going on? And I was like, so I realized I could not squat, clean it. Yeah. So I powered everything. It looked ugly, like a little star fishing, whatever. I, that's okay. I starfish every

[00:26:46] David Syvertsen: day.

Whatever. Yeah. Right. So, um,

[00:26:47] Sam Rhee: yeah, that's my norm. So I hit, um, 2 34, cuz I was using DeCarlo's bar, which was 44 instead of

[00:26:55] David Syvertsen: 45. Got it. Got it. Which

[00:26:57] Sam Rhee: was, I was too lazy to switch out to a different bar, so I was,

[00:27:00] David Syvertsen: whatever. Um, I think that's a really good way for you right now. I feel like my, my PR is

[00:27:04] Sam Rhee: like 2 45,

[00:27:05] David Syvertsen: 2 50 and wasn't that like two years ago?

It was a while ago. Yeah. It's been a while since you

[00:27:09] Sam Rhee: hit that light. Yeah. And so 2 34 felt good. I failed 2 39. Okay.

[00:27:13] David Syvertsen: Um, and that was because your

[00:27:15] Sam Rhee: eyes were down? Yeah. You kept telling me that. Yeah. And I was looking up and I was like, not helping. I'm still tired and I can't pull properly, but thank you.

I'll tell

[00:27:21] David Syvertsen: you what, five minutes goes fast, doesn't it?

[00:27:23] Sam Rhee: Oh, I got maybe three, four lifts in tops. Like, yeah. But you, you know, that's the thing when you do this one, you have to start pretty heavy, right? Yeah. Yeah. You can't be like, oh, we'll start at like 180 5. Yeah, no, you gotta go like 75,

[00:27:35] David Syvertsen: 80%.

[00:27:36] Sam Rhee: Yeah. Like, you gotta go heavy to start and then, Maybe you'll get three to four.

[00:27:40] David Syvertsen: You wanna give yourself, you wanna give yourself a time for a miss and then be able to read

[00:27:43] Sam Rhee: to try that, miss. Well that's the thing with these workouts is you always worry about being conservative to start, but you know what, you are warm. Yeah. And you have to trust it. And you have to trust it. And I saw, um, lifters who have really good lift technique, they were squatting within one or two lifts close to their like one rep.

Yeah. You know, within 10 pounds, like what you guys were doing. And, and you have to trust yourself. Like go aggressive. Yeah. You know, you can do it. Like, I would not baby the first one. Like, I would go pretty

[00:28:13] David Syvertsen: strong. That's the environment to

[00:28:14] Karem Saldana: go for it. Yeah. I warmed up, I warmed up to my first, uh, the first attempt I was 1 45.

I warmed up to that, so I left that on the barbell. And then I asked Liz like, what did you like, how did you do it? She's like, I went close between rep one and rep two, cuz they're still lighter for us. So I did 1 45, 1 65 and then I gave myself more time on those last three lifts.

[00:28:32] David Syvertsen: Interesting. Like good strategy.

Yeah. Yeah. Like that it worked out for you. Yeah. Prs. That's awesome guys. Okay, cool. All right. So that was basically the, the first two workouts that had to be submitted by yesterday. So most people did them. Oh yeah. You guys all did them Friday and or Saturday. And now we go into the back half of it, which some already had done prior to this Sunday window.

So this is where it kind of really starts to scatter a little bit with, you know, who's doing what when. Um, this one to quote Rich Froning was the most most boring workout he's ever done in his life, and that includes rowing a marathon. Oh my God. So Froning is in 35 to 39 group, and he did this workout.

Um, I, I do, I think it's, it's a, the workout itself, the test itself is fine after watching it 22 times. It is tough to watch. And this is a question I would like ask you guys before we get into it. When you see workouts like this, You know, it's, it's testing crossword, endurance, right? Endurance really should be more than a half hour.

But you know, it, it's still testing what it needs to test. Is it the best way to do it? Do I think one of those 50 shuttle runs should have been like a, like a longer row? Like yes I do. Um, but you know, it, it's kind of part of the sport is you want to be unpredictable. You don't want people to be like, all right, here, we're gonna do this, we're gonna do this, we're gonna do that.

Like, that's kind of like the unknown element to it. And you know, do I think Froning really cares that it was a boring workout? I don't, I, I, he knows programming very well. I think he just put that message out there because like, you know, this is stupid. I could try 80% and still come in first place that whatever.

Um, but when you guys see workout like this, oh, can you explain the workout? Like, did you detail it? Oh, my bad. Yeah, so the workout is 50 shuttle runs, so a shuttle run is 25 feet down, 25 feet back. So you have to do that 50 times. That's a lot. By the way. 5, 6, 7, 8 minutes. Yeah,

[00:30:20] Sam Rhee: it's like, uh, about 800 meters

[00:30:22] David Syvertsen: or like half a mile Almost.

Yeah. Seven road climbs. 25 bench press guys. 180 5, ladies, 1 25. Back down the ladder. Seven row climbs. 50 shuttle runs tho. That is, it's the longest workout of the weekend by a pretty wide margin. Um, and there's somewhere where everyone gets caught up for the most. And you guys are all pretty good engine people.

You're all pretty good rope climbers. All right. Tell me before you get into the details, let's do this down the ladder and then we'll come back and talk about the actual workout when you saw this, just what was the first thought? Just a quick,

[00:31:03] Karem Saldana: I can't bench press 1 25 for the life of

[00:31:06] Daniel Coda: me, Dan. Yeah, I mean, I just.

Figure out how long 50 shuttle runs would take. Yeah. I

[00:31:11] David Syvertsen: just, I had no idea. No idea. And that's kind of the cool element to it, you know, like we, if you told Dan to roll 50 cows, he'd be like, all right, three minutes. You know, Sam, I

[00:31:20] Sam Rhee: had no idea how I was gonna do on this one going in like, none. None. I was like, what?

I don't

[00:31:24] David Syvertsen: know. We'll

[00:31:24] Karem Saldana: see. Cool. So I don't, I don't think like, uh, Dave, like Rainman where he can figure out how long it's gonna take him. I just saw the shuttle runs and I was like, I can do it. I love running and I can run those all

[00:31:33] David Syvertsen: day. I can camera a runner. Yeah. Yeah. And yeah, it's funny, just looking at people's facial expressions, their, these, some people are just like running in the park with like birds chirping and the sun.

Other people are like, uh, nine runs in, they're like, this is miserable. Get me to the bench. Um, so Dan go into this. I think Dan, you finish this one. Yeah. And you. Was there any thought of potentially doing this one last, because I know you and I were kind of struggling a little bit on, on what's to do less, because at the end of the day, the volume isn't that much, but you do, there are sneaky components to the shuttle run that some people don't realize.

It's that bending over motion, doing that a hundred times. It's a lot. And, um, and you are basically benching the failure throughout the workout. Did you have any thoughts on not doing, on doing this one last? Um, you know,

[00:32:21] Daniel Coda: I didn't beforehand. Uh, when I finished the weekend, I definitely looked back and was like, uh, you know what?

I would've done the last one. Okay. Interesting. Before doing this one only because I think, um, I, I mean it, it took a lot outta me for sure. And, and, um, I might have been able to have a little extra juice for the thruster and and row. Um, what was interesting about it was, Now in the shuttle workouts that we've done, um, a lot of it, like people were walking or going slow and it wasn't super, like it wouldn't affect your score if you were fast in the other places.

Right. This one you needed to move. Mm-hmm. Like, there wasn't, there was no doubt, like you needed to find a good pace and, and keep it going because it was such a huge amount of time in the workout. Um, and it didn't, it like going into the rope climb the first time, like it, you were like, fine. Like Yeah.

Right. You weren't, you didn't work anything out. You know, your grip and everything was, was okay. So like, you could still find a good pace and move and get to those rope climbs. Um, I am made Rope climbs is another one of those movements I'm very strong at. Um, and I was able to, you know, get those done quickly.

Um, the, the bench I, I was surprised on, on, I didn't think 180 5 would hit me so hard. There was a lot of interference from the rope climb to the bench. Yep. And so like, that first rep was like, whoa, what, what happened? And then you settle in and you're okay, but. Um, 25 reps is just a lot, you know, a lot on a bench, on even on, on a weight that's not So how did you break it up?

I started, uh, doing fives and fours, which quickly turned to threes, which I got to one where I was like, I knew the third one was gonna be tough and I, I went for it anyway and I failed. Yeah. You know, and then that kind of got in my head, but luckily I had like, I think four or five left at that point. So Yeah.

That's,

[00:34:07] David Syvertsen: that's the time to go for a risk. Yeah. Yeah. And

[00:34:09] Daniel Coda: then, um, I really, the, the second set of shuttle run I just got in my head. I was like, you're, you're gonna, you have to move, you know, do not slow down. You're okay. Yeah. And just try quick turn and almost fall back into the next shuttle. Mm-hmm. Um, into the next run.

So, I, I was happy with that one. I thought that was a good score, um, for me. And,

[00:34:31] David Syvertsen: uh, yeah. You were moving pretty well in that workout. I don't think, like you were one of the few that really did not get held up badly at a movement. No. Right. Yeah. Like no one's doing everything unbroken and fast. Right. But, you know, there are people that, whether it was the rope, the bench, or even the run, like in some cases where it really kind of just hit you in the face.

Yeah.

[00:34:48] Daniel Coda: Yeah. Um, I had, you had to move on the second set of rope climbs. Um, cuz that's mentally was like, you didn't want to, you didn't want to go. Yeah. But, but you had to go and you could go.

[00:34:57] David Syvertsen: Um, so how did the second set of rope climbs com feel compared to the first? Uh, it was definitely a lot harder. A lot harder?

A lot harder? Yeah. Okay. Yeah. And I think it was just like, was it both going up and going down?

[00:35:08] Daniel Coda: Uh, I've gotten pretty good, like, kind of like sliding down. Okay. So the, the going down wasn't so bad. It was, it was, um, getting holding on. My, my grip was definitely, you know, taxed by this point from the other workout as well.

And, um, And just using a lot of legs. Like just, I, I like to get my legs as high as I can. Um, so that was also like the, the combined of the GHD and the Tobar previous to this, being able to get my legs up higher. Right. You know, everything was kind of building over the weekend. Got it. Um, so it was a bit harder than they normally are, but it mm-hmm.

But again, it was, it was able, I was able to push through on that.

[00:35:46] Karem Saldana: Okay. Um, the shuttle runs were good. I like them. Um, the rope climbs, I was afraid with the rope climbs because of the last two years that we've had rope climbs in the, uh, quarter finals. Yep. I've always had a hard time with just like my grip Yeah.

On the rope climbs. So I was surprised that with the road climbs this time around, I was able to, Keep going up without like, feeling tired at all. Awesome. I was surprised that a lot of the women told me that the robe climbs the second round time around was easier for them after the bench press. Hmm. Um, bench pressing would've been, that would've been a PR for me if I even hit 1 25.

Mm-hmm. Um, I had 20 minutes I think, to do bench pressing, so I was taking, like, I was trying to go like every two minutes or something to make an attempt to see if I can get one. And then at one point we took some of the weight off and kinda like tried to work back up to 1 25. Mm-hmm. But I knew I wasn't gonna get one after like one 15 felt really hard.

Right. So, um, that was challenging. Yeah. But I'm glad that I actually gave it a try because another part of me, like three years ago probably would've been like, no, I'm not even gonna attempt it. Right. And this time was like, try it. You know? So I was like, I loved watching. So much credit to Ashley. Yeah.

Mm-hmm. And some of the women that like, thought they wouldn't get one and got one mm-hmm. Failed. Failed a few. Yes. Yeah. It was really exciting to watch, saw a lot of that. It was really inspiring. So it gave me the inspiration to like, give it a try that you, there's nothing to lose, you know? Um, and again, people were coming over and giving me tips on like how to do it different.

Um, and I loved that. It, it helped a lot. It gave me like the encouragement and like motivation to like, I know for sure this year if I've gotten anything outta the open out of open and quarterfinals, because I was thinking about this right after the open is I wanna focus on strength more than anything.

Mm-hmm. Because my engine is there, but my strength has to get better.

[00:37:18] David Syvertsen: Yep. Yep.

[00:37:20] Sam Rhee: Sam, I think it's because guys have bro lifted since they were in high school. Yeah. Like you always see kids benching. Yeah. Or boys. Yeah. So I think you saw there was a big gender difference Yeah. In the bench. Mm-hmm. But, um, this was all adrenaline driven by.

The community for me, I was, I did much better than I thought I was going to do. The first 50 shuttle runs, I, I, I went really slow for the first 10 warmed up, and then I was like, I'm bored. Let me go five fast. So then I would do five fast and then I'm like, okay, now I'm tired. Let me do five slow smart. And then I would do another five fast and then five slow.

And so I just kind of like, yeah, was like trying to keep some kind of entertainment in me just, yeah. And then, um, and then I got to the rope climbs and I'm, uh, I can do rope climbs. I have not, there they're skillset that I have issues with and I know what my issues are. My issues are when I don't use my legs to my feet to clamp really well on the rope so I can like free up my hands and not grip so hard.

And then the other things, which everyone is yelling, big legs. Big legs is like Dan says, like, really get your legs high, lean back and reach really high. And my shoulder isn't really doing awesome on the left side, so I can't really extend fully. Mm-hmm. But you have a lot of time, like this is one where if you asked people to do like three rope climbs in a minute or 90 seconds, a lot of people could do it.

I couldn't. Right. But if you're asking me to do one rope climb every minute or 90 seconds, I, I can do that. Like I can manage to get myself up there and this is the kind of workout that let me do that. So, you know, you just kind of get through it, it looks ugly, but whatever. Yeah. And, and then the 25 bench, um, I'm decent at bench, so my rep scheme was five five and then it degenerated to like three, two.

2, 2, 2, 2, 1, 1, 1, 1 to the rest, like, and then maybe like the last seven were ones. Yeah. Um, and then I didn't even know, like I didn't wanna do seven more, but I don't even actually remember how I did them. It was probably just like a little inch worm up and down. And then at that point I had, I don't remember, maybe like, I was like at 22 or 23 and I had like seven, eight minutes or something.

And Colin, my judge, shout out to all the judges, by the way. Yep. I had, uh, Kayla, um, Julia, Kelly, Colin, Dan much appreciated. Like you guys really helped me out a lot. But Colin said, listen, if you keep to the first pace, Like your first 50 shuttle runs. Yeah. For the second 50 you'll finish. That

[00:39:56] David Syvertsen: helps. Yeah.

Yeah. Well, it made me say crap, now I have try hard now

[00:40:01] Sam Rhee: I gotta try. So, so I tried and then there was everyone yelling. And it's one of those things like at first I was like, I'm not gonna finish. And then I kind of like, well, I'm looking at the clock. Well maybe I'll, but you'd have 50 runs. You don't even know how, how long 50 is gonna take you.

Right? So I'm like, well, maybe I'll finish. No, I won't finish.

[00:40:18] David Syvertsen: Well, maybe I will. Oh crap, I'm going, oh, maybe I

[00:40:20] Sam Rhee: am gonna finish. So, so I went back and forth and then everyone's yelling, but everyone's yelling for like, Seven

[00:40:26] David Syvertsen: minutes. Like, you know what I think happened there? Well, I think, I think Colin said 35 and they thought they said 45.

Oh. I walked by and I was like, wait, where's he at? You guys were all going nuts. I'm like, dude, he's got 14 left. Right.

[00:40:37] Sam Rhee: So I didn't know for sure, like, and so like Alan Grinberg was like, dude, you look drunk when you were running the last one. And I was like, yeah, cuz I had nothing left. Yeah. And he is like, dude, you're coaching us on these shuttle runs and you tell us to like, like get your head up and you're running with your head down.

It's like, yeah, I know Alan. Like

[00:40:54] David Syvertsen: I didn't have much left, but thank you. And

[00:40:57] Sam Rhee: so I, I literally, um, I only knew I was gonna finish with maybe like under five shuttle runs left and I said, okay, I can do this. I finished with like 29 plus. Yeah. And it was, Probably one of the more inspired, like for me, for the community.

[00:41:14] David Syvertsen: Like, like they kind of lifted you up on

[00:41:16] Sam Rhee: that one. Yeah. You know, they're watching you for like so long. I know. Yeah. Like they're, they're watching you for longer than an entire wad for most, like most wads, right? Oh, yeah. Yeah. So, and so when I finished I was like, I wanna thank everyone who was like, yelling in my face about it because I really, I wouldn't finished it and I was like, I was shocked.

Yeah. And uh, you know, these are the kind of workouts where, you know, most of us don't really like, at least I don't push, like I don't go to that dark place very often, um, anymore. And this was this weekend. I, I probably went a lot into that dark place and, and, uh, you love it, but then you're also like it, the stakes have to be pretty high.

Yeah. Like real high for you to go there. Yeah. And um, this is the time to do it. Yeah. So this was, and you know, I mean, again, thanks to everyone there, cuz there's no way it would've even even been close. And I saw a couple other people the same thing. Amy Edelman. Yeah. Her like after I did this, she did hers and I was like, oh, so that's how you do a rope climb.

You don't let go of the rope in between the rope climb. You just go right back up. You go right back up. You use your really super long legs and go up in two, like two

[00:42:21] David Syvertsen: poles. Two poles.

[00:42:21] Sam Rhee: Yep. You touch, you slide back down and you do it again. I'm like, I mean, I think she did seven rope climbs in the time it took me to do one.

[00:42:30] David Syvertsen: Yeah. Like it was impressive. No, the rope climb is similar to what we talked about with the overhead lunges earlier, with Cameron. Like we said, like, Hey, just go walk it out. Like go, go faster and see what happens. It's, you know when you get really tired on rope climbs, you know, four poles becomes five, five poles becomes seven.

All of a sudden you're. You're up there for 10, 15, 20 seconds and someone that's really fluid and efficient with them, it's literally four to five seconds. Yeah. So it, it's not just, oh, they're better at road climbs than me. They're actually working less than you. You know, and that, that's where in competition or in workouts, like it really, you see like really wide gaps.

And it's not just fitness, it's efficiency.

[00:43:09] Sam Rhee: That's where you see the Dan COTAs and Amy Edelman's, like they've worked on it and they're they're working

[00:43:14] David Syvertsen: less than you are. Yes. Yeah. So they're so, they're cheating, so they're not even Yeah, that's right.

[00:43:18] Sam Rhee: I worked out harder than they did.

[00:43:20] David Syvertsen: So take that. Um, so let's, let's move on to the last workout.

Um, oh shoot. I just went back to another year. Okay, here we go. Workout number four. Uh oh man. I can't even say this workout without like having something happen inside of me. I've always said, if you ever listen to me talk about open workouts, I've always said the hardest one ever. Is 15.5 and that is what this workout was.

And it is, um, sorry if I start quivering halfway through talking about this, 27, 21, 15 9 row calories, thrusters, guys 95, ladies 65, and it is probably the biggest gut check workout. Like some people have asked like, Hey, do you want to, do we have another athlete coming in at 1230? Like, Hey Dave, maybe you should do with him.

I'm like, no, absolutely not. Like this workout is if, if you're in a layout that you guys are in an environment that you guys were in this weekend, like it means something, it's a competition, right? Then I think it's a good test because you can kind of just like send it, go all out, do what you got. But this one, if you, if it's just like a normal workout, I, I think I would break up the thrusters seven times just because it, it's a really uncomfortable combination.

Rowing and thrusters. Think about what your legs do on rowing. Think about what your legs do on thrusters. It's the same exact thing. That's why a lot of people get really lit, like in the quads from this kind of workout and just thrusters. Like it's, it's one of the hardest movements to do with a high heart rate because the bar is slamming on your lungs and your elbows are coming in close to each other, and that collapses the lungs even further.

So it's just a really difficult combination. And it was, was it the shortest workout? Well, it had a 15 minute cap. So if you, I guess you, if you were sub 10, it was the shortest workout of the weekend. Right. Um, so. Dan, you did this in 2015, and this was back still only probably a few years after you started CrossFit 2, 3, 4 years, right?

Yeah. And you definitely were not as into the sport then as you are now. No. What was it like to do this one years later? And also seven, eight years older. Yeah.

[00:45:27] Daniel Coda: Um, it was interesting. I definitely, I had that, you know, pit on my stomach feeling when I, when they read it the first time. And I, and I, yeah, I, I vividly remember this workout in 2015 because I remember.

I was a, I've always been a good rower, and I remember rowing that 27 cows and being like, I'm gonna kill this workout. I did my first set of thrusters and I was like, oh my God, I'm dead. And I, I had to like really push hard to finish that back then. I think I did it twice, um, uh, just because I fell apart completely the first time.

Yep. I did twice still. Yep. Yeah. Um, but you know, it was interesting like couple times last night, I, I woke up in the middle of the night. I was like, oh my God, 27.

[00:46:09] David Syvertsen: I wasn't That's problem. Yeah. One 800 help. Yeah. It's really

[00:46:14] Daniel Coda: stressful. Yeah, it is. Yeah. And I, I woke up feeling like, and I got hit by a Mack truck the whole weekend kind of just cut up to me.

Yeah. I, I came in, I just, what I love, what I loved about the weekend, honestly, was getting my heat times. Um, you know, Dave said it all out for us. It, it felt very much like I was in a long weekend competition that I've done before. I was just like on schedule. Came in, I was able to focus, um, get warmed up.

Um, and, and you know, I had a plan in my head of just, you know, I wanted to go big sets in the thrusters. And I, and I know traditionally I fall apart once I've read line on the thrusters, so I, I intentionally did my 27 cows very slow. Mm-hmm. Um, and I was able to do,

[00:46:58] David Syvertsen: you know, approximate. How long was that?

Do you remember? Just approximate or

[00:47:01] Daniel Coda: what was I was doing nine

[00:47:03] David Syvertsen: 50 calories, just so you know, if, if Dan was not experienced. And he said like he just like went for it. He probably could do 27 cows in a minute, minute, minute five, and, and then be dead. And be dead. And so he started off nine 50, so that bro probably took him 1 45.

And just it's, I, we say this all the time. If you start slower, you'll be faster. Yeah. In, in almost every single case. And it's, it's no longer a thought or a, maybe it is a fact. Keep

[00:47:32] Daniel Coda: going. Damn. Yeah. And so, yeah, so I was able to do, um, I think 18 and nine on the thrust they look too.

[00:47:38] David Syvertsen: Yeah. They were fast. You, that you, the thruster has never been a great movement for you and you've had in the history, you know, especially when you get tired, they get ugly.

But they, I thought they looked awesome. Yeah. Like, they really looked, I was like, damn. I was like, they're fast, they're upright, they're consistent, they look good. Yeah. I'll say definitely

[00:47:54] Daniel Coda: the, the, the lot of, um, muscle fatigue work we've done in the legs has helped a lot. I, and just, I, I had it in my head.

Move fast, move well. Yeah. Um, and don't worry about the. Recover on the row, but the thruster has to be, well, you know, has to move. And I, I broke up one too many times in the 21. You know, I did 10, 6 5. I wish I would've just broke it once. That's the tough, that's the tough set. Yeah. 21. Yeah. Because then I got to the 15 and I was go, in my head I was telling myself, oh, you're gonna do ten five?

And I got to 10. I'm like, do not drop the bar. And, and I was able to kind of grit through the rest of it. And, you know, I, I, I beat my score from 15. By over a minute. That's amazing. That's awesome. Seven or eight years older.

[00:48:35] David Syvertsen: Um, how many people can say that? Really? Yeah. How old are you right now? Yeah. 42. Uh, 41.

And that's when we, that's when we do start to feel it go backwards a little bit. Like once you get 35, 36, I think, you know, that's why they start the masters at that age. But how many people can say at age 33, 34, they would've done something slower than what they're doing now? 41, 42 ish. Yeah. It's cool.

That's

[00:48:57] Daniel Coda: awesome. Honestly, like any really, that's cool. I think that anybody who, who, who likes it, who loves it, who wants to put the time in and, and like you can keep getting better as you get older. It's not, it's just, it's like people have put a, put a limit on that, but there's like, you're only limiting yourself.

Yep.

[00:49:12] David Syvertsen: Age is a number. Baby Karen.

[00:49:14] Karem Saldana: Um, so thrusters, um, every time, if you, if you, if I were to pick one movement in the open and quarter finals that I least look forward to, it's rowing. I don't like it. I don't like rowing for like, trying to do it fast and trying to do it efficiently. But why not? I feel like it's the hardest thing for me.

Mm-hmm. At least in the past it has been, but this past year, because of, uh, next level, for me at least, um, I've grown to love rowing. Nice. Especially because it's, I've gotten more efficient at it. Mm-hmm. Uh, Dave has talked to me a lot about, um, how to efficiently get more. More out of a pull. And I used to like just pull back and forth to like, just, um, doing it efficiently, like bringing it all the way back, doing it.

I feel like I do, I exert myself less, but get more out of it. Mm-hmm.

[00:49:57] David Syvertsen: So, um, so you're cheating just like Dan doesn't work?

[00:50:01] Karem Saldana: So I wasn't, I didn't start CrossFit until 2017, so I wasn't around for 15.5. Um, but I was looking forward to this one because if there was any workout that I knew I was gonna be able to do decent app, right.

It was gonna, it was this one. Um, I didn't really have like, um, what is it called? Like a, a plan when I went into it, I just knew that I can do thrusters unbroken. If I didn't try to do it super fast. Okay. So I ro my rowing was just efficient. Like my polos started at 1200 and um, I think when I got to like 21, the end of 21, it got a little like between a thousand and then 900.

That's really solid. But for the most part they, I did, they didn't tire me at all. Um, and then the thrusters weren't broken on the first set of 27. I think the next one I, I did 15 six and then I started doing like the last one. I didn't broken on nines, but it didn't feel hard. It didn't feel terrible. Um, but I have to be honest, I went slow on those thrusters.

I knew I didn't wanna drop the barbell and I knew that if I went any faster, I would drop it. And I kept that bar close. I didn't wanna walk away from it. Um, and I got a decent time. 9 59.

[00:51:01] David Syvertsen: That's awesome. Sub 10. Sub ten's great. Yeah. That was my goal. Yeah. Great. Good job. Really impressive that she started crossing in 2017, by the way, like.

So third time making quarter finals, and she started recruiting CrossFit in 2017. That's a lot of talent. I just wanted to throw that out there. It's a lot of talent. Thank you. All right, Sam. I do

[00:51:18] Sam Rhee: remember, I, I just started CrossFit that then maybe less than a year. And I do remember, Dave, you, you just about blacked out on this one.

Like I remember you lying there. Yep. And I was like, wow. Yeah. Like that was really bad. Yeah. Like, I don't think that's probably one of the top two or three times I've ever seen someone I, that's why so

[00:51:35] David Syvertsen: tough. That's why I think it, it's in my eyes, it's the hardest open workout ever. I went so hard on that one.

Yeah. And if you really go full send. Yeah. It was, it's the five minutes after. I was gonna ask you guys after, but how did you guys feel after this one? Like five minutes after? Did it get better or did it get worse? Did get helped. Helped my

[00:51:54] Karem Saldana: soreness. It felt like I got hit a train when I woke up. Yeah. Uh, but after that it worked out.

I got warm. It felt warmer.

[00:52:00] David Syvertsen: Yeah. So you only felt like you got hit by a bus after instead of a train. Okay.

[00:52:05] 2023_0402_1004: I

[00:52:05] Sam Rhee: mean, so I tried to get it outta my head that I had just done number three, like an hour before that.

[00:52:11] David Syvertsen: Yes. That should be, that should be put out

[00:52:13] Sam Rhee: there. Um, Honestly, if there's one thing I would change, I would've done this one yesterday.

Okay. Af after the dumbbell, like given me myself more time and then just done that. I probably would've psychologically at least felt better, but I just wasn't Aus like in a good place yesterday, so I didn't, yeah. Um, so that being said, uh, I did give what I had and, um, it was, it was interesting. Like I, I talked to a couple people, like there are some athletes at our gym.

This is their jam. Yeah. Like you talked to a Nicole DeCarlo or Mandy or legit, or like, there are any number of other, you know, Kevin, like, you know, Dan, like, this is something they can just, like, they were, they were telling me, oh, I did, or Tracy McGee. I did 27 Unbroken. Then I did like 21 Unbroken. Yeah. And then I, you know, like that kind of stuff.

Yeah. And I was like, okay, thanks for your advice. I will just do what I could and, and, uh, S So the row is just the row. Like even if you go a little slower, you're not losing too much on it. Right? And then you gotta like pound the thrusters. I did not pound the thrusters. I did, um, some random sets of whatever I could cobble together.

Um, I did the one thing I did l. Um, follow a lot of people is try to rest up top. Mm-hmm. And then, and then go, maybe I was resting too much and I was fatiguing my shoulders. Yep. I know that.

[00:53:36] David Syvertsen: Especially with the weekend. I mean, you're just tired at this

[00:53:38] Sam Rhee: point. That's okay. I, I do remember Rich Froning saying that, like, I like resting up here.

Yep, yep. Uh, um, I dropped the barbell too much, but whatever. Like I, I gave what

[00:53:48] David Syvertsen: I could. Yeah. We're gonna do it again at less than two weeks anyway. So you could What day? Cause I'm

[00:53:53] Sam Rhee: either coaching or not doing it. Uh, I, I might be out. Um, I will say that last nine set of thrusters, like Dan and Kevin Yk were there and they were like, you gotta, you gotta go on broken on these nine thrusters.

Because I was like, already thinking three sets of three, like five, like four or five. Like, I'm, I am dropping this barbell. Like, it's like it's hot. And, and they were like, no, you have to. So, You know, I actually saved time cuz I did maybe give myself another three or five, or I can't, it might have been 20, I don't know, before I picked up that barbell.

Yeah. But I did go nine unbroken. Great. And so it's those little wins. So maybe I didn't do like my best performance, but I did push myself and these guys made me like, That that little win of doing those last nine unbroken made me feel good. I mean, not good at the time, but good now. And I appreciate that.

Yeah. Like that's where these guys took a performance that maybe I would've looked at and been like, oh, you know, I could have done better. And then been like, you know what? I'll take that win of those nine unbroken cuz that that was painful. It didn't feel good. Um, these guys pushed me. Like, I appreciate that.

So, so I was really happy with that. And, and I would say this is the one where I saw so many people really like, it was their jam. They like, for us, we're like, no. But for a lot of people they're like, yes. Yeah. Because they're really good at it. Yeah. And um, it, it was a win for a lot of, a lot of our athletes.

[00:55:16] David Syvertsen: You know, I viewed this one just because, and I know not everyone did this one last, but you know, CrossFit has a little bit of a theme it that doesn't always show up, so I can't say it's always there. But they used to do this with regionals a lot. Um, they've done this in the open a lot. Is that the final workout that's programmed is the gut check one.

Hmm. Where it doesn't take that much talent to do this one. It takes some fitness. It always takes fitness. Um, but there's no, there's very little skill grit. Yeah. And, and that's what they like to test. And something kind of short like this can be, you'll see the, I think you'll see guy fast times in the sixes, girls in the low sevens.

Like, and that is going hard for that many time and for people that are trying to advance to the next stage, you, if you're on the bubble, you have to go dark on this. And if you don't, you won't make it. And I like workouts like this in a series over the course of the weekend, just have one of them like this no skill.

Do you want it or not? You know? And, uh, that, that's what I like to, that's how I like ending something like that. And that's why some people did advise me or ask me for advice on, hey, Should I do this one last? And my personal experience was Yeah, because that one is dark, you know, and you know that, that's, I do wanna get into just some, a little bit more macro level strategy and, you know, advice or even thoughts that you guys have, what you did, what you would've done different.

And my, I wanna open it up with selection of workouts. When did you do ones? And in regard to this 27, 21, 59, my and everyone has bias. So I, I'm acknowledging I have a bias, my bias in this workout is going dark sore for a long time because my quads don't recover well. So I would be, I would be sore from this for three days and I wouldn't wanna do anything after.

Um, and I also like going into a workout like this, knowing there's nothing after. So like, you literally empty the tank. Like we can use, like empty the tank guys. Oh, but by the way, you still have two more workouts left, so don't, right. You know, on this one, like, I like going into something say, all right, maybe I don't feel full strength, cuz I already did three or four workouts.

But I'm going to use ev. And that's a skill that some competitors don't have yet. You know, like, oh, I tried hard. Did you try as hard as you can? I think so. Nope, you didn't. You know, like, and that's something that you have to really experience and go for on your own. And that's when you start to find out who you know.

Do you really want it or not? Yeah. Who could go really dark and it's not a good thing if you can go dark. It's, it is. I'm trying to stay away from that as much as I can. It's like you start to really find out what you wanna get out of this. Because if you do want to get to a next level, you're gonna have to a lot of hard shit that you don't want do.

It's just the, it's, that's it. So go into a little bit guys, on, you know, how did you pick? I talked to Dan. Dan and I are very strategic. We're we think alike a lot. And we were texting when the workouts came out and I told him, I was like, Hey, here's my advice. But like, I don't know, like there really wasn't an easy, like in the past there's been a very easy selection.

Do this first, do this second, do that. This one I was like, you can make a case for any order. What were your thoughts?

[00:58:11] Daniel Coda: Yeah, yeah. I mean, initially, as soon as I saw the handstand pushup and the max lift, I knew I wanted to do that

[00:58:16] David Syvertsen: first. Um, was it because of the handstands being fresh? The lift or just both?

[00:58:20] Daniel Coda: Yeah. More than anything. The handstand being fresh. Okay. I wanted to just really see like not being fatigued, like tired at all before that, what I could, what I can manage out of it. Mm-hmm. Um, the lift, I've gotten a lot better at lifting under fatigue. You do, we do a lot of practice in that, and so yeah,

[00:58:38] David Syvertsen: you hit 97, 90 8%.

That's, that's amazing. Yeah.

[00:58:41] Daniel Coda: And um, I've, I've found that I've gotten better at that, so that wasn't as much of it. Um, but just the handstand, pushup, 100% wanted to get it done. Mm-hmm. I did, we did talk about maybe doing two work as it's Friday night. Mm-hmm. Um, I'm generally a morning workout person. Yeah.

And as soon as I finished that max lift, I was like, I'm done for tonight.

[00:59:01] David Syvertsen: Yeah. You know, I could feel it

[00:59:02] Daniel Coda: right away. Um, I didn't want to get anything else in.

[00:59:05] David Syvertsen: Um, and you said you would've done the rope climb one last, you know, what last, if you had the option to redo?

[00:59:10] Daniel Coda: I did say that. And, and after now, discussing this all and, and, and really thinking about it, um, I did have a moment today with, with Alan, one of the judges, which was great.

Uh, which he helped me out so much. Uh, he's a great judge. Yeah. I woke up today feeling a bit sorry for myself. Yep. You know, it was like, you know, I, you didn't do what you, what you set out to do and, and that's okay. And I kind of like, kind of like Sam said, let it sit with me for a little bit and then moved on.

But, I will, I came in today, I was like, lemme just get this, lemme just get this done. Yeah. And, and I told him, he's like, how, how you feel so far? I'm like, you know, it hasn't gone as well as I, I would hoped, but, you know, I'm excited to get this one done. He's like, well, you have, now you have an opportunity to redeem yourself.

Yeah. I'm like, it's a good shot. You know what? Yeah. Let's go. You're right.

[00:59:52] David Syvertsen: Yeah. And so join me. I'm,

[00:59:57] Daniel Coda: and so, um, I, I don't think, I think that kind of workout is, is the kind of workout you can push in. Mm-hmm. And, and I'm, I'm looking back at it now and I'm gonna take this experience with me and, and think that, you know what this, that's the kind of workout that you can grit through and move through and, and push it all out at the end because the, the, the shuttle run rope climb bench, that's, that's kind of it is what it is.

That's the capacity, right. That I have. Right. And I wasn't gonna do much better or worse, I think either way. Yep. Um, but I, but I think mentally I was able to kind of just, you know, push as hard as I could for today. Right. Um, you know, I think I went a little bit slower than I should have in the row, but also, you know, another learning experience.

Right? Yep.

[01:00:36] Karem Saldana: Were the workouts announced last year on a Thursday?

[01:00:38] David Syvertsen: Uh, yeah, so last year we had, they released 'em Thursday at 3:00 PM and we had three days to do the five workouts. And I still think there was two submission windows. Am I right about that? Yeah. Last year there was two, so there was still Saturday, Sunday submission windows.

So basically thir like last year, they gave us more time. Yeah, they gave us an extra 24 hours to do the same amount of work for the, for the most part. Um, and just so I don't know if you guys know this, the reason was two things. They did team quarter finals Wednesday, Thursday or Wednesday into Friday.

And then they, so they really wanted to keep the events separate from each other. Um, there are some athletes that do both actually, but then also, um, I think that they are trying to, there have been a lot of complaints from masters. That you can't expect people with jobs and kids, generally speaking, I know to really put three days into something, like having two days like, Hey, we can find a way to get that done.

I think that was part of the reasoning behind that. Yeah. So, all right

[01:01:33] Karem Saldana: Cam. I think, um, I went with uh, workout two first and I thought that was my best choice just because rig work, um, at my best in the morning, that's my. To do it. Yep. Nine 30 s is when I do all like open workouts, so I thought I'd rather do it in the morning when I'm like feeling better that it's the time I do it.

Because at night, I don't know if anybody had this problem, but after working out super late Friday night, I, it was hard for me to fall asleep. Yep. So I was taking stuff to go to sleep, like Benadryl, and then I woke up in the middle of the night like, Not even the middle. Four 30 in the morning. Yep. With my heart racing wired.

I was like wired and I was like, it was tough. I was surprised that I fell back asleep. Yeah. So you should have texted

[01:02:08] David Syvertsen: me, Dave, can I go now? Can I get now? I would've done it. I would've done it.

[01:02:13] Karem Saldana: So I think that the first, I think that two being the first one because of like, I would've, would've wanted to, if I was gonna get any reps in the well facing strict handstand pushups, I would've wanted to do it fresh.

Got it. Um, and then, uh, the max lift, I always know that a max lift is better in the beginning because the more sore I've been Yep. The worse it is to try to pr a max lift. Mm-hmm. Um, and then the morning one. Yes. And then between, I'm glad I did the, uh, thruster last, the one that was supposed to be last, last, um, I don't think the rope climb and bench press would've affected that workout.

Like, I wouldn't have done it later. Um, I would've wanted to do those one 20 fives a little earlier before another workout. The 65, like thruster was like, no matter what, like it felt good. So I didn't, I think I could've given it my all at the end. Um, and I like the order in which I did it, you know?

[01:03:00] David Syvertsen: Smart.

Good. Sam, you know, it's

[01:03:03] Sam Rhee: interesting watching these athletes because there's really, um, sort of, I don't wanna say two classes, but there there are two approaches. They're the ones where you're looking at an absolute number that you have to try to hit, like da, like Dan's. That's why it was hard because you had absolute numbers and a score and a ranking you were shooting for within your age group.

Amy Edelman is like that. Tracy, like you guys are looking. Not like for the rest of us, like for me, it's a relative accomplishment, right? It's like, what am I doing within my potential Yeah. Right. To, to do it. And I don't really care where I'm ranking. It's like, did I do really well in relationship to what I've usually done?

Mm-hmm. But you guys are measuring your, measuring yourself against everyone else and trying to hit an absolute or an objective number. And that

[01:03:54] David Syvertsen: is so

[01:03:54] Sam Rhee: difficult. Like the, the order of magnitude it, it takes to get that like to, to shoot for that is, is really hard. And I understand why you guys are sort of living and dying by your numbers because that, that's your goal.

It's a goal for me as a, you know, I'm, it's a relative accomplishment. It's like, where am I doing, what am I doing relative to myself? And so I, I honestly am taking more joy out of it than you guys are probably because of that. Yeah. Um, or not, like some people, like if I saw a lot of athletes, they were disappointed maybe like, um, With their handstand pushups or the bench or whatever it is that they didn't get exact, or their bar muscle ups where they wanted to.

Um, actually you could get, you could be pretty down on yourself for that. So I, I think most people, um, should try to take away the most that they could from this. Mm-hmm. The second thing is, is um, uh, nah, I can't remember, but the third thing I was gonna say is, uh, I can't wait to join. Tracy and Kathleen in the 55.

55 and up. Yeah, because three people, three judges today thought I was already in that category. Oh no. And they were like, oh, so you just need the 12 foot rope? And I was like, no, I have to go 15. They're like, oh, so you're using the uh, 35 pound double? No, I have to use the 50. The same as Dan. The same as everybody else.

Oh God. You know Kayla. Oh, so you need a two inch riser for your hands and push. This means

[01:05:19] David Syvertsen: Sam does want the age group RX for,

[01:05:24] Sam Rhee: so I'm like, so I'm sitting here with Kevin, you're these guys, and I'm just like, great. Like everyone already is putting me in that category. I might as well just, but you know what?

I got two more years before I can actually go to that game. But you did all the workouts, right? I mean,

[01:05:38] David Syvertsen: It's impressive. That's

[01:05:39] Sam Rhee: impressive.

[01:05:40] Karem Saldana: I was doing it with these young guys and that's just a, that's

[01:05:43] Sam Rhee: amazing. So, so from a relative standpoint without, and so I, you know, I was talking to someone, I said, you know, I hadn't really pre like to Amy Edelman, cuz she's been training Yeah.

Like a mad person. Yeah. And you saw like a lot of her accomplishments this weekend. And I, and I was like, well, you know, this was a snapshot of me right now. I'm not doing a lot of training. I'm not really prepping. Um, and it's a little frustrating because I have prepped more in the past. Yeah. And, and I could see all my deficiencies.

I'm like, okay, this is where my skill is lacking. This is where I haven't practiced this. This is where like, if I had worked on this, I'd do a little bit better, but I'm busy right now. Like I got like stuff and so, I think everyone who is working on their fitness, they have some competitive aspirations.

There were a lot of people that were this close to making it in cottified, like literally two reps. Yeah. Yep. On a workout. Would've pushed them in. Like, I would say you have to take it in balance. Like maybe you can work on it more. Maybe you, you're, you can't really right now. That's okay. Do what you can.

Take what you can out of it. And, um, I got lucky on a couple workouts this, this time. I got a couple work lucky on a couple workouts in the open, but if I don't make it next year, I'm all right. Like I, this gave me good perspective. Like I'm really happy to cheer for everyone else because you. Really, like, it's so inspirational.

Like Yeah,

[01:07:10] David Syvertsen: it, there's a, it deserves my credit, you know? I know that we get a little uncomfortable sometimes, right? I know you guys probably do too. Like when you, you do out something, you don't always constantly want like the positive, like, you know, attention, right? It gets a little uncomfortable at some point, but you never want to come across as like that.

You're eating it up like that. That's not why we're here. I know most people, that's not why they're here. Is it a benefit that you feel supported and people are cheering you on? Absolutely. But it's not for attention.

[01:07:36] Sam Rhee: I'm trying to take away something from every athlete and I wish I could name all 20, but you already have like, but when I watch Natsa, when I watched Nicole DeCarlo, when I watch, you know, any one of these guys like just.

Just pushing. Yeah. It, it makes me feel like I can try as hard as I can. Yeah. And, you know, Rayna, all these people like, right. Like they give

[01:07:58] David Syvertsen: so Yeah. Much they do. And, and it's consistent. I think

[01:08:02] Sam Rhee: that's the, yes. They're all very, very consistent with it. Yeah. With Mandy. So I'm, and, and they have aspirations and they have all these goals and, and I love that.

I love seeing that all the time. And then it makes me think, well, you know, maybe I can only give X amount of time, but for that X amount of time I'm gonna make, I'm not gonna waste it. I'm gonna do my best with it. And if I can hang, that's awesome. Mm-hmm. But it, it's a relative accomplishment for me. So if I don't, I, I should still take away that I'm.

Like happy that I'm fitnessing. Yeah. Even though I'm like 90 years old the way everyone thinks I am right now. That's

[01:08:35] David Syvertsen: okay. I'll take it. Don't worry, Sam, we have hbar. Give

[01:08:37] Sam Rhee: me the, give the 10 pound weights and the, and the 12 inch box and,

[01:08:41] David Syvertsen: and I'll be fine. So I mean that, that's kind of like good. Where we can start to wind this down a little bit in terms of what is your advice or, or what are your thoughts for yourselves on where do you go from here?

Like, one thing about these weekends, right? These quarter, final weekends or, or weekend competitions or a comp that you sign up for is the dopamine crash. And I know some of these athletes are gonna go through it, be like, you're on a high, you know, this was a, a very unique weekend. Like people are making arrangements with their kids, their schedules, their work schedules, um, which is hard credit to all the athletes.

I had to like make arrangements with that stuff. I, I know it's hard, trust me and. To be in that environment. It's almost like, you know, Kathleen always says this, if you could bottle that adrenaline and sell it, you'd be in a millionaire, right? Like, imagine if we could do something like that every weekend, just train to not, not compete, but train together, go after it and have that support system, you'd be monsters next year.

And it's not realistic to think that, right? None of us are pro-athletes and, but what, what can you take from this weekend knowing that you're probably gonna come down to earth a little bit over the next few days? Like there is some, sometimes some post competition, not depression, but just like a lull, you know, like you, you feel like, wait, so why do I need to try hard in today's wild?

Like, what's the point? Like a lot of these guys, remember back, we started reset in January. People are motivated. You have the open coming up and then we have the open announcement. People are like, just jazzed up, fired up. You make quarter finals, you have two, three weeks to build up the quarter finals.

And now it's like, Done over tomorrow. No offense, anyone, nobody cares anymore. You know, like we're all here for ourselves. Our workouts now. Right. Where do you guys go from here? What are you, what are you prepping for mentally? Damn. Oh, that's a good question.

[01:10:20] Daniel Coda: Um,

[01:10:21] David Syvertsen: you don't have to have the answer by the way.

Yeah, yeah. You know, but just like, like what is your initial like, thought on, on that? Yeah. I think,

[01:10:27] Daniel Coda: uh, you know, part of it is just being really, um, just taking a step back and looking at what you have accomplished. Yeah. Just finishing the workouts generally. I mean, just finishing the open, just getting through quarter finals, um, that's, that's a huge accomplishment in itself.

Um, because there's definitely points when I was like, uh, do I want, maybe I just wanna quit now. Mm-hmm. Yeah.

[01:10:51] David Syvertsen: Right,

[01:10:51] Daniel Coda: right. Um, and then, um, yeah, it's starting to think about, you know, not necessarily next year's opening quarter finals, but starting to look, can I put some, some few little, uh, checkpoints in the calendar in the next three months that I can.

Focus on, kind of regain myself. Um, I know like this next week I just want to be in class and have fun with

[01:11:14] David Syvertsen: everybody. That's Yeah. Yeah. That's, I know exactly what you're saying there.

[01:11:17] Daniel Coda: Yeah. I mean, a huge difference in my training in this last year compared to the years before was I was doing a lot of solo training.

Mm-hmm. And a lot of like trying to like, well, I need to work on my weaknesses. I need to do my own thing. But when we started really focusing in on doing it, you know, I'm doing four classes a week at least. Yep. Um, I'm, first of all, there's so many amazing athletes here that I can push myself every day.

I'm chasing that person, I'm chasing that person. Yeah. Yep. Um, but just, just being in the fun of it all. You know, I think that's, that's kind of like checking back into why I started this, why I found love and passion for this is really has been getting after it with the rest of the community and doing it all together.

You know, and just having fun. Um, so I think that's where I'm gonna go to first is That's awesome. Find that again. That's

[01:12:00] David Syvertsen: awesome. Yeah. You always have to keep it fun. You have to. Karen?

[01:12:03] Karem Saldana: Um, I'm looking forward to getting back into the routine of the regular Monday to Friday. Yeah. Um, what I love about the, uh, quarter finals and the open, well more quarter finals, like that whole, like feeling like you're doing a competition.

I think that's the closest I'm gonna get to doing a competi, like five workouts in a weekend. Right. Um, Like you start to realize that your body's capacity and what it can do. Yeah. Like I remember last year, that's awesome. You made us do the mock. Yeah. And I was like, and then I text him after we did the mock and I was like, wow.

Like I'm surprised and happy that I was able to do it and fit all of that. Um, was it a week

[01:12:36] David Syvertsen: before the coronavirus? No, we did two weeks before last year. We had a little extra time between, so we did mop. We just didn't have the time this year. It

[01:12:42] Karem Saldana: was, they were too close still. Like it gave you an idea.

Yeah. And I was like, with my work schedule, I think I was working that weekend, I was like, I was still able to fit everything and I worked 13 hour shifts. Right. Um, so, and I'm on my feet all the time at work. People will be like, you're running all the time. I'm like, that's just my pace. It is shutter runs.

But, um, my, my takeaway is like what I, I already know what I wanna work on. Like I know that my focus is gonna be on strength. Um, I really. Build up my strength. I'm not saying that I'm gonna build it up amazingly this next year, but I really do wanna focus more on strength. Mm-hmm. And, uh, just to go back and like pick, like talk about what you were bringing up.

Um, I'm like, this open was so humbling because I can name 10 people who would've crushed these workouts mm-hmm. And done way better than me in so many movements that didn't make quarter finals. Mm-hmm. So I, I felt like these workouts were all worth given a try because there were so many people who would've been able to do these workouts without any complaints.

And there were so many that I was just like, I, I don't think I can. I wanted to give 'em a try because I felt like I owed it too. And I had girls talk to me and be like, man, I'm glad I didn't make it because

[01:13:47] David Syvertsen: I, I felt,

[01:13:48] Karem Saldana: I'm glad I didn't make it. I was on the pest, but like, looking at you guys do this, it was really hard.

I'm like, no, you should, you need to because once you do these, you're like, you realize what your body's capable of. I encourage it and that's what I wanted. That's another goal I have this year. All those girls that were like 89% I wanna push 'em to get to that 90%. Yeah. Or whatever it is, because they are, I could, I can see them in my head like just crushing these workouts cuz they crushed me on a regular basis.

So yeah, I'm looking forward to getting back to the routine of my regular, like trying to like do really good Monday, Fri Monday, Tuesdays and then like. Bringing down the intensity. Wednesdays, resting Thursdays and Fridays, like taking it back up.

[01:14:22] David Syvertsen: That's awesome. I love it. Yeah.

[01:14:24] Sam Rhee: I want to push all those 89 percenters too.

Me too. Because we'll get more than 20 for sure. I think we have the potential. Yeah. Um, might need

[01:14:33] David Syvertsen: a bigger gem.

[01:14:35] Sam Rhee: The, um, I, the last thing I did remember now was, uh, you know, it's funny, today I come in and, you know, we have a bison group, uh, on our whoop. Right. So you can see everyone scores and like how, how much they're sleeping, right.

Uh, like their fit, like their strain level and all that. And just like, You got like a 1%,

[01:14:56] Karem Saldana: like legit is the only person that like, she, she's like, I was surprised you came to work out. You, you got three hours of sleep last night, right? Yeah. That's the

[01:15:04] David Syvertsen: only time I could do it. Right. You consulted, right?

She's like,

[01:15:06] Sam Rhee: you got like no sleep. Like, you're like, how are you even moving? And I, and

[01:15:11] David Syvertsen: I was like, I know. So like

[01:15:13] Sam Rhee: this weekend was challenging, like you said that that Friday night into Saturday and then, and then like waking up and thinking about this stuff like that, stress, my sleep hygiene is awful. My recovery sort of protocols and what I'm doing is awful.

So I think the biggest thing I need to do, and this, this weekend highlighted it, is how do I fix all that? How do I get my mindset right? How do I work on my recovery? How do I work on my sleep? How do I do those things? Um, I see a lot of other people's numbers and they're doing awesome. Um, I, I can do better and when I really focus on it, I do do better.

It's just most of the time. That's the first thing that gets shorted when any pressure is applied into my lifestyle or, or, or whatever it is I'm doing. And, and I'm always like, oh yeah, I can still function. I can still like tough it out and do it, but yeah, when legits like 2%, like, I'm like, okay, I know.

Like that's where I could do better. I could do better with everything in my life if I worked on that. So I think for the next couple weeks I'm gonna say, all right, how can I make that better? And that'll help my workout and my performance as

[01:16:21] David Syvertsen: well. Yeah. Awesome. Yeah. So like, one little challenge I wanna throw you guys and, um, anyone else that competed this weekend, whether you're at bison or not, um, wherever, right?

We have people all over the place that, um, that, that, listen to this, if you made quarter finals, I, I want you to take a responsibility. That, uh, not to coach people, not to be like, do what I did and you can make quarter finals, right? Um, there is in some gyms not ours, I think our gym handles this so well.

There's a separation between sport and the rest of the gym and there are gyms and there are probably even people here that think that the good athletes get put on a pedestal too much. And in some cases you are going to, but also the person that gets their first host bar gets put on a pedestal. Like any, everyone has their time, every kind of athlete has their time.

But I think that's something that an athlete should take on as an added responsibility to act a certain way after a weekend like this. Um, a be overly thankful to the judges. Like you could say thank you for every single day for the next year. It probably still is not enough if we don't have people that pay $10 spend in some cases, two hours taking a really annoying online test, Barry, and then, and then coming in to the gym.

And spending 12, 15, 18 hours at the gym counting reps. Yeah. Over and over again. We cannot do this. Yeah. So just, and I want us all not just saying thank you, like we had a lot of people who just come and cheer you guys on. Yeah. Yeah. And that is part of what makes this place special, that we're around selfless people that wanna do things for others.

And I think as an athlete that is viewed as top 10% whatever, one of the best athletes in the gym that we don't really talk about that much on a, on a like a week to week, month-to-month basis. That you walk in and you act a certain way that you are not better than others, that you do, you are a part of the crew.

You just happen to have a few good workouts that maybe you even got lucky with the programming, as Karen was said, what Sarah said, and you. You're gonna have eyeballs on you whether you want that or not. You know, some people will say, well, that's not my decision. I don't, I'm not doing this to have eyeballs on me.

You're gonna have eyeballs in terms of how you act in classes with other people. What you say, how much you help other people when they want help, are you being possessive about, it's like the silly stuff. Like, I want that box, that pull bar, that zone. Um, I'm gonna short my reps, like we could talk about standards.

You are going to have eyeballs on you now, and I, I hope that everyone, whether it's at bison or other gyms, you can kind of just keep that in the back of your head that, you know, getting to this level and getting all the support that you guys did, you now are taking on a responsibility of acting a certain way to make sure that we never get to a point where, you know, the competitors are being viewed as full of themselves, or they think this gym belongs to them, or they're getting all the attention.

We want everyone to always feel that their goals and their accomplishments are just as important as yours. They just don't get. As much attention of it. But, and I really think that's something that's made bison a really good place over the past 10 years is, you know, we've had, we have, you know, a huge separation and, and talent level, ability level, experience, levels, goals, right?

Like, some people don't give a shit about this, the top 10%. They just wanna be healthy. That we are all the same. And sometimes it can get lost in an environment like this. Um, and I, I know full well that everyone that participated bison, we don't have an issue that here, but I do know just owners that I talk to from other locations, that is a problem where it's like them for them versus us, rather than, Hey, we all make each other stronger.

So, um, I just wanna throw that challenge out to you guys. Do you have any closing thoughts on the weekend, um, that you wanted to get off your chest? Good or bad? Let's keep it good though, because this is a positive vibe right now. Um, guys, anything? I mean,

[01:20:07] Daniel Coda: I'll just say, going off of what you just said, this is, you know, the reason why I'm, I'm here.

Uh, in this gym is because of, of that exact reason of, of how everybody supports each other in every single day of, throughout the year. Um, it's, it's so awesome seeing just everybody improving themselves in whatever way. Yeah. Um, so, and I am so grateful of everybody, you know, judging and being around. It's, it's, and it's so fun.

It's so cool. Um, and yeah, it's amazing. Yeah.

[01:20:38] Karem Saldana: Cam, um, I'm, I wanna say thank you to all the judges. Mm-hmm. I, I don't think I've like, been wanting to, I've walked up to all the judges in personally, been like, thank you so much for like, honestly just taking the time. You guys have, get nothing out of this yet.

You guys are here, like, cheering us on and counting, counting these reps for us. I actually, I actually think it should be like a, like, um, something we do or like the people who are competing in, in, in like these quarter finals should actually get certified with judging. Because, because you know, like we should help out with our, we should like judging each other as well.

I agree. But I am so grateful and thankful that for these people that came out and like, For no reason, just like sat there and cheered us on. I've never felt, um, in this gym, like I've, like there's a group of people, especially the people that make it to quarter finals or the people that make it past the open or even the people who do so well in competitions.

Like they're any better than the people in the gym like that. This is the one gym where I know that we all feel like we're together. We're together. It is. Yeah. And, and I love that about this gym. It's the best part of the gym. Yeah. Um, even when we were working on like stuff during the week that could like help, like Dave told us this this last week, uh, what to do to get not ready, but like he said, like, do hit the 10 foot thing in the workouts.

I wasn't, it wasn't just the people who. We're doing quarter finals. It was the people who didn't make quarter finals that were doing it with us. We were all like, let's do this cuz we're looking forward to the next open. So let's like, challenge ourselves to do it. Like I was doing it with Julia and um, Karen McKinney.

So I love that there, it doesn't feel like it's like two separate groups. It feels like we're all included and we are all looking forward to the next open. Um, I'm humble humbled, extremely humbled by this open and I. Thankful to be here and thankful to everybody

[01:22:14] David Syvertsen: here. Awesome.

[01:22:15] Sam Rhee: Thanks, Karen. I'm looking forward to everyone who's competing this season, uh, on all the outside local comms.

Like that's gonna be really exciting. And I want

[01:22:22] David Syvertsen: Got something, we got something big coming up too. I'm not gonna announce it yet. Oh yeah. Okay. I'll let you guys know. I'll, I'll let you know off camera, but I, but I'm very happy

[01:22:29] Sam Rhee: to cheer for everyone and, uh, and sort of support everyone, you know, in the way they've supported me.

Like I really appreciate that. Last thing I want to do is support, uh, sorry. Thank you, Dave, for setting everything up. It, this was logistically the, the biggest nightmare potential that I've ever seen. Yeah. With 20 athletes, four events, everyone doing it differently. Like, you know, I wanna do event two first.

No, I'm gonna do event three. Yeah. Now I'm gonna do like to, to actually make it work. And it worked. I mean, 95% of it, yeah. Mm-hmm. Was like Right. Amazing. I wanna thank you for that. Mm-hmm. That was selfless. Yep. Like, this is not part of being a gym owner or like making money or any of that stuff. Like we didn't pay you

[01:23:13] David Syvertsen: anything.

We're we're charging your car. Like, like, like you just did this and Yeah. And um, well I know this right? I talked to Dan like being, you know, you take a responsibility on when you have 20 people do it, and it would be a mess if we just said, come figure it out. Yeah. But I wanted it to feel like that kind of weekend, like you guys are being taken care of, like athletes do when they go to a legends, uh mm-hmm.

Masters Fitness collective regionals. And, and that's, you know, with this environment, with these athletes, like I think it got them, it helped. I really put all my what, all my thoughts into you guys getting the most out of the weekend that you could, whether it was this goal or that goal, these reps that reps.

And to do that with this many people, you do have to set things up. Right. And, and everyone,

[01:23:57] Sam Rhee: uh, played nice. Yes. We, you know, worked out together. We were considerate. And I think that people were flexible. That made a huge difference because it's not easy. Like Yeah. And if you were a prima don, you could easily say, no, this isn't gonna work for me.

This isn't gonna work for me. Yeah.

[01:24:12] David Syvertsen: But especially when we were here the other night at nine 30 at night. Right. That was against the norm for a lot of people. Right. I give them a lot of respect for.

[01:24:20] Sam Rhee: Again, thank you Dave. Yeah. Um, fantastic weekend and, and much,

[01:24:24] David Syvertsen: much appreciated. Yeah, we, I can't wait till next year.

Um, this is just gonna become a yearly tradition and, um, yeah, we might need to, to find a bigger space to, to host us and more help. Yeah. It's really tough. Yeah. But we will, uh, we'll get it done and we're not going anywhere guys, to, we'll, you know, we're going to just be, keep helping you guys out that have this kind of goal throughout the year.

I think almost every single podcast we put out there could help you reach another fitness level if, if that's what you're shooting for. So thank you so much for listening and we will see you guys next week. Thank you for having us. Bye.