Sevan Matossian (00:00):
It’s okay. BA bam,
Brian Friend (00:01):
Bam. So let me check his name.
Sevan Matossian (00:03):
Bam were live. I’m gonna show
Brian Friend (00:05):
You guys kettlebells and Karens is the guy’s, uh, name
Sevan Matossian (00:12):
Kettlebells. Uh, is this your Instagram account?
Brian Friend (00:16):
Yeah, he says he’s, he’s not very happy with me. I guess.
Mattew Souza (00:19):
I don’t, I don’t see it on there. Is it gone? Do they delete it?
Brian Friend (00:24):
I don’t know. I can see it right here.
Mattew Souza (00:27):
What
Sevan Matossian (00:28):
The heck what’s up? People are. So I, I think I heard some rumblings about that on one of the threads I’m on Brian. Someone’s upset with you about some team picks.
Brian Friend (00:35):
Yeah. He’s mad. This guy or a couple of people. They were upset. Uh, I think mostly with how I ranked, um, cross Omni,
Sevan Matossian (00:43):
Wait, wait, sorry, sorry, sorry. Sorry, say that again. Sorry. I was, I was multitasking. Sorry. Okay. Bam. We’re live. Did the show start? Fuck. Yeah. 50 seconds ago. Hi, <laugh> okay. What? It’s all sorts of house clean. This is Brian’s Instagram. That’s up? Okay. Go, Brian. You look smiley today. You’re in a, you’re fine. You’re you look like you’re in a great mood. Oh, Vener should have known.
Brian Friend (01:00):
No, I, I told you earlier when we talked, I gotta workout in and it changed my mood. I did 28 minutes on the echo bike and it was great.
Sevan Matossian (01:06):
I thought you gonna workout in and change my underwear.
Brian Friend (01:09):
<laugh> I also, you know, just had dinner and showered and feeling.
Mattew Souza (01:13):
So there’s an underwear change. I don’t see it on here. That’s weird. You could see it on your end, but I can’t see it on mine.
Brian Friend (01:19):
Oh no. The Dan that Dan church is the first guy. It’s this one here at the top. Oh,
Mattew Souza (01:23):
With the seven replies we should have known.
Brian Friend (01:26):
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Sevan Matossian (01:26):
This is that’s bold putting Omnia black so far down the line. First of all, who is Omnia black? What
Brian Friend (01:32):
Omnia black, which
Sevan Matossian (01:33):
Is, is that an ultimate Frisbee team?
Brian Friend (01:37):
Omni black was the winners of the Atlas games this year and also the winners of the granny cans. Last year. I was so impressed.
Sevan Matossian (01:44):
Wait so sorry. They’re a CrossFit team that won the Atlas games. That’s the worst region in north America, right? That’s the one where like,
Brian Friend (01:51):
Not necessarily for the teams. Okay. For the men in the women. I think that they had the least depth in their field and for the women, I think they had the, the least top end strength also relatively north American semi-finals. But for the team division, there were a couple of good teams there for sure. And they’re
Sevan Matossian (02:08):
Taking, but listen, Matt, you hear what he’s saying? I’m saying their ass. And he said, well, they were lacking some strengths. <laugh>
Mattew Souza (02:14):
It’s that corporate bevel
Brian Friend (02:16):
<laugh> anyway. So there’s crossed an Omnia black, first of all, I think that there’s an, an error on this, uh, post in general where I, it says that both CrossFit and pro and Montreal were first at Atlas games. I was, this is a new guy that I’m using for some graphics and there was a miscommunication and that, that happened. So I owned that and I acknowledge that. And I’m sorry about that. But CrossFit do black is a team that I know very well. I was really, really impressed with them at the granite games. Last year, there were some good teams there, including move F LA Tevye. Obviously they ended up being failing a drug test last year, um, and granite and Omnia crushed them. They won by over a hundred points and I was so, and I was there live in person. I was really impressed with everything that they did and I thought they would do great at the games. I think I ranked them maybe in the top five threatening for a podium spot and they finished 16th in general. I think that this games field for teams is stronger than last year, so it’s deeper. Okay. So there’s teams here in the twenties that I would’ve thought could finish in the teams last year.
Sevan Matossian (03:13):
Additionally, if they took 16 last year, there’s no way they’re gonna do better than 16 this year. If you think that the teams are better,
Brian Friend (03:20):
That’s part, part of the theory, but you know, okay. Obviously I went through a process of putting these teams in order and they’re all there for a reason. Um, but the team that they’re comparing them to is pro and Montreal pro and Montreal was second at Atlas games. And, uh, I have them ranked in the top 10 and they finished in the top 10 last year. And I think maybe pat knows this they’ve improved their roster from last year. They’ve had three returners. And I think that they’ve gotten a strong addition onto their team. So I think that they’ll be a really good team in a really tough team division. And I’m waiting for Omnia to hopefully prove to me and to us to I’ve known who was rooting for ’em, that they can do better at the games this year than they did last year.
Sevan Matossian (03:59):
This dude’s pissed.
Brian Friend (04:00):
Oh yeah. Super pissed. He told me that my research is worse than a monkey.
Sevan Matossian (04:04):
Oh, monkey pop. Hey, I can’t even believe you talk about the teams. I try to be.
Brian Friend (04:16):
I try to be, I try to be as, uh, in, in involved as I can in as many divisions as possible. Um, I was thinking about doing it for all of the masters in teenage divisions, but I’m not, I don’t think I’m well prepared enough. And for people that are interested in some, um, rankings or predictions for those divisions, I would refer you to bill Growler’s Instagram. He’s gonna be calling the action for the age groups this year, and he’s starting to put up some predictions and thoughts about those, uh, those divisions. So that’s what I would refer you for that.
Sevan Matossian (04:44):
And if you’re interested in anything besides the top five people like Patrick ven or Justin Madras and Tia Tomi, don’t watch this podcast cuz we don’t fuck around with the schleps Patrick. Hi,
Patrick Vellner (04:56):
What’s up guys? How are you all
Brian Friend (05:00):
The air a little bit.
Mattew Souza (05:01):
We’re good. Brian, just getting some things off his chest after he disrespected a team. So now we’re
Sevan Matossian (05:06):
Good. <laugh>
Patrick Vellner (05:08):
Look, that’s very adult of him. It’s good to go back and you know, revisit things like that. There’s nothing wrong with that.
Sevan Matossian (05:14):
It wasn’t adult him, Patrick. He was telling this guy, Hey, you’re a dip shit in the nice Brian way in the nice, very, and the guy is a dip shit. I mean, come on.
Brian Friend (05:22):
I, I ask, I do ask in the post for people to tell me their opinions, who do you think could be higher and lower, but it’s one thing to tell me your opinion. And it’s another thing to insult my level of research when I spent, you know, most of the weekend investigating every team on that list.
Sevan Matossian (05:36):
Yeah.
Patrick Vellner (05:37):
Yeah. That’s tough cuz everybody’s everybody’s doing their own research these days and that with varying degrees of diligence, I think, and it, you know, everybody wants their people to succeed as well. Right? So everybody’s got their bias on what they think about certain teams and stuff. So, or individuals even
Sevan Matossian (05:55):
Think of how it’s
Patrick Vellner (05:55):
A tough, it’s a tough thankless job. We’ve
Brian Friend (05:57):
We’ve actually, we’ve actually learned this year that you can actually predict 18 people to finish in the top 10.
Patrick Vellner (06:04):
Oh wow.
Sevan Matossian (06:05):
Who did that? Who did that?
Brian Friend (06:07):
Well, you know, all these people that are saying,
Sevan Matossian (06:10):
Right,
Brian Friend (06:10):
How could you not have this person in the top 10? I said, great. Who would you take out? Well, I’m just saying
Sevan Matossian (06:16):
<laugh>
Mattew Souza (06:19):
The all time. Right?
Sevan Matossian (06:20):
Hey you work? So go ahead Patrick, go ahead.
Patrick Vellner (06:22):
There’s just, there’s just a lot of good people, right? Like it’s tough and everybody, you know, everybody has standout performances and certain things. So it’s tough to just be like, Hey, oh yeah. Well I saw this guy crushed this one thing this one time. I think he should be up there, but you’re right. There’s there’s not a lot of space. Sometimes. That’s the biggest problem,
Sevan Matossian (06:41):
Pat? Where are you right now? Where are you sitting?
Patrick Vellner (06:43):
I’m at home. I’m
Sevan Matossian (06:44):
In office at home. Are you getting ready to roll?
Patrick Vellner (06:48):
Uh, yeah, we leave on Friday, Friday morning
Sevan Matossian (06:51):
And today’s Tuesday.
Patrick Vellner (06:53):
Today’s Tuesday. So work tomorrow and then I’ll probably like pack off Thursday and get organized and then leave Friday.
Sevan Matossian (07:00):
Wait, you said you work tomorrow?
Patrick Vellner (07:03):
Yep.
Sevan Matossian (07:03):
J B
Patrick Vellner (07:05):
J B man.
Sevan Matossian (07:06):
Oh, and what will that look like?
Patrick Vellner (07:09):
Uh, look
Sevan Matossian (07:09):
At Matt smiling. Susan loves the working class. I
Mattew Souza (07:12):
I, I mean it says we hear all these athletes, well, things have changed. I have a kid, you know, my training slowed down and patches like holding down a full time job with the new sun and still absolutely crushing it and just like nonchalant like, well I got work, so I’m not leaving till Friday. You know,
Patrick Vellner (07:26):
I will say like, I’m not, you know, I work, I think tomorrow I’m working like a half day. My clinic rotations right now are not like insanely busy because this time of year, obviously I’m trying to train a lot more. And so I, you know, that’s one of the perks of being able to make your own schedule too, is I can just take less hours in the clinic for when I need or block certain days or whatever. And then when I get home in August and September, I’ll open up lots of days and I’ll work a lot more cause I’m not gonna be trained very much. So it’s just like, that’s kind of one of the perks of what I have as a job. So, uh, you know, I try not to leave people flopping in the window. One of the, the things about treating patients and dealing with people is that, you know, they get used to seeing you regularly or whatever. And if, if you leave, you know, I’ve gotta organized care for them while I’m gone and do whatever. So it’s just like, you want to be there for people too, if they’re in like having acute issues or whatever it is. So if I can be, you know, doing a reasonable day, probably what I’m gonna do tomorrow is work a half day chill at the clinic, have lunch and actually do some like treatment on myself. And then I’ll uh,
Sevan Matossian (08:33):
Oh, hell of a job. This job, this, he work story is just taking a horrible term. <laugh> I’m
Patrick Vellner (08:38):
Then I’m gonna go to the gym and do something after that. But you know, I try to like get, do something. It’s nice to do something that takes me away from the gym too.
Sevan Matossian (08:47):
Patrick, I love you. Will you sign my at the games?
Patrick Vellner (08:53):
My card.
Sevan Matossian (08:54):
Oh, is that what I said? Said
Brian Friend (08:56):
She goes,
Patrick Vellner (08:57):
I’m assuming that’s one of those, uh, one of those training cards.
Sevan Matossian (09:00):
Oh yes.
Brian Friend (09:02):
She’s actually, she’s actually a member at my gym.
Patrick Vellner (09:05):
Oh really? Right. Oh yeah. You she’s a huge fan facilitate that.
Brian Friend (09:09):
She started coming to the gym in the, um, during the open and she’s like found out that I knew you she’s like, you know, pat ner <laugh>
Sevan Matossian (09:17):
I get your card at wa zombie while they last. Cuz they won’t last long.
Patrick Vellner (09:23):
I’m not sure what kind of run they made, but
Brian Friend (09:24):
I would grab mine, but it’s by the bed bedside table. <laugh>
Patrick Vellner (09:29):
Next to the lotion. Probably that’s
Sevan Matossian (09:31):
That’s where my cold Merton’s card is. Nice. Uh, can, can I show you guys something I know this is Pat’s show, but I just want, I, I wanna show you guys something here real quick. Mm I’m. Every oh uhoh you should be. So I think I can just click here and put, share, and then I can <laugh> I don’t can you guys, I don’t know if you guys can hear the audio on this. Can you let me know? Can if you can’t.
Brian Friend (10:14):
Yeah.
Sevan Matossian (10:14):
Yes. What, what should I edit? How did you like that? Could you tell that was Patrick ER’s body under my head.
Brian Friend (10:19):
Oh my gosh. When it said Vener on the Jersey, I could.
Patrick Vellner (10:22):
Who, who made that for you? <laugh>
Sevan Matossian (10:25):
My boyfriend, my newest boyfriend.
Brian Friend (10:27):
Here’s my two, my two first, first watch. I would probably like it to be five seconds shorter. Okay. And I think that the last image needs to be something memorable. Okay. Of you on someone else’s body, like an image that everyone would know, like Dave doing an announcement or Glassman giving a speech or Pooky the clown or something memorable.
Sevan Matossian (10:45):
You already sound smarter than anyone doing media currently at CrossFit in I <laugh>. And he got in a dig. <laugh> what’d you think? Patrick, do you have any feedback for me?
Brian Friend (10:57):
He’s still in shock.
Patrick Vellner (10:59):
I don’t know. Just take it in.
Sevan Matossian (11:00):
Just throw the whole stone
Patrick Vellner (11:02):
Away and start over. Yeah. I’m still wondering who, who took the time? <laugh>
Brian Friend (11:08):
An an hour from now. Pat’s me laying in begging. He’s just gonna start chuckling is why I was gonna say, what are you laughing about? He’s like seven, show me this. Ridiculous.
Patrick Vellner (11:15):
You wouldn’t understand. Forget about <laugh> of this like pencil photo of Chevon’s head in my, rolling around in my skull for the next few days.
Sevan Matossian (11:25):
Did you, did you compete at the CrossFit games against rich phoning?
Patrick Vellner (11:30):
Uh, not individual. No. My, I did. I was there on a team in 2015 and that was the first year he went team. So technically I did that year, but not, uh, not ever an individual.
Sevan Matossian (11:43):
And then, and then 2016, you, um, you went to individual, that was your first year going individual.
Patrick Vellner (11:50):
Yeah. Waited for rich to retire
Sevan Matossian (11:52):
And, and then, and then, then that was the year, uh,
Patrick Vellner (11:54):
Smith. That, that backfired
Sevan Matossian (11:55):
<laugh>. And that was the year Mr. Smith.
Patrick Vellner (11:59):
Oh, no, I, I guess not so 15. Would’ve been, yeah, so would’ve retired two years before from individual. So then won the year I was team an individual and then the first year I went individual was Matt’s first year.
Sevan Matossian (12:13):
Okay. Cause I was wondering, I was like, wow. Wouldn’t and did Brent come in before or after you?
Brian Friend (12:19):
Same
Patrick Vellner (12:20):
Year. Same year, same year.
Brian Friend (12:21):
Who was the, do you hold those two points? Remind him about those two points a lot. <laugh>
Patrick Vellner (12:27):
I don’t have to
Brian Friend (12:32):
Great answer.
Sevan Matossian (12:34):
Uh, did you guys know
Patrick Vellner (12:34):
Each other, talked to somebody about this recently? Actually. And I think that there’s been like that stuff happens all the time. Right. And Brent’s actually unfortunately been on the, on the wrong end of a couple of those shakedowns like that year is 1 20 18 when Lucas Berg took third by a tie break. Um, he’s kind of,
Brian Friend (12:51):
It also happened to him three times at regionals before he
Patrick Vellner (12:54):
Made. Yeah. So he he’s had a couple that have been just, you know, been, he’s been right there, but just missed it by, you know, fractional margins. Um, and on the like contrary to that, I I’ve actually generally when the things have been really close I’ve generally come out on the right side of it. So it’s funny because it doesn’t really signify that much of a difference of fitness. You know, I think I beat ’em by two points that year based on like a 10th of a second run to the finish, but you know, then who gets the hardware is like, and then when you’re in conversations with people, like that’s, that’s what gets talked about. Right. And so Brent’s got two podiums and I’ve got four, but like he could just as easily have four very, very easily. Right. Um, if we’re not for like a tie break and like a, you know, an extra breath, so, and you have bigger
Sevan Matossian (13:47):
Paychecks and you have bigger paychecks because of it hardware and bank account, what is the difference between
Patrick Vellner (13:55):
The difference is not that big it’s, it’s definitely not that big,
Brian Friend (13:58):
But there could be like, uh, you know, clauses and a sponsorship if you get on a podium or something like that. And, and the margins are incredibly small and there’s people that miss the games this year by a 10th of a second, Chloe Wilson. Yeah.
Patrick Vellner (14:09):
Yeah.
Sevan Matossian (14:11):
Do you put any effort into thinking about what the events could be? Patrick?
Patrick Vellner (14:16):
I try not to really, I think my coach does. Um, and we talk a little bit about that. I mean, I wouldn’t spend a lot of time, extra time in training trying to like play with new things cuz I think it might come up. Um, I, I think that, you know, I have thoughts about what the changes to the games mean this year with, um, Adrian at the helm, um, and what that could look like, but you know, you’ll make yourself crazy, trying to guess. And I don’t think there’s any real, uh, real value in stressing yourself out over that stuff. It’s just, it’s gonna be what it’s gonna be. And frankly, at this point you’re either ready or you’re not.
Brian Friend (14:55):
Did you have any initial thoughts when you saw the general schedule outline that they released? Do you like the day off or not?
Patrick Vellner (15:03):
I mean, we’ve kind of always had the day off thing. Um,
Brian Friend (15:07):
Almost always.
Patrick Vellner (15:08):
Yeah. I think in my career we’ve only not had it once. Um, but you know, I, the day off’s fine. Like I think it works well, especially when you’re managing the age groups and stuff like that. Um, I think I was surprised a couple of the blocks looked really small cuz they had team and individual blocks together and there were some that were like an hour.
Sevan Matossian (15:32):
What that is that like the broad jump? What the fuck is that? Yeah. Are you guys all started and run one somewhere?
Patrick Vellner (15:38):
So I mean it makes you think like it must either be a mass start of some kind or some event where you can run, I don’t know, simultaneous heats or something where cuz how do you run whatever it is, 40 teams, 40 men, 40 women in an hour. Like that’s just logistically it becomes interesting. Um, and I think there’s only 12 blocks on the schedule. So it made me think there’s, I don’t think there’ll only be 12 scores. I think probably there’s a double scored event somewhere in there. Um, so you know, that was kind of like my knee jerk, but uh, I’m, I’m interested to see what, uh, how they’re gonna run some of those really tight ones
Sevan Matossian (16:16):
And just athlete athletes at the games. How many athletes at the games total be kids to uh, grannys do we know?
Patrick Vellner (16:23):
Well, I wouldn’t have this place
Brian Friend (16:23):
There’s there are 16 master’s divisions for men and women or 16 master’s divisions that have 10 each this year. And then there’s the four teenage divisions. I think there are three or maybe four adaptive divisions that are live at the games this year. They have five each as anyone doing the math.
Sevan Matossian (16:40):
I am that’s 200 with the old, but, but adaptive won be doing this. I don’t think adaptive will do the same workout as the
Brian Friend (16:48):
Yeah, but he’s just talking about the 320 on day one in an hour window. Those are the teams plus individuals 160 team members. Well, actually it’s less than that by uh, 12, cuz there’s only 37 teams coming and then 80 individuals.
Sevan Matossian (17:01):
Okay.
Brian Friend (17:03):
Did I do the math on?
Sevan Matossian (17:04):
Well, either way, I’m just thinking like 230 people, is that a lot of, that’s not a lot of chips. Triathlons will put fucking a thousand chips in someone, right? Like so, so they could chip up 300 athletes and have just a mass start.
Patrick Vellner (17:18):
Right? In theory. Yes. But I, I think that that’s so chaotic. Like even if you look at whatever,
Sevan Matossian (17:26):
Well they’d let you guys go like three seconds before, you know what I mean? They’d let you guys go just or five times. Yeah.
Patrick Vellner (17:31):
Let’s say they’ll like offsite event that they have permits for, like takes you to the capital and whatever. Like presumably there’s something going on at the capital. So like even just to then have all the athletes finish and then have 250 athletes finished there at the finish line at the capital, all standing in one place. It’s like it’s too many bodies.
Sevan Matossian (17:52):
They may, they make you run back. <laugh>
Patrick Vellner (17:56):
Still then like, same problem. It’s just like, how do you then have everybody finished all in one place that I don’t know. It, it I’m interested to see like it either means that it’s kind of like a mass start event, maybe shorter length or I don’t know, like maybe they’re just running heats of a shorter event. Like I dunno anyway, like again, I don’t lose sleep over it. I’m not trying to figure it out. What
Sevan Matossian (18:17):
About the gymnastics?
Patrick Vellner (18:18):
The schedule’s not my job.
Sevan Matossian (18:19):
What about the gymnastics? Um, people are speculating. Uh, we did a show and Jr really dug into it and it doesn’t, it doesn’t sound too far of a stretch that there may be like a press to handstand or some sort of else it to, uh, handstand.
Patrick Vellner (18:36):
Oh, that’d be fun. <laugh> I think there’s lots of people that would struggle at it and there’s lots of people who’d be fine. I I’d be curious to see how they would put it in, you know, like do you put a press to handstand in as part of a workout where like you have a station, you do three press to handstands, you move on or you doing this as like a skill test, like max press to handstands in a time limit or unbroken or whatever. Um, I don’t know. I, I don’t think it’s, uh, outside the realm of
Sevan Matossian (19:06):
Possibility. Oh, there’s your buddy, your buddy Ricky. Got it.
Patrick Vellner (19:10):
It’s not that hard of a skill to do. I think when you, I think most people will be able to do it. Fine. Uh,
Sevan Matossian (19:16):
Valor. I didn’t know. There were so many girls
Patrick Vellner (19:18):
What the standard is like,
Sevan Matossian (19:19):
I didn’t know. There were so many girls who thought you were cute. Look at this. This is the second girl. This is, I just glanced over twice. And this the second girl, who’s like two girls think you’re cute. I can’t believe it’s that many. <laugh> seven, probably more. Hey, but that’s like a
Patrick Vellner (19:33):
Hundred percent of our female audience.
Sevan Matossian (19:35):
So yeah,
Patrick Vellner (19:36):
My wife too, actually. So three
Sevan Matossian (19:39):
<laugh> back and you’ve got the hair trim back a little more than normal. A little more little, not much, but a little tighter than waap polos. Maybe like quarter of an inch tighter.
Patrick Vellner (19:48):
Yeah. I got a haircut last week.
Sevan Matossian (19:51):
Oh
Patrick Vellner (19:51):
Shit. My shit BI my biannual haircut
Sevan Matossian (19:53):
Look, Stephanie, uh, Plyler thinks ner is hot as fuck. Let’s go with Stephanie. Let’s go with Stephanie. Stephanie. Yep. Definitely that
Patrick Vellner (20:02):
What up Steve
Sevan Matossian (20:04):
<laugh>. Um,
Patrick Vellner (20:06):
Yeah, I don’t know. Yeah. I got a haircut just because, uh, I feel like I get tripped a lot for my hair being outta control and most of the year it’s fine. But if I’m gonna go hang out in the humidity out there, come on, tighten it up a little bit.
Sevan Matossian (20:18):
Look good. When
Patrick Vellner (20:19):
I know there’s gonna be a lot of cameras on me. I’ll I’ll do something about it. I’m not a monster.
Sevan Matossian (20:24):
Um, media ready? Is everything going? According to plan, um, from the, the big pictures to the small picture, as, as you roll closer to the date, your training, your packing, your food, your family, your, your tickets, your hotel, is, are all the pieces you feel well
Patrick Vellner (20:41):
So far. So good. Travel’s a bit of a nightmare these days in general. So I’m hoping that nobody has big problems myself included, but I’m expecting to at least have I’m prepared to deal with a couple hiccups getting to Madison. Um,
Sevan Matossian (20:54):
You going with baby?
Patrick Vellner (20:56):
We’ll just, yeah, he’s coming.
Sevan Matossian (20:58):
And the, and the wife, you’re not doing just the baby, bringing the baby still over to the games.
Patrick Vellner (21:02):
<laugh> yeah, no, I did that the other week for, uh, to go visit my family. But no, fortunately I’ll have some reinforcements.
Sevan Matossian (21:10):
Um, this is this the third competition you brought? No second, second competition.
Patrick Vellner (21:16):
No, he was at the games last year. He was at rogue. He was at guap Palooza. Oh
Sevan Matossian (21:21):
Four.
Patrick Vellner (21:23):
Uh, so he’ll be at the, yeah, so four, this will be four.
Sevan Matossian (21:25):
And it’s working for you. You don’t regret it or you’re afraid to tell your wife, Hey, I think it would be better. No, I’m not gonna say it.
Patrick Vellner (21:33):
Well, I think the pro the reality of just like that stage, um, and you know, in our lives, like my wife was on maternity leave for, you know, nine months. So she was off and like, if I’m just gonna leave and go to rogue, she’s like, well, I’ll come. And then we’ll go, we’ll spend a week in, you know, San Antonio or hang out in Austin for an extra few days after the competition. So we just do that. Like that’s our family time. So we kind of have made trips around all the various competitions. We went to guap Palooza, and then we went to Aruba afterwards and spent like a week there just to kind of relax and have some, some holiday. Um, so we kind of have just used it as a way to, to travel a little bit. Um, now she’s back working. So this is like, it’s, it’s gonna be less like that now. Um, but when for the last year, like when he was, you know, really small, it just kind of made sense.
Sevan Matossian (22:24):
How, how nice was that going to Aruba knowing that you won too? Like, for me, that would be, that’s like, oh, the trip’s paid for like every drink I ordered I’d get like double shots.
Patrick Vellner (22:35):
<laugh> it was nice. It’s nice to also, there’s just like, we tend to travel pretty hard. Like we try to do a lot of stuff. So I feel like in the first couple days we got a lot of the things done that we wanted to do, and Aruba’s not a huge island. So it was just kind of like after two days there was nothing to do, but hang out on the beach. So we got some good relaxing time and, and it’s nice when that feels well earned. And you don’t feel guilty at all or like you need to be back in the workshop. Um, yeah, of course. If that’s like, there’s nothing better than winning a competition and then taking a holiday immediately after.
Sevan Matossian (23:10):
Are you reading any mindset books?
Patrick Vellner (23:13):
No.
Sevan Matossian (23:15):
Have you in the last few months?
Patrick Vellner (23:16):
No.
Sevan Matossian (23:17):
Do you have a mindset coach?
Patrick Vellner (23:19):
No.
Sevan Matossian (23:20):
Are you your own mindset coach? Do you have a mindset practice? <laugh>
Patrick Vellner (23:24):
I guess, um, I don’t know. I, I, yeah, I think that, I don’t know. I have thoughts about a lot
Sevan Matossian (23:35):
Of the money. Like here’s one, how champions think here’s one for you, Dr. Bob Rotella.
Patrick Vellner (23:40):
See, but here’s the problem with a lot of those books. Cause I bet you, I could tell you exactly what that book says.
Sevan Matossian (23:45):
Okay, it’s fine.
Patrick Vellner (23:46):
And it’s just like, you know, some of it, there’s also different styles that work for different people and there’s a lot more nuance than that. Like, everyone can read the word and you can see people try to apply things in their practice that don’t work for them, but that’s what the book says to do. So they keep trying to do that. And I think that things that you learn over time, like I’ve, you know, before I ever started CrossFit, I competed like a lifetime sports already. And I think you learn a lot and you learn what works for you. And I think when a book comes around and says like, Hey, well maybe have you thought about doing this? It’s okay to be like, nah, I kind of, I’m doing it this way. And it works for me. And it’s just like some of the mindset stuff I find is just a bit, uh, I don’t know. I, I think it’s a bit self-congratulatory I look at a lot of those books. I think that the primary demo for all of those books is people buy them who already know what they say and already do what they say and they read the, so they can pat themselves on the back and be like, yeah, see I’m doing, I knew that I knew it. I’m doing it. Right.
Sevan Matossian (24:51):
Yeah. And feel like
Patrick Vellner (24:52):
Self congratulatory to
Sevan Matossian (24:53):
Me. Yeah. Well, you know what, maybe you’re onto something because when I read those books, that is, uh, I would say 90% of it is like, okay, I am doing that. Okay. I am doing so maybe you’re right. Maybe, maybe you’re right. Maybe it’s like confirmation that you’re on the right path, but there is a 10% takeaway. But, but, but, um, the, the other day I, I, I, um, my, my son was sparring against some kid, uh, three years older than him and, and 30 pounds heavier. And the kid takes him down and, and, and they tussle and, and he arm bars, my kid. And then, and round two, my kid just immediately double legs and picks ’em up, throws the kid on his back and gets on top of him. And I said to him, I said, Hey, that’s what you needed to do the first time.
Sevan Matossian (25:33):
But, but he didn’t because he, he couldn’t tap into what he needed to tap into. He needed to be arm barred first. Right. What do you do to make sure that you only get one chance at this? So you’re at the starting line. What do you do to make sure that you don’t get Armard in a workout that you, that, what do you tell Patrick ner? Um, like, do you say I’ll show my dad for telling me that I’m the run, I’m the run ner son, motherfucker. I mean, like, do you have a, do you have a, uh,
Patrick Vellner (26:03):
No, there’s nothing you can do. Right. I think that the reality of it is you train to a point to know your body well enough to try to understand your limits. Competition has an awesome way of helping people reach new limits, but you know, some of it just comes down to like, how much are you willing to fight and do you know when and where and how to fight? Because some things it’s the wrong place. Like if I’m, you know, doing a set of 10 unbroken peg boards, and I start like trying to re overreach, you like, you’re gonna fail and cause serious problems. Like if I have a big set of strict handstand pushups to do just wanting it more or trying to like come out harder, isn’t the answer. Um, so
Brian Friend (26:42):
You gotta take a break on those different when it’s a puzzle, the camera guy come
Sevan Matossian (26:46):
By. <laugh> yeah. Pat good. Never thought about taking some responsibility for that one.
Patrick Vellner (26:55):
<laugh> yeah. Shouldn’t have stopped, but it’s, it’s a puzzle and every, and every athletes solution is slightly different. Right. So, you know, I it’s a bit, you know, yeah, you’re right. You get one chance. But the reality is we practice a lot in training. Like, you know, you learn a lot about yourself and the, you hope, you hope that when you’re get given a new test, you understand yourself well enough to do the perfect answer for you. Um, and you know, not everybody can win every event. Like there just literally is not that potential. Um, so, you know, you just have to try to maximize where you can,
Sevan Matossian (27:28):
Maybe a bad example. Let, uh, let me, let me try again. Um, are, do you talk to yourself or do you let your brain talk to you? Do, do you see what I’m distinguishing there?
Patrick Vellner (27:39):
Yeah. Yeah. I see what you’re saying. Yeah. I think athletics is funny. I think you need to have a bit of a, to be very good. You need to try to convince yourself that you’re invincible sometimes. Um, but there’s a danger to that in a lot of situations in certain sports. And I think a lot of like, so say, let’s say you’re a basketball player. Like if you miss a couple shots, you can’t be, and you’re a shooter. You can’t be afraid to take the next shots cuz like, that’s your job. You need that confidence to know that like, nah, I’m a shooter. Like that was a whatever one off and just like move past it and blow past it. Like it didn’t happen. And that’s the kind of confidence that you need where like, okay, oh bad event, whatever, like whatever that was like lightening strikes sometimes, like I know the next one’s better and you can move past that and not Harbor all those bad emotions or feel like you’re, you’re not good enough anymore.
Patrick Vellner (28:31):
Whatever it is, you have to be able to move past shortcomings quickly, um, analyze fast, move past, even faster. So, but there, there are instances where overconfidence can cost you a lot. So I think there’s points where you need to be like, all right. You know, if I overreach here, um, and I start failing legless rope climbs, the consequences are very severe. So, you know, maybe you need to take a different approach here other than like I’m invincible. Um, so I think that in an individual event, you, you have to be smart. You have to understand yourself and, and you know, be aware of where your limits are. And sometimes you’ll, you’ll find a little bit of extra G uh, get up and go, when you’re in a tight race, when you have bad performances, you need to have that mentality of like, nah, that was like, I’m better than that. That would didn’t represent me and then move past it.
Sevan Matossian (29:24):
So if you talked to yourself, you don’t let yourself talk to you. You talk to yourself. If something starts going sideways, you take control of the narrative.
Patrick Vellner (29:31):
So I mean, sometimes you have, I mean, it’s funny. I would say that my general self talk is not like an, my, head’s not an overwhelmingly positive place to be most of the time. Um, like what we do is hard and, and it’s like, there’s so many times where you’re doing stuff and you’re just like, fuck this. Like,
Sevan Matossian (29:48):
Oh, you need that fucking book, dude. I can take
Patrick Vellner (29:51):
That. But you know, I think that you have to just understand what to do with that energy. Like I don’t, I don’t walk off of every workout and be like,
The above transcript is generated using AI technology and therefore may contain errors.
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