Sevan Matossian (00:00):
Bam. We’re live. Oh shit. You can’t believe how I started on time. Can you, Caleb saw you pop in right when I hit Go Live Rambler. Good morning. Oh shit. Take two, rambler. Good evening. Uh, Greg Ghost. Hey, Lydia. Hey. Did you Saber? What’s up dude? Didn’t you say you offered me some something? What’d you offer me? Uh, Barry Cocker. What’s up buddy? Jeffrey Birchfield. Jeffrey, I thought about doing it today. I want you to know I got on the assault bike and I thought, hi, Caleb. I thought about doing it, doing what? I didn’t. Um, there’s this workout Hiller assigned to me and Jeffrey. It’s, um, 30 cows on the salt bike. Two minute rest, 24 calories on the salt bike. What could go wrong? Too easy. Right? Too easy. Uh, Todd Tucker. Hello? Ken Walters. Hello. Uh, who else? Sarah Cooper. Hey, uh, Alex Gaza. Hi.
Alex Gazan (01:04):
Hi. How’s it
Sevan Matossian (01:04):
Going? Awesome. Jay Harle. Hi. Long time no see Alex.
Alex Gazan (01:09):
Yeah, how are you?
Sevan Matossian (01:12):
I’m good. Good. Uh, Dick’s enormous. Good to see you. Good evening. Excuse me. Sorry for that, Alex.
Alex Gazan (01:21):
All goodness,
Sevan Matossian (01:22):
It’s not my fault that the guy’s name is Dickson Oris. <laugh>, uh, Seon. The Mono eses podcast was insane. Never would’ve thought twice about her. And now she’s one of my favorites. Cool. Well, can you just wait till Alex is gone before we phrase her again? That’s okay. Oh yeah, that’s fine. Alex is cool with it. Fuck it. Uh, Mr. Watkins. Bang, bang, bang. Hi dude. I feel like I just saw you, Alex.
Alex Gazan (01:45):
Uh, yeah. I guess we were on what, a couple weeks ago?
Sevan Matossian (01:49):
Yeah. Show killed. I, because So before you came on today, I was digging through YouTube videos, like just looking to see if there was anything new with you so I could catch up. And, uh, I saw our last show murdered.
Alex Gazan (02:00):
Oh,
Sevan Matossian (02:00):
That’s awesome. I cannot, yeah, you’re getting really popular. You’re a good draw.
Alex Gazan (02:05):
Thanks.
Sevan Matossian (02:06):
You’re a good draw. You’re a good draw. What are you wearing? What are you just cooking? Is that an apron? What are you wearing? What is
Alex Gazan (02:09):
That? No, it’s like a, just like a sports bra.
Sevan Matossian (02:13):
You went back to the sixties and got something.
Alex Gazan (02:15):
I, to be honest, I just chose the most comfortable thing I could find. I did not wanna put on a shirt <laugh> or like a sports bra that would take effort. So
Sevan Matossian (02:25):
Here we are. Listen, listen. Don’t. This is a judgment for each zone. Come however you want shirtless or whatever people come do, just you’re free.
Alex Gazan (02:32):
Honestly, like when Jake’s home, I like need help like undressing, like my sports bras. Like, it’s such effort. So when I’m home alone, it’s like easy peasy.
Sevan Matossian (02:42):
Yeah. Good for you. Good on you. Yeah. Can your neighbors see into your house?
Alex Gazan (02:47):
No.
Sevan Matossian (02:49):
Can you walk in? Do you have a, do you have a backyard?
Alex Gazan (02:52):
Uh, we have, so we live on the same property as Jake’s parents. So we have like,
Sevan Matossian (02:56):
Oh,
Alex Gazan (02:56):
There’s like a out, I mean, there’s not really a yard. It’s Vegas. There’s dirt.
Sevan Matossian (03:02):
Right. But if you walk back there naked, someone, the ne a neighbor could see you.
Alex Gazan (03:06):
Yeah. We live across the street from the church, so.
Sevan Matossian (03:09):
Awesome.
Alex Gazan (03:10):
Yeah. <laugh>.
Sevan Matossian (03:12):
Well, churches have, you can do anything at a church these days. Uh, um, thank you. Zach Avon’s been on a pr pretty good interview streak. Yeah, but everyone’s so easy. I’ve been getting lucky. Oh shoot. Sorry. Um, uh, I’m doing a podcast.
Alex Gazan (03:29):
Oh yeah. I guess I should turn my phone on. Do not disturb, huh?
Sevan Matossian (03:32):
Or just answer calls and let us, I mean, I like the realism of the show. If someone were to, um, could they
Alex Gazan (03:37):
Hear, could they hear the call if I answered it?
Sevan Matossian (03:40):
No, that’s right. Because you’re on your phone. That’s right.
Alex Gazan (03:43):
Yeah.
Sevan Matossian (03:44):
Hey, could you turn your phone this way?
Alex Gazan (03:48):
Like that.
Sevan Matossian (03:49):
Oh, awesome. Yeah. That way people could
Alex Gazan (03:51):
See all that actually makes my life easier too.
Sevan Matossian (03:54):
Wow, Caleb. That’s the kind of shit you should be enforcing. So like, I can be the good cop. You should be like, um, Hey, can you turn your phone sideways? And I’ll be like, fuck, Caleb’s a dick. I don’t like being the mean guy. Yeah. Yeah. Someone asked you please. I have to thank you. Hey, um, oh, Caleb, I didn’t, I there’s only one. Um, I know. Fuck there. I there’s only one link. It’s on her Instagram account. She’s doing a rope climb. Thank you. Sorry Caleb. He knew I was gonna be like, Caleb, can you pull this up? But I didn’t send him shit. Hey, we had Hinshaw on.
Alex Gazan (04:24):
Yeah, I watched.
Sevan Matossian (04:26):
How was that? How, Hey, tell me the story in all the juicy details when he told you like, dang girl, you got big old lungs.
Alex Gazan (04:34):
Um, so I went to Power Monkey camp in right before semi-finals. And honestly like, this is such a God thing. Like, so cool. Um, I was there as an athlete, so I wasn’t technically like on staff. Like, I was like half participating, like half kind of just like being there. And there was a staff meeting the night before camp started, and so I was just there, but like, I wasn’t really on staff, so I wasn’t really paying attention. And all of a sudden I just hear like Dave Newman be like, I volunteer Alex Gaza. And I was like, sure. Like, what
Sevan Matossian (05:07):
Do you want me to do? Dave Newman’s the jump rope guy. Right? He owns like Rx rope or something. Yeah,
Alex Gazan (05:11):
Yeah. He’s awesome. Yeah. Um, but I wasn’t really paying attention to what they were talking about. I was just like stretching in the back. And I was like, sure. Like, what am I doing <laugh>? And he was like, uh, the VO two max test tomorrow. And I was like, oh, shit. Like, okay. And um, I was totally fine to like do it. Like I thought it’d be cool, but then I found out it was like at 8:00 PM like the following night, so it was gonna be like really late. Um, obviously like semi-finals are coming up, like sleep’s important. I was kinda like, man, like Dave, like I’ll still do it, but like, if there’s anyone else that wants to like, I’d prefer that. Um, he’s like, you should do it. Like, it’ll be fun. Everyone will love it. So I did it and I didn’t really realize like that Chris was gonna be such a huge resource there. So he was like, once you get results, like, come talk to me. And, um, and he’s like, and don’t tell anyone. I was like, okay, like Whoopty do, like, I don’t know what the fuck this means. Like, I don’t care. Um, and so I got my results, like I said.
Sevan Matossian (06:09):
Wait, how hard was the test? Tell me about the test. Was it hard? Did it put you in the pain cave?
Alex Gazan (06:14):
It only hurts for a little bit, but like, you can only hold the pace so long. So like, for me, I stopped ’cause I could no longer hold like the pace. Like I could have kept suffering, but like I fell off the pace I was supposed to hold. Does that make sense?
Sevan Matossian (06:28):
Yeah, yeah, yeah. Okay. Yeah. And it was gonna start hurting quick.
Alex Gazan (06:32):
No, it doesn’t hurt for a while. ’cause like, you walk, so like you walk for a couple minutes and then you’re like jogging for a couple minutes and then your pace like slowly increases. So you’re just like, okay, I just have to run for 30 seconds. And then it’s like, okay, I just have to go a little faster for 30 seconds. So I feel like it goes by pretty fast.
Sevan Matossian (06:50):
Oh, okay. So basically they, 30 seconds is the longest you have to sustain anything.
Alex Gazan (06:56):
Well, you are continuously running, but like, mentally, like, you’re like, okay, just like do this for 30 seconds. And they’re like, okay, go faster. And then you do 30 seconds of that pace. Oh. So you’re still, it doesn’t really get hard until you’re like, almost done essentially
Sevan Matossian (07:13):
Six miles per hour. Per hour at a 22% grade.
Alex Gazan (07:16):
So we did it on the assault runner, so we didn’t do incline, we just did an increasing pace on the runner.
Sevan Matossian (07:24):
Okay.
Alex Gazan (07:25):
Mm-hmm. <affirmative>. Um, but anyway, so I get my results. Like I said, you could have told me that I was shit or good, like, I don’t know what the fuck any of those numbers mean. Um, and so, but I like went to Chris, I was like, Hey, like I have the numbers if you wanna go through ’em. And he like, has his little glasses and he’s like a complete nerd, right? Like, he’s so smart with all this stuff. Um, and so he like, looks at the number, looks at me, like, looks at the number and he’s like, this is really good. And I was like, okay. Like, thanks. He like, looks at the number, looks at me. He’s like, no, like, this is really good. And I was like, okay. Like again, like I have no context of what’s good. Like I don’t, I don’t know what this means.
(08:04):
I don’t understand. And he kind of like, essentially was like, this just shows like you have a lot of potential. He didn’t tell me how good it was, like right away. Like he didn’t tell me that it was like as high or like relative to other people that it was so high. Um, so I just knew, he said I had a good VO two max and then, um, we like talked about it and he was like, this is what you should do in your training. Like this is how it should look. And um, it was kinda like, I was like, man, like it’d be really cool to work with Chris, but like I didn’t reach out to him right then. ’cause obviously like Justin kind of had a template in place and I didn’t wanna like step on toes. Um, but then Justin ran into Chris in Berlin during the, um, European semi-final and they were chatting. And when he came back he was like, man, like Chris spoke really highly of you and, um, did you like, have a good vibe with him? And it kind of just like all fell into place. So we started working together.
Sevan Matossian (09:03):
I like how that you skirted over the numbers. The numbers were crazy good. Like some of the best numbers, if not the best numbers he’s ever seen from, uh, someone who’s a female with your chromosomes. Mm-hmm. <affirmative> a baby carrier. Yeah. Crazy. And you know what’s cool is even if that, I mean, I’m sure it is true, but even if it’s not true, how cool is it that, um, like it almost seems like it’d be a cool thing to tell an athlete just to like give ’em a mental edge.
Alex Gazan (09:32):
Oh yeah. I mean, trust me for like, you know what I mean? A solid like few weeks after, like he said it was like the highest or whatever. I was like, man, was it a fluke? Like, was my mask on wrong? Like, you’re going through all the
Sevan Matossian (09:44):
Things. Oh, right. That and that, because that’s how good it was, right? It’s off the chart.
Alex Gazan (09:49):
I, I guess, yeah. <laugh>.
Sevan Matossian (09:51):
Yeah, cra and, and did he use the word potential? Because when he was explaining it to me, that’s kind of how I, I had no clue what he was saying, but I was like, I interpreted it to like, okay, this number just means how much potential she has.
Alex Gazan (10:02):
Yeah. Essentially. ’cause like your VO two max is your like, ability to process as far as I understand, right? Is like your ability to process oxygen and like use it as you’re working out and you’re, you, everyone has like a VO two max. Um, and essentially like you can train up to your potential. Um, it’s honestly, it’s so complicated for me. I don’t, I’m not educated in all this stuff, but, um, yeah, it’s like your potential. And he essentially said like, if you train it right and you like use the numbers, you’re training really smart. Like, instead of just running five miles straight and like trying really hard, you actually have like heart rate things to go off of. You have paces to go off of to then like maximize the training. So you’re getting everything you possibly could out of it.
Sevan Matossian (10:51):
I’m pumped for you. What a, a thank you. What a great, what a great way. Hey, do you feel, um, uh, that your growth from last year is, is, um, uh, do you feel like you’ve grown from last year?
Alex Gazan (11:03):
1000% for sure.
Sevan Matossian (11:06):
Because there’s gotta be a place where people start to get so good where it’s just like, man, am am I improving? Right?
Alex Gazan (11:11):
Yeah. No, I feel like there’s been a lot of growth. Like for me, the biggest thing that I’ve noticed as of lately is I used to be really, um, dependent upon the programming to do well. Uh, whether that’s in training or a competition. Like I really was, I’d be like, let down or excited based on the programming. And I can tell like, I’m not afraid of a lot of things that I used to be afraid of. Um, and I’m like able to do well on things that I used to like just essentially cower to. Um, and that’s a really cool feeling.
Sevan Matossian (11:46):
Yeah. You, you, uh, I think it was in the, I was watching a Talking Elite Fitness podcast you were on and you said something about, you alluded to the fact if I understood that it was the CrossFit stuff that you weren’t the best at. Yeah. And it was the other stuff. And, and now what I’m hearing you say already is like, eh, I’m not so afraid of if, if Fran pops up or if Grace pops up or if Helen pops up, I I’ll tackle that sucker.
Alex Gazan (12:10):
Yeah. Like, to give you an example, like in training, like with Scuds and Elena and those guys, like on, um, Mondays, like our first day of the week, usually the Metcon was very classic CrossFit. So like chest, the bar toes, the bar burpees, a light barbell, usually like a seven to 15 minute range. Um, nothing really heavy, nothing really technical. Mm-hmm. And honestly, like I would get my ass kicked like almost every time. Um, and I like would never look at the workout and be like, I’m going for this. Like, I’m gonna attack this. Like, I’d kind of just be like, well, like this is my day, the week to not do well. Like whatever. Um, and that’s really like shifted And um, like this week we’ve done a lot of workouts with like a lighter barbell and gymnastics and like, my mindset’s just different, which is cool.
Sevan Matossian (13:01):
Um, when you saw Helen pop up, how’d you feel about it?
Alex Gazan (13:06):
I mean, I don’t know. I like, I’m hoping it’s not just gonna be straight up Helen. Like it’s fine if it is, but I think it has the potential to be really cool and exciting if they beef it up a little bit. Um,
Sevan Matossian (13:17):
Did you Hiller mate had a pretty good Hiller said it’s gonna go towards Fat Helen, couple extra rounds, a couple extra rounds and a weight vest. And, and I thought that was a pretty good, uh, I liked his assessment. I’m like, wow, okay. Yeah. And he’s like, Hey, let’s not fuck this thing up and make it too tricky or change too much. Let’s have a, yeah. I think basically he was saying, let’s have a set of balls and keep the kettlebells in there and, and judge ’em properly. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>. Yeah. And let’s not avoid kettlebell swings just ’cause they’re hard to judge. Yeah. And um, yeah. When you say beef it up a little bit, what are you thinking?
Alex Gazan (13:46):
I
Sevan Matossian (13:46):
Mean, heavier your kettlebell or?
Alex Gazan (13:48):
Yeah, like, honestly anything to make it a little more complex. Uh, someone had commented, I really liked it. I mean, and this is just like bias ’cause it’s stuff I like. Um, but they had commented three rounds, four, I don’t remember what the run was. I assume just a regular 400 meter run and then kettlebell clean and jerks instead of a swing and then muscle ups. But then they, like, the caveat was like, if you break a muscle up, you have a penalty lap. So of course that’s like, not Helen anymore, right? Like it’s a completely different workout. But I really liked it. I don’t know what they’ll do. Um, yeah, I guess we’ll find out.
Sevan Matossian (14:27):
Um, Audrey, she’s going to crush it. Jake, I can’t wait for John Young to eat his words. Uh, Alex is overrated. He is overrated. Did he say
Alex Gazan (14:36):
That?
Sevan Matossian (14:36):
Uh, no. Of course not. No way. He’s no, he did not say that. Don’t
Alex Gazan (14:41):
I was like that. I was like, I’ll cry
Sevan Matossian (14:43):
<laugh>. He didn’t know your VO two max. He didn’t, he didn’t know.
Alex Gazan (14:46):
That’s okay.
Sevan Matossian (14:47):
Um, so Koler went to Europe. Does, do you, does that bug you when your coach goes to Europe? Or are you like, dude, what are you doing? Stay here. Stay close. No, of course. What if he died? What if he died in a plane accident or he got arrested in Europe and couldn’t come back in time for the game or
Alex Gazan (15:00):
Some shit? Oh, I, I’d be devastated. But he was there. He was there on business. He had things to do and like, I’m not his only athlete. Like he has other things that he has to, um, like he has to be there for. And I totally understand that. And um, like what makes him such a good coach is his dedication to what he does. And that’s okay. Like I, when I first started working with him, I was not his pro like priority and he’ll tell you that. Like he had Danielle and Bethany and Carrie and um, like, I don’t wanna say like I paid my dues, but like I kind of sat back and I was okay with not being his full front of attention. And I’m still okay with that. Like, I love all the extra attention I’m getting. And of course like I love like our, how our relationship has developed, but like, he is your coach. He’s not like, you don’t need them. They’re 24 7. Right? Like, you have to have some sort of independence about it.
Sevan Matossian (15:54):
Shit. I don’t know. I’ll take your word for it. I was just thinking, I was also thinking that um, your, um, the better you get, the more influence you will have eventually could be like, you know, I don’t think it’s gonna be called underdogs athletics anymore. <laugh>. It’s be called, uh, the Gazen. The Gazen Athletics? No. No. Okay.
Alex Gazan (16:15):
No. I like the underdogs, like the theme of it. ’cause like a lot of PE because CrossFit, the way they like media things and the way they, they show like two people and that’s it. And everyone else like, is kind of an underdog regardless of their, um, accomplishment. So I like it. I like the underdog mentality.
Sevan Matossian (16:37):
Yeah. I think of you still as an underdog. I think of you as, um, kind of a still is a, um, atypical in personality and just your whole age, your being, how you’re you, you know what I mean? You’re, you’re like, you’re not an outsider for sure. You know what I mean? Yeah. But you got you. But you’re, but you’re, you’re different. Yeah. I agree with that. Well, there’s something a little different about you. Not like, you have, not like you have fucking Down syndrome different, but like just a little different. Oh God, I’m backing out of this. Okay. That’s okay. Hey, um, what, uh, what, let’s say, um, let’s talk about supplements for a second. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>, let’s say, um, is Jake allowed to use your supplements? Like, like do you have a bunch of Wolverine stuff and then is he allowed to use it or does he No. Or does he have his own stuff?
Alex Gazan (17:26):
Oh, I mean, he can use whatever he wants. I don’t care.
Sevan Matossian (17:29):
You don’t care?
Alex Gazan (17:30):
Yeah. I mean, okay.
Sevan Matossian (17:31):
What if there was, uh, only like one scoop of, um, what if you went to your pre-workout and you saw him drinking some and you opened it and the the the thing was empty.
Alex Gazan (17:41):
If I needed you be in trouble. If I needed it, I’d be disappointed. But like,
Sevan Matossian (17:45):
I think would he do that? Would he do that? Or is he more thoughtful than that?
Alex Gazan (17:48):
Oh, this man leaves empty boxes of food in the pantry or the freezer. Uh, he’ll, he’ll like take, like the say we’re, um, say there’s cereal, he’ll like put the empty box with like two crumbs of cereal, like back in the thing. So I’ll go to like pour cereal and it’s empty. And I’m like, I wouldn’t care if I knew it was empty. But if I anticipate that I’m gonna have a bowl of cereal, then I’m upset.
Sevan Matossian (18:17):
Yeah, yeah, yeah. Uh, he So it’s not even like, yeah, there’s a small bowl in there. It’s like, there’s no bowl. Oh.
Alex Gazan (18:23):
It’d be like, like three little say it’s like cornflakes, like three little corn flakes.
Sevan Matossian (18:29):
Look, Jake, uh, she would kill me if I drank her shake. Okay. That I, that I also understand. So if your shakes already made and he were to come by and take a sip, you’re like, Hey dude, this is like portioned out for me.
Alex Gazan (18:40):
Um, I used to be really bad about it. Like I had a bit of a, um, bad relationship with like counting macros and food and at that point in time, like I would cry if he took something. ’cause I’d be like, I have no clue how many calories or whatever that was. He can comment again. I think I’ve chilled out quite a bit in that regard.
Sevan Matossian (19:01):
My wife, no matter what I’m eating or drinking or anything, like if I just crack something, she’ll come over and take a sip.
Alex Gazan (19:07):
Yeah. Like I said, like now that I
Sevan Matossian (19:08):
Don’t, I can’t stand it. I can’t stand it
Alex Gazan (19:11):
Now that I’m not super strict. Like, I don’t mind as much like sharing or giving a bite here and there. If I’m hungry though, or like if I’m like starving and like I want all the calories, then I’m upset.
Sevan Matossian (19:22):
Yeah. Uh, don’t touch that.
Alex Gazan (19:24):
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Sevan Matossian (19:26):
Um, the, uh, in your, in your Instagram you did a, um, a weighted rope climb. Who, whose idea was that?
Alex Gazan (19:33):
Um, we got the inspo from Laura’s video. She had like a really cool video of
Sevan Matossian (19:38):
Her. Laura. Laura Horvat.
Alex Gazan (19:39):
Yeah. We saw her like doing one. I was like, that’s cool. Like, we’ve never really tried to like do a heavy rope climb. So, um, yeah, I followed suit just to give it a try.
Sevan Matossian (19:50):
Um, um, why? That makes me nervous With the weight under you like that in case you fell. Why not like a weight vest?
Alex Gazan (19:57):
Um, I’ve done one in a weight vest. There’s just not enough weight in the weight vest to get as heavy as I wanted to go. <laugh>,
Sevan Matossian (20:04):
How, how much is that?
Alex Gazan (20:05):
Uh, 30 pounds.
Sevan Matossian (20:07):
Dang crazy. And, and when you get down here, you look at someone who are you looking at and you give ’em a smile?
Alex Gazan (20:15):
Uh, I think that Justin give ’em a little wink.
Sevan Matossian (20:20):
Oh yeah. That’s awesome.
Alex Gazan (20:24):
Yeah.
Sevan Matossian (20:25):
Uh, is that the first time you’ve ever done that Right there on film?
Alex Gazan (20:29):
Yeah.
Sevan Matossian (20:31):
And at any time when you were going up, did you think uhoh this is gonna be, I’m I’m not gonna make it?
Alex Gazan (20:37):
No. I mean it was definitely like heavy. Um, I thought the way down was a little more scary. Um, but I, I wasn’t worried about failing,
Sevan Matossian (20:48):
Uh, tank Reeves, uh, with five pounds more than Laura shots fired.
Alex Gazan (20:53):
That was not the intention to like stir the pot of Laura. I do not wanna do that. <laugh>
Sevan Matossian (20:59):
Laura? Uh, Laura will be putting out 35 pounds, um, tomorrow. Hey, could you, oh wow. Look at, yeah. Go Laura. Dang. Yeah. I wonder if now that she sees this, if she regrets putting it on film because now you did it.
Alex Gazan (21:15):
Uh, I don’t know. I mean, that looks e like really like good. I’m sure she could do more. Like, I don’t know, I think everyone has their own perspective.
Sevan Matossian (21:23):
Perspective, but she’s inspiring people. Right. It’s kinda like sharing some of her training.
Alex Gazan (21:27):
Yeah. It’s not like, it’s not a competition, right? Like obviously you wanna be like, oh, like I wanna see if I can do that. But who knows? Maybe she could have done 50 pounds or like, maybe I could have done 50 pounds. Like you’re just getting ideas off of each other and like having fun with it.
Sevan Matossian (21:43):
You think you could’ve done that last year?
Alex Gazan (21:45):
What a weighted rope climb
Sevan Matossian (21:47):
With 30 pounds?
Alex Gazan (21:48):
I mean, I’ve obviously improved, so probably not as much, but I could’ve probably gone heavy. Like I’ve been pretty good at rope climbs for a while.
Sevan Matossian (21:56):
Crazy. Uh, um, what have you improved in the most from last year?
Alex Gazan (22:00):
Um, I think just overall fitness. Like, just, yeah, like being fitter. Like learning to hurt for longer. Um, and like I mentioned earlier, like the simple stuff, just like trusting it.
Sevan Matossian (22:13):
So everywhere, back squat, back squat, front squat, pull-ups, endurance handstand, technical stuff, jump rope, you’re just, just better everywhere.
Alex Gazan (22:25):
Yeah, I’d say like all around I’ve gotten better, obviously. Like I’ve been strong. Like I’ve always kind of been a stronger athlete. So like, I wouldn’t say that’s been like the leaps and bounds improvement, like that’s kind of stayed mostly the same, like a little bit stronger. More consistent I would say in the strength thing. Like, whereas like last year, like building to two 40 or two 50 of a clean and jerk would be like a really heavy day. I feel like now, like I can hit that weekly. Um, but as far as like just better, I feel like just fitness, like my lungs.
Sevan Matossian (23:00):
Um, you, you won the semi-final in the West, but you also had a really low moment there. Yeah. Was that your, was that your lowest moment in your CrossFit games? Um, competition history?
Alex Gazan (23:13):
That’s a hard question. I like to reflect on just ’cause I’m not sure. I think that was probably the most like, intense because there was like something really cool on the line. Like it’s a really cool thing to be able to like win a semi-final and going into the sixth or that event, I was sitting in a pretty good spot and I like knew that Sunday would be really good for me. So, um, to kind of like think I gave it all away and like that opportunity was gonna be gone. Like that was really devastating. And especially like, I think the hardest part is when you don’t perform to your, um, capabilities. Like it’s one thing if you’re just not fit and you need to be better. Um, ’cause you can’t like whatever. Like you just have to train and then next year or next event you’ll do better. Um, but I knew that I could have snatched more than that and so, and it was just really disappointing. Um, but then of like, it made a really good opportunity to put my big girl pants on and like, I just had to fight on Sunday.
Sevan Matossian (24:12):
Yeah. And that’s what I’m thinking. So we were, the question was, is, you know, the first question was, uh, where have you grown the most mm-hmm. <affirmative>, but maybe, maybe the place you grew have grown the most is between your ears. ’cause it’s kind of crazy that you could conceivably have gone from the lowest point in your CrossFit games competition history to your highest in the same competition, thus kind of make giving you a, a a, a new, a new baseline for confidence.
Alex Gazan (24:39):
Totally. And I think too, like things being worse or like a crappy moment is all relative to like, the size of the competition or what that competition means. Because like, my very first semi, or my first like semi-final regionals type event was West Coast Classic in 2021. And like, I think there was like the, um, I don’t know what year it was, but there was a repeat of a snatch ladder and it was ten eight, six four two squat snatches. And at that point in time, my squat snatch was awful. Like so inconsistent, so bad. And I didn’t clear like I was almost dead last, like, and I was really bummed, but like in the scheme of things, I was just really happy to be there. So like it wa it felt like a big deal, but it wasn’t, whereas like at this year’s snatch event, I expected to do well, I wanted to do well. Um, and it so it like stinks more. It’s just weird. Like I think it’s all relative to your expectations.
Sevan Matossian (25:39):
Yeah. You, but, but this year you did think for a minute that maybe you weren’t going to the games right after you shit the bed on that workout, you were like, I mean, that’s knew, that’s a,
Alex Gazan (25:48):
I knew, I knew I would fight for a game spot. Like I knew that like I would still be able to like eventually claw my way there. But like I had gone into before that event being like, awesome, like I just need to execute and I’m not gonna need to stress. Like I’m gonna make it back to the games. And then we didn’t see the score, the scoreboard, um, right after. So like I essentially thought like I was probably close to dead last in that event and I didn’t know where I placed in the, um, the run snatch. Like afterwards I knew and I didn’t like, I think I was in kind of a frenzy, so I didn’t execute that one either to my best of abilities. I was just like, oh fuck. Oh fuck. I just really like messed up.
Sevan Matossian (26:29):
Um, so 43rd man. 43rd. That’s crazy.
Alex Gazan (26:32):
Yeah. So when we got back, like to the warmup area, Justin was like, yeah, like you just gave up essentially you like gave up a whole event. Um, so we figured I’d be like sitting towards like ninth, eighth, or ninth overall, which still would’ve been in a qualifying position. Um, but it was more like now, then tomorrow you have to, you have to be perfect tomorrow ’cause you can’t like lose a spot. Um, but of course we were a little premature, like I only fell to third. Um, so
Sevan Matossian (27:04):
And then, and then you ended up taking 11th to first and a third.
Alex Gazan (27:06):
Yeah. But it’s kind of like
Sevan Matossian (27:08):
Matter.
Alex Gazan (27:09):
Yeah. I mean like, it was a really cool experience and I think what’s really cool for me to like confidence wise to look at it is like had I executed even a little better, right? Like even if I didn’t hit my full potential, but I hit like a little less shitty.
Sevan Matossian (27:23):
Yeah. Like,
Alex Gazan (27:23):
Than my first place wouldn’t have been like by the chin of, by the skin of my teeth, it would’ve been like actually like Yeah. More dominant. Which is cool. It’s a cool confidence booster.
Sevan Matossian (27:34):
Yeah. And it’s an incredible experience because you learn that, hey, I’m not only am I never out, but I can have a, I can actually still win.
Alex Gazan (27:42):
Totally. And like the games is like a bigger version of that, right? Like there’s 15 tests and like Pat Ners a great example. Like he always has a event or two where he is bottom of the pack and then he just like fights his way back to top five spots, you know?
Sevan Matossian (27:59):
Um, uh, there was a comment in here. Where is it? Oh, German Nunes. Uh, she’s hotter too. Oh. From last year? <laugh>, there you go. Uh, some insight from, from our, uh, viewers. I, I, I was going to say hi to Alex, but I saw her right after that event.
Alex Gazan (28:20):
Uh, sorry. Yeah. I was like fighting back tears. I just was like hustling to the warmup area.
Sevan Matossian (28:26):
Um, uh, interesting. Dan Gure, what went wrong? You run too fast. So yeah. What went wrong on the 1 65?
Alex Gazan (28:33):
I mean, you know, like snatches are such a technical lift and, um, something I’ve really struggled with in the past. Uh, and I think that my consistency with them has been very hit or miss for a long time. Um, and my warmup just felt really weird. I was kind of dealing with like a little bit of a annoyed shoulder and I think there was just like, it was one of those things where I missed and then instead of like really like honing in on a cue or like, okay, this is what works for me in the past, like when I start to miss, like I just got really frantic and just kept like picking up the bar and hoping that something would change even though I didn’t make a deliberate mindset change. And so I just bombed it. Like it, it was on me. I just had a shitty snatch day and I, I didn’t do well.
Sevan Matossian (29:24):
Yeah. Just a shitty snatch day. Hey, when do you go to Madison?
Alex Gazan (29:28):
I leave on the, let’s see, I’m looking at the calendar. I think this is the 29th, so a little less than two weeks.
Sevan Matossian (29:36):
And, um, when does the, some of the other athletes I’m I’m talking to or I’ve been talking, her saying that like right now is like, it’s, it’s a bad spot. Like the training is like really, really hard right now. Is that where you’re at too?
Alex Gazan (29:49):
Yeah, I would say like this last weekend was probably one of the most like, exhausting weekends I’ve had in a while. Um, like the, it’s been hard, but like Justin’s actually been, it.
The above transcript is generated using AI technology and therefore may contain errors.
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