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Levels, Episode 6: Kirk Roy. The 3 Pillars of Growth: Taco Bell, Dungeons and Dragons and CrossFit.
6 Plays6 months ago
In this episode we sit down with CrossFit coach, philosopher, drummer, funk lover and all around amazing guy, Kirk R. He shares how Taco Bell, his wife, Dungeons and Dragons and CrossFit (not necessarily in that order) have shaped his life.
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Transcript
Introduction to Kirk Roy and All Level CrossFit
00:00:00
Speaker
Hi, welcome to Levels, the podcast where we explore the people and the stories that make up our awesome community at All Level CrossFit.
00:00:06
Speaker
Today, I've got with me one of our very own, Kirk Roy.
00:00:09
Speaker
He's a coach and a member.
00:00:12
Speaker
Been with us for how long?
00:00:14
Speaker
Half years.
00:00:14
Speaker
Five and a half years.
00:00:15
Speaker
Man, it always blows me away when people tell me how long they've been here because all the years seem to blend a little bit and it's just like your kids, right?
00:00:24
Speaker
You're like, how old are you again?
00:00:25
Speaker
Anyways.
00:00:27
Speaker
I'm glad that you think of me as one of your kids.
00:00:29
Speaker
Well, maybe not kids, but one of the family members for sure.
00:00:32
Speaker
Okay.
Kirk's Early Life and Formative Experiences
00:00:33
Speaker
So tell me a little bit about yourself.
00:00:34
Speaker
Where did you grow up?
00:00:35
Speaker
I was born in Toronto.
00:00:37
Speaker
We moved to Windsor when I was in grade school.
00:00:39
Speaker
Then we moved to Toronto, Calgary.
00:00:41
Speaker
And when I came back to high school, I was in Windsor and then I've been in Windsor ever since.
00:00:46
Speaker
Wow.
00:00:47
Speaker
Okay.
00:00:47
Speaker
So a little bit of moving around as a kid, you were in grade school and you moved to Windsor the first time?
00:00:51
Speaker
Yes, I was in grade
00:00:54
Speaker
Yes, I was kindergarten when we came to Windsor and then grade three when we moved to Toronto, grade five when we moved to Calgary, back here for grade nine.
00:01:04
Speaker
Nice.
00:01:04
Speaker
Okay.
00:01:05
Speaker
And in school, did you play any sports when you were growing up?
00:01:09
Speaker
So this is an interesting story.
00:01:11
Speaker
I tried all the sports.
00:01:12
Speaker
I played baseball.
00:01:13
Speaker
I played hockey.
00:01:14
Speaker
I played basketball.
00:01:15
Speaker
I am not a team sport person.
00:01:17
Speaker
Yeah.
00:01:18
Speaker
And so when I got back to, in Calgary, I started skateboarding.
00:01:22
Speaker
Yeah.
00:01:23
Speaker
And that was,
00:01:24
Speaker
Troublemaking and skateboarding were essentially my high school avocations.
00:01:29
Speaker
I can really not envision you as a troublemaker at all.
00:01:31
Speaker
I can envision you as a skateboarder, but not a troublemaker.
00:01:34
Speaker
Oh yeah.
00:01:35
Speaker
Things were a lot different when I was a teenager.
00:01:37
Speaker
See, that's the thing is that people always say, they're like, oh, people don't change, people can't change.
00:01:42
Speaker
And I'm like, people change a lot.
00:01:45
Speaker
I have changed a lot.
00:01:46
Speaker
It sounds like you've changed a fair bit.
00:01:48
Speaker
Now, I don't know if that's brought on by circumstances, environment, or whatever, but I truly believe that people can change.
00:01:54
Speaker
Just like most other teenagers, I got into a lot of trouble.
00:01:58
Speaker
And because I crashed my parents' car into a telephone pole, I had to get a job at Taco Bell to pay for the telephone pole.
00:02:06
Speaker
And that, and meeting my now wife, who I met in high school, Jen, those are the two things that straightened me out.
00:02:12
Speaker
Really?
00:02:13
Speaker
Yeah.
00:02:14
Speaker
Wow.
00:02:14
Speaker
Because I cracked a few cars and did some stuff and it didn't straighten me out.
00:02:17
Speaker
So I guess different strokes.
00:02:19
Speaker
It was that having to have the discipline to go to sling the tacos at Taco Bell that created discipline is freedom.
00:02:25
Speaker
Wow.
00:02:27
Speaker
I wrecked my parents' car and all the money I had made that summer doing menial farm jobs, corn detastling and so on and so forth went into fixing the car.
00:02:37
Speaker
And that was like, oof, like a whole summer for the work.
00:02:41
Speaker
Yeah.
00:02:42
Speaker
Goodbye.
00:02:42
Speaker
Bye.
00:02:43
Speaker
Lesson learned.
00:02:44
Speaker
Well, sort of lesson learned.
00:02:45
Speaker
Okay, cool.
00:02:46
Speaker
So then did you go to university in Windsor?
00:02:49
Speaker
I did.
00:02:49
Speaker
You go to university in Windsor?
00:02:50
Speaker
Yep.
00:02:50
Speaker
Okay.
00:02:51
Speaker
And what did you take in
Career Path and Role at Blue Cross
00:02:52
Speaker
university?
00:02:52
Speaker
Mathematics and statistics.
00:02:54
Speaker
And that would make sense because now for your job, you have a title of the... I lead our actuarial and underwriting team at Blue Cross.
00:03:01
Speaker
So I'm the chief actuary.
00:03:03
Speaker
Nice.
00:03:04
Speaker
Yeah, it took me a long time for some reason.
00:03:06
Speaker
I thought an actuary had something to do with birds, like an aviary.
00:03:10
Speaker
So I was like, oh, wow.
00:03:11
Speaker
Pretty close.
00:03:12
Speaker
Pretty close.
00:03:12
Speaker
But no, it has to do with numbers.
00:03:14
Speaker
Okay.
00:03:15
Speaker
We've already gone over how long you've been doing CrossFit.
00:03:19
Speaker
What prompted you
CrossFit and Mental Health Benefits
00:03:20
Speaker
to start CrossFit?
00:03:20
Speaker
This is also an interesting story.
00:03:23
Speaker
Again, I've not been a team sport person.
00:03:25
Speaker
When I've always tried to be active, I studied food for a while, trail running, rock climbing.
00:03:29
Speaker
Again, all fairly solo, kind of outdoors was my thing.
00:03:35
Speaker
And then in 2019, I kind of wasn't running anymore.
00:03:39
Speaker
I don't know why the kids were getting older.
00:03:42
Speaker
One day we're having coffee, my wife and I, in the morning, and she's like, dude, is everything okay?
00:03:47
Speaker
Because like, I was not like, my mood was gone down.
00:03:50
Speaker
I was probably being depressed.
00:03:52
Speaker
And she's just, I said, I feel like I'm just not myself and all that sort of thing.
00:03:56
Speaker
I said, I haven't been doing anything.
00:03:58
Speaker
She's like, well, what excites you?
00:04:00
Speaker
And I had seen one of the documentaries on the CrossFit game.
00:04:03
Speaker
I saw this stupid CrossFit thing.
00:04:06
Speaker
And they're like, well, I'd look at these Spartan races.
00:04:09
Speaker
And she's like, you should probably talk to somebody.
00:04:10
Speaker
So,
00:04:11
Speaker
My goals were to call a CrossFit gym and sign up, call a therapist, and then sign up for a Spartan race.
00:04:17
Speaker
And I never signed up for a Spartan race, but that next day I called up, Zach Mack was working the front desk.
00:04:24
Speaker
That's how it started.
00:04:24
Speaker
And it was to get me moving again, because apparently when I do not move, I'm not a pleasant person to be around.
00:04:32
Speaker
And it was not good for my own mental health.
00:04:34
Speaker
And this is, again, Taco Bell, my wife, and CrossFit.
00:04:39
Speaker
Those are the three things that have saved my life.
00:04:41
Speaker
The three ways that you've learned discipline.
00:04:43
Speaker
That's right.
00:04:44
Speaker
I like it.
00:04:45
Speaker
Now, going back to the not too sporty individual thing, I'm kind of this thread that I kind of see run through this, the things that you do are a little, little counterculture, a little like left of center, maybe, you know, Kung Fu skateboarding, rock climbing, even CrossFit for a while, maybe it's become more mainstream, but it was a very like kind of radical thing to do, niche thing to do.
00:05:07
Speaker
Now, is that by design?
00:05:09
Speaker
I don't think of myself as having a counterculture personality, but somehow I am intrigued by people that do extreme sports.
Embracing Counterculture and Personal Passions
00:05:19
Speaker
I'm fascinated by ultra runners.
00:05:22
Speaker
I watch these high divers we talked about, like, what are these people doing?
00:05:25
Speaker
And just the, when people are doing something that's sort of outside the norm, but really takes a lot of talent and skill.
00:05:31
Speaker
I'm just fascinated by that.
00:05:32
Speaker
So I think I've always been attracted to that.
00:05:34
Speaker
I'd even say like.
00:05:36
Speaker
through music as well.
00:05:37
Speaker
Some of the music that you listen to that I know you listen to might be a little bit counterculture as well.
00:05:43
Speaker
Some of the metal.
00:05:44
Speaker
The metal, the prog, even jazz stuff.
00:05:46
Speaker
It's stuff that's pushing the envelope of what's possible.
00:05:50
Speaker
I think that is the thing that attracts me because the more I reflect on myself, what gets me excited is someone finding their thing and trying to reach their potential in it, which is like I watch these kids on the skateboards these days.
00:06:02
Speaker
I'm like fascinated by it.
00:06:05
Speaker
the mastery they have over the body.
00:06:07
Speaker
And I would watch that all day long.
00:06:08
Speaker
Yeah, yeah.
00:06:09
Speaker
I think it's from what I can sense as well, too, is that it's people that are taking their own path, and maybe swimming a little bit upstream, but still succeeding and having that conviction that I don't care what's
00:06:21
Speaker
quote unquote normal or typical, I'm going to do my thing and I'm going to do it really well.
00:06:25
Speaker
And I explore the boundaries of it.
00:06:27
Speaker
I'm going to push that.
00:06:28
Speaker
And, and that, I guess that's the counterculture part of it is that you don't have to fall in line with what everyone says, Hey, you need to play baseball.
00:06:37
Speaker
You need to play football.
00:06:38
Speaker
You need to listen to top 40.
00:06:39
Speaker
You need to do this and that.
00:06:41
Speaker
Right.
00:06:41
Speaker
So that's, I find that very, very cool that just like,
00:06:44
Speaker
And I say this with the utmost respect, is that you're not afraid to fly your freak flag and be like, yeah, that's what I do.
00:06:52
Speaker
And that's what I like.
00:06:53
Speaker
Fly the freak flag.
00:06:54
Speaker
Yeah.
00:06:54
Speaker
And I think that's something that I've tried to even in our family, with the kids, my wife, it's like, what moves you?
00:07:03
Speaker
Do that.
00:07:04
Speaker
And find your thing.
00:07:06
Speaker
And who cares what other people think you should do?
00:07:09
Speaker
I like that.
00:07:10
Speaker
I really like that a lot.
00:07:11
Speaker
And it's something that I aspire to, I guess, impart that wisdom on my kids too, is like, you know, they do a lot of stuff that is, quote unquote, you know, typical for kids their age, but I do want them to find the thing that moves them.
00:07:24
Speaker
And I think that, I think it's a lifelong pursuit.
00:07:27
Speaker
Like, I think we're all still finding things that move us and looking for things that move us in the right way, because it's really easy in our day to day to get stuck in that, you know, this is what I do every day.
00:07:37
Speaker
And this is the routine.
00:07:38
Speaker
But sometimes getting outside of that and pushing the boundaries and looking for other stuff is part of what gives life a bit more spice.
00:07:47
Speaker
Yeah, I'm still experimenting right now.
00:07:49
Speaker
I took up archery this summer.
00:07:51
Speaker
Like, just why not?
00:07:52
Speaker
And it's been super cool.
00:07:54
Speaker
Yeah, I've started to try to learn to play the guitar.
00:07:58
Speaker
We're going to jam.
00:07:59
Speaker
Yeah.
00:08:00
Speaker
You're going to see an album.
00:08:01
Speaker
My fingers, I still feel like they're Frostbitten.
00:08:04
Speaker
I hope that that goes away at some point.
00:08:05
Speaker
Okay.
00:08:06
Speaker
So you went over it
Overcoming Challenges in CrossFit
00:08:07
Speaker
already.
00:08:07
Speaker
You had a turning point that made you try Frostbite.
00:08:10
Speaker
Do you remember your first class or session?
00:08:13
Speaker
Well, when I started, we had the four foundation classes.
00:08:16
Speaker
And I remember Terry, Jack gave me my four foundations.
00:08:20
Speaker
And I was not a capable human being back then.
00:08:24
Speaker
And it was a little bit of an eye-opener.
00:08:26
Speaker
I do remember our first class that I did, the full class, was a workout called Leadfoot.
00:08:32
Speaker
And it was four-minute intervals, three minutes rest.
00:08:34
Speaker
And in the four minutes, you had to do 27 row cales, 27 burpees, 27 pull-ups, then rest, then 21, 21, 21, and then 15, 15, 15.
00:08:47
Speaker
I did not touch the pull-up bar at all.
00:08:52
Speaker
And again, it was like, oh, there's something out there.
00:08:55
Speaker
It doesn't seem like it should be this hard.
00:08:56
Speaker
That's a challenge.
00:08:57
Speaker
And actually that, like I'm seeing, and there's other human beings in here that have the capacity to do that thing that I cannot do.
00:09:06
Speaker
That actually made me want to come back again.
00:09:09
Speaker
Yeah.
00:09:09
Speaker
I love that.
00:09:10
Speaker
Cause it's, it's, I find that there's a lot of, and I'm going to very generally rely people into two camps when they start CrossFit.
00:09:18
Speaker
It's, it's the ones that enjoy the challenge and are excited about,
00:09:24
Speaker
things they can't do and being able to do those and those that might not be that get turned off and like, wow, this is really hard.
00:09:30
Speaker
I don't think I'm ever going to be able to do that.
00:09:32
Speaker
And maybe they don't pursue it that further.
00:09:34
Speaker
Like when I did my first CrossFit class, I thought I did really well.
00:09:38
Speaker
I didn't do very well.
00:09:39
Speaker
And so that kind of, that got me and it's like, okay, well, I want to do well.
00:09:44
Speaker
So I want to pursue this and get better at this methodology so that I can
00:09:49
Speaker
be better at it, right?
00:09:50
Speaker
Yeah, I think that's the difference between a growth mindset and a fixed mindset, right?
00:09:54
Speaker
The growth mindset person says, this challenge is something that can help me be better, have more capacity, more capability.
00:10:01
Speaker
The person that says, I'm not good at that, if they tell themselves, you don't grow, and either you got it or you don't, then it's a test whether they got it or not.
00:10:09
Speaker
And so people tend to avoid that.
00:10:10
Speaker
And I think trying to foster that growth mindset is something that this community does really well.
00:10:16
Speaker
And so it really attracts those type of
00:10:18
Speaker
Yeah, I guarantee that when I first did a workout, I didn't know anything about growth mindset.
00:10:24
Speaker
Probably didn't have one, but I think deep down inside for sure.
00:10:27
Speaker
I think you've got a growth mindset.
00:10:29
Speaker
Maybe it's developed and it's something that I've become aware of, but I know that when I was younger, I did have
00:10:36
Speaker
very closed mindset in terms of not wanting to look bad doing things and not wanting to seem silly which is just funny because that's something that now with my kids like you need to be bad at something before you're good because no one wants to look foolish and that's a lot of the parts of things that people are a little bit worried about with crossfit too is because there is a learning curve with crossfit like there's a there's a vernacular there's a vocabulary there's a physical learning curve
00:11:01
Speaker
You know, there's a learning curve in the community amongst like, how do I log a workout?
00:11:06
Speaker
How do I sign into class?
00:11:07
Speaker
All the things like that.
00:11:08
Speaker
And I think sometimes that learning curve can be scary to people, but if you embrace it, you're going to get there.
00:11:15
Speaker
Yeah.
00:11:15
Speaker
I figure out what the quote is, but like, you know, to succeed, you always have to be willing to be a beginner and willing to fail.
00:11:21
Speaker
And I think that's a very powerful mantra for people, because if you're unwilling to go through that step, then you're only going to be able to do what's already in your comfort zone and you don't expand your boundaries.
00:11:31
Speaker
I see a lot of coaching stuff on Instagram and I save a few things.
00:11:34
Speaker
The one thing I save specifically for my kids is that you have to be willing to look silly to learn a new skill.
00:11:41
Speaker
And the examples the coach gave I thought were great.
00:11:43
Speaker
He said, hey, do you think that when you were a baby that you just started talking or did you think you went through all of that kind of goo goo ga ga and all that kind of stuff before you got there and looked silly?
00:11:55
Speaker
And when you first started eating, do you think that you were
00:11:57
Speaker
This is perfect, you know, with manners and etiquette.
00:12:00
Speaker
Or was there food everywhere?
00:12:02
Speaker
And you didn't care because you didn't have the awareness to care.
00:12:04
Speaker
But it's the same thing when you're learning a skill.
00:12:06
Speaker
It's going to be sloppy.
00:12:07
Speaker
It's going to be messy.
00:12:09
Speaker
But if you keep persisting, you'll get it.
00:12:10
Speaker
Right.
00:12:10
Speaker
That's great.
00:12:11
Speaker
Awesome.
00:12:12
Speaker
Awesome.
00:12:12
Speaker
Okay.
00:12:13
Speaker
What accomplishment in the gym are you most proud of?
00:12:17
Speaker
There's a lot you've been doing, you've been checking off the list.
00:12:19
Speaker
I know that you've got a list somewhere and you've been checking them off.
00:12:22
Speaker
Yeah.
00:12:22
Speaker
What am I most really, um, I'm drawn towards the gymnastics movements.
00:12:27
Speaker
And so I think the fact, I think when I got my first bar muscle up, that was a big, that was a big day.
00:12:33
Speaker
Uh, the bar muscle up and the ring muscle up, I guess I'm most proud of it.
00:12:36
Speaker
It just takes a lot of coordination.
00:12:38
Speaker
You're a big fella too.
00:12:39
Speaker
And so like moving your body through space like that is not the easiest thing.
00:12:44
Speaker
And you've like,
00:12:45
Speaker
Watching you do strict ring muscle ups, man, that's an impressive skill.
00:12:49
Speaker
Impressive skill.
00:12:50
Speaker
It's the 20 years of rock climbing that helps.
00:12:53
Speaker
You should see me press though.
00:12:54
Speaker
It's terrible.
00:12:55
Speaker
Same, same.
00:12:57
Speaker
I tell myself I'm a puller and not a presser.
00:12:59
Speaker
But I'm not sure that's true.
00:13:00
Speaker
Okay.
00:13:01
Speaker
If you could give your day one CrossFit self some advice, what would it be?
00:13:04
Speaker
I think that Michaels from these interviews, I think just show up as number one.
00:13:10
Speaker
I would add to that though, worry about moving well.
00:13:15
Speaker
not about moving fast or heavy.
00:13:18
Speaker
And so I think the longer I've been in, it's kind of like anything.
00:13:21
Speaker
When you're a beginner, you have this learning curve and then you're like, oh, now I know what's going on.
00:13:26
Speaker
And you almost relearn everything.
00:13:27
Speaker
I feel like I'm in the relearning phase, getting the mastery of every single movement.
00:13:32
Speaker
Because you do have this thing, I want to get better.
00:13:33
Speaker
I want to do a more advanced move.
00:13:34
Speaker
I want to get heavier.
00:13:36
Speaker
I would rather go lighter with
00:13:39
Speaker
perfect for.
00:13:39
Speaker
So move well.
00:13:40
Speaker
Don't worry about moving heavy.
00:13:42
Speaker
I think that's one thing that's tough for people because it's so much easier to look at a weight, a number and say, okay, I back squatted 225 pounds, or I can clean 185 pounds.
00:13:54
Speaker
And those are easy to measure, but measuring how well you move much harder.
00:13:59
Speaker
Yeah, much harder.
00:14:00
Speaker
I've always said that
00:14:01
Speaker
know people might not try to lift this heavy if there were judges on this side giving him like three out of ten four out of ten and you had your like judging score plus the weight you did it and there's some sort of multiplication or it's like okay well you lifted 200 pounds but your form was three out of ten so it's only worth this i think not that that would ever happen but i mean if people have that in their head like what would i be judged on here you know that little like self-regulation like did i move well
00:14:29
Speaker
as opposed to did I move fast or a lot of weight or did this thing?
00:14:33
Speaker
Yeah, I heard the guy who runs Bird Box Gymnastics, he said, your goals should be mastery of the movement.
00:14:41
Speaker
I'm like, well, how do you measure mastery?
00:14:43
Speaker
But his example was for the back squat, when you go down and when you go up, does it look exactly the same?
00:14:51
Speaker
And I'm like, ooh, that's a good thing because going up, it does not always look the same, but at the weight that you have mastery, that's what you want.
00:14:59
Speaker
No, that's a really good point.
00:15:00
Speaker
Yeah.
00:15:01
Speaker
It's hard to measure those kind of things, but I mean, but being mindful of it, I think it's helpful.
00:15:05
Speaker
Perfect.
00:15:06
Speaker
Perfect.
00:15:06
Speaker
Okay.
00:15:07
Speaker
Okay.
00:15:07
Speaker
How has CrossFit helped you in your daily life?
CrossFit's Influence on Mental Health and Daily Life
00:15:11
Speaker
Well, I already told you the story that is like my mood, mental health.
00:15:15
Speaker
My wife does say, oh, you know, things must not be stressful at work because he's still going to the gym.
00:15:21
Speaker
Right.
00:15:21
Speaker
If I miss the gym, that's usually a bad sign that, you know, things are off the rails.
00:15:24
Speaker
So I think it just stabilizes my mental health more than anything.
00:15:29
Speaker
I think the other thing is, I also come to the 5.30 a.m.
00:15:31
Speaker
class.
00:15:32
Speaker
You do that right in the morning, it's hard work, and then you're off to the day and you're like, it's like the people who've seen Fight Club.
00:15:40
Speaker
When you're fighting, everything else in your life gets turned down.
00:15:42
Speaker
When you come and do a CrossFit workout first thing in the morning, everything in life gets turned down.
00:15:46
Speaker
And I even think about this, because I come here, drive to work, and then there's like about a hundred meter drive from the parking garage to the building.
00:15:53
Speaker
When I walk across that thing,
00:15:55
Speaker
My body's a little bit sore, but it feels open.
00:15:58
Speaker
And I'm like, I feel great.
00:16:00
Speaker
And whatever I'm walking into a work, this works crazy sometimes.
00:16:05
Speaker
I can handle any of that.
00:16:06
Speaker
So I think it's the confidence to handle whatever comes, I think comes from choosing to do hard things out here in the gym.
00:16:11
Speaker
Yeah, that's great.
00:16:12
Speaker
I spoke to Mark Campbell last week, and that was one of the things too.
00:16:16
Speaker
And it's one of the overlooked things about CrossFit.
00:16:19
Speaker
Everyone looks at CrossFit and they see a certain thing.
00:16:22
Speaker
They see hard workouts or they
00:16:25
Speaker
You know, they see the people competing at the games.
00:16:27
Speaker
And I've always said CrossFit's kind of like an onion.
00:16:29
Speaker
There's a lot of layers to it.
00:16:31
Speaker
Community, ability to do hard things, mental resilience.
00:16:34
Speaker
And I think that mental resilience, we do some really hard things in the gym.
00:16:38
Speaker
And if you're able to translate that skill into your everyday life and say, yeah, I can do hard things, right?
00:16:43
Speaker
And it's the same way you'll do it in a workout.
00:16:45
Speaker
I might have to pick up the bar and drop and pick up the bar and drop it and chip away at that.
00:16:49
Speaker
But that's the same thing in real life too, right?
00:16:51
Speaker
Yeah, 100%.
00:16:52
Speaker
Just keep pushing forward.
00:16:53
Speaker
I love that.
00:16:55
Speaker
Okay.
00:16:56
Speaker
Do you have a morning routine?
00:16:59
Speaker
My current morning routine is I'd say five of those stupid New York Times Wordle games in the morning while I'm having my coffee.
00:17:07
Speaker
I used to have a practice where I had the daily stoic and I'd read a page out of that every day.
00:17:13
Speaker
I did that for two years, but now I'm on to the game.
00:17:16
Speaker
Let's keep my brain sharp, I guess.
00:17:18
Speaker
And my daughter plays them too, so we
00:17:21
Speaker
One, kind of the map.
00:17:22
Speaker
But those, we can only play them once a day.
00:17:25
Speaker
I also have been known to have an addictive video game thing.
00:17:28
Speaker
So it's just like, oh, one more game.
00:17:29
Speaker
I'll never get anything done in my whole life.
00:17:31
Speaker
So that's the way I get it in, but keep it limited.
00:17:34
Speaker
Yeah, no, I like that.
00:17:35
Speaker
Okay, do you have a night routine?
00:17:37
Speaker
I go to bed early, period, but no specific routine.
00:17:41
Speaker
Would you try to get a certain amount of sleep each night?
00:17:44
Speaker
I get up before five, so I try to go to bed at nine o'clock, shooting for around eight hours, probably seven hours.
00:17:50
Speaker
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
00:17:51
Speaker
Seven to seven and a half is usually.
00:17:53
Speaker
I want to get eight, but that might be a weird.
00:17:55
Speaker
I shoot for eight.
00:17:56
Speaker
I usually get seven and a half unless things
Preferred Workouts and Nutrition
00:17:59
Speaker
go south.
00:17:59
Speaker
And then I might sleep in a little bit extra on the weekend, even though they say you're supposed to be consistent.
00:18:03
Speaker
Yeah, I know.
00:18:04
Speaker
It's nice to take advantage of that.
00:18:05
Speaker
It's tough because you're supposed to be consistent with your sleep and your wake time, but there's also a sleep deficit.
00:18:11
Speaker
And how do you ever make that up?
00:18:12
Speaker
I'd rather make up the sleep deficit than be consistent.
00:18:15
Speaker
100%.
00:18:15
Speaker
Okay, let's go rapid fire.
00:18:17
Speaker
Favorite movement in the gym?
00:18:20
Speaker
Overhead squat.
00:18:21
Speaker
Really?
00:18:22
Speaker
I did not expect that.
00:18:23
Speaker
What did you expect?
00:18:24
Speaker
I don't know because usually, and I'm not saying that you're not good at overhead squats, but usually people, when you say favorite movement, and I'd be the same as I pick a wheelhouse movement, something that I'm good at, right?
00:18:33
Speaker
I'm not saying you're not good at overhead squats.
00:18:34
Speaker
No, I'm not good.
00:18:36
Speaker
The overhead squat challenges every part of you, and I think it was for one of those ones for me.
00:18:43
Speaker
I do one-on-one training with Jaleesa.
00:18:45
Speaker
Right.
00:18:46
Speaker
And the first thing I said to her, I said, going back to the camp, I think my squats are terrible.
00:18:50
Speaker
And she's like, here's a barbell, do an overhead squat.
00:18:52
Speaker
And like, I think I maxed out at a hundred pounds.
00:18:55
Speaker
And like, we worked on that.
00:18:57
Speaker
And again, working on something that challenges those positions, I've made a lot of progress.
00:19:01
Speaker
And so when I come back to it, I'm like, oh yeah, this is hard.
00:19:04
Speaker
Let's do it.
00:19:04
Speaker
It's fun.
00:19:05
Speaker
One of the, I mean, I experienced the overhead squat in CrossFit, but I remember I went to a, and he gave me a PVC.
00:19:13
Speaker
He said, overhead squat is PVC.
00:19:15
Speaker
And
00:19:16
Speaker
And that was his test?
00:19:17
Speaker
That was his test to see, just to look at your body and see where you might be lacking in some of, and obviously a PBC is not going to challenge your strength, but even a PBC challenges your mobility and they can say, okay, you need some work on your ankles or your shoulders or internally rotated.
00:19:31
Speaker
And there's so much you can see from that movement because you're right.
00:19:34
Speaker
It requires even unloaded.
00:19:36
Speaker
It requires mobility in so many joints, right?
00:19:40
Speaker
Exactly.
00:19:41
Speaker
Thoracic spine, shoulders, hips.
00:19:43
Speaker
Yeah.
00:19:44
Speaker
In the level one, when they give you the PVC and they can do the pizza version, you, it requires a lot of mastery of them.
00:19:51
Speaker
Yeah.
00:19:52
Speaker
I always think of, uh, Egyptian hieroglyphics when I feel like I'm, you know, one of those things.
00:19:58
Speaker
Okay.
00:19:59
Speaker
Well, I think, you know, the answer this morning, afternoon or evening class morning, some people would say if I had no other work constraints,
00:20:09
Speaker
would not come in at 5.30.
00:20:11
Speaker
I do like coming out at 5.30.
00:20:12
Speaker
I think the discipline and consistency is there.
00:20:14
Speaker
I would probably work out at 9.00.
00:20:18
Speaker
We've seen one of our 5.30 brethren do that, right?
00:20:21
Speaker
And today, he's taking baby steps back.
00:20:25
Speaker
Yeah, I get it.
00:20:26
Speaker
There is something to be said first thing.
00:20:30
Speaker
They say that you're always sacrificing performance for consistency by coming in so early.
00:20:36
Speaker
But I mean, yeah, I think so.
00:20:40
Speaker
Long endurance workout or short endurance workout?
00:20:43
Speaker
Long endurance.
00:20:45
Speaker
I would rather have a grinder, low skill, put your head down sort of thing.
00:20:50
Speaker
Now, do you think that this is my theory on it because I'm the same way?
00:20:53
Speaker
Do you think that it's to do with the amount of suffering involved in a short sprint?
00:20:58
Speaker
Yes, 100%.
00:20:59
Speaker
I do not want the Franlong.
00:21:01
Speaker
Yeah.
00:21:03
Speaker
So it's more an avoidant of the pain that comes with the thing.
00:21:06
Speaker
Although we have been doing a lot of intervals lately.
00:21:09
Speaker
And I am really appreciating the intervals.
00:21:11
Speaker
It's like today, I can do that for four minutes and I know I have a couple minutes rest.
00:21:17
Speaker
But like, that's been, I think that's been very effective.
00:21:19
Speaker
I think that- But longer is better.
00:21:21
Speaker
And I think longer is better.
00:21:23
Speaker
To avoid the pain.
00:21:24
Speaker
I think that intervals, you know, interval workouts, I did one on Saturday.
00:21:28
Speaker
And I think that intervals can be the hardest workouts there are because it's just amount of
00:21:35
Speaker
how much are you willing to push yourself in that interval, right?
00:21:38
Speaker
Knowing you have a good chunk of rest on the other side makes it a little bit easier.
00:21:41
Speaker
But man, if you do an interval right, that's going to be painful.
00:21:45
Speaker
Okay, favorite indulgent food?
00:21:49
Speaker
Indulgent food, my wife makes
00:21:52
Speaker
chocolate chip cookies called kitchen sink cookies.
00:21:55
Speaker
Ooh.
00:21:55
Speaker
And there's chocolate.
00:21:56
Speaker
There's all kinds of stuff in there.
00:21:57
Speaker
They are probably the best cookies that ever existed.
00:21:59
Speaker
You have to be a friend and share that with the community.
00:22:02
Speaker
So not to put any pressure on your wife, but holy moly.
00:22:05
Speaker
All right.
00:22:06
Speaker
Roger that.
00:22:07
Speaker
Jen, there's an order coming.
00:22:10
Speaker
Favorite healthy food?
00:22:11
Speaker
I am such a huge fan of oatmeal with protein powder, R&F, of course.
00:22:17
Speaker
Put some berries and a little bit of almond butter in there.
00:22:20
Speaker
That is my go-to.
00:22:23
Speaker
That's one of my favorites as well, too.
00:22:24
Speaker
I've kind of gotten away from it in the last little while.
00:22:26
Speaker
I don't know why.
00:22:27
Speaker
But I feel like that is the perfect food for active individuals, right?
00:22:32
Speaker
You've got your fiber.
00:22:33
Speaker
You've got your complex carbs.
00:22:35
Speaker
You've got your fats.
00:22:36
Speaker
It's delicious.
00:22:37
Speaker
You've got your protein.
00:22:38
Speaker
You've got your antioxidants and berries.
00:22:40
Speaker
I haven't really looked at an analysis of it, but in my opinion, it's the perfect food.
00:22:45
Speaker
I think so.
00:22:46
Speaker
Every time you watch a video with a high-level athlete, what do they eat in the morning?
00:22:50
Speaker
That.
00:22:50
Speaker
Right?
00:22:50
Speaker
So pretty much that.
00:22:51
Speaker
Okay.
00:22:53
Speaker
favorite pre or post workout snack.
00:22:55
Speaker
I always eat a pre workout in the morning, got to have something in the system.
00:23:00
Speaker
So I always eat a little fancy granola bar called, I forget what they're called now, better made.
00:23:08
Speaker
It's like it's a peanut butter chocolate thing.
00:23:10
Speaker
Yeah, there's a there's an interesting study over that even post workout is the oatmeal.
00:23:15
Speaker
There's there's an interesting study about
00:23:18
Speaker
carbohydrates before workouts and even rinsing your mouth with a carbohydrate solution makes you work out better.
00:23:26
Speaker
Because it tells your body you're not going to be deficient.
00:23:30
Speaker
You're ready.
00:23:30
Speaker
Like it's almost like it's like, okay, flip the switch on.
00:23:32
Speaker
It's time to go because we're fueling our body for this thing.
00:23:37
Speaker
This is where you get all the coaching.
00:23:38
Speaker
When I first started, I think you asked everybody what they had to eat before they came in one morning and I said, I had a handful of nuts.
00:23:44
Speaker
And it's like, you were like, wrong answer.
00:23:46
Speaker
You know,
00:23:47
Speaker
You know, I've kind of I've softened my my stance on wrong answers now.
00:23:53
Speaker
You can have a better answer.
00:23:54
Speaker
Right.
00:23:54
Speaker
I think that's probably a better way to put it is that maybe not the ideal or optimal way to feel yourself.
00:23:59
Speaker
I've gotten away from the optimal stuff because as you get older and, you know, we have more responsibilities.
00:24:06
Speaker
Optimal is great.
00:24:07
Speaker
But is it realistic a lot of the days?
00:24:09
Speaker
Maybe not.
00:24:10
Speaker
So I'm just trying to do the best that I can rather than the optimal version.
00:24:14
Speaker
My mantra is progress, not perfection.
00:24:17
Speaker
I love that.
00:24:18
Speaker
Okay.
00:24:19
Speaker
What's your favorite way to relax?
Hobbies Beyond CrossFit: Dungeons & Dragons and Community
00:24:21
Speaker
I don't know.
00:24:21
Speaker
I play music.
00:24:22
Speaker
My son and I play music all the time.
00:24:24
Speaker
I do like playing those like little brain games.
00:24:28
Speaker
My favorite indulgence that keeps me staying outside the gym.
00:24:32
Speaker
I play Dungeons and Dragons every week.
00:24:34
Speaker
And that is
00:24:36
Speaker
Like it is an escape and it is, but it is so,
00:24:41
Speaker
Awesome.
00:24:42
Speaker
I can't say.
00:24:42
Speaker
Is it an online or is it a in-person?
00:24:45
Speaker
No, it's online.
00:24:46
Speaker
It's actually started during COVID.
00:24:48
Speaker
A friend of mine I used to work with said he was playing and said, we're going online.
00:24:52
Speaker
So now we've been playing for five years.
00:24:53
Speaker
My son plays as well.
00:24:54
Speaker
So it's a family affair.
00:24:56
Speaker
It is something I told somebody it's a way to explore all the big questions in life.
00:25:01
Speaker
And personally, without the defense mechanism of your own psychology or the culture,
00:25:07
Speaker
do that that's how powerful it can be really yeah it seems nerdy and silly and people think you're just running like with swords or something like that yeah it can be really an interesting and it's like i love that perspective on it i would never in a million years i don't play so i don't i don't know i think i played when i was 12 or 13 a little bit but that's a great way to look at it and i never would have thought about that and it gives me a whole new perspective on
00:25:33
Speaker
maybe people that are playing Dungeons and Dragons right now, cheaper than therapy.
00:25:37
Speaker
It is there.
00:25:37
Speaker
And there's a big study that said therapists have actually prescribed people play Dungeons and Dragons to work through a bunch of that stuff.
00:25:43
Speaker
Really?
00:25:43
Speaker
Yeah.
00:25:44
Speaker
Holy moly.
00:25:44
Speaker
I might be joining the Dungeons and Dragons.
00:25:46
Speaker
Yeah, there you go.
00:25:47
Speaker
I heard that here first.
00:25:49
Speaker
I'm going to have my own little bag of dice.
00:25:53
Speaker
It'd be nice.
00:25:53
Speaker
Okay.
00:25:54
Speaker
I don't think I've got anything else.
00:25:57
Speaker
Well, you've,
00:25:58
Speaker
Got a lot here because you've created a great community, a great gym, and it's done a lot for people.
00:26:03
Speaker
It's done a lot for me.
00:26:04
Speaker
So I want to say thanks.
00:26:05
Speaker
Well, thank you very much for joining us today.
00:26:07
Speaker
And that's all we got.
00:26:09
Speaker
Thanks, Kirk.
00:26:10
Speaker
Awesome.
00:26:11
Speaker
Yeah, I love, you know, I just like chatting to people.