S06E184: The Mental Game: Competing Beyond the Numbers with Special Guest Dan Coda
Are you facing the challenges of competing as an aging athlete? This episode dives deep into the world of CrossFit through the eyes of seasoned competitors, revealing how mindset, community, and personal goals can shape your fitness journey, no matter your age. Join coach David Syvertsen @davesy85 as he chats with Dan Coda @dannehnj, an accomplished CrossFit athlete and dedicated father, who shares his evolving "why" behind competing. Discover why consistency matters more than ever, and how to navigate the ever-changing landscape of the sport.
As Dan reflects on transitioning from youthful competition to showing his kids the value of hard work, listeners will gain valuable insights into the mental fortitude required to thrive in fitness. He emphasizes that it’s not just about the end results but also about falling in love with the process, enjoying the camaraderie that comes with training and shared hardships, and finding motivation from within, irrespective of external pressures.
In a sport that constantly adapts, Dan inspires us to control what we can and remain steadfast in our pursuit of improvement. He shares his experience navigating changes in competition structure and how focusing on personal achievement can ignite passion in your workouts. Whether you're an experienced competitor or just starting your fitness journey, this episode provides actionable advice and encouragement for staying true to your goals.
Join us for an insightful discussion, and be inspired to continue your own fitness journey — aiming high and enjoying every step along the way! Don't forget to subscribe and share your thoughts with us after listening.
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S06E184: The Mental Game: Competing Beyond the Numbers with Special Guest Dan Coda
TRANSCRIPT
David SyvertsenHost
00:05
Hey everybody, welcome to the Herd Fit Podcast with Dr Sam Rhee and myself, coach David Syverton. This podcast is aimed at helping anyone and everyone looking to enhance their healthy lifestyle through fitness, nutrition and, most importantly, mindset. All right, welcome back to the Herd Fit Podcast. I am Coach David Syverton. I am not here with my co-host. I have a repeat special guest, dan Kota, crossfit Bison Masters athlete, dan, what's up, my man?
Dan CodaGuest
00:33
Not much. How's it going?
David SyvertsenHost
00:33
Did you just get done working out at 7? Yeah, okay, you didn't break a sweat, so I'm just not judging you. It's the day before the Open. I, the CrossFit Open does come out. We're recording this on a Thursday morning. The CrossFit Open comes out in about seven hours from now and we are super stoked here at CrossFit Bison and I'm actually not coincidentally, I feel like from the CrossFit guys I am starting to get a little sick. I can feel it coming and the funny thing is I'm actually more confident I can get through a workout right now than this podcast is. I'm actually more confident I can get through a workout right now than this podcast, so, just for the sake of time. So I'm going to do my best to get through it and I'm really going to kind of let Dan open the door to some things.
01:14
Dan's been on here a few times and in most cases Dan has come on and reflected on a specific competition that he competed in, legends Masters Fitness Collective, wadapalooza, where she just got back from the CrossFit Open CrossFit Quarterfinals. Right, and there's more. Trust me, guys, there's more to Dan than being a CrossFit competitor, a lot more Great husband, great father, great friend, great member of the CrossFit community, and him and I go way back. We did CrossFit fundamentals together at CrossFit Hoboken back in 2011, 2010. And we were in that same class. We started CrossFit together, which is always our cool thing. Every now and then we share old videos or pictures of each other and it's just, it's somewhat embarrassing, but also somewhat cool to see how far we've come. You know, we kind of circled back. We've been at different locations.
01:59
So the topic of today with Dan is really going to center around how one stays dedicated to a sport as an aging athlete, but also in a sport that is constantly changing and everything from standards of a handstand pushup to the format of the sport season, to different competitions that come and go local and travel that come and go local and travel. So I really want to pick Dan's brain on for the sake of you, to really find out what it's like and what he goes through mentally, emotionally, physically to get to where he is. So, dan, the first one, I want to dive right into this. What is your why, what has been your why and how often does that change?
Dan CodaGuest
02:45
Yeah, yeah. I think this is a super important to anybody to figure out on their own. It's something that took me a while to think about. This is, you know I love listening to podcasts throughout the years that this was always a topic that came up and I would always kind of dig into my brain and try to figure it out. You know right now where I am in life. My why is definitely, you know, my kids showing them that anything is possible if you just keep trying and put in the hard work. It's also like trying to see like how good can I be, you know, versus myself, like what is the best version of me that I can put out there every day, knowing that there's going to be highs and lows, and as I get older, the you know, the the highs might be not as high and the lows might be lower, but I'm still trying to be. You know what is just keep trying to see what is possible for me. Early days it was very different. It was, you know, just trying to like I.
03:42
When I first started, it was filling the competitive void in my life like there was, uh, you know, growing up an athlete doing all sports, like you know, as a kid, playing, you know, football on the streets or whatever basketball on you know, on this, uh, and the courts with my friends, like just always being competitive, and then all of a sudden, as an adult, that was gone. Yeah, you know. So it was like when I first started, I started seeing the competitive side of everything. It was like filling that void. So it's just constantly changing, constantly shifting. I think now, obviously, as a father, it's much easier to just stay rooted in that.
David SyvertsenHost
04:15
Yeah, and I do think it actually does. In some ways, trying to be competitive as a parent is. From the outside it looks tougher, but honestly, inside it actually is easier because you always have something to look at, uh, tangibly, to say like, hey, this is why I'm doing this, like he's watching me both at home and how I react to good and bad, and you know you could see your performance go up and down and at the end of the day, I think most kids don't actually care about that. Like you could even go lie to them, say I came in first place, you really came in last. They'll believe you, but really I. I think it's.
04:47
How does my parent act, how does my mom or dad act when things are good and bad? And I am a strong believer that parenting one of the biggest responsibilities that we have is showing them how to deal with adversity, how to deal with losses. And you know we play uno at the dinner table a lot and my son will actually cry every time he loses and like ash and I look at each other like you are not going to be that kid. But all kidding aside, kids pick up on everything, everything, and if they're here and in our sport and as you get older there aren't that many opportunities to compete. You know you can join men's league and stuff in that, but like those are few and far between, a lot of them suck and a lot of them are at late at night. Cross it open like you can sign up to compete, no matter what level you're at. Any competition to you, bring your kids. They watch you and they will watch how you act when things go well and if you think you're really good at lying and hiding adversity and that they will find out on. When you complain to a judge, uh, throw stuff around. You're a jerk to be around at home because you're having a bad day, they pick up on that and they so that that is a really key cock.
05:56
Now, not everyone that competes has kids, but I think there's a carryover to the people you spend your time with Over the years emotional athletes that can't handle the good and bad either. They get too happy about the good and they get too upset about the bad the people that they spend time with and if they train together and hang out together, they become that as well. And it can go in the other way as well If you are really good at handling adversity and you're tough-minded and you're long-term focused and you deal with adversity, you get hurt and you're still positive and you find ways around it. People around you will follow that, and whether you consider yourself a leader or not. So I think that's a really important thing, that when we think about our whys because we all get challenged with that why am I doing this? Why am I doing this 60-minute EMOM? Why am I trying as hard as I can to get three more reps or seven seconds off a score?
06:48
There are often deeper meanings behind it than what your actual score is, and I think that's really important for everyone to understand. Now, when you compete Dan, you know and be honest about this do you really? Are you competing for you or are you competing for your girls, for your wife, for your family, for your gym? And I know the answer could be both, but when you're here, you're hours away from the opening. I know what your goal is and you have a really ambitious goal with this stuff. Is it for you or is it for others? Kind of touch on that a little bit.
Dan CodaGuest
07:16
Yeah, this is an interesting topic because it definitely has to be kind of both if you want to succeed. Definitely, it has to be kind of both. If you want to succeed, yeah, um, there has to be a selfish endeavor in it all, because it takes a lot of work to, you know, to be at a high level in this, or high level at anything that you do is like there's a, there's definitely a section of your life that needs to be solely focused on that. Um, so that takes away from other parts of your life. But I think that a big part of what I've come to love about this is like being trying to be inspired, like an inspiration to other people.
07:52
Yeah, absolutely, you are trying to excuse me, trying to show, as I'm aging up, that I'm still like performing well and that we're, you know, breaking in this gym and these walls. We're breaking, you know, social norms right, yeah absolutely everybody seems to think that you know, oh, I'm 40, now I can't be doing you know, handstand walking. I can't be lifting weights like like the younger kids, but I'm trying to show that you can do that, yeah, um.
David SyvertsenHost
08:18
So I think it's like the those two things kind of together yeah, that's a great answer and I'll say it's because it's an uncomfortable thing to say like I'm an inspiration, like I'll say you are, like, I am a coach of yours, a co-athlete of yours, whatever you want to call me. You inspire me and I and I know other people in this gym are inspired by you too, because I've, over the years, have had so many people say you know, like, how does he keep doing it Like, like and it's just like? One of the most complimentary things you could say to someone is that they're just, they're consistent, that they're, they're not up and down, they don't compete for this year and then take off three years and they try to get it back. It's like, it's. It's admirable and you can try to do that. But I think the most admirable trait in a competitor is the one that sticks to it, because you know you go through different phases of life and your career and your family and just some of your motivation levels, your outlooks on everything, and it's really easy and common to just take a step back just because things are not ideal in the moment. But the consistent people, the Dan Kodas of the world yes, their performance may go up and down, but there's still that underlying base level to their pyramid that says, hey, I am still trying to move that needle.
09:30
And I think one of the issues that a lot of competitors have and I want to get your feedback on this is that they're always trying to get better, and I know we all have that. Get 1% better every day. I get it. I've said it, I've thought it. It's not happening. You're not getting better every day. But one thing I think we can strive to be is trying to. As you get older, if you can just stay where you're at for as long as possible, I think that alone gets you better. So talk about this like you know, you have different cycles throughout the year. When you're really pushing, you're dialing it back, you're focusing on strength, you're focusing on gymnastics, you're focused on engine Can't do it all at once at all all the time. Right, touch on the idea of as I get older, things get tougher, but I, if I can stay in my land, if I can outlast other people, that is where the cream will rise to the top Eventually. You just don't get to decide. You don't get to decide when that happens.
Dan CodaGuest
10:22
Yeah, yeah, it's funny. Um, you know, my ultimate goal in all this is to, you know, one day become a CrossFit games athlete. You know the master stage, um, and when I first started, that was impossible in my head. Um, you know, even, you know, I remember I had a conversation with you know, mike Delatore, one of the coaches here at CrossFit Hoboken, like my, maybe my second year, when I was just starting to be more competitive in local competitions, and I was like what do you think like a master's athlete needs to snatch in order to be at the games? And he's like I don't know, like at least 185. I'm like what it's like I can do. You know, 115 at the time, and that was, you know, I remember trying 135 in the open and it was basically deadlifting it. It wouldn't even come across like even close to my chest and um, but I think that it's trying to get rid of that ultimate goal Like you can't, like there could be.
11:17
That is always in the back of my head but, yeah, but that can't be what I'm fighting for every day, when I'm pushing towards every day. Otherwise it's just going to seem impossible. And I do this in my work as well. I'm a video editor and you know, day one I walk onto a project. There's hundreds of hours of footage. I'm like, oh my God, I have to go through all this. How is this going to be possible? But just, you know, kind of what I learned in the gym was you know, take what can I do today to. You know, improve on today, whatever it is, if I'm not feeling well, well, at least if I can get to the gym and move a little bit, that's still a win for me. Um, if I'm feeling good, you know, and I can try to. You know we've been doing a little bit more snatching lately and you know, it's awesome is that I hit I've been hitting one 85 kind of regularly lately. What?
David SyvertsenHost
12:01
did you hit at the Masters games this year?
Dan CodaGuest
12:05
So I was in Alabama, I was 185 twice and then I got to the 205 bar, which would have been a PR, and I got it overhead.
David SyvertsenHost
12:12
Oh, I had the picture, I had the picture yeah, the picture looks like I got it.
Dan CodaGuest
12:17
You did, you did.
David SyvertsenHost
12:18
You got it, you got it, you got it.
Dan CodaGuest
12:21
But I think that a big part of it is just Like trying to learn to be disciplined in what you're trying to do and not focus on the big you know, the big outcome, the big scary end of it all, and focus on just learning to love the journey of it all.
David SyvertsenHost
12:38
Yeah.
Dan CodaGuest
12:38
If you can love the journey, then nothing else is going to get in your way. Like I just love coming to the gym every day on good days, on bad days, you know when I'm feeling good or not. Like I just love coming in this room. A lot of it has to do with the people I'm coming to see and all of that. But yeah, learn to love the journey.
David SyvertsenHost
12:57
That's process over results. I haven't fell more in love with a statement over the past five years than that, because I've always been result-oriented and I think I always will be to a point. But the journey in getting there is where the money is made. That's where your success is found, because looking at just the tip of the iceberg you're not realizing how much is underneath. That tip is kind of just, it's foolish and in some ways it's ignorant to only look at the result.
13:29
Anyone out there that is considering getting into the competing mindset or getting to the CrossFit sport or really just trying to find out what is your best version, what is your highest version, my, my suggestion is what Dan and I have both done is you go after the loftiest gold there is. You really have to be a. It humbles you all the time, which I think being humbled is a huge part of life in general. But the CrossFit journey and you see, some people cannot handle being humbled at the gym. They just can't and they leave. That is a huge. I would say over half the people that stop CrossFit at some point. They cannot handle the fact that the gym is humbling them. And CrossFit is very performance centric and you can't handle scaling, you can't handle going and you can't handle scaling. You can't handle going backwards, you can't handle fails, you can't handle not getting to a goal, and that's why a lot of people they stop drinking the Kool-Aid at some point, and to me, that's a huge component to this is having this goal. That naturally humbles you, but it also can show you, maybe, what you're capable of.
14:27
Because if you have not set your goal, your eyes on that goal, that the most ambitious, making the games being the fittest among the fittest, um, I bet you would have not competed at wadapalooza. I bet you'd not. You would have not qualified for legends. I bet you would have not qualified for masters fitness collective multiple times and done as well as you have there. I'm a really strong believer in that that. I don't think you are where you are today without that goal that you had in mind. If you were just like hey, I want to do this to be healthy and compete at CrossFit Hoboken and sign up for local comps and and do the CrossFit, that's awesome, it's admirable and clap clap, but you wouldn't be where you are without those goals I should.
Dan CodaGuest
15:04
That's a hundred percent spot on. Because I? Because those early days it seemed so impossible to me and never it was never a goal.
David SyvertsenHost
15:12
Yeah.
Dan CodaGuest
15:13
And I was. You know I did scaled competitions when I first started and I was just trying to get close to the podium early on and then, when I started getting on a scaled podium, it was moving to RX.
David SyvertsenHost
15:22
Yep, I remember those dudes, yeah, and like dude, I'm telling you this isn't like a fake story that I remember those days so well, back when you used to wear the headband when you used to work. No, it wasn't a headband, it was a bandana. You were a bandana guy. Dan Kota was a bandana sleeveless shirt, basketball short running shoe guy. I had the gym gloves with the cutoff fingers.
15:49
Those days are awesome to reflect on, but I do think it's important for everyone to just remember that it's okay to have a goal that you're probably not going to get If you're not into this competing scene. You want to make your thing about weight loss or body fat percentage or a certain score at a high rocks or a lift, whatever. I always tell people to shoot for something you probably cannot reach, because, a what if you can reach it, all right? And b the amount of things that you're going to accomplish on trying to reach that almost untouchable level are things that you will never reach unless you're trying to shoot for something bigger yeah.
Dan CodaGuest
16:25
So that's what I was going to say is that once I shifted my perspective to like no, I am going to try to be a games athlete, I am going to try that. Like, all of a sudden, I did start getting better, because now my goals were way higher, I had much, I had to do more to get there, and now it's like oh, it's like, you know, talking to Rafi all the time, who's been on here several times, you know, moving the boundary, moving my mental boundary, so that now this is now achievable. You know, it's like, all of a sudden, this past year, um, you know, I went from me just making fitness collective to, all of a sudden, I qualified for legends and guadalupalooza. And you know, guadalupalooza, we, we were sixth in the qualifier. Like we, we made these, these. All of a sudden, everything started opening up for me.
David SyvertsenHost
17:06
And here you are competing next to scott panchik yeah, I mean seriously, like I'm telling you dude, like that, that came from a lot of work, we know. But because your goals are so high and that that's something I think is so relatable, and I think another thing that makes you a really attractive guy from a cross-up perspective to be around, train around, coach, work out with, just have a part of community is that you're a normal dude with a job and family and you're not here seven hours a day. You don't come back at night and do your second session all the time. You're not waking up at 3 in the morning and eating kale and protein shakes with hard-boiled eggs. You are a normal guy. I've gotten out and I've had drinks with you. Our kids have hung out together and what you're doing it is so obtainable but it requires the consistency and I don't think there's a person in our gym that's done it for as long as you at the level that you've done and you continue to get better as you're now getting into your 40s. So that's that's a pretty cool thought. Um, appreciate that. Now.
18:04
We just talked about moving the needle. Now dan's moving the needle internally. But one thing that makes competing in the sport really difficult and it can get frustrating at times we've both been frustrated, but you kind of have to roll the punches is how often CrossFit moves the needle, and especially in recent years. There have been so many changes over the past five years in CrossFit, both at the top and the sport and the community, even here at Bison. To be honest with you, can you reflect on what it's like to pursue something? We just talked about your North Star, what you're trying to pursue, but the fact that all these components around that North Star continue to change. Be honest about this. Does it ever take wind out of your sail? And yes or no, and why or why not?
Dan CodaGuest
18:49
Yeah, um, it's interesting. I there was a point where I was obsessed with just the games, like following the athletes, like I loved it, like watching all the behind the scenes.
David SyvertsenHost
18:59
Yeah, yeah, yeah, I watched everything. Yeah, same you probably.
Dan CodaGuest
19:02
You probably looked at it like, oh, this editing is not good, um, and I, um, you know, around 2018 I think, is when glassman got rid of regionals, yep, and things started shifting and I was like, oh, this is kind of this is, you know, not great. I wasn't. I remember like, I think, that year going into the open, it wasn't as exciting anymore yeah not and interested like I never.
19:25
I never had visions of going to regionals. That was not like I was always past in the master's side of it, but there was like an original, like an initial, like step back, of like things are changing. But then I've started realizing that the one constant CrossFit season is that it's always changing. It's always going to be different and I started to focus on myself instead of focusing on everything else. Right, and once I started doing that, that became exciting again. Like I was, I started looking at myself.
19:54
You know, it was cool, like when I, they switched the masters to from 40 to 35. I think that was my 35 year, so it's cool. It's like, oh cool, let me see where I, you know where I land, yeah, um, you know, and I and I, I did well, and all of a sudden the, the master, I mean the um, yeahgoq, which was a top 200. Yep, I was like, oh, that. You know, I was like 600 or 700 spots away. I'm like, oh cool, maybe I can try to, I can actually try to make that Obtainable. You know, I was like they had a fitness in New Jersey for masters. I was like, oh, this is cool, I'm still behind Tim Carroll. Maybe I can try to get to him, because he's always been the tip of the spear.
20:31
He's a legend in this sport. If I'm anywhere near him, it's awesome and yeah, I started just shifting my focus and also, like the Open, it's always been. If you have a great gym community, that's where the fire is, that's where it's the best part of it all.
David SyvertsenHost
20:48
The Open should be. I just had a did a beginner session with someone. She's at her first classes today. I'm really excited for her, uh, and I just and I'm actually gonna try to get her to sign up for the open in that, um, the the open is, it can be everyone's north star and zach forrest I don't know if he's a former games athlete, he's on a bunch of gyms, he works for push press now.
21:06
So I want to, I so I want to make sure I credit him with these words. But I read something on his story last night that just resonated with me and he said you train as CrossFitters, all CrossFitters, not some. All. You train daily, slash weekly, workout, right, test monthly, meaning bison, benchmark, a lift that we're working on Every year. You compete. That's all CrossFitters. And what he means by that is you should be doing the Open Every year. You should compete, whether you're happy with yourself or not and I'm not going to get into the protesting type stuff like I'm not doing the Open XYZ. That's a different discussion I'm talking just about as a physical athlete. You should compete every single year and if you are anti-CrossFit Open, anti-testing yourself in this realm, go do a 5K every year, compete in something physically every single year, because I think it holds you to account and it gives you a North Star to answer your why am I doing this? All right? Well, there's your answer, it's always going to be your answer, and to walk away from it, you lose that North star.
22:14
When you lose your North star, you lose direction. And it's funny, I just that that thought just came to my head. I had an email back and forth exchange with a former member and it was all positive. It was just a back and forth, a little bit of losing direction as a CrossFitter. Like hey, like why and I get it, dude, this stuff is hard, it can hurt. Sometimes. There are movements you get embarrassed by or they actually physically hurt and you're sitting there doing them. Why, you know, like, why do I need to work on mobility? Why should I pay attention to what I'm eating? Why should I pay attention to pacing, dave? Why do I need to go over the push press with the PVC pipe for the 800th time in nine years when I know how to do it Right? The North Star If you have the North Star, you will always have direction.
22:58
And when you lose all these variables around the North Star, the quarterfinals, going from 10% to 25% to 2%, from top 200 in the world to regionals, team individual all these things are moving around you. I actually think it's a personal test. It's an individual test to how good are you at controlling your mindset around the stuff you could control? And the people that are the best at it. They don't care what changes in CrossFit sport, they don't care about WFP, they don't care about top 2%. They are so dialed in, they're so locked in to what their goals are. And I'm telling you this right now, both in the past, in this current state of bison and CrossFit right now, and in the future the people that do the best, that's the trait they're all going to have future. The people that do the best, that's the trait they're all going to have. Not their squat, not their muscle ups, not their nutrition, not their sleep patterns, not their hydration. Do they control what they can control? Do they have full grasp on that or they get distracted? So I'm going to tell you this I'm about to freak you out Dan, okay, and all these people that are pursuing semifinals All right, numbers are down at CrossFit Open, right, we know that.
24:16
And so that means for basically every athlete here at Bison that are shooting for that level. This is quarterfinals. This is no longer the Open. All right, this is now your quarterfinals. You have to perform at a really high level to make your next stage, where I'll say it.
24:31
Dan doesn't have to. Dan a few others here. They didn't have to do that Well in the open. They'd have to try that hard. They were going to make the next stage, no matter what. That's no longer the case. They have to do really well in the open and it's going to be harder than what top 2% sounds like, because numbers are down. That means there are less people doing the open this year and most of the people that do well in CrossFit they're still doing it, they're still pursuing. So all those people that made the percentages easier to hit, the people that didn't score as well as you, those are most of the people that are backing out. So top 2% to me is probably similar to what top 1% was in the past few years and that, honestly, I know right now some people are like, oh no, that sucks, I'm going to get extra stressed out. Well, guess what? Control the controllable.
Dan CodaGuest
25:20
At the end of the day.
David SyvertsenHost
25:20
It shouldn't change your mindset coming up. Reflect on that a little bit of what you do, because I know Rafi has helped, but what do you do to make sure that you stay locked into that exact mindset?
Dan CodaGuest
25:32
yeah, for sure. Uh, that that definitely has crossed my mind as I've been seeing the numbers drop. For sure, and I'm, and I feel the same way like the people who are at the top are going to compete because I'm, I feel the same way as them. I'm going to be here competing right, because I don't you love it yeah, I love it.
David SyvertsenHost
25:47
the people that don't love it are just like yeah, whatever right, whatever Right. Easier for them to back.
Dan CodaGuest
25:49
Yeah for sure. So, um, but that's definitely I'm not, I'm not putting any added pressure on myself. That's where I'm kind of trying to be is like I want to come. Whatever the workout is, uh, I'm going to come and do my very best. Um, I've seen, you know, a lot of things as we've been focusing on weaknesses this past like six or seven months. Like I've been seeing that stuff get better, stuff like you know, uh, burpee box, jump overs or just bare bar facing burpees, like the simple stuff that you know. That just is hard to get through sometimes you know, especially fast.
26:23
Yeah, yeah, I've been been getting better at that. Um, I know, you know, handstand pushups is still something that you know we're working on and if it shows up, you know what? It's a good place to challenge myself. It's an opportunity to see. You know, am I getting better? Versus myself, like, am I seeing improvement? But I'm just trying to go into each workout and just want to feel, at the end of it, just proud of myself for what I did. That's awesome, and if I can do that, then you know, I think I have a chance at that top 2%. But if I don't make the top 2%, it's also okay.
David SyvertsenHost
26:58
And that's the healthiest mindset to go in, and that's actually probably the way to perform. The best is not applying all the extra pressure to you, and we've been on both sides of that, both as a viewer and as an athlete ourselves. When you put too much pressure on yourself, you normally don't perform as well, and I think that's you know. Try to stay away from all these podcasts that are telling you to be nervous, or are all these thoughts creeping in your head? And that's where I think you can really start to lean on the community around you is if you are by yourself in this and there's not that much support around you, or there aren't that many people in the room that are going through the same thing, you really can.
27:34
You can suffer, and to me, part of what makes CrossFit special from a community component is that we suffer together, and suffering together is what makes the tightest bonds. You know, it's not. It's not all these all the good in life, it's not all the good times, it's no. We went through stuff together, we struggled, and to me I don't want to get over-the-top philosophical on it, but we are feeling the same way. I'm telling you this right now Are we in the same heat tomorrow night?
28:03
Yeah, I think we are, we're going to feel the same way. We're going to have to go to the bathroom seven times in the last 15 minutes prior to the workout. We're going to doubt ourself, but that, to me, is what makes us, can bond us together, and I'm going to lean on that. I'm going to look at Dan before the workout and know he's going exactly what we just worked out last week together, last couple weeks for the open prep stuff, and like it helps me to know that he's be the case for other people as well. So as much as this can stress you out all these changing elements to the sport and percentages and numbers and scores and ranks, I would encourage everyone to lean on your coaches and your community and your fellow athletes, because I think that can really help get you the most out of yourself.
Dan CodaGuest
28:48
Yeah, yeah for sure, and it's, it's, um. You know, getting rid of the external of like proving to other people show. Like you know, being a quarterfinals athlete was cool, like I'm the quarter, you know, you've absolutely yeah you know you can tell people about it, but I mean really the people outside these walls don't care at all right and even the people inside. It's like, oh cool, and then they forget about it two minutes later.
29:09
And so if you can keep that internal focus and want to do it for each other and push each other, then that's really like that's where the magic happens.
David SyvertsenHost
29:19
Yeah, that's that's what the room is like. It's a. I hope everyone can accept that it's not. It's not about us individually, it's about the whole room and I think you will get individually, get the most out of that if you contribute to it. So let's wrap this up, dan, with just kind of like a few options, maybe some advice for people that are thinking about getting into this kind of mindset or lifestyle.
29:37
I do think it's a lifestyle if you want to compete, because there are things beyond the open, there are things beyond the quarterfinals, and we're going to announce something today. You know what? By the time this is released, we will have announced this already. So I'll say on the podcast right now that the weekend of March 28th we're running a Bison quarterfinals which will be for the top 10%. We will use the CrossFit Games rank. So we are still going to run that here. And because we want to provide opportunities for everyone to compete, the Community Cup in June, which we'll shed some light on coming up, is for everybody. There's Wadap palooza, there's local comps. Get maybe give some guidance, dan, on how you go, because you sign up for everything.
30:14
I mean almost too much yeah but, but no kidding aside, give some uh, just shed some light on what it's been like for you to finding all these opportunities, to kind of keep that fire lit. At the end of the day, it's really just for that end goal, but to try to find yourself. You know, stimulation throughout stimulation throughout the year.
Dan CodaGuest
30:32
Yeah, I think you know, I think a big part of it is figuring out what level you're at now, currently, and then trying to find something that is attainable on that level. So, if you're just starting or you're a skilled athlete, going to a local competition and doing a scaled competition and you know and try, trying to get better at that, and then, just, you know, keep moving the, the level up as you go, um, but ultimately, finding the joy in what you're doing, making like finding what, like figuring out why you want to do it yeah, make it fun.
31:05
Uh, you know this is no one here is a professional athlete, um, and what are you talking about, um? And just trying to like, keep the keep, keep that, to keep that fire. You need to keep loving it, you keep, you need to keep having passion and that's always going to be shifting and keep figuring out. You know a new reason why you want to be doing this, um, and yeah, just keep keep moving forward. Yeah, yeah, you know, baby steps.
David SyvertsenHost
31:34
That that's the number one thing I think we could take away from that is learn to love it. Uh, the ups and the downs, the good and the bad, uh, just it, fall in love with it because it just makes it that much more. It makes it easier, honestly, to train when you, when you, come in and love it. And that's partially our responsibility as coaches and programmers to, like you know, try to find that line of hey, we training to work through something, but we're going to try to make it as fun as possible. And we have people that are entering the competition space for the first time. We have some people that are on the fence. They want to take it to the next level, the people that want to get back into the game. I think all of these things that Dan has said over this episode can help give you a different perspective on someone that walks the walk. It's one thing for you to go read a post from an influencer or read from someone that doesn't actually do it. Dan's in the fight and I think those are the advice, those anecdotal stories that he gave and the ups and downs. I think those are the most important things to take in if this is something that you want to pursue, or you're not really sure how to.
32:35
Mentally, because this is more mental than it is physical. It looks physical when you're seeing Dan do 25 toes to bar in a row and ring muscle-ups and snatching 205. It looks physical. But trust me when I say this, dan's at where he's at now and in a few years he'll be where he is because of what goes on between the ears. It's mindset. The physical will take care of itself. If the mindset is there. We all have physical limitations and, again, control what you can control. But if the mind is there 24-7, 365, that and then, and only then, will you find out what you can actually do. So, dan, it's been fun reflecting on this. Good luck in the open. I hope you come in second place in your heat tomorrow night and any parting words for anyone listening.
Dan CodaGuest
33:25
Yeah, I think you know. Just you know. Put something on the calendar to strive for. Keep that in the back of your head every time you're trying to make a decision that you're not sure of. Should I go to bed now? Should I have this drink? Should I eat this Twinkie? Those hard decisions on every single moment of the day. It's going to get a little bit easier if you have something that you're striving for in the end Awesome.
David SyvertsenHost
33:50
All right, thank you, dan. We will see you guys next week Cool. Thank you everybody for taking the time out of your day to listen to the Hurt Fit Podcast. Be on the lookout for next week's episode.
