Jacob Singleton (00:00):
Ready to go
Sevan Matossian (00:01):
Look at your shirt. Hey, what’s
Mattew Souza (00:02):
Up man?
Sevan Matossian (00:05):
<laugh> bam. We send those to Australia.
Jacob Singleton (00:10):
Yeah, I got, I got your CEO one. Got this one. Yeah.
Sevan Matossian (00:14):
Wow. Oh, awesome. Wow. I had, I had, no, I had no idea. The shipping must be crazy.
Jacob Singleton (00:24):
Huh? It’s not that bad.
Sevan Matossian (00:25):
I’m looking, I’m looking at your, um, the town right now. You’re in Braxton. Uh, new south Wales.
Jacob Singleton (00:31):
Yeah. That’s right. Braxton,
Sevan Matossian (00:32):
Frankston. Frankston. Yeah. Braxton
Jacob Singleton (00:35):
Technically in east Braxton, but yeah,
Sevan Matossian (00:36):
Frankston,
Jacob Singleton (00:39):
Small little town in land from like Newcastle is our biggest like city that people might know.
Sevan Matossian (00:48):
Uh, 2016 census, 1,991 people in Frankston.
Jacob Singleton (00:56):
Yeah.
Sevan Matossian (00:56):
87.2% of them are serial killers. Wow. No. 87.2% of people were born in Australia. 93.5% of the people spoke only English at home. 34% are Catholic. Why was our,
Mattew Souza (01:12):
Oh, we’re early. I was scared numbers climbing.
Sevan Matossian (01:15):
Hey, uh, Jacob, is it, um, is it surrounded by big? Are you, are you the biggest town in the area or?
Jacob Singleton (01:25):
Uh, not really. So we’re pretty central to three, uh, medium sized towns, I guess you got like Singleton, which is 20 minutes away. Um,
Sevan Matossian (01:35):
How many people, how many people there?
Jacob Singleton (01:38):
Oh, shit. I’d say like 50,000 maybe.
Sevan Matossian (01:42):
Okay. So that’s the big city.
Jacob Singleton (01:44):
Yeah. Oh, and then that’s 20 minutes away. 20 minutes away is, uh CNOC, which is about 70,000. And then another half an hour, 20 minutes away is, uh, Maitland, which is a bit bigger again, I think it’s like a hundred thousand.
Sevan Matossian (01:57):
Do, do you see cows every day? Like you live that kind?
Jacob Singleton (02:02):
Yeah.
Sevan Matossian (02:02):
Do you go to store? Do you see a cow somewhere?
Jacob Singleton (02:04):
If I walk out my front door, I can see horses. Oh shit.
Sevan Matossian (02:10):
Wow. And so, and you hear all those sounds like chickens and roosters and
Jacob Singleton (02:15):
Yeah. So like, um, we, we don’t live in like the acreage part. We don’t live in the acreage part of Frankston, but the blocks are still pretty big. So heaps, people have chickens and all that, like acre blocks. So people have chickens. People have, there’s a house I walk past every day that has LAAS in their front, front yard.
Sevan Matossian (02:32):
Are you born? Are you born and raised there?
Jacob Singleton (02:34):
No. No, not at all. Um, oh, I was born, uh, four or five hours south of here. Another smallish town named Nara. Uh it’s like south of Sydney. Um, but born there, but lived all over Australia. Yeah.
Sevan Matossian (02:50):
And, and, and always in Australia?
Jacob Singleton (02:53):
Uh, no, I lived in the middle east for five years when I was young.
Sevan Matossian (02:58):
Wh when you were in the military, when, when you were in the military?
Jacob Singleton (03:00):
No, no, no. When I was, uh, like eight to 13.
Sevan Matossian (03:05):
Was your dad an engineer?
Jacob Singleton (03:08):
Uh, yeah. He ended up being an engineer. Yeah. Um,
Sevan Matossian (03:10):
See that SU see that Suze
Mattew Souza (03:13):
You’re like a, you’re getting psychic now with your
Sevan Matossian (03:15):
Questions. Those fucks important engineers. Like they just need to, they’re just building shit over there. So they’re just like, oh yeah. Jake’s, dad’s an engineer. We’ll we’ll just bring him over here.
Jacob Singleton (03:25):
<laugh> yeah. You work like oil and gas, so he, yeah.
Sevan Matossian (03:29):
Wow. And, uh, and, and it was just, uh, so you went there at eight to 13? Yeah. Wow. That’s a huge chunk of your that’s a formidable part of your life.
Jacob Singleton (03:39):
Yeah. Yeah. It was awesome. It, uh, yeah, probably helped shape me a lot. Um,
Sevan Matossian (03:45):
Where in the middle release,
Jacob Singleton (03:46):
Like I’m terrible at ball sports. And I always tell people like those, those years of your life, I guess, is when you really get into like a team ball sport, like AFL in Australia or a rugby are the main ones here. And I was in the middle east where they all played soccer and coming from Australia, I was like, that’s gay, never got into it. <laugh>
Sevan Matossian (04:08):
Oh, south America is now offended. Um, how, how, how old are you?
Jacob Singleton (04:13):
Um, 30.
Sevan Matossian (04:13):
30. And you got a, and you got a baby?
Jacob Singleton (04:17):
I do seven month old.
Sevan Matossian (04:19):
And you got a wife?
Jacob Singleton (04:21):
I do.
Sevan Matossian (04:23):
And you got a CrossFit gym?
Jacob Singleton (04:25):
Yeah, I do
Sevan Matossian (04:26):
CrossFit 1, 1 5
Jacob Singleton (04:28):
CrossFit one five.
Sevan Matossian (04:30):
And are you the, uh, sole owner?
Jacob Singleton (04:33):
Yeah.
Sevan Matossian (04:33):
Yeah. That’s right. And, and how long have you owned it?
Jacob Singleton (04:38):
Uh, we’ve been open 18 months. So we’re very, very new.
Sevan Matossian (04:43):
Are there any other, um, uh, CrossFit gyms in your town?
Jacob Singleton (04:48):
Uh, not in my town. No. So the closest is probably 20 minutes away, but like right in the middle of three that are all about 20 minutes away.
Sevan Matossian (04:56):
And, um, how long did you live there before you opened the gym?
Jacob Singleton (05:01):
Four years.
Sevan Matossian (05:03):
Four years. Okay. And, and
Jacob Singleton (05:06):
I got outta the army and had no idea what to do with my life. Um, and so, uh, my wife’s dad gave me a job as APL, uh, as a plumbing apprentice. So I did, my apprenticeship became a plumber and was just not enjoying it. It, I didn’t mind a job, but it just wasn’t like a passion, you know? And when you’re working for someone who plumbing is their passion and you are just like wanting to go to the gym, <laugh>, you know, we don’t didn’t really get along as well as we could have.
Sevan Matossian (05:34):
Hey, wasn’t um, wasn’t Ricky’s dad, a plumber or an electrician
Jacob Singleton (05:41):
Could be,
Mattew Souza (05:42):
I don’t know
Sevan Matossian (05:43):
Someone. We interviewed someone we interviewed. I
Mattew Souza (05:46):
Know Hiller’s, dad’s an electrician. That’s not what you’re thinking of. Is it?
Sevan Matossian (05:51):
No, someone’s dad was that someone’s dad was like an electrician and they were a plumber shit. I know it’s someone in Australia too. Maybe someone in the comments will say it. Does he drink fosters Jeff, take your racist ass back to where you came from. No
Jacob Singleton (06:08):
One drinks fosters.
Sevan Matossian (06:09):
Yeah. I one
Jacob Singleton (06:10):
Drinks
Sevan Matossian (06:10):
Fosters. We know that. Yeah. And look at like this. Guy’s just hammering you. Thank you for giving us Outback. They don’t even ha damnit Jeff. Jeff. Yes. Spa’s definitely Australian for sure. Jeff spa from fast times at Ridgemont high. Do you know that movie? No. Can you bring up a small clip of that for, uh, uh, it was, it was, you weren’t even born when that movie came out and Sean Penn played this guy. His name was SP Oley. I mean, before we dig in, um, Jake, I can’t, I was thinking just now, I don’t think I’ve ever asked. I’ve always wanted to ask the affiliate owners that I’ve had on this question, but I always think I forget to ask it. So I’m gonna ask in the beginning, what would you say to someone who is, let’s say one of your members or one of your friends, let’s say, let’s say one of your friends in another city. Okay. Here we go. Oh, can you actually play something? Did you recognize him now? Jake?
Jacob Singleton (07:02):
<laugh> I recognize the activist. No, not at all.
Sevan Matossian (07:05):
I can try to find, so they’re kind of longer. Let me see if I could figure something. Are, are you on a, uh, computer?
Jacob Singleton (07:10):
Yeah,
Sevan Matossian (07:11):
That’s amazing. How is it that we have dudes who are in towns with 3 million people and they’re still doing podcasts on their phone. This guy fucking lives next door to Alma. And he’s actually got a computer screen. <laugh> fuck is wrong with the world in their cars. And I know I, I appreciate you having, being sophisticated enough, having a computer most 30 year olds think it’s like too much, too much horsepower for him. What would you, what would you say to one of your friends in, in a town, um, who wanted to open a gym? If he’s like, dude, I really wanna open a gym. I wanna open across a gym. What would be the first thing you’d say to him?
Jacob Singleton (07:47):
Is there any other gyms in your town? <laugh> so, um, lock out.
Sevan Matossian (07:52):
Okay. And I’ll answer that. Uh, there’s one 20 there’s three. And they’re all about 20 minutes away from this one spot that I found that I wanna open a gym.
Jacob Singleton (08:01):
Uh, yeah, go for it. Start small don’t um, overreach,
Sevan Matossian (08:05):
What does that mean?
Jacob Singleton (08:08):
Oh, like, I mean, I had to, oh, well I didn’t personally, my wife kind of ranged me back in when I was setting up the gym. But you wanna like, so gyms, I’ve trained at, you’re talking 15 to 30 people in a class and that’s your vision of CrossFit gym. Right. Um, and so setting up a CrossFit gym in a small town, I’m like, yeah, I wanna set up CrossFit, gym, big facility, 1530 people in a class. That’d be awesome. But, um, the wife was like, oh, let’s, let’s start small. And, um, I’m glad we did cuz like I’d have classes with one person in most days, every day for like the first six, eight months. So if I, um, overreached with, I don’t know, renting a facility or pumping heaps of money into it, you’d be yeah. You wouldn’t last long. Most likely.
Sevan Matossian (08:55):
And, and did you have a space when you op when you first started or did you just use your house?
Jacob Singleton (09:00):
Uh, just my house. So I’m on like a quarter acre? Yeah. Quarter acre. We’ve got like a 12 by seven meter shed, which like, I’m not like a shed using man, you know, like I don’t have stuff in there. So it’s like perfect. It was like empty my home gym already. So I’ll just save
Sevan Matossian (09:19):
That, that that’s 40 by 20. Oh yeah. Okay. Here. Let’s see, let’s play this. So this, this is just gonna be a short one that kind of sums it up here. Here we go. Good job SU good work.
Speaker 4 (09:31):
You guys had shirts on when you came in here,
Speaker 5 (09:35):
Something happened to him. Mom. <laugh>
Sevan Matossian (09:39):
<laugh> dude. You gotta see that movie. I might watch that tonight. Uh,
Jacob Singleton (09:47):
What was that movie called? I’m
Sevan Matossian (09:48):
Gonna write it fast times at Ridgemont high and there’s nudity in it and I, that, and it’s good. It’s good. Nudity. It’s fun. I,
Jacob Singleton (09:55):
I watch it straight off of this.
Sevan Matossian (09:56):
Yeah, it is. So it is so ridiculous. And, and, and, and then you should find Jeff and kick his ass, the guy who said, did you guys give us Oli? Cuz <laugh> he has like two brain cells <laugh> oh my goodness. Okay. Um, you, so, so, so tell me that. Tell, tell me that, that origin story about opening, opening your gym. So cuz that’s the way, you know, I almost ended up opening a gym. I was, I was always training at a park and then people were like, Hey, what are you training for? I’m like nothing, this is CrossFit. And they’re like, can I try? And then I’m like, yeah, of course. And then there’s three of us every Saturday or every day actually. And it’s sunset and then there’s four and then there’s five and then there’s 10. And then there’s two people who are I heard on accident? <laugh>
Jacob Singleton (10:45):
Ah, yeah. So like I was plumbing and every day I’d be looking at the clock like, so it’s 45 minutes from this job to the gym. If I leave by this time, I’ll be able to get there for the five class. Sweet. And I’m just trying to get to the gym every day and
Sevan Matossian (10:58):
Um, across the gym,
Jacob Singleton (11:00):
Across the gym. Yeah, across the Maitland. Um,
Sevan Matossian (11:02):
CrossFit. What
Jacob Singleton (11:04):
Maitland?
Sevan Matossian (11:04):
Ma Maitland.
Jacob Singleton (11:05):
Yeah. M a I T L a N
Sevan Matossian (11:08):
D. Okay.
Jacob Singleton (11:10):
Um, yeah, and I was just trying to get to the gym and like my plumbing was obviously suffering for it and I was just, you know, making fuck ups at work when I was plumbing and just not really my thing. And I thought to myself, like, what am I doing in my spare time? Oh, I was coaching at that cost gym as well, like here and there. I was like, what am I doing when I spare time? I go to the gym. Like, can you get paid for that? Yeah. Am I good at it? Yeah. I, I, okay. I was like, I’m just gonna open the gym. And um, like I’d always fantasized about opening a gym. Like since I started CrossFit, I started it in CrossFit, Perth in like 2011 or 12. Um, and yeah, I always wanted to open a gym. Like I’ve watched there’s YouTube videos. It’s got like 10 videos or so they’re like older shit. And I don’t even, they probably have like a hundred views or something, but as some CrossFit owner going through how to like set up a gym and like just going the play by play, like, this is how he did it and how he grew. And I I’d watched them like years and years ago and always like fantasized about it. And then I was like, well, it’s a, it’s a possibility I might as well do it.
Sevan Matossian (12:17):
Yeah. And that was that. And did, was there a crossover? So, so, and so then when you say you opened it, you have a 40 by 20 foot shed on your property.
Jacob Singleton (12:25):
Yeah. So I, um, so I was still plumbing and everything, everything I had, all the research I had done to people that have done the shift, like from a full-time job to opening a gym, say like grow the gym in your spare time until it’s big enough that it’s paying you your age kind of thing <laugh> and then make to switch. And I was like, right, but that just was not working. I was coaching coaching. I had a few PT clients. I, I was like going to some people’s houses to do PT at their house. And uh, and it was mainly PTs and I’m like, you’re never gonna go across the gym if you can’t offer, like what four classes a day minimum mm-hmm <affirmative> and people choose when they come. Like I’m not gonna be, oh yeah. Mondays, Thursdays at five, I have a class and that’s it.
Jacob Singleton (13:09):
Like, I just thought I gotta go all in. So I quit my plumbing job. My wife had, uh, just finished studying at uni to be a teacher. And she just got her first full time job as a teacher. And so we kind of did this like dynamic shift of like now she was the, she was earning enough to support us. And so I was able to start the gym, start offering classes. We had plenty of classes with like to zero people rock up for like, uh, months and months and months I’d have, like, I might have one class with one person on a day.
Mattew Souza (13:41):
Yep. Yep. Sweet.
Jacob Singleton (13:42):
Awesome. You
Sevan Matossian (13:44):
Were, you remember that, that you, you went through that too SU
Mattew Souza (13:46):
A little bit. Mine was slightly different cuz I purchased an existing CrossFit for CrossFit gym, but as we expanded out the schedule and as the ownership shifted and stuff like that. Yeah. I remember the days, one person, two people, nobody, you gotta cultivate those early members too. That’s your bread and butter right there.
Jacob Singleton (14:01):
Yeah. And like, um, so our like it’s on our property at the back and my, our bedroom window looked out to like our driveway that goes up to the back. So like 7:00 AM, uh we’re in residential. So we can’t have fairly classes, but like 7:00 AM would come around like quarter to seven. I’d kind of wake up and sit on the end of my bed and just look out the window. <laugh> ready to like lightening fast, get dressed and like, oh fuck crews here, close on out to the gym. Let’s do this.
Sevan Matossian (14:31):
And would you be pumped when you’d see people? You’d be like, yes.
Jacob Singleton (14:34):
Yeah. I’d be like, let’s go. <laugh> let’s do some CrossFit.
Sevan Matossian (14:38):
And um, and, and how many members now?
Jacob Singleton (14:42):
Uh, 43.
Sevan Matossian (14:43):
Wow. In, in a town of 1900 people. And are you still on the, on your property?
Jacob Singleton (14:49):
Yeah. Yeah. Still are we actually just added like a, put a SL out the side of the shed and added like a little outdoor area with a rig? Uh, just more space.
Sevan Matossian (14:59):
It, it, it reminds me of, um, Tanya Wagner’s old gym. I remember when we visited her gym, she had like a, B her gym was on her property of her house too. She had a barn. Oh, that’s your outdoor area.
Jacob Singleton (15:09):
Yeah. Yeah. Just,
Sevan Matossian (15:11):
Oh, that’s nice. It is nice. Where, Hey, is that your neighbors adjacent to you? Jake
Jacob Singleton (15:16):
<laugh> yeah, they just finished building that house. They like
Sevan Matossian (15:19):
<laugh> oh no, you’re fucked, dude.
Jacob Singleton (15:21):
They’re built up high and they like look straight into our backyard. <laugh>
Mattew Souza (15:24):
Everybody doing? Rope climbs waving at
Jacob Singleton (15:27):
No, yeah. That’s what I said
Sevan Matossian (15:28):
Enough. Are they, are they gonna, are they gonna mess with you and say you’re not zoned for that?
Jacob Singleton (15:32):
Nah. So, um, <laugh> the dude next door. She signed up this morning. <laugh> oh,
Sevan Matossian (15:37):
Wow. Perfect.
Jacob Singleton (15:38):
So good.
Sevan Matossian (15:39):
Wow.
Jacob Singleton (15:40):
And we’ve had, and he, he he’s done CrossFit before and he comes in. He is like, yeah, sweet. I’ve done CrossFit before. I’m like on the mate, moved in next to CrossFit gym.
Mattew Souza (15:49):
Yeah.
Sevan Matossian (15:50):
Wow. That’s awesome. That is awesome. Um, they have, they sell these? Um, you’ve probably seen them like, uh, junipers rich people have, ’em like all over like Beverly Hills and Los Angeles. They’re super fast growing. They can grow like anywhere from a like six feet of year. They’re like torpedoes. Yeah. And they’ll grow like 30 feet in the air. You know what I mean? And they’re, they’re pretty awesome. You could plant a row of those between you and that guy and it, and it would be, it would be nice. I mean, it would be a nice,
Jacob Singleton (16:17):
Yeah. He’s got like his fence still. Hasn’t gone up yet. Cuz it’s a brand new house, but I’m waiting for their fence to go up and be like, okay, what’s the situation? Like how much can they actually see into our yard? Mm-hmm <affirmative> cause we’ve got these big double doors across the back of our house and like they just looked straight down into a house.
Sevan Matossian (16:34):
What’s the, um, what’s the weather like
Jacob Singleton (16:36):
I walk around and naked all the time. So I’m like wife, you have to stop doing I’m.
Sevan Matossian (16:43):
Yeah. Have any of your members ever come over and see you naked? Like, oh shit.
Jacob Singleton (16:52):
No, but um, like
Sevan Matossian (16:53):
Have they seen your wave naked?
Jacob Singleton (16:55):
<laugh> no
Mattew Souza (16:58):
Open gym is a different experience over there. Yeah. <laugh>
Jacob Singleton (17:02):
Uh, we just that outdoor area, we just it’s a new, like access way to come into the gym. So we subdivided our, our land. And so there’s a big concrete driveway going up that side. And so now we can walk along the driveway, straight onto the mats and you’re in the gym, but we used to have to walk up the opposite side of the house, which is just along the grass and down the side of the house. And um, like we got two main windows that look into our living area, like right where people walk in.
Sevan Matossian (17:29):
Do you own that place?
Jacob Singleton (17:30):
Hey,
Sevan Matossian (17:31):
Do you own the place?
Jacob Singleton (17:33):
Uh, yeah. More the bank owns most of it, but yeah.
Sevan Matossian (17:35):
Oh, that’s awesome. That’s awesome though. But, but you’re working to own it.
Jacob Singleton (17:39):
Oh yeah. A hundred percent. Um, funny story with the house, actually we, um, when we moved in here, it was like an absolute shit box. Like it’s a completely different house now and after. Um, so we have
Sevan Matossian (17:54):
Like old and dilapidated and shit like the floors and just disgusting, gross carpets, rats, the whole shebang.
Jacob Singleton (18:00):
Ah, well, so put it this way. When we found out Rachel was pregnant, we always planned to renovate. When we found out Rachel was pregnant, it was like, oh, we gotta do the house. Like we can’t bring your baby into this house. <laugh>
Sevan Matossian (18:10):
Okay.
Jacob Singleton (18:11):
Yeah. The house is actually old. It’s like it was originally built when we renovated, we were pulling newspaper off the walls. Um, with, we found some dates saying 1910, so okay.
Mattew Souza (18:23):
Oh wow. How many, how many bathrooms does it have?
Jacob Singleton (18:26):
It used to have one. Okay. Had this one bathroom with like a, a pink cast iron, um, bath. The toilet was like originally an outhouse, but they had done some extensions to like
Mattew Souza (18:37):
A hole in the ground
Jacob Singleton (18:38):
Include that in the house. And so like, we’d been open for not long March, but March we opened and then around June, whatever that lines up, um, we found out Rachel was pregnant. We’re like, oh, we’re doing the house. And we moved outta the house to live with friends, um, who were members at the gym and um, just renovated the house full back to frame, not the back half off, um, like fully we did the house. So it was pretty much a new house now, which is awesome.
Mattew Souza (19:08):
Yeah. Did the members use that one bathroom? So like if I’m working out at the gym there, do I have to like go through your living room and like use the bathroom?
Jacob Singleton (19:15):
Nah. So, um, I, so being a plumber, I, I put a bathroom into the shed. Yeah. Nice.
Mattew Souza (19:22):
Okay. So they have their own bathroom. They go mess,
Sevan Matossian (19:24):
Not up to code, but whatever. Hey, is it, is there a good fan in there? Like if someone it’s a small shed, if someone takes a deuce, does everyone know? Or you got a good strong
Jacob Singleton (19:34):
<laugh> there’s like one of those little like on the wall, suck there out a little bit fans it’s close <laugh>.
Sevan Matossian (19:41):
Wow. Um, so that’s pretty fascinating. Do you expect, what, what did you think the capacity was when you opened there?
Jacob Singleton (19:51):
Yeah. So when we, that
Sevan Matossian (19:52):
Sounds Matt, that sounds like a shit ton of people for that spot. Mm-hmm
Jacob Singleton (19:56):
<affirmative> it’s not too bad at the moment. So we cap our classes at six, um, just for space. Um, and we’re set up with like three rolls, three bikes, enough barbells for six people. Um, and I’m not gonna change that. Um, and so four classes a day, six people, a class, uh, one class on a Saturday we think around 50, maybe 60 members would be like, okay, this is getting a bit loose. Uh, people not being able to book in and whatnot. So mm-hmm, <affirmative> just gonna face that challenge when it comes.
Sevan Matossian (20:31):
Why, why did you, why did you join the army?
Jacob Singleton (20:34):
Ah, it was, that was just like my, like the whole like no plan B. Right. So I’ve had no plan B with everything that I go into. So I joined in the army. That was my, my trajectory for life from birth. <laugh> like my, my dad was in the army for like 37 years. My step was in the army. Wow. I got a stepbrother in the army. I got what, two brothers in the army, two sisters in the army. Stepmom in the army. Yeah. Army family.
Sevan Matossian (21:05):
Wow.
Jacob Singleton (21:07):
Hmm.
Sevan Matossian (21:07):
And you knew how from how old were you when you knew?
Jacob Singleton (21:12):
Oh, no. Young. As soon as I was running around playing make believe, I was always make believe guns, you
Sevan Matossian (21:20):
Know? So like how some kids are like, man, I can’t wait to go to college and get married and take out a 30 year loan and fucking work my ass off being a fucking executive at target. You were like, I’m going to AR the army <laugh>
Jacob Singleton (21:31):
Hundred percent. So like, and
Sevan Matossian (21:33):
How about your wife’s family? How about your wife’s family? Are they army people? No. Not at all. How about your kid? Is your kid gonna be an army person?
Jacob Singleton (21:40):
If my wife has anything to say, she would probably safe. Hopefully not.
Sevan Matossian (21:43):
Okay. Understood. Okay. I would
Jacob Singleton (21:45):
Say, I would say like, it’s a good experience, but if he wants to, or he wants to whatever.
Sevan Matossian (21:50):
Right. Okay. Uh, sorry. You were about to tell a story army story.
Jacob Singleton (21:54):
Uh, yeah, so like the youngest you can join in the army in Australia is 17. Um, but you can start the paperwork when you’re 16 and a half. Right. And that’s when, like I called him on 16 and six months. I called
Sevan Matossian (22:06):
You can buy box of condoms at 17, but you can’t use ’em until you’re 18 <laugh> I just, they just keep ’em at the, I had, my dad gave me condoms when, when I was, I don’t know how old I was when, when, fuck. When I was probably in the seventh grade. I didn’t use ’em until I was 18. <laugh> hopefully I got some new ones. Okay. Sorry, go on. Okay. So you started, started just started the paperwork at 16.
Jacob Singleton (22:28):
Yeah. Uh, at 16 and 16, six months started the paperwork signed the dotted line at 17. Um, the army was full at the time. Like the regular army, our army is tiny by the way. So, um, we have two divisions, one diviv and two diviv first division is full-time army. Second division is army reserve kind of like your national guard, I think is similar. Um, whereas you guys have like fucking a hundred divisions or some shit mm-hmm <affirmative> um, and neither of our divisions are full. And
Sevan Matossian (22:56):
So how many in the Australian army, in 2019, there were 59,000 people.
Jacob Singleton (23:02):
Yeah. So like that’s kind
Sevan Matossian (23:03):
Of big for dude who are stuck on an island.
Jacob Singleton (23:05):
Statistic is a whole army could fit in, uh, the mcg, which is like the Melbourne cricket ground.
Sevan Matossian (23:11):
Okay. So
Jacob Singleton (23:11):
Our whole army could fit in one stadium. Yeah.
Mattew Souza (23:14):
It’s not that big.
Jacob Singleton (23:15):
<laugh> not big.
Sevan Matossian (23:17):
You better keep ’em dispersed otherwise for active and, uh, the active and the reserves, the totals 85,000.
Jacob Singleton (23:25):
So I joined as a reserve at the start cuz the regular infantry was full. Okay. And they were like, well you can go in as a cook or a truck driver. And I was like, nah, it’s not happening. So I joined reserves as infantry, um, and then started my application to go full time. And that took about four years until I got to deploy as a reservist. And then while you’re deployed, you are on a full-time contract for that period. And then it’s not like a division transfer, it’s just a unit transfer technically. And so I was able to just get my way into full-time army.
Sevan Matossian (23:59):
Yeah. Um, when you said you were, uh, deployed, where did you deploy to?
Jacob Singleton (24:04):
Uh, the Solomon Islands?
Sevan Matossian (24:06):
Where’s that?
Jacob Singleton (24:07):
Uh, it’s like, you know, you go Australian, you got like all the Southeast Asian countries above us. Yeah. Like those islands, like you got P in new Guinea and the island kinda trail off and then you got New Zealand over here. Yeah. It’s one of those like little trail islands.
Sevan Matossian (24:21):
And, and why did you deploy there? Was there a conflict there?
Jacob Singleton (24:23):
Yeah, they, um, <laugh> so every time they have elections, they like burn down Chinatown and we have to go in and do sort of right. Control and stuff for them. Wow. But um, yeah. So
Sevan Matossian (24:35):
Is that a country? The Solomon Islands,
Jacob Singleton (24:37):
Solomon Islands is the country and we deploy to the main island, uh, or the main city hon Yara, which is the, uh, GU canal. You might have heard it. You watch that TV show, the Pacific it’s kind like by the same people as band of brothers,
Sevan Matossian (24:52):
I haven’t seen it. Mm-hmm
Jacob Singleton (24:53):
<affirmative> army people. Would’ve seen it. <laugh> yeah. It’s sick. Um, so that was all based on that island. So from world war II, there’s a lot of like, um, yeah, they, they, the Americans fucked the country over a little bit by like moving people around.
Sevan Matossian (25:10):
So I can’t believe that I can’t believe that sound refuse to believe that
Jacob Singleton (25:15):
Like, um, that main island, no one wanted to like build their infrastructure. So they went to other islands and got people to come to the main island and work. Um, but then when they left, they just left. And so there’s all these people living on the main island who aren’t part of the local tribes and are now like, well, this is our land. And all the local tribes are like, no, it’s not. And so they have conflict. And so we have,
Sevan Matossian (25:37):
Um, you know, Dominican, Republican, Haiti are like that too. Dominican, Republican Haiti are basically on they’re the same island. And uh, they took like a, a million Haitians to work in the Dominican Republic. And then, and then the jobs were gone and then the people were just stuck there. Yeah. No passports, no IDs, no fucking nothing. It’s crazy. Lucky camera straps. $20 got here late soaked to see an Ozzie affiliate owner on the podcast. He’s in, uh, lucky camera straps. Thank you. He’s in a town with, uh, Lama and shit. He can see from his front door and cows and chickens and roosters. And <laugh> do you have a dog?
Jacob Singleton (26:16):
Uh, yeah, I do.
Sevan Matossian (26:17):
What kind of dog?
Jacob Singleton (26:19):
He’s uh, a biter. So like lots of different breeds all in one. He’s like a massive mainly.
Sevan Matossian (26:25):
And can he just go free? Can he just, is he, is your, can you just go where he wants to go?
Jacob Singleton (26:31):
Most of the time when classes are on, he goes in his little, um, area because he gets very excited anyways, like 60 kilos. So he’ll bowl people over
Sevan Matossian (26:41):
<laugh> so,
Jacob Singleton (26:42):
Um, he goes in his little kennel area while classes are on.
Sevan Matossian (26:48):
Um, so, so you’re in the army. And, uh, and, and is that where you’re exposed to CrossFit?
Jacob Singleton (26:56):
Uh, no. Oh, well, no, I got exposed to CrossFit from my brother who was in the army. I was just before I had joined, uh, I was actually couple
Sevan Matossian (27:04):
Shit that long ago. Huh? Wow. Okay. Yeah.
Jacob Singleton (27:07):
My brother came home from the army and was like, he came home on like holidays at Christmas and he goes, oh, to be doing this thing called CrossFit. And I was like, okay, what is that? And um, we had like the rusty
Sevan Matossian (27:18):
Is this 2010 or 2009?
Jacob Singleton (27:22):
No, this would’ve been in 2013. Ish.
Sevan Matossian (27:24):
13. Okay.
Jacob Singleton (27:25):
Typical army time sleeping. <laugh>
Sevan Matossian (27:28):
In the cage there.
Jacob Singleton (27:30):
Yeah. Um, but yeah, he come home and he was like, oh, do you have a bar? And I was like, no, oh, we got this rusty thing. Like, you know, the screw on ends and just rust, like sleeves outside. And he, I don’t know, we bought to put like fives on each side and he goes, oh, this is a thrust up. Like you squat down. And then you and I was like, oh yeah. And we did that in the backyard. And I was like, okay, okay. And so I searched CrossFit, CrossFit, Perth came up, it was like five minutes from my house. And yeah, I did my, did my fundamentals. I walked in on like the Monday booked in for that afternoon to do my first one. Then I went Wednesday and Friday that same week. And my instructor who’s now seminar staff. He, um, he was like, oh, you should come tomorrow. Saturday. Workout’s always like super Saturday. You’ll love it. You’re an army boy. We’re doing this awesome workout. I rocked up and it was MERF and I was like, <laugh> fuck
Sevan Matossian (28:21):
Wait. He didn’t even warn you. He was just like, it’s an awesome workout. He wasn’t like, Hey dude, it’s a fucking, it’s gonna be beat down.
Jacob Singleton (28:27):
<laugh> nah, he’s like bombing that. You’ll love it. I was like, wait, let’s do this. And um, yeah, just destroyed me.
Sevan Matossian (28:34):
Wow. Uh, who’s the, who is the guy? The seminar staff guy.
Jacob Singleton (28:38):
Uh, Gavin, crown Gavin, crown
Sevan Matossian (28:39):
Gavin, crown. I wonder if I know who that is. Gavin crown. And, and at that time, you, you weren’t in the army at that time or you were, I
Jacob Singleton (28:49):
Was a reservist at that time.
Sevan Matossian (28:50):
Yeah. You were reservist. And what were you? I was still,
Jacob Singleton (28:52):
I was still at school. I was a reservist.
Sevan Matossian (28:55):
And what were you doing for training then before then?
Jacob Singleton (28:59):
I was like, oh man, going to the gym, lifting weights. Um, I
Sevan Matossian (29:04):
Back and buys thing chest and tries that. Yeah,
Jacob Singleton (29:07):
Yeah, yeah. No idea what to do. So you pick a row of machines at the gym and just do all of ’em and then leave.
Sevan Matossian (29:11):
Right. <laugh> God, those with a good older pretend.
Jacob Singleton (29:16):
Um, and then, and then running, I I’d run like three, three days a week. Um, yeah, that’s it. But I came from like, my family’s big into swimming, so my whole family is swimmers. And so, um, I come from having at the peak of my swimming when I was probably like 15, I was swimming 12 sessions a week, like the two hour morning session, the two hour afternoon session and a Saturday session. And so like, I wasn’t I’d fitness experience, but not anything like CrossFit or lifting weights or any of that,
Sevan Matossian (29:49):
But that’s crazy. You knew how to grind. You were, you were in a different level than most people. That’s at 12 sessions a week at, at 15. It’s pretty say that again.
The above transcript is generated using AI technology and therefore may contain errors.
Check out our other posts.
