Sevan Matossian (00:00):
Seven. And they’re bummed. They missed the beginning. Bam. We’re live.
Cat Scherer (00:03):
<laugh>. Let’s talk about something really good then. Real fast. So they mess up.
Sevan Matossian (00:06):
Yeah. Yeah. The best part of the show. Hi. Good to finally meet you. Hi. Have you ever met in person? No. Yeah, I didn’t think so, but I feel like I know you.
Cat Scherer (00:15):
Same.
Sevan Matossian (00:16):
Oh, good. Cheers. Cheers. Are you at the affiliate CrossFit Clarity?
Cat Scherer (00:20):
I am. Yep.
Sevan Matossian (00:21):
Have you already taught a class this morning? I’ve
Cat Scherer (00:24):
Taught two classes this morning.
Sevan Matossian (00:25):
Oh my God. It always trips me. Ha. Have and and what time is, uh, for Caleb? Who knows what time it is? <laugh>, but, uh, but, um, I always trip out when I talk to Susie. He’s in the same time zone as me. Yeah. And I’ll call him at eight 30 and he’s already, you know, taught Yeah. One or two classes. I’m like, are you,
Cat Scherer (00:42):
We, we have a five 15, a six 30, a 7 45 and a 9:00 AM So I go four in a row.
Sevan Matossian (00:47):
How old’s the gym? Four in a row.
Cat Scherer (00:50):
Yeah.
Sevan Matossian (00:52):
Wow. When did you say the first one was? Five 15. Five
Cat Scherer (00:55):
15.
Sevan Matossian (00:56):
And why not five? Why not five 30?
Cat Scherer (01:00):
I don’t know.
Sevan Matossian (01:01):
All right.
Cat Scherer (01:02):
Just seem like a good time.
Sevan Matossian (01:03):
Yeah. You get up at five and that gives you 15 minutes to get over
Cat Scherer (01:06):
<laugh>. I get up at 4 26.
Sevan Matossian (01:08):
Hey, are more people late to the first class than any other class? Cuz it’s so early. And then as the classes go on, people fewer and fewer tardy people.
Cat Scherer (01:17):
No, um, everyone that comes to all of my classes comes about two minutes late to every single one of them.
Sevan Matossian (01:22):
<laugh>. And why?
Cat Scherer (01:23):
Maybe two people
Sevan Matossian (01:24):
And you?
Cat Scherer (01:26):
I’m, I mean, I’m always early, so.
Sevan Matossian (01:28):
Oh, always. Oh. Why do they do that?
Cat Scherer (01:31):
I have no idea.
Sevan Matossian (01:32):
<laugh>. And, and what do your clients look like? Who, who are they? Like what’s the, uh, uh, mom’s, dad’s, uh, workers, uh, kids. The
Cat Scherer (01:41):
Average age is about 45. We
Sevan Matossian (01:44):
Have about And is that normal? That sounds normal for a gym. Is that, is that normal?
Cat Scherer (01:48):
Not for gyms around here, I
Sevan Matossian (01:49):
Don’t think. Okay. Young, younger, normally.
Cat Scherer (01:51):
Yeah. Younger. Way more competitive.
Sevan Matossian (01:55):
Oh,
Cat Scherer (01:57):
Yeah. This, this is the <laugh>. This is really the place where people that would never think of doing CrossFit or doing CrossFit, and that I made it that way on purpose.
Sevan Matossian (02:07):
And, and how did you do that?
Cat Scherer (02:09):
Um, I just worked at a lot of different CrossFit gyms in the state and saw programming that I didn’t like. Um, saw operating systems that I didn’t like and I wanted to do it all my way. And I couldn’t do it my way when I didn’t own the gym, so I’d open up my own.
Sevan Matossian (02:27):
So the programming you think attracts that, um, group of people, that demographic?
Cat Scherer (02:32):
Um, I think the community attracts it. The programming sort of solidifies it. I’ve learned over time that programming doesn’t matter all that much, even though it’s a sword. I like to fall on a lot. <laugh>. Um, it’s, it’s, yeah, it’s very hard to coach a class with someone else’s programming that you don’t agree with. Mm. And you have to be all, yeah, this is what we’re gonna do. I know we did this eight times yesterday, but we’re gonna do it again today and then we’re gonna do it again tomorrow and try not to let your shoulders fall apart. You know, that kind of thing. Um, that’s really hard to get up in front of a class and sort of do that. And I don’t, I have a shitty poker face, so <laugh>, I don’t do that very well.
Sevan Matossian (03:14):
Um, when you say that’s the sword, you fall in a lot, meaning, uh, when you talk about other people’s programming, it, it become, it can become contentious.
Cat Scherer (03:22):
Yeah. A little bit. And I, and I’ve learned that again, from people that are way smarter than me and way more experienced in CrossFit, that it doesn’t matter necessarily, but for some reason, for me, I, I get worked up about it a lot.
Sevan Matossian (03:34):
Yeah. Th um, th those make, uh, good media people. Those are the, my, uh, yeah. Yeah. That’s why, uh, Taylor’s so good on the show cuz he gets really, uh, spun up and, and, and worked up about it. Um, how, how, how long have you had your gym?
Cat Scherer (03:49):
We’ve been in this location since January of last year, uh, of this year.
Sevan Matossian (03:54):
Oh, wow. Brand, brand new. Yeah. Holy cow.
Cat Scherer (03:59):
I affiliated in May of 2020.
Sevan Matossian (04:03):
Oh my goodness. Yeah. So, so, uh, you weren’t afraid gyms were closed everywhere and you’re like, Hey, I’m opening a gym.
Cat Scherer (04:10):
Well, I was already open, so I opened in April of 2018 in my garage.
Sevan Matossian (04:15):
Okay.
Cat Scherer (04:16):
Um, left my cushy six figure salary job to start this crazy lifestyle. And, um, had about five clients and didn’t have $3,000 to affiliate. So I just called our Business Catalyst Fitness. And we did that for about two years.
Sevan Matossian (04:33):
And I was Oh, okay.
Cat Scherer (04:35):
Training people in CrossFit and I was going for my level three, so I had to maintain hours at a CrossFit affiliate, which is why I worked at a bunch of different affiliates in the area. Um,
Sevan Matossian (04:48):
Wait, to get your level three, you have to be teaching at a CrossFit affiliate. You can’t be teaching CrossFit at a non CrossFit affiliate.
Cat Scherer (04:55):
Correct. You have to maintain 750 hours of coaching hours at an affiliate each three year period when new.
Sevan Matossian (05:04):
I never knew that. That, uh, that doesn’t make sense to me. Can you explain, do, does it make sense to you? Like why couldn’t, as I recall, the rule is, and, and I think this is like basically straight outta Greg’s mouth. The rule is you can teach CrossFit all you want. Once you get your level one, you just can’t call it, um, uh, CrossFit. You can’t advertise it at CrossFit. What affiliating allows you to do is allows you to take an ad out in the paper and say, Hey, I’m teaching a CrossFit class. Right? But you can take the level one and still teach all the CrossFit you want. You just can’t call it that.
Cat Scherer (05:35):
Right. But the requirement for the level three is you have to coach CrossFit 750 hours of CrossFit.
Sevan Matossian (05:41):
Yeah. That doesn’t make it, that doesn’t make any sense to me.
Cat Scherer (05:45):
Thems is the rules. I don’t know. I’m just a rule follower.
Sevan Matossian (05:48):
Yeah. I I I don’t, does it make sense to you? Can you explain it to me?
Cat Scherer (05:52):
I mean,
Sevan Matossian (05:53):
O other than the fact that you’re trying to force people to pay the affiliate fee, but it doesn’t make sense to me if you’re getting in the practice. You’re getting in the practice.
Cat Scherer (06:01):
Yeah, but I think the, the philosophy is you, you’re not coaching CrossFit and calling it CrossFit unless you’re at an affiliate. So, I mean, it, it wasn’t a big deal for me. I,
Sevan Matossian (06:11):
No, no, no. I know you’re not, I know you’re not complaining. I’m com Yeah. I I I just don’t get it. Like, so let’s say I’m a bootcamp instructor and I see this thing called CrossFit and I’m really excited about it and I want, and I have a really strong, um, uh, you know, it’s sev Chevon’s bootcamp, right? And I have 60 clients who come there every day and then I go take my L one because I’m like, man, this CrossFit thing’s amazing. And I go take my L one and I learn a ton of great shit and I start incorporating that shit into my boot, my Chevon’s bootcamp. But then I can’t take my level three unless I’m teaching at a specific, uh, facility. I, I just, I just don’t get it. I would need, I feel like I need, that explained to me, what, what if I’ve already taken my level one and my level two and I’m like, and I watch all the videos and I read the journal. Um, at that point it sounds like it’s just a money grab. How many hours do you need to teach a year at a CrossFit
Cat Scherer (07:00):
Affiliate? I think it’s seven 50 to apply for the level
Sevan Matossian (07:03):
Three. Oh, in total. It doesn’t need to be a year In total. You have to
Cat Scherer (07:06):
Have seven 50 and then every three years when you renew, you have to attest to another 750 hours every three years. Which, you know, if you’re a full-time coach, that’s nothing.
Sevan Matossian (07:15):
So let’s say you teach 30 hours a week, um, 40 weeks a year. That gets you to 12, is that right? 30 times 40 is 1200. That gets you to 1200. Yes. Oh yeah. Here we go. Here we see how, how does anyone not have a Caleb? Um, uh, age cans must be 18 years old. Current CrossFit level 2, 750 hours coaching CrossFit groups or individuals? Oh, maybe you don’t have to be an an affiliate.
Cat Scherer (07:42):
I mean, you have to, there’s a signup, there’s a, there’s a log you have to fill out and it says where you coached and you need to give a name of somebody to verify that you coached those hours. So maybe I just made a bad assumption and then it had to be in a CrossFit gym. I don’t know.
Sevan Matossian (07:56):
Hey, let, let me see. Let go back to the other thing where it said 15. What, what’s it say? Fif uh, 1500 hours of active strength and conditioning coaching at a collegiate or professional
Cat Scherer (08:07):
Level’s. That’s a different path. That’s
Sevan Matossian (08:08):
To get Oh, path too.
Cat Scherer (08:10):
Okay. Single. The C F F T thing.
Sevan Matossian (08:13):
Okay.
Cat Scherer (08:14):
C C F T.
Sevan Matossian (08:16):
Okay. So you opened, um, the g um, was that crazy? Quitting your job to teach CrossFit?
Cat Scherer (08:20):
Yeah, <laugh>. Yeah. It was really crazy. Um, what was crazier was that, um, it wasn’t like, it wasn’t like I was a school teacher and my husband was this like executive guy, you know, we made the same amount of money, <laugh> both of us. So when I quit, it was like half of our income gone.
Sevan Matossian (08:40):
Um, was he like, yo girl, what are you
Cat Scherer (08:42):
Doing? I mean, yeah, he was really, he was like, I hope you know what you’re doing. Cuz you know, the other piece of it is like, traditional marketing that you think about doesn’t really work with CrossFit, you know, he was like, why aren’t you putting an ad in the newspaper? And why, why don’t you, why aren’t you in the Yellow Pages? And I’m like, doesn’t work that way, you know, don’t worry, we’ll be fine. Uh, yeah. So I started in the garage and, uh, did that for a couple years. Outgrew it, signed a letter of intent on a 3000 square foot space on March 14th, 2020 <laugh>. Um, that was right before the world shut down. And, uh, luckily got out of that backpedaled a little bit and just stuck in the garage through the pandemic, which was the best thing I could have ever done because I was a home-based business. I, we had no rules and everybody came and worked out in my gym.
Sevan Matossian (09:28):
Did anyone ever call the cops on you? No. Oh, that is awesome. And you’re in Delaware? Mm-hmm. <affirmative>. That’s so weird. I, I, I know, I know that. And every time I just can’t, I can’t believe Delaware’s a state. Right. It’s just so far away from me. It’s, it, it’s like all those states up there, all those little states up there, I just don’t like, they’re just storybook shit to me. Maine <laugh>. Even though I’ve been to Maine, but like Maine. Have you been to Maine? Caleb? Have you been to Maine Kat?
Cat Scherer (09:56):
I have, yeah. My best friend lived in Maine for a while. She, uh, had a baby shower in Delaware that she could not come to because she was on bedrest. So we like video, chatted her in, and then the next day I put all of her presents in my car and drove up to Maine to give her her presents
Sevan Matossian (10:11):
A baby shower without, say that again, Kayla. It’s beautiful up there. Yeah. Um, so a baby shower without the lady who’s pregnant. Yeah,
Cat Scherer (10:23):
She was on bedrest. She couldn’t travel.
Sevan Matossian (10:25):
I could have never been done pre Zoom technology.
Cat Scherer (10:28):
Oh, this, oh no, this was 20 years ago. I don’t, it wasn’t Zoom. I don’t know what we did, but she called in and
Sevan Matossian (10:32):
Oh, and the, there probably it wasn’t, there probably wasn’t FaceTime either. Just audio.
Cat Scherer (10:37):
Yeah. I don’t know
Sevan Matossian (10:38):
What it worked. Speakerphone. You probably had like a box.
Cat Scherer (10:41):
Had a bag phone.
Sevan Matossian (10:42):
Yeah. <laugh>. Um, uh, so you opened the, and when did you find CrossFit?
Cat Scherer (10:48):
Uh, August of 2013.
Sevan Matossian (10:50):
Wow. You even know the date.
Cat Scherer (10:53):
I sure do. It was
Sevan Matossian (10:54):
The first school. Hey, what, what, what It was the first day of school. Is that what you said? Yeah. And what was your day job?
Cat Scherer (11:00):
Um, I was a marketing executive at JP Morgan Chase.
Sevan Matossian (11:03):
Oh my goodness. So you did really did have a corporate job?
Cat Scherer (11:08):
Oh yeah.
Sevan Matossian (11:09):
Do you miss it?
Cat Scherer (11:10):
I missed the salary.
Sevan Matossian (11:12):
Right, right.
Cat Scherer (11:14):
I missed the perks. I missed all the travel. You know, I traveled so much for a couple years on my job that we, uh, we took the entire family, all four of us to Hawaii on miles and, and the hotel and the airfare was paid for on miles because I
Sevan Matossian (11:28):
Traveled so much coming work. Yeah. Yeah. I’m still using, um, my, all my Hilton honors shit from when I worked at CrossFit. Yeah. Still to this day. What
Cat Scherer (11:38):
Was great about that trip too is that, you know, when you get to Hawaii, everything’s really expensive and, uh, you know, we didn’t have to eat peanut butter and jelly when we were there. We got to actually spend some money and do some fun stuff.
Sevan Matossian (11:47):
Is that your son? Is that, that’s your son and your daughter and your husband? Yep. Oh man. What a beautiful family. Your son’s a giant. I
Cat Scherer (11:54):
Know. He’s not really, but Yeah, he’s a big kid. Old man child. 5 5 11 2 0 5.
Sevan Matossian (12:00):
And and how old’s he
Cat Scherer (12:02):
Solid? Uh, 19.
Sevan Matossian (12:03):
And how old’s your daughter?
Cat Scherer (12:05):
She’s 17.
Sevan Matossian (12:06):
Oh, you didn’t mess around either. Good, good. Two years is great. Right?
Cat Scherer (12:10):
I it would’ve been sooner. I mean, we were trying for a while after Braden was born to get pregnant again cuz I hated it so much that I just wanted to be done.
Sevan Matossian (12:17):
Oh, you didn’t like being pregnant?
Cat Scherer (12:19):
Oh my God,
Sevan Matossian (12:19):
No. Well, why didn’t you like that?
Cat Scherer (12:21):
Um, I gained like 65 pounds with Braden. He was, I had, uh, pre-eclampsia. I was on bedrest for like four weeks. I, I mean, I have a picture of myself. You would not. I’m unrecognizable. I weighed over 200 pounds a day. I delivered.
Sevan Matossian (12:36):
Wow.
Cat Scherer (12:37):
2 0 5 and I’m five two
Sevan Matossian (12:39):
<laugh>. Wow. Um, uh, what, what year was that?
Cat Scherer (12:42):
That was in 2003.
Sevan Matossian (12:44):
Okay. So 10. Oh, and, and then, and what year was your daughter born?
Cat Scherer (12:48):
2000, uh, five. Okay. To 24 months, 26 months apart.
Sevan Matossian (12:53):
So it’s August of, um, and, and were you an athlete growing up? Did you exercise? Did you play?
Cat Scherer (12:57):
I was, I was a ballerina.
Sevan Matossian (13:00):
Oh, wow. So being 200 pounds was the last thing you wanted to be.
Cat Scherer (13:04):
Yeah, that was crazy. I went to a, um, it’s funny, I heard you talking the other day about Catholic school. So I went to 12 years of like, from pre first to my junior
Sevan Matossian (13:14):
Years. Everything I think about you has changed everything I think about
Cat Scherer (13:16):
You has changed all girls Catholic school, but it was a very athletic school, so all of my friends were athletes. And because I was a dancer, I didn’t get to do the athletic stuff at school necessarily. I, I was like the professional dabbler. I did like field hockey in eighth grade. I did swimming and diving my sophomore year. I did like basketball in sixth grade. I remember my mom cried when I like bought my first pair of high tops because she was used to her little ballerina and her point shoes, you know? And she’s like, oh my God. But yeah.
Sevan Matossian (13:45):
Are you born and raised in Delaware?
Cat Scherer (13:47):
Yes.
Sevan Matossian (13:49):
And, um, uh, so a a tell me about August of 2013, how’d that happened? How your paths, uh, crossed with, uh, CrossFit.
Cat Scherer (13:56):
Yeah. So, uh, my girlfriend and I in our neighborhood were walking every morning at 5:00 AM because, uh, no one needed us at 5:00 AM Everybody was asleep. The kids didn’t have to get up yet. And we would, she lives about, mm, quarter mile away from me. I would walk to her house, we’d walk the neighborhood and come back. We’d spend an hour, we’d bitch about her husband’s talk about our kids and just bond. We did that for like a year. And, uh, nothing changed about our bodies or <laugh>, you know, our physiques. We were like, what are we doing? And, uh, we met up with a girlfriend of ours who had lived in our neighborhood but had moved out and she was always really slender. Um, and we saw her and she looked different. Uh, she looked strong and we were like, what do, what’s going on?
(14:39):
What are you doing? She’s like, oh, I do this thing. It’s called CrossFit. We’re like, oh, that’s cool. Um, you know, we wanna check it out. So I called two different CrossFit gyms in my area. One did not have a 5:00 AM class, the other one did have a 5:00 AM class. And I said to my friend Mary, I said, we’re going, like, let’s just try it out. Sh And the girl that we met, it happened to be her gym that we went to. She was like a nooner. And she came to our first five 5:00 AM class with us. Wow. That’s cool. I
Sevan Matossian (15:06):
Went And that speaks volumes about the community right there, right? Oh yeah.
Cat Scherer (15:08):
That she would sacrifice her sleep Yeah. To come.
Sevan Matossian (15:11):
Yeah. And and the fact that she was so excited that, uh, two people were starting Yeah. What she loved. Yeah. It, it speaks volumes.
Cat Scherer (15:18):
And I was, I was hooked pretty much right away. I think I had like, I was three days a week for like two weeks and then I was like, screw this. I’m going unlimited. Wow. It was, it was cool.
Sevan Matossian (15:28):
And, and so you were working full-time, two kids and getting up at 5:00 AM to uh, do CrossFit.
Cat Scherer (15:34):
Yeah. And I did that for like four years. Every, every, every single morning.
Sevan Matossian (15:38):
And how quickly did you notice your body start changing the body composition?
Cat Scherer (15:41):
Um, pretty much right away. Um, I have that, I’m like a mesomorph. I build muscle really, really quickly. So things changed pretty fast. And I was, you know, I have this coordination, like I was pretty good at everything except for pulling. I still can’t pull very well <laugh>. But, uh, everything else was really easy. Came easy to
Sevan Matossian (15:59):
Me. And, and you, so you had good body awareness when they were telling you like, Hey, hips back, you could do it. You weren’t one of those people that’s like, what, where are my hips?
Cat Scherer (16:06):
Yeah, no, I knew exactly what to do once, you know, once I was informed.
Sevan Matossian (16:11):
And, uh, did you know pretty quickly that someday you’d want to teach that?
Cat Scherer (16:18):
I don’t know. I, I definitely wanted to learn as much as I could about it. And I did take the level one just wanting to consume stuff, didn’t think I really wanted to coach. But I think being in that level one seminar and seeing the people in my level one do what they did, I wanted to do what they did. I mean, I wanted to join seminar staff like right away.
Sevan Matossian (16:39):
Yeah.
Cat Scherer (16:39):
It wasn’t even, it wasn’t even about coaching. It was like, I wanna, I want their job. That is so cool. I mean, I didn’t go to lunch. I watched them work out. Like I, you know, Nicole Gordon was one of my people and I like,
Sevan Matossian (16:52):
Wow, that’s old school
Cat Scherer (16:53):
Immediately. Like, she and I have some similarities with our kids are about the same age and, you know, some life experiences that were shared. And I just like, I fell in love with all of those people.
Sevan Matossian (17:04):
Where did you do your level one?
Cat Scherer (17:06):
Um, CrossFit Morristown or Motown?
Sevan Matossian (17:09):
Oh, um, Ariana’s Gym. In, in Jersey? Yeah.
Cat Scherer (17:13):
Mm-hmm.
Sevan Matossian (17:13):
<affirmative>. Wow. Uh, do you remember who your other seminar staff were besides Kate Gordon? Uh, not what Nicole Gordon. Sorry. Nicole Gordon.
Cat Scherer (17:20):
Um, Keith Wittstein. Uh, Jason Ackerman. There was an intern there. Um, there was this guy, Greg
Sevan Matossian (17:29):
Glassman?
Cat Scherer (17:30):
No, <laugh>. Greg Ferguson. Greg somebody. He was like up from New York. Oh. And Joey deal
Sevan Matossian (17:39):
Is, is J How do I do I know that person. Joey Diehl. Is that, is that his real last name? What is it?
Cat Scherer (17:44):
Yeah, dill. D i l l Dill.
Sevan Matossian (17:46):
Oh. I don’t know who that
Cat Scherer (17:47):
Is. And you know, I could be getting my level two and my level one people mixed up because I took my level two at the same place. Um, and like Jen Hunter was, was there for that. Um,
Sevan Matossian (17:56):
Yeah, she’s awesome.
Cat Scherer (17:57):
I could get them switched around. I know Keith was definitely at my level two as well.
Sevan Matossian (18:01):
And Keith’s awesome too.
Cat Scherer (18:02):
Yeah. He’s actually come to pa to do like shoulder clinics and stuff and I’ve, I’ve taken some of those of his too. He’s a good guy.
Sevan Matossian (18:10):
It’s, it’s a, it’s a trip for me to hear these names. Um, you, you know, if you go to, there were people I went to elementary school that I graduated with in high school and I always trip, like whether I was friends with them or not. I spent 15 or 20 years of my life with them. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>, just every, you know what I mean? Like, basically every single day I’ve seen, I saw them more than I’d seen most any other people, maybe even more than my parents. And then now it’s getting like that with CrossFit. Like you’re, it’s so weird. Like, and, and now you’re, you’re at that point too. You’ve been at 10 years in the same space. So, you know, you knew people, some people when they were 10 years old who are now 20 and you know, some people who are 20 or 30 and 30 or 40 and 40 or 50. And you’re, and you see them go through these crazy, uh, transformations, right. From kid to like wife to pregnant to the communities of um, are are you a churchgoer?
Cat Scherer (19:04):
I’m not.
Sevan Matossian (19:05):
I was gonna say I, if I, I’ve never been involved in anything like CrossFit other than school. Like I’ve never even been, I’ve never been a part of a community. I didn’t play sports. I didn’t. And so for me, the whole thing is new.
Cat Scherer (19:21):
Yeah. Um, I would imagine it’s kind of like church. I mean the people that are here Yeah. Really care about each other and you know, go out of their ways, go out of their way to treat people kindly and do things for each other. It’s, it’s amazing to me the connections that are made here.
Sevan Matossian (19:37):
It really does. Right. But they’re the people who call you and text you when you least expect it,
Cat Scherer (19:41):
Right? Yeah. Or just kind things. I mean, some lady, the other day I was, we went running yesterday and there’s like salt and sand all around the parking lot because of uh, you know, the weather that we’ve been having. So like the floors are all cropped up with ice melt. And I started like sweeping up and we ended class late, early. And one of the gals was like, do you want me to help you scrub the floor? I was like, no. <laugh>. Like that’s my job. But thank you like that. Who thinks to do that?
Sevan Matossian (20:07):
Yeah. Right. You wouldn’t, you people walk by trash. I see people walk by trash all the time. Or someone who’s walking their dog who has like 200 poop bags on ’em and they walk around some other dog, someone else’s dog poop and they don’t pick it up.
Cat Scherer (20:20):
Yeah. That drives me crazy.
Sevan Matossian (20:21):
But people do care about their CrossFit gym. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>. I had a, um, an affiliate, um, near to you tell me recently call me and tell me, Hey, I’m struggling. And I said, why? And he said, because my clients care more about the gym than the employees.
Cat Scherer (20:37):
Hmm.
Sevan Matossian (20:38):
And, and I get that right. I get, um, like there’s people like that gym that you went to every morning for four years. You would’ve been so bummed in year two if they were to close. Right? Oh my gosh. It was Cause it was more to you than a gym. It was, it was like it’s part becomes part of your life.
Cat Scherer (20:52):
Yeah. It was hard to, it was hard to leave there.
Sevan Matossian (20:56):
<laugh> are, are you, do you have trouble finding, um, uh, uh, do you have any employees yet?
Cat Scherer (21:02):
Um, not really. I mean, I have a couple people that fill in for me and you know, part-time when I traveled all these semi-finals for work and everything, I, I get people to fill in. But no, not
Sevan Matossian (21:12):
Really. Do you think it would be hard to find an employee that, that that was, that you felt suited your gym?
Cat Scherer (21:18):
Um, I’ve been trying for a year and a half. Yeah. It’s hard.
Sevan Matossian (21:21):
I’m not subdued. I’m am I subdued? Seven is so subdued this morning. Is that Eric Rosa with a mask on Eric Pro Prozac. Holy shit. <laugh> Inappropriate. Inappropriate. Very. Um,
Cat Scherer (21:37):
It’s hard to find and it amazes me too cuz there’s, there’s a gym that’s, I don’t know, 25 minutes down the road and they have like 50 coaches. I’m like, how do they get all these coaches? I mean, I don’t know if they’re any good but Right. Shit ton of coaches. And I like, I’m struggling to get some, I, yeah, I don’t know.
Sevan Matossian (21:54):
And I, and I’m not taking a dig on the coaches that don’t like the place as much as the clients cuz the clients are gonna really, really love the place. But, um, it, but I, but I know that phenomenon because I take my kids’ places. Right. And it’s, um, let’s say you take your kids to a gymnastic studio and there’s, there’s five coaches there. Right. It, it’s hard once you start looking at the world that way you can see the four coaches that don’t care about your kids, what your kids are doing as much as you do. Yeah. Like, I, I hate it. Like, you, you pay, you pay to go to a CrossFit gym and those clients are there because they really wanna be there. There’s no other fucking reason to go to a CrossFit gym unless you really, really wanna be there. And so are you able to find employees who really wanna be there? And those people really care about the outcome and and, and what they’re gonna get from that class. Can you find coaches who care even more about how the cl the how the clients are gonna leave there than the clients? Right? Yeah. It’s, you’re a, um, chaperone or a docent to, uh, to, to the best hour of their day. It, it’s gotta be crazy hard.
Cat Scherer (23:04):
And I think for us, for our population of, of people members, I’d almost rather build from within. I’d rather have somebody Yes. Really excited about the methodology, you know, and send them to their level one and have them be a coach cuz they’re really invested.
Sevan Matossian (23:21):
Absolutely. That’s the thing. B But not to swerve too far off subject, but that’s, that’s the problem that they have at hq. So we had a guy at HQ come from another company. He was a CrossFitter and he started hiring people who didn’t do CrossFit when I was there. And like all of us knew, holy shit. And they started doing CrossFit, but it, it was, it was not good. Like they changed the culture. And now HQ has a ton of people, especially in high level positions who aren’t CrossFitters. Right. They haven’t drank the Kool-Aid. Yeah. It’s, um, I, the only thing I can equate it to is, um, having someone work at the church or be preaching the word of God and they don’t believe in God.
Cat Scherer (24:00):
Yeah.
Sevan Matossian (24:01):
It doesn’t make any, any, any, uh, it doesn’t make any sense. Yeah. But, but if you work at Coca-Cola, I guess if, if you come from working at Coca-Cola, I guess it’s fine if, um, you drink Pepsi <laugh>, right? It’s like, or you don’t drink soda at all, or, or you’re against obesity. Yeah. You can still drive the truck around and dump the shit off
Cat Scherer (24:23):
A And to that point, the two coaches that I do have that are, you know, part-time or whatever, neither one of them work out here.
Sevan Matossian (24:30):
They don’t mm-hmm. <affirmative>, where do they work out?
Cat Scherer (24:33):
Rarely. Um, well, one of them lives just far away. Uhhuh <affirmative>. And, and she’s had an interest. She’s been shadowing me for a while and she’s really great. And the other one, um, I think is a more competitive CrossFitter and Uhhuh, <affirmative> wants to push, wants a different kind of a push. So she goes elsewhere.
Sevan Matossian (24:49):
Um, like the, the ideal employee is someone who, um, uh, lost a hundred pounds. Like the ideal, the ideal or, or, you know, I’ll use Don as an example. Like, it’s a guy in the military who he feel like CrossFit, he found it there and CrossFit kept him sane and maybe saved his life. But, but you can’t, and, and just like the ideal pastor, I’m guessing, I I don’t go to church either, but I’m guessing the ideal pastor is someone who’s was at one point gonna try to commit suicide and he saw an angel come down next to him and be like, don’t jump motherfucker. And you’re like, wow, okay. Like this guy knows.
Cat Scherer (25:23):
Yeah.
Sevan Matossian (25:24):
He would say and and they’ll have endless energy and passion for the gig.
Cat Scherer (25:30):
Yeah. I have, I have people like that. I think they’re just intimidated to coach and that’s the part that I need to sort of get ’em over the hump
Sevan Matossian (25:37):
With. Oh, were you ever intimidated, did you do any coaching before CrossFit?
Cat Scherer (25:42):
Um, I did some teaching of ballet. Yeah. Like I was a, I was a certified American ballet theater, you know, teacher. Um, I taught kids, I, I have always been like of my friends and, and things like that. Um, like the advice giver, the person that sort of people would come to for that. So I feel like I do a good job of breaking things down and I like the challenge of trying to figure out how to make other people do what I need them to do or what they’re supposed to do. Like, I like using different cues. I like trying to figure out how to get them to move. I like it when it just doesn’t work the first time and I have to sort of figure out a different way to, to get somebody to move a certain way to me that’s really fun. And I get really excited. Like when they finally, when someone finally gets something like I ver I’m like, yay, all right. You know, like I get super excited and I’m sure they’re like, what the hell? You know? I just like,
Sevan Matossian (26:31):
Oh, they love it. Even if it makes ’em feel weird, they love it
Cat Scherer (26:33):
And it’s super genuine. Like, I really, really get excited when when it clicks for somebody, for them and for me.
Sevan Matossian (26:41):
The, uh, the, the tennis academy, my kids go to the teacher’s very serious. And the assistant teacher is this woman who’s so loving and so outgoing and she does that anytime anyone figures something out, she celebrates for them. Yeah. And it’s so good. The parents like it, the people like it, the kids, the adults, everyone loves it because it, it, it, it it, it breaks the tension and it’s great. And e everyone wants to be recognized for their success.
Cat Scherer (27:06):
Yeah. I hope so.
Sevan Matossian (27:07):
Are, are you still as passionate about it, um, now as you were, um, in 2013?
Cat Scherer (27:13):
Um, yeah, for myself not so much, but for everyone else, definitely. I mean, my fitness has fallen off <laugh> a lot. Um, just with the work that I have to do. And I’m the only coach, so I don’t get to take my own classes. Um, working out by yourself is really hard for me. I have a hard time doing it.
Sevan Matossian (27:31):
And what about age? You’re 10 years older now. Has, do you think it’s fallen off any reason because of that?
Cat Scherer (27:36):
I don’t think so. I think it’s more just my lack of practice and training.
Sevan Matossian (27:40):
And, and that’s interesting cuz your most recent post on Instagram is, um, you thanking a guy.
Cat Scherer (27:47):
Yeah.
Sevan Matossian (27:48):
Uh, I don’t know what you did. Was it it was some absurd amount of wall balls.
Cat Scherer (27:52):
Yeah, it was like a partner workout, five rounds, 50 wall balls, 30 pull-ups.
Sevan Matossian (27:56):
And so, and so when is this, is this after class this guy just stayed and worked out with you? Or this, this
Cat Scherer (28:01):
Was on Monday. So he’s a coach at a gym about, uh, 45 minutes away. And uh, his gym was closed on December 26th, the day after Christmas. And he texted me at about nine o’clock. I had one class that day at 9:00 AM He texted at nine and said, what’s the workout? And I’m like, it’s happening right now, but come and I’ll do it with you afterwards. So he showed up and we did it.
Sevan Matossian (28:21):
Oh, that is so cool. Yeah. Do you know ’em good?
Cat Scherer (28:25):
Uh, yeah, he’s actually an ex-boyfriend of mine.
Sevan Matossian (28:27):
Oh no shit. Yeah. Oh that is so cool.
Cat Scherer (28:30):
Yeah. And then he started coaching and we, now our relationship is completely consumed with CrossFit stuff. Like, we talk maybe like once every couple weeks and it’s like, Hey, I prd this, or Hey, what do you think about this workout? Or, you know, I programmed this and it’s just, yeah, it’s cool.
Sevan Matossian (28:48):
Oh yeah. That’s so awesome. It’s great to see that, that someone would come from another call you who comes from another gym knowing your gym is open.
Cat Scherer (28:56):
Yeah, we work out together maybe like four times a year, you know, just super random stuff.
Sevan Matossian (29:01):
W were you open on Christmas?
Cat Scherer (29:02):
No, that’s close. I’m never open on Sundays yet. We’re too new.
Sevan Matossian (29:05):
Gotcha.
Cat Scherer (29:06):
Uh, I, I lied. I do have, um, I have one client that I go see on Sundays at his house. Um, I’ve put some videos up on him. He’s like 76 years old, diabetic. His wife called me and said, you need to help my husband. I’m tired of him acting so old and decrepit and cuz she’s much younger than him. Um, anyway, so I trained him on Sundays from like nine to nine 30. And then I’ll usually come to the gym and have like an open gym, you know, sort of impromptu, I’ll let people know. Yeah, that’s Nore, that’s at his house.
Sevan Matossian (29:36):
Oh, he doesn’t, he he looks like he looks pretty good.
Cat Scherer (29:39):
He’s, he’s very, very, um, not strong <laugh>. Um, his, his goal is to walk up the steps unassisted.
Sevan Matossian (29:47):
Oh no shit.
Cat Scherer (29:48):
Yeah.
Sevan Matossian (29:49):
And is that just, did that happen to him just from a lack of, lack
Cat Scherer (29:53):
Of movement? I think, yeah, I think so. He said something about, um, he has um, right leg weakness. Um, I think he had pull.
The above transcript is generated using AI technology and therefore may contain errors.
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