September 21, 2024 • 52 mins
JC sits down with CrossFit champion Sam Dancer and Kim McLaughlin from Invictus San Diego. This engaging conversation takes you through their inspiring journey in the world of CrossFit and functional fitness. JC shares his delightful discovery of the Invictus gym nestled in downtown San Diego, sparking a newfound passion for functional fitness that many can relate to.
Together, they explore the vibrant community at Invictus, highlighting how resilience and mental well-being are at the heart of their mission. This episode not only connects with CrossFit athletes but also resonates with all San Diegans who appreciate the power of fitness to transform lives. Tune in to feel the energy, share the stories, and discover how Invictus San Diego is fostering a supportive and empowering environment for everyone!
Be sure to follow and subscribe at OlasMedia.com
The key moments in this episode are:
00:00:12 - Introduction to Invictus
00:03:34 - What is Functional Fitness?
00:09:06 - Sam Dancer's Journey
00:12:05 - Kim McLaughlin's Journey
00:13:21 - Understanding CrossFit
00:14:19 - Finding Your Passion in Crossfit
00:17:54 - Crossfit Is for Anyone and Everyone
00:20:32 - The Fun and Therapeutic Aspect of Fitness
00:23:38 - The Power of Community and Support
00:27:17 - The Drive for Excellence
00:27:52 - Finding Purpose and Discipline
00:29:06 - Achievements and Community Support
00:32:09 - Balancing Family and Commitment
00:34:36 - Integrating Fitness into Daily Life
00:38:35 - Progression and Injury Prevention
00:41:30 - Customized Fitness Programs
00:43:35 - Sam's Competition Journey
00:45:46 - Community Events at Invictus
00:47:58 - Inclusivity and Diversity at Invictus
00:50:27 - Impact of Sharing Stories
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
S1 (00:12):
Welcome to. I just wanted to push Record, a producer's
podcast where lifestyle, arts, community, culture and production meet two producers,
two cultures, and a whole lot of flavor. Join hosts
Lena and Jake for fun conversations, cool interviews, sharing tips,
laughing through production hiccups, and celebrating the art of it all.
(00:33):
Ready to roll? It all starts with pushing record.
S2 (00:45):
Well well well. What a privilege it is to be
up and running again. Another one of these days where
we just wanted to push record. We have some great
guests that are joining us here. They've come to the
oldest media studio here in mission Valley. Um, how it
came about is kind of random. Kind of random. But
once we get to the end of this, you'll find
(01:06):
out why it's really not that random. I was over
in East Village. This had to be probably back January maybe,
or March. Somewhere in there back back pre spring mid
mid winter. And I was going to punch Bowl Social
um and I was going to have some drinks I
think it was a Sunday afternoon. Um strolling down seeing
(01:26):
all that one would see in East Village. And there
is this glorious building that's downtown. If you know the block,
you know where the police station is. You know where
Punch Bowl Social is. What you need to find is Invictus. Invictus.
It's it is. What do they call it? They say
it's an unsuspecting spot that when you look at it,
you're like, huh? Invictus. The name. What is that? And
(01:49):
that's what happened to me. Luckily, because I'm the imbiber
that I am, I went over to Punch Bowl Social,
found a friend of mine, Steve. He was telling me about. Dude,
what is your problem? How don't you know about Invictus?
And I was like, what? I'm not up on Greek mythology,
but two, um, one. He knew I wasn't a CrossFit guru.
But as people that are joining me in the studio today,
(02:10):
they can tell you I'm not a CrossFit guy yet.
You may not be, but if by the time you
finish this episode we may have changed your mind. It
is my pleasure to introduce both Kim McLachlan and Sam
Dancer from Invictus. They're joining us here today. Um, just
to kind of let us a little bit let us
know a little bit more about what we don't know. Um,
welcome you all.
S3 (02:30):
Pleasure to be here.
S2 (02:31):
Thank you know, so I am not going to do
a piss poor job of describing or introducing our listeners
to Invictus. Right. I am going to jump right off
the top, and I want them to hear what Invictus
is all about. Um, and somebody told me about that
awesome building that you got down the stairs. But because
I'm from the south, I just always yield to the
(02:52):
lady first. Tell us about Invictus, Kim.
S4 (02:55):
So Invictus is a functional fitness location in San Diego.
We happen to have a number of very, very successful
athletes in the sport of CrossFit, but we also do, um,
just general health and fitness. So there's some nutrition involved.
There's some, um, cardio classes, there are some muscle building classes,
(03:15):
and it's just a place for people to come get
a workout in, but also get to know a really
good community of people that share similar values and similar lifestyles,
and that you can kind of go in and forget
what your problems are for an hour and get your
heart rate up at the same time.
S2 (03:34):
So that means you do Sam under the bus to
talk about this building. But you said functional, functional fitness.
Like is that a thing? What does that actually mean?
Functional fitness.
S4 (03:43):
Yeah that's a great question. So functional fitness is a
basically we want people to be able to move well
into their 70s. 80s 90s. We want people to be
able to pick up heavy objects and put them down.
We want to be able to run far or walk far.
We want to be able to hike. Basically, you want
your fitness to work, not just in the gym so
(04:04):
that you've got some good muscle showing, but to live
life outside of the gym.
S2 (04:09):
I got it, I got it. Yeah. Sam, I'm trying
to buy you some time before I come talk about
the building. But I have to say, when I was
down there, the first thing I thought about was like, oh,
it's just it's got its own little architecture. It's just
unsuspecting is just the best word for it. But then
now as you walk in here, Sam, the first thing
I thought about was like, the Hall of Justice, right?
It's like where all the superheroes are. Sam came in here,
(04:29):
and I thought we were gonna have to take the
door frames off the door, but we got him in here. Sam,
it's great to have you here. Talk to us about
that building and what you know about Invictus.
S3 (04:37):
Man. Well, first of all, I'd like to just kind
of cover some of the history of Invictus. When I
first started coming around back in 2015, we were located
down in Little Italy. Um, which is, uh, you know,
has some great memories attached to it. And Kim obviously
having about, I think, six more years on me being
around Invictus. I'm sure she remembers that quite well. And
(04:59):
we've had locations in Point Loma and Sorrento Valley, and
we've kind of condensed it all into that East Village location.
So it really has kind of become like a Mecca
of sorts for us. And it's a rather large, um, location.
And we have a lot of people in there. It's
(05:19):
a melting pot, too. There's kids running around, there's people
in their 80s working out and everything in between. It's, um,
it's it's quite a sight.
S2 (05:29):
Yeah. Superheroes, right. Because I can only imagine if they
look like you all. Because Kim comes in here to,
like what? Say something. And I'm like, no, I'm going
to be on my best behavior. But seriously, like, it's like,
you know, I can only imagine what that would look
like to have people that are fit, that are happy. One,
because they're going to be smiling and laughing or coming
out like, yeah, I just got it in today, right?
Like that's a great place to be. But you know,
(05:51):
looking back, you said 2015. So we're talking about nine
years ago I'm looking at just about three years ago
since I moved back to San Diego, and just that,
that four little span block of where you all are
between the residences. I've seen the one that the W.
S3 (06:06):
That's what's happened in the past three years.
S2 (06:08):
There's, you know, in that community, it's changed a lot.
I think there's a boxing gym that's kind of like
right around the corner. Um, police station I mentioned. Um,
but it's a lot of activity. You got all your
EMTs coming through there, right? Um, but it's not over, right?
It's like the that area of East Village is working out,
so to speak, right? And growing. And so I'm excited
to see what would what prompted you all to go
(06:29):
from Little Italy to be and look like you all
got in early. So that's even better. What what prompted that?
S4 (06:35):
Yeah, we our Little Italy location closed because the they
wanted to build apartment complexes in the building that we're in.
And so we were we were just looking around for
another large. We unfortunately or fortunately require a good amount
of square footage. And the location that we have in
East Village was really the only place in the downtown
(06:55):
area that we could find 12,000ft² to work with, and
so that's what brought us there when we originally moved there.
You're right. There was a there were all sorts of
decrepit buildings around us. There's a couple of, you know, um,
maybe I don't even know what to say, but there
were like, parks, but that had been overrun by a
(07:15):
transient population. And so it wasn't like the best area.
Now that they're building up a bunch of things, tearing
down other locations, I think we have a pretty sweet spot.
Hopefully we can keep it for a while.
S2 (07:26):
I mean, what what I always say one way to
keep it is to say that you started it. That's true.
So I'll go into this interview at least saying that. Yeah,
if it wasn't for Invictus, none of this would be happening.
But but there are some good things like, um, first though,
you know, you talked about it was born in Little Italy.
Is that where it started? Um, well, Sam, how about you?
You were born in Illinois.
S3 (07:44):
I was, uh, yeah. I'm originally from Illinois. Uh, lived
there pretty much all the way through college. And then
shortly after I started my CrossFit career and things took
off rather quickly. Just a small town kid and went
from really not knowing anything of the world and all
the cultures around, and to traveling the world and competing
(08:08):
all over the world and eventually landing a part time
out here in San Diego.
S2 (08:14):
Well, we're going to get to some of your, um,
awards and championships. But for the for the kids out
there who want to know where does this where does
it start to become a champion? You do want to
tell them about that D1 university that you went to, right?
S3 (08:26):
Man, it started a little bit before that. Okay, okay.
I would say one of the most like transformational and formidable, uh,
periods in my life would have been in high school, and, um,
I had a really hard time in high school. I was, um,
mercilessly bullied and physically assaulted. I've been spit on. I've
(08:48):
been urinated on. I've been Kicked. I've been beat up
a number of times, had stopped even carrying books to
classes because I was so tired of them getting slapped
out of my hands every time I walked by, like, uh,
other juniors and seniors and man, it just kind of
(09:08):
it it hardened my heart at first. But eventually, once
I kind of like. Well, I used that that anger,
if you will, to to kind of fuel my, my
athletic career. Um, I wasn't really athletic growing up, necessarily,
but I was so mad and I wanted to like
(09:30):
to hurt these people so desperately that I thought if
I just got big and strong, I could. I could
at least defend myself and maybe even very well, like
impose my will on other people. And, uh, I played football,
I played hockey, I eventually got into track and field
and like I said, I wasn't a great athlete at
(09:52):
the time, but I ended up getting so big and
strong and fast that it didn't really matter, that I
wasn't that athletic. I was. I was able to dominate
in sports and eventually kind of grew out of that anger,
and my heart softened a little bit. And, um, it,
it led into me being, I don't know, more compassionate
(10:17):
and more accepting and just not wanting to see other
people go through the things that I went through, even
though it was very formative for me. Um, just nonetheless,
it brought on so much pain. It it just hurt
me to think that, like anyone who had anything less
than me to go through that, um, would, would just,
(10:39):
would make me feel awful. So it's kind of led
to me creating ways and opportunities for people to feel
more included and accepted and and also use fitness the
same way. I use fitness to get confident in, um, yeah,
to gain confidence. I mean.
S2 (10:58):
You leapfrogged me. I was I wanted to get into
you being a coach there at that Invictus to. You know,
I think some of the things you mentioned talking about compassion, um,
talking about resilience, talking about, you know, triumph over adversity,
those type of things, you know, kind of empower people
to be able to be in authority that people can
look up to, respect and honor because they know where
(11:19):
it comes from, a place of genuineness and authenticity. Right. Um,
I want to I want to come back to that
because Kim, you also you started just as a member
at at Invictus, but you've now made an ascension to
a couple other places, right? Yeah.
S4 (11:32):
So I, I was actually introduced to CrossFit in general, um,
after my rugby career ended. So I played rugby at
a high level for ten years or so. Um, and
when that ended, mainly because I was too old. Um,
I just decided that I needed to find another community
to be a part of, and I needed to find
(11:55):
people who liked working out for the sake of working out. And, uh,
had a friend that was into CrossFit, and she told
me about Invictus, and she was like, you got to
come try it. And then I saw the price and went,
absolutely not. Um, and she paid for my first month,
and I fell in love and just couldn't, couldn't take
(12:15):
myself away. So I at the time was working as
a broker, um, for a company in the finance industry
and wanted to figure out how I could get out
of that. And so I started working the front desk
at Invictus, and then, um, eventually moved into I have
an undergrad degree in sports psychology. So I moved into
(12:37):
the coaching position at Invictus and then moved into a
manager position and then just recently became a partial owner.
S5 (12:44):
So nice.
S2 (12:46):
Nice. Congratulations. Adulations. Congratulations. I know we keep you mentioned CrossFit, right?
I think my first introduction to CrossFit were like these
Reeboks that I saw in the store. Right? And I
was like, that's an odd shoe. That's not like a
cross trainer, but it's not like something I'd wear on
a basketball court. Like, what is it like? It's made
for CrossFit. And I was like, okay. And again, I'm
(13:09):
not I have not tried CrossFit. I didn't get the
shoe right. But tell tell us those that are listening, like,
what is CrossFit? I want to hear from you all
specifically when someone says CrossFit, what is that?
S4 (13:21):
Yeah, I think that there's two different types of CrossFit.
When people hear the word CrossFit, they either think of
the sport of CrossFit, which is a bunch of athletes
who are, you know, throwing around barbells at a quick
pace and running and basically doing any sort of athletic
feat that you could dream up and doing it at
(13:41):
a very high level. And then I think that there
is CrossFit as it was kind of created and started
back in the 70s as like a a way to
improve your life outside of the gym. So you can
do you can do a bunch of things and you
can mix modalities. So you could do some bodybuilding, you
(14:01):
can do some running, you can do some lifting, you
can do some Olympic lifting, you can do some gymnastics.
And all of that will help you function in the
world and help you at the sports that you love
and doing things with your kids, getting up off the ground,
that kind of thing. So I think it just the
CrossFit in general is really two different camps. You can
(14:24):
you can really focus in on, you know, being a
competitor and making sure that you're, you know, form is
good and you're moving around. And then there's other things
that you can you can use your strength to help
enhance your life outside of the gym.
S2 (14:38):
And Sam, which way did you go?
S3 (14:43):
Well, actually, I, uh, uh, when I. I just knew
that I wanted to coach people. I had a manager
at my first job out of college, and he pulled
me into his office, and he's like, Sam, we got
to get you out of here. And I'm like, what
do you mean? You. You're trying to fire me or something?
He's like, no, he's just like, you don't belong here.
He's like, you don't belong in in sales. You don't
(15:05):
belong here. Like doing the job that you're doing. He's like,
you're just you're you're meant for something else. And he's like,
what do you what do you love? And I no
one had ever really asked me that question before. And
so I had to kind of think on it for
a little bit. And when I got down to it,
I was like, man, I just I love like fitness
(15:28):
and wellness and I like teaching people about it. And
he's like, all right. Um, like, would you like, would
you like to coach people and maybe own a gym
or something like that? I was like, yeah, I think
I would really enjoy that. He goes, all right, hop
in my car. And we went and drove around town
and we looked at buildings together, and he helped me
put together a business plan, and I opened up a
(15:51):
CrossFit gym. And it wasn't much longer after that where
I did a I. Well, I saw the CrossFit games
on TV, on ESPN, and I saw what the guys
were doing, and I was like, dang! I was like,
I can do that. I was like, I think I
can even do it better. I think I can do
it faster. And I went and did my first CrossFit competition,
(16:17):
and I, I did I did well, I did some
things really, really well, but I also did really bad
at some things too. And I went to work on
the things, the blind spots and the areas that I
wasn't as good as the other guys. And um, it
just took off rather quickly for me. Um, it went
(16:37):
from opening a gym in 2012 and, uh, podium at
the CrossFit games in 2014. So.
S2 (16:47):
And you're affiliated with Invictus. You're a coach there. So
is it a family of champions or you're kind of like.
Or is it just, you know, you're just a superstar
and that's it? Or you all have a history of
like cranking out the best.
S3 (17:00):
There's quite a history at Invictus. Um, I, I would
say we're we're definitely one of the most accomplished and, um,
and oldest, um, CrossFit gyms in the world. Um, we
put a number of teams on the podium, a number
of individuals on the podium, and we're annually cranking out, um,
(17:25):
some dense numbers when it comes to the amount of
athletes that we're putting out on the competition floor, both
at the at the open level, the quarterfinal level, semifinal
level and the games level.
S2 (17:36):
So what I'm hearing is, is that, yeah, this is
CrossFit at a high level, right? Because what I'm really
considering is my producer, Lena. Right? I may just bring
her down there. Push her in the building and just
say go. Right. We got it.
S3 (17:49):
Yeah, we got her.
S2 (17:50):
Yeah. Yeah, she can just start anywhere. So it's for anybody.
S3 (17:53):
Anybody, any place. It doesn't matter where you're at. You
could be missing an arm, a leg. You could be blind.
You could have a, um.
S4 (18:01):
Could have sat on the couch for the last ten years. Yeah.
S3 (18:03):
It, like, literally does not matter where you're at. I
specifically even work with athletes with special needs. So athletes
with down down syndrome and autism like. And it just
it does not matter where you at. We have progressions
for you. And it's such a scalable model that it's
applicable to anyone and everyone. And um, it's you're you
(18:23):
don't have to be in shape to join. You don't
have to know any of the moves or anything like
we got you.
S4 (18:30):
And I feel like that's the magic of Invictus is
that we do have a number of very accomplished, very successful,
very strong athletes, men and ladies that you can walk
in and you immediately know that these these people work out,
but you can also walk in and be like, what?
This 87 year old that's over in the corner doing
(18:51):
what looks like the same thing as that athlete who
just placed first. Is doing just at a lighter weight.
Is super interesting. And I think Invictus is known for
worldwide for the podium finishes that we've had and the
number of teams that we've sent to games and our
number of individual athletes and all of that. But I
think that the like the real, um, the real benefit
(19:13):
of Invictus in San Diego is that that is just
proof that what we do works. Um, if you can
be anyone and come in and you can tell us
your goals and we'll get you to whatever those goals are.
So if that's, you know, climbing a mountain or if
that's playing with your grandkids or if that's, you know,
like going to be your son's baseball coach, we've we've
got all of those things that are happening in that
(19:36):
same building.
S2 (19:37):
Yeah. Well, you mentioned benefits because I was getting ready
to touch on that in preparation for my time with
the great folks from Invictus. What I started doing is
rubbernecking when I started seeing other CrossFit gyms, right? And
so my vision that I see a lot of times
is obviously there's attire involved, right? That's usually getting flipped over. Um,
they don't run anywhere but on sidewalks and around the building.
(19:58):
They can't do the pull ups that I was taught
in elementary school. There's like, you got to cross your
legs and you got to have something on your back. Um,
they don't stop moving, but supposedly they're just like. So
these are my visions. See, I did pretty good research, right?
S5 (20:13):
That was.
S3 (20:13):
Pretty accurate. Yeah.
S2 (20:15):
The thing that baffles me is that even you all's disposition, right? Like,
there's this whole stereotype that, like, people who look are
in fit are miserable, right? But I've heard that there's
some fun in fitness, right?
S4 (20:28):
There is some fun in fitness. That is where my
passion lies. I did the competitive thing up through 2014.
Loved it. That's the reason I got into CrossFit to
begin with. But now it's just to make sure that
I continue to move as you get older and as
you have kids, and as you start to get involved
in their lifestyle and still try to maintain a lifestyle
(20:49):
of your own. Fitness is so important to just be
able to walk around, be able to play with kids,
be able to do all of those things. And in
order to keep myself accountable, I need to have some
people who, if I don't show up at the gym,
are going to call me and be like, hey, what
are you doing? You weren't at class today, or you
know where you weren't here for a week. Did you
(21:11):
go on vacation? If you didn't go on vacation, get
your butt back in here. And so that that community
of people that have formed at the gym are just
the reason for my enjoyment of fitness to begin with.
There's a I have been so I have a I
have a four year old, but we have been trying
(21:32):
to have a second child for three years now, and
we've gone through all sorts of infertility treatments. We've we've
done a ton of things. I've gotten pregnant three times,
had three different miscarriages. And on my third miscarriage, I
was at work and somebody was like, go home. Like take,
take a day and just like walk by the beach or,
(21:54):
you know, like get, get back in with your thoughts
and like, just take a minute to process it. And
athletics and movement and working out has always been my, um, like,
passion and my way to deal with stress and my, uh,
just basically way to kind of like shake things off,
(22:14):
get things right with life. And so I went home,
jumped on my peloton because I do have one of
those at home and, um, did a workout and got
off of that thing after about 30 minutes, I was like, well,
that doesn't make me feel better. Um, and I, you know,
went for a run that didn't make me feel better.
And then I went back into the gym and saw people.
They had no idea what had happened. They didn't know anything,
(22:36):
but they were like, Kim, what's up? How's it going?
You know, giving me hugs. And I did a workout
with those people, and I was like, this, this is
what I need is just the people and the energy
and the like. Support. Like, I didn't have to say
a word. They didn't know I was upset. It was
just that, like the fact that I was there made
it so that I like I felt supported and I
(22:57):
felt loved. And with all the technology and work from
home and all the things that are happening now, I
feel like communities are less and less. And if you
can find people that you bond with and that you
that care about you genuinely, regardless of, you know, what's
going on, that's it's so rare. And I think that
(23:18):
that is what the fun and fitness is. It's not
the working out, although that is, you know, sweating is
fun and throwing bars. But I could do that at
my house. I have a gym set up at my house.
I can't find the community and the support that I
get going into the gym and through working out on
my own, so it keeps me accountable. But it also
makes me feel like I'm part of something bigger.
S3 (23:38):
And I think we all definitely learned through Covid, too,
that like, community is obviously an integral part of our well-being. Um,
you know, we were all craving it and just like,
so excited to have that back towards the tail end
of all that wrapping up. So it's just yeah, it's
really cool to hear Kim's story and the effectiveness of
of how therapeutic and medicinal and an effective. Yeah. Effective
(24:05):
community is for our well-being.
S2 (24:07):
Well, I mean, I think one I can tell you all,
you all are awesome coaches because you're already, like, coaching
us up, Lena, now on this podcast, because one of
the things that, you know, we were thinking about with
the inception of the show is culture, community, art and lifestyle. Right?
And everything that you all have described and I would
attest to. Right. Like you're saying, community, there's there is
(24:30):
some type of catharsis that happens when we are amongst
our tribe, right? We don't have to be on the defense.
We don't have to overexplain. It's like, you get me,
I get you. Let's just do what we came to do.
Type of type of mentality. Right. And so therefore it
breaks down some of that pressure that's on things. When
you start talking about community, it's the people who have
experienced that culture who now have an appreciation for it
to come and say, I'm going to commit to you
(24:52):
to be there for you as you commit there, to
be there for me. Right. Like you said, when you
walked in there, they're like, hey, let's go, we're ready.
And when you wrap all that up in a lifestyle,
which is now something that you practice at a higher
level and have a commitment to, but also instill the
compassion and with the passion as well as just making
sure that you're empathetic to others. Right. Because when you
(25:13):
say everybody's welcome. Right. Because we we could go. We
could be in a culture, be in a community and
then be exclusive. Right? But when you're talking about from
age seven to age 87, that's a wide swath of people, right?
That's 1000 200,000ft². Can barely hold all of them at
one time. Right? But it does it, you know, so
I think it's awesome. You also mentioned about the your
(25:34):
children in your life. That type of thing. And as
a newly adorned grandfather, one of the things that I
learned about a month and a half ago was, yeah,
I was doing a crab walk around there and I'm like, whoa,
we hadn't been doing this, and this is only year one.
We got a lot more years to do some crab walk,
but it's one of those things where now it becomes
a consideration for me of like, wait, I need to
(25:57):
find out. Find out what's my thing. Because if I
want if I'm choosing to continue to crab walk with
this dude, right. I ain't going to be able to
do it sitting on the couch, going to punch bowl
social on a habitual non-healthy way. Not not, you know,
digging on Punch Bowl Social is a great place to
celebrate when you win a competition or after a workout.
But yeah, I mean, I think finding that calling and
(26:19):
that purpose is huge. It's huge. And, you know, going
back to the competitive side, though, I think a lot
of times I've seen, you know, watching on the ESPN
and on the different shows that it has to be
something like that. That's your passion, a calling back to
that same that same equation of culture community. Because in
the stands you've got your community and you're in your culture.
(26:43):
Now it's just competitive, right? I mean, I'm not the competitor, Sam,
but I'll let you tell me, what is it that,
you know, compete because it's one thing you say to
go work out. It's like, okay, I'm great, but when
you take that to another level, like, no, I'm going
to be the best out here, right? At a, I mean,
and not just on a whim level. Right. You're repeat. Right. Repeat. Champion.
S3 (27:03):
Yeah. Been up there a few times. Yeah.
S2 (27:05):
I love the humility.
S5 (27:06):
I was going to say.
S4 (27:07):
He's being very humble. He's very accomplished.
S3 (27:10):
Um, well.
S2 (27:11):
I guess the drive. We'll start there, and then I'll
come back to Kim. You can run down the list of. Yeah.
What drives you? What drives? What made you take. I mean,
we'd heard your story, which, you know, I think is
a very touching story. And I think, unfortunately, in today's age,
we hear about a lot of young people who probably
can't identify with some of the things that you've had
to endure and overcome and triumph. What what is it
(27:32):
that drives you even now at this level?
S3 (27:34):
Um, man, I, I constantly get this like, gosh, I
don't know if it's like my subconscious or if it's
some sort of just even spiritual thing, but I, like
I get this voice like in my head and it just,
it says like, show them what's possible. And I feel
(27:58):
an obedience to that. Like, I feel like I'm I'm
here to make sure that I'm an example of what
can be accomplished, um, through through discipline and through continual, um,
(28:19):
just continuing to show up and. Yeah, it's just it's
really that simple. I yeah, when I was younger, I
always kind of dreamed of I wanted to be a
professional football player or I wanted to be like a
world champion at something. But when you check those boxes
and you've accomplished those things, like then, then what drives you?
(28:43):
And I would have to say it's, it's that it's
just that that voice in my head that tells me
to just go show them what's possible.
S2 (28:53):
And Kim, how many times did he actually succeed and
go show them?
S5 (28:58):
I mean, he would.
S4 (28:59):
He would probably know better than me because I lose track.
But I know you've been at podium at least twice
with Invictus, once with your own gym.
S3 (29:06):
Yeah. 2014. Uh, we got second place to Invictus, actually,
which is kind of what put Invictus on my radar.
I'm like, dang, man. Like, I want to go hang
out with the first place people.
S5 (29:20):
But wait.
S2 (29:20):
But I still this you all are oozing this humility.
So this is what the first place of the fifth
Street block of East Village.
S3 (29:28):
Of I was second place in the world on a team.
S2 (29:32):
Got to as in El Mundo.
S5 (29:35):
Right? Yes.
S4 (29:37):
So all sorts of European and Asian teams we've got,
there's literally everywhere sends over. You have to qualify. But
you can send over some teams and they take the
top 40 into this competition. Or at that time I
think it was the top 40 into the competition. And
then they all compete for four days and figure out
who's the best of the best, the fittest of the.
S5 (29:58):
World, global.
S4 (29:59):
Community, global community.
S2 (30:01):
Hall of justice. Yeah. Yeah. All over the world. All
over the world. And. But I want to I'm going
to come back to that to. I know I keep
saying going back, but what I do want to talk about,
you know, talk about coaching. You all are both coaches
in a household too, right? You have like that. I
don't know that it's an optional. Right. When, you know, um,
tell me about your your lifestyles at home because, like,
(30:22):
I think we mentioned before, it's a commitment, right? Like,
you can't perform at your level. And say, I'll just
go do it tomorrow or I'll catch up with it.
I'll double that set up. I'm just using what little
gym lingo I know. Um, but, you know, you can't
take any days off, barring the cliche. Like, how is
it that you balance all the your family life and
(30:44):
your commitment to one of your passions?
S3 (30:46):
Man, it's, um, it it's a for sure. I just
being a relatively new father. Um, and like you mentioned,
it's an inescapable, like, part of my life. Like, I
can't just check out and just be like, oh, I'm
not going to parent today. Um, but what I will
(31:07):
say in regards to, like, becoming more adapted to that and,
and getting to a place where, you know, the, the,
the degree of difficulty doesn't seem as high, um, has
come through just consistency and discipline. And, you know, the
(31:27):
things that seemed really difficult to me years ago because
of just like continuing to show up in a lot
of that, like Kim's touched on a lot of it's
the community, it's the people around you that love you
and support you, that kind of get you through the
days when you're like, how am I going to do this?
Whether we're talking about the gym or the household where
(31:50):
you're just you're running low on sleep, you had a
baby up all night or your body sore from whatever,
like progression you just finished and on your back squats
or whatever, whatever, whatever. But man, it's the people that
that kind of keep you coming back in and keep
you motivated. And then when you're consistent through that, you
(32:12):
end up developing the discipline and it just becomes like a,
an automatic behavior. Um, and it just gets easier and
easier and easier. And it's I would attribute a good
majority of The that type of progress in getting to
a place where something was originally extremely difficult to where
(32:34):
it's just like a natural thing that takes place and
you don't even think about it anymore to the people.
S2 (32:43):
And probably helps to have a jest at home too, right?
S5 (32:46):
Jin Jin yeah, well, yeah.
S2 (32:48):
Yeah, you can have a jest, but you can have.
S5 (32:50):
Yeah, I know some dresses too. And they're they're great, but. Yeah,
the Jin man.
S3 (32:56):
Yeah. Um, definitely helps to have a Jin at home. Um, and.
S2 (33:01):
For the for the.
S5 (33:02):
People. That is for.
S3 (33:02):
Yeah, that is that is my wife. Uh, sorry.
S2 (33:05):
Sorry for messing that up.
S3 (33:06):
Yeah, it's all good. Uh, love you. Jenny. Um, but, yeah,
any anything awesome that I've ever done is a direct
reflection of of who she is as a woman and
a wife and a supporter and a friend of mine.
So mad respect to Joe.
S2 (33:24):
Nice. And again, I apologize because that's probably the worst
way to start out. But I should have just left
it alone. How about you? I mean, let's talk about
your balance. You went into some of your personal side
and some of the things that you've had to overcome
or deal with, or how where do you pull on
to to actually be able to maintain and handle that,
let's say outside of just the CrossFit component? What are
(33:45):
some of the other important elements that helps you be
able to do that?
S4 (33:48):
Yeah. Um, well, I actually met my husband at the gym.
He was one of my private clients.
S5 (33:53):
And he has a name that I'm not going to say.
S4 (33:54):
His name is Andrew. Okay.
S5 (33:55):
Um, shout out Andrew.
S4 (33:56):
Um, but, uh, I met him through the gym, so
he was part of that awesome community that we have. But, um,
since we've had our little guy, we've both commented many
times that, uh, I want, I want Isaac is my
little kid, but he we want him to grow up
in a place where fitness is just part of your
(34:17):
life and moving around as part of your life. And
so he if his daycare is not on Monday, he
comes into the gym with me and he, you know,
hangs out with Sam's kid and a couple of the
other children in the gym that are there with other parents. Um,
and yeah, I just, I try to make it more
of a lifestyle thing. That is just it should be normal.
(34:40):
I'm not I'm not making time for my workout. That
is just. That's just what has to happen. Like, I
have to brush my teeth. I have to get a
workout in. So, um, the best part is that he
has really taken that to heart. And his new excuse
for not going to bed on time is I didn't
work out yet, mom.
S5 (34:56):
Um, I dig it.
S4 (34:57):
So yeah. So he'll do some push ups and he'll
try to try to, you know, elongate that which is
which I love. Honestly, it's the only excuse.
S5 (35:05):
That that resistance isn't there. Yeah. It's not number three. Yeah. Exactly. Yeah.
S4 (35:12):
But I really I mean that's that's my secret is
that I try I'm just trying to integrate him into
the community that I love and that, you know, he
will hopefully carry on well past because I also think
going into school and, you know, starting to make a
life of your own fitness was so important to me
as a sports writer, was so important to me growing
(35:34):
up that I just want that to also be part
of his life.
S2 (35:37):
So no, I think it's I think it's great. I mean,
from from where I sit, um, usually on the couch, um,
it is powerful and impactful to me just to be
able to say, to hear you all talk about it
so passionately. I know I keep bringing up that word passion.
But for me, someone right now who again, not in
the gym, it's like I have to have that calling.
I'm a retired high school athlete. Right? And you look great.
(35:59):
Well thank you, thank you, thank you. It's delighting, um,
you know, but I played basketball, and it was just
like you just said, like I. You didn't have to
force me to go. You had to force me to
go home. Right? And mom would do the same thing.
You're supposed to be home before the street light came on.
What's wrong? And I'm like, man, I had to get
one more game in, right? Because he beat me in
21 last time. I can't go home with the air, right?
Can't leave on a missed shot. It is amazing to me. I.
(36:23):
I don't want to say you're cut from a different cloth,
but do you feel like because you accept everyone? Do
you feel like any and everybody has this type of
calling in them? And is there anything that makes CrossFit
easier to overcome that? Nah. I'm good.
S5 (36:38):
Yeah.
S4 (36:38):
I mean, I think the I'm going to keep going
back to the community, but it is like we have
so many people that have walked in just so afraid.
I have a member who joined and then probably six
months after came over and was like, I just have
to tell you that before I actually walked in the
doors to even get more information about what you guys do,
(36:59):
I sat in my car and cried because I was
just so scared to walk in, and it's so intimidating
to do something new and to put yourself out there
and to know that you might not be good at this.
And so you're going to have to you're going to
have to watch people who are good, and you're going
to have to take some some time to, like, actually
build up some skills and build up some confidence in
(37:21):
in the movements and, um, and then they were like,
you know, we walked in and all of a sudden
I had five new friends in the first ten minutes
that I was there. And, uh, and then it just
does it really does change different parts of your life. Um,
so you want to hang out with these people all
the time. You want to make sure that you have
the same goals as the other people that you're hanging
out with outside. So it's what you talk about. It's
(37:43):
what you. It just becomes like part of your life
very quickly.
S3 (37:46):
And it feels good to feel good, man. Just like,
you know, your basketball days, like whether it was just
making that shot or winning that game or, or even
the loss, you know, that feeling of like of losing
how that motivated you and drove you to want to
stay out a little bit later so that you could
redeem yourself. But ultimately, yeah, man, it just it feels
(38:10):
good to feel good and like and and that's available
to everybody.
S2 (38:14):
Well it's funny, it's I you are a perfect guest
because the funny thing about it, I've seen my man Steve.
He actually does rehab, right? The one who told me
about Invictus. And the thing about it, he was like, yeah,
you want to feel good? It feels good to feel good.
But it also feels bad to be bad, right? Because
he tells me about their injuries involved. Um, because we
want to get our disclaimer in here. What would what
(38:34):
is your advice when people when you talk to people
about hey, yeah, come on in. Like in terms of
I've heard I didn't look this up in my gym,
you know, vocabulary, but like, knowing your body's limits, right?
If you have any pre-existing conditions. Yeah. Um, what do
you all say to those people who are like, well,
you know, you mentioned one arm, one leg, you know, whatever.
But what if whatever my thing is. What is your advisement? Yeah.
S3 (38:56):
Progression. Um, you know, Kim's probably definitely a little more
qualified with the role that she's had, um, over the
past few years as a coach to probably comment on this.
But just even as a high level athlete, I have
to be very cautious and conscious about how I'm progressing
(39:17):
throughout the season. If I try to train at the
beginning of the season, the way I'm performing, and typically
at the end of a season, I will undoubtedly injure myself.
And it's happened to. So you have to be there
has to be a degree of humility and a an
honest and an.
S5 (39:36):
Honest and.
S3 (39:37):
An honest, a true, honest assessment of of where you're at,
not where you were. You know, you mentioned you were
you used to play basketball.
S5 (39:46):
Retired high school.
S3 (39:47):
Yeah. A lot of times people are, you know, still
have a little attachment to to what it was that
they were. And you have to relinquish that. And, and
progression is ultimately the thing that will keep you safe.
S2 (40:01):
You just want to keep your thought right there. But
I did want to say, because we're about to run
short on time, the one thing that I'm big on that,
that I think we're headed in that direction anyway. The
mental health component. Right. That the the the benefits to it,
knowing that, you know, we're talking about our outside communities
are operating in a totally different space, right? We're not
(40:23):
looking to call people in. We're more so to call
them out. We're not looking to invite them. We're usually
ready to reject them. And some of us are retreating
into those Covid moments where it's like, I'm just not
dealing with anybody. It's crazy out here, and maybe I'll
come out later, maybe I don't, and it becomes a
dark place. And that just like, you know, one of
the things that I'm aware of, even with my dad now,
he had a bad wheel, right? Like his knee is
(40:44):
going down. And it was like I watched him over
the last year because his knee would go down. Then
he's not going out as much. And so he's staying
home as much. And then now he's not, he's still eating,
but now he has more time. So he's eating more.
And so then you just kind of see that breakdown
from a mental health standpoint, to not be able to
exercise that muscle or to be able to rehab or
(41:07):
to know your limitations or know that being knowing when
you something's not right. Right. What does CrossFit do for
the mental capacity? We talked about, you know, some of
the nutritional and the health wise. But what about the
mental capacity of people?
S4 (41:20):
Yeah, I mean, one of the beautiful things about Invictus
in particular is that we, our coaches, are trained to
customize for people. So if you've got a bum knee,
we can work around that. We can give you things
that are not going to bum that knee out even more. Um,
we can we can do things that are going to
keep you moving and keep you feeling like you've got
(41:43):
a good workout in regardless of what you have going on.
And so for the mental health aspects of that, yeah,
you might have a bum shoulder, you might have a
bum back, you might have a bum knee. But we
can we can help you move in a way that's
not going to exacerbate that problem. And hopefully it'll help
that problem. And it is going to keep it, keep
(42:04):
you feeling like you're still your same old self. You're
you're still able to move. You're still able to do
things that are hard, that you can overcome obstacles, things
like that. And so our culture of customization that we
have there is. You might walk into a class and
see one thing written on the board as the quote
unquote assignment, but you could see five people doing what
(42:25):
doesn't look like what was just on the board, because
they've got something going on that they need to adjust.
And we want to make sure that they're just consistently
coming in. And so we want to make sure it
doesn't matter what you have going on. You've got you've
got some options. If you can just get your body
into the space, then we can do the rest for you.
We can help keep you mentally sane so that you're moving,
(42:48):
you're doing things that you want to be doing and
but that you're not you're not hurting yourself further, if
you if you have a previous injury, the biggest thing
is just let the coach know what's what's going on.
That is that is I would say the only downfall
is if if you don't let us know you have
a bum shoulder, I can't, I can't help, help you
work around it. And so that would be like, yeah,
(43:10):
the one thing I would say, if you are coming
in and you want to start a thing of fitness,
but you're like, oh, two years ago I couldn't get
out of bed because my back hurt. Let us know
that so that we can work on on improving some
of the muscles that surround what may have been an
issue before.
S2 (43:26):
In the spirit of letting us know, Sam, let us
know what's coming up this summer for you, man. What
are you. You're about to get out of here in
a couple of days, right?
S3 (43:34):
Um, yeah. We leave. We leave tomorrow morning for for semi-finals.
We got, um. Gosh, we have 3 or 4 teams, 14, 14,
four teams competing, and we have three individuals where you
hit it. Um, we are going to Carson, California, and
competing at the tennis stadium kind of back to our roots,
(43:54):
if you will. Um, kind of where the CrossFit games
not necessarily originated, but, um, where the people like. Yeah,
home base for, um, for a lot of folks who
came into CrossFit early, early on. Um, we.
S2 (44:11):
Gotta do I gotta I gotta find this out there. Like,
what do you have to do? So you're going up
to Carson. It's, you know, major competition.
S5 (44:17):
This is the tennis court. Yeah, this.
S4 (44:18):
Is the entire West Coast semifinals. So it's not just
like California.
S5 (44:22):
It's all these guys. Like he's just going up the street. Yeah.
S4 (44:27):
No, he's. It's the entire West Coast. They had to
go through two different qualifiers to get to this stage
in the competition. So, uh, so it's a pretty big deal. Um,
and Sam is one of the individuals competing there, and, uh,
he got some big goals.
S3 (44:43):
Yeah.
S5 (44:44):
Looking over a couple days.
S3 (44:45):
Yeah. It'll be, uh, Friday, Saturday, Sunday. We'll have six events. Um,
I'm looking to be the oldest athlete to ever qualify
for the CrossFit games. And, uh, hopefully. Yeah. Punch my
ticket this weekend.
S5 (44:56):
Yeah.
S2 (44:57):
Dude, you're. Yeah, your whole manner is dope. Like, it's
just like. I mean, yeah, that's not. Not only am
I that guy, but I'm also the oldest guy, right?
That's what I'm going for. No, I listen, I one
wish you all the best. Thank you. I think it's
pretty awesome. Um. I've doted over you all so much about.
I like what you all are doing. You guys were
a great find. I got to give another shout out
to Steve, because if it wasn't for him, I wouldn't
(45:19):
have known anything about it.
S5 (45:20):
Thank you. Steve.
S2 (45:20):
It may even have converted me over. Maybe if I
can get him to pay my membership fee.
S5 (45:24):
Yeah. Heck, yeah. Right.
S2 (45:26):
Yeah. And that'll pay for the advertising.
S5 (45:27):
I just.
S4 (45:27):
Need just one.
S5 (45:28):
Month. So there we go. Yeah, there we go.
S2 (45:31):
Um, before we get out of here, though, um, you know,
anything else that you got going on this summer? Um, Sam,
let us know, and then, you know, for that person
now who's like, can't even sit down until they find
out where Invictus is as an address and what they
need to come down and who they need to see. Yeah, yeah.
S3 (45:45):
No, I got you. Um, well, check us out. We're
in East Village, 1401 East Street. Um, that's Invictus downtown.
And we got lots of great community events that we run.
One specifically that's coming up is is our Glow Row,
which is going to be happening on June 15th. And
(46:06):
this is a wonderful event for people to kind of
get a little taste of, of what we're all about
because this is, uh, this is a community event. This
is an event where Invictus is partnering with the Dancer
Love Foundation. The Dancer Love Foundation is a non-for-profit that
works to get athletes with various special needs into gyms
and help them receive free professional coaching. So like if
(46:30):
you really want to see the just the range of
of types of people that are present at Invictus, come
sign up like come participate, we're rowing. It sounds crazy,
but we're rowing a marathon, uh, teams of ten. And
(46:51):
it's it's a wonderful way to get introduced into the
community and to just fitness in general. So even if
you haven't been working out for the past five years,
rowing is a wonderful place to start. And you'll get
to see athletes of of every kind. There's going to
be little kids there. There's going to be athletes with
(47:12):
down syndrome and autism and, um, maybe even athletes that
are gosh dang, maybe missing an arm or a leg. Like,
we don't limit our services to just, uh, individuals with mental, uh,
or cognitive disabilities, but also just, uh, physical disabilities as well. And, um,
I assure you there would be nothing more, um, gosh,
(47:39):
exciting for you to see that would motivate you to
want to have what they have, um, which is that
freedom that, like health is wealth and fitness is freedom, baby. So, like,
come make some money with us at Invictus and get to, um,
reap the benefits of your health and wellness. And it's
(47:59):
just that'd be a great event for for anyone in
the in the area to come participate in to learn
more about what we do at Invictus.
S4 (48:08):
And we also want to support any of the other
you know, um, fitness type things that are going on
in San Diego. So we have a team entered into
the pride Five-k. Um, we've also we're also going to
go as a community watch the wave play in August. Um,
the CrossFit games are going to be happening in the
beginning of August.
S5 (48:29):
And where is that? Where is.
S4 (48:30):
That? That is going to be in Texas.
S5 (48:33):
Yeah. Um, yeah.
S3 (48:36):
Somewhere in.
S5 (48:36):
Texas. Somewhere in Texas. It's easy to find them in Texas.
S4 (48:40):
Texas, Texas.
S5 (48:41):
Um.
S2 (48:41):
We have we have the Google.
S5 (48:43):
Yeah, the Google cheat sheet.
S4 (48:44):
Yeah. Um, but we should be sending some teams there. Hopefully,
if they do well this weekend and then, um, hopefully
we'll see Sam there as an individual athlete.
S5 (48:52):
And I'm claiming it now. Yeah.
S4 (48:54):
We've got, we've got some um, we've got some good,
good people to watch kind of on the world stage there. Uh,
as we get into like the later parts of the year,
we'll have more activities going on at the gym. So, um,
definitely just come in, walk through the doors, check us
out again. It's like 14 01E Street. So we're right
in the Middle East Village. But if you don't want
(49:15):
to go there, um, CrossFit Invictus or Invictus Fitness. Com
are our website. That's our website information. You can find
us on social media, our San Diego page, which is
all about our everyday athletes. So you may see Sam
on there, but you'll see more.
S5 (49:32):
Probably not. You'll probably just blacked out. I just said
that guy.
S4 (49:35):
You'll see more people like me on there, um, that are, uh. Yeah,
just mom and dads and, um, you know, CEOs and like, uh. Yeah,
just bottom of the rung military folk. We've got them all. Um,
and that that Instagram handle is Invictus underscore San Diego.
And then our main page, our CrossFit Invictus page, which
(49:58):
features more athlete things is just CrossFit Invictus.
S5 (50:01):
So no, that's dope.
S2 (50:02):
We're going to make sure we pin all that to
our show notes. So everybody, if you're listening to this
episode and you're trying didn't get all of that in
the show notes and it's not, then it's Lena's fault. Um,
but last thing I was going to say. Um, say,
I wish you all the best, man. It's pretty cool
to have you come in. Um, you know, I appreciate
you sharing your story. That's not something that we take
for granted, because we do this all the time. But
(50:23):
we realize stories are what really motivate, move and inspire people. Um,
but it also supplies a level of education. And so
thank you for taking that humbly, um, and letting us
know a little bit more about you and Kim. It's
admire I admire you for what what you have experienced
and what you're willing to share for other people. Um,
these stories are, like I said, those things that change lives.
(50:44):
And you all do it with a smile. You do
it with grace. Um, and obviously you do it with passion. Um,
so with that, I'm going to get ready to shut
us down. Oh. Last promise. I'm going to get you
on when you win. Right. We will work with old media,
and we'll sponsor your parade.
S5 (51:01):
Your champion parade.
S2 (51:02):
Let's go right here in the driveway.
S5 (51:04):
All right.
S2 (51:04):
We can shut it down, and we're opening it up
right here in Mission Valley just for you.
S3 (51:08):
You guys got a beautiful spot over here. I'm down
to come back.
S5 (51:10):
No, but that's where.
S2 (51:11):
I was angling that, too. Because maybe if we can't
do a full parade, we'd love to have you back, man,
and talk about this journey. Um, I think I think
what you all do just because without retribution. Kim, you
made a commitment to come over here and follow through
on it with not knowing anything. So I appreciate that.
So listen, that's enough for me. Um, I just wanted
to push record.
S1 (51:33):
Thank you for listening to. I just wanted to push
record a producer's podcast. Be sure to follow and subscribe
wherever you get your podcasts. To hear other episodes or
read the associated blogs, visit Olas Media.com and be sure
to follow us on Instagram with the handle Olas Media Studio.
I Just Wanted to push record. A producer's podcast is
(51:53):
produced in studios in San Diego, California and Tijuana, Baja California.
Olas media is an IVC media company.
S6 (52:07):
Lost media.
Welcome to. I just wanted to push Record, a producer's
podcast where lifestyle, arts, community, culture and production meet two producers,
two cultures, and a whole lot of flavor. Join hosts
Lena and Jake for fun conversations, cool interviews, sharing tips,
laughing through production hiccups, and celebrating the art of it all.
(00:33):
Ready to roll? It all starts with pushing record.
S2 (00:45):
Well well well. What a privilege it is to be
up and running again. Another one of these days where
we just wanted to push record. We have some great
guests that are joining us here. They've come to the
oldest media studio here in mission Valley. Um, how it
came about is kind of random. Kind of random. But
once we get to the end of this, you'll find
(01:06):
out why it's really not that random. I was over
in East Village. This had to be probably back January maybe,
or March. Somewhere in there back back pre spring mid
mid winter. And I was going to punch Bowl Social
um and I was going to have some drinks I
think it was a Sunday afternoon. Um strolling down seeing
(01:26):
all that one would see in East Village. And there
is this glorious building that's downtown. If you know the block,
you know where the police station is. You know where
Punch Bowl Social is. What you need to find is Invictus. Invictus.
It's it is. What do they call it? They say
it's an unsuspecting spot that when you look at it,
you're like, huh? Invictus. The name. What is that? And
(01:49):
that's what happened to me. Luckily, because I'm the imbiber
that I am, I went over to Punch Bowl Social,
found a friend of mine, Steve. He was telling me about. Dude,
what is your problem? How don't you know about Invictus?
And I was like, what? I'm not up on Greek mythology,
but two, um, one. He knew I wasn't a CrossFit guru.
But as people that are joining me in the studio today,
(02:10):
they can tell you I'm not a CrossFit guy yet.
You may not be, but if by the time you
finish this episode we may have changed your mind. It
is my pleasure to introduce both Kim McLachlan and Sam
Dancer from Invictus. They're joining us here today. Um, just
to kind of let us a little bit let us
know a little bit more about what we don't know. Um,
welcome you all.
S3 (02:30):
Pleasure to be here.
S2 (02:31):
Thank you know, so I am not going to do
a piss poor job of describing or introducing our listeners
to Invictus. Right. I am going to jump right off
the top, and I want them to hear what Invictus
is all about. Um, and somebody told me about that
awesome building that you got down the stairs. But because
I'm from the south, I just always yield to the
(02:52):
lady first. Tell us about Invictus, Kim.
S4 (02:55):
So Invictus is a functional fitness location in San Diego.
We happen to have a number of very, very successful
athletes in the sport of CrossFit, but we also do, um,
just general health and fitness. So there's some nutrition involved.
There's some, um, cardio classes, there are some muscle building classes,
(03:15):
and it's just a place for people to come get
a workout in, but also get to know a really
good community of people that share similar values and similar lifestyles,
and that you can kind of go in and forget
what your problems are for an hour and get your
heart rate up at the same time.
S2 (03:34):
So that means you do Sam under the bus to
talk about this building. But you said functional, functional fitness.
Like is that a thing? What does that actually mean?
Functional fitness.
S4 (03:43):
Yeah that's a great question. So functional fitness is a
basically we want people to be able to move well
into their 70s. 80s 90s. We want people to be
able to pick up heavy objects and put them down.
We want to be able to run far or walk far.
We want to be able to hike. Basically, you want
your fitness to work, not just in the gym so
(04:04):
that you've got some good muscle showing, but to live
life outside of the gym.
S2 (04:09):
I got it, I got it. Yeah. Sam, I'm trying
to buy you some time before I come talk about
the building. But I have to say, when I was
down there, the first thing I thought about was like, oh,
it's just it's got its own little architecture. It's just
unsuspecting is just the best word for it. But then
now as you walk in here, Sam, the first thing
I thought about was like, the Hall of Justice, right?
It's like where all the superheroes are. Sam came in here,
(04:29):
and I thought we were gonna have to take the
door frames off the door, but we got him in here. Sam,
it's great to have you here. Talk to us about
that building and what you know about Invictus.
S3 (04:37):
Man. Well, first of all, I'd like to just kind
of cover some of the history of Invictus. When I
first started coming around back in 2015, we were located
down in Little Italy. Um, which is, uh, you know,
has some great memories attached to it. And Kim obviously
having about, I think, six more years on me being
around Invictus. I'm sure she remembers that quite well. And
(04:59):
we've had locations in Point Loma and Sorrento Valley, and
we've kind of condensed it all into that East Village location.
So it really has kind of become like a Mecca
of sorts for us. And it's a rather large, um, location.
And we have a lot of people in there. It's
(05:19):
a melting pot, too. There's kids running around, there's people
in their 80s working out and everything in between. It's, um,
it's it's quite a sight.
S2 (05:29):
Yeah. Superheroes, right. Because I can only imagine if they
look like you all. Because Kim comes in here to,
like what? Say something. And I'm like, no, I'm going
to be on my best behavior. But seriously, like, it's like,
you know, I can only imagine what that would look
like to have people that are fit, that are happy. One,
because they're going to be smiling and laughing or coming
out like, yeah, I just got it in today, right?
Like that's a great place to be. But you know,
(05:51):
looking back, you said 2015. So we're talking about nine
years ago I'm looking at just about three years ago
since I moved back to San Diego, and just that,
that four little span block of where you all are
between the residences. I've seen the one that the W.
S3 (06:06):
That's what's happened in the past three years.
S2 (06:08):
There's, you know, in that community, it's changed a lot.
I think there's a boxing gym that's kind of like
right around the corner. Um, police station I mentioned. Um,
but it's a lot of activity. You got all your
EMTs coming through there, right? Um, but it's not over, right?
It's like the that area of East Village is working out,
so to speak, right? And growing. And so I'm excited
to see what would what prompted you all to go
(06:29):
from Little Italy to be and look like you all
got in early. So that's even better. What what prompted that?
S4 (06:35):
Yeah, we our Little Italy location closed because the they
wanted to build apartment complexes in the building that we're in.
And so we were we were just looking around for
another large. We unfortunately or fortunately require a good amount
of square footage. And the location that we have in
East Village was really the only place in the downtown
(06:55):
area that we could find 12,000ft² to work with, and
so that's what brought us there when we originally moved there.
You're right. There was a there were all sorts of
decrepit buildings around us. There's a couple of, you know, um,
maybe I don't even know what to say, but there
were like, parks, but that had been overrun by a
(07:15):
transient population. And so it wasn't like the best area.
Now that they're building up a bunch of things, tearing
down other locations, I think we have a pretty sweet spot.
Hopefully we can keep it for a while.
S2 (07:26):
I mean, what what I always say one way to
keep it is to say that you started it. That's true.
So I'll go into this interview at least saying that. Yeah,
if it wasn't for Invictus, none of this would be happening.
But but there are some good things like, um, first though,
you know, you talked about it was born in Little Italy.
Is that where it started? Um, well, Sam, how about you?
You were born in Illinois.
S3 (07:44):
I was, uh, yeah. I'm originally from Illinois. Uh, lived
there pretty much all the way through college. And then
shortly after I started my CrossFit career and things took
off rather quickly. Just a small town kid and went
from really not knowing anything of the world and all
the cultures around, and to traveling the world and competing
(08:08):
all over the world and eventually landing a part time
out here in San Diego.
S2 (08:14):
Well, we're going to get to some of your, um,
awards and championships. But for the for the kids out
there who want to know where does this where does
it start to become a champion? You do want to
tell them about that D1 university that you went to, right?
S3 (08:26):
Man, it started a little bit before that. Okay, okay.
I would say one of the most like transformational and formidable, uh,
periods in my life would have been in high school, and, um,
I had a really hard time in high school. I was, um,
mercilessly bullied and physically assaulted. I've been spit on. I've
(08:48):
been urinated on. I've been Kicked. I've been beat up
a number of times, had stopped even carrying books to
classes because I was so tired of them getting slapped
out of my hands every time I walked by, like, uh,
other juniors and seniors and man, it just kind of
(09:08):
it it hardened my heart at first. But eventually, once
I kind of like. Well, I used that that anger,
if you will, to to kind of fuel my, my
athletic career. Um, I wasn't really athletic growing up, necessarily,
but I was so mad and I wanted to like
(09:30):
to hurt these people so desperately that I thought if
I just got big and strong, I could. I could
at least defend myself and maybe even very well, like
impose my will on other people. And, uh, I played football,
I played hockey, I eventually got into track and field
and like I said, I wasn't a great athlete at
(09:52):
the time, but I ended up getting so big and
strong and fast that it didn't really matter, that I
wasn't that athletic. I was. I was able to dominate
in sports and eventually kind of grew out of that anger,
and my heart softened a little bit. And, um, it,
it led into me being, I don't know, more compassionate
(10:17):
and more accepting and just not wanting to see other
people go through the things that I went through, even
though it was very formative for me. Um, just nonetheless,
it brought on so much pain. It it just hurt
me to think that, like anyone who had anything less
than me to go through that, um, would, would just,
(10:39):
would make me feel awful. So it's kind of led
to me creating ways and opportunities for people to feel
more included and accepted and and also use fitness the
same way. I use fitness to get confident in, um, yeah,
to gain confidence. I mean.
S2 (10:58):
You leapfrogged me. I was I wanted to get into
you being a coach there at that Invictus to. You know,
I think some of the things you mentioned talking about compassion, um,
talking about resilience, talking about, you know, triumph over adversity,
those type of things, you know, kind of empower people
to be able to be in authority that people can
look up to, respect and honor because they know where
(11:19):
it comes from, a place of genuineness and authenticity. Right. Um,
I want to I want to come back to that
because Kim, you also you started just as a member
at at Invictus, but you've now made an ascension to
a couple other places, right? Yeah.
S4 (11:32):
So I, I was actually introduced to CrossFit in general, um,
after my rugby career ended. So I played rugby at
a high level for ten years or so. Um, and
when that ended, mainly because I was too old. Um,
I just decided that I needed to find another community
to be a part of, and I needed to find
(11:55):
people who liked working out for the sake of working out. And, uh,
had a friend that was into CrossFit, and she told
me about Invictus, and she was like, you got to
come try it. And then I saw the price and went,
absolutely not. Um, and she paid for my first month,
and I fell in love and just couldn't, couldn't take
(12:15):
myself away. So I at the time was working as
a broker, um, for a company in the finance industry
and wanted to figure out how I could get out
of that. And so I started working the front desk
at Invictus, and then, um, eventually moved into I have
an undergrad degree in sports psychology. So I moved into
(12:37):
the coaching position at Invictus and then moved into a
manager position and then just recently became a partial owner.
S5 (12:44):
So nice.
S2 (12:46):
Nice. Congratulations. Adulations. Congratulations. I know we keep you mentioned CrossFit, right?
I think my first introduction to CrossFit were like these
Reeboks that I saw in the store. Right? And I
was like, that's an odd shoe. That's not like a
cross trainer, but it's not like something I'd wear on
a basketball court. Like, what is it like? It's made
for CrossFit. And I was like, okay. And again, I'm
(13:09):
not I have not tried CrossFit. I didn't get the
shoe right. But tell tell us those that are listening, like,
what is CrossFit? I want to hear from you all
specifically when someone says CrossFit, what is that?
S4 (13:21):
Yeah, I think that there's two different types of CrossFit.
When people hear the word CrossFit, they either think of
the sport of CrossFit, which is a bunch of athletes
who are, you know, throwing around barbells at a quick
pace and running and basically doing any sort of athletic
feat that you could dream up and doing it at
(13:41):
a very high level. And then I think that there
is CrossFit as it was kind of created and started
back in the 70s as like a a way to
improve your life outside of the gym. So you can
do you can do a bunch of things and you
can mix modalities. So you could do some bodybuilding, you
(14:01):
can do some running, you can do some lifting, you
can do some Olympic lifting, you can do some gymnastics.
And all of that will help you function in the
world and help you at the sports that you love
and doing things with your kids, getting up off the ground,
that kind of thing. So I think it just the
CrossFit in general is really two different camps. You can
(14:24):
you can really focus in on, you know, being a
competitor and making sure that you're, you know, form is
good and you're moving around. And then there's other things
that you can you can use your strength to help
enhance your life outside of the gym.
S2 (14:38):
And Sam, which way did you go?
S3 (14:43):
Well, actually, I, uh, uh, when I. I just knew
that I wanted to coach people. I had a manager
at my first job out of college, and he pulled
me into his office, and he's like, Sam, we got
to get you out of here. And I'm like, what
do you mean? You. You're trying to fire me or something?
He's like, no, he's just like, you don't belong here.
He's like, you don't belong in in sales. You don't
(15:05):
belong here. Like doing the job that you're doing. He's like,
you're just you're you're meant for something else. And he's like,
what do you what do you love? And I no
one had ever really asked me that question before. And
so I had to kind of think on it for
a little bit. And when I got down to it,
I was like, man, I just I love like fitness
(15:28):
and wellness and I like teaching people about it. And
he's like, all right. Um, like, would you like, would
you like to coach people and maybe own a gym
or something like that? I was like, yeah, I think
I would really enjoy that. He goes, all right, hop
in my car. And we went and drove around town
and we looked at buildings together, and he helped me
put together a business plan, and I opened up a
(15:51):
CrossFit gym. And it wasn't much longer after that where
I did a I. Well, I saw the CrossFit games
on TV, on ESPN, and I saw what the guys
were doing, and I was like, dang! I was like,
I can do that. I was like, I think I
can even do it better. I think I can do
it faster. And I went and did my first CrossFit competition,
(16:17):
and I, I did I did well, I did some
things really, really well, but I also did really bad
at some things too. And I went to work on
the things, the blind spots and the areas that I
wasn't as good as the other guys. And um, it
just took off rather quickly for me. Um, it went
(16:37):
from opening a gym in 2012 and, uh, podium at
the CrossFit games in 2014. So.
S2 (16:47):
And you're affiliated with Invictus. You're a coach there. So
is it a family of champions or you're kind of like.
Or is it just, you know, you're just a superstar
and that's it? Or you all have a history of
like cranking out the best.
S3 (17:00):
There's quite a history at Invictus. Um, I, I would
say we're we're definitely one of the most accomplished and, um,
and oldest, um, CrossFit gyms in the world. Um, we
put a number of teams on the podium, a number
of individuals on the podium, and we're annually cranking out, um,
(17:25):
some dense numbers when it comes to the amount of
athletes that we're putting out on the competition floor, both
at the at the open level, the quarterfinal level, semifinal
level and the games level.
S2 (17:36):
So what I'm hearing is, is that, yeah, this is
CrossFit at a high level, right? Because what I'm really
considering is my producer, Lena. Right? I may just bring
her down there. Push her in the building and just
say go. Right. We got it.
S3 (17:49):
Yeah, we got her.
S2 (17:50):
Yeah. Yeah, she can just start anywhere. So it's for anybody.
S3 (17:53):
Anybody, any place. It doesn't matter where you're at. You
could be missing an arm, a leg. You could be blind.
You could have a, um.
S4 (18:01):
Could have sat on the couch for the last ten years. Yeah.
S3 (18:03):
It, like, literally does not matter where you're at. I
specifically even work with athletes with special needs. So athletes
with down down syndrome and autism like. And it just
it does not matter where you at. We have progressions
for you. And it's such a scalable model that it's
applicable to anyone and everyone. And um, it's you're you
(18:23):
don't have to be in shape to join. You don't
have to know any of the moves or anything like
we got you.
S4 (18:30):
And I feel like that's the magic of Invictus is
that we do have a number of very accomplished, very successful,
very strong athletes, men and ladies that you can walk
in and you immediately know that these these people work out,
but you can also walk in and be like, what?
This 87 year old that's over in the corner doing
(18:51):
what looks like the same thing as that athlete who
just placed first. Is doing just at a lighter weight.
Is super interesting. And I think Invictus is known for
worldwide for the podium finishes that we've had and the
number of teams that we've sent to games and our
number of individual athletes and all of that. But I
think that the like the real, um, the real benefit
(19:13):
of Invictus in San Diego is that that is just
proof that what we do works. Um, if you can
be anyone and come in and you can tell us
your goals and we'll get you to whatever those goals are.
So if that's, you know, climbing a mountain or if
that's playing with your grandkids or if that's, you know,
like going to be your son's baseball coach, we've we've
got all of those things that are happening in that
(19:36):
same building.
S2 (19:37):
Yeah. Well, you mentioned benefits because I was getting ready
to touch on that in preparation for my time with
the great folks from Invictus. What I started doing is
rubbernecking when I started seeing other CrossFit gyms, right? And
so my vision that I see a lot of times
is obviously there's attire involved, right? That's usually getting flipped over. Um,
they don't run anywhere but on sidewalks and around the building.
(19:58):
They can't do the pull ups that I was taught
in elementary school. There's like, you got to cross your
legs and you got to have something on your back. Um,
they don't stop moving, but supposedly they're just like. So
these are my visions. See, I did pretty good research, right?
S5 (20:13):
That was.
S3 (20:13):
Pretty accurate. Yeah.
S2 (20:15):
The thing that baffles me is that even you all's disposition, right? Like,
there's this whole stereotype that, like, people who look are
in fit are miserable, right? But I've heard that there's
some fun in fitness, right?
S4 (20:28):
There is some fun in fitness. That is where my
passion lies. I did the competitive thing up through 2014.
Loved it. That's the reason I got into CrossFit to
begin with. But now it's just to make sure that
I continue to move as you get older and as
you have kids, and as you start to get involved
in their lifestyle and still try to maintain a lifestyle
(20:49):
of your own. Fitness is so important to just be
able to walk around, be able to play with kids,
be able to do all of those things. And in
order to keep myself accountable, I need to have some
people who, if I don't show up at the gym,
are going to call me and be like, hey, what
are you doing? You weren't at class today, or you
know where you weren't here for a week. Did you
(21:11):
go on vacation? If you didn't go on vacation, get
your butt back in here. And so that that community
of people that have formed at the gym are just
the reason for my enjoyment of fitness to begin with.
There's a I have been so I have a I
have a four year old, but we have been trying
(21:32):
to have a second child for three years now, and
we've gone through all sorts of infertility treatments. We've we've
done a ton of things. I've gotten pregnant three times,
had three different miscarriages. And on my third miscarriage, I
was at work and somebody was like, go home. Like take,
take a day and just like walk by the beach or,
(21:54):
you know, like get, get back in with your thoughts
and like, just take a minute to process it. And
athletics and movement and working out has always been my, um, like,
passion and my way to deal with stress and my, uh,
just basically way to kind of like shake things off,
(22:14):
get things right with life. And so I went home,
jumped on my peloton because I do have one of
those at home and, um, did a workout and got
off of that thing after about 30 minutes, I was like, well,
that doesn't make me feel better. Um, and I, you know,
went for a run that didn't make me feel better.
And then I went back into the gym and saw people.
They had no idea what had happened. They didn't know anything,
(22:36):
but they were like, Kim, what's up? How's it going?
You know, giving me hugs. And I did a workout
with those people, and I was like, this, this is
what I need is just the people and the energy
and the like. Support. Like, I didn't have to say
a word. They didn't know I was upset. It was
just that, like the fact that I was there made
it so that I like I felt supported and I
(22:57):
felt loved. And with all the technology and work from
home and all the things that are happening now, I
feel like communities are less and less. And if you
can find people that you bond with and that you
that care about you genuinely, regardless of, you know, what's
going on, that's it's so rare. And I think that
(23:18):
that is what the fun and fitness is. It's not
the working out, although that is, you know, sweating is
fun and throwing bars. But I could do that at
my house. I have a gym set up at my house.
I can't find the community and the support that I
get going into the gym and through working out on
my own, so it keeps me accountable. But it also
makes me feel like I'm part of something bigger.
S3 (23:38):
And I think we all definitely learned through Covid, too,
that like, community is obviously an integral part of our well-being. Um,
you know, we were all craving it and just like,
so excited to have that back towards the tail end
of all that wrapping up. So it's just yeah, it's
really cool to hear Kim's story and the effectiveness of
of how therapeutic and medicinal and an effective. Yeah. Effective
(24:05):
community is for our well-being.
S2 (24:07):
Well, I mean, I think one I can tell you all,
you all are awesome coaches because you're already, like, coaching
us up, Lena, now on this podcast, because one of
the things that, you know, we were thinking about with
the inception of the show is culture, community, art and lifestyle. Right?
And everything that you all have described and I would
attest to. Right. Like you're saying, community, there's there is
(24:30):
some type of catharsis that happens when we are amongst
our tribe, right? We don't have to be on the defense.
We don't have to overexplain. It's like, you get me,
I get you. Let's just do what we came to do.
Type of type of mentality. Right. And so therefore it
breaks down some of that pressure that's on things. When
you start talking about community, it's the people who have
experienced that culture who now have an appreciation for it
to come and say, I'm going to commit to you
(24:52):
to be there for you as you commit there, to
be there for me. Right. Like you said, when you
walked in there, they're like, hey, let's go, we're ready.
And when you wrap all that up in a lifestyle,
which is now something that you practice at a higher
level and have a commitment to, but also instill the
compassion and with the passion as well as just making
sure that you're empathetic to others. Right. Because when you
(25:13):
say everybody's welcome. Right. Because we we could go. We
could be in a culture, be in a community and
then be exclusive. Right? But when you're talking about from
age seven to age 87, that's a wide swath of people, right?
That's 1000 200,000ft². Can barely hold all of them at
one time. Right? But it does it, you know, so
I think it's awesome. You also mentioned about the your
(25:34):
children in your life. That type of thing. And as
a newly adorned grandfather, one of the things that I
learned about a month and a half ago was, yeah,
I was doing a crab walk around there and I'm like, whoa,
we hadn't been doing this, and this is only year one.
We got a lot more years to do some crab walk,
but it's one of those things where now it becomes
a consideration for me of like, wait, I need to
(25:57):
find out. Find out what's my thing. Because if I
want if I'm choosing to continue to crab walk with
this dude, right. I ain't going to be able to
do it sitting on the couch, going to punch bowl
social on a habitual non-healthy way. Not not, you know,
digging on Punch Bowl Social is a great place to
celebrate when you win a competition or after a workout.
But yeah, I mean, I think finding that calling and
(26:19):
that purpose is huge. It's huge. And, you know, going
back to the competitive side, though, I think a lot
of times I've seen, you know, watching on the ESPN
and on the different shows that it has to be
something like that. That's your passion, a calling back to
that same that same equation of culture community. Because in
the stands you've got your community and you're in your culture.
(26:43):
Now it's just competitive, right? I mean, I'm not the competitor, Sam,
but I'll let you tell me, what is it that,
you know, compete because it's one thing you say to
go work out. It's like, okay, I'm great, but when
you take that to another level, like, no, I'm going
to be the best out here, right? At a, I mean,
and not just on a whim level. Right. You're repeat. Right. Repeat. Champion.
S3 (27:03):
Yeah. Been up there a few times. Yeah.
S2 (27:05):
I love the humility.
S5 (27:06):
I was going to say.
S4 (27:07):
He's being very humble. He's very accomplished.
S3 (27:10):
Um, well.
S2 (27:11):
I guess the drive. We'll start there, and then I'll
come back to Kim. You can run down the list of. Yeah.
What drives you? What drives? What made you take. I mean,
we'd heard your story, which, you know, I think is
a very touching story. And I think, unfortunately, in today's age,
we hear about a lot of young people who probably
can't identify with some of the things that you've had
to endure and overcome and triumph. What what is it
(27:32):
that drives you even now at this level?
S3 (27:34):
Um, man, I, I constantly get this like, gosh, I
don't know if it's like my subconscious or if it's
some sort of just even spiritual thing, but I, like
I get this voice like in my head and it just,
it says like, show them what's possible. And I feel
(27:58):
an obedience to that. Like, I feel like I'm I'm
here to make sure that I'm an example of what
can be accomplished, um, through through discipline and through continual, um,
(28:19):
just continuing to show up and. Yeah, it's just it's
really that simple. I yeah, when I was younger, I
always kind of dreamed of I wanted to be a
professional football player or I wanted to be like a
world champion at something. But when you check those boxes
and you've accomplished those things, like then, then what drives you?
(28:43):
And I would have to say it's, it's that it's
just that that voice in my head that tells me
to just go show them what's possible.
S2 (28:53):
And Kim, how many times did he actually succeed and
go show them?
S5 (28:58):
I mean, he would.
S4 (28:59):
He would probably know better than me because I lose track.
But I know you've been at podium at least twice
with Invictus, once with your own gym.
S3 (29:06):
Yeah. 2014. Uh, we got second place to Invictus, actually,
which is kind of what put Invictus on my radar.
I'm like, dang, man. Like, I want to go hang
out with the first place people.
S5 (29:20):
But wait.
S2 (29:20):
But I still this you all are oozing this humility.
So this is what the first place of the fifth
Street block of East Village.
S3 (29:28):
Of I was second place in the world on a team.
S2 (29:32):
Got to as in El Mundo.
S5 (29:35):
Right? Yes.
S4 (29:37):
So all sorts of European and Asian teams we've got,
there's literally everywhere sends over. You have to qualify. But
you can send over some teams and they take the
top 40 into this competition. Or at that time I
think it was the top 40 into the competition. And
then they all compete for four days and figure out
who's the best of the best, the fittest of the.
S5 (29:58):
World, global.
S4 (29:59):
Community, global community.
S2 (30:01):
Hall of justice. Yeah. Yeah. All over the world. All
over the world. And. But I want to I'm going
to come back to that to. I know I keep
saying going back, but what I do want to talk about,
you know, talk about coaching. You all are both coaches
in a household too, right? You have like that. I
don't know that it's an optional. Right. When, you know, um,
tell me about your your lifestyles at home because, like,
(30:22):
I think we mentioned before, it's a commitment, right? Like,
you can't perform at your level. And say, I'll just
go do it tomorrow or I'll catch up with it.
I'll double that set up. I'm just using what little
gym lingo I know. Um, but, you know, you can't
take any days off, barring the cliche. Like, how is
it that you balance all the your family life and
(30:44):
your commitment to one of your passions?
S3 (30:46):
Man, it's, um, it it's a for sure. I just
being a relatively new father. Um, and like you mentioned,
it's an inescapable, like, part of my life. Like, I
can't just check out and just be like, oh, I'm
not going to parent today. Um, but what I will
(31:07):
say in regards to, like, becoming more adapted to that and,
and getting to a place where, you know, the, the,
the degree of difficulty doesn't seem as high, um, has
come through just consistency and discipline. And, you know, the
(31:27):
things that seemed really difficult to me years ago because
of just like continuing to show up in a lot
of that, like Kim's touched on a lot of it's
the community, it's the people around you that love you
and support you, that kind of get you through the
days when you're like, how am I going to do this?
Whether we're talking about the gym or the household where
(31:50):
you're just you're running low on sleep, you had a
baby up all night or your body sore from whatever,
like progression you just finished and on your back squats
or whatever, whatever, whatever. But man, it's the people that
that kind of keep you coming back in and keep
you motivated. And then when you're consistent through that, you
(32:12):
end up developing the discipline and it just becomes like a,
an automatic behavior. Um, and it just gets easier and
easier and easier. And it's I would attribute a good
majority of The that type of progress in getting to
a place where something was originally extremely difficult to where
(32:34):
it's just like a natural thing that takes place and
you don't even think about it anymore to the people.
S2 (32:43):
And probably helps to have a jest at home too, right?
S5 (32:46):
Jin Jin yeah, well, yeah.
S2 (32:48):
Yeah, you can have a jest, but you can have.
S5 (32:50):
Yeah, I know some dresses too. And they're they're great, but. Yeah,
the Jin man.
S3 (32:56):
Yeah. Um, definitely helps to have a Jin at home. Um, and.
S2 (33:01):
For the for the.
S5 (33:02):
People. That is for.
S3 (33:02):
Yeah, that is that is my wife. Uh, sorry.
S2 (33:05):
Sorry for messing that up.
S3 (33:06):
Yeah, it's all good. Uh, love you. Jenny. Um, but, yeah,
any anything awesome that I've ever done is a direct
reflection of of who she is as a woman and
a wife and a supporter and a friend of mine.
So mad respect to Joe.
S2 (33:24):
Nice. And again, I apologize because that's probably the worst
way to start out. But I should have just left
it alone. How about you? I mean, let's talk about
your balance. You went into some of your personal side
and some of the things that you've had to overcome
or deal with, or how where do you pull on
to to actually be able to maintain and handle that,
let's say outside of just the CrossFit component? What are
(33:45):
some of the other important elements that helps you be
able to do that?
S4 (33:48):
Yeah. Um, well, I actually met my husband at the gym.
He was one of my private clients.
S5 (33:53):
And he has a name that I'm not going to say.
S4 (33:54):
His name is Andrew. Okay.
S5 (33:55):
Um, shout out Andrew.
S4 (33:56):
Um, but, uh, I met him through the gym, so
he was part of that awesome community that we have. But, um,
since we've had our little guy, we've both commented many
times that, uh, I want, I want Isaac is my
little kid, but he we want him to grow up
in a place where fitness is just part of your
(34:17):
life and moving around as part of your life. And
so he if his daycare is not on Monday, he
comes into the gym with me and he, you know,
hangs out with Sam's kid and a couple of the
other children in the gym that are there with other parents. Um,
and yeah, I just, I try to make it more
of a lifestyle thing. That is just it should be normal.
(34:40):
I'm not I'm not making time for my workout. That
is just. That's just what has to happen. Like, I
have to brush my teeth. I have to get a
workout in. So, um, the best part is that he
has really taken that to heart. And his new excuse
for not going to bed on time is I didn't
work out yet, mom.
S5 (34:56):
Um, I dig it.
S4 (34:57):
So yeah. So he'll do some push ups and he'll
try to try to, you know, elongate that which is
which I love. Honestly, it's the only excuse.
S5 (35:05):
That that resistance isn't there. Yeah. It's not number three. Yeah. Exactly. Yeah.
S4 (35:12):
But I really I mean that's that's my secret is
that I try I'm just trying to integrate him into
the community that I love and that, you know, he
will hopefully carry on well past because I also think
going into school and, you know, starting to make a
life of your own fitness was so important to me
as a sports writer, was so important to me growing
(35:34):
up that I just want that to also be part
of his life.
S2 (35:37):
So no, I think it's I think it's great. I mean,
from from where I sit, um, usually on the couch, um,
it is powerful and impactful to me just to be
able to say, to hear you all talk about it
so passionately. I know I keep bringing up that word passion.
But for me, someone right now who again, not in
the gym, it's like I have to have that calling.
I'm a retired high school athlete. Right? And you look great.
(35:59):
Well thank you, thank you, thank you. It's delighting, um,
you know, but I played basketball, and it was just
like you just said, like I. You didn't have to
force me to go. You had to force me to
go home. Right? And mom would do the same thing.
You're supposed to be home before the street light came on.
What's wrong? And I'm like, man, I had to get
one more game in, right? Because he beat me in
21 last time. I can't go home with the air, right?
Can't leave on a missed shot. It is amazing to me. I.
(36:23):
I don't want to say you're cut from a different cloth,
but do you feel like because you accept everyone? Do
you feel like any and everybody has this type of
calling in them? And is there anything that makes CrossFit
easier to overcome that? Nah. I'm good.
S5 (36:38):
Yeah.
S4 (36:38):
I mean, I think the I'm going to keep going
back to the community, but it is like we have
so many people that have walked in just so afraid.
I have a member who joined and then probably six
months after came over and was like, I just have
to tell you that before I actually walked in the
doors to even get more information about what you guys do,
(36:59):
I sat in my car and cried because I was
just so scared to walk in, and it's so intimidating
to do something new and to put yourself out there
and to know that you might not be good at this.
And so you're going to have to you're going to
have to watch people who are good, and you're going
to have to take some some time to, like, actually
build up some skills and build up some confidence in
(37:21):
in the movements and, um, and then they were like,
you know, we walked in and all of a sudden
I had five new friends in the first ten minutes
that I was there. And, uh, and then it just
does it really does change different parts of your life. Um,
so you want to hang out with these people all
the time. You want to make sure that you have
the same goals as the other people that you're hanging
out with outside. So it's what you talk about. It's
(37:43):
what you. It just becomes like part of your life
very quickly.
S3 (37:46):
And it feels good to feel good, man. Just like,
you know, your basketball days, like whether it was just
making that shot or winning that game or, or even
the loss, you know, that feeling of like of losing
how that motivated you and drove you to want to
stay out a little bit later so that you could
redeem yourself. But ultimately, yeah, man, it just it feels
(38:10):
good to feel good and like and and that's available
to everybody.
S2 (38:14):
Well it's funny, it's I you are a perfect guest
because the funny thing about it, I've seen my man Steve.
He actually does rehab, right? The one who told me
about Invictus. And the thing about it, he was like, yeah,
you want to feel good? It feels good to feel good.
But it also feels bad to be bad, right? Because
he tells me about their injuries involved. Um, because we
want to get our disclaimer in here. What would what
(38:34):
is your advice when people when you talk to people
about hey, yeah, come on in. Like in terms of
I've heard I didn't look this up in my gym,
you know, vocabulary, but like, knowing your body's limits, right?
If you have any pre-existing conditions. Yeah. Um, what do
you all say to those people who are like, well,
you know, you mentioned one arm, one leg, you know, whatever.
But what if whatever my thing is. What is your advisement? Yeah.
S3 (38:56):
Progression. Um, you know, Kim's probably definitely a little more
qualified with the role that she's had, um, over the
past few years as a coach to probably comment on this.
But just even as a high level athlete, I have
to be very cautious and conscious about how I'm progressing
(39:17):
throughout the season. If I try to train at the
beginning of the season, the way I'm performing, and typically
at the end of a season, I will undoubtedly injure myself.
And it's happened to. So you have to be there
has to be a degree of humility and a an
honest and an.
S5 (39:36):
Honest and.
S3 (39:37):
An honest, a true, honest assessment of of where you're at,
not where you were. You know, you mentioned you were
you used to play basketball.
S5 (39:46):
Retired high school.
S3 (39:47):
Yeah. A lot of times people are, you know, still
have a little attachment to to what it was that
they were. And you have to relinquish that. And, and
progression is ultimately the thing that will keep you safe.
S2 (40:01):
You just want to keep your thought right there. But
I did want to say, because we're about to run
short on time, the one thing that I'm big on that,
that I think we're headed in that direction anyway. The
mental health component. Right. That the the the benefits to it,
knowing that, you know, we're talking about our outside communities
are operating in a totally different space, right? We're not
(40:23):
looking to call people in. We're more so to call
them out. We're not looking to invite them. We're usually
ready to reject them. And some of us are retreating
into those Covid moments where it's like, I'm just not
dealing with anybody. It's crazy out here, and maybe I'll
come out later, maybe I don't, and it becomes a
dark place. And that just like, you know, one of
the things that I'm aware of, even with my dad now,
he had a bad wheel, right? Like his knee is
(40:44):
going down. And it was like I watched him over
the last year because his knee would go down. Then
he's not going out as much. And so he's staying
home as much. And then now he's not, he's still eating,
but now he has more time. So he's eating more.
And so then you just kind of see that breakdown
from a mental health standpoint, to not be able to
exercise that muscle or to be able to rehab or
(41:07):
to know your limitations or know that being knowing when
you something's not right. Right. What does CrossFit do for
the mental capacity? We talked about, you know, some of
the nutritional and the health wise. But what about the
mental capacity of people?
S4 (41:20):
Yeah, I mean, one of the beautiful things about Invictus
in particular is that we, our coaches, are trained to
customize for people. So if you've got a bum knee,
we can work around that. We can give you things
that are not going to bum that knee out even more. Um,
we can we can do things that are going to
keep you moving and keep you feeling like you've got
(41:43):
a good workout in regardless of what you have going on.
And so for the mental health aspects of that, yeah,
you might have a bum shoulder, you might have a
bum back, you might have a bum knee. But we
can we can help you move in a way that's
not going to exacerbate that problem. And hopefully it'll help
that problem. And it is going to keep it, keep
(42:04):
you feeling like you're still your same old self. You're
you're still able to move. You're still able to do
things that are hard, that you can overcome obstacles, things
like that. And so our culture of customization that we
have there is. You might walk into a class and
see one thing written on the board as the quote
unquote assignment, but you could see five people doing what
(42:25):
doesn't look like what was just on the board, because
they've got something going on that they need to adjust.
And we want to make sure that they're just consistently
coming in. And so we want to make sure it
doesn't matter what you have going on. You've got you've
got some options. If you can just get your body
into the space, then we can do the rest for you.
We can help keep you mentally sane so that you're moving,
(42:48):
you're doing things that you want to be doing and
but that you're not you're not hurting yourself further, if
you if you have a previous injury, the biggest thing
is just let the coach know what's what's going on.
That is that is I would say the only downfall
is if if you don't let us know you have
a bum shoulder, I can't, I can't help, help you
work around it. And so that would be like, yeah,
(43:10):
the one thing I would say, if you are coming
in and you want to start a thing of fitness,
but you're like, oh, two years ago I couldn't get
out of bed because my back hurt. Let us know
that so that we can work on on improving some
of the muscles that surround what may have been an
issue before.
S2 (43:26):
In the spirit of letting us know, Sam, let us
know what's coming up this summer for you, man. What
are you. You're about to get out of here in
a couple of days, right?
S3 (43:34):
Um, yeah. We leave. We leave tomorrow morning for for semi-finals.
We got, um. Gosh, we have 3 or 4 teams, 14, 14,
four teams competing, and we have three individuals where you
hit it. Um, we are going to Carson, California, and
competing at the tennis stadium kind of back to our roots,
(43:54):
if you will. Um, kind of where the CrossFit games
not necessarily originated, but, um, where the people like. Yeah,
home base for, um, for a lot of folks who
came into CrossFit early, early on. Um, we.
S2 (44:11):
Gotta do I gotta I gotta find this out there. Like,
what do you have to do? So you're going up
to Carson. It's, you know, major competition.
S5 (44:17):
This is the tennis court. Yeah, this.
S4 (44:18):
Is the entire West Coast semifinals. So it's not just
like California.
S5 (44:22):
It's all these guys. Like he's just going up the street. Yeah.
S4 (44:27):
No, he's. It's the entire West Coast. They had to
go through two different qualifiers to get to this stage
in the competition. So, uh, so it's a pretty big deal. Um,
and Sam is one of the individuals competing there, and, uh,
he got some big goals.
S3 (44:43):
Yeah.
S5 (44:44):
Looking over a couple days.
S3 (44:45):
Yeah. It'll be, uh, Friday, Saturday, Sunday. We'll have six events. Um,
I'm looking to be the oldest athlete to ever qualify
for the CrossFit games. And, uh, hopefully. Yeah. Punch my
ticket this weekend.
S5 (44:56):
Yeah.
S2 (44:57):
Dude, you're. Yeah, your whole manner is dope. Like, it's
just like. I mean, yeah, that's not. Not only am
I that guy, but I'm also the oldest guy, right?
That's what I'm going for. No, I listen, I one
wish you all the best. Thank you. I think it's
pretty awesome. Um. I've doted over you all so much about.
I like what you all are doing. You guys were
a great find. I got to give another shout out
to Steve, because if it wasn't for him, I wouldn't
(45:19):
have known anything about it.
S5 (45:20):
Thank you. Steve.
S2 (45:20):
It may even have converted me over. Maybe if I
can get him to pay my membership fee.
S5 (45:24):
Yeah. Heck, yeah. Right.
S2 (45:26):
Yeah. And that'll pay for the advertising.
S5 (45:27):
I just.
S4 (45:27):
Need just one.
S5 (45:28):
Month. So there we go. Yeah, there we go.
S2 (45:31):
Um, before we get out of here, though, um, you know,
anything else that you got going on this summer? Um, Sam,
let us know, and then, you know, for that person
now who's like, can't even sit down until they find
out where Invictus is as an address and what they
need to come down and who they need to see. Yeah, yeah.
S3 (45:45):
No, I got you. Um, well, check us out. We're
in East Village, 1401 East Street. Um, that's Invictus downtown.
And we got lots of great community events that we run.
One specifically that's coming up is is our Glow Row,
which is going to be happening on June 15th. And
(46:06):
this is a wonderful event for people to kind of
get a little taste of, of what we're all about
because this is, uh, this is a community event. This
is an event where Invictus is partnering with the Dancer
Love Foundation. The Dancer Love Foundation is a non-for-profit that
works to get athletes with various special needs into gyms
and help them receive free professional coaching. So like if
(46:30):
you really want to see the just the range of
of types of people that are present at Invictus, come
sign up like come participate, we're rowing. It sounds crazy,
but we're rowing a marathon, uh, teams of ten. And
(46:51):
it's it's a wonderful way to get introduced into the
community and to just fitness in general. So even if
you haven't been working out for the past five years,
rowing is a wonderful place to start. And you'll get
to see athletes of of every kind. There's going to
be little kids there. There's going to be athletes with
(47:12):
down syndrome and autism and, um, maybe even athletes that
are gosh dang, maybe missing an arm or a leg. Like,
we don't limit our services to just, uh, individuals with mental, uh,
or cognitive disabilities, but also just, uh, physical disabilities as well. And, um,
I assure you there would be nothing more, um, gosh,
(47:39):
exciting for you to see that would motivate you to
want to have what they have, um, which is that
freedom that, like health is wealth and fitness is freedom, baby. So, like,
come make some money with us at Invictus and get to, um,
reap the benefits of your health and wellness. And it's
(47:59):
just that'd be a great event for for anyone in
the in the area to come participate in to learn
more about what we do at Invictus.
S4 (48:08):
And we also want to support any of the other
you know, um, fitness type things that are going on
in San Diego. So we have a team entered into
the pride Five-k. Um, we've also we're also going to
go as a community watch the wave play in August. Um,
the CrossFit games are going to be happening in the
beginning of August.
S5 (48:29):
And where is that? Where is.
S4 (48:30):
That? That is going to be in Texas.
S5 (48:33):
Yeah. Um, yeah.
S3 (48:36):
Somewhere in.
S5 (48:36):
Texas. Somewhere in Texas. It's easy to find them in Texas.
S4 (48:40):
Texas, Texas.
S5 (48:41):
Um.
S2 (48:41):
We have we have the Google.
S5 (48:43):
Yeah, the Google cheat sheet.
S4 (48:44):
Yeah. Um, but we should be sending some teams there. Hopefully,
if they do well this weekend and then, um, hopefully
we'll see Sam there as an individual athlete.
S5 (48:52):
And I'm claiming it now. Yeah.
S4 (48:54):
We've got, we've got some um, we've got some good,
good people to watch kind of on the world stage there. Uh,
as we get into like the later parts of the year,
we'll have more activities going on at the gym. So, um,
definitely just come in, walk through the doors, check us
out again. It's like 14 01E Street. So we're right
in the Middle East Village. But if you don't want
(49:15):
to go there, um, CrossFit Invictus or Invictus Fitness. Com
are our website. That's our website information. You can find
us on social media, our San Diego page, which is
all about our everyday athletes. So you may see Sam
on there, but you'll see more.
S5 (49:32):
Probably not. You'll probably just blacked out. I just said
that guy.
S4 (49:35):
You'll see more people like me on there, um, that are, uh. Yeah,
just mom and dads and, um, you know, CEOs and like, uh. Yeah,
just bottom of the rung military folk. We've got them all. Um,
and that that Instagram handle is Invictus underscore San Diego.
And then our main page, our CrossFit Invictus page, which
(49:58):
features more athlete things is just CrossFit Invictus.
S5 (50:01):
So no, that's dope.
S2 (50:02):
We're going to make sure we pin all that to
our show notes. So everybody, if you're listening to this
episode and you're trying didn't get all of that in
the show notes and it's not, then it's Lena's fault. Um,
but last thing I was going to say. Um, say,
I wish you all the best, man. It's pretty cool
to have you come in. Um, you know, I appreciate
you sharing your story. That's not something that we take
for granted, because we do this all the time. But
(50:23):
we realize stories are what really motivate, move and inspire people. Um,
but it also supplies a level of education. And so
thank you for taking that humbly, um, and letting us
know a little bit more about you and Kim. It's
admire I admire you for what what you have experienced
and what you're willing to share for other people. Um,
these stories are, like I said, those things that change lives.
(50:44):
And you all do it with a smile. You do
it with grace. Um, and obviously you do it with passion. Um,
so with that, I'm going to get ready to shut
us down. Oh. Last promise. I'm going to get you
on when you win. Right. We will work with old media,
and we'll sponsor your parade.
S5 (51:01):
Your champion parade.
S2 (51:02):
Let's go right here in the driveway.
S5 (51:04):
All right.
S2 (51:04):
We can shut it down, and we're opening it up
right here in Mission Valley just for you.
S3 (51:08):
You guys got a beautiful spot over here. I'm down
to come back.
S5 (51:10):
No, but that's where.
S2 (51:11):
I was angling that, too. Because maybe if we can't
do a full parade, we'd love to have you back, man,
and talk about this journey. Um, I think I think
what you all do just because without retribution. Kim, you
made a commitment to come over here and follow through
on it with not knowing anything. So I appreciate that.
So listen, that's enough for me. Um, I just wanted
to push record.
S1 (51:33):
Thank you for listening to. I just wanted to push
record a producer's podcast. Be sure to follow and subscribe
wherever you get your podcasts. To hear other episodes or
read the associated blogs, visit Olas Media.com and be sure
to follow us on Instagram with the handle Olas Media Studio.
I Just Wanted to push record. A producer's podcast is
(51:53):
produced in studios in San Diego, California and Tijuana, Baja California.
Olas media is an IVC media company.
S6 (52:07):
Lost media.
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