Why Does Fitness Hurt So Much? | Jordan Wallace, Paul Warrior and Tim Briggs

1. 0:06 – 4:34

   Pre-show gym banter: caffeine, sponsors, Supreme, and questionable joggers

   1. CWChris Williamson0:06

      What we need, this is a problem because we've done it late and...

   2. JWJordan Wallace0:08

      Red Bull's made.

   3. CWChris Williamson0:09

      A Red Bull's, mate, I'm... We're gonna do that. We're gonna fill you full of blue Smarties.

   4. JWJordan Wallace0:12

      When?

   5. CWChris Williamson0:13

      We're gonna... This isn't tonight. It's too late. It's too late.

   6. PWPaul Warrior0:16

      (laughs)

   7. CWChris Williamson0:16

      I couldn't-

   8. JWJordan Wallace0:17

      What do you mean it's too late?

   9. PWPaul Warrior0:17

      I've been all night programming. I've ca-

   10. CWChris Williamson0:18

       Some, some Lucozade's in there.

   11. JWJordan Wallace0:19

       I've canceled programming for this. I've gotta go back and program.

   12. PWPaul Warrior0:22

       Well, you've got to go back and program. Get that Lucozade out.

   13. CWChris Williamson0:23

       Get whatever you want, mate.

   14. JWJordan Wallace0:24

       Get that sugar out.

   15. CWChris Williamson0:24

       There's, I think there's some tequila in there as well.

   16. JWJordan Wallace0:26

       Can we just put a coffee up?

   17. CWChris Williamson0:27

       There's some Ciroc in there. (laughs) Some pineapple ci-

   18. JWJordan Wallace0:28

       Mate, that sounds really nice. All right.

   19. PWPaul Warrior0:29

       Can, can we make a coffee go-

   20. CWChris Williamson0:30

       Pineapple Ciroc.

   21. JWJordan Wallace0:31

       You training as well, Tim?

   22. TBTim Briggs0:33

       Mate, stacked up. I need to.

   23. PWPaul Warrior0:35

       Tim's got everything, mate.

   24. JWJordan Wallace0:36

       He's fit.

   25. PWPaul Warrior0:36

       Made more money. Made too much money, mate.

   26. CWChris Williamson0:39

       (laughs)

   27. PWPaul Warrior0:39

       You two between yous, honestly. You two between yous, he's got more money than he's know what to do with.

   28. TBTim Briggs0:43

       No.

   29. PWPaul Warrior0:44

       He's rocking a brand new hat this morning.

   30. JWJordan Wallace0:45

       But did he drop, but did he drop them in the mud?
2. 4:34 – 6:10

   From memes to meaning: taking a real intro and mocking fitness sponsorship culture

   1. JWJordan Wallace4:34

      All right, that's cool. Let's do a little intro now then.

   2. PWPaul Warrior4:36

      Make it Volvic. You're all Volvic.

   3. JWJordan Wallace4:38

      All sponsorships, yeah.

   4. PWPaul Warrior4:39

      Turn it around. Face the camera.

   5. JWJordan Wallace4:42

      So we get that. Six layers of volcanic filtration.

   6. CWChris Williamson4:43

      But that's not Volvic, is it?

   7. JWJordan Wallace4:45

      Uh, it's my other sponsor, Robinsons.

   8. TBTim Briggs4:48

      (laughs)

   9. PWPaul Warrior4:50

      (laughs)

   10. JWJordan Wallace4:50

       Fruit and barley. They go together. Synergistic.

   11. CWChris Williamson4:52

       They, they really do.

   12. TBTim Briggs4:53

       See Stef Dekkers post today? She's-

   13. PWPaul Warrior4:55

       I did.

   14. TBTim Briggs4:55

       She's, she's hammering-

   15. JWJordan Wallace4:56

       (laughs)

   16. PWPaul Warrior4:57

       Do you follow Stef Dekker on, on Instagram?

   17. CWChris Williamson4:59

       I don't know who that is.

   18. PWPaul Warrior4:59

       She's like the Scottish version of you.

   19. JWJordan Wallace5:00

       She's like a Scottish version of me.

   20. PWPaul Warrior5:02

       Right.

   21. JWJordan Wallace5:02

       Yeah, she's a beast. Um, but anyway. I'm it then.

   22. PWPaul Warrior5:04

       She's a bit... No, no, no. I should take that as an insult. No offense.

   23. JWJordan Wallace5:08

       (laughs)

   24. PWPaul Warrior5:09

       But, uh, so basically she's like, she's hammering all the people in not just CrossFit, but in like fitness who have got all these sponsors.

   25. CWChris Williamson5:16

       Right.

   26. PWPaul Warrior5:17

       Who like are all just like-

   27. CWChris Williamson5:18

       Just shooting them down.

   28. PWPaul Warrior5:18

       ... thank you, like thank you for this, it makes me like so much better, da-da-da.

   29. CWChris Williamson5:21

       Yeah.

   30. PWPaul Warrior5:21

       God, they're brilliant. She's going on about training 36 hours a day and that, makes me laugh.
3. 6:10 – 9:08

   Jordan Wallace’s CrossFit origin story (2009): running background to owning an affiliate

   1. CWChris Williamson6:10

      Fucking hell. Um, so, I guess by way of introduction, what would be probably quite nice would be to hear... I'm gonna guess that out of the three of you that sat round the table, you've been involved in CrossFit the longest?

   2. JWJordan Wallace6:23

      Yeah, the longest. So me, and then Paul, and then probably Tim in that, in that order, obviously.

   3. CWChris Williamson6:27

      Mm-hmm. Um, so can you tell us a little bit about your introduction to the sport?

   4. JWJordan Wallace6:31

      Yeah. So I started back in like 2009, like late 2009.

   5. CWChris Williamson6:34

      Mm-hmm.

   6. JWJordan Wallace6:34

      Um, I did like r- running before that sort of about six to eight months before coming to CrossFit. I used to do like longer distance running, so not super long distance like what Stu did, but, um, like 10 milers, half marathons, things like that.

   7. CWChris Williamson6:48

      Mm-hmm. Yeah.

   8. JWJordan Wallace6:49

      And basically, I had like a goal that I wanted to achieve, um, which I did. And then I just-

   9. CWChris Williamson6:54

      What was the goal?

   10. JWJordan Wallace6:54

       Uh, so it was run the Great North sub one-twenty. Um, so I ran it-

   11. CWChris Williamson7:00

       I can't believe that.

   12. JWJordan Wallace7:00

       ... in one... I ran it in one-twenty. But I, I was a lot younger than that.

   13. CWChris Williamson7:02

       How old were you then?

   14. JWJordan Wallace7:03

       I was like 17. Was a lot smaller though. Um...

   15. CWChris Williamson7:07

       Smaller than now?

   16. JWJordan Wallace7:08

       Smaller than now. (laughs)

   17. CWChris Williamson7:09

       (laughs)

   18. JWJordan Wallace7:09

       It's hard to imagine. But, um, so I, I did that, and then I, I just... I was just bored of it really, and kind of... Obvious training for like that sort of distance, you have to put loads of miles in. It's loads of time.

   19. CWChris Williamson7:21

       Yeah. Yeah.

   20. JWJordan Wallace7:21

       So, I just got bored. So I was looking for something else to do. So I was, I was messing around with a bit of like kettlebells and stuff. And then, I read an article which I think was in like Men's Fitness or Men's Health.

   21. CWChris Williamson7:32

       What year are we talking here?

   22. JWJordan Wallace7:33

       Like 2009. 2000... Like late 2009, early 2010.

   23. CWChris Williamson7:37

       Mm-hmm.

   24. JWJordan Wallace7:37

       So I read an article in, I think it was Men's Health or Men's Fitness, about the 300. The, the, um, the 300 guys.

   25. CWChris Williamson7:45

       Yeah.

   26. JWJordan Wallace7:45

       Like how they trained in CrossFit was mentioned in it, and I thought, "Oh, what's that?"

   27. CWChris Williamson7:48

       Right.

   28. JWJordan Wallace7:48

       So I Googled CrossFit, um, and just f- found there was two, there was two gyms in the North East. So there was one called CrossFit North East England-

   29. CWChris Williamson7:57

       Yeah.

   30. JWJordan Wallace7:57

       ... which is just up in, um, Wigan view. And then there was CrossFit Tyneside.
4. 9:08 – 11:08

   How early CrossFit competitions worked: sectionals, pre-Open chaos, and the sport’s growth

   1. CWChris Williamson9:08

      When you say started, sort of started competing, what you mean is-

   2. JWJordan Wallace9:11

      Well it was like-

   3. CWChris Williamson9:11

      ... made it to regionals like however many years in a row.

   4. JWJordan Wallace9:14

      Yeah, but it was... But it was a lot different then though. So like the first year that I went to like s- there, there wasn't an open, so it was a sectional.

   5. CWChris Williamson9:20

      Right.

   6. JWJordan Wallace9:21

      So you just put your name in a hat. You literally just paid, and you, you put your name in a hat, and you turned up and competed. So there was no qualification process, you, for the sectionals.

   7. CWChris Williamson9:29

      So this is like... This is kind of like a, like a seeding would be for a local competition

   8. PWPaul Warrior9:33

      Yeah, so-

   9. CWChris Williamson9:34

      ... now, I guess?

   10. JWJordan Wallace9:34

       Yeah, so you, you basically paid your money, you rocked up. It was like three workouts in one day.

   11. CWChris Williamson9:39

       (laughs)

   12. JWJordan Wallace9:40

       Um, and then from there, it was like the t- at the time there was three sectionals. So there's like one in the UK, UK and Ireland. Then there was one in like Western Europe, one in Eastern Europe. And then all those three, there was three people from each I think went to... No sorry, 20 people from each went to a regional. And then from the regional, I think there was three people from that then went to the games. And then-

   13. CWChris Williamson10:03

       So this is before the open?

   14. JWJordan Wallace10:04

       That was 2010, yeah. Then after that, 2011 the open came along. So this was like pre-open. So that was the first proper competition that I did was sectionals.

   15. CWChris Williamson10:12

       Wow.

   16. JWJordan Wallace10:12

       So I think it was 20 qualified for regionals, and I think I was... came like 21st. So just missed out 4 times the regionals that year.

   17. CWChris Williamson10:18

       Yeah.

   18. JWJordan Wallace10:19

       Um...

   19. CWChris Williamson10:20

       So you must've taken into... to- taken to it pretty quickly?

   20. JWJordan Wallace10:22

       Yeah. Well, again, at the time, like it was super low skill. So like that year, that 2010 was the first year that GHD sit-ups and chest to bar pull-ups came on the workout. So I wanted that competition. But I didn't have chest to bar pull-ups, so I was basically doing strict pull-ups-

   21. CWChris Williamson10:36

       (laughs)

   22. JWJordan Wallace10:36

       ... in the middle of the workout. Um, like strict pull-ups, and it was, it was... We had... We were doing it on a basketball court with like... in the middle of a park.

   23. CWChris Williamson10:45

       Yeah.

   24. JWJordan Wallace10:45

       It's like totally different to what it is now.

   25. CWChris Williamson10:47

       Mm-hmm.

   26. JWJordan Wallace10:47

       Where you have like a proper stadium-

   27. CWChris Williamson10:48

       Mm-hmm.

   28. JWJordan Wallace10:49

       ... make up judges, and it's all online and all that stuff. It was like a completely different world.

   29. CWChris Williamson10:53

       Yeah.

   30. JWJordan Wallace10:53

       So back then it was like li- literally just on a school field in a park. It was cool.
5. 11:08 – 15:27

   Tim Briggs’ path: overweight beginnings, functional training influence, and coaching focus

   1. TBTim Briggs11:08

      Um, actually some of it's a bit same as Jordan in the sense that, um, probably the 300.

   2. CWChris Williamson11:13

      Yep.

   3. TBTim Briggs11:14

      I think that's probably a pretty big moment for most people in fitness-

   4. CWChris Williamson11:16

      Mm-hmm.

   5. TBTim Briggs11:17

      ... um, when it all wasn't CGI. I think a lot of people were kind of like-

   6. CWChris Williamson11:20

      Yeah. Mad, mad to think that-

   7. TBTim Briggs11:21

      ... "Shit."

   8. CWChris Williamson11:21

      ... Geor- Gerard Butler's formed the basis for a several hundred million dollar-

   9. TBTim Briggs11:25

      Yeah.

   10. CWChris Williamson11:25

       ... business -

   11. TBTim Briggs11:27

       And, and he wasn't even done, really did do CrossFit really. It was, um... So I'd done that. I'd kind of watched that film. I'd already realized I was pretty overweight, and I'd already started trying to like go to Global Gyms and things to try and change that. And as a result got into the fitness side, or like got interested in the fitness side. Um, lost quite a bit of weight. And then, um, I think when the 300 went like, you know, I don't know, whether it was on the internet or the DVD with the extras or something like that, there was an interview with Mark Twight who was Jim Jones?

   12. CWChris Williamson11:56

       Yeah.

   13. TBTim Briggs11:56

       Um, at the time he did it and he started talking about functional training and functional movement, and ca- training with kettlebells and ropes and sleds and all that kind of...... all that kind of stuff. So from that, um, I actually bumped into a friend one night, um, a guy called Finn. He was doing some strongman training kind of with Jordan at the time, or like in the facility.

   14. CWChris Williamson12:15

       In the facility, yeah.

   15. TBTim Briggs12:16

       Yeah, eh, in the same facility. And, um, he was like, "Oh, man." I was like, pulling out kettlebells and he was like, "Oh, you should, uh, come down and try this gym." Uh, so I kind of went on the internet. Saw it was run by this little kid-

   16. CWChris Williamson12:26

       (laughs)

   17. TBTim Briggs12:26

       ... who was like doing double unders with an InfaDel T-shirt on. I was like, "All right, okay. I'm gonna, I'm gonna... all right, I'm gonna go see what this is about." Dropped him a message, um, and that was it. Went down, um, got through a, p- put through like a seven-minute workout which like-

   18. CWChris Williamson12:41

       Ruined his life.

   19. TBTim Briggs12:42

       ... hi- hid my ass totally. Um, like signed up the next day. Signed up there and then actually. I was like, I was like, "I've got the money in the bag." (laughs)

   20. CWChris Williamson12:49

       (laughs)

   21. TBTim Briggs12:49

       The money... I've already got the money.

   22. CWChris Williamson12:49

       Because you'd paid for the money.

   23. JWJordan Wallace12:50

       You've just been paying, gonna do it... This was pre-Supreme as well so... (laughs)

   24. CWChris Williamson12:54

       So you actually had some money, yeah.

   25. TBTim Briggs12:56

       Yeah and I had the money, yeah. I had the money in my bag there and then. I literally was just like, "I'll pay for a month." Um, and, um, kind of just went, went from there.

   26. CWChris Williamson13:04

       Yep.

   27. TBTim Briggs13:04

       Um, again, like he, like he says, I, I eventually just kind of got more involved. He was really involved in the competitor side.

   28. CWChris Williamson13:10

       Yep.

   29. TBTim Briggs13:10

       And, and I think like he says, like it was easier to get into the competitor side at the time. And even I did okay in the first ever open.

   30. CWChris Williamson13:16

       Fucking 400th in Europe first year, innit.
6. 15:27 – 20:35

   Paul Warrior’s start + the big question: are CrossFit athletes the ‘fittest on earth’?

   1. CWChris Williamson15:27

      I think one of the things that struck me when I started was CrossFit has managed to brand itself so effectively. And I think when anything's that polished, there's an element that people have got that makes them feel reserved about something. You know, the, the, the style looks so good that the substance can't be up to scratch. Does that make sense? That people are sometimes a little bit suspicious when it looks... And using the tag, the fittest on earth, like it sounds, it sounds impressive and also un- unbelievable in the same sentence.

   2. TBTim Briggs15:55

      Yeah, yeah.

   3. CWChris Williamson15:56

      So in your opinion, are CrossFit athletes the fittest athletes on the planet?

   4. TBTim Briggs16:00

      No, I do think it... I do think they're kind of pre- like trying to produce the fittest on earth in the sense of it's such a broad, broad spectrum.

   5. CWChris Williamson16:06

      Mm-hmm.

   6. TBTim Briggs16:07

      And it's the only thing that's really challenging or testing this broad, broad spectrum.

   7. CWChris Williamson16:11

      Yeah.

   8. TBTim Briggs16:11

      There isn't anything else that is. So it's like-

   9. JWJordan Wallace16:12

      It's a middle ground, isn't it?

   10. TBTim Briggs16:14

       Yeah.

   11. JWJordan Wallace16:14

       It's a middle ground of everything.

   12. TBTim Briggs16:15

       Yeah. And I think the people it's producing who are like, you know, pretty damn awesome weightlifters and pretty damn, re- pretty, pretty strong powerlifters and can run mar- and can run half marathons.

   13. CWChris Williamson16:24

       Yeah.

   14. TBTim Briggs16:25

       Can do all of that stuff. I mean, there just isn't a test, like-

   15. CWChris Williamson16:27

       Now you're talking about a

   16. JWJordan Wallace16:28

       they're probably talking about like, Tia-Flair Toomey who last... Not this year obviously when she won, but the year before, like did the CrossFit games, came second and then went and competed in Rio, the Olympics.

   17. TBTim Briggs16:38

       Yeah.

   18. JWJordan Wallace16:38

       In less than two weeks.

   19. TBTim Briggs16:39

       In less than two weeks.

   20. CWChris Williamson16:40

       Where did this come from?

   21. JWJordan Wallace16:40

       So she's competed at the highest level in two sports-

   22. CWChris Williamson16:43

       Yeah.

   23. JWJordan Wallace16:43

       ... within two weeks of each other.

   24. TBTim Briggs16:45

       Yeah.

   25. JWJordan Wallace16:45

       She hasn't... She obviously hasn't peaked for the, for the, for the Olympics. You know what I mean?

   26. CWChris Williamson16:48

       Not at all.

   27. JWJordan Wallace16:49

       She's just been to...

   28. She's just pushed herself and has-

   29. ... herself a full week.

   30. She's just pushed herself in the phase for a full week.
7. 20:35 – 27:22

   Why CrossFit hurts: brutal movement pairings, competition pressure, and the anaerobic trap

   1. CWChris Williamson20:35

      So anyone that's tried CrossFit or has done a few of the workouts, like hey, regardless of whether or not people like or don't like CrossFit, I don't think anyone can deny that it's really, really fucking hard. Like it, like there's some of the workouts that want to end your world. And what I'm really interested in, that we've got three guys who understand the physiology and understand the training methodology as well. I wanted to see if you guys can try and explain why CrossFit is so hard. Like why it hurts during a workout to the level that it does. And if you can try and take us through maybe some of the workouts and what it is about them that just wreck your world. Because obviously people can go and run a marathon and they can come out the other side of it and maybe the next day they have their aches and pains and this, that, and the other. But during a marathon there's, a lot of people would perceive as, you know, a pinnacle of realistic-

   2. JWJordan Wallace21:25

      Yeah.

   3. CWChris Williamson21:26

      ... local level fitness. Like, you know, I, if you gave me the option of doing that or doing a couple of the really nasty hero workouts, I'm like give me the marathon. Do you know what I mean? Because although it's- Do you say it?

   4. JWJordan Wallace21:38

      I don't know. I just think because it's chuggy.

   5. CWChris Williamson21:40

      As a non-runner?

   6. JWJordan Wallace21:41

      It's just chuggy. Oh yeah, okay, maybe not, maybe not me. But d- you understand my- I know what you're saying.

   7. CWChris Williamson21:45

      Yeah.

   8. JWJordan Wallace21:46

      I think from like, not from like a sciency point of view. Tim's probably best to do that, he's the one with the degrees.

   9. CWChris Williamson21:51

      With the degrees. (laughs)

   10. JWJordan Wallace21:52

       Um. Degrees.

   11. CWChris Williamson21:53

       Got bare degrees of that.

   12. JWJordan Wallace21:55

       But like from a- From what? ... from a pra-

   13. CWChris Williamson21:58

       (laughs)

   14. JWJordan Wallace21:58

       (laughs) ... degree.

   15. CWChris Williamson22:00

       Too well.

   16. JWJordan Wallace22:01

       But from like a, from like a practical point of view, I think it's just the fact that it's like so, there's so many different aspects of it. So like you're saying with a marathon, it's one foot in front of the other, that's it. Like if you can keep putting one foot in front of the other, even if you're walking it, you know you're gonna finish it.

   17. CWChris Williamson22:14

       Yeah.

   18. JWJordan Wallace22:15

       Whereas like with some of the WODs, some of the hero workouts, like some of the stuff in there is pretty challenging. So, um, for example, like a lot of them are combiner movements like that a normal person in the gym wouldn't combine. So like there's one called Mr. Joshua which is like running, um, heavy deadlifts and then GHD sit-ups. And it's, it's a pretty simple workout. I think it's like five rounds, 400 meter run, 15 deadlifts at 115 and then 30 GHDs.

   19. CWChris Williamson22:42

       Mm-hmm.

   20. JWJordan Wallace22:42

       It's like, it's a world beater, it kills you.

   21. CWChris Williamson22:45

       Mm-hmm.

   22. JWJordan Wallace22:45

       It's like the extension of the deadlift and then the flexion of the GHD sit-up just brutalizes you.

   23. CWChris Williamson22:50

       And then you've got to stabilize as you, as you run, as you get into the run and then you run up.

   24. JWJordan Wallace22:53

       Yeah. You're like all of that, you're all of that and then you're all of that and it's like through a full range of motion. Um, and then obviously you're running after that. So you're out of breath coming in, picking up a moderately heavy load-

   25. CWChris Williamson23:02

       Mm-hmm.

   26. JWJordan Wallace23:03

       ... and then jumping on the GHD sit-up which in itself is a pretty brutal movement. Like it's a massive range of motion. And it's not really something that a lot of people have done before anyway.

   27. CWChris Williamson23:11

       Mm-hmm.

   28. JWJordan Wallace23:11

       Um, great way to get rhabdo. Um, but I think those types of like combinations of movements are just brutal. Just brutal.

   29. CWChris Williamson23:21

       Yeah.

   30. JWJordan Wallace23:21

       And it's the same with like, there's another one called Bull which is like a mile run, 50 overhead squats I think at 60, 200 double unders and then 50 pull-ups I think.
8. 27:22 – 31:32

   Pacing and energy systems: where to push, where to relax, and why the rower lies

   1. JWJordan Wallace27:22

      Well, I think a lot of it is like knowing what you can do. So like, in a lot of the open workouts, people will be like, with, with me especially in past, like, "Go faster, go faster." I'm like, "No, I know what I'm doing."

   2. CWChris Williamson27:33

      Yeah.

   3. JWJordan Wallace27:33

      "I'm going at my pace."

   4. CWChris Williamson27:35

      Yeah.

   5. JWJordan Wallace27:35

      "I don't want to go at your pace, I'm going at my pace 'cause I know at this pace I can go hard for 30 minutes."

   6. CWChris Williamson27:41

      Yeah.

   7. JWJordan Wallace27:41

      "14 minutes, whatever it may be."

   8. CWChris Williamson27:43

      Yeah.

   9. JWJordan Wallace27:43

      If I go a little bit faster-

   10. CWChris Williamson27:44

       Yeah.

   11. JWJordan Wallace27:44

       ... I know that, that, that's the workout over. Like, let's talk, uh, let's take what, 17.4, is that the deadlift one?

   12. Yeah, the 55.

   13. Me, me and you did that opposite each other.

   14. CWChris Williamson27:54

       You, you put me in the same heat. Just on a side point, Jordan put me in the same heat as him the three out of the five open ones.

   15. JWJordan Wallace28:00

       What, you were told, you were given it big licks? You gave him the big licks?

   16. CWChris Williamson28:02

       I, who gave us big licks?

   17. JWJordan Wallace28:03

       (laughs)

   18. CWChris Williamson28:03

       I did not give it big licks at all.

   19. JWJordan Wallace28:06

       (laughs)

   20. (laughs)

   21. CWChris Williamson28:07

       Oh, (laughs) such a bullshit giver.

   22. JWJordan Wallace28:08

       Give me big, give me big licks. (?)

   23. CWChris Williamson28:09

       Right, okay, so we were... And I've, I've got a funny story about this that I'll dip in very quickly. I got off the, uh... 55 deadlifts at 100...

   24. JWJordan Wallace28:18

       102.

   25. CWChris Williamson28:19

       102 kilos.

   26. JWJordan Wallace28:20

       Yeah.

   27. CWChris Williamson28:21

       And you programmed this for me earlier in the week.

   28. JWJordan Wallace28:23

       Yeah.

   29. CWChris Williamson28:23

       55 deadlifts, 102 kilos, and then straight onto the wall balls afterwards, 55 wall balls-

   30. JWJordan Wallace28:27

       Yeah.
9. 31:32 – 39:06

   Training taxonomy: strength, sprint/anaerobic work, sport (5–20 min), and aerobic development

   1. TBTim Briggs31:32

      So let's take it from the start. There's... I wanted to ask this question. There's... the workouts that are in CrossFit, as far as, uh, from what I know, are split up into broad categories. Is that right? Yeah, they break it down in-

   2. CWChris Williamson31:44

      Is that right, Stu?

   3. TBTim Briggs31:44

      They break it down into three. We break, probably break it down into four, which is-

   4. CWChris Williamson31:49

      Take, take me, take me through that.

   5. TBTim Briggs31:50

      So we're talking, like, strength work.

   6. CWChris Williamson31:52

      Mm-hmm.

   7. TBTim Briggs31:52

      So we've got, like, your maximal efforts, usually, like, a compound movement or we might train Olympic lifters that. So you're talking, like, your heavy back squat days.

   8. CWChris Williamson32:00

      Mm-hmm.

   9. TBTim Briggs32:01

      Um, we-

   10. PWPaul Warrior32:02

       There's your ATP and phosphocreatine as well.

   11. TBTim Briggs32:04

       It takes science boys.

   12. PWPaul Warrior32:06

       Phosphocreatine.

   13. CWChris Williamson32:06

       Science bitches.

   14. TBTim Briggs32:06

       Science bitches.

   15. PWPaul Warrior32:07

       Let's move on.

   16. CWChris Williamson32:08

       Rocking knowledge boys.

   17. TBTim Briggs32:09

       So then we go with our, um, so our power work, our sprint work, our, um, glycogen work.

   18. PWPaul Warrior32:16

       Glycolytic.

   19. TBTim Briggs32:17

       So there you go.

   20. PWPaul Warrior32:17

       There we go.

   21. TBTim Briggs32:17

       Right, there we go. So our anaerobic capacity work.

   22. CWChris Williamson32:20

       We know this one.

   23. TBTim Briggs32:20

       So these are the short, sharp workouts.

   24. CWChris Williamson32:22

       Sub five minutes? Sub three minutes?

   25. TBTim Briggs32:24

       Uh, sub, more than, like, sub less than that even, like, 45 seconds type work.

   26. CWChris Williamson32:28

       Okay.

   27. TBTim Briggs32:28

       Like any minute work. This is those-

   28. PWPaul Warrior32:30

       Remember this is just training.

   29. TBTim Briggs32:31

       Yeah.

   30. CWChris Williamson32:31

       Yeah. Yeah.
10. 39:06 – 44:38

    CrossFit’s adolescence: dumb early challenges, 1000 burpees, and gym folklore

    1. CWChris Williamson39:06

       So this was something else that I wanted to really touch on. So I've seen like some of, some of your throwback Thursday images and stuff-

    2. JWJordan Wallace39:13

       Yeah.

    3. CWChris Williamson39:13

       ... from like 2010. Can you give me a rundown of some of the most CrossFit stuff, or some of the most stupid CrossFit stuff you've done? Because what's happened now, it feels like 2017, 2018, we're... the sport's in maturity now.

    4. JWJordan Wallace39:27

       Yeah.

    5. CWChris Williamson39:27

       It feels like the sport's in maturity.

    6. JWJordan Wallace39:29

       Yeah.

    7. CWChris Williamson39:30

       And although that's fantastic because you can livestream the games on Facebook, and it's, it looks like the Olympics, and there's a... I'm sure that there will be a full opening ceremony pretty soon. There's gonna have to be.

    8. JWJordan Wallace39:41

       Mm-hmm. Yeah, without a doubt.

    9. CWChris Williamson39:41

       Do you know what I mean? Like, there's gonna be all manner of different bits and pieces, but what you don't get are the mad funny shit mistakes-

    10. JWJordan Wallace39:49

        Yeah.

    11. CWChris Williamson39:49

        ... that occur during the adolescence of a sport, so I-

    12. JWJordan Wallace39:53

        I know. I think we were super lucky. We were super lucky that, you, no, but like you met like...

    13. Shh.

    14. We were super... No, we were like... No, we were very lucky 'cause like, you, you know, the stupid stuff we've done, we did it ourselves.

    15. Yeah.

    16. You know.

    17. I've had some pretty like... I, I've been really lucky that I've been surrounded by a lot of really good people, so like I had a coach called Carl Steadman. I had him for like four, I think he was my coach for like four and a half years.

    18. CWChris Williamson40:13

        Yeah.

    19. JWJordan Wallace40:14

        Him and James Jowsey, both super knowledgeable guys. I learned a load of stuff off them two, um, that has helped me so much.

    20. CWChris Williamson40:22

        Mm-hmm.

    21. JWJordan Wallace40:22

        Like a lot, like one thing I was gonna say was I used to just think that more was better, like the more you did, the better you'd be.

    22. CWChris Williamson40:30

        Yeah.

    23. JWJordan Wallace40:30

        And then I remember like-

    24. CWChris Williamson40:31

        Volume, volume is more.

    25. JWJordan Wallace40:32

        Yeah, vol- vol- volume, volume is king. And I remember like probably about six years ago now, Carl said it was like, "More isn't better. More's just more."

    26. CWChris Williamson40:39

        Yeah.

    27. JWJordan Wallace40:39

        Like intensity always trumps volume, so you're better doing less well than doing loads crap.

    28. CWChris Williamson40:45

        Yeah.

    29. JWJordan Wallace40:45

        And that was one thing that stuck with me for like quite a l- a, well, a long time. Um, but I mean, I think back to some of the stuff that I used to do, like I don't know how I did it. So I don't know how it couldn't harm.

    30. CWChris Williamson40:54

        So tell, tell, tell me, tell me, tell me some of the, the s- stupid CrossFit stuff. Tell us some of that.
11. 44:38 – 1:00:19

    Injuries, reputations, and why CrossFit gets hated: ego, branding, and social media highlights

    1. TBTim Briggs44:38

       We've been lucky, I think, like-

    2. PWPaul Warrior44:40

       Yeah.

    3. TBTim Briggs44:40

       ... injuries and stuff in the gym have been minimum.

    4. JWJordan Wallace44:42

       Minimal, yeah. We've been like... CrossFit does get a really bad name for, like, injuries and stuff, but I think it's, like, anything, like any training in the gym, like, I could take you to any commercial gym and show you loads of crap PTs who don't know what they're doing.

    5. PWPaul Warrior44:56

       People wearing braces left, right, and center as well.

    6. JWJordan Wallace44:58

       Yeah, it's like, it's the same with CrossFit, like, there will be coaches out there that are crap.

    7. PWPaul Warrior45:01

       Yeah.

    8. JWJordan Wallace45:01

       But you're gonna get that in everything. We like to think that we're, we-, we're decent, we're good, you know. Um, obviously there's always things that we can improve on, but we try and do our best with everything, and we think we do a g- good job, but...

    9. CWChris Williamson45:14

       I'd agree.

    10. JWJordan Wallace45:15

        It's just... It gets a bad name through the-

    11. CWChris Williamson45:17

        So, here's, here's my, sort of, two pence on it, as someone who's now been in the sport for a year and I did... Around about 10 months ago, so just as the open started, after I'd been doing it for two months, I went and did a podcast with the guys from Propain Fitness.

    12. JWJordan Wallace45:29

        Yeah.

    13. CWChris Williamson45:30

        And we kind of reassessed it, everything from there. And that was-

    14. JWJordan Wallace45:32

        CrossFit, yeah, that's where CrossFit was.

    15. PWPaul Warrior45:34

        That was when.

    16. JWJordan Wallace45:34

        When CrossFit was born.

    17. CWChris Williamson45:35

        When CrossFit was born.

    18. JWJordan Wallace45:35

        CrossFit was born.

    19. CWChris Williamson45:36

        I'm really tempted to call this one Chris Fit, but we'll see.

    20. JWJordan Wallace45:38

        I think you should.

    21. PWPaul Warrior45:38

        Definitely.

    22. CWChris Williamson45:39

        Um-

    23. PWPaul Warrior45:39

        And rename your podcast, maybe.

    24. CWChris Williamson45:41

        Just CrossFit. I'm so tempted, you know.

    25. JWJordan Wallace45:43

        (laughs) Just do it. It'll be fun.

    26. CWChris Williamson45:44

        Nah. Anyway, so I went in and, and they, as... Bodybuilding and power lifting background.

    27. JWJordan Wallace45:50

        Yeah.

    28. CWChris Williamson45:50

        Had a bunch of questions. And, uh, you, you, you are right that CrossFit gets such a bad rep, and we tried to, um, dissolve down what it is that we think makes CrossFit, first, so polarizing in terms of opinion, and then, kind of, what- what gets it the bad reputation. And we came to a number of conclusions. One of them is the fact that I think a lot of people that go to the gym now, especially the guys that are in Global Gyms, they're conflating an interest in exercise and sport and fitness with going and doing bodybuilding.

    29. JWJordan Wallace46:25

        Yeah.

    30. PWPaul Warrior46:25

        Mm.
12. 1:00:19 – 1:16:03

    CrossFit vs bodybuilding culture: community, efficiency, and performance as a life barometer

    1. CWChris Williamson1:00:19

       And I think, you know, uh, this is... This shouldn't seem like a sort of CrossFit is the end, the only solution.... to the problem of trying to get yourself fitter. But I do think that there's a number of elements in there, external accountability-

Episode duration: 1:34:14