Hey everyone, welcome back to the fit to fat to fit experience podcast. I’m your host drew Manning now. It’s just gonna be me today. Lynn’s not here, she’s out of town, so hopefully you guys still stick around and hopefully I can entertain you just a little, a little bit. Um, today’s guest is crispy there now. Be there for those of you who don’t know is a very popular CrossFit games athlete. He’s been there since the beginning. I think he started back in 2007. He went to like the very first CrossFit games and has just been dominant over the years, um, has been really consistent in the, in the CrossFit world and now he’s, um, you know, he’s a dad, he’s a CrossFit affiliate owner and he trains multiple athletes now, uh, kind of sharing his experiences as a top level CrossFit games athlete and passing that knowledge on down.
Now in today’s episode, whether you’re in CrossFit or not, you guys, there’s still a lot of hidden gems in this episode that I think a lot of people can learn from. For example, he, uh, uh, crispy that kind of talks about, you know, CrossFit as a whole and you know, who it’s for, who it isn’t for. We can dive into, um, where he sees CrossFit going in the next five to 10 years. And the, we talked about nutrition, we talked about supplements. Um, a lot of, uh, very valuable things that I think anybody, whether you’re a man, a woman, CrossFit athlete or you like CrossFit, you’re thinking about trying it, uh, can learn from. So stick around. Um, this is definitely a great episode. It’s a shorter one. I kept it to about 30 minutes. Um, but still a lot of great information in this episode.
Before we go hang out with Chris, our show sponsors today are ketogenics.com and key Genex is an exoticness ketone supplement company. You guys, uh, you, you might’ve heard of Kegenix or exogenous ketones from people like Tim Ferris or Joe Rogan. There’s a lot of famous athletes now taking these executives ketones as a pre-workout supplement instead of your typical pre-workout supplements that are out there. Because it’s totally different. It puts your body in a totally different metabolic state, uh, which is called ketosis, where you’re running off ketones instead of glucose. Um, and it’s a, it’s a great experience. If you haven’t experienced what it’s like to be in ketosis, I definitely highly recommend for you to try it out for at least 30 days to see how you feel. Um, it’s for me. Here’s what I noticed. Here’s, here’s the biggest things I know is being in a state of ketosis.
Uh, my brains a lot clear, I’m mental clarity. My cognitive function has improved. Uh, my focus, my energy levels throughout the day, um, are, uh, I don’t have these dips and energy levels I can normally do when I’m eating like a higher carb or higher protein type of diets. And key genics is great because what it does is it hacks your body and puts you in a state of ketosis within 60 minutes of taking it. So nutritionally, if you eat a keto diet, you can’t get into ketosis, but it can take well. But taking ketogenics you guys can’t put you in or does put you in a state of ketosis 60 minutes. So it definitely speeds up that process. Um, there’s a lot of neuroprotective benefits for your brain, uh, by taking these exemptions. Ketones from Kegenix and if you guys use my code, if you go to [inaudible] dot com and use the code fit two fat two fit, that’s fit number two, fat number two fit.
You will receive a 15% off discount for all my fit perfect fit followers. Um, so like I said, definitely recommend everybody experiencing it at least once to see what it feels like for you. Go to [inaudible] dot com use the code fit to fat to fit our next sponsor you guys is dollar workout club.com. Now, Delta workout club.com is kind of similar to dollar shave club, but for the fitness industry and it’s a program that me, Lynn and Natalie Hodson all came together and created and it’s an online fitness platform that basically how it works, you guys is you pay a dollar per week. That’s it. There’s no like kid in fees or longterm contracts or anything like that. You pay a dollar a week and you get access to five at home workout videos that you can stream anywhere to your laptop, your com, your computer, your phone.
Um, and these are workouts that are 10 to 20 minutes long, high intensity interval training, uh, with minimal equipment. So you don’t need any special equipment. And it’s for all fitness levels, you guys, it’s not just for the advanced, the best of the best of the best. It’s for your beginner levels, you know, so maybe like an older, uh, you know, um, like your grandma for example, your mom could do these workouts at the beginner level or someone in between and it has beginner, intermediate, and advanced levels of these workouts. So you pay a dollar a week, you get access to those five at home workout videos. And then on top of that, you get access to five, uh, healthy recipe videos every single week. And this is all new content. You guys, this isn’t just 20 recipes recycled every week. It’s new content every single day. And then you also get access to five at home or sorry, five motivational videos. So in all you’re going to access to five high quality, uh, 15 high quality videos every single week. And like I said, it’s just a dollar dollar workout club.com check it out. Um, and, and try it out. Like I said, what do you have to lose? It’s only a dollar. So those are show sponsors. You guys, let’s go and hang out with crispy there now.
Alright, Chris Spieler, welcome to the fit to fat to fit experience podcast. How are you doing today man?
I’m good. Thanks for having me.
Yeah, man, it’s good to have you on. Uh, I know a lot of my followers are excited to have you on that. You are actually, uh, the first, uh, you know, I would call you a CrossFit professional on my podcast, so I know and I have a lot of buddies that do CrossFit and I do CrossFit myself. So I know a lot of people are excited for this episode, so thanks for coming on man. Now it really quick before we jump in. I, I heard that you were in Korea recently. What was that for?
Yeah, so I just got back from, um, South Korea. We were teaching a CrossFit course myself, another guy, Matt Chan and Eric O’Connor. We, uh, kind of created a course and um, it helps athletes and coaches that kind of dig the competition side of CrossFit and cover a bunch of topics. And so yeah, we, we had booked gig out there and we got to do a weekend to work in, in South Korea.
That’s so cool. So we’re, I mean, do people speak English over there? Like there’s, you guys have to have translators to touch what you guys were saying.
We were there, we had two translators and we translate all the lectures and all the breakouts. Um, and there are definitely a handful of people that spoke English, but I’d say probably half of them didn’t speak much English at all.
Yeah, that’s interest. That’s really interesting to me cause, um, you know, speaking like I, I spoke another language for awhile, Portuguese and it’s one thing to speak conversationally or certain topics, but to speak like about CrossFit for example. Like I wonder what some of the translations are, you know, they have to do a lot of work.
The obviously like you’ve experienced it, you know, it’s sometimes hard to define or find a way to really use a word in its entirety or what it’s meant to mean in English and another language.
Yeah. And then plus on top of that we add like acronyms, you know, to certain movements. So it makes it even more complicated. But yeah, that’s, that’s so interesting man. So, okay, let’s back up a little bit. Um, now I know a little bit about you, but my followers might not. Um, you originally grew up on the East coast, right? And then you moved to Utah and pretty much it became a ski bum. Is that kind of your story or go ahead and you can go into and explain it a little bit better.
I was born in salt Lake, but my parents are from Pennsylvania. So, um, they had moved out here just to kind of get away and do their own thing. And my sister and I were born in salt Lake, but we grew up, uh, outside of Philly. And you know, I, from the time before I was one, I was there and then went to school out there. I went to college out there, wrestled in college, and then, uh, I’d always wanted to go to the mountains. And so I moved to park city and I kind kinda didn’t know what I wanted to do, did an internship and found out I really didn’t like what I was doing and then just kind of naturally turned into a ski bum working in a ski shop and wrenching on bikes in the summer. And did that for about four or five years till I stumbled into the CrossFit gym.
Okay. And then from there you just fell in love with it. Yeah,
yeah, it was, uh, it was interesting, you know, like to after wrestling in college I really missed the, uh, uh, the competitive atmosphere a little bit and just the purpose behind training and when I found CrossFit, it just kinda fits that or filled that void a little bit of just being able to compete even with myself again. And having the motivation of a community was pretty, pretty helpful.
Yeah. And I think I have a very similar story that, cause I wrestled in high school and college and, and have that same background as you. And then when I eventually got introduced to CrossFit back in, um, let’s see, 2000, 12 ish, 2013 I think. Yeah, I was just driven to it because I wasn’t competing anymore. And that competitive atmosphere and the community aspect just kind of drew me in and it, it definitely is addicting. I think for former athletes, it’s a, it’s a big turn on, you know, to be able to kind of compete in a sense. Not that you’re trying to be better than anybody else, but you, it does, it does kind of, um, create this competitive atmosphere. So I can definitely, definitely relate to what you’re saying there. Now, you were there though in the, in the beginning days of CrossFit, right?
So I guess, you know, across started getting on the scene a little bit and 2000, 2001 with the website and things like that, but once it started to get some more affiliates and the games topped up, that’s, uh, I just happened to be around the same time.
Yeah. So what was it like, what was CrossFit like back then versus nowadays? Can you describe that?
Yeah. What’s funny is like the community isn’t necessarily different. The people, the community vibe, that’s all all really is kind of stayed true to the roots of CrossFit. But on the competition side of things is just blown up. You know, it’s, um, when I started there was no, um, you know, I did, I found all this stuff online. I just looked on crossfit.com and would kind of figure out things by watching videos and um, my CrossFit games in 2007 was kind of just like people at a barbecue hanging out. And that’s obviously evolved into pretty much a professional sport where people have coaches and a specific programming and, you know, nutrition is even a larger role. It was then, but it is even more now. And um, it’s just like, I think it’s just a freight train, you know, it’s, it’s exponentially grown over the past 10 years. Yeah,
that’s really cool for you to kind of experience that, to kind of see what it was in the beginning days and to kind of see where it is now. Because I mean, it is, a lot of people are very passionate about it and it’s really cool to see that now CrossFit for you, when you first started doing the games versus versus now, I mean, you know, you said people hire coaches and things like that. Back then, were you just kind of training by yourself or did you have people kind of coaching you in any way or what was it like for you back then? Like train for the games?
2007 to 2011. I really did all my own programming and you know, would work out with some buddies, but um, and I kind of evolved that programming as the games grew and the demands became more and more. So I did that through those kind of four years. But once 2011, 2012 hit, that’s when things just started to get, you know, more competitive, more difficult to get back to the games required just a ton more. And that’s when I started to get coaching help and, and largely because, um, I just work well as someone that’s like, they just tell me what I need to do and I’ll do it. And that way I don’t have to think about anything else. I just get to train. Yeah.
Yeah. That’s, that’s kind of interesting. I mean, it’s like other sports, like you said, it’s kind of become a professional professional sport where now you see like for example, football, you know, now, uh, you know, pop Warner league kids are, are taking it very seriously and they have like specific coaches and nutrition. And back in my day when I played football or wrestling back in high school, it was just like, it was like the wild West. Like, Hey, just, you know, here’s what you do, you know, and you kind of go and do it. Versus now it’s like almost become a science and it’s kind of trickled down from like the professional athletes down to like your average person that plays like high school or even pop Warner sports. And then in CrossFit. I see. I see that all the time. I mean, there’s people like, for example, in my box out here in Utah that, I mean, they really are training for regionals and they’re putting in like two to three sessions a day. I mean, on top of their job and their family and things like that, things like that. And you see that a lot too, right?
Yeah. And that’s, I think that’s one of the thing that’s really cool cause we need to embrace that side of the support and the program and people that are passionate about it’s great that they find those things and that they can be driven. And then on the other side of the coin, I think people need to realize that like that that’s actually a really, really, really small percentage of the CrossFit community. And you know, what it really is, is just a strength and conditioning program for anybody. And that’s kind of the catch 22 of the games is that it’s this great, awesome sports and it’s turned into professional sport. But the games is not CrossFit. You know, just like you experienced when you go into your affiliate or your box, it’s like, you know, the majority of those people are, they’re just like want to throw down and join the community and be more fit. And that training looks very different than doing CrossFit as a sport.
Yeah. And you see like, you know, the, the top of the top athletes that those like the 1% of those who maybe have the time or the connections to have coaching and you know, do two to three sessions a day and maybe they’re sponsored, you know what I’m saying? So they have the ability to do that. But I think yeah, most people don’t go into CrossFit thinking, okay, I’m going to make it to the games. It’s just like, Hey, you know, I’m going to be the best I can today. You know, maybe I might beat so and so for once you know, the box, those kinds of things, which I think is cool. Now, where do you see CrossFit in the next five years? Do you feel like it’s, it’s like hit its peak, you feel like it’ll just continue to grow. Um, how does it change? How has it evolved? Do you think it’s just a phase? Um, where do you see CrossFit going in the next five to 10 years from your perspective?
Yeah, that’s a good question. It’s really hard to answer, I think. I think CrossFit is definitely a phase, you know, I think it’s really left a pretty significant imprint on the fitness industry, the strength and conditioning industry. Whether people fully agree with it or not, I don’t think that they can dispute that. It’s pretty much changed the face of fitness in some way or another. Um, so I don’t think it’s going anywhere. Where it goes I think is more kind of a trick is, you know, the competition side of things is only getting more competitive and the games is growing more. I’m more curious to see, you know, I don’t have any doubt that that’s going to continue to move that way necessarily. I’m more curious to see what happens at the affiliate level, like how people continue to do that. What’s the growth that our affiliates and how do people manage them or run them as a business? And you know, what, what do they do to continue to, uh, continue to make the community a good place and evolve themselves as coaches? So I think that’s kinda the big question for me because largely that’s responsible. The responsibility falls, falls on the affiliate owners shoulders and they need to be motivated to do that. Just like any other trainer professional in the industry.
Yeah. And what’s cool is you’re, you’re both, you’re both an athlete and an affiliate owner. How have you guys had to change the way you do business, uh, as an owner over the years to kind of, you know, keep up with memberships or expand memberships? Just some on your advice on things you’ve learned from being an owner?
Yeah, I think, um, you know, there was a time when CrossFit was so new that people were just lazy. They didn’t really know what it was and they could come in the gym and buy it and they didn’t have any, uh, stereotypes or perceptions of what it would be. Then. Now, whether we like it or not, as an affiliate owner, I think people assume they know what CrossFit is, but they don’t. And we can try to educate them as much as you want, um, through website or social media. But the reality is, you know, we need to find ways to make people feel comfortable coming in the door. So I think as an affiliate owner, a CrossFit affiliate owner, it’s really important to look at like your demographic and what people wants, but also what they need and what’s going to be a friendly way to get started in CrossFit. Because often I think people are intimidated by it now when they don’t have to be. So sometimes setting up another program that’s like a kind of crossed it light introductory program might even be called something else is a good way to get people’s feet wet and experience the community and the coaching that they could get at a CrossFit class.
Yeah, that’s what I was going to ask you your opinion on is I see a lot of affiliates, um, kind of expanding and diversifying in a way where they don’t just offer CrossFit. It’s, you know, they’re offering yoga or a boot camp type class or you know, other types of like high intensity interval training classes. So when people have a membership, there is not only CrossFit, they can of appeal to other, you know, other areas of fitness. Do you feel like that’s a good thing or is that, do you think that kind of washes out the CrossFit brand?
I think it just depends on how they do it. You know, something really are here. I think ultimately what people need to do is they need to care. I think they still, I think you can still run great additional programs that still fall in line with kind of the core, I guess you could say like beliefs of CrossFit where, you know, it’s this idea of constantly varied functional movement, high intensity that we can do that in a really friendly way or a way that’s maybe less intimidating for people. Um, and I think that’s really easy to do. But the trick is that people don’t get caught up in what I would think are kind of like the gimmicks or the, the stuff that is out there that is, you know, it’s just like a big marketing ploy or, and that’s, that’s I think the slippery slope. But people that care and people that understand what CrossFit is and what it does for people, I think it’s easily moldable into other programs.
Interesting. Yeah. Because I don’t have a lot of, um, you know, affiliate owners that listen to this podcast. Yeah. They definitely would love to hear your opinion on that. So, uh, that’s good advice for them. Um, so hopefully they can take something away from that. Um, getting back to CrossFit specifically and kind of talking about, you know, your CrossFit athlete, you know, someone someone’s trying to go to games versus just your average person that does CrossFit. Do you see, um, things that maybe aren’t as necessary for like your average CrossFit person to do? Like, let’s talk about specific movements that your, your CrossFit games athlete has to be, you know, very well diversified with, for example, Olympic lifting, cardio strength training, uh, versus just your average person that’s gone like maybe three, four days a week that just wants to get a good workout in. Are there certain movements that you don’t think they should be doing versus your, your CrossFit games athlete?
Yeah. I don’t think the movement thing is an issue at all. You know, I think that, uh, the movements, you know, what they’ll often say is our needs don’t vary by kind, but only by degree. And I’m a big believer in that. You know, sometimes I think people either shy away from Olympic lifting or they’re like, Oh, you know, I could never do a handstand walk or I could never run five miles. Or you know, it doesn’t matter what it is. And I almost think it’s like, well, all the more reason to do it, especially if you’re just trying to be generally fit. Well, Hey, if we have kind of a chink in her armor, why not work on that? And it doesn’t mean that we have to be able to snatch 300 pounds, but just understanding the mechanics and the movement and being on the athleticism behind it, I just think that has so much value. It’s even like a soccer mom, but the training, what differs, you know, I think they don’t need the volume. They don’t need some special Olympic lifting program. They don’t need some magical thing. Good. Constantly. Very CrossFit.
That’s, that’s actually a really good advice because, um, you know, me being like, you know, me being in the, uh, the CrossFit world, right? Going from your traditional like gym world to CrossFit, I definitely had that kind of, um, what’s the word I’m looking for? You know, internal battle. I’m like, do I dedicate them at the time to learn this movement that I suck at or do I just move on and focus on the things that I’m good at? And I’ll give some specifics here. Like, I did not understand how to do a kipping pull up for the longest time and I just, I, I didn’t understand it. I just didn’t get a good feel for it. Um, so it took me a while to learn it, but I’m like, you know what, I’m just going to learn it because if I’m doing a hundred pull-ups in a workout, it’s going to suck.
Doing all those strict, you know, it was going to be really hard. Like I’m going at night and going to be able to get there. So, you know, it kind of forced myself to learn the move. It just become more efficient at it. And eventually I did. And the same thing with like double wonders. Like for me it sucks being an athlete, not knowing how to, how to uh, do double unders, um, you know, consecutively like I can maybe get 10 or 15, but like, you know, eventually I just worked on it and worked on, I worked on it and I did suck at it for the longest time. It took me a good year before I was able to get like 60 or 70 in a row. And it does feel good because it’s so easy to just say, you know what? I suck at this.
I’m not even gonna focus on it. Um, but I think it’s great to dedicate the time to learn something new and do something you don’t think you can. Um, the other thing that, that, uh, on the other side where I’m like, you know what? I just might not ever be good at this is like for example, overhead squats and snatches. Like I just, my my shoulders and my hip mobility. Like I could, if I dedicated the time to focusing on mobility and just work on that one movement, I know I could get good at it. But for me it’s like, I just feel like it takes away from these other things that I are my strengths. So anyways, I’m kind of just venting here I guess. But
yeah, I think most people’s position, and I think that’s like, again, all the more reason to work on it, you know, because if your hip and your shoulder mobility improve, it’s going to make probably a lot of other things better. And I think that’s what most people don’t realize is they don’t see the value of like, Hey, improving our weaknesses. That often helps us with our strengths too. You know, I get better at overhead squatting. I’m probably going to be better at squatting in general. You know, I get better at doing a kipping pull up. Chances are, I guess what if I still do strict Philips, I’ll be better at strict pull ups too. So it doesn’t mean you have to let go of anything that you’re good at. It just means you kind of add more things to, uh, see the repertoire.
Would you say you have any weaknesses when it comes to any movements?
Yeah, I think like for me else it’s a really hard, I know people are like, Oh, they’re harder for everybody. But yeah, that’s one that I really struggle with.
And when you say [inaudible], you mean hanging from the bar? Do you mean like on, um, on, uh, on bars like those, those bars
way? Yeah, keep you away. They’re difficult for me. Um, and then usually it’s not so much like a movement thing, but it’s more like, um, moving heavier weight for, you know, consecutive reps, like heavier workouts. Those were always, and have always been a challenge for me. So sometimes it’s kind of refreshing, honestly, just to like not worry about trying to be the fastest guy in the gym or whatever. But knowing that going through the struggle makes you better and you just kind of get about a time the clock and you’re just like, you know what, I’m just going to get through this thing today and I’m going to be better for it by the end of it.
Interesting. So I’m curious to know like the L set, you know, it’s very, very uh, core, um, focus. Like Oh, you seem like you have a strong core. Why do you think you struggle with it?
Yeah, I think it’s because my hamstrings are a little tight, a little weak. So it’s like that combo. Cause I, I don’t necessarily feel it my belly, I do, but like my hips start to hurt and it’s just like, so I think it’s more of a mobility thing than it is just a raw straight, but all the more reason to do it.
Exactly. So kind of a selfless question here, what advice would you give somebody that struggles with like overhead squat form that kinda leans forward? It comes up on the toes a little bit. Um, and the bar has to be bent like further back, you know, to, to be able to go all the way down. Any advice? That’s kind of a selfish question there, but
couple of things. Check out ankle range or ankle mobility cause sometimes that can really affect how upright people’s torsos are in their squat. So you can check that out playing around with your stance, having a wider stance can sometimes kind of alleviate that a little bit. And the other thing that’s kind of cool, which I think people sometimes forget about, is you can just work different ranges of motion, you know, so if you shorten the range of motion, but focus on like really good mechanics and slowly work your way down over time, whether that’s in a training session as you’re practicing it or even over a couple of weeks, that can be a good way to kind of learn the pattern of the movement without having quite the demand of the mobility when you’re at the bottom of the squad.
Interesting. Yeah, I’ve kind of, uh, you know, I’ve looked into it a little bit and it’s, uh, it’s definitely something that actually has improved over the years. Like I used to suck at it really bad, but now I feel like I’m decent at it. It’s just, I know it’s not perfect. Um, but at the same time, I don’t know if I, if I want to dedicate a time to becoming perfect at it, but it is nice not to feel that pain, you know, when I’m going down, I know this isn’t good for me. Like, I know that my form is, is off and I’m like, this is just, um, I’ll just do the bar. Even though girls in the gym are doing more than me.
Exactly. The process, you know that you’re doing it right. Cause otherwise it’s just, you know, people either just give up on it and they don’t get any better or they try to get too far ahead and they don’t make any progress. So you’re doing the right thing. Yeah,
exactly. Well thank you. I appreciate that. Um, kind of want to shift gears here a little bit and ask you, uh, about your nutrition. I know that, you know, for me, I’m a big believer in nutrition and plays a big part in overall health and fitness. Do you have any nutritional philosophies that you currently follow, um, that you kind of, uh, you know, uh, talk about to you, your, your box or your athletes that you train?
Yeah, I think first is like, there’s not a one size fits all. You know, I think it’s easy for people to be like, Oh, this is the word scrape for me. It’s going to work great for you. So, um, one of the things that I’ve been trying, I’ve been doing for probably about eight weeks now as this whole that’s kind of like, uh, picked up some steam in the CrossFit world and it’s, you know, the whole macros thing. So I’ve been trying to, after about two months and I’ve been tweaking the numbers as I’ve been going. And I think the cool thing that I’ve done for me is given me an understanding that it really does show that it’s not a one size fits all because I started out with, you know, a baseline prescription and I’m basically eating probably a thousand more calories than would be originally recommended for me. But that’s just what feels good to me. But I know other people that were completely different. So learning those things and understanding that, just giving yourself some kind of baseline, I think is the most important part. And then once you have a baseline, you understand kind of what’s going in, then you can understand what you can get out of it.
Yeah, that’s interesting. Just for those that are listening to don’t understand what macros are. Basically he’s talking about your protein, fats and carbohydrate intake, you know, those are your macro three main macronutrients. And so, uh, what is your percentage split that you’ve found works for you?
Right now? I’m still doing 40% carbs, 30% protein, 30% fat. But the, what I’ve based it off of is like when you kind of start dialing things in, the highest would be per activity level would be a 15, but I bumped it up to a 20. Okay. That’s kind of more along the lines of what I’ve been feeling good with, but I think I might see how it goes and then take some of the protein away and leave some of the carbs and fat I’m going to give another week or so and see how it feels.
Yeah. Now I, you know, I’m pretty familiar with, you know, if it fits your macros. Um, and sometimes it gets a bad rap because people are eating like, okay, well I can eat carbs, proteins are fast. And so basically anything that fits that, you know, whether it’s soda pop tarts, donuts or whatever, like it just, as long as it fits, it works. Now have you found that to work for you? Are you pretty strict on what you eat or as far as what your, the sources?
Yeah, I try to eat well you know it’s mainly just because I honestly have a history of him. Family, heart disease. My grandfather died when he was 54 of his third heart attack. My dad has had two and he’s 72 and it’s like that kind of genetic coding. I didn’t go anywhere, you know, so I don’t like, I’m trying to honestly do this for the next probably four weeks and I’m going to do a DEXA scan and then get my blood test again and see where things fall. And if my blood markers come up and worse, I’m just going to ditch it. But you know, I don’t, and I know it makes people look better, but if it doesn’t give them health then it’s kind of a wash.
Yeah. No, I think that’s, that’s very, very good advice cause it’s one thing to lose weight or look good, but that doesn’t always mean that you’re necessarily healthy on the inside. And I tell people all that all the time, there’s a million ways to lose weight and get skinny. There’s even a lot of unhealthy ways to get a six pack then you know, I know a lot of people that do, you know, fizzy competitions for example, that are like at 5% body fat, but like man, they almost killed themselves getting there, you know? So just, just as you look, it doesn’t mean you’re healthy.
Yeah, for sure.
Yeah. Sorry I cut you off. You were going to say something there.
No, no, that’s just reiterating it. Same thing. It’s just not worth in the long run.
Yeah. Do you feel like your, your, you know, overall physique has changed doing this versus what you were eating before or do you feel like you’re pretty much the same? Like look wise but it’s more for performance and health and how you feel?
Yeah, I’m one of those guys that’s, I’m, I’m a hard gainer and just like pretty late on is generally pretty heated too. So I, I don’t necessarily show it on the outside a lot, maybe a little bit leaner cause I’m eating a lot less fat. Um, but I think I’m just curious to see how their health markers pop up. And then performance wise I think I feel a little better. It’s just cause I’m eating more calories cause I’m thinking about it.
Yeah. What is a, can I ask specifics as far as like what is your pre and post workout meals look like? Just to give people a general sense of what crispy there does. Not to say that that’s what they should do but just kinda, you know, give them an idea of what you do.
Yeah. Um, I might be a little different than that. I kinda liked to work out on a little bit more of an empty stomach. And I think that kinda started from the wrestling thing. I just got so used to losing weight and performing just kind of sucked out. So I don’t eat, I don’t really do much for pre-workout. I try to eat, you know, with, and then worked out within two hours of that. Um, but afterwards I usually kind of have the go to of just doing a protein shake and I take creatine and I’ll mix it with coconut water and the coconut waters just to give me the added carbohydrates. And then obviously the protein and then creates a unit is one of the supplements I usually respond pretty well.
Yeah. Yeah. That, and that was actually my next question is like what specific supplements do you take?
That’s it. I’m just taking creatine right now and I take fish oil. But aside from that, I really don’t take a ton of, tried some BCAs in the past and um, you know, like the beta alanine stuff and it’s just, it just hasn’t ever really, I haven’t seen much of a result from it. So yeah, I’m more, I would even encourage people that are trying to figure those things out very first is just take a look at what you’re eating because if you’re not eating well, the simple insert caramel wash.
Yeah. You know, I used to be at that same mentality back in the day. It was like pre-workout pieces during workout, protein shake and you know, night protein shake like, you know, and all these other supplements that are just, I don’t know, in my opinion, I’ve kind of shifted away from most supplements. I mean, I do take some vitamins and minerals now, just, uh, you know, to help balance things out. But, uh, for the most part that has to come from your food and I’m a big believer in that as well. And, uh, but anyways, that’s really cool to hear you talk about now I take creatine to, do you, um, cycle on and off of it, uh, like you, would you take it consistently all the time?
Yeah, I, I’ve done it both ways in the past. I’m trying to just take consistently and see what happens. Um, I’ve been taking it for probably like, I’m guessing four months now. Um, so I might cycle off of it for a month, uh, just to see how I feel and then not back on it. But I think it’s probably a good idea for most people the cycle.
Mmm. Next question is, now that you’re not really competing in the games, what, what goals are you shooting for? I mean, you’re changing up your macros, you know, you take creatine, like are you shooting for any specific goals coming up? Like as far as performance or any competitions or is it just this is just you, like you’re training for life?
Yeah, I think it’s honestly just for like education. I think for a lot of it it’s definitely for health. You know, I want to see what happens with it. The goals that I have, honestly I just want to be able to have a training volume and um, do some training that I really like and then have a volume that allows me to do the stuff that I like to do outside the gym. So I’m not just stuck the gym hours on end. And then the education side of things is really just to help me kind of evolve in the coaching aspect as I start to coach more athletes and, and help them out. I think it’s a good idea for me. I have a grasp on some of the things that I may prescribe or suggest to them. Um, cause you can talk about it all you want, but if you haven’t heard it really know what it’s about.
No, I agree with that 100%. I actually recommend a lot of people, even coaches to become their own self experimentation. Find what works best for you. Um, and then that way once you have your own experience on a certain type of, you know, diet or nutrition program, you can better speak about it to you, the people that you’re training. So that’s a great advice cause it’s one thing to say, Oh yeah, like you know, veganism is horrible for you. Or you know, ketosis is really bad unless you’ve really done it and understand it and study it and done a little self on yourself. I think you’re a lot more knowledgeable once you’ve kind of played with certain things when someone’s coming to you, asking for your advice. But if you don’t have any experience on it, it’s easy just to say, well this is what my friend told me about it. So anyways, man. Well, cool. Um, before we wrap up, is there any events coming up that you, I mean, you went to Korea, um, is there, is there any other events coming up for you that people can look forward to seeing you?
I’m going to be out at the CrossFit games in a couple of weeks up an hour and a half in your mind, Garrett Fischer. He’s going to be there competing, which will be cool to watch him. And then, um, after that, uh, I do some online programming with icon athlete and I’m gonna have an athlete camp in park city in the middle of August. So I’m going to try to get a career about 15 people out. They want to discourage a train and throw down and enjoy what park city has to offer. So those are kinda the two big things coming up, um, on the calendar.
Yeah. That’s awesome. That sounds really cool. I’ve never been to the CrossFit games. I won’t build this year. I’ll be traveling, but I do want to go in the future. Who, uh, who do you think is going to take it this year? Now that I mean rich Bronner’s not competing as an individual. Who do you see taking it
and I think it’s going to be really interesting. It’s like the competitions is getting better and better. I think Matt Frazier definitely looks really hungry this year. Um, but you just, you can’t leave anyone out anymore. You never know. There’s the top 10 are always gone in for that spot.
Yeah. What about on the women said, same thing.
Um, on the women’s side, I hope all it as well, but chances are it’ll be someone with the last name daughter that’s coming from somebody from the Nordic countries.
Uh, that’s funny man. That’s awesome. Okay. Um, really quick before I ask another quick questions, where can people find you, connect with you, ask you questions like social media, your website, you mentioned icon, athlete, all those things.
Yeah, I kind of, athlete.com is where you can kind of check out the programming side of things that I offer. Um, social media stuff. There’s icon athlete and then C Spieler places is where a lot of stuff on the Instagram feed or Facebook where people can find out more info.
Okay man. Uh yeah, we’ll put all that in the show notes so people can get ahold of you really quick. You got to ask you, um, and ask all my followers this, would you ever get fat on purpose? Like would you ever do fits vets fit
man, I have watched it and I have an appreciation for you guys is I think of be so scared to do it only because of like the health. I don’t know how I’d feel health wise. I think I would go insane too.
Yeah. And plus here’s the thing, I don’t think it would be, it would be hard for you to actually get that because like you said, you’re a hard gainer. Yeah man. I don’t know if you really could, do you think you could, you stopped exercising completely?
I don’t know if I could do that. The closest I got I went to like a big weight gaining phase where I would just lift. It’s all I would do is lift about five days a week and I did CrossFit one day a week and I was eating like 5,000 calories a day and still it took me probably three months to get up to one 61 and like I stopped eating like that and literally five days later I had lost 10 pounds. It’s gone.
That is so fun. Yeah. They would pick you for the show.
That’s not going to work.
Yeah. Like this guy. Yeah. It’s not going to be a quite dramatic enough for the stretch of it.
Cool.
Chris, man, I appreciate you coming on man. I appreciate you sharing your knowledge and I appreciate what you do in the community and um,
thank you so much man. Yeah, thanks for your time Andrew. I really appreciate it. Okay. Hi bro.
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alright, you guys, thank you so much for listening to today’s episode with crispy there. Hope you definitely learned some valuable information from this episode with Chris. Um, we definitely are open to you guys giving us suggestions of who you would like to have on the show, who you want us to interview. Let us know, feel free to reach out to us via email. Um, if you sign up for my newsletter on my website, you can, you can get ahold of me there. Also, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat. You guys can, uh, definitely reach me. I D I try and respond to everybody’s comments. Sometimes it gets hard, but I try and respond to everybody’s so feel free to reach out to me there. Um, you know, my website is fit to fat to fit.com. All my social media handles are at fit to fat to fit that’s with a number two in between.
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