Taylor Self (00:00):
Dude, I love kombucha.
Sevan Matossian (00:01):
Bam. We’re live. Right? Right before we Oh, nice. Right, right before what? How much sugar’s in there?
Taylor Self (00:08):
Uh, zero grams. Fuck you. Just kidding. <laugh>. 12 grams.
Sevan Matossian (00:12):
How much?
Taylor Self (00:13):
12.
Sevan Matossian (00:14):
Right before we came on you, you couldn’t guess. Uh, uh. What’s Jr told me, he’s like, I’m gonna go get a lamp. And I swear to you, it’s darker with his lamp than without his lamp.
Taylor Self (00:25):
<laugh>. There was no lamp. I think my wife sold it. Tough times. <laugh>.
Sevan Matossian (00:29):
I feel you. I feel you. Yes, Daniel. Bam. We are live with the amazing self-made training program, Taylor Self, uh, and J Howell. Two my absolute favorites. I don’t give a shit about steroid juice. And Hiller now has me interested in it, and I don’t give a shit about programming. And now Taylor and Jr. I just, I think I just like these guys and I wanna hang out with them,
Taylor Self (00:56):
Dude, a lot. Nevermind. I don’t know if I can say this one. The year,
Sevan Matossian (01:00):
Let’s open strong. Let’s open hard. Say it, dude.
Taylor Self (01:02):
What about Liver King? What do you think? Dude? He’s your boy.
Sevan Matossian (01:06):
Uh, I liked Hiller’s last video on him. What
Taylor Self (01:09):
Was
Sevan Matossian (01:09):
It? I didn’t, I think it sums it up really well. Uh, he has 1.7 million followers. He stands by his nine tenants. All the emails that, um, show that he did steroids show that he does stand by his nine tenants. Like when he tells his drug dealer, whoever he was getting the RS from, he’s like, I take these pills. I do this. I never eat sugar. I eat this many egg. Like he’s standed. He’s standed. He stood by
Taylor Self (01:35):
<laugh> <laugh>. He’s standed by his pillows. He,
Sevan Matossian (01:39):
He he’s standed by his, yeah, he’s standed by his pillars. And I personally have said from the beginning that I don’t care whether he’s on, uh, steroids or not. From the beginning. You go back and look huge. Yeah. Like, like I, I give two shits. And, and, and what Hiller was pointing out is look at all the other people. Like Rock has 240 million followers. What’s he stand for?
Taylor Self (02:00):
That’s a good point.
Sevan Matossian (02:01):
Ka and David’s daughter has 1.7 million followers. What’s she stand for?
(02:08):
And, and, and, and I think it’s really weak sauce. All the people in his space from the, um, and I think the guy, Derek, the no plates, no dates guy. I’m okay with what he did because that’s what he does. Right? And so it’s like, I was telling Hillary one time, I walked up on a, on a, on a murder scene. A dude had just killed five people, jumped outta the car and said, I’m the angel of death. And I filmed it all. And people thought that that was like, I got criticism for it. It’s like, dude, I literally carried a camera everywhere with me for three years. That what
Taylor Self (02:40):
I like you Good Samaritan Law or something.
Sevan Matossian (02:41):
That’s what that, that’s, that’s what I did. And so I, I find the whole thing fascinating in showing people’s true colors that it’s, it’s, it’s a typical shit. Like just kick a man when he is down. It’s, it’s sad. I, I sent him a text and I said, Hey buddy, I love you. I stand by you. I’m an, I’m an ally. I’m an ally. And so, I mean, can you tell me, can you tell me what, uh, what any of the games athletes stand for who have all these I know they stand for Whoop and Monster Energy drink. And I don’t mean to shift the subject either from, from the fact that he lied, but, but I don’t, I don’t, I don’t care if someone really, like, I don’t have any trust issues. I’ve transcended trust.
Taylor Self (03:19):
No, I mean, I, I’m, I love your response. And I think the question about the games athletes is a fair one. I know many games athletes who before they sign the big contracts and before they get in with the big groups, have seem like they stand for something and have a message that they carry that’s unique to them. And then it just seems to dissipate with the more success they get, they shut the fuck up about it, which is sad.
Sevan Matossian (03:41):
I dunno if you follow, uh, um, ufc, but Brian Ortega, he’s out of East la when he first started fighting, he would always, at the end of his fights that he’d win, he’d always talk about how it’s all about the kids. And then as he became more and more famous, you never hear any of that shit. Whereas, uh, you, uh, other athletes, they bring that kid with cancer to every one of their fights mm-hmm. <affirmative> and make sure that they drag their ass into the ring. So I I, everything’s on a scale, right? And, and I see just a ton of good from what Liver King did and just a tiny bit of bad. And, and I, and I,
Taylor Self (04:18):
Would you consider yourself a primal?
Sevan Matossian (04:21):
No, but, but I’d like to be <laugh>, but I’d like to be. It’s, it’s also, um, like, let, let, let’s say I found out you, you and Jr had been, um, shooting each other in the butt with steroids. <laugh> like what? Like shitty steroids. I would love to have you guys on the show even more like, what am I gonna, those guys can’t be on my show anymore. They got caught cheating. Like, fuck that. That’s not, I don’t do that. I did see Kayla Harrison lost the fight that broke my heart. That other chick was tough though. Man. Liver King is an actor. It only matters if you care. He said he didn’t do juice. Yeah. Other than that. Yeah. Uh, uh, of, anyway, I, um, I’d like to see people speak up more on subjects that really matter to me. Freedom of freedom of speech safety for kids. That, that’s what I’d like to see.
Taylor Self (05:18):
Did you get my, uh, did you get my Valencia doll comment in the text thread? Yes. John Young didn’t get it. I was
Sevan Matossian (05:25):
So I’m glad he didn’t get it. I’m so disgusted that that’s penetrated my brain. That that is a train wreck. It’s
Taylor Self (05:32):
Fucked. It’s crazy. It’s cons. It’s so conspirator and like deep that it’s like what the f it just is. So, dude, all that shit’s fucking true, bro. Hollywood’s a bunch of pets.
Sevan Matossian (05:44):
Torrance not east la It’s Paul. Wait, what did I say about East LA Oh, oh, oh. Or take it. Wow. Sarah, Sarah knows her <laugh>, her UFC fighters. All right, fine. Whatever. God, I had to take a piss so bad. And I was driving down from San Francisco to Newport to the California hormones palace on the beach. And I was gonna, and I was like, Hey, find a McDonald’s or a Starbucks. And we pulled off the road in East LA and I just got right back on the freeway. Holy shit. I can’t even believe humans live like that. Did
JR Howell (06:14):
You have that sweater on?
Sevan Matossian (06:16):
I did.
JR Howell (06:17):
I bet that only helped matters.
Sevan Matossian (06:19):
Oh my goodness. I got that outta the gains box. And I, and I was gonna throw it away and I wore it once, and now I’ve worn it like 20 times from the last gains box. It’s so nice.
JR Howell (06:30):
It’s perfect for this time of year.
Sevan Matossian (06:32):
Yeah, thank you. Uh, agree with you. Sev on, but can you believe him on all the other stuff? So that’s the thing. What if you watch, if you go watch Hiller’s most recent video, he goes through all the emails and line by line and, and shows you all the, the stuff that, it’s not like we’re just highlighting it, right? Uh, we’re just highlighting the fact that he said that he was, um, trying to figure out what steroids to take to get rid of his back fat. But Hiller goes through line by line and you can see, well, you, you can choose for yourself. Check it out. It’s his most recent video. Uh, that’s actually the first thing I thought. Does he actually sleep on wood? So, good thing I’m from Northeast LA
JR Howell (07:17):
Huh?
Sevan Matossian (07:19):
Thank you. Thank you. It’s awesome. Here. I’m glad to be back in the, in my Southern California studio. It is a Starbucks cup. It is. Um, it is not Starbucks in it, it is Paper Street Coffee. I brought my own Paper Street Coffee, but on the drive down, I had a Starbucks cup because I, I did stop at Starbucks. And so I apologize, I you
Taylor Self (07:39):
Bring your bag of beans inside and be like, Hey, can you fucking make this coffee for me?
Sevan Matossian (07:43):
<laugh>, that would’ve been awesome. Uh, how about Lipson? Getting pancreatis? Dude, I’m so, I’m so, I’m really scared for him. I think that’s some serious shit. He’s
Taylor Self (07:54):
A good guy too. He’s a really nice dude.
Sevan Matossian (07:56):
Yeah, he is a great guy. Um, I, I wanna start with a question you guys probably aren’t expecting. Uh, I think it’s just a few hours away. Are we just a few hours away from the Dubai Fitness Championship starting? Yeah,
JR Howell (08:10):
It’s gonna start here in a couple hours. I believe.
Sevan Matossian (08:13):
I’m gonna ask you a question. It’s not a trick question at all, but, but I I think it’s a little bit out of left field. Why do you think people put on events
Taylor Self (08:22):
In, in short, maybe ego a little bit. Not necessarily in a bad way, but you think you can do something great and put on a good show. You think that you can do that. And if you have the resources and the athletes that wanna do it, you do it.
Sevan Matossian (08:34):
I just, Jethro, I just did, uh, a hundred. I, I was feeling like shit, I got outta the car. I did a hundred burpees, jumped in the shower, kissed my wife, and here I am. That’s why I look like this. Um, well, but gimme, gimme, gimme another word for ego. What’s another word? Cuz that does have like negative connotation.
Taylor Self (08:56):
Hmm. I’m trying to think of a word. I mean,
Sevan Matossian (08:58):
You’re inspired, you’re inspired by other events also, right?
Taylor Self (09:02):
You think that you can do a good job and that is your ego, but doesn’t mean it’s untrue. Right? And it doesn’t mean it’s a bad thing.
JR Howell (09:10):
I would say that probably all of us, any of any person that’s ever put on a exercise race competition or CrossFit competition has at one point just been inspired by the CrossFit games. And then outside of that, it’s all motivation. So it’s all intrinsic. It all has to come from within. I, I can speak for myself and just say that the reason why I started to do it was just because I wanted to see if I could, it was a challenge. And then after that, it was easily just to give athletes opportunities to compete,
Sevan Matossian (09:39):
Confidence, desire, and purpose. And, and, and so there, there’s these events out there. We just covered the Zes games. There’s Waap Palooza, um, and, and, and those are more complex, right? Like we all know Dylan, he’s a amazing guy, but it’s, but he’s um, the big cog in the wheel, right? He’s the, he, he is the vice president of, of Sport Loud live the same way Matt o Keith was. We know that, uh, Justin Berg and Adrian are just cogs in that CrossFit games, uh, wheel. And, and then there’s people like you and j and that’s in no way negative. Um, but they do it cuz they’ve probably found a job that pays that also that they love. So they get to mix those passions. But then there’s people who, like you put on the Charlotte classic Ellos games, uh, uh, um, uh, the crash crucible where there’s, or, or, or look at even, uh, uh, I think his name’s Wilson Tang, the guy who puts on the two semifinals, I mean, just fucking crazy, right? Puts his ass out on the line and there’s like, what’s in it for him other than just love, right? Of, of doing it. And, and maybe like the, the pride and the ego of accomplishing it.
Taylor Self (10:42):
Yeah, I think, yeah, I, I definitely, maybe, maybe, I don’t know, pride. I don’t, I don’t know that I felt much pride after my event or it’s not some huge event, but I feel happy and fulfilled that we did a good job. I think the reason I wanted to start it is because I was very frustrated with events that were happening that didn’t, didn’t play out or weren’t executed the way I thought a good event should be. And I thought it was just underwhelming as an athlete to go to these, you know, competitions. Whether they be local ones or really big ones that just in my opinion, weren’t that great, weren’t run very well. Workouts weren’t great. You leave, you know, with, with more to be desired on how the volunteers treated you or, or how the volunteers were treated by the event staff. Um, anywhere from, okay, this person’s judging 10 workouts straight in a day or they get rest and are getting paid and can tell that they’re doing a good job. And our, our our sharp versus are they just getting their dicks run into the dirt? Um,
Sevan Matossian (11:42):
Uh, correction by the way, it’s Wilson Pack, not Wilson Tang, maybe Wilson Tang’s the guy I used to work with at hq, who’s also an amazing guy. Um, and then, and then Liz says, and I think both of you definitely this is it for both of you guys. I think you, there’s a, at least a sprinkle this, you get to put your own taste into it. You guys are eager to test your programming skills in a live event.
Taylor Self (12:03):
Yeah, I def I definitely get off on that. Uh, cuz I think I can do a really good job doing it. And it’s, it’s fulfilling to watch it play out and excite other people. The athletes won, but you know, the spectators as well. Cuz the sport’s not gonna grow without that. And I think a lot of people miss that. Part of it’s are you, are you creating something that’s exciting for people to go and watch? Like a local competition has the potential to be so fucking exciting for people who just don’t, might not even know what CrossFit is, a family member who’s going to watch their kid or brother and you have this opportunity to make it so freaking cool or totally dumb.
Sevan Matossian (12:42):
Uh, vindicate Charlotte Classic was one of the most well run comps I’ve ever been to. Kept the events moving most I’ve been to always run behind schedule. I
Taylor Self (12:51):
Take pride in that. I’m very punctual.
Sevan Matossian (12:54):
Uh, paper Street Coffee. Taylor did an amazing job with this comp, so
Taylor Self (12:59):
JR helped me a lot and he gave me the flu in the process.
Sevan Matossian (13:03):
Nice.
Taylor Self (13:04):
<laugh>,
Sevan Matossian (13:06):
He’s a, he’s a giver, not a taker. Let the Dubai coverage begin. Anyone on the team out there? Not sure if I missed that info. Uh uh, no. Uh, yes. No. Yeah, maybe. Um,
(13:18):
So here’s the thing that inspired that loaded question. I know. What wouldn’t you want, you wouldn’t throw a competition in a vacuum. Like an important part of creating art is creating it for the spectator. That’s where the ego is, right? Like we do, I wouldn’t do this podcast if I, if I knew no one would ever see it. I just would not. And I just am always surprised at the lack of collaboration with the event. And I’ll throw you two in there too. I don’t think you guys used me very well to promote your events. I I’m just surprised at the lack of collaboration from these people who throw these events. You two included Dubai that don’t reach out to try to get more publicity. Is it because you guys are just run so thin? Or
Taylor Self (14:10):
I would say in me and Jr’s case, to me it’s more of maybe not necessarily being run so thin, but nervous to ask you for that. Not in a negative way, but like, I don’t wanna waste your time with that. And maybe that’s,
Sevan Matossian (14:24):
I think it’s a
JR Howell (14:24):
Hundred percent pride in ego that we don’t want to ask for help.
Taylor Self (14:28):
Yeah. But but not in like a way where like, oh, well we don’t need the help. That’s not what I’m thinking. I’m not thinking I don’t need the help. I’m just thinking, ah, I already ask you for so much and you’ve given me so much. It’s tough for me to be like, Hey, do this for me and maybe you’re, that’s wrong with me and I should ask that in the future.
Sevan Matossian (14:47):
Well, it’s funny you say pride and ego because I think that’s why the CrossFit, well, I’ll leave, leave the CrossFit games alone, but I just can’t believe So there’s an event starting in a couple hours where these guys are gonna run up a staircase
Taylor Self (15:00):
<laugh>,
Sevan Matossian (15:01):
Right? And biggest one of
JR Howell (15:04):
The world
Sevan Matossian (15:04):
Biggest staircase in the world. It is. And
Taylor Self (15:06):
It looks like the staircase of a Best Western. Let me tell you, if you watch the fucking videos, <laugh>,
Sevan Matossian (15:12):
Why, why wouldn’t these guys reach out and, and and, and let us cover this for them. This would be so easy to cover. You just have 10 people on the stairwell with iPhones every, every 10 floors.
(15:29):
I, I and, and I, and I can’t even find where to link to their shows if I go to their YouTube channel here. Uh, I, I don’t even know where the live, like I click this live tab and they don’t even have the, and and maybe the Prince is a different category. Maybe the prince is in a whole different category. Maybe he actually just doesn’t give a shit about people watching his event. But this is an amazing event with a lot of energy and time put into it. Why not? Why not do more, uh, promotion may, maybe it’s, I’m just full of myself, but I would’ve loved to participate and help promote this on, on a grander level.
Taylor Self (16:04):
Oh wow. This according to Brian morning chalk ups, the official media partner. So maybe they, they can’t, I don’t know.
Sevan Matossian (16:12):
I think they were the official media partner for zealous games too, weren’t they? Or something like that. They were somehow involved. We were told that they were gonna stream our, our broadcast Anyway, just a thought like, hey,
Taylor Self (16:25):
No, I think events like me and jrs need more publicity and we shouldn’t be such pussies about asking for it.
Sevan Matossian (16:30):
Yeah. What’s the worst I could say? Are you, I just start laughing.
Taylor Self (16:34):
<laugh>. Yeah, that would be the worst <laugh>.
Sevan Matossian (16:39):
All right. Uh, I don’t know exactly what time this show starts. Uh, hopefully we’ll get some of this information here. But it says Friday, December 2nd on this post that you are about to see. This is, uh, event one. Burge Kalie Challenge. Is that, is that, that’s the name of the giant building that’s is that the world’s tallest
Taylor Self (16:59):
Building. I’m calling it the Burge run.
Sevan Matossian (17:01):
The Burge Run run up the Burge Kalief 160 floors with a weight vest on seven kilograms for women, 10 kilograms for men. This sounds absolutely brutal.
Taylor Self (17:12):
I love it in theory. I
Sevan Matossian (17:14):
Love it. Me too. Uh, any any, any thoughts on this? Uh, you wanna start off JR?
JR Howell (17:20):
Yeah, I think this is really classic Dubai. I think something that h WPO has kind of been given the reigns on, but still trying to hold true to is to use Dubai in its landscape to do some sort of different, very unique offsite event away from the venue that most of the events are held at. So in a year they did, you know, a eight K desert run in a vest. They’ve done just a traditional 4k. They’ve done hang kettleball snatches and kettle thrusters into a 350 meter ocean swim with a rest, and then an 800 meter air runner into another 350 meter ocean swim. So they’ve went, they’ve used open water, they’ve used, um, indoor ski center with a ski u and a run up a ski slope, you know, which is really cool.
Sevan Matossian (18:09):
In the desert, in the middle of the desert, you had to run up a, a, a ski slope that was ice and snow on it.
JR Howell (18:15):
So this is really Dubai like to its core to do something like this, something different. Something
Taylor Self (18:20):
Question for e Jr do you think this was h Wpo o’s idea to run the Burge? Do you think that was something that the Crown Prince or maybe, uh, the event directors of Dubai took to H W P and said, Hey, make this an event?
JR Howell (18:32):
I think it, I think it would be too coincidental, foolish, irresponsible to think that the guy that’s been telling people for years that a StairMaster is an amazing workout gets to program the ultimate StairMaster workout.
Sevan Matossian (18:49):
Uh, I’m gonna, I’m gonna check this, uh, really quick and see is this the tallest building in the world, what
Taylor Self (18:57):
It was at one
Sevan Matossian (18:57):
Point. What a cool thing for the athletes to be able to say that they did an event where they ran up the staircase of this, uh, building.
JR Howell (19:06):
Yeah, Brian Spin did a Instagram live today where he had a competitive stair climber on it and said that like, this would be a bucket list place for them just to come see if they could do it. That they, there’s never been a competition here. This
Sevan Matossian (19:20):
One, tell me more. Is that on the barbell spin?
JR Howell (19:23):
Uh, it was on his Instagram live. It’s, it’s probably on his YouTube now. If he’s in the comments, I’m sure he can let us know where to find it. The interview, uh,
Sevan Matossian (19:30):
The Khalifa Tower known as the Burge Dubai prior to its Inaug inauguration in 2010 is a skyscraper in Dubai. It’s known for being the world’s tallest building with the total height of 829.8 meters, 2,722 feet, just over a half a mile.
Taylor Self (19:48):
It’s a half a mile up. That’s fucked. Yeah. So it’s just, wow. Yeah, the distance is a lot. They’re covering a lot of distance.
Sevan Matossian (19:55):
So you guys like this?
Taylor Self (19:57):
I I love the workout on paper. I think some of the execution things I’m unsure about.
Sevan Matossian (20:03):
Oh, and what, what do you mean? Just how they’re gonna run it. Like if they’re gonna let the guys go one at a time, spaced out by 30 seconds with chips or if it’s gonna be a, a, a star, uh, all man start, all woman start or what, what are you talking about? The,
Taylor Self (20:15):
According, according to sources, it’s a two minute delay start per athlete with chip timers. And I don’t love, I don’t like that, um, to mince my words. I really don’t like that. I feel like there’s a lack of creativity there. And if I were doing the event, I would think about maybe running like a 10 story or a 15 story time trial or qualifier for athletes to run. And then you group them in sets of two to five or three to five athletes and release them in heats of three to five, five and let them, let them let the fastest start, let the next fastest group go next. And if you sucked in the qualifier and you can pass people, then that’ll show at the end of the race. Um,
JR Howell (20:56):
So I think what they did is they actually used the qualifier for the competition to determine start times for later today. So whoever qualified for this competition in the last position starts and then they go up the leaderboard that way. Maybe the last, so the top qualifier going into the competition gets to start last,
Taylor Self (21:19):
But that has no,
JR Howell (21:20):
Which, which it doesn’t seem like it would have much of an advantage because you have those two minutes in between. What, what I would push back and maybe say is that you think about how mentally grueling a workout like this is gonna be. What’s more mentally grueling than starting by yourself, two minutes in front of someone else and two minutes behind someone else. You may go 15 minutes without seeing one person, or you may get passed by one person. What does that do to you mentally? Does it create a game in your head where you’re like, Hey, if I can see someone I need to pass them or if I can feel someone coming up on me, I can’t let them pass me.
Taylor Self (21:55):
Right. I just think it’s better for a spectacle or a potential spectacle to start them in clusters. I think, I don’t think there’s much danger involved. I think a hierarchy happens after the first couple of turns, and that’s part of what makes racing fun. If you go watch Formula one, watching the fucking start is sick. Cuz you know some crashes are gonna happen. Uh, and you know, the most passes are gonna happen and once the athletes sorted out, then the fastest move to the front and the slowest fall off. And whether or not the slowest guy starts in bull position or not doesn’t really matter at the end of the race, the fastest guy’s gonna win. So I, I just think that running a 10 or 15 story qualifier, like the the online qualifier has no bearing on whether you can run the Burch Khalifa fastest. You might be fit, but are you a good runner for, you know, 160 stories? The the cleaning jerk burpee workout doesn’t, uh, translate directly to that. So I think if they ran a 10 or a 15 story pre-race qualifier and the fastest three are gonna be released at the same time together, then the next fastest three,
Sevan Matossian (22:54):
Why not just release them all at the same time? Let ’em fight at the front
Taylor Self (22:57):
<laugh>. I think that would, that would probably be, that would be exciting, but it would be like fucking injuries everywhere. People pulling hair, fucking yanking people down the stairs. It’s stuff like that.
Sevan Matossian (23:08):
It’s 2,909 stairs.
Taylor Self (23:12):
That’s a lot. It’ll sort itself out eventually, but I just don’t think the excitement is there with one guy starting in a two minute delay one by one by one by one.
Sevan Matossian (23:23):
Oh, and we are gonna see people get past, right? For
Taylor Self (23:26):
Sure. Absolutely. It’s probably gonna be a 30 to 40 minute workout and people are gonna get past
Sevan Matossian (23:31):
And, and everyone’s gonna be sore, right? We may, we may see some people are gonna be broken, there’s gonna be wires on them. Whatever those wires are that are behind your knee, those two things that you can just feel behind your knee, I dunno what those are, those things are, are gonna be tight.
Taylor Self (23:47):
I this is the thing. You, you have someone who could potentially could start first and then someone who starts 15th and the 15th person could run the fastest time of anyone and never see the first place person. The first place person still finishes first. And I just don’t like that. I like the people who have the potential to go fastest start first and then you’re in a cluster with two other or three other guys or girls that you know, can run fast too. And now you guys are pushing each other the whole race. You’re,
JR Howell (24:15):
One thing I would say about a time trial is that unless you run the entirety of this, you can’t get a feel for house, how much it’s gonna take, its toll and how much you’re gonna potentially slow down or be able to maintain or even speed up at the
Taylor Self (24:30):
End, right? But this is where strategy for actual racing comes in hand. If you’re gonna be the slowest guy in the pack, do you really wanna start with the fastest four guys and fuck yourself royally by trying to keep up with them for the first five flights? Like, is that really gonna benefit you? So if you’re a slow run and at the same time, if you’re the slowest in the pack, are you really gonna be able to run the 10 story time trial or the 15 story time trial faster than the fastest guy in the pack? I mean there there is an element of, okay, nothing’s gonna be perfect, but I just think that that is better than starting one person at a time. Just my personal opinion by
JR Howell (25:04):
Way. Yeah, there’s a, yeah, there’s a ton. There’s a ton of factors that are gonna come into play here. I think Brian wrote in his article, there is no air conditioning in that. So if it’s just a bunch of dry heat, the higher you go just breathing in general and being used to that kind of change in altitude. I mean, think about that 800 meters in the air from the bottom to the top, there’s gonna be a big change in, in ventilation. There’s gonna be, you know, the weight vest is really gonna come into play, not just in your lower back, but probably in your breathing as well. Anyone who’s done a lot of work in the vest knows it just gets harder to breathe the longer the workout gets. Who
Taylor Self (25:37):
Is this guy?
Sevan Matossian (25:38):
That’s the crown prince?
Taylor Self (25:40):
Oh, how many do they have? Is it just one?
Sevan Matossian (25:42):
I don’t know, but he, uh, faz every picture has a story and every story has a moment that I’d love to share with you. Thanks. And enjoy 15 million followers, 2,400 posts. I think this guy is the reason there is the event. He’s the sponsor. Um, I think he, he’s what brings, uh, CrossFit to, uh, Dubai. I think that this workout, the only thing that I can think is comparable to this that I’ve ever seen is the, uh, half marathon row at the games. I think this is gonna be really, really bad.
Taylor Self (26:17):
Like what do you mean bad? Like hard on the athletes or boring?
Sevan Matossian (26:21):
Uh, uh, I think it, uh, I think it’s gonna be not, not, I don’t know about boring, but, but specifically on their bodies, I think they’re gonna feel some stuff that’s so unique, uh, some tightness that’s so unique that they’ve never felt before.
Taylor Self (26:34):
I think this will crush people more than the half marathon row without a doubt. Yeah, I think it’ll take a bigger toll on the body.
Sevan Matossian (26:41):
I mean, can you think of anything else? I mean mean this, this is gonna be horrible, right? What, I mean, can you think of any, any event at any semi-final games, anything that’s, that’s like this?
JR Howell (26:51):
I don’t know. Pendleton one and two seem to leave a pretty, pretty big
Taylor Self (26:54):
And apparently the first event of Rogue, the trail run,
Sevan Matossian (27:00):
I don’t know. I don’t,
Taylor Self (27:02):
But that’s not something that athletes aren’t used to. I think this does have the potential to just catch a lot of people off guard.
Sevan Matossian (27:09):
Any injuries on this?
Taylor Self (27:14):
No, I bet you, I bet you get some savage doms though from people who are not used to running bleachers.
Sevan Matossian (27:19):
Yes,
Taylor Self (27:20):
Savage calves and ankles and they’re soest in the back of their legs is gonna be really messed up. Beat up hips too. Your hips flex the whole time.
Sevan Matossian (27:29):
A any thoughts when you saw this where you’re like, oh, so and so’s gonna crush this? Or, or is it, is it like the row you just, you just can’t know, you don’t know what’s gonna happen after the 50th floor?
JR Howell (27:38):
Yeah, I think this is, I think the, the uncertainty, the, the unknown element of this, because this isn’t something that people have trained for. Most people don’t say, Hey, I’m gonna go climb a bunch of steps and learn how to cadence my hands on the rails with my cadence of my steps. No one, no one does that.
Taylor Self (27:56):
And I also don’t even think that Chad a thousand times is, is even close to this either. You just get so much of a rest on the eccentric. There’s no eccentric here. It’s all concentric motion. There’s no eccentric motion. It is 160 floors and 800 meters straight up of concentric contraction. There’s no, there’s just no downward, there’s no negative.
Sevan Matossian (28:16):
Let’s talk about
Taylor Self (28:17):
Feeling,
Sevan Matossian (28:18):
Let’s talk about the weight vest and, and the rules. Are there any rules? Can you not grab the railing? I’m, I’m assuming that there’s no rules in there once you’re in there because to make, there are some rules, judge. There
JR Howell (28:29):
Are some, there are some rules. Yeah. So apparently this place is almost like, um, like a sacred monument and there has to be a certain level of respect when you’re in it. So because of that, you can’t bring water. You have to let people pass. So if someone’s coming up on you, you have to lead to them.
Taylor Self (28:45):
No water. Fuck you. <laugh>. Can I tell a story? Real? I gotta tell a story real quick.
Sevan Matossian (28:51):
Please, please.
Taylor Self (28:52):
This kid joined our gym, um, and we were doing murf like a couple weeks after he joined our gym. He’d been doing cross for like fucking six years. Uh, he was my old roommate and we’re doing Murf and its hot as fuck outside. And Andy and like all the other guys who had just finished are like sitting on the bleacher, um, like watching the next group go. And this kid is doing his pushups and he looks up at me with his face, he’s like, Hey, could you gimme some water? And I’m the class and I look at Andy and Andy’s like, you better not get him any fucking water <laugh>. I ended up going and getting him water. But that’s funny. It reminded me of that. No fucking water bitches.
Sevan Matossian (29:29):
Uh, I I, if they would’ve allowed water, do you think people would’ve taken water with them?
Taylor Self (29:32):
For sure. I don’t think it matters that much. It’s 40 minutes. You’re not gonna dehydrate don’t be a pussy
Sevan Matossian (29:37):
And, and and passing. Really. So you, you have to, I wonder what that looks like. You have to let someone pass, basically. You can’t push someone back. Well, you just have to be a past guy if you’re, yeah. You
JR Howell (29:48):
Can’t, well you think like if your wing span is, is wide enough to grab both rails, you could just, you could just keep walking slowly and not let them, not let them around. Well,
Sevan Matossian (29:57):
It’s like form. It’s like, I mean it’s like racing and.
The above transcript is generated using AI technology and therefore may contain errors.
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