Steve Bart (00:00):
It’s super small, dude. It’s like a closet.
Sevan Matossian (00:04):
Bam. We’re live. And I see that’s the router behind you.
Steve Bart (00:09):
That’s yeah, that’s the whole setup. That’s that thing keeps us going. And then you, what you can’t see is my dog down here, sleeping.
Sevan Matossian (00:16):
Uh, ladies and gentlemen, when you come on the podcast, that is the room you wanna be in, in the, in the room with the route route router, router, Steve Bart from Delaware. It’s funny. I Delaware’s like an imaginary place to me. It’s like, I read about it in the history books when I was in high school and then forgot about it. Never
Steve Bart (00:37):
A lot of people think it’s like the capital of Rhode Island, but it’s actually at seventh state.
Sevan Matossian (00:41):
Let me see what, let me see if I know the capital of Delaware. I used to know that shit. Did you have to learn all the capitals of all the states in school?
Steve Bart (00:50):
Absolutely.
Sevan Matossian (00:52):
What is, oh, can you tell me the first letter it starts with
Steve Bart (00:54):
D doesn’t help?
Sevan Matossian (00:57):
No, what’s the second letter.
Steve Bart (00:59):
Oh,
Sevan Matossian (01:02):
D O Dylan. What’s the next letter.
Steve Bart (01:06):
If I could say this it’s over.
Sevan Matossian (01:08):
It’s a V <laugh>. It’s a V
Steve Bart (01:11):
V.
Sevan Matossian (01:12):
It’s not Dover. It’s not Dover. Oh, it is. Oh, I’ve never guessed it. I never you’re
Steve Bart (01:17):
Missed it.
Sevan Matossian (01:17):
That’s it. Thank you. I I’ve never guessed it. Holy shit.
Steve Bart (01:22):
I see. Yeah, it’s a small, small wonder. We got a bunch of different names. First dates, actually just those two small wonder first date.
Sevan Matossian (01:28):
Are you, um, are you born there?
Steve Bart (01:30):
Yep. Yeah, I was born in Wilmington, north Wilmington, like north Delaware
Sevan Matossian (01:36):
In, um, in your very, oh shit. Where is it? I know I pulled it up. Where the hell is it? Where is it? Where didn’t I pull it up? Well fine. I’ll pull it up in your very first Instagram post 10 years ago. Do you know what it is?
Steve Bart (01:50):
I think it’s a glass of beer and it says like, no, is it
Sevan Matossian (01:57):
Good? I’m glad who, I don’t know. The, I don’t know the capital Delaware. You don’t know your first Instagram post,
Steve Bart (02:02):
That’s it? Yeah. Which is basically the same thing.
Sevan Matossian (02:04):
Look at this.
Steve Bart (02:06):
Oh yeah. Back when I was, uh, I used to be a personal trainer at this gym called total fitness and, uh, I think I was 16 or 17, maybe.
Sevan Matossian (02:18):
So you’ve always been in the game.
Steve Bart (02:20):
I’ve been in the game for a long time. Yeah.
Sevan Matossian (02:22):
And now you’re one of the owners of, uh, reconstructed CrossFit.
Steve Bart (02:26):
Yes, it’s me and two other guys.
Sevan Matossian (02:29):
And, and, and, and you’re the third guy? Uh, you’re the third guy brought in, right?
Steve Bart (02:33):
Yep. I was brought in, um, they, they started together in 2014 at the reason it’s called reconstructed is, was, uh, CrossFit. Riverfront started a, another location in our community here in Hoon. And it only lasted for about six months and she kind of folded. And then Tom Morris, my, my business partner got together with Dwayne Allen. They, uh, decided to buy all the equipment that she had at the police athletic league that they were renting space from, and then just kind of do their own thing. And that’s why they called it reconstruct. They kind of built it back from what it was.
Sevan Matossian (03:06):
Um, why did she fold? Why did her Jim fold?
Steve Bart (03:08):
So she, she didn’t fold her. She had, this is her second location and I just don’t think she gave it enough time. Um, it was there for about six months and it was in, like I said, it’s in the police athletic league. So it was kinda like on a volleyball court. We had pull up bars bolted to the walls. Uh, and this is back in 2013. So it was kind of just very new and CrossFit at that point, I guess, as you know, you’ve been in the game forever. Um, it just wasn’t like super mainstream yet. It was getting really close. So I think she just was like, I’m just gonna, you know, pull back my chips, count my losses and go back to her original location, which is in, uh, the riverfront of Delaware, riverfront of Wilmington, Delaware. It’s gigantic. It’s 12,000 square feet.
Sevan Matossian (03:51):
Wow. She
Steve Bart (03:52):
Didn’t really lose much. So yeah, riverfront was one of the first, uh, CrossFit gyms in Delaware. Second to CrossFit. Dover.
Sevan Matossian (04:00):
Is there a perfect size gym?
Steve Bart (04:03):
I don’t know. Um, I think it’s, it’s about how you utilize the space. So ours is tiny. Ours is only about 2,800 square feet. And, um, we fit, you know, I could fit 20 people in a class if we, if we program properly, if we, you know, sub things out that probably shouldn’t be things that take up a bunch of space. So we had to learn that early on, we had, uh, spaces of premium here, right. So everything’s kind of jammed onto the walls or backup against stuff or under stuff or over stuff. So we had to really play, play around with the format of what it looked like. Cause when we had this place originally, there was a turf on half of the gym. So we used sleds and stuff, but then
Sevan Matossian (04:43):
We, what was it? What was it?
Steve Bart (04:45):
So this used to be a propane distribution center or something weird like
Sevan Matossian (04:51):
That why’d they have turf down.
Steve Bart (04:53):
So we put the turf down. Oh, oh,
Sevan Matossian (04:55):
Okay. We put the,
Steve Bart (04:56):
Yeah, yeah. We put the turf down first and then we realized that nobody really liked working out on the turf because doing sit ups on turf, you know, blows your butt up. So what,
Sevan Matossian (05:06):
Uh, like gives you, like gives you a rash, gives you a a,
Steve Bart (05:10):
Yeah, I don’t think it’s good. It’s better. I mean, get an man and just sit on the floor, like a gym floor. You know,
Sevan Matossian (05:14):
The reason why I ask what the perfect size gym is is this, my mom owned this house in, uh, in Benicia, California, and she got the house and she got her house painted and I owned and, and it was a big house, right? Three story house. And I own this house in Berkeley, California. This is years ago. And the scaffolding to paint my mom’s house was more expensive than to get my entire house painted.
Steve Bart (05:39):
Yeah. It’s nuts.
Sevan Matossian (05:40):
It was like, am I? And at that point I had, and my mom’s like, yeah, it’s fucking crazy. Big house is fucking stupid new roof fucked. Like anything that happens with big shit. It’s like, like, and the same thing with property, I have a half acre and I was like, man, I wish I had five acres. Holy shit, dude. To half acre. Like during the, uh, um, uh, uh, spring and summer, I have to spend two hours in the yard every day. Just like, cuz there’s so much shit growing back there.
Steve Bart (06:07):
Yeah. You’d be cutting grass for a day. And then you still cut grass in the other acre for another day. And then you cutting grass for rest of your life.
Sevan Matossian (06:14):
Cutting grass and animals and just all the shit. Right. The fence breaking certain spots. Yeah. It’s crazy.
Steve Bart (06:20):
Yeah. I think the size, the size of the gym plays a big role in how you, you know, if you, if you use it the right way, it plays a big role in how your community’s set up. So we were always forced to have this really super small, tight, like we’re all next to each other all the time. So you have no excuse, but to talk to one another and it’s really hard to avoid people when you come in here because the whiteboard’s in the dead center of the front, you have to walk in through one of the two doors and that’s it. You’re in the front, everybody. See you come in, you can’t hide anywhere. You can’t work out in the back. Open gym times are really rare here. We make sure that people do classes. Um, so they’re always being forced to, to talk to each other, which is awesome.
Sevan Matossian (06:57):
You started in, you started that gym started in 2014, but you came on board. When,
Steve Bart (07:03):
So I, uh, I went, I did a deployment in Afghanistan in 2013 and when I came back, I started working at the riverfront as an assistant head coach. And um, after that I, I had to do some hours.
Sevan Matossian (07:15):
What year did you come back? Did you come back? Same year.
Steve Bart (07:17):
Yeah, same year. I went January to September. Okay. 2013.
Sevan Matossian (07:21):
Crazy. Um, and you went as national guard, huh? Yeah. Yep. What a, what a trip. Huh? When you super cool. This is fucked. We’re all I have so many doors open. But when you sign up for national guard, do you think you’re gonna ever go or is it like, Hey, this is like in case they fucking ever pull a sub up to the Eastern seaboard I’m fighting.
Steve Bart (07:38):
So I, uh, I tried college and I sucked at it. So I, you know, I came back to, to Delaware. I went to college,
Sevan Matossian (07:44):
Me too, but there were so many cool kids there. I met there so many friends and girls they’re we should just, they should just stop the teaching part and just let us
Steve Bart (07:52):
Just go party for a couple years. Yeah. Play. We should just
Sevan Matossian (07:55):
Exercise and part. Yeah. The schooling should be so little, but anyway, go
Steve Bart (07:59):
On. But so I, um, I, you know, I went to mom’s university for a year and um, I came back to, to Delaware and I sucked the school here. I was doing, you know, serving jobs and picking up personal training stuff when I could. And then, uh, I talked to a buddy who his dad was really good friends with this, uh, Colonel back then in the Delaware garden. He’s like, you should come join the, join the military. I said, all right, cool. I wanna be a sniper. I wanna be a, you know, infantry sniper. And he’s like, I got the perfect job for you. Military police. I’m I’m 18. I don’t know what the hell that means it. It’s not, you’re not the sniper. You’re in the MP company. You know, you’re not doing that at all.
Sevan Matossian (08:35):
Those are always the bad guys in the movies.
Steve Bart (08:38):
Absolutely. Yeah.
Sevan Matossian (08:39):
Sorry, one second. Steve. Caleb, can you be shown? Yeah. Yeah. I just want you to, I just want you to meet Caleb. He’s deployed right now. Uh, Caleb. Steve. Hey,
Steve Bart (08:50):
What’s up Caleb, sick mustache.
Sevan Matossian (08:52):
<laugh> thanks, Steve. Nice to you. All right. So don’t be surprised if you see Caleb, uh, pop in. When you said the military police is not sniper, Caleb almost fell out of his chair. Laughing,
Steve Bart (09:03):
Dude. I was, I felt like an idiot too. Cause I, I got there and I’m, you know, I’m this 18, 18 and a half year old kid. And I walk in and I was like, Hey, is this the military police? They’re like, who the fuck are you? Like, I, I don’t know. I guess I’m not in the right spot. So, but you know, fast forward to our deployment, we had a really awesome deployment. We did a personal
Sevan Matossian (09:22):
Security by the way. That makes me happy.
Steve Bart (09:24):
Yeah, it’s
Sevan Matossian (09:25):
Super cool. But they still that they still do that. Like the military should not be an easy place. It shouldn’t be like you walk in and they’re like, Hey, how are you? Welcome. There should be, there should be some, um, uh, uh, uh, constructive hazing. There should be some like test of character. Some I I’m I’m perfectly okay with who the fuck are you?
Steve Bart (09:46):
Yeah. And that, you know that I can’t say that. That doesn’t happen all the time. It definitely does. When we get new guys to come in the unit, I’m sure every unit’s the same. If you’re the new guy, you’re probably gonna get fucked with a little bit,
Sevan Matossian (09:58):
Because then once you’re inside, you value it. You earned your way, right. To be two years working at CrossFit before I could be friends with Dave, he fucking, he hazed the shit outta me.
Steve Bart (10:08):
I would no CrossFit.
Sevan Matossian (10:09):
One time he pulled into a parking lot at a fucking hotel and he parked so fucking close to me on purpose. We pulled up, we weren’t friends. We’d been working in a long time. I knew he fucking hated me. He pulled up so close to me with his passenger side door while I was in my driver’s door that I couldn’t get out. <laugh> and like, and like, I’ve never, I’ve never known any mill guys. And I rolled down my window. I’m like, Hey dude, your park. So close to me. I can’t get outta my car. And he just, he ignores me and gets out and walks into the hotel. He was,
Steve Bart (10:32):
He was testing you.
Sevan Matossian (10:34):
Yeah. I’m like the little Berkeley hippy is like, you fucking asshole.
Steve Bart (10:39):
That’s all right.
Sevan Matossian (10:40):
But yeah, it was right. It fucking made me better. It took me a long time to develop the relationship. It made me fucking better. Absolutely. I’m so glad he gave me the opportunity. It, it was a sign of actually respect. Hey, I’m gonna go outta my way to test you. He had to put effort in to do that to me, right? Yeah. Anyway, sorry. It just popped in
Steve Bart (10:59):
My head. No, it’s all good. Um, so you were asking about when the gym started and stuff. So
Sevan Matossian (11:04):
No, no, no. Sorry. I wanna go back. So, so, so when you signed up, did you plan to, uh, did you think you were gonna get fi did you, did you ever, I think you deploy, I mean, you ended up in Afghanistan, you signed up at 18, did be a sniper and then now you’re end up in Afghanistan. Cause national guards just part-time right.
Steve Bart (11:18):
Uh, that’s what they tell you. Yeah. Um, so that’s, uh, you’re supposed to do one, one weekend a month and two weeks in the year, but the more, the more you gain ranked, the more responsibility you get. So the more problems you deal with. So if I’m, uh, I’m a platoon Sergeant now I’m in charge of 50 guys. Ish and I, um, I get issues nonstop. I get guys texting me on a Monday, on a Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, outside of drill weekend. And they’re like, Hey, my pay didn’t come through my, you know, mom died my, my dog. Isn’t gonna make it my grand grand grandparents around drill weekend. Do you wanna talk about pandemic Sivan, that grandparents.
Sevan Matossian (11:52):
So, so that is, that is true. The, uh, uh, drill weekend causes grandparents to get sick,
Steve Bart (11:57):
Sick and die. Yeah. A lot of them. Wow. And multiple times, so multiple deaths they might have, you
Sevan Matossian (12:02):
Know, they have, is there a vaccine for that? Is there an inoculation for that?
Steve Bart (12:05):
I don’t know, but they definitely voted last election. Yes. But <laugh>
Sevan Matossian (12:10):
They sure served
Steve Bart (12:11):
It. Yeah. So, no, they, um, you know, they tell you it’s, it’s a part-time gig, but it ends up being a little bit more sometimes, which is fine because you sign up for it. Right. Um, but no, I didn’t, I didn’t know when, what to expect in terms of deployment or anything like that. I, I, I heard that, you know, six years in you’re gonna deploy. That’s pretty much what they said. And I was almost close. There was about four. And
Sevan Matossian (12:34):
How did they know? How did they know? So you’re telling me all national guardsmen at some point
Steve Bart (12:40):
Will not deploy most, most. Yeah.
Sevan Matossian (12:42):
I had no idea. I had no idea.
Steve Bart (12:44):
Yeah. The national guard are pretty rarely deployed. Um, obviously the active duty serves a very important role and there’s, you know, units at Fort Bragg that are responding within hours to go to global crisis. Like, like Afghanistan, uh, the, the withdrawal of cobble. They, uh, they, you know, they were there in hours, but the national guard, um, has a cycle basically that you would get ready. Uh, you’d have a ready year, then you’d go into your deployment year or you’re like source gear. And then you would have this window to where you could be pulled from a pot of units to go, and then, you know, do your tour. Then you have a reset year, some white years. And then you go back. That used to be the whole cycle. It’s a little different now, but it’s, it’s pretty close.
Sevan Matossian (13:25):
Wow. That that’s, that’s amazing.
Steve Bart (13:28):
So there’s a chance you get skipped, you know, if you’re in that window and they’re like, we don’t want you, it’s all good. You just skip and you, but now you haven’t deployed for, you know, five, 10 years.
Sevan Matossian (13:37):
So, so, you know, you know, when you sign up that if you have a life, let’s say you’re, let’s say a, a, let’s say you’re the garbage man for the city. And you could be like, Hey, I gotta put this job on hold.
Steve Bart (13:48):
Yeah. I’m going, yeah. A lot of, a lot of the times, uh, we have people that do all sorts of jobs in our, in my unit anyway. Um, and I’m sure Caleb can attest that. No, in some guys, uh, but
Sevan Matossian (13:59):
Is he mixed right now? Is Caleb where wherever he’s deployed or they’re probably national guard there too, or their national guard. I don’t know. He’s not in his head. He’s saying there, there are. Yeah,
Steve Bart (14:07):
I’m sure there is interesting. But a lot of the guys in my unit have tons of different jobs. They could be electricians, plumbers, cops, whatever. And they will give ’em an employer letter and they’ll send it to their supervisor and say, Hey, I got drill this day. This day I need off. Uh, some, sometimes they don’t even get paid. Um, some cops, if they’re like too far into like their, whatever days off to get, they’re paid days off, they just won’t get paid for it. So they totally
Sevan Matossian (14:34):
Shit
Steve Bart (14:35):
They’ll get paid for drill, which is like, you know, they get like a free cheeseburger out of it. But, uh, that’s about it.
Sevan Matossian (14:41):
I thought employers, that was some sort of law that employers had to keep paying.
Steve Bart (14:46):
Yeah. You Sarah it’s, it’s called you Sarah. It’s basically, you have to, you have to, you’re supposed to keep your, your, your position employed, but when it comes to pay, if you don’t show up and you’re an hourly rate employee, they might just give you the day off and not dock you for not showing up to work. That’s kind of how that would work. <laugh> which kind of sucks.
Sevan Matossian (15:04):
They give you the day. Yeah. They give you the day off.
Steve Bart (15:08):
Yeah.
Sevan Matossian (15:09):
Uh, okay. So, so, so, so, so they have the gym open you’re deployed and you come back in a, in the same year in 2013.
Steve Bart (15:17):
So, um, Meredith was a lady who, who owned the riverfront. And while I was deployed, she just had that location. When I came back from deployment, um, she started a second one, but while I was in Afghanistan, I actually met my now business partner. Uh, he was teaching a class at Khar CrossFit. I went there for like, we went there to drop off our principal, whatever we were doing. It was like a Tuesday. We always went to calf on Tuesdays, the Khar airfield. And I, we had like four hours to kill. And my, you know, my section Sergeant was like, Hey, just come back in three hours. Like we need to do whatever you want, come back to three hours. And I knew that in a CrossFit gym there, and I’ve been doing it for a while. So I’m, I’m addicted at that point. And I go in there and I’m like, Tom, are you, are you coaching a CrossFit class in, at Kandahar Afghanistan? He’s like, Hey man, what’s going on? Yeah, I definitely am. I’ve been doing this for like six months. It’s nuts. So crazy.
Sevan Matossian (16:11):
Um, yeah. Keva CrossFit is a nonprofit box, serving civilian soldiers, sailors, airmen, and Marines from around the world deployed in the second largest city of Afghanistan. It’s not there anymore. Right.
Steve Bart (16:21):
I don’t know. I haven’t been there in a while, but, uh, when I was there, it was, it was really cool. And, uh, there was actually a picture I did post on my Instagram. It was me doing like a clean with a bunch of bandaids and shit on my hand. Cause my hands were like bleeding, but it got posted on CrossFit main site. And that was from, uh, it had no egos in the background.
Sevan Matossian (16:38):
And that was so, so you knew Tom in the states?
Steve Bart (16:41):
Yep. I knew Tom from when we went to the riverfront together in 20 11, 20 12. And then, uh, you know, we weren’t really friends then we just knew, I knew of him. And then, uh, when he was there, I met him there. And then when I came back, it was easy to kind of, to blend that together. Cuz I, I wanted to start my own gym and I was going through all, all the process to do that. I had, um, I was running space before this happened. I was running space for about, I think it was like two grand a month in Wilmington and I was netting about 2,500 bucks and I was living in my friend’s attic. So I was making like 500 bucks a month just living off peanut butter and tuna fish and stuff like that. Yeah. And then, um, when I’m about to go sign a lease, it was, it was probably like a $250,000 lease for this really, you know, shitty little building and Tom actually called me and he, he said, Hey, I know what you’re about to um, why don’t we have some beers and talk about this. So I went over his house, we drank some beers and he was like, Hey, I, I need a business partner and I know what you’re about to do you wanna own a CrossFit jam? He’s like, I have one. So why don’t you just be an owner here? I was like, well, fuck. That sounds great. So that’s what I,
Sevan Matossian (17:50):
When, when do what’s the earliest, you remember lifting weights or training? Just training period.
Steve Bart (17:56):
Maybe in high school. I wrestled in high school. So I remember doing like the peg board and stuff like that in high school. Um, I don’t, I wasn’t really strong, I mean, not really strong now, but I, uh, I didn’t really start with lifting weight until maybe like sophomore, junior year of high school.
Sevan Matossian (18:11):
Um, and, and that was the first time like you ever did like a lap machine or like, like seat press or like did you do just do all the normal stuff? The bench, the lap machine, the seated press, the fucking skull crushers, all that.
Steve Bart (18:23):
Oh, the skull crushers. Yeah, absolutely. Um, I’m not as good as Hiller with the skull crusher. I, I heard he was like a professional skull crusher.
Sevan Matossian (18:30):
He is a professional skull crusher,
Steve Bart (18:32):
But he, uh,
Sevan Matossian (18:33):
But that’s how you started that. That was your yeah, the
Steve Bart (18:36):
Normal, I played normal. I play sports growing up. I did football. I had, um, during high school I had like this, this is like the weirdest story of my life, but I used to play professional paintball. So I like traveled the country as like a 15, 16 year old to go play professional paintball tournaments around. Wow. Super cool. So fun.
Sevan Matossian (18:50):
And is that where the whole sniper thing came in too? You think?
Steve Bart (18:53):
Yeah, there it is. Yeah. Um, maybe I think it was like a correlation probably, but I, I had already been, um, you know, playing for a long time and then I dunno, what year is that? That was avalanche. I don’t know. That was a long time ago.
Sevan Matossian (19:07):
I didn’t send, uh, I didn’t send Kayla my notes for this show and I always do. I always send him my notes and I,
Steve Bart (19:14):
Yeah. So this day I got back from Kandahar in September and then I played a tournament in Las Vegas in October and I spent way too much money in Las Vegas, but it was fun.
Sevan Matossian (19:28):
Uh, when, when, um,
Steve Bart (19:31):
Sit down, dude,
Sevan Matossian (19:32):
I, I always did some sort of, I, I guess I always did some sort of workout. I don’t know when I started maybe like when I was at city college or something, but I always just went with friends to the Y M C a and they did stuff and I just followed them around. I just went just to like talk with them and hang out with the guys, but then I would just do whatever and let ’em make fun of me, but, but I would still try, you know what I mean? Like they’d put 2 25 on and I’d be, then I’d be like, okay, take off all the way at night time. And they would laugh and
Steve Bart (19:58):
That’s awesome.
Sevan Matossian (19:59):
Uh, but I had no interest in, um, teaching until I found CrossFit.
Steve Bart (20:06):
Yeah.
Sevan Matossian (20:07):
Like, like almost like, um, let’s say you were into, um, let’s say you were a kid, you were wondering what happened, uh, when you die and then all of a sudden you get introduced to Christianity and you just can’t even fucking believe that that there’s the answer for you. And so then all of a sudden you wanna become a priest. Yeah. You wanna be, you know what I mean? Like what, what was it like that for you? Or did you always want, did, did you want to be a, um, coach? Did you want to share fitness before you found CrossFit? Or did you find CrossFit and you were like, holy shit, everyone has to know about this.
Steve Bart (20:40):
That, I mean, that is what happened, but when I was a trainer at total fitness, I had a client who
Sevan Matossian (20:45):
Is, uh, like I would’ve done that to, to meet girls. Like if you would’ve ever caught me at like 20 or four hour fitness, it would’ve been to meet girls.
Steve Bart (20:52):
Yeah. And I,
Sevan Matossian (20:53):
As a trainer,
Steve Bart (20:54):
I’m sure I met plenty of girls doing that. But, um, so
Sevan Matossian (20:57):
I like the way you answer that. It’s a, it’s foggy. It’s fo
Steve Bart (21:00):
Yeah. It’s foggy. I don’t know. Uh, but when I was a trainer there, I had a client and he was, he was severely overweight, his, uh, type two diabetic. And when he would come train, I, I tried everything with this guy and all I could have him do was walk with me. So we walked for, I don’t know, you know, 30, 40 minutes at a time. And then I realized that that little benefit to him was significant. Uh, even though it wasn’t much out of my, you know, no skin outta my game, it was just, uh, it was a lot to him. And that kind of got me into the mindset of like, well, if I can help this dude, I’m sure I can help. Uh, that was a different lady. Sure. But, but yeah, that’s that kind of spun the, the wheels in my head like, wow, this is really cool. Like people can change their entire life like this. And I didn’t know about CrossFit yet. I was still doing like main site workouts and just kind of making my clients do, you know, probably terrible, terrible workouts that were programmed back then. But when I found that you could become a, a trainer with CrossFit, it was, um, it was definitely, uh, a light bulb went off and I was like, this is how every human being should be training. Um, because it’s it optimizes who you are, genetically, you know,
Sevan Matossian (22:13):
This, this client you had that you could only walk with. How old were you when you had that client?
Steve Bart (22:17):
Uh, I think I was like maybe somewhere between 16 and 18. Uh, cause I, I was young in high school, so I was like a year back. I think I graduated high school at 17
Sevan Matossian (22:26):
And, and you weren’t get that. You were mature enough at that point to, um, it, it sounds like that was like an experience for you where you actually enjoyed instead of being like, fuck, it’s this guy you were like, fuck, I’m glad I can help this guy. Like, like somehow, you know, I know 16 year old boys I know were pretty dumb, but somehow sentimentally that hit you.
Steve Bart (22:45):
Yeah, it did because I saw like, you know, I come from a family. Um, I, I love my family very much, but none of them work out really. Um, and you know, some of them are, uh, a little more unhealthy than, than others. So I kind of had that growing up and I just saw, I was like, man, this is like this isn’t just my family. This is like a lot of other people. Um, and I just decided like, I will never be like that. And I don’t want anybody that I’m associated with to, to live their life that way. Not because of, you know, whatever, it’s just, that’s not healthy and that’s not, it doesn’t optimize your, the experience you can have in life. You know, like if you’re, if you’re always bogged down by your depression or your weight, it it’s going to inhibit you from doing tons of other things that are out there that you are available to enjoy. You know,
Sevan Matossian (23:36):
They, um, there were these chairs at the amusement park and I thought that, and, and I thought the chairs, you know, when I went to the amusement park as a kid and you I’m sure you’ve seen this too, they would have like a cartoon character with this handout like this. And if you were taller than his hand, you could go on the ride. So recently I saw chaired in an amusement park and it says, do you fit in here?
Steve Bart (23:56):
Oh shit.
Sevan Matossian (23:57):
And I, and, and, and I’ve seen it at this amusement park by my house. We have a, B, we have a boardwalk by my house, like a, like a it’s just on the water and there’s the Ferris wheels and all that shit. And I’ve seen this chair a million times and I thought it was for kids to sit in. And if the kids were too small in the chair, they couldn’t go on the ride. Well, yet a couple days ago I was talking to someone on the phone and they were telling me about the chair. And I’m like, oh yeah, you’ve seen that. And they’re like, yeah, dude, that’s for that’s if you’re too fat. Yes. I thought it was, they now have a fucking chair that if you can’t fit in, you can’t go on the ride. It’s like a, it’s like a fat test chair.
Steve Bart (24:28):
Yeah. It sucks. And I mean, I’m, I’m not the tallest person. And my fiance I’ll tell you that I’m five, six, but I’ll argue with her until we die. That I’m five, seven. Right.
Sevan Matossian (24:36):
But right.
Steve Bart (24:37):
I, I had a really tough time,
Sevan Matossian (24:38):
But you won’t go near tape measure. Absolutely not.
Steve Bart (24:41):
No. And I’ll always wear running shoes cause they give you a little more, little more loft. But it’s, I mean, the same thing as being a short kid is that sucked and you’re looking at the sign and that’s something that, you know, you’re gonna grow up kid. Like you’ll be fine.
Sevan Matossian (24:52):
Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah.
Steve Bart (24:53):
Ultimate guide to Disneyland for, yeah. That’s what I want. I tried to
Caleb Beaver (24:58):
Fat fat chair. And then this is what came off.
Sevan Matossian (25:01):
<laugh> in a recent trip to Disneyland, a plus size mom realized how different different it was to experience Disneyland with a larger body Disneyland rides for obese. People can be challenging, but no one talks about it, but we here at the seven. We’re talking about it. We
Steve Bart (25:13):
About it. Yeah. We’re talking about it today. Yeah, that’s unfortunate. But we also have the cure for that. If Disneyland wants to get behind us, you know, they can, they can start CrossFit gym and Hey, you’re, you’re a little too big to ride this ride. Why don’t you come down to Disneyland CrossFit camp? And we will, uh, you know, you’ll be Mickey mouse will be everywhere. You can still experience Disneyland, but you’re gonna be required to do CrossFit every morning and walk everywhere and you’ll lose all the weight and you can fit on all the rides and have a great life.
Sevan Matossian (25:38):
So you, you enjoy, so you, you knew at that point, it’s a pretty early age. Were you concerned at that age already that your parents might die because of their health or, or not your parents, but your family members, were you like just,
Steve Bart (25:50):
They’re not, you know, my mom and dad aren’t they’re, they, they take care of themselves. It was more like my extended family. Yeah. Um, but no, my, my dad played hockey. He was actually from California and he San Jose area and he, uh, he would play hockey. He still plays hockey now he’s, you know, almost, I think he just turned 60, but he’s, uh, but he had both his knees replaced and he drinks soda. And I try to tell him to stop. He doesn’t listen to me. Um, but my mom walks everywhere. Um, she, you know, she, they’re still, they’re still doing something active. They’re just not doing this.
Sevan Matossian (26:22):
But so, but, but you know, at a young age, so that’s kind of where maybe you get the bug already.
Steve Bart (26:29):
Yeah. Cause I saw it at home or, you know, at family gatherings or events or whatever, Thanksgiving, Christmas. And then it, it made me like think differently when I went into a Walmart or, uh, the acne. And then I’m looking around like, oh, there’s a lot of people that need help like this. And they won’t ever ask you for it.
Sevan Matossian (26:48):
Do you ever approach those people? Have you ever gone to someone who’s like just fucking way unhealthy and been like, yo, come to my gym, I’ll hook you up. Let’s do this
Steve Bart (26:57):
Party I have before. Or I’ll go like second pan to somebody like, Hey, I know you got that, buddy. Uh, why don’t you just drag that dude into class? Or like your mom needs to come in here. Yeah. Um, just things like that, but I’ve only had like, I can count on my hand, how many times I’ve walked up to a stranger and said, Hey, how you doing my name’s Steve? I own cross or reconstructed down the street and you know, right down the street in the, um, the supermarket. And they’re like, great. That’s awesome. So I would love for you to come do a class. And they’re like, why can’t do that? And then I go into like a whole spiel of, well, yes, you can kind of thing.
Sevan Matossian (27:27):
But I, um, I don’t know if this is appropriate, but has never stopped me before. I, I would challenge every fucking and, and I’m to, and I’m open to being way off face. I would challenge every fucking gym owner. That’s what you do.
Steve Bart (27:43):
Yeah. I mean,
Sevan Matossian (27:44):
If you’re walk up to someone at least once a week, that’s 52 people a year. Yeah. Who’s, who’s a hundred pounds overweight and offer your services, be like, Hey man, I, I, I feel you. I, I think you’re, you’re on me. Like, just give ’em the hard talk. I suspect you’re on medications. I can help you get off that shit. I mean, I just have seen Greg do it so many times and you guys have that cure. I mean, I always tell this story. I’ve seen him do it. He walked up to a guy, um, who was, uh, getting a Coke out of a, a Coke machine. I’ve actually seen it happen exactly like this twice. And he said, Hey, that shit’s gonna give you diabetes. And the person’s 200 pounds of weight. And both times they looked at him and they go, I already have diabetes. <laugh> you know what I mean? It’s like, oh fuck. Yeah. And then Greg’s like, dude, you gotta get into my gym. Yeah. You gotta, you got, you know, and it’s just like, it it’s uncomfortable as shit, but it’s like, you guys are the masters.
Steve Bart (28:35):
Yeah. Yeah. And I think it’s
Sevan Matossian (28:37):
Everybody who cares if they say no, it’s not like, that’s the thing, like who cares? Like it’s still your job to fish these fish, these people out of the, like, I don’t know if to, yeah. Kind of at least to throw them the, the lifesaver in the deep end and be like, grab on, dude, I’ll pull you to the side.
Steve Bart (28:53):
That’s exactly what it is. Like you, you give people choices, right. And they have to decide for themself. And it’s really intimidating for them to take the first step. And then especially,
Sevan Matossian (29:03):
And it’s intimidating for you too. As I say it to you, I’m like, fuck, I don’t like, I’m pretty ballsy, but that’s hard to go up to someone and basically say, Hey, something’s wrong with you. I, everyone sees something’s wrong with you
Steve Bart (29:13):
In today’s society. That is like, you’re, you’re putting a red X on your forehead when you do that because, okay, I’m gonna go outta my way to do something that I know is gonna be beneficial for this person, but they’re gonna take it as offensive. And then it depends on how it’s gonna turn into something after that. Yeah. And if they can, you know, let their ego slide to the side or maybe just be vulnerable for five minutes, they’ll understand that we are good people. We’re trying to help the community. We don’t don’t make shit for money in terms of, you know, the grand scheme of things. There’s plenty of other jobs that have
Sevan Matossian (29:46):
It’s 90% help and 10% you’re trying to make money because it takes such courage for you to walk up and say that.
Steve Bart (29:52):
Absolutely. But at the same se sense, like if I wanted to go get a different, but it’s
Sevan Matossian (29:57):
A hundred percent help humanity.
The above transcript is generated using AI technology and therefore may contain errors.
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