Nick Mathew (00:00):
You’re talking this past year at wusa?
Sevan Matossian (00:02):
Yeah. In January. It was
Nick Mathew (00:04):
Crazy. Boom.
Sevan Matossian (00:07):
Nick Matthew, Not Nick Matthews, Nick Matthew people. Yep. Nick, Matthew,
Nick Mathew (00:12):
No s Yep. Spelled a little differently.
Sevan Matossian (00:16):
Do you ever mess it up?
Nick Mathew (00:18):
I do not mess it up. Everybody else does on the entire planet though, so
Sevan Matossian (00:22):
Everybody
Nick Mathew (00:23):
Used to it now. Even my license says something different.
Sevan Matossian (00:27):
<laugh> uh, Masters of Coaching Paper, Street Coffee, California hormones, Those are the people that pay me money that allows me to send my kids to, uh, tennis lessons, jujitsu lessons. They buy new skateboards for my kids. Uh, all because I get to, uh, DM people like Nick Matthew and have ’em on my show.
Nick Mathew (00:49):
Thank you for having me on.
Sevan Matossian (00:51):
Do you have a wide foot?
Nick Mathew (00:53):
A what? A wide foot? Yeah.
Sevan Matossian (00:55):
It’s a loaded, it’s a loaded question.
Nick Mathew (00:57):
I do not think so.
Sevan Matossian (00:58):
Oh. Uh, what do you think? I, I want to try those shoes. The tier shoes. Did you wear those at the games?
Nick Mathew (01:04):
I did wear them at the games, yep.
Sevan Matossian (01:05):
But I got a wide foot. I’m like, I like, like anything Nike makes is too, uh, feminine for me.
Nick Mathew (01:11):
Yeah. I would say they definitely lean more on the Nike side versus like nanos with the, Cuz nanos kind of have a wider toe box, I feel
Sevan Matossian (01:21):
Like. Yeah,
Nick Mathew (01:21):
Yeah. I think they’re more, they feel a little bit more like the Nikes.
Sevan Matossian (01:24):
I’m getting a little mixed messaging cuz uh, I think Vener was saying that they were wider.
Nick Mathew (01:30):
The
Sevan Matossian (01:30):
Colton Merton’s foot and Colton wears them and Colton’s foot’s gotta be wider than it is long, right.
Nick Mathew (01:36):
<laugh>? I, yeah, I don’t know about that, about him, but I don’t know. I feel like the trainers are narrow. They have a wide toebox specific Olympic lifter, but,
Sevan Matossian (01:45):
Ah, that’s what Pat, Pat said that too. He said the, the Olympic lifter’s super wide. Yeah,
Nick Mathew (01:49):
Definitely.
Sevan Matossian (01:50):
Are you uncomfortable in a wide toe box? Like you’re, like your, like it’s just your toes moving around too much?
Nick Mathew (01:56):
Uh, no, I don’t, I don’t think so. I feel pretty comfortable training in really any shoe that I’ve kind of thrown on.
Sevan Matossian (02:02):
Yeah, you’re that kind of dude, huh?
Nick Mathew (02:04):
<laugh>?
Sevan Matossian (02:05):
Yeah. You don’t care if it’s a rusted bar?
Nick Mathew (02:07):
Nope. Not too picky at all. We have a few of those at the gym as well.
Sevan Matossian (02:10):
Yeah. Um, you give that vibe, it’s the, um, you’re compensating for all the, the, the crop top is to compensate for all, just all the other masculine shit falling off of you. It’s like you have some dudes are trying to like masculine up. You have to like masculine down.
Nick Mathew (02:27):
Gotta have that balance.
Sevan Matossian (02:28):
<laugh>. Yeah.
Nick Mathew (02:29):
But I don’t think people would, uh, describe me as masculine. Most days
Sevan Matossian (02:33):
They don’t.
Nick Mathew (02:34):
No, I wouldn’t think so.
Sevan Matossian (02:35):
Um, where are you and your roommate? Rogue?
Nick Mathew (02:38):
Uh, yeah. I literally just got here about 45 ish minutes ago.
Sevan Matossian (02:42):
Uh, do you have a roommate?
Nick Mathew (02:44):
Uh, I’m staying with my coach and his wife and then my girlfriend is coming as
Sevan Matossian (02:48):
Well. All in that same room? Yeah. Uh,
Nick Mathew (02:52):
I don’t know if they’re gonna choose to use the bed or, I think the couch is a pullout couch too. I don’t know what they wanna do, but.
Sevan Matossian (02:57):
Wow. Uh, who’s your coach?
Nick Mathew (03:00):
Uh, Matt Burke. His wife is Nicole Burke. She, she’s a, uh, semi-finalist athlete as well.
Sevan Matossian (03:09):
Uh, tell me about Matt Burke. Do I know him? Who else does he coach?
Nick Mathew (03:12):
Um, so we’re with the Proven Squad down in Tennessee. Um, and I think, so it was like earlier this year I went over and just dropped in to go get a workout with them.
Sevan Matossian (03:23):
Ho Hold on one second, Nick. There’s some weird audio issue with you. Are you, are you on your phone?
Nick Mathew (03:28):
Uh, nope. I’m on my laptop.
Sevan Matossian (03:30):
Hmm. Okay. Maybe May. I don’t think you have to talk quite so loud.
Nick Mathew (03:36):
Okay. Should I back to laptop up? Maybe a little bit.
Sevan Matossian (03:39):
Let’s see. Okay, good. Uh, take two. Um, tell me about, uh, so you went to proven Matt Burke
Nick Mathew (03:46):
Yep. Kind of at the beginning of this year. It’s crazy to think about it. It’s only been a year so far. Yep, that’s him and a big old booger on my mustache in that photo.
Sevan Matossian (03:54):
Oh, that’s nice. Wow.
Nick Mathew (03:57):
That’s a nasty workout. The minister. Wow. Oh yeah.
Sevan Matossian (04:02):
Thank you Caleb. Yep. There we go. <laugh>, he’s a, he’s a medical professional Nick. He can do that. He can touch your mcu.
Nick Mathew (04:10):
Yep. It’s good. Um, but yeah, so I went down earlier this year and, uh, just through training, just kind of like a little mini training camp, getting ready for a quarter finals and la and um, semifinals and things like that. And, um, me and Matt just kind of hit it off right away, like just, he was very helpful just in terms of all of us just working out in general. And he’s, I don’t think he’s like an official proven coach, but he works with Nicole and Nicole works on the, with the team as well. And he just kind of helps coach everybody as best as he can all the time. I, me and him just hit it off right away and kind of developed a really good relationship. And then from there he’s come with me to Granite Games. Me and him talk constantly just in text message. And now he’s coming to Rogue. He’s coaching me at Waap Booza as well. So it’s been a good relationship that we’ve
Sevan Matossian (05:00):
Built. I’m tripping. So this is weird because you’re with Proven, but you don’t have an official proven coach. You got a random dude whose wife works there, but we’ll get to that in one second. I wanna build this story up a little bit. Yeah. It’s like, uh, so, um, what, what made, why did you sign up with Proven, What made you think that? I mean, I would see that program and I would see, uh, Tia Claire Tomi and I would see Brooke Wells and I would be like, Okay, this is for top five finishers at the CrossFit Games.
Nick Mathew (05:36):
Yep.
Sevan Matossian (05:38):
And for some reason you thought that it was a fit for you? Uh, a year ago in 2021?
Nick Mathew (05:43):
Um, actually I started, uh, 2020.
Sevan Matossian (05:45):
2020
Nick Mathew (05:46):
With the, before I think it was just called Tia Tomi programming.
Sevan Matossian (05:50):
Okay. And that, so that picture was from a year ago picture?
Nick Mathew (05:54):
Yeah. Okay. This year. Granite Games. Yep.
Sevan Matossian (05:56):
Okay. Tell me about like the, the week before you reached out and how you reached out. How did you come to that decision? How does someone choose to go with arguably the, the not arguably the fittest human being has ever walked the planet?
Nick Mathew (06:09):
Um, basically they had their, uh, proven compete track set up or Tia two’s compete track set up online. And I just signed up for the programming. I’ve done every other programming under the sun from mayhem to grid, uh, with Jake Hepner to, I mean, Misfits back in the day and comp trained. And, um, I just was kind of in like a spot after the 2020 games. I think I saw they were on a, like a YouTube video and she, she had pr VN on her shirt and I was curious to what that said. And then yeah, checked out her programming and I kind of, yeah, I just liked how it was laid out in the format of it and then just kind of rolled with it for the next couple years. And then after about a year and a half of doing it and started to qualify for the Granite Games and stuff, I think some of the guys like, uh, Dwight, like took, uh, one of the other coaches down at Proven, kind of took notice and I got invited down to go train with them every now and again.
Sevan Matossian (07:05):
Okay. So you’d done a bunch. You, you knew you were capable, you’d already trained, done the training programs from the best teams on the planet. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>, you saw Tia’s pop up, you’re like, What the hell, I might as well try another. She’s amazing. And then you did it and you and you, is this the longest you’ve been with any training program?
Nick Mathew (07:23):
Uh, now, yes. I would for sure say so.
Sevan Matossian (07:25):
So you’re happy you’re at home?
Nick Mathew (07:26):
Yep. Yep. I really enjoy it. And then being able to have Matt as my coach throughout it too. Like we, we follow the compete track. The other coaches like Shane and Dwight put out like programs for us leading up to Granite Games or leading up to Rogue or leading up to Waap pla and things like that too. So, um, I’ve kind of picked up on a lot more of getting the coaching aspect too, which is what I feel I’ve needed for the last six years.
Sevan Matossian (07:51):
And, and, and where’s home for you?
Nick Mathew (07:53):
Minnesota
Sevan Matossian (07:54):
And, and and what was the name of your CrossFit gym?
Nick Mathew (07:56):
CrossFit Minnetonka.
Sevan Matossian (07:58):
Minnetonka. Yep. And you guys like having abbreviation for it, right? M N K A
Nick Mathew (08:06):
M T K A.
Sevan Matossian (08:07):
Yep. Mt k a and a Tonka CrossFit. So, um, when you get invited, you get invited, they see your score somewhere on the proven website because you’re, you’re logging them in Yep. And then they see how well you do in competitions and so then they invite you.
Nick Mathew (08:30):
Yep. That was kinda
Sevan Matossian (08:31):
To Tennessee. Yep. And you show up there and that’s where you meet Matt.
Nick Mathew (08:36):
Uh, yep, exactly.
Sevan Matossian (08:38):
And he’s there because his wife is a coach there, but, but
Nick Mathew (08:43):
His wife’s an athlete,
Sevan Matossian (08:44):
An athlete there and then, and then you and him hit it off and you’re like, Hey, this, I think this guy can help me. You guys stay in contact exchange phone numbers and it just builds like organically.
Nick Mathew (08:53):
Yep, exactly.
Sevan Matossian (08:55):
Crazy. I I, I wonder if you’re like an experiment for him and he’s gonna, and he’s like, wink, wink, like to Shane, like, time to hire me buddy. Look what I did.
Nick Mathew (09:03):
Hey. Yeah. I hope it’s working. Then <laugh>,
Sevan Matossian (09:05):
What’s he do? What’s he do? Does he own a gym?
Nick Mathew (09:08):
Uh, he works, he’s a general manager, head coach, um, at, uh, CrossFit Trium down in Tennessee as well.
Sevan Matossian (09:17):
Okay. And and how old are you Nick?
Nick Mathew (09:20):
I am 28, I’ll be 29 next month.
Sevan Matossian (09:25):
And you have two kids? Yep. How old are your kids?
Nick Mathew (09:28):
One’s 13 and the other is five.
Sevan Matossian (09:37):
Uh, 28 minus 13 is 25 minus 10 is 15.
Nick Mathew (09:41):
Well, I didn’t, I didn’t have Jordan son.
Sevan Matossian (09:45):
Yes. Ah, okay. Right. Alright, just checking. He’s
Nick Mathew (09:47):
A little older than me.
Sevan Matossian (09:49):
Just checking.
Nick Mathew (09:51):
Yeah. But Corey is mine.
Sevan Matossian (09:53):
And um, and, uh, you, you, you you did wrestling in and where were you? Are you born and raised in Minnesota?
Nick Mathew (10:01):
Uh, yep. Born and raised. Been in basically the same spot my entire life.
Sevan Matossian (10:05):
And, uh, you, you were a wrestler five years of, of high school wrestling?
Nick Mathew (10:09):
Yep. Until I blew my knee out senior year.
Sevan Matossian (10:12):
So eighth grade, ninth grade, 10th grade, 11th grade, 12th grade. Blew your knee out. Yep. Doing the sport you love. Were you doing wrestling?
Nick Mathew (10:19):
Uh, actually football is where I tore my knee out. Uh, blown mcl, P C L a meniscus all at once. And then that basically took me out of my senior year of football and wrestling.
Sevan Matossian (10:30):
Did you have surgery on
Nick Mathew (10:32):
It? No, I didn’t.
Sevan Matossian (10:33):
So, so
Nick Mathew (10:35):
Just did my own kind of PT and rehab and I mean, working out like outside of sports, working out is something that I’ve always done since, since I was 11, 12 years old. Like, I always just enjoyed being in the gym. I enjoyed lifting weights, I just enjoyed doing that stuff. Sports were just, just came natural to me. Um, and then, yeah, basically I took every health class and strength and conditioning class and everything like that throughout high school and basically rehabbed my knee to the point of where it was at. And then just continued on with my weightlifting career with other sports after high school.
Sevan Matossian (11:13):
Dang. I love that story. Uh, at 11 years old, who introduced you to Weightlift?
Nick Mathew (11:19):
Um, my, basically my dad just had a weight set downstairs. He did not use it very much, but it was just kind of sitting there collecting dust and basically as soon as I got into middle school I was like, All right, I don’t wanna be the little kid in the, in the school anymore. I don’t wanna be the weakling. And basically started working out and kept with it more dedicated to that than anything for my entire life.
Sevan Matossian (11:41):
It, uh, with the bar that doesn’t spin and metal plates and, and kind of a bench that kind of, if you’re not, it wobbles a little.
Nick Mathew (11:48):
Yep, for
Sevan Matossian (11:49):
Sure. I can totally picture it. And the pins are just that
Nick Mathew (11:53):
Are greasy that aren’t greased up, so it’s like squeaking as you’re doing lap pull downs
Sevan Matossian (11:57):
And Oh, he had that down there too.
Nick Mathew (11:59):
Yeah, just like a old school full body cable machine and some dumbbells.
Sevan Matossian (12:05):
God, do you know where he got it from?
Nick Mathew (12:07):
Oh, I don’t even know. That must have been, That was a long time ago.
Sevan Matossian (12:11):
Hey, so is that thing sitting down there for as far back as you can remember? Remember like, you don’t have memories of that thing not being down there?
Nick Mathew (12:18):
Um, pretty much. I mean,
Sevan Matossian (12:20):
Cause it seems like something your dad picked up from the garage sale to get fit and then just was like, eh, too much work, not ex.
Nick Mathew (12:26):
That was exactly it. And I guess I lived with my mom beforehand and then my dad, I lived, started living with my dad when I was in sixth grade, so basically went to his house and then it was there, and that’s just kind of when it all kicked off.
Sevan Matossian (12:38):
No shit. You switched in the sixth grade? Mm-hmm. <affirmative>. That’s hardcore
Nick Mathew (12:43):
<laugh>.
Sevan Matossian (12:43):
That’s hard.
Nick Mathew (12:44):
Yeah,
Sevan Matossian (12:46):
I, I remember being like 12 or 13 and thinking, and I would see my dad on the weekends and like proposing that idea to him like, Hey, what if I moved in with you? My dad’s like, Sure. But then I was like, Fuck dad, I’m not leaving mom.
Nick Mathew (12:57):
Yeah, that was just, that was, I mean, basically it, um, I lived with my mom until then, and then at one point I think just being a dumb little kid, like I had a fight with my mom, I was like, I’m gonna go to move dad’s house. And then I mean, my,
Sevan Matossian (13:08):
I’ll show you.
Nick Mathew (13:09):
Yeah. Pretty much. And then I lived with him until I was probably midway through high school, 16, 17, and then moved out entirely after that and started my life.
Sevan Matossian (13:23):
Uh, siblings?
Nick Mathew (13:24):
Uh, three brothers. Two sisters.
Sevan Matossian (13:27):
Wow.
Nick Mathew (13:27):
Yep.
Sevan Matossian (13:29):
So there’s six of you.
Nick Mathew (13:32):
Yep.
Sevan Matossian (13:33):
And, and, and where do you, uh, I appreciate the time you’re taking to do the math accurately.
Nick Mathew (13:38):
Yes.
Sevan Matossian (13:39):
<laugh> and, and, and, uh, where are you in the, in the hierarchy?
Nick Mathew (13:43):
I am the second oldest.
Sevan Matossian (13:44):
Okay.
Nick Mathew (13:45):
I have an older sister that I’ve met twice in my life. Okay. And then I got two brothers and a sister that are just, uh, that are like 16 th two. I have twins that are 16 or 18, and then another brother that lives in Colorado with my dad.
Sevan Matossian (14:05):
Oh, so your dad moved outta Minnesota?
Nick Mathew (14:07):
Yep.
Sevan Matossian (14:09):
Um, so you’re, you’re kind of a sur you’re a survivor. Early on you knew like, Hey, I got, I’m gonna have to take care of myself.
Nick Mathew (14:17):
Yeah. I would say so. And I kind of picked that up, like kind of towards the ending of high school. Like, like end of, uh, junior, end of junior year, end of the senior year. I kind of just, I moved out and lived with some friends and kind of finished out my senior year that way.
Sevan Matossian (14:32):
Wow. No shit. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>. Um, it’s crazy. That’s
Nick Mathew (14:36):
The experience doing that.
Sevan Matossian (14:37):
What’d you
Nick Mathew (14:38):
Say? You got some experience doing that? Yeah.
Sevan Matossian (14:40):
Life experience. I, I, uh, I kind of, I, when I was a sophomore in high school, depending on who you ask, um, I would say I got kicked out probably. My mom says I left, but I left my sophomore year and I moved in with my dad.
Nick Mathew (14:52):
Okay.
Sevan Matossian (14:53):
And he had an apartment building that was like in, in, in the crazy hood. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>, crazy, crazy hood. He bought a fourplex for $50,000 on the Berkeley Oakland border. And uh, when he bought it, it was on a foreclosure from the bank and the rent there was like, and each unit was like $25 a month. And like people hadn’t paid in two years.
Nick Mathew (15:14):
Geez.
Sevan Matossian (15:15):
You know what I mean? Yep. Crazy needles everywhere. But fuck. I love those two years, my, my, or three years, my sophomore end of my sophomore year, Junior, senior year, I got crazy.
Nick Mathew (15:25):
Yeah. Teach you a lot.
Sevan Matossian (15:27):
Yeah. Except I, I was still taking care of man. I didn’t have to do shit. My, my, my parents spoiled the shit outta me. Yeah. In a good way though. I, I’m, I’m not talking down on you mom and dad, it’s, it’s fine. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>. Um, so, um, so you, so, um, the fact that you didn’t get into some squirrely shits, it could, it could have happened.
Nick Mathew (15:49):
What do you mean squirrly? Shit? Like
Sevan Matossian (15:51):
You could’ve gotten into drugs and alcohol. You could’ve gotten someone pregnant too early. You could’ve gone to Oh, you did?
Nick Mathew (15:57):
Oh yeah. Yeah. I got into drugs quite, quite heavily for a while there.
Sevan Matossian (16:00):
But What year was, how old were you?
Nick Mathew (16:02):
Um, I, first time I got drunk was probably like 15, 16 years old. And then, um, started touching drugs, like just outside of high school.
Sevan Matossian (16:11):
Uh, Marijuana.
Nick Mathew (16:13):
Marijuana, Yeah. Other things too.
Sevan Matossian (16:15):
Uh, powders.
Nick Mathew (16:17):
Yep. Pills.
Sevan Matossian (16:18):
Pills,
Nick Mathew (16:19):
Powders. Yep.
Sevan Matossian (16:20):
Did you ever switch to uh,
Nick Mathew (16:22):
Smoke two P? Nope. Never did any needles? No. Heroin, no meth? No. Nothing like that.
Sevan Matossian (16:27):
Dodged the bullet. No meth?
Nick Mathew (16:29):
Nope. None of that stuff.
Sevan Matossian (16:31):
Oh, I dabbled, I dabbled in already
Nick Mathew (16:33):
Cigarettes, chewing tobacco. Yeah.
Sevan Matossian (16:37):
Nicotine’s crazy, isn’t it?
Nick Mathew (16:38):
That was the hardest thing to quit.
Sevan Matossian (16:40):
Yeah,
Nick Mathew (16:41):
For
Sevan Matossian (16:41):
Sure. Nicotine’s a savage. What a savage. Uh, and, and during that whole time, as you’re growing up though, you’re saying the one constant was the weights did. When you started at 11, you never stopped even through all the hard times. You’d be drunk on Saturday night, but on Sunday morning you’d still ride your bike to golds and fucking get
Nick Mathew (16:59):
It. That was exactly it. That was the one thing I always hung onto. And then I kind of just had a breaking point at one point and I was just like, I need to change my life. And I started working with the nutrition coach, got my nutrition under check, and then started focusing on my career a lot more. And then, yeah, just kind of good repetition. Good, good choices there on a out just kind of changed my life.
Sevan Matossian (17:23):
Um, what do you, what was the breaking point? Did you go to jail or almost die or?
Nick Mathew (17:27):
Um, I think I just, I think it was something small. Like I, I went out on the patio and had a coffee and a cigarette like I did every morning and just like started hacking up my lungs and then like, I just flicked the cigarette, walked back inside and I was just like, looked around and I was like, What the hell am I doing?
Sevan Matossian (17:41):
Pretty much. How old were you?
Nick Mathew (17:44):
Um, I can’t remember exactly, maybe like 21, 20. Cause I got drinking and all them partying and all that stuff out of my system before I even turned 21. So after I turned 21, I don’t think I even really drank into a bar until even my late twenties.
Sevan Matossian (18:02):
Yeah. Why not? Just when I, I used to smoke clothes. Do you know what those are? Dejas?
Nick Mathew (18:08):
Mm-hmm. <affirmative>.
Sevan Matossian (18:09):
Yeah. You, it’s, they don’t have, it’s, they don’t have that kind of stuff in Minnesota. It’s, uh, but it’s, they’re just silly cigarettes from Indonesia or something anyway. And when I coughed up blood, I just switched brands.
Nick Mathew (18:23):
<laugh>. You didn’t just stop it entirely? No. Take that as a sign.
Sevan Matossian (18:27):
These things, you were, you were a little more aggressive, so you, you had one morning you’re like, Hey, I’m, I’m, I’m killing myself.
Nick Mathew (18:36):
Yep. Pretty much. And I was just like, I’m done with this life. I need to do something. Yep.
Sevan Matossian (18:42):
And so you went to a nutritionist in, in, did you, you you were at a high school and what, what job did you have then? What were you working?
Nick Mathew (18:49):
I was a cook at Old Country Buffet, if you know what that is. Or like a,
Sevan Matossian (18:53):
I don’t, but
Nick Mathew (18:53):
I like it. Bowl corral like a, Oh yeah. Some kinda like homestyle buffet kind of thing. Aro of food. Yeah, pretty much. So I’d work out and then just go eat as much as I could. And that was my, that was my nutrition at that point. Did they
Sevan Matossian (19:07):
Give you a discount?
Nick Mathew (19:09):
I did. It was like free was a meal or something like that. Yeah. Hell yes. I adapted there that I started personal training and she let me eat for free whenever I wanted. So <laugh>? Hell yes. That helped out a lot.
Sevan Matossian (19:21):
Um, what, what’s it like being a cook at like, gimme an example of what you’d cook and how much you’d cook.
Nick Mathew (19:25):
I mean, anything from, I mean, they had meatloaf to macaroni to spaghetti to, I mean, just meats that are out there and Yeah. Although they’re all going outta business. So
Sevan Matossian (19:39):
<laugh>, they are all going outta business.
Nick Mathew (19:40):
Oh yeah, for sure. I think old country buffet, buffet shut down completely. I think golden crowds really the only thing that’s similar to it now.
Sevan Matossian (19:47):
Hey, um, did you put sugar? Did you put sugar in everything?
Nick Mathew (19:52):
Sugar on everything?
Sevan Matossian (19:54):
Yeah. Um, like when you made meatloaf, would you put a cup of sugar in it?
Nick Mathew (19:57):
Oh, in like the, in the ketchup. That would be basically on top of it. Yeah.
Sevan Matossian (20:00):
Yeah.
Nick Mathew (20:01):
Yep.
Sevan Matossian (20:02):
And are you a good cook?
Nick Mathew (20:04):
Um, I’d say I’m a good cook, but I don’t have not cooked and I’m gonna give Ashley credit here. I have not cooked in a very long time.
Sevan Matossian (20:12):
Ashley’s your wife,
Nick Mathew (20:13):
Wife, girlfriend, baby mama. Yeah. I’ve said a lot of different things in podcasts.
Sevan Matossian (20:19):
I I appreciate that. I appreciate that. I consider my wife my girlfriend still too.
Nick Mathew (20:24):
Yeah, I about
Sevan Matossian (20:25):
This. Yeah. I I would totally refer to her as my girlfriend and people would be like, But you’re married. I’ll be that. You don’t, Yeah, you don’t get rid of it. You just added onto the resume.
Nick Mathew (20:33):
There we go. Perfect.
Sevan Matossian (20:34):
Yeah. Uh, uh, pets?
Nick Mathew (20:37):
Yep. Two cats.
Sevan Matossian (20:39):
Oh, you have a complicated life.
Nick Mathew (20:41):
Yep. Two cats. One of them’s 25 pounds, and the other one’s just a little annoying. Barn cat
Sevan Matossian (20:46):
<laugh>. So it’s obese. Is it a Maine
Nick Mathew (20:47):
Coon? I wouldn’t say it’s got, I think it’s got like traces of like Maine coon in it. That’s why it’s so big. He’s not, I wouldn’t call him obese.
Sevan Matossian (20:55):
He’s just, I would
Nick Mathew (20:56):
Just a big cat.
Sevan Matossian (20:57):
Caleb, Google 25 pound cat. Let’s just, just see. See, let’s, let’s see. Uh, I agree. 20. Stopping at 21 is rare. Wow. That can’t be real.
Nick Mathew (21:11):
Yeah, those are, those are full main coons. Ours is not that big by any means, but he’s pretty big. He’s hefty.
Sevan Matossian (21:19):
Wow. That’s an incredible animal.
Nick Mathew (21:20):
Yeah. Ashley actually wants to get one. I’m like, no, there’s no way.
Sevan Matossian (21:25):
Uh, How much, how much are one of those a for? Oh, it’s like three grand probably.
Nick Mathew (21:32):
Yeah. Not, not worth
Sevan Matossian (21:34):
That easy money after people read ’em like crazy easy money after this weekend.
Nick Mathew (21:40):
Yep.
Sevan Matossian (21:42):
Um, did you, did you think you were gonna go to the games last year?
Nick Mathew (21:47):
Um, I mean, I started CrossFit originally because the goal was the games that was from, from day one,
Sevan Matossian (21:53):
Um, which was what year?
Nick Mathew (21:55):
2016, Probably borderline into 2014. 2015 is when I kind of first saw Froning. I was like, I can do that, I wanna do that. And then 2016 is when I finally like officially signed up at an affiliate and then went from there.
Sevan Matossian (22:13):
And did you enter the open in 2016?
Nick Mathew (22:15):
I did, yep. I did it after the one month of doing like official CrossFit.
Sevan Matossian (22:21):
And, uh, And what was your day job then?
Nick Mathew (22:24):
Uh, at this time I was a personal trainer, so about 20, 20 years old. I got, uh, a job at, or in 19 years old, I got a job at the gym as just kind of like a sales rep sitting at the front desk selling membership, selling personal training, um, getting people in the gym. And then 20, when I was 20 years old, I kind of transition, started transitioning to personal training. And this was still kind of the time where I was like eating bad food and doing drugs and stuff like that. And then I kind of fizzled out of doing the drugs and used that as my kind of way to get out of it and start leading by example with personal training and eating healthy and kind of that aspect of life. And then, um, yep. Did personal training at a normal global gym for six.
Sevan Matossian (23:08):
Six. Yeah. Wow. What was it? What was it? A Gold gym?
Nick Mathew (23:12):
Uh, Fitness 19 is what it was called. Um, kinda like in any time Fitness. Just not as big.
Sevan Matossian (23:22):
Crazy. Well, there was a good, uh, there was a good quote here. Oh, what do you, uh, Spga wants to know? Uh, what do you think about the noble shoes?
Nick Mathew (23:32):
Noble shoes? Mm-hmm. <affirmative>. Oh man. Well, um,
Sevan Matossian (23:38):
That bad, huh? You don’t, you’re, you? No,
Nick Mathew (23:41):
Not necessarily. I’m not, I’m not a huge fan of flat shoes. Just in general. Like, I really dislike the Nanos, Nobles, I just, there’s one pair that felt okay, but then I, I like the Noble Runners, um, and the noble lifters if I was to pick any of those, but not their trainers.
Sevan Matossian (24:00):
And are those ones Yeah, they give you at the games?
Nick Mathew (24:03):
Uh, yeah. They gave you like 11 pairs of shoes at the games.
Sevan Matossian (24:07):
Uh, cause
Nick Mathew (24:08):
Like I said, before every, everything works for me. Like if I need to wear it,
Sevan Matossian (24:12):
I’ll just do it. So the guy who, the guy who everything works for him doesn’t like Noble shoes.
Nick Mathew (24:19):
Didn’t, I wouldn’t say I don’t like them.
Sevan Matossian (24:21):
Okay. We’ll keep we’ll keep sponsorship opportunities open for you. Uh, Rogue just announced the workouts. Check Instagram.
Nick Mathew (24:27):
Oh, really? Nice.
Sevan Matossian (24:29):
Would can we look at them together? We have Kayla pull it up, so, so you don’t have to get your hands. Fatigue your hands.
Nick Mathew (24:38):
I know I got baby hands. I need to toughen ’em up a little bit.
Sevan Matossian (24:42):
Uh, Bruce Wayne, they’re so bad. He’s speechless. No, no, he’s, he’s fine with every shoes. He’s, he’s he’s gritty. He’s gritty.
Nick Mathew (24:49):
Yeah. And I’m working with Tier for the weekend, so Tier is the shoe to go go with right now. So
Sevan Matossian (24:54):
Of course just for the weekend you’re working with him?
Nick Mathew (24:57):
No, I’ve been working with, I worked at them at the games, but yeah, we’re just, uh, in a event basis as of right now, there’s nothing
Sevan Matossian (25:04):
Process.
Nick Mathew (25:04):
Yeah, there’s nothing official set up other than for Rogue or for the games.
Sevan Matossian (25:10):
Gotcha. So you, you you work at a global, Oh, here we go. God, I like that. Will that, that backdrop is dope. Dude. Bra Branstetter did that Caleb? Yeah. That’s pretty, Yeah,
Caleb Beaver (25:25):
You just tossed it up today.
Sevan Matossian (25:28):
Um, I thought it starts on Thursday.
Caleb Beaver (25:33):
It does. It looks like it. They just haven’t put it up yet. I think that’s what that Friday, October 28, 2 TBA is for or they just,
Sevan Matossian (25:42):
Okay, so we don’t know what happens Thursday. We don’t know what happens. Friday events. This is
Caleb Beaver (25:47):
Friday right here.
Sevan Matossian (25:50):
Oh, so event, So event one on Friday, We don’t know what that is. We don’t know Thursday. We don’t know. Event one on on Friday, Then event two starts at, uh, 1:10 PM Central Standard time, 20 bar muscle ups, 40 cows on the skier Ad G hds 40 cows on the skier, 20 bar muscle ups. Let’s see, event three.
Nick Mathew (26:13):
Like it,
Sevan Matossian (26:15):
You do like it?
Nick Mathew (26:16):
I do.
Sevan Matossian (26:17):
Uh, number three is back attack. Uh, what? And it’s a back squat from Rack 4 0 5.
Nick Mathew (26:25):
Yes.
Sevan Matossian (26:26):
Oh, look it, look at that. Mr. Matthews is, that is
Nick Mathew (26:29):
My damn
Sevan Matossian (26:30):
Because of your history in power lifting and body building.
Nick Mathew (26:34):
Yeah,
Sevan Matossian (26:35):
For sure. And then twenty five, twenty fifteen, ten five box jump over a 24 inch box. And, and I’m guessing you’re pretty darn athletic too from the medley, so box jumps, uh, should be fun for you.
Nick Mathew (26:51):
Yeah, box jumps are a fun movement for sure.
Sevan Matossian (26:55):
Congratulations on the win at the games.
Nick Mathew (26:57):
Thank you. Appreciate that.
Sevan Matossian (26:59):
Straight savage. Uh, can we come back to this in one second, Caleb Event five. Uh, when, when after you won the medley, did Adrian Bosman come and talk to you and offer you 10% of his paycheck for saving his uh, saving him his life?
Nick Mathew (27:16):
He did not, but he did come into the back while I was on the bike. Yes.
Sevan Matossian (27:20):
Did he, did he hug you? Did, did he have a tear in his eye? Did you have
Nick Mathew (27:23):
Yes. He came and fist bumped me and said that, uh, it was just really cool to see me complete the workout and yeah, that was, that was Epic
Sevan Matossian (27:33):
Un understa. So he understated it. He didn’t really let you know how, you know, he was fucking beside himself. Right. Have you seen the footage of him as you’re doing it like
Nick Mathew (27:42):
Clapping? Yeah, and I’ve heard him say that like I saved the workout for
Sevan Matossian (27:45):
’em, but yeah, it’s more than he’s clapping. Like no one else in the place is clapping. He’s kinda like, I’m in some sort of weird like, like nervous tick even maybe. Yeah. In, uh, incredible. And, um, do you know anything about Rope Gate?
Nick Mathew (28:06):
Um, no. I’ve heard you talk about it with like, was it Hiller the other day or something like
Sevan Matossian (28:11):
That? I, I think it was Patrick Vener.
Nick Mathew (28:13):
Okay.
Sevan Matossian (28:15):
Um, that there was, What, what rope did you have to find out? Let’s see. If you were one of the participants in Rope Cape, did you have a beaded rope?
Nick Mathew (28:22):
Nope. I had a elite srs, just normal speed rope.
Sevan Matossian (28:26):
Yeah. And was that hard to do the crossovers with that?
Nick Mathew (28:30):
Uh, no. There are more efficient jump ropes for that, but it wasn’t hard to do it with that.
Sevan Matossian (28:35):
Um, cuz uh, Patrick was saying he is been to the games eight times and he’s never seen, uh, beaded ropes. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>. But then all of a sudden there were people there, a third of the participants had beaded ropes and he is like, Hey, what the fuck’s going on here?
Nick Mathew (28:50):
Yeah. They all kinda, I, I guess I didn’t pay it too much of attention, but
Sevan Matossian (28:54):
They did magically appear.
Nick Mathew (28:56):
Yeah. People did all of a sudden have them
Sevan Matossian (28:59):
<laugh>. Um,
Nick Mathew (29:03):
Again, I’m like, doesn’t matter the rope, I’ll still do it.
Sevan Matossian (29:07):
God, you’re greasy. It
Nick Mathew (29:08):
Doesn’t matter. The bar or the dumbbell or the
Sevan Matossian (29:09):
Brain or the shirt you’ll wear, it doesn’t matter. Yep.
Nick Mathew (29:12):
Yep.
Sevan Matossian (29:14):
Have you always been like this or did, is this ever since you’re awakening in your twenties, you’re like, you know what, life’s too short?
Nick Mathew (29:20):
No, I mean, I would think so. I’m not too picky about anything. And if it gets the job done, then who cares if you have the most perfect setup or the perfect outlook or the whatever.
Sevan Matossian (29:32):
Um, and then, and then when you pressed to the handstand, you actually knew you had a, What was your thought when you pressed to the handstand?
Nick Mathew (29:41):
As I was walking to the bar, I was like, Okay, if I get it first try I win this event, I win like the costume. You actually had that thought? Yep. As soon as I finished the pistols, I was walking to it. I was like, do it first, try, take breath, win the event. And then as soon as I kicked up, I knew I wasn’t gonna fall. And I was like, There it is. So I was like, on the parallel.
The above transcript is generated using AI technology and therefore may contain errors.
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