#1037 – Darren Hunsucker | The Winningest Coach in CrossFit

Sevan Matossian (00:02):

Spam. We’re live. There he is. Just like that. Ask and you shall receive

Darren Hunsucker (00:08):

What’s going on?

Sevan Matossian (00:09):

Oh shit, dude. I didn’t know

Darren Hunsucker (00:12):

What

Sevan Matossian (00:13):

Times are rough at mayhem. And you’re working at the Foot Locker?

Darren Hunsucker (00:17):

Dude, this is my little hole in the wall office that I built.

Sevan Matossian (00:22):

What’s up with the shoes in the back? Are you selling those?

Darren Hunsucker (00:25):

Yeah. This is what it looks like when you accomplish, or sorry, when somebody else accomplishes something

Sevan Matossian (00:31):

And you just put it

Darren Hunsucker (00:32):

Up on your wall.

Sevan Matossian (00:33):

Are those richest shoes?

Darren Hunsucker (00:35):

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Sevan Matossian (00:36):

Oh, that’s brilliant, dude.

Darren Hunsucker (00:38):

Yeah. Yeah. I hung them up, so I got to have something just to show my kids.

Sevan Matossian (00:44):

Yeah. That’s awesome. Three kids.

Darren Hunsucker (00:47):

Three. Three kids.

Sevan Matossian (00:49):

Crazy. Dad. I

Darren Hunsucker (00:50):

Know, right?

Sevan Matossian (00:51):

Hey,

Darren Hunsucker (00:52):

Go ahead, dude. You’re like boys everywhere, huh?

Sevan Matossian (00:56):

I’m trying

Darren Hunsucker (00:57):

What? Skateboarding and

Sevan Matossian (00:59):

Tennis.

Darren Hunsucker (01:00):

This crazy stuff.

Sevan Matossian (01:01):

Tennis. Little tennis. Little jiujitsu. A little striking.

Darren Hunsucker (01:04):

How awesome, man.

Sevan Matossian (01:05):

I’m loving it.

Darren Hunsucker (01:06):

Did you grow up skateboarding?

Sevan Matossian (01:08):

No.

Darren Hunsucker (01:09):

No.

Sevan Matossian (01:10):

I don’t know how to fight. I don’t know how to skate, dude. I am. You know how they say, don’t have your kids live. Don’t live through your kids vicariously.

Darren Hunsucker (01:17):

You are that a hundred percent. A

Sevan Matossian (01:20):

Hundred percent. Fully leaned into it. Fuck you. I’m going the opposite way. They’re going to do everything that I wish I would’ve done.

Darren Hunsucker (01:28):

But even all this stuff, watching ’em, you haven’t even jumped in like, Hey, I want to learn too. Hey, to me,

Sevan Matossian (01:36):

I wrestle with them and I play a lot of tennis with them, but I suck. I mean, they tell me basically I’m not playing tennis.

Darren Hunsucker (01:44):

Wow.

Sevan Matossian (01:45):

Yeah. They’re like, Hey, dude, that’s tap tennis. You know what I

Darren Hunsucker (01:47):

Mean? Coaching 1 0 1.

Sevan Matossian (01:49):

Yeah. They just,

Darren Hunsucker (01:53):

You are not even close.

Sevan Matossian (01:55):

You suck.

Darren Hunsucker (01:57):

Exactly.

Sevan Matossian (01:58):

Hey, are you comfortable old’s? Your oldest one?

Darren Hunsucker (02:03):

Oldest one is seven months.

Sevan Matossian (02:06):

Your oldest kid,

Darren Hunsucker (02:07):

Or sorry, oldest. Sorry. My bad. Going on five Ivy, Ivy will be five here soon.

Sevan Matossian (02:13):

Okay. Ivy?

Darren Hunsucker (02:14):

Yep.

Sevan Matossian (02:16):

Darren, do you like Dad? Have you assimilated to someone calling you Dad?

Darren Hunsucker (02:22):

It’s weird. Yeah. It’s just what always gets me is watching tv, like sports especially, because that’s always something that I try and relate to. I still feel young. It’s like when I watch an N F L game and I see a kid out there who’s 21, 22 years old. I’m still in my head I feel like that, but then I’m like, holy shit, I am 32. I mean, at that point in a sports career, you are retired or on the tail end of it. So yeah, kind of hearing it, and especially now taking my kids to school or

Sevan Matossian (03:03):

Taking

Darren Hunsucker (03:04):

Ivy to school and seeing parents that I graduated with, it’s such a crazy, crazy surreal moment.

Sevan Matossian (03:14):

I didn’t think I would ever get used to it, and it took about eight seconds. As soon as they called me dad, I just turned into dad. It was weird.

Darren Hunsucker (03:24):

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Especially now, breaking that barrier of when she hears or they hear my wife call me Darren, and they’re like, call me Darren. I’m like, no, no, no. You call me dad. We’re like, but Darren, I’m like, no, no, no. So yeah, there’s always the little corrections

Sevan Matossian (03:44):

When I’m on the tennis court with my oldest who just turned nine, he calls me, oh, Sevy, you weren’t even close to hitting. Oh, Sevy, you’re never going to beat me again. How’s it feel? Yeah,

Darren Hunsucker (03:55):

On the back and stuff. He’s like, it’s okay. Se

Sevan Matossian (03:58):

All that. Well, when he wins, he cries, and now he wins every time. So he cries a lot. At the end of every game, he’ll talk shit to me the whole game, and then he wins and he starts crying, and I go, what’s wrong? I feel bad. You’re so old.

Darren Hunsucker (04:11):

How polar opposite Are your kids

Sevan Matossian (04:15):

From each other?

Darren Hunsucker (04:16):

Yeah.

Sevan Matossian (04:17):

Yeah. It’s weird. Yeah. They’re not even from the same family.

Darren Hunsucker (04:21):

Sometimes that’s the one thing, or one of the things, things I notice so much now is that between my first and my second, so Ivy going on five, June’s going on three night and day difference. Ivy, if you even raise your voice, she will cower down timid and stuff, but super friendly, loves everybody. June, if you yell at her, she’s going to yell at you back. If you turn around to her, she’s going to bite you. I like, she’s not afraid to punch. She’s not afraid to yell, and it’s like, I raced you both the same. At least I want to think that. But yeah.

Sevan Matossian (04:58):

Hey, that’s a great observation. I have kids like that too. Being assertive and kind of aggressive to ’em. It is really effective. And I have others who just melt into a ball of shit.

Darren Hunsucker (05:08):

If you raise

Sevan Matossian (05:09):

Your voice, they just turn into go goo. You’re like, fuck.

Darren Hunsucker (05:13):

I know. Yeah. And it is. I mean, June, I can yell at her and I won’t even feel bad Ivy if I yell at her. I’m like, man, was I a little rough on her? I’m like, was I a little harsh? Yeah. I mean, and of course, 10 days later, of course, just remind me of it. She’s like, dad, you yelled at me pretty bad the other day. I’m like, I know. I know. I’m sorry.

Sevan Matossian (05:34):

Oh, I get that. I yelling in June. They’re reflecting on your parents. Yeah.

Darren Hunsucker (05:39):

I’m like, sorry. I’m like, like, I don’t know what else to do. Then

Sevan Matossian (05:44):

My kids will be like, my oldest will be like, I don’t think that’s really an effective way of parenting. I’m like, what? Fuck you.

Darren Hunsucker (05:52):

He’s likes, yeah. Good try

Sevan Matossian (05:57):

Heidi. Krum. Just straight to business. Straight to business. Darren, why don’t the whiteboard brief videos, so for those of you who don’t know, Darren is the programmer for the Mayhem Empire for affiliates that do mayhem programming. That’s correct. Right?

Darren Hunsucker (06:15):

Yes.

Sevan Matossian (06:16):

And so Heidi must go to a gym where they do mayhem programming, and now she wants to get right down to business and

Darren Hunsucker (06:23):

Right to it.

Sevan Matossian (06:24):

Darren Mucker,

Darren Hunsucker (06:25):

My kids.

Sevan Matossian (06:27):

Let’s, why don’t the whiteboard brief videos, what is she referencing? Is that something you guys do?

Darren Hunsucker (06:32):

So, yeah, so whatever platform you’re using, whether it’s Sugar Wad, waify, push Press, all those different ones that are out there, you have what’s called your weekly overview or your daily overview that shows you the layout of the programming. Within the whiteboard, we usually offer, or we always offer at least the breakdown of what the warmup is, the workout for that day strength, if there is any accessory work type stuff. Now, sometimes with the whiteboard itself, with the gymnastics stuff, we kind of pull from different areas. So we have Pamela, who’s been working with the Mayhem athletes and stuff. We will get stuff from her helping out with the gymnastics side. That’s more of her repertoire and accessory stuff. We’ll pull from other bits and pieces of mayhem coaches or just mayhem athlete coaches. So with those, we just kind of provide small little snippet links rather than just the full breakdown of it. We do offer notes within, but yeah, I mean, what’s great about our programming and also with this community, because what I love is stuff that she’s asking is stuff that brings it to our mean attention and take that into effect, and okay, maybe that is something that we should start adding in. If there is more people that want it and want to see more from that, then yeah, we can definitely look at adding more breakdown. So

Sevan Matossian (08:00):

If there was a Helen video, if Helen was the workout, you might talk about, show someone how to do kettle swings, kettlebell swings, or maybe different kinds of pull-ups, or, Hey, make sure that when you run, do this or whatever. But if you’re saying if there’s handstand walks, instead of it being in the video that you make, there’ll be a link that says, Hey, this is how you do. Handstand walks a separate link.

Darren Hunsucker (08:22):

If it’s within the workout, then it’s me doing it. If it’s accessory pieces, stuff like that, then there probably will be links provided to it.

Sevan Matossian (08:32):

What Heidi’s basically saying is like, Hey, I just want to watch one video. Don’t make me click shit.

Darren Hunsucker (08:37):

Yep.

Sevan Matossian (08:39):

All right. Fair enough.

Darren Hunsucker (08:40):

Thank you,

Sevan Matossian (08:40):

Heidi, for your Cody Bradshaw. Darren, have you done my birthday workout yet? Oh God. I hate it When people ask questions like that,

Darren Hunsucker (08:48):

People

Sevan Matossian (08:48):

Send me workouts or send me a video that’s 25 minutes long. Have you watched it yet? I’m like, dude, you sent that two days

Darren Hunsucker (08:53):

Ago. So Corey, Corey, man,

Sevan Matossian (08:57):

Who is this guy? We need to slap him around a little

Darren Hunsucker (08:58):

Bit. Yeah, no, no. Corey’s great is, I mean, basically one of our mayhem knight, he’s always, I would say he’s always on mean. Corey’s awesome. He’s at all the train with riches and stuff like that. I’ve not done your birthday workout yet, nor have I built up the capacity to do your workout yet.

Sevan Matossian (09:18):

Oh, shit.

Darren Hunsucker (09:19):

I want to say there’s over like 500 burpees. I mean, it just looks like something that’s going to take me an hour plus,

Sevan Matossian (09:25):

Hey, Corey, write your birthday workout in the comments. I want to see this thing.

Darren Hunsucker (09:30):

I’ll say, if that’s the one that I’m thinking of,

Sevan Matossian (09:33):

Darren,

Darren Hunsucker (09:34):

Let’s hear it.

Sevan Matossian (09:35):

On a side note, please tell me, rich has a small penis. Please tell he’s got everything in life going for him. Please, please don’t tell me. There’s very few people who’ve seen his penis. I know you’ve seen his penis many times throughout the

Darren Hunsucker (09:48):

I’ve seen.

Sevan Matossian (09:50):

I have

Darren Hunsucker (09:50):

Have seen a lot. I have.

Sevan Matossian (09:52):

Tell me, the perfect man has this tiny penis like this, please.

Darren Hunsucker (09:56):

Okay. But I cannot confirm nor deny. Okay, I’m sorry. Okay. I’m going to have to leave that one. I’m going to have to leave that one out. There

Sevan Matossian (10:05):

Is that bro code. You can’t talk about the guy’s penis when you’ve seen a lot.

Darren Hunsucker (10:07):

Yeah, yeah, yeah. That’s typical bro code. That’s something that I’m trying to teach my seventh month old son before just trying to establish it right off the bat.

Sevan Matossian (10:18):

You don’t want him going to school, man. Dad has a tiny penis. Yeah,

Darren Hunsucker (10:22):

We do not. We do not. That cannot be day. That cannot be Day one of preschool

Sevan Matossian (10:28):

Teacher pulls out an eraser and he’s like, that’s what my dad’s penis looks like.

Darren Hunsucker (10:33):

That’s a lie.

Sevan Matossian (10:34):

Hey, dude. Your kids will say shit like that.

Darren Hunsucker (10:37):

I know.

Sevan Matossian (10:38):

My kids are nuts, dude.

Darren Hunsucker (10:41):

And again, that’s all the stuff that’s kind of going through. Again, having two daughters off the back and then now having a son, we got to have that talk of what this other part is, and it’s like, Hey, that’s just the way that God made him or trying to give a easy cop out answer. Well, I mean, not a cop out, that’s the truth. But at the same time, it’s like, alright, how do we kind of veer ’em away? All you’re being a magician. It’s all smokes and mirrors with it. It’s like, Hey, divert the conversation somewhere else real quick, or show him something cool.

Sevan Matossian (11:20):

There’s a girl in my son’s tennis class, and the kids are all close. They’ve been doing tennis together five days a week for four years, and the girl comes and goes, Hey, my dad got a new wife, so now I have a stepmom. My kid’s telling me this story. He’s like, so she’s telling us she got two moms? I’m like, yeah. And he goes, and then I’m like, oh, shit. And he goes, some other kid asked which mom do you like better? Oh, no. And so my son looks at me and my two other sons, he goes, that’s a dumb question. And my two other sons who are six are like, why is that dumb? And they’re like, dude, you don’t like the stepmom more ever? And I’m like, and I just was like, yeah, I’m raising this one. Right.

Darren Hunsucker (12:10):

That’s fact.

Sevan Matossian (12:12):

Yeah. He understands the nuances.

Darren Hunsucker (12:15):

I know. Yeah. He was like, se taught me that, my boy. That’s tough.

Sevan Matossian (12:21):

Darren, what is the best Bronco for a family? Oh my God, your car is amazing.

Darren Hunsucker (12:27):

Everybody.

Sevan Matossian (12:29):

Do you still own that? I was kind of afraid to bring it up. You were going to say you had to sell it to put an ad on for your third kid or something?

Darren Hunsucker (12:35):

No, no, no, no, no, no, no. Not yet. Debatable as far as if I’d sell a kid or the Bronco.

Sevan Matossian (12:42):

God, that thing is nuts, dude.

Darren Hunsucker (12:44):

I love it. I grew up, my oldest brother, his first vehicle. So kind of story behind this Bronco is my brother, Donny the oldest, his first vehicle was a 93 Bronco black X l T, so yada, yada, yada. That’s where I fell in love with the vehicle. Didn’t know anything about him prior, but absolutely loved it. I loved that. Everybody else loved it, because even at that time, it was like 2003, 2004, it’s like you didn’t see these vehicles on the road, especially in Michigan. So after his kind of died on ’em and then disappeared, I always said I’d try and find another one like it. And I happened to run across this one that I actually bought this from a guy that’s out in California. He was in Northern California, so I had to call him up. I talked to him online, gave me all the videos and stuff, talked to him on the phone. It was almost like a dating site. I felt like I knew this guy and way beyond, and I had to have it shipped back to, I’m a Michigan, but I mean, I’m always the nostalgic type. I like anything from the O B S, which is the nineties era, all the way down to the sixties. So the newer one, that’s

Sevan Matossian (13:58):

The 1993 Bronco.

Darren Hunsucker (13:59):

That’s the 93. Yeah.

Sevan Matossian (14:01):

And that’s, you own that. If you own that from where you’re sitting, where is that?

Darren Hunsucker (14:06):

That is sitting probably 20 feet away from me.

Sevan Matossian (14:11):

Wow.

Darren Hunsucker (14:12):

Yeah.

Sevan Matossian (14:12):

Is that your daily driver?

Darren Hunsucker (14:14):

No, Uhuh. That is not the economy driver. Plus putting three kids in the back of that thing on a 40 degree day with no top on all the heat is on me. So I absolutely love it, but my kids hate it in that.

Sevan Matossian (14:32):

So it’s cold where you’re at

Darren Hunsucker (14:34):

Right now? It is, yeah. We woke up. It was almost, it was probably just touching thirties.

Sevan Matossian (14:41):

Why don’t you move to Cookville because your mom and dad are in Michigan. Family. Is it just family?

Darren Hunsucker (14:47):

Yeah. Yeah. So when Jess and I started to have kids, or

Sevan Matossian (14:53):

Jess is your wife?

Darren Hunsucker (14:54):

Yep, she is. At least that I know of

(14:58):

That she tells me. But when we finally started having kids or had Ivy, we kind of just had that feeling where I personally, if it was just me wasn’t married or anything, I would’ve stayed in Cookville until the day that I died. But having kids being married and stuff, both our families are in Michigan. We wanted our parents to be grandparents. We didn’t want to have to have them have to travel 10 hours just to see, especially on my side of the family, it would’ve been our first, as far as grandkids for Justice side, they already had a couple, but still, her family’s getting older, and my family’s only getting older and traveling will only be harder for them. So we’re like, all right, we need to actually make this change sooner than later before it gets harder and harder.

Sevan Matossian (15:47):

You have siblings, Darren?

Darren Hunsucker (15:49):

Yeah. Yep.

Sevan Matossian (15:50):

How many siblings?

Darren Hunsucker (15:51):

So two older brothers and then three younger brothers. So Donnie and Matt were the ones that had passed early on. And then my three younger brothers, Mitch, Dustin, Marcus.

Sevan Matossian (16:03):

So there were five of you?

Darren Hunsucker (16:05):

Yep. Well, six total. Yes.

Sevan Matossian (16:09):

You lost two brothers?

Darren Hunsucker (16:11):

Yeah. Yep.

Sevan Matossian (16:12):

How old were you when that happened?

Darren Hunsucker (16:15):

Matt was the first one. I was 12, and then Donnie was, Matt was 2004. Donnie was 2007, so I was 12 and then 15.

Sevan Matossian (16:26):

Holy shit, dude.

Darren Hunsucker (16:27):

Yeah. And that kind of correlates with the story that Rich told as far as, because Rich and Donnie, so my oldest who had the Bronco and stuff, they were like best friends. They were born. Donnie was born July 9th. Rich was July 21st.

Sevan Matossian (16:43):

Who is that? Or dad’s?

Darren Hunsucker (16:46):

So Rich’s mom is my mom’s sister.

Sevan Matossian (16:49):

Okay. So you guys are legit cousins.

Darren Hunsucker (16:53):

Legit, yes. Yeah. Yeah.

Sevan Matossian (16:55):

So your moms grew up in a house together fighting over bowls of cereal and shit?

Darren Hunsucker (16:58):

Exactly. Yep. Yep. There were nine of ’em. There were six sisters and then three brothers.

Sevan Matossian (17:04):

And what state was that in?

Darren Hunsucker (17:05):

That was in Michigan, Catholic, Michigan. So you had to

Sevan Matossian (17:09):

Right. No, goalies allowed

Darren Hunsucker (17:12):

No

Sevan Matossian (17:12):

Soccer without the goalie. And so Rich was raised in Michigan being best friends with your oldest brother, Donnie.

Darren Hunsucker (17:24):

So Rich moved down, man, I don’t want to butcher it. Rich moved down to Cookeville when he was, I believe, four. But from that timeframe, even when they were born, they were always I together. And then throughout the years, I mean, they would see each other just periodically. We’d probably see Rich maybe twice a year. And then as they got older cell phones, all that stuff started to become a thing. They kept in. Rich would come up to visit more. He was able to drive. And that’s where the whole competitiveness between all of our cousins really started to amp up because Rich was dominant in his sport. My brother Donnie and my brother Matt, they were all dominant in their sports and all our other cousins too as well. So we just became a super competitive based family.

Sevan Matossian (18:09):

Do you remember him being 16 and driving up and all the family being excited, that cousins coming over and pillow fight and sleeping in the living room and all that shit?

Darren Hunsucker (18:18):

Dude, it was awesome because we’d probably get, I mean, because again, back then cell phones weren’t a thing just yet. They were young. If you had one, you were cool. And we weren’t cool, but we would get that call, Hey, rich is coming up whatever next day. So it was always, you don’t sleep, you wait. They may get in super late, it’s a 10 hour drive, so you’re probably waiting for ’em. They get in at two 3:00 AM Rich would always bring friends with them too. Or a sister Kayla would come up, which was awesome. Or he’d bring three of his friends, four of his friends, and we’d play Super Smash Brothers. We’d play Mario Party, and then we’d wake up and go play sports.

Sevan Matossian (18:57):

Yeah.

Darren Hunsucker (18:58):

Loved

Sevan Matossian (18:59):

What a good childhood. Both your parents are still alive.

Darren Hunsucker (19:03):

Yeah. Yep.

Sevan Matossian (19:05):

I wonder, now that you have kids, it must be a trip because no one knows what it’s like to lose a sibling, but then you don’t know what it’s like to lose a child. But when you had your child, when you first had Ivy, did you start to kind of replay that loss through what it would be like through your parents’ eyes? Were you like, oh, shit.

Darren Hunsucker (19:29):

When I lost Matt, so I was 12, and it was weird because when you’re 12 years old and you lose somebody, I mean, yeah, of course it sucks. You go through the whole emotional side, but you really don’t know how to feel. You really don’t know how to take it, how to explain it, how to tell people about it. A lot of kids, you become block out the noise or just kind numb to it.

(20:01):

And then after Donnie, that’s when I was 15 or so, I was older. And of course, Donnie being the oldest, he was our everything. I mean, that’s who we learned everything from. I mean, it’s your oldest brother. That’s the one you looked up to the most. And after that, that’s when it really hit me as far as like, holy shit, this sucks. But I watched what my mom went through with Matt, and then after Donnie, I was like, man, how do you stay so strong? My mom is a very faith-driven woman, and she did not crack. It’s crazy. She didn’t break down. I mean, yeah, but she was the one, she was still us up getting us ready for school, taking us. And that’s where, I think that’s why CrossFit, I kind of found it to be the closest thing to what I had back home is I found such a close group of friends and family that made our life so much better. Loss sucks, but there’s a lot of good that actually comes from it as well. Not that it ever in the long run, or I shouldn’t say long run in the retrospect, it doesn’t outweigh losing ’em, but it’s like I gained so much more friends. Our families became so much more closer and everything. So yeah, I mean, it is. And then now having kids, of course, that’s always in the back of your mind. It’s

Sevan Matossian (21:34):

Like you

Darren Hunsucker (21:34):

Never,

Sevan Matossian (21:35):

But

Darren Hunsucker (21:37):

You cannot let that affect it. I mean, I think that’s something that I’m trying to hold too.

Sevan Matossian (21:43):

What do you mean you can’t let that affect it? You can’t raise your kids with fear. With fear,

Darren Hunsucker (21:48):

Yeah. Because the first couple years, even after losing Matt, Matt was gunshot. I mean, it was a suicide. And

Sevan Matossian (21:58):

How old was he?

Darren Hunsucker (21:59):

He was, well, he would’ve been 13, 14,

Sevan Matossian (22:03):

Holy shit.

Darren Hunsucker (22:05):

And I mean, Matt was a great kid. Now what’s crazy about it, he was one of those kids. He was freakishly strong for his age, but he was a D H D. I mean, I shouldn’t even say he was a D H D. He just needed a lot to do. He was super hyper, always doing something. But

Sevan Matossian (22:25):

He was outdoor kid. Outdoor kid. Exactly. Needs to be outdoor. Outdoor kid. I got three outdoor kids, a

Darren Hunsucker (22:29):

Hundred percent loved to hunt, do all that stuff. But he was very sporadic and you would never know. I wouldn’t call it, I’m like a bipolar thing by any means. Now, I could ever lash out. But if you told him to jump off a building, he would do it. If you told, I can’t tell you how many times my mom would get calls, the school would be like, Hey, Matt ran away from school. Why did he do it? Somebody told him to. Matt beat up a kid on the playground. He do it because some kid told him to, because he got mad at him.

(23:06):

He had that in him as far as he just caught him on a bad day. But yeah, so I mean, kind of, sorry, rambling a little bit, but that’s kind of where I’ve really had to figure out. I don’t want my kid living in that fear of, I’m always hovering over him being like, I don’t want you to do anything of the fear of losing you. I mean, what will happen happen? Now, I’m not saying I just let my kid run around meant aimlessly without any watch, but I watched what my parents went through and my dad started to get more and more paranoid. You just saw it, which is natural. I mean, you lose two kids. Watching him go through something like that and seeing how paranoid he got and how it affected us. Like, Hey, can we go over so-and-so’s house? No, it was, yeah,

Sevan Matossian (24:02):

I don’t blame him. I’m on that team.

Darren Hunsucker (24:05):

Yeah. So mean, yes, I am a lot more aware of things. I try and look for signs. I try and look for things. But I mean, stuff happens. Donny, I mean, Donny was a car wreck. He was just driving home. So I mean, you can only do so much.

Sevan Matossian (24:25):

I wonder, I bet I suspect that your three grandkids have been the great, even though it’s 10 years later, 15 years later, I bet you it’s the greatest. The fact that you’re staying around your parents is probably the most healing they’ve felt

Darren Hunsucker (24:46):

Since

Sevan Matossian (24:46):

That happened. I mean, grandkids are a miracle, right? I mean,

Darren Hunsucker (24:49):

I

Sevan Matossian (24:49):

Can just see what they did to my parents. I can’t even fucking believe what happened to my mom and dad. They’re like new people.

Darren Hunsucker (24:56):

It

Sevan Matossian (24:56):

Probably healed the shit out of them. You giving them three grandkids

Darren Hunsucker (25:02):

Probably

Sevan Matossian (25:02):

Healed. You too. Probably healed You too. Tell you

Darren Hunsucker (25:04):

The truth. It did because of course, after everything, there were numerous reasons why I left. One, I just wanted a change of scenery. But two, it’s like after those couple years households started to change, you just, like I said, things were kind of more edgy and I just needed a change of scenery.

Sevan Matossian (25:23):

How old were you when you moved out?

Darren Hunsucker (25:25):

As soon as I graduated high school. So I was 17 and Rich, I mean, was up visiting and we got talking and he was like, Hey. And that’s where he just started getting into CrossFit. I think he was two or three months in it.

Sevan Matossian (25:39):

He’s

Darren Hunsucker (25:40):

Like, Hey, why don’t you come down? I’m really thinking about getting serious into this stuff and open up a gym. Of course, I’m 17. I tell people, it’s like, you think open up a gym, have a private jet, and we’re going to ride off into the sunset.

Sevan Matossian (25:53):

Yeah. And a girl.

Darren Hunsucker (25:54):

Yeah, exactly. A

Sevan Matossian (25:55):

Girl jet gym.

Darren Hunsucker (25:56):

Yep, exactly.

Sevan Matossian (26:00):

How much older is he than you?

Darren Hunsucker (26:01):

Four years.

Sevan Matossian (26:02):

Four years. So he comes up to the house, and then you drive home with him, you’d make the drive back to Cookville.

Darren Hunsucker (26:10):

Yeah.

Sevan Matossian (26:11):

And at that point, I remember Dave went to some competition on the east coast somewhere, and he called me from there, and he’s like at the airport. He’s like, Hey, dude. And I go, what? He goes the next cross, the games champion’s here. I’m like, what do you mean? He goes, there’s this kid here. That’s fucking nuts, dude. You’re not even going to believe him. And it was rich.

Darren Hunsucker (26:32):

Then Rich went Georgia.

Sevan Matossian (26:33):

Dave never says that shit. I can’t remember too many other people. He said that about.

Darren Hunsucker (26:38):

Yeah, I was going to say that was the regional. Then had

Sevan Matossian (26:41):

You moved to Cook by that point?

Darren Hunsucker (26:43):

So yeah. Yep. Yeah. So

Sevan Matossian (26:45):

Were you at that event with him?

Darren Hunsucker (26:47):

Yeah. Yep. Yeah. So guys, I believe Spencer Hendell was there, I want to say Brandon Phillips guys at, did you compete there, Darren?

Sevan Matossian (26:55):

Did you compete? Did you compete at that?

Darren Hunsucker (26:57):

I did not. No. No.

Sevan Matossian (26:58):

Okay.

Darren Hunsucker (26:58):

No, no, no. That’s when I just started coaching him. Come on.

Sevan Matossian (27:02):

But why didn’t you compete? Because when I came and visited, you would work out with him and you would hang with him, and you were fucking incredible. Why didn’t you compete?

Darren Hunsucker (27:10):

Were

Sevan Matossian (27:10):

You scared? Honestly, why didn’t you compete? Not, I don’t like it, but what’s the

Darren Hunsucker (27:14):

Deal? No, no, no. And I have honestly thought about that for years because I’ll even look at that stuff too and be like, why didn’t I sign up? I mean, the only thing that I can correlate it to is I grew up in a big family. I did everything with somebody. Nothing I ever did was on my own individual base. The only sport that I, and honestly, the sport I was best at was wrestling, which is an individual sport, but I didn’t like it. I did not enjoy it. I didn’t like the spotlight. I don’t know why. That just sounds stupid, because everybody, no,

Sevan Matossian (27:51):

I think the Darren I know doesn’t like the spotlight. You’re not a, you never sought attention anytime I was around you, which makes you a good wingman to rich.

Darren Hunsucker (28:02):

Well, I love to joke. I love to be, I’m authentic, but stuff like that, but it’s like, yeah, I mean, I don’t know. I just never really thrived in those kind of situations where I just felt good about it. I loved football. I love team-based stuff, and to be real, I love doing my own thing. I love to have that freedom, like, Hey, I can work out when I wanted to, but I also could coach when I wanted to. I could do other things when I wanted to. I saw Rich, rich was in the gym 10 to 12 hours, and that’s bam, bam, bam. And of course, I would jump in on a lot of that stuff early on. I had nothing else to do, but I also liked the idea of being 18, 19, Hey, I can go to the bar after, Hey, I can go to the lake and swim if somebody wanted to. So earlier on, and then as I got older, I found coaching and I loved it. I loved it. I just lived off of it literally. But yeah.

Sevan Matossian (29:08):

Do you wish, in hindsight, you would’ve competed?

Darren Hunsucker (29:12):

I think earlier on, yes.

Sevan Matossian (29:14):

Right. When you got there in the beginning, you should have done some comps with Rich.

Darren Hunsucker (29:17):

Yeah, yeah, yeah. I mean, rich was so far ahead of everybody else. He was, and I don’t want to downplay what anybody else did because they were all super fit, but Rich was literally the saying, a man amongst boys out there, he was out there doing things. And the thing that I tell people all the time is what he did on the competition floor, nobody will ever realize how good

Darren Hunsucker (29:45):

He really

Darren Hunsucker (29:46):

Was. He did that shit in training nonstop, and even better. It’s out there. He just did what he had to do to survive. And granted surviving was just killing it. But in the gym.

The above transcript is generated using AI technology and therefore may contain errors.

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