Sevan Matossian (00:00):
Nuts. Bam we’re live. I can’t believe it’s 600 shows. It was bound to happen. <laugh> oh my goodness. I’m so sorry. So sorry, Kevin.
Kevin Kessler (00:12):
No sweat, man.
Sevan Matossian (00:14):
I, uh, I was, I was trying to change the schedule for the show so that I could go skateboarding with the kids this morning. And then I was so excited that you were able to change it. Start an hour early, which I appreciate. And then I never changed my alarm. I got so excited. I forgot to like, I was so excited. You say yes to go to the prom with me then by the end of the night, I forgot to kiss you celebrate, still celebrating that you said yes. Yeah.
Kevin Kessler (00:43):
It’s no problem for me. I’m out, out in South Carolina. So it’s, it’s not that early here.
Sevan Matossian (00:48):
Oh, where, uh, are you? You’re not in jail. Are you? You’re a free man.
Kevin Kessler (00:51):
Yeah. Yeah. Free man. Yes.
Sevan Matossian (00:54):
Okay. You’re not trapped in a coal mine. Where are you? What is that?
Kevin Kessler (00:56):
I’m in my basement gym. I don’t know you sees my basement gym. I
Sevan Matossian (01:00):
Love it. Yeah. I love it. And I’m from California. What’s a basement.
Kevin Kessler (01:04):
<laugh> what’s a basement. Yeah. It’s a, just a underground area. This is, this is actually where I started CrossFit. When I, when I, um, you know, I just kind of started CrossFit on my own. It’s been 11 years now and we didn’t have a affiliate. The closest one was about 45 minutes away. So I started, I just found it and had old steel plates, you know, with there were not Olympic barbells and all that kind of stuff. And started down here so slowly grown over time, but I don’t use it that much anymore. Cuz I’ve, we’ve got an affiliate here that I coach at and, and that kind of thing. But uh, I figured this would be a good spot to do it.
Sevan Matossian (01:37):
Hey. Yeah, it is an awesome spot. Uh, you guys, uh, Kevin really, uh, screwed up my narrative. That’s why, that’s why I brought him on. You guys are gonna love this. <laugh> he, he had, uh, his ticker started acting funny, uh, but we can’t blame the vaccine. Darn it.
Kevin Kessler (01:52):
Nope, not
Sevan Matossian (01:53):
Darn it. Um, how did you, how, how old are you?
Kevin Kessler (01:57):
I am, uh, 46 be 47 in November. So
Sevan Matossian (02:00):
Looking good buddy.
Kevin Kessler (02:01):
Thank you, man. Appreciate it. Try to stay in shape and, and stay young as much as I can.
Sevan Matossian (02:07):
<laugh> did you do something before you, um, before CrossFit to stay healthy? Did you have some sort of physical regimen?
Kevin Kessler (02:13):
Not really. I mean, I lifted weights. I didn’t know what I was doing once I kind of, once I got married, I figured I needed to get in shape. I I’ve always been like a really skinny guy. I’m pretty small guy still, but, um, was like 120 pounds soaking wet all the way through high school and college. And uh, you know, finally we got married and we didn’t having kids and just got our job, you know, in the real world. And I figured I need to do something, you know, so I got some, you know, the old gold gym bench and plates and I think a bench three times a week and you know, the old what everybody does and then yeah, yeah, just kinda looking for something that would be more interesting, you know, that regimen is pretty boring, you know, those backs and bys and shoulders and tries or whatever, however it goes. And so, um, I, I found CrossFit, I think it was on February 1st. It was just random date. I can’t remember the year, but, um, I think it’s about 11 years ago, so maybe 2011 maybe. And uh, just started trying it with the barbells I hat, you know, and, and figuring it out. And then, like I said, slowly built a basement gym, which I’m in and then, uh, yeah, so that’s kind of not, not much before that I played basketball in high school and stuff, but, and
Sevan Matossian (03:13):
How tall are you?
Kevin Kessler (03:15):
Uh, five. Nine.
Sevan Matossian (03:16):
Yeah, one 20 that’s that’s lean and mean?
Kevin Kessler (03:19):
Yeah. Yeah. I was pretty pretty, I was just scrawny. I mean, it wasn’t really lean and mean it was just scrawny
Sevan Matossian (03:25):
<laugh>. How do you, how, um, how do you get one time I dropped to, uh, in college, I dropped to one, I think 1 35. I was on a pretty hardcore, uh, regiment of, um, M D DM a just every day. <laugh> for like, for like, uh, 45 days of MDMA. How did and I dropped to 1 35. Yeah. I, I, I just, what do you eat to stay at one 20 and five nine?
Kevin Kessler (03:52):
Well, I mean, I was in college, it was mainly like a little bit of pizza and a lot of beer probably. Um, you know, like it wasn’t, you know, how it is and ramen noodles and stuff like that. You
Sevan Matossian (04:01):
Weren’t, weren’t doing meth or Coke or you weren’t like on a regimen of MDM a or
Kevin Kessler (04:06):
It’s just probably too much drinking and too much alcohol and, uh, you know, whatever, we could get our hands on from food, but yeah.
Sevan Matossian (04:12):
Wow, that’s crazy. And, um, and so then you basically started doing, um, the fun workouts that we all, you know, back in the day started doing. And, and how much weight did you put on doing that?
Kevin Kessler (04:24):
Um, probably probably, you know, and I started eating better along with it, you know, those kind of things too hand in hand, but, um, probably I was probably in the 1 55 about one six between 1 65 and one 70 now and give or take. So I was probably once I started and really got into it after a year. So it was probably up to 1 50, 1 55, but still, I mean, my metabolism helps, so I stay pretty lean and you know, that, that helps I don’t put on so I can eat a good even now I can still eat a good, almost anything I want and a good bit of it and, and stay pretty lean.
Sevan Matossian (04:52):
Yeah. So you put you, you’re basically 30 to 40 pounds heavier than you are in college and you’re still lean.
Kevin Kessler (04:59):
Yep. That’s that’s trick.
Sevan Matossian (05:00):
Yeah, dude Hiller would, for sure know this guy’s juicing
Kevin Kessler (05:03):
<laugh> <laugh>.
Sevan Matossian (05:04):
Oh, sure. Let’s see the progress picks,
Kevin Kessler (05:07):
Right? Yeah, that’s right.
Sevan Matossian (05:10):
Uh, and, um, and how did CrossFit, uh, in 2011, how did CrossFit, um, climb into your brain? Do you remember where you saw it? Were you watching TV or
Kevin Kessler (05:18):
I don’t. I think I did see it on TV. You’re a men’s health or something, you know, goofy like that. And, and then I, I mean really, like I’m kind of the classic, stereotypical tale. I found the main site started doing workouts off of that. And I did had very limited equipment and so there’d become a workout. I don’t have that, you know, I need to get one and I, I don’t have that. I need to get one or I need to makeshift or modify and that kind of thing. And, um, you know, so it just, it just kind of, I mean, because it was interesting, it was something different every day and it was something I could do and pretty easily in an hour. And especially before the, our, our affiliate opened, I did, I did CrossFit a lot at lunch. I, I worked six miles from here, so I’d come home and I could change quick, you know, like knock out of, you know, with warm up and cool down and everything, a 40 minute CrossFit workout and then grab food and eat on my way back, you know? And so I did that on pretty much every day, you know, um, down here in my basement just, but I don’t remember exactly how I found it. And people have asked me that before. And I, I think it was just really like the internet or, or, uh, or magazine or something.
Sevan Matossian (06:17):
Do you have kids now?
Kevin Kessler (06:18):
I do. I do. I have a son that’s, uh, 18 he’s, uh, about to head off to the Navy. He’s got a Navy seal contract, so he’s headed to headed off. So he ships out in may. Um, I mean,
Sevan Matossian (06:28):
Oh, I got some good news for your son. Yeah. Yeah. Good news.
Kevin Kessler (06:31):
And then I’ve got a daughter and he he’s a wrestler. Um, he does CrossFit with me. He’s a wrestler. And then I’ve got a daughter who’s 15. Who’s a, a hoping to be a level 10 gymnast this next season. So,
Sevan Matossian (06:41):
Wow.
Kevin Kessler (06:42):
Yeah. So pretty, pretty good athletic kids. Yeah.
Sevan Matossian (06:45):
Uh, so is that three kids? Total two. Okay. Okay. Two, um, look at this. I saw this last night, us Navy, quietly cancels vaccine requirement, order for seals.
Kevin Kessler (07:01):
That’s great.
Mattew Souza (07:02):
<laugh>, that’d be good. And we all decided we’re not gonna take it and you can’t make us.
Kevin Kessler (07:05):
Yeah. We’ve actually been talking about it. We went and saw, um, our family physician and said, Hey, what do we need to do? They’re gonna give him a shot. Should we go ahead and get the Johnson and Johnson shot just to like, so he wouldn’t have to get the other ones. Cause I mean, he’s in that prime, right? Myo, myocarditis. Yeah. I mean, he is, he’s 150 pounds. I mean, with shoulders, this wide and a waist, this big and I mean, he’s swimming, you know, five, six miles a week. He’s running 30 miles a week. And I mean, I’m like, he’s the prime, you know, young male myocarditis candidate. And I’m like, I don’t want to, you know, are they gonna give him these jabs? Should we get something else beforehand to try to?
Sevan Matossian (07:39):
And what did they say? That, that, that seems like some smart thinking.
Kevin Kessler (07:43):
Yeah. Well, I mean, she said, she said the same thing, try to do as much research as you can. If the Navy, if the Navy, uh, won’t give him the shot and we’ve heard some at bootcamp, it’ll say, Hey, I’m good. I don’t need it. And they just pass him by whether that’s true or not. But, um, you know, so we just kind of said, Hey, we’ll get him to, to get him to Johnson Johnson before he goes. And then he he’ll have his legit vaccine card. And, and hopefully, you know, that, that covers him, but that’s kinda what his doc kinda what our doctor said too.
Sevan Matossian (08:09):
Oh, were you in the military?
Kevin Kessler (08:11):
I was not, no, I wish I would’ve been, but I, that was kind of not, that was before September 11th when I got outta high school college and stuff like that. So, or while I was in college. So, uh, you know, it just, I don’t know, it just, military seemed like it was different then, you know, so anyway. No.
Sevan Matossian (08:25):
Why, um, what do you know, what swayed his opinion for that? And did that scare you? Did you try talking out of it or did you try talking him into it or
Kevin Kessler (08:33):
He, uh, he’s wanted to do that since I can remember. I know he wrote a paper about what he, you know, you know, how you missed school, you gotta write a paper, what you’re gonna do, what’s career. You’re gonna be like, and he wrote a paper about being a Navy seal. And, uh, he just never grew out of it. I kind of thought he would, he made straight A’s all the way through high school. Um, you know, on the Dean’s list could have gone to not any college, but he could have gone to, you know, Clemson or some, a pretty good college around here. Uh, and he just said, I don’t wanna do that. You know, this is what I wanted to do. This is what I wanna do in my career. He thought through it really. And we even talked to him, you know, his, his mom really wanted him to go to college first.
Kevin Kessler (09:05):
And she talked through it about what about if you go to college first and then go in as an officer, but, um, you know, through his, his own research, he said, you know, if I go in his officer, there’s not as many jobs and only get one shot at it. If I go in as enlisted, I can go straight in, I get three chances. You know, if I get hurt he’s, I mean, he thought it all through and he said, and, and what do you go to college for to get a job? And he said, I’ll have the job I want, you know, if I, if I make it and I’ll always have a job, you know, as a, if he makes it through, you know, and I, obviously he hadn’t done the hard part yet, but, um, so that, that was him. And it’s kind of hard to argue that <laugh>, you know,
Sevan Matossian (09:36):
Yeah. It’s, it’s interesting. I’m as you were talking, I was like, I wonder how I would take that if one of my kids wanted to go into the military.
Kevin Kessler (09:44):
Yeah.
Sevan Matossian (09:45):
I hope, I hope I would.
Kevin Kessler (09:46):
I’m really proud of him. I mean, it’s, it gets closer to shipping off, you know, it’s, it’s nerve-wracking but, you know, and, and I mean, it’s gonna be tough cuz we probably, you know, here in South Carolina will obviously travel to where we can to see him, but we he’s gonna be gone for over a year. You know, once he goes to boot camp, straight into Prebus straight into buds. So, um, you know, it’s, it’s pretty tough. It’s not like sending a kid to college and come home on the weekends, you know?
Sevan Matossian (10:08):
Does he live, he lives at home now.
Kevin Kessler (10:10):
Yeah. Yeah, he
Sevan Matossian (10:11):
Does. So it’ll be, it’ll be go from having him every day, being able to hold and kiss your son to bye-bye
Kevin Kessler (10:16):
That’s right. Yep. To see you that’s intense. Yeah. Grow. He he’ll be, you know, and I know we’ve talked to a lot of people, military families, and they said, he’ll come home and you won’t hardly recognize him. He’ll go from, you know, a boy to a man overnight and just be different. So that’s all right. I mean, that’s what you raising for us to, you know, put well balanced kids and then send ’em off into the world. So we’re sending them,
Sevan Matossian (10:38):
Are, are your parents alive?
Kevin Kessler (10:39):
They are. Yep.
Sevan Matossian (10:40):
Did, did you, did they say, what do they say about it?
Kevin Kessler (10:43):
They’re proud of him. I’m I know they’re nervous and you know, but I mean, how can you not be proud of somebody that, I mean, you know, a lot of this is gonna sound bad, but a lot of kids go to the military because they don’t have any other options or like stay outta jail, you know? And this was his decision. This is what he wants to do. And I said, Hey, you know, I love our country and you know, as screwed up as it seems like it is now, but um, we need people that wanna do that. Yeah.
Sevan Matossian (11:06):
Not
Kevin Kessler (11:06):
What I was gonna
Sevan Matossian (11:07):
Say. We need people like him. Yeah. Yeah. Um, Caleb and I have, uh, a mutual friend who’s in the military who basically will do, would do anything to get out really. Yeah. You know, because he, and it’s exactly that they went in, he went in there because he had nothing else. Yeah. And now he has something else and, and, and he doesn’t wanna,
Kevin Kessler (11:29):
And he wants out. Yeah.
Sevan Matossian (11:30):
Yeah. And, and I’m not hating on the guy at all for that, by the way. I, it, it’s a, uh, it’s a sticky situation. I, I, it’s the same thing. I it’s kind of like, I could see being 18 and being completely gung-ho right. Yeah. And then by the time you’re 25, you’re like, you’re ready to do something else. It’s the same thing with opening an affiliate. I totally see that as something you wanna do for 10 year, I could see wanting to open one at 19. Yeah. And then at 28 being like, like, Hey, I want to do something else. I’ve mastered this, the weird part about an affiliate I’m really off subject here. But the weird part about opening an affiliate and having that shift is you need older affiliate owners to really, probably this is a sweeping generalization, but to understand the true power of CrossFit, you need someone probably a 40 year old gym owner who is like, Hey, I can make someone who, uh, can get in past buds with flying colors. And I can also save some, uh, 70 year old man’s life. You kind of need older owners. I’m guessing. And I wanna be proven wrong to kind of appreciate that. Right. Like even at 34, when I found CrossFit, I could give two fucks. If it helped cure you with diabetes. Like, so <laugh>, you know, like,
Kevin Kessler (12:35):
Yeah. And our gym is our gym’s eight years old, CrossFit Greenwood, and the owner, I I’ve, I’ve coached with him. He, he actually went, he from Flin, um, about 45 minutes away. And he, he found me and said, Hey, I wanna open a gym in Greenwood woods. You coached with me first. Do you think it’ll work? And second way you coach with me. And I said, I think it’ll work. The first one that gets here, it’s gonna work. You know? And so, so we kind of set it up and, and went that way. And, uh, I’ve been with him ever since. And, um, you know, he was a, a competitor, but he he’s five years younger than me. So he is like 42 now. But, um, you know, when we started it, I guess that makes him 34, you know, and, and we, it was all competition and kind of elite athletes, but I mean, we’ve got a O over 55 class now we’ve got teens, we’ve got kids, we’ve got you name it. And it’s more rewarding.
Sevan Matossian (13:18):
I think I would go into that over 55 class and just fuck people up.
Kevin Kessler (13:22):
<laugh>, it’s funny because a lot of them will do that class. And then, you know, after a few months they’re transitioning into the regular classes, they want the more intensity and a little bit more. So it’s, it’s pretty awesome. I mean, you know, and I think, I think it takes, like you said, gym ownership takes some evolution. You come in there with, you know, breathing, fire, and then you realize, you know what, it’s not all about competition. I, I can really change some people’s lives, you know, mm-hmm <affirmative> yeah.
Sevan Matossian (13:45):
So it’s pretty, Greg Greg started this class at, um, at HQ at the, in the, in the, um, big gym we had there in the mornings. He basically shut down the gym and he brought in some L one trainers and he started this program. I, and I think SU had actually asked if he could coach there, um, a little bit, I tried participate and it was just for old people and fat people. And it was funny cuz Greg called it the underserved and I’m like, Hey, I think the minorities got that. I think that’s like for poor Armenian kids. No, no underserved is fat old. I’m like, all right, I’d be, fuck it. I, I ain’t like
Kevin Kessler (14:18):
You have some pretty strict guidelines like,
Sevan Matossian (14:20):
Ah, you, well, that’s the, yeah, that’s the thing, dude. My mom went into that class at like 75 and my mom had already been doing CrossFit for eight years and she was just fucking people up. Like it’s 75. She was the fucking, and you know, there were 20 people in there. My mom was fire breather. It wasn’t cool. Yeah. But, but Greg said she could go there. So my mom at five feet tall, 94 pounds soaking wet was the fire breather in there. She said, I’ll do some burpees. And the other people are just leaning against the wall and pushing themselves up for burpees. Literally, you know what, these, these are people who couldn’t hang off a bar. And my mom’s like <laugh> yeah. What
Kevin Kessler (14:56):
She go pull a strict pull up or
Sevan Matossian (14:58):
Something. Yeah. I hang here all day.
Kevin Kessler (15:00):
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Sevan Matossian (15:02):
Like these are, you know, this, these are people who didn’t want to get outta their car. So, but um, incredible, incredible class kudos to your gym for having to over 55. It, I think that speaks a successful class, like that speaks volumes about the, uh, trainer.
Kevin Kessler (15:16):
Yeah. And they are, um, that group is so dedicated. I mean there’s 10 to 12 of ’em in there every week and it’s the same ones. And if somebody skips they’re on ’em, you know, I mean it’s, uh, it’s, it’s hard. It’s pretty hardcore. Yeah. So it’s good. Yeah.
Sevan Matossian (15:30):
Yeah. You know, um, another thing too is my mom was a workaholic her whole life. Uh, she was a high powered attorney, just grinding, you know what I mean? A 40 hour week was not, that was Monday. Yeah. And, uh, I just, and she worked and worked and worked and, and she was never a social person. She, she never had friends. I don’t ever remember having any friends growing up or anything like that. And for her to join CrossFit gym at 69, I think, yeah. She’s probably come up on her 10 years. That was huge for her. The first two years gave her crazy anxiety. She didn’t want any friends. She didn’t want anyone talking to her. You know what I mean? She, the only people she talked to, she stood in a courtroom and whooped ass. Yeah. Yeah. And, uh, and, and now, now that’s her like her social circle. Those are her homeboys. Like, she’ll be like, oh, so and so for my affiliate was out of town and she’s visiting for a couple days and I’m, I’m not gonna talk to you for two days cause I’m gonna be with her. I’m like, what? <laugh>, you
Kevin Kessler (16:22):
Know, like
Sevan Matossian (16:24):
You don’t
Kevin Kessler (16:25):
Have friends. That’s the way it is for all of us. Right. I mean, for most part, you know, you get in a gym and you get in that community, whether you’re 20 or you 70 and, and that’s your, that becomes your people, you know, like, yeah.
Sevan Matossian (16:36):
Um, did you ever have any health issues at any time in your life?
Kevin Kessler (16:39):
Nope. I’ve been, uh, I mean, I’ve got a little bit of a thyroid issue that I found when I was in college and I know a lot of people go to thyroid issue, but I really do have a thyroid issue. And uh,
Sevan Matossian (16:47):
That’s right where I went to. I was like Uhhuh. Sure. You, yeah,
Kevin Kessler (16:50):
Sure. Yeah. Right. Everybody’s got a thyroid issue. No one,
Sevan Matossian (16:52):
What, what is the thyroid do? Do you need that thing? Is that, is this that like where your something with your immune system or if you thyroids fucked up, you weigh 600 pounds or something.
Kevin Kessler (17:01):
Yeah. You can, or it can be really fast. So mine is slow. Believe it or not, but, um, yeah. And, uh, it, I don’t know. It just regulates, I, I just know out if I have, when it, when I’m in feeling shitty, it’s because my thyroids off and it, it like really zaps all my energy and whatnot, but it’s
Sevan Matossian (17:17):
Testicles in your throat. Your thyroid is a small butterfly shaped, uh, no, lemme minute. Sorry. Your thyroid is a small testicle shaped gland situated at the base of the front of your neck, just below your anus, your atoms, apple. Yeah. Hormones produced by the thyroid gland, T3 and T4 have an enormous impact on your health affecting all aspects of your metabolism. Okay. So somehow,
Kevin Kessler (17:39):
Yeah, so it’s probably too much information, but I have Hashimoto’s disease, which is basically me is an autoimmune disease, which means my BA body like rejected my thyroid and tried to attack it and get rid of it, thought it was like a foreign body. So that’s kind of why my Atos up was really big. And it’s kinda
Sevan Matossian (17:53):
Kevin, you can’t have testicles in your throat and then your fucking immune system attacked it. Hey.
Kevin Kessler (17:58):
Yeah, pretty much. That’s it.
Sevan Matossian (17:59):
Homos disease, autoimmune disorder. The immune system creates antibodies that attack thyroid cells as if they were bacteria viruses or some other foreign body, the immune system, wrongly enlist disease, fighting agents that damage cells and lead to cell death. What do you think about these people on? Um, I used to follow this chick. Uh, she’s kind, she was kind of a Wacka doodle, but she had this insane body.
Kevin Kessler (18:21):
Courtney hon.
Sevan Matossian (18:23):
No, no, no, no, no. Courtney hunt has a nice body. Uh, this chick was a yoga teacher from LA, but she claim her whole thing was she claimed she, um, um, uh, and how dare you, Caleb? <laugh> call, uh, Courtney. Hunter. Whackadoodle uh,
Kevin Kessler (18:41):
Wait for
Sevan Matossian (18:41):
That. She’s just big picture thinking, buddy. She’s big picture. Come on, quantum. Quantum. She’s gotta
Kevin Kessler (18:46):
Get on her level. That’s
Sevan Matossian (18:47):
All. Yeah, dude, come. Um, just cuz she uses the word quantum a lot. Doesn’t mean she’s wackadoodle. Uh, this chick says you could cure Hashimotos uh, this chick says you could cure Hashimotos with like a, I think the carnivore diet. Have you heard that?
Kevin Kessler (19:02):
I haven’t heard that, but I mean, I, I don’t know my, when I promise you when I don’t take my medicine, I, it drops like really low my thyroid level. Doesn’t I feel like crap. So I don’t know. Maybe, maybe that’s possible, but I mean it’s a autoimmune disease, so my body’s attacked it. So it doesn’t really function anymore. You know,
Sevan Matossian (19:19):
I bet you my,
Kevin Kessler (19:20):
I dunno.
Sevan Matossian (19:21):
I bet you, my wife knows that, um, that lady’s name, what’s the yoga teacher’s name. I used to follow huge icon, huge tit
Kevin Kessler (19:37):
<laugh> <laugh>
Sevan Matossian (19:38):
Owned the studio in LA. I wanna, um, this is totally off. This is totally off, um, subject, but for all, for, for all you women out there who get, uh, breast implants or who are thinking about it, you have to know that you are the distant cousin of people who get sex changes. You have to understand that even though you think you’re making yourself more, a woman, what you are doing is, is you’re altering the shape of your body and you’re searching for happiness there. And there will be none. I, I, I, I, I’m not arguing your limitations for you. I know it sounds like I am, cuz I would never do that to someone, but you are basically pursuing something for happiness where you will find none. Zero. Uh, my wife hates it. When I say never, you will not find happiness by getting breast implants.
Sevan Matossian (20:27):
You will not find, um, happiness by getting transitions. These are all people who are running from something that they should be sitting with. I, I don’t know what I just said that I used to fall asleep and, and for those of us men, we, we even know that. And this is the weird part. We still can’t be stop being attracted. Even though we know your tits are just plastic bags and insert underneath your skin, we still can’t. We still can’t help, but not be attracted to ’em. I even saw the Instagram footage. They show this really beautiful girl and she puts watermelons under her sh or not watermelons, water balloons under her shirt. They show the whole thing and then they show her run and they show the water balloons on thing. And I’m still attracted to her, even though I saw I saw what you did. Yeah. And I, whatever my thyroids fucked up it’s off. And I, and I can’t control it.
Kevin Kessler (21:08):
Yeah. There you go.
Sevan Matossian (21:08):
That’s what it’s, it’s fucking weird. I don’t, I can’t say, but you personally will not be happy. Um, with extra attention. It doesn’t work that way. That’s not how we’re set up. And I’m so sorry for those of you who think you’re gonna have some medical procedure to make you happy. We will not,
Mattew Souza (21:24):
The dress might fit better.
Sevan Matossian (21:27):
True. Tons of dudes will be into you. <laugh> um, they
Mattew Souza (21:32):
Of attention you want.
Sevan Matossian (21:34):
So, um, uh, so can you walk me through the, the morning? So you actually had a heart attack,
Kevin Kessler (21:41):
Not a heart attack. So I know it said heart attack, but I didn’t have a heart attack. I had heart. Attack’s kind of where your plumbing’s like plugged up. My plumbing is clean. Like I don’t have any blockages or anything like that, but I had a, it’s more of an electrical problem. So it’s, it sounds really dramatic, but it, the, the medical definition is a sudden cardiac death event. So that’s, um,
Sevan Matossian (22:01):
That’s what you had. You had a sudden cardiac event, death
Kevin Kessler (22:05):
Sudden cardiac. Yep. That’s what it’s called. That’s the terminology. So, um, it was a competition called fittest of the upstate. It was kind of, this was before, you know, now there’s gazillion competitions used, should qualify for, but this was in 2019 before there were a lot of those. So this was the first one that I’d ever done that I had to qualify for and they used your open scores to qualify. And so I was lucky enough to qualify. It was the
Sevan Matossian (22:26):
Very, by the way, that’s a brilliant method that more people should use. Yeah. Yep. Just use the open for your own, uh, competition, but sorry, go on.
Kevin Kessler (22:34):
Mm-hmm <affirmative>. Yeah. So, and we, and they still do it. It’s now fittest of South Carolina. They expanded to a whole state, but it, back then that was, and that was the inaugural event. It was the first one in 2019 fittest of, um, FITT of the upstate. So the, the, I was in the master’s division and, uh, obviously, um, I was 40. What was it? Three years ago for 44, 42, I
Sevan Matossian (22:53):
Guess. Was this your first competition ever entering?
Kevin Kessler (22:56):
No, no, no. I had done a bunch of competitions, you know, throughout just, but just, you know, if you pay your money, you can compete kind of thing. Not, not, so you’ve gotta be good enough to compete. So there’s a lot of stress. I mean, not stress, but I, I was kind of amped up for it, looking forward to it. And the, the old guys us, we went in the morning, so there was only three of four events, but two of ’em were kind of tied together, a max lift into a met con. So there was only really three events and, uh, we were gonna be done by noon. We went early and, uh, the very first event was a, you know, and I know you probably don’t care a lot about details, but it was
Sevan Matossian (23:26):
An no, no, I do. I do. I do. I like all these details.
Kevin Kessler (23:29):
All right. So as an am wrap of like a 14 calorie row, I think it was 12 burpee box jump overs, then 10 kettlebell snatches, I think. And a sandbag carry and, uh, something for like 12 minutes or something like that. I don’t, I don’t remember exactly, but I remember the very first row. I mean, it was like 3, 2, 1 go the very first row. And I was like, God, yeah, feels slow. And like had like a little bit of like discomfort in the middle of my back. Not like, you know, you pulled something in your back just like, this just feels off, you know? And maybe that didn’t stretch out enough or I didn’t warm up adequate, whatever. So I went through the whole first round, I got back to the row and I remember like six calories in, on a 14 gallery row. I stopped. And I remember my judge saying like, what are you doing, man? You can’t stop. I mean, you gotta go. And I’m thinking the same thing. What the hell am I doing? I can’t stop. You know, this is like, you know, and, um, so I just like ground through the rest of the workout, felt like shit the whole time. And I finished it. What,
Sevan Matossian (24:23):
Um, so, so I wanna, this is 2000, this is three years ago.
Kevin Kessler (24:28):
2019. Yep.
Sevan Matossian (24:29):
Okay. And when you say you stopped, do, do you know that, um, really unique feeling of when you have food poisoning or you’re really sick or like you really hurt yourself and like, even if you wanted to look at the outside world, you can’t, there’s something inside of you that’s taking an assessment of your body. Yeah. It’s, it’s like, it happens right before you throw up. Sometimes the whole system’s like, it sucks that it’s such a cool phenomenon, but do you know what I’m talking about when the whole body, all your awareness, you’re kind of like, you kind of step outta your body and you feel the whole body, the whole cyborg go, okay. Systems check like Ironman. Yeah. And it’s like running through and it’s like, something’s not right. And it’s like, checking your feet and your, and it’s like doing, was it that when you stopped, you’re like, it, it
Kevin Kessler (25:13):
Really was
Sevan Matossian (25:14):
Doing a systems
Kevin Kessler (25:14):
Check. That’s a good, good description of it guy. I mean, it really was, it was like, even, even when I finished the workout, I kind of went back and I couldn’t almost like, remember it, you know, like it just kind, really going through the motions. I mean, then it was the slowest, burpy box, jump overs you’ve ever seen. And like, you know, just the whole thing. I mean, I finished dead last by like 40 reps, something, I mean, like ridiculous. And of course, I didn’t know there anything was going on. So, you know, I’ve kind like just man, you need to suck it up, you know, get your act together, go drink, go in and drink. And bang energy drink was
Sevan Matossian (25:42):
Probably, and highly I can do. I highly recommend that blended
Kevin Kessler (25:46):
Through a t-shirt like ring it out, sweat it. And I mean, it was like, I’m so much more comfortable than this. What the hell happened? You know,
Sevan Matossian (25:54):
Let me ask, uh,
Kevin Kessler (25:55):
Let’s hit the next workout, you know, kind of thing.
Sevan Matossian (25:58):
Let me ask Caleb something here real quick. Uh, Caleb, uh, are as a medical professional, are those the two things that you should do if you feel like you’re having a cardiac event, drink a bang and jump on the rower or do you jump on the rower and then drink a bang in which order the order matters? Yeah. Row first and then bang. And then, then shotgun a bang, like a holy
Kevin Kessler (26:22):
Yeah, I didn’t know I was having a cardiac event at that point. I just knew something was really off, you know, but it was, you know, how it is it’s, I mean, as a guy you’re like, suck it up, man. I made this and, you know, pull yourself together, you know, and because I didn’t have any history of anything and I didn’t think anything was going wrong. So
Sevan Matossian (26:37):
I really didn’t no heart attacks in your family either. Like your dad’s cool. Mom’s cool. Everything’s chill. Okay.
Kevin Kessler (26:41):
Everybody’s pretty good. Um, my dad has some blockages, but like I said, this is not a blockage and I didn’t, I’ve never had any heart stuff before I do annual physicals and all that kind of stuff felt like it was in pretty good shape. So took an hour off or whatever it was in between the next event. You know, like I said, I got some food drank that energy drink, changed shirts. And, uh, the next one was, uh, you know, like it silly. It was, I think a minute on the eco echo bikes had just kind of hit. And so we had had an echo bike. It was like a minute on the echo bike. And then max handstand wall distance for
Sevan Matossian (27:09):
Distance. You weren’t scared in between, in that hour. So a voice didn’t say to you, Hey dude, something’s up? No,
Kevin Kessler (27:15):
I was pissed.
Sevan Matossian (27:16):
No. Okay. Was pissed
Kevin Kessler (27:17):
Because I’d prepared for this. I’d done all the workouts. I’m like what? You know, I didn’t, I really didn’t ha I mean, maybe it’s just arrogance, but I didn’t, I felt like something was off, but I couldn’t pinpoint it. And I was like, you know, what the hell, what a, what a shitty day to have be off, you know, like I made this competition and wanted to do well and, uh, what a shitty day to be off. So the next one was like a, like I said, a minute on echo bike and a minute handstand while, and I crush, I crushed it. I think I hit, I dunno, 30 something, calories, 34 calories for a small guy on echo bike in a minute. It’s pretty good. And then my handstand, what was decent. So it was kinda like back in, I was, you know, on the top end of the pack, I didn’t win it or anything that
Sevan Matossian (27:51):
Bang worked.
Kevin Kessler (27:52):
Yeah. <laugh> bang energy. Was it? That’s all I needed big pushed it out a little bit. <laugh> yeah. So I’m back in it. Right. And then, um, you know, again then felt okay. And, and, um, the last workout was a max cleaning jerk, which I PR my cleaning jerk, which at that time was like two 50 or 2 55. And then, um, straight into a kinda like down and back workout. I, and I don’t remember the numbers, but it was some to, to bar deadlifts pistols, then a huge set of double unders and then back, you know, pistols deadlifts to, to bar. And I think it was, it was something short eight minutes or something like that, a cap, but I mean, it was faster, faster than that for the workout. And so I finished it and, uh, went over to cheer on a guy that was on his last set of toes to bar the, like laying next to me and took a knee, you know, kind of right in front of him, cheer him on CrossFits do you know you finishing up? And I did pretty well on the workout. I was pretty happy under the cap. And my day was about my day was done working out. That was the end of the competition. Really. It was small, um, at that time. And, uh, he finished and as I stood up the whole room spun and, uh, the next minute I know I was in the back of an ambulance. The next thing I
Sevan Matossian (28:58):
Remember, no shit, no, no pain,
Kevin Kessler (29:01):
No pain, um, nothing. And, uh, you know, found out after the fact that I had, you know, had gotten everybody paying. Of course it was a big competition for our, our community. So there was a ton of people there and the RX folks went in the afternoon. So everybody was starting to really get there. We were finishing up, they were getting warmed up start. So the gym was like packed, slammed full of people. Um, and thank, thank God because there was two emergency room nurses. There was a physician, there was a couple of EMTs and they jumped in and got, uh, there’s two nurses from our gym that saw me go down. And, uh, you know, one of them, Nick told Elizabeth and I, I know y’all, don’t know who people are, but Hey, something’s not right with Kevin. They went out immediately were like, he has no pulse. Um, you know, and, and started CPR immediately. The community kind of gathered up, they brought ice. Um, yeah, there’s my rhythm from the AED. <laugh> yeah. So how did you, how did you find, how did you find that they pulled it off the AED after they used the AED? It was, I think.
The above transcript is generated using AI technology and therefore may contain errors.
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