Sevan Matossian (00:02):
Damn. I love being the CEO of my world. Bam. We’re live. Mr. Brian spin from the barbell spin. The fastest, most accurate, best news, all CrossFit, shit. Everything. What’s
Taylor Self (00:13):
Up?
Sevan Matossian (00:13):
He’s 60 minutes TMZ and what’s another good one? All spectrums of media. What’s the one that you introduced me to with Dave Portnoy.
Taylor Self (00:23):
Oh, he’s definitely on the spectrum.
Sevan Matossian (00:26):
Oh. Oh. Brian spin’s on the spectrum,
Taylor Self (00:28):
The media spectrum.
Sevan Matossian (00:31):
There he is as he’s affectionately called the, what was he? He’s the caricature of Ed Norton. If Ed Norton was an emoji.
Taylor Self (00:39):
Wow.
Sevan Matossian (00:40):
God, that’s fucking so good.
Taylor Self (00:42):
Norton was an emoji.
Sevan Matossian (00:44):
What’s up Mr. Spin? What do you know that no one else knows? What do you know that no one else knows that you can share on the show with us right now? Something crazy. Anything?
Taylor Self (00:59):
Oh man. I don’t know. I don’t hold things back. I just publish ’em right away.
Sevan Matossian (01:03):
Just, oh, good. All right, good. That’s why that’s it’s the fastest. If you don’t subscribe,
Taylor Self (01:08):
Top secret,
Sevan Matossian (01:09):
Go over to the Instagram. It’s the place to be. Then on top of that, one of the big brains in the CrossFit space, Mr. Taylor, self unpredictable in his speech, always predictable in his programming, his commitment to excellence, high quality training, he is, if you cut him open instead of blood, he bleeds. CrossFit, self-made training program. I don’t say any of that stuff lightly. I love Taylor. I love hearing his thoughts and perspectives on all things CrossFit. Good dude. And he works with the great Andy Hendle. One of the, probably longest for sure. The oldest tree in the forest on the L one team is Andy, the oldest dude on the L one team.
Taylor Self (01:57):
I feel like if he was, he would brag about it and I don’t ever hear him say it. Probably not, but he is 63 and he is on the L one team.
Sevan Matossian (02:05):
Not humble, but eminently capable. Andy.
Taylor Self (02:08):
He’s not cocky either, but he’d be like, fuck, I’m the oldest guy on staff. He would say it all the time, you know what I mean? He would just throw it out there
Sevan Matossian (02:15):
And what the fuck is this? Oh, Amazon delivery. Sorry, sorry, sorry. Shoot. Hey, what’s up dude? Sorry.
Speaker 3 (02:23):
Hey, going on. What’s on, man? Yeah, this is Amazon. I have your deliveries. I’m outside your gate, bud.
Sevan Matossian (02:29):
Could you just, can you just set them outside the gate?
Speaker 3 (02:32):
Yeah, definitely. I dunno why I suddenly leave with the receptionist, so I don’t want to just leave them unattended.
Sevan Matossian (02:38):
Okay. There’s a mail room right next to that first gate. It’s like an invisible mail room that’s built in. Yeah,
Speaker 3 (02:44):
The one with the lock, the little lock code on it.
Sevan Matossian (02:46):
Yeah, you can just yank that open and throw the packages in there. Okay. The code is 0, 0, 0, 0.
Speaker 3 (02:52):
Yeah. For some reason it’s already open.
Sevan Matossian (02:54):
Okay. Yeah. Oh, it’s because it’s been kind of lost its shape. You can just throw the boxes in there and then kind of slam the door shut.
Speaker 3 (03:01):
I appreciate it. So happy holiday.
Sevan Matossian (03:05):
Thanks brother. Same to you.
Speaker 3 (03:07):
Alright bud. Thank you bud.
Sevan Matossian (03:08):
Peace.
Taylor Self (03:09):
Sounds like a nice dude. What the fuck was that? Was that real? Let we,
Sevan Matossian (03:15):
Oh, that’s code with your mom. I was talking to
Taylor Self (03:18):
A
Sevan Matossian (03:18):
Fucking voice changer. I’m with Taylor right now. I don’t want ’em to know.
Taylor Self (03:23):
I got one of those. Amazon you got charged 1499 to your account for a new MacBook Pro laptop calls and they left a voicemail and I called them back and they’re like, hello? And I was like, Hey, is this Amazon? And they’re like, yes. Who’s asking? I was like, you told me I spent 1400 bucks. And they’re like, yeah. I was like, do you know you’re a fucking scam? I just had this two minute conversation with him telling me it wasn’t a scam and me saying, you’re a piece of shit.
Sevan Matossian (03:52):
My friend Mike Penis tastes like curry opening up and face my penis. Ladies and gentlemen and below in the lower right hand corner, Matthew Souza, owner of CrossFit Livermore, massive beautiful gym. Gym, insane community. I’ve been an affiliate for more than 10 years. Executive producer of the Savon podcast and close friends with Greg Glassman. He has his hands in everything. Susa has more pizzas in the oven than Chef Boy Rd
Taylor Self (04:24):
Than Domino’s.
Sevan Matossian (04:25):
Yeah, thank you than Domino’s. Okay. The show is the Dave Castro week review. Review of the weekend review. I was told that we no longer need to pull up, change the audio levels using his mic now we will let him play and at one and a quarter speed and then we will pause periodically and give our 32nd takes. Spin talks a little slow so his will be 45 and Taylor doesn’t know when to stop. His will be 55. November 27th.
Speaker 4 (05:04):
2023. We can review at Cecilia Joy Palermo. Dave Castro is going woke and sold his soul to the show.
Sevan Matossian (05:10):
Wow. Coming in hot.
Taylor Self (05:14):
He is going woke. Dude, whoever commented that, I’m fucking with it. Unless he can defend himself here. I agree.
Speaker 4 (05:21):
Sugar world, we all needed you to be a standup guy, but I guess money changes everything. She must have saw what I ate on Thanksgiving to know that I sold my soul to the sugar world. Other than that, I’m like a pretty vocal fasting, keto, low carb, no sugar guy who speaks about it on a regular basis. So not sure what you’re talking about there. Yeah,
Sevan Matossian (05:44):
Listen, if you’re going to fucking attack him, you passive aggressive douchebag bitch. At least tell us what he did.
Taylor Self (05:52):
I’ll tell
Sevan Matossian (05:52):
You moron. What? What’d he do? He’s
Taylor Self (05:55):
Not speaking out against all these dumb fuck hires. Dude, whatever This, what’s this? Grow Josh. Grow Josh. Dude. Dude, you don’t think that’s a conflict of interest, my guy. I mean it is. Wait a second. I’m saying, dude, you’re either unviable or you’re not, bro.
Sevan Matossian (06:09):
No, no. Listen, listen, listen. I want to say one thing. I totally hear you. If yours was the only perspective and mine was the only perspective, I get it. We don’t know grouse. We don’t know Koon. We don’t know these people, but that’s not, hi, what do you need?
Speaker 5 (06:24):
Hey Justine,
Sevan Matossian (06:25):
How you’re doing? Okay, I’m on the podcast. I love you.
Taylor Self (06:28):
Hey, I got your Amazon
Sevan Matossian (06:29):
Package. Bye love. So listen, so there’s another perspective that we don’t know at all. We’re all just glued to Andrew Hiller’s a fucking shit and being like, oh, Andrew says this. Andrew says that I’m susceptible to, hold on. I got one of Andrew’s pubes in my mouth, but he fucking worked shoulder to shoulder with this dude. Taylor, what the fuck do you want him to do? He fucking knows shit that we don’t even know. He interviewed these motherfuckers.
Taylor Self (06:54):
He interviewed them.
Sevan Matossian (06:56):
Yeah. Well, he was involved. They
Taylor Self (06:58):
Still got hired.
Sevan Matossian (06:59):
He was involved in the interview process. He said that, I think on the show, bro, look at spin nodding with me. That’s the first time spin’s ever said anything nice. Do
Taylor Self (07:07):
You not think that even makes my case even more or that person’s case even more? The fact that he was on the interview process. So Guy, have you seen Josh Krause’s Instagram profile?
Sevan Matossian (07:15):
Bro? Bro, lemme tell you, you listen. You don’t have to convince me of everything. From what I’ve seen, yes, but I have not seen, I’ve seen zero from Dave’s side. Alright. Okay. And lemme just say this, lemme say this. Let’s say Dave does completely agree with everything we’re saying, let’s just say, and then he were to say something like that and then get fired and we had no one standing up for what’s right.
Taylor Self (07:41):
Right. That’s the perspective that I see.
Sevan Matossian (07:43):
Okay. Okay. I don’t think that’s it, but I’m just saying either way. Finn, would you like to, he’s the mole Jesus spin. Any thoughts on this?
Brian Spin (07:57):
I think Taylor is drawing the conclusion though that he is, I dunno if he’s siding with growl face and our other affiliate manager guy, but I have more aside with what you’re saying, that he can’t just go out and even if he does disagree with those hires and he could have, he have been the one voice in the room that said, I do not feel on this, but at the end of the day, there’s four or five other guys that are saying that they’re going to go with them and you got to put on a corporate face to say publicly.
Sevan Matossian (08:35):
Well then you’re agreeing with Taylor. I’m not even saying he’s putting on necessarily a corporate face. It’s like, hey, if you’re on a football team and you’re a wide receiver, but they’re going to run the ball and you have to do more than put on a corporate face, you have to support that decision. Right?
Brian Spin (08:49):
Yeah. I mean he’s not working against him. Right. But he may not be speaking how he truly feels.
Sevan Matossian (08:57):
His personal opinions on grow’s last Twitter post.
Brian Spin (09:00):
Right.
Sevan Matossian (09:01):
Susan, do you have any thoughts?
Mattew Souza (09:03):
I mean the community in which Dave came from, he was a team guy, so I think that if he’s on the team, and that was what was decided, just like Brian Spin said, whether he completely agrees with it or not, now that the decision’s made, they’re going to try to make the most of it.
Taylor Self (09:14):
That’s a good perspective. Alright, Susa. Alright, chill with the logic. That was good.
Sevan Matossian (09:23):
You’re good. Taylor. Kent Sykes, $10. Thank you. Look at that gangster shit on the chest. You better not be afraid to fight when you got tattoos like that, right?
Taylor Self (09:33):
Yeah. It’s either you’re in prison and there’s something getting up in there. Dude, I don’t know what to say about that chest tattoo.
Sevan Matossian (09:48):
Mason Mitchell. Hey, shut it. He gave 10 bucks. It’s beautiful to face chest tie. Mason. Mitchells on with the football analogy. Thank you. I needed a little love for that. Here we
Speaker 4 (09:56):
At Mr. Race, car 23 CrossFit. You could think of the sport of CrossFit as already having four major championships like with golf and tennis. There’s the games, rogue Dubai, WAPA Palooza, all the majors, but with the CrossFit games recognized as the most prestigious to win, just like Wimbledon is for tennis or the open is for golf. True. I don’t know if they’re doing Dubai this year or not, but that’s a good point. And that’s kind of the whole concept of the Triple Crown and playing with tying ’em together at Jack.
Taylor Self (10:31):
No,
Sevan Matossian (10:33):
I don’t even know what the fuck is that a question or a comment? I got nothing to say. Okay. It was wearing a white hat and got a mustache. Alright, I’m with you. Yes.
Taylor Self (10:42):
Am I the only one who noticed this year? Dubai’s Prize Purse I feel like is much smaller than it typically is. No,
Brian Spin (10:46):
Don’t actually, no, it’s down from when it was years ago, but it’s back up to 50,000 issues. What was it last year? It’s back. I think it was 30. Oh
Taylor Self (10:55):
Really? I thought years ago it was like a hundred K for the
Brian Spin (10:58):
Winner. It was, yeah, years ago in 2018. Really? It was much higher When they came back, they had a lower price burst. What’s why everybody stopped going.
Mattew Souza (11:10):
I mean, fuck. That’s a long travel. Better be worth it.
Taylor Self (11:12):
Yeah, it’s like a day’s travel. You lose a day of your life, dude. Yeah,
Brian Spin (11:16):
But does anybody else wonder why Dave doesn’t even know that Dubai exists
Taylor Self (11:21):
Because they don’t market at all? I don’t know.
Mattew Souza (11:24):
It’s not part of a CrossFit thing, so why would he?
Sevan Matossian (11:27):
I don’t know the answer to that, but I think they used to be part of a CrossFit thing and they’re not, maybe he just kind of lets it just go out of his brain,
Taylor Self (11:35):
But their marketing I feel like does Stink, but
Brian Spin (11:38):
Rogue’s not a CrossFit licensed event,
Taylor Self (11:40):
But him and Bill and Katie are a lot closer I would sense than him and the director.
Sevan Matossian (11:45):
I bet he talks to Bill and Katie once a week. I mean, they got shit to talk about. Listen, the Dubai guys don’t promote at all. Do they spend, I mean at all, can you imagine not sending, why wouldn’t they just reach out to me and like, Hey, can our director come on your podcast? I would get ’em 500 more views in their event.
Brian Spin (11:59):
They are the, I’ve chatted with them, but they’re of the opinion of a lot of these organizers where they think they can do it themselves. Yeah, that’s
Taylor Self (12:08):
Cool.
Brian Spin (12:09):
And they think that, well, we have our own platforms. Why would we farm that out to somebody else who can share that information regardless? I think in Dave’s position, and especially if he’s talking about Triple Crown, they’re talking about doing some type of seasoned structure. You at least need to know that Dubai exists. I’m not saying you need to know all the details and know what the prize purse is and who they selected and how they did it, but just at least know that the big competitions that are out there, the
Taylor Self (12:41):
Problem with Dubai, did you
Sevan Matossian (12:42):
Say Dubai’s a big competition or it’s just big for our
Taylor Self (12:45):
No, it’s not big at all, dude. I would say Dubai stinks. I would say Dubai. The stands are empty. Stands are empty, and this is why, dude, it’s not Miami. Dude. You go to Miami, there’s boobs out. There’s fucking ass out everywhere. You go to Dubai, that’s, you can’t see anything over there, dude. You get some’s legal, you get some eyes, you can see some eyes. That’s about it, dude. But it might have a front tail under there. Hey, you
Sevan Matossian (13:12):
Think people are scared to go to Dubai this year because of just the 1.8 billion angry, angry folk.
Taylor Self (13:20):
If you’re one of the 40 fittest dudes in the world and you’re scared for that, I don’t know. I mean,
Brian Spin (13:25):
Well, look at Elit. Didn’t a bunch of them withdraw from that?
Taylor Self (13:31):
Him ankles?
Brian Spin (13:33):
I think Kotler and Underdogs was supposed to program with it. I don’t know if they were still involved over the last month or not.
Sevan Matossian (13:39):
Anyway, I kind of see what you’re saying. Hey, I see what you’re saying. Why doesn’t he have a bigger perspective on the ecosystem of competitions? I don’t think, Greg, I don’t think Dave ever has. I bet you he doesn’t even know the crash crucible happened.
Taylor Self (13:55):
Look, pull Mike.
Sevan Matossian (13:57):
He don’t even know who the bottom 10 athletes are probably. And I used to think it was a big deal, but now for some reason I don’t. Ladies and gentlemen, all I care about is I wonder if I’m going to be one of the people who’s invited on the new series that’s coming out.
Taylor Self (14:14):
What new series?
Sevan Matossian (14:16):
Oh, so none of you guys have been invited to the new series? I have not been invited to the new series. There’s not room for everybody. You guys know about the new series
Taylor Self (14:26):
Know what I’m talking about, Susan? No. What are you talking about?
Sevan Matossian (14:31):
Let’s cut to coffee pods and wads and see what Pedro has to say. Oh, one of the organizers came on mine and it was trash, but that’s probably on me. Well, for shirt, it’s on you. Speaking of Pedro, keep me, keep my name, keep my fit phone number at your fingertips. I’m interested in the new show. Okay, here we go.
Speaker 4 (14:54):
Do 5, 6, 6, 7. Dave, I really appreciate you addressing the hot topics of CrossFit in an open frank way. Many people have been criticizing HQ for not being transparent, and I feel this is addressing just that. Thanks for this. You’re welcome.
Sevan Matossian (15:05):
Fuck you HQ’s. Transparent enough. What do you fucking need to know? Fucking don’t worry about anything.
Taylor Self (15:18):
That’s dope.
Sevan Matossian (15:21):
Dave came to our local comp here at the Central Valley, throw
Taylor Self (15:25):
Down’s Aware.
Sevan Matossian (15:26):
Do you remember? What’d you say, Susan?
Mattew Souza (15:28):
I said he’s aware. I think Dave also likes to just say like, ah, I don’t pay attention to that. But I think Dave is very aware of everything that happens in the ecosystem. He just doesn’t want us to realize
Taylor Self (15:38):
It as much. He says things on purpose too. Yeah, when we were at the games checking Michelle, he says
Sevan Matossian (15:43):
Things on purpose. What do you mean don’t
Taylor Self (15:45):
He said? He said, oh, dude. He said, I don’t even know if Dubai is happening this year. He said that on purpose when I was at the games and we were checking Michelle in, he was checking Michelle in. He’s like, oh, what’s up, man? Are you competing this year? That’s awesome. Like, shut the fuck up. You know? I’m not you fucker.
Sevan Matossian (16:03):
Oh, to
Taylor Self (16:03):
You. To me. Yeah.
Sevan Matossian (16:04):
Yeah. He definitely knew you weren’t. He fought out.
Taylor Self (16:06):
Even better
Sevan Matossian (16:08):
Spin. Do you need more transparency from hq?
Brian Spin (16:14):
Not in this regard. Yeah. Again, I think I may have said last time on the We Review, I think we need to have somebody actually speaking from CrossFit about the methodology and why CrossFit saves lives. Not just Dave talking to us about the sport and a few personal things every week.
Taylor Self (16:34):
Didn’t Nicole Carroll do that in that? Is she going to do more of what she did in that latest post or in that post?
Sevan Matossian (16:39):
I think what SP’s talking about those specifically. I hear you Taylor, but he’s saying we need someone doing five buckets of death once or twice or three or four times a year.
Taylor Self (16:48):
I agree.
Sevan Matossian (16:49):
Or we have a world’s most vaccine problem. We need a new slogan that says the same thing every year. That’s dope.
Brian Spin (16:55):
I don’t need to hear from Don about the business plan of 30 million people. Tell me why CrossFit’s great and why it’s saving lives and how it can change people and tell me about that and it’ll get people to grow. Not here’s, we’re going to grow affiliates and all the corporate speak.
Sevan Matossian (17:13):
Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you the greatest promotion in the history for any sporting event from Mike Olivas, AKA pool boy. He says, I had so much sexual intercourse last time I competed at Waap Palooza. Taylor is right. It’s amazing,
Taylor Self (17:32):
Dude. I’m not even gay and I’d probably fuck him in Miami.
Sevan Matossian (17:36):
Get your tickets now for Waa a Palooza,
Speaker 4 (17:42):
Right? Eyes 1 0 1 6. Please pardon my ignorance, but what is so bad about Orangetheory? I’ve been following everything crosses since 2019. I was set to leave my global gym after more than a decade. Then the pandemic hit, and then I had a significant family need to attend to. When I explored attorneys with a fitness routine, I stopped by a couple of CrossFit gyms but didn’t feel confident in their professionalism or programming. So I’ve ended up at an orange dairy and I’m getting fit and accomplishing new things. With that said, I still think CrossFit ideology is the gold standard. I don’t trust. I just don’t trust that it’s being executed consistently across affiliates. So first off,
Sevan Matossian (18:12):
Don’t trust.
Speaker 4 (18:14):
What’s the bad about Orange Cherry? Personally, I don’t think any fitness is a bad thing. So if you’re just trying to get fit or you’re trying to get off the couch,
Sevan Matossian (18:22):
Okay, let’s go back to the trust thing. Once again, that fucking comment means nothing to me. What did you see there? I walked in and the two coaches were fucking butt fucking each other, so I left. What did you see that made it so you didn’t want to go in there and work out? I have no fucking idea what you’re talking about. How’s he supposed to answer that question?
Mattew Souza (18:43):
It’s impossible. There’s no context. You have no idea.
Taylor Self (18:46):
Well, yeah. I mean,
Mattew Souza (18:50):
Well, that can mean 10 different things to 10 different people where you’re not greeted at the door. Did nobody say hi? Did you not get coached? Was it an open gym format? Was it class night for you? What was the deal? I
Taylor Self (19:00):
Wasn’t confident in the programming, so I went to Orangetheory. That just says to me that those gyms were so fucking bad to me. I
Mattew Souza (19:09):
Mean, how do you know? Listen to this. I
Sevan Matossian (19:12):
Walked into SU’s gym and the coach was there. Albert was there, and he said, Hey, you going to work out? And I said, no, I’ve just been in the car for two hours. He goes, don’t worry, I’m going to warm you up. I’ll just do the warmup. I’m like, okay, cool. And I did the warmup. That’s all I needed. He said hi. Came over to me, hugged me, shook my hand. I walked into another gym in Phoenix one time. I walked in, the guy was coaching. He walked right over and he was like, Hey, what’s up? What are you doing? I’m like, just going to do a class, blah, blah, blah. I can’t remember. And he talked to me and he said, yeah, this class already started to come back at this time. I’m like, okay, cool. I didn’t, but my wife came back. I walked into another gym in LA and the fucking coaches, the girl coach was riding around on the shoulders of the male coach and they didn’t say hi to us when we came in with 10 people. I didn’t even think they were the coaches. And then all of a sudden, class started and we’re all there. And then he put the girl down and they’re like, here are the workouts on the board. Yeah, that’s a shitty gym,
Mattew Souza (20:00):
But you could tell us exactly why it was shitty. We know now, and that has nothing to do with CrossFit or the L one. That’s just,
Sevan Matossian (20:06):
Albert gave me a solution to my problem. He’s like, Hey, just do the warmup, see what happens.
Taylor Self (20:10):
Our Google Review has the worst review. Somebody came in on a weekend where they were doing a seminar, a level one. They came in on a Saturday, and so no one talked to them. Right? They’re doing this level one seminar out in the gym, and they were in the front room and waited around for 20 minutes and no one talked to ’em. So they wrote a Google review about how bad our gym was.
Sevan Matossian (20:27):
Oh yeah. I mean, it’s just fucking
Mattew Souza (20:29):
Bullshit. Yeah, no context,
Taylor Self (20:33):
But Orange Theory sucks.
Sevan Matossian (20:35):
I’ve never been to an Orange theory. I have no idea. Mr. Spin, do you have any thoughts on the question?
Brian Spin (20:40):
Yeah, it’s too vague. I’ve never been to Orangetheory.
Taylor Self (20:42):
All I know is it
Mattew Souza (20:43):
Looks
Sevan Matossian (20:43):
You ever been to a bad CrossFit affiliate?
Brian Spin (20:48):
I have, yeah. Just in visiting. But again, it was just a feel of what I probably wouldn’t want to be there, be a member there, but it wasn’t like something specific, right? You could just tell it probably didn’t have the community that you’d want.
Sevan Matossian (21:04):
But did they address you? Did you get a good workout there? Did they take care of you? Yeah,
Brian Spin (21:07):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (21:11):
Do something. Any fitness is better than no fitness. So I don’t have an issue with orange cherry, especially if it’s helping people into cross or get into fitness and then eventually maybe into a CrossFit gym. When we talk about, or last week when we criticize Orange Cherry or talk about that model, it’s more of in this perspective and sense of the franchise model, a franchise model, and us going that route. And then if we did that, it would fundamentally turn our back on who we are with the open source nature of the affiliation model. So the criticisms that even I would say of Orangetheory or that I think people in our community say, I can’t speak for what they’re saying in regards to Orange Series. I can’t for myself, but it’s not about the fitness. Again, anything is better than nothing. And the fact that Orange Series is helping people get fit is a good thing. Although if you really want to optimize and get the most out of your fitness or your time, obviously I believe CrossFit is a better gym or better option.
Sevan Matossian (22:03):
Let me explain what Blade Walker is saying here. I’m going to explain it to Blade also. Blade Walker says, I did Orangetheory for a month to join a friend who is getting into fitness. Meh, not terrible. Here’s the thing. That’s how horrible it is. We’re talking about a guy who is eminently capable, who brought and added more value to the class than the class gave to him. So if he says, man, because he knew every movement there, they can’t teach him shit, right? Any of us CrossFitters who go to an orange theory, we destroy not meaning. We destroy the workouts, but we add value to the class. We’re capable of all of the shit. We don’t need a lot of instructions. We know how to be appropriate. We got down the fucking, that kind of classroom etiquette. So for Blade to say it’s not fucking absolutely great means it’s just shit horrible. He brought value. Do you guys see my point?
Brian Spin (22:51):
No, but we can move on. Okay.
Speaker 4 (22:56):
And then she ends with or they end with, just don’t trust that it’s being executed consistently across affiliates. It’s definitely the open source nature of this and the model, the affiliate model, the licensing agreement model does allow for very different expressions of it to exist. Sometimes people buy towards one direction with it. Sometimes people buy towards another. And in that someone like yourself might not really see what they’re looking for when they go into a gym, and so there is an aspect of yes, they all can do it the way they want. So it does look different or can feel different in the affiliates and to this notion of it’s not being exceeded consistently across affiliates. Yes, it’s not. And again, to kind of circle back on that, there’s strength in that and there’s also some potential weakness. The potential weakness is exactly what you’re saying is that you don’t feel like you’re getting a consistent experience across the affiliates or across different gyms.
(23:53):
So that is something that I think needs some addressing in terms of the consistency you’re talking about. I hope the consistency you’re talking about is a high level of training, a high level of professionalism that I think can and should be improved, improved across all affiliates. The consistency, meaning them looking more like Orangetheory or them looking more like each other, I don’t think should be improved. I think the way it operates now is some of the beauty in the whole system and should continue on where they do look different, they do operate different, but when it comes to training and professionalism, yes, that should be at a high level and there should be some consistency there.
Sevan Matossian (24:38):
Let me say this, I went to a party yesterday last night up the hill from me on a five acre lot and there’s four generations of family living there in-laws, the whole thing, and it was a party of my wife for my mom’s CrossFit class, and there were 50 people at the party, 25 of the members, and then 25 of their spouses or friends. There are more CrossFit gym, Thanksgiving parties, Christmas parties, birthday parties than any other fucking club or organization or gym anywhere in the world. Now just think about what the implications of that are. Think about that. That should be fucking enough for you to know that if that’s what you’re looking for, a holistic, good group of fucking amazing people to fucking grind with and make yourself better and live long, that’s what you do. It’s CrossFit. It’s not Orange Theory. It’s not at 45. It’s not a fucking gun club. It’s not the fucking juice gym. It’s not the martial arts studio. I’m telling you. There’s no organization on planet Earth that’s throwing more Thanksgiving parties, Christmas parties, birthday parties, moving parties than CrossFit.
Taylor Self (25:53):
I feel like HQ could do a better job of drawing attention to the fact that if you go to different affiliates, they’re not going to be the same and hyping that up in a sense of try several out. I feel like I look at CrossFit similar to like, oh, man, I want this to be a compliment, but it’s not going to be one. But I look at CrossFit,
Sevan Matossian (26:13):
I would give a compliment. I
Taylor Self (26:14):
See CrossFit as America, you have CrossFit and any affiliate you go to could be different. And then you have the 50 states, and you could go to South Carolina and there’s not a paved road for fucking a hundred miles and you go to California and there’s seven dudes shooting Fentanyl on the sidewalk in front of your house. Or you could go to a really nice state like North Carolina and go to Charlotte and everything’s beautiful.
(26:39):
But I feel like CrossFit should say, I feel like people have the expectation when they try it. They’re like, every new member that comes to us is like, okay, now when I sign up, can I go to any CrossFit in Charlotte? And I’m like, no, bitch. You can’t go to any CrossFit in Charlotte. It’s an affiliate. It’s not a franchise. But that’s like people don’t know that, and that’s not our fault as the affiliate. I think CrossFit needs to celebrate like, hey, you get individuality with your experience and you get a chance to shop around and find what really fits you.
Sevan Matossian (27:07):
Let me also tell you, there’s more funeral receptions at CrossFit gyms than any other gym in the world either. Holy shit. Rebecca Shingle Decker. Hey, that’s not related to Shindo Decker, right? There’s a shingle Decker and a Shindo Decker.
Mattew Souza (27:24):
Yeah.
Sevan Matossian (27:26):
Holy shit. One letter difference. Oh, we had my husband’s funeral reception at our box. Dude, I rest my case. We ruled
Taylor Self (27:35):
Marriages. Marriages at gyms.
Sevan Matossian (27:37):
Yeah.
Mattew Souza (27:37):
Yeah. It’s at six of those. Not in the gym, but
Taylor Self (27:40):
Yeah. That’s crazy. Crazy. Hey,
Mattew Souza (27:44):
One other thing I’ll also say is that people don’t want the other side of this coin. Everybody runs away from the scary franchise monster, and that’s exactly what this would be. Also too, how many of you guys have been to Starbucks? Everybody here, how many have been to Starbucks and had a great experience with an awesome barista, and then you’re like, this place is awesome. How many times have you gone there and it’s looked like shit and there was a bunch of shit all over the trash? You’re
Sevan Matossian (28:02):
Tough.
Mattew Souza (28:03):
It’s the same thing, man. So you’re complaining about a no context problem, that actually there’s no right answer to solve that, and it’s definitely not the answer that we want, which is a franchise model.
Sevan Matossian (28:16):
So find a good one, find the one that’s doing the receptions, the birthday parties has the good, strong coaches, has the class times you want. Find a good one because the best gym in the world is going to be one of these CrossFit gyms.
Mattew Souza (28:29):
Yep.
Speaker 4 (28:31):
At Tyler Chang, Garris. Dave, I’ve been on the fence about opening an affiliate for the last two years due to my concerns about the leadership’s commitment to the methodology. There are a few exceptions, including you and NC and ab. I’m assuming you mean Nicole Carroll and Adrian Bosman mission always came, first, profits followed the opposite. Seems true. Now, what would you say to someone on the fence about affiliation? Well, I would suggest if you’re on the fence about affiliation, if you want to open a gym, a CrossFit gym, doing it with the CrossFit name will put you in a better position with this style of training. If you’re doing CrossFit in your gym and you’re opening up a gym, doing it with a CrossFit name will be advantageous versus doing it with not the CrossFit name, especially for you starting or for new gyms starting, there’s some gyms that have had the CrossFit name for a decade or so, and then they end up dropping the name.
(29:18):
They already have their clientele and they already have a community built off of years of being a CrossFit gym, so it’s easier for someone who’s been around to drop the name and continue on rather than when you’re first starting. I think your poise for more success with the name in terms of the map, in terms of brand recognition, et cetera, et cetera, all of that being said, though, I’m old school, if I’m going to do something with a brand or associate and use their methodology, I would definitely wear the flag, flag the flag associate with them. I also think being part of the community is not insignificant, and it’s a super powerful alignment to have as a cross.
The above transcript is generated using AI technology and therefore may contain errors.
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