Hungry Dog Barbell Podcast
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Hungry Dog Barbell Podcast
Frank Delaney Battle by the Bay
What happens when a flash tornado hits a CrossFit competition? Frank Delaney, the brains behind Powerpack Fitness and the driving force of the Battle by the Bay, joins us to recount the moment when unexpected severe weather transformed a heatwave into a wild storm. Frank shares how the CrossFit community's camaraderie shone brightly as everyone rushed to protect equipment and support one another amidst the chaos.
This episode goes beyond the storm, diving into the competitive fervor that fuels CrossFit athletes and how personal fitness journeys often stem from early resistance. Reflecting on Frank's high school and college athletic experiences, we explore how initial reluctance to embrace fitness evolved into a passionate pursuit of personal growth and competitiveness.
From the challenges of starting a gym in a Get the scoop on the thrilling prospects for next year’s Battle by the Bay and stay connected with Frank for the latest updates on this must-watch event.
What's up, dogs? Welcome back to another episode of the Hungry Dog Barbell Podcast. This week, I'm joined by Frank Delaney, owner of Powerpack Fitness and event director of the Battle by the Bay. We get into his origins in the sport of CrossFit, opening his own affiliate in 2015,. And recap all things, battle by the Bay 2024, including one pesky trident thief that happened after the competition. Hope you enjoy the episode. Peace, tell me about a freaking hurricane happening during your competition, bro. Like I remember the weather, like it was kind of bad but it wasn't supposed to hit that hard. Like what were you thinking, as that's going on? Like right after, how'd you handle it? It break that all down for us.
Speaker 2:So the whole week leading up to it it said we're going to be in a heat wave, so I'm trying to find out ways of just trying to keep all the spectators and athletes as cool as possible. So it was really cool. A lot of the sponsors of uh, noco and element um, they sent like I can't like 90 cases of electrolytes and like people like hydrated. So all my mind was focused towards that. Um, the morning it was super hot, like 97 I would say. And then it just kept continuing to be hot, hot, hot.
Speaker 2:And then, when we were going to the clean event, which was the last event of the day, um, you know, a little bit dark clouds and crazy. It didn't look like rain, just looked like clouds were coming in. And I remember my wife being like uh, it looks like it's about to drizzle. Do you want to like bring the uh skiers in? And I looked at her. I was like no, like in the zone, trying to like get all these athletes, like just corral, to go into like the next heat, next heat. And then I look back at her and she's sprinting outside. Mind you, at at that time I'm pretty sure she's like five months pregnant, she's grabbing skiers and I was like, ok, well, time out, let's go do that really quick. So we're bringing equipment in and it just turned into. I don't even know if it's a hurricane. I think what the news was calling it that day, like when we got home, was a flash tornado.
Speaker 2:So out of nowhere, just gust of winds, pick up, I guess, off the water since we're like right there on the bay and literally just tents are flying there and uh, I think you know um will the videographer. He was like sorry, but I gotta, I gotta start becoming a storm chaser and film this. I was like you do your thing, we gotta so for the most part like taken care of.
Speaker 2:But uh, it was really cool to see like every single athlete that I saw dropped what they were doing and was like hey, and I was like grab a tent first of all, so it doesn't blow away anything that's still there and then we'll just bring in the machines one by one, and everyone like really helped. It was pretty cool to see that's so dope dude.
Speaker 2:The power of the community showed up, you know that's like the like people talk about, how strong the crossfit community is. That was like all right. That was my first time of like really seeing like okay, when shit hits the fan excuse my language how does that back in? And it was pretty cool to see that's dope.
Speaker 1:So let's like take it back then and kind of keep talking about that. So, dude, tell me, how did you first get into crossfit?
Speaker 2:uh. So going into well, way back when I one of my buddies that was going into buds um fell into doing seal fit as his like prep to get into the seals um, so I did that with him. That was like my first little dabble in it. And then going into senior year of college, I came back home and a buddy that I always worked out with during the summer or when I was home from school he was like, hey, we got to try this CrossFit thing and we started doing workouts just off CrossFitcom. We did workouts at like a global gym and we got, yeah, buddy, you can't be doing all this stuff in here like running around the gym. So we ended up finding a gym in my actual hometown, middletown CrossFit Salus, which are still there and yeah, we just fell in love with it.
Speaker 2:Then I went back to school for my senior year, ended up joining a gym there that was like super competitive uh, mountaineer CrossFit out in West Virginia. And from there I was just like all right, whatever I'm doing with my life, I kind of have to gear towards here, because my major I was like kind of into but I didn't really want to do athletic training. I just knew there's a lot of travel, um, you don't really get to like, sit at home, have a family. Yeah, I was like I'm gonna gear my love towards this and just see what happens, and that's so one thing I've said.
Speaker 1:I've led to that? What made you want to even pursue athletic training in the beginning? Like, were you big sports background?
Speaker 2:like from the very get-go, like, tell us about that never like being most athletic, but always loved the sports, like sports coaching, something I want. I know I want to get somewhere involved in sports because I first went for engineering and I was like this, ain't it like I do not, the math is not my thing engineering sounds great and I'm sure people who are engineers can speak volumes about it, but I just didn't find a love for it.
Speaker 2:So I knew something with some type of sport is what I wanted to get into. And I knew maybe getting athletes back out there, making sure they were good, you know, rehab, all that stuff kind of interest me, um, and I love anatomy, so that was like a big thing, um, and that was kind of the route that I ended up taking after sophomore years when I switched over to that what sports did you grow up playing like?
Speaker 1:what was your go-to?
Speaker 2:uh, so I grew up playing baseball, soccer and basketball. That was like my three main sports I played, and then, when I got to high school is when I was like, all right, I'm just focused on basketball, that's the only thing I played.
Speaker 1:That's well, like if you had to pick and and what? Do they call it an idol, something like that, not an idol, an avatar. Who who's your basketball avatar? I had cam burke on here. I forget who. He said that his game was like, but tell us who's your game like oh my game like no I was.
Speaker 2:I was much bigger back then. I weighed almost like 240 230 when I played basketball when I first like got let's go. So I'd say anyone who was like a center of power for what I loved. I loved watching kevin garnett that was like the dude that I watched him and Allen Iverson but I was not like an Allen Iverson. So Garnett um Bruiser, I like it, it's on, probably him. He was just fun to grow up kind of idolizing.
Speaker 1:Shout out to KG Love it. Were you a competitive person back then and do you consider yourself one now? Not like how good you are, Like do you have the competitive spirit inside you?
Speaker 2:I was not then I actually hated fitness. I hate. I was the kid that, like when they like touched the line and back I was like how can I not touch the line and get back over here?
Speaker 1:Everything but touch the line.
Speaker 2:Yeah, if you told like I, even my uh parents have ran into my uh basketball coach from high school and told them about like I mean, he found out recently it was like maybe two years after opening gym. He's like frank owns a gym. Like are you, are you serious? Like are we talking about the same person? So, uh, high school was not that kind of person I actually despised working out, um, and it wasn't until like senior, when I was, I lost some of the weight and I was like all right, you know, like I built up my self-confidence a little bit. I was like this is kind of neat. And then when I got into college and I played intramural basketball and played like uh tournaments and stuff like that, that's when like flag football and stuff, that's when I was like all right, I kind of see my competitiveness coming out and I gotta tail it back a little bit. I'm just in college, I'm not none doing, none crazy, you know now you need those outlets for it, though.
Speaker 1:Right like you gotta have some some space where you get it out. You know, like, okay, this is, I'm putting it all on the line right now. Not like it all on the line, but you know low level stakes of that version dude. I'm sure my coaches are going to be saying the same thing about me. Like I'm like three months away from opening the gym. Man, I never worked out when I was young.
Speaker 1:I have this like super vivid memory of like one of the last weeks of middle school football. Like me and another outer shape athlete you know the dudes that can play the sports but we're super overweight Like the coach walking up to us as we were supposed to be running like some half mile like warm up run. Walking up to us from across the field and being like bro, if you can't finish this in this amount of time, you're not gonna be playing in high school, you know, but I still didn't really test you in high school, your fitness level and stuff like that back then. That was over 10 years ago, you know yeah, I'm not saying both there's.
Speaker 2:Uh, it's kind of alarming when you think back. Like what if I like took it a little bit more seriously, you know right it's crazy.
Speaker 1:I do look at some of the lives of like like the people that were like crushing the pacer. You know that like just had it in them, that like they want to test themselves at like 15 and 16. Like, if I'd had that like mentality back then, I wonder like, oh, where would I be right now? You know, just like you said, I developed that a little bit later. But yeah, the kids that had that at 15 and 16, it's like, damn, how the fuck did you develop that as an adolescent? I know how young mentally I was at that time period. So like, how are you so developed? It's crazy.
Speaker 2:I think it comes down to just parenting. Like my parents like wanted to get me in sports, but they were like more like, hey, just do it for fun and stay active. It was never like hey. Like hey, do you have fun? You have fun playing. Okay, we'll come to your high school games and watch you play. It looks like you enjoy it. But it's never like hey, do you want to get better, let's put you in training, let's do that. You know, I think if parents do that for I think the kids that you see that their parents were like hey, do you love this? Yeah, do you want to be really good at it? Do you want to get a scholarship? Like you have all those conversations down the road and I think that if they don't want to do it, you don't push them, you know. But if they do and you're like, hey, I'm going to give you all the opportunity to do that. That's when you see those kids be like why is that kid so athletic? We're the same age, you know.
Speaker 2:Like how is that edge and it's just. I think that's what it comes down to, and obviously a little bit of genetics helps out too.
Speaker 1:Oh, it does, but I'm a big believer in it. Like you are, your habits, you know, like, so all the things that you routinely do, that's just going to become who you are, you know, as a byproduct of doing them so much. So let's talk about the early days of CrossFit. Right, like, tell me, what is your first thing about the CrossFit Open? Like an online competition. People all at their own gyms doing this workout. It's supposed to tell us. Like the fittest on earth.
Speaker 2:So my first time it opens. When I went back to college for senior year and I the gym at Mountaineer CrossFit then, um, there were just so many competitors. There's the owner there, tom Soon, was a four-time or five-time regional athlete. They put teams and regionals there. There was another two uh members there that were about my age, maybe a little bit younger in, sonny and Lex, and they both were uh regional athletes as well. So it was like it was just a competitive atmosphere there and I'm just like I don't know, I'm just trying to get my feet wet, I don't know what I'm doing. I just learned to muscle up, like stuff like that was happening, that's real. But when I did the Open I was like, okay, like this is what I love to do, like it's just fun.
Speaker 1:So you think you did the open 20.
Speaker 2:I pretty sure it's 2013 because that was when I graduated that year. So 2013, um yeah, I I could tell you almost exactly every workout I did and like almost to the t what score I got, just because that's how much I loved it that year, I feel it.
Speaker 1:I feel you, I was that exact same kind of dude. Like, the first year that I was there for the Open was 16, the year that they had the light power snatch and bar muscle-up. I just stared at the bar, not getting any bar muscle-ups for six minutes, six and a half minutes, however long that was. That is one of the moments where I became competitive. I was like, oh, I want to get, I want to. I don't want to feel that anymore. You know, I want to be able to do the challenges that they put in front of you, you know. So since then, like, tell me how you felt about the open, like as the online competition, like, did you like doing it? Did you think it was dumb? Did you think that it would develop into like what it is now, where, like it's huge, you know.
Speaker 2:No, I loved it and I think it's the reason why at our gym we make Friday night lights like such a big thing. Um, I try to make it one of the biggest like events, I guess, cause it's more than one day um of the year and I always get good feedback. I'm like, wow, it was a lot of fun. You even get people like we have a sweat program too, which is like our hit class and you'll see members from there come in and do the friday nights and like on the ground after work. I'm like I'm so glad you guys forced me to sign up and do this, so it's always been a pretty cool I love that feeling, I love that moment you know, um, it's always been a pretty cool atmosphere.
Speaker 2:Or even when people pr something or do to get a pull-up when they never got a pull-up before. Those are some of the, I think, some of the moments that crossfit affiliates like live for because everyone gets behind that person pushing them and stuff like that. Or even if someone gets to the next level in your affiliate, it's always cool because, like you saw them do all the hard work, um, I think the openness, I I would be sad if everyone away. I think it's such a cool, um, unique thing that no other gym can say they're a part of you know nothing, crossfit yeah.
Speaker 1:I think it's so cool because, like people, I think that they underestimate like having one yearly thing that ties so many people together Like most just brands don't have that Like it makes you a part of something where you can test yourself, like in a safe environment, that's like huge. You know that's almost worth the CrossFit licensing just there that you're going to have that buy in once a year. Like no matter what you have going on in your business, you're always going to have this coming up, always going to be able to bring your members around some kind of tentpole. You know that's always really cool. Have you heard this rumor that semi-finals might go online? I did.
Speaker 2:I watched the what is training think tank podcast. I was listening to that when I did some zone two, and then I was listening to the teaser that froning was putting out yesterday or two days ago. Um, I'm gonna be a master's athlete this year for the first year, 35 division so I mean, you probably got that coming up anyway yeah, they've been doing online until they get to the games anyway.
Speaker 2:Not that I'm thinking I'm gonna go to games, but I'm saying like they're just used to it. So it'd be. I think it'd be weird to not have a semifinals, because I think that's something that, like, even me and my wife have always been like. That'd be really cool to go watch and see.
Speaker 2:Um, I used to go their regionals up in um. I think it was new haven when they had it in albany, used to go there all the time and maybe they'd bring back like a little bit of sanctionals, like water pools. It gets involved in granite games. I think I'd be okay with that, just because live competition there's nothing like it. I think it's just the energy. I mean, it's the reason why me and some of the guys always try to get the water blues every year, because it's like, yeah, the workouts are fun, but the energy and like that live atmosphere is always like top notch.
Speaker 1:So I think it's a festival right under the lights crazy yeah, athletes will miss that, I think so.
Speaker 2:I hope that doesn't go away. But if they do have a plan I, they usually get it right. I feel like in the most part, even every change they've made, it's always been a little bit better, a little bit better. Or if they did do something bad, they made it better, you know. So they've learned.
Speaker 1:Um, I don't know under 20 years man, it's still a lot of development to go and I think people will underestimate that as well.
Speaker 2:You know like how many leadership change that they had in the past like five years. It's things. Always. People have their own opinions and own like vision. I guess, um think about the gyms you've been a part of over the years. Everyone has a different vision, um, so I don't know. I'd be, I'd be, I'm interested to see what they do. I hope it doesn't go completely online for semifinals. I think I hope it's like a chance, like we're all, but then we're also going to be last chance qualifier.
Speaker 1:I don't know, I was going to say that'd be good, that would be good to do online, cause it's. It's an odd thing to have to plan for an in-person last chance qualifier, right, yeah, you know. So, yeah, that would be a good way to go about that. Speaking of the in-person competition, what's the first one you ever remember going to?
Speaker 2:So there's I can't remember which one came first. It was either CrossFit Chooseberry, which is CFS now in Chooseberry, new Jersey. They moved to Oceanport. Now, that might have been my first individual one. And then I don't know if you remember the competition. It was something in the Meadowlands, it was in MetLife Stadium. Oh, yeah, yeah, the old school. Yeah, yeah, team one, um, that was running through the stands. I was like I don't even know where I'm going. Um, well, because you, that's when, that's like the another time I got to see the community because there's like army veterans working out with no legs, like they had the prosthetic legs. They had, um, so many different divisions. That was pretty cool, but I'm pretty sure my first Indy comp was at CrossFit Shrewsbury.
Speaker 1:Damn. So you did an Indy Like how did that feel? You know, like you used to play basketball and be on a team. Now you're an individual, like what was going through your head.
Speaker 2:I was like, oh man, I'm going to hurt. Every single workout is going to hurt. I usually can lean on someone help me out, like, hey, I'm tired, I need a sub, come get me. I can't do that here. So it was. It was like more of like a test. My coach back in Mountie was like, hey, like you should do it, have some fun. You know like see where you stand against some guys that have been doing it for a little bit and I still have the. I have a picture on my phone of like the leaderboard that they took like a printout and it was like 32 guys in the individual division rx, and I was like 7 or 13. I was like first one, I got seven. I'm bad, you know. So, yeah, all right, I love this stuff. Let's get fitter, let's get stronger, let's keep moving, that's dope.
Speaker 1:So at that point, right, and how long, how far into your crossfit journey did you open the gym and even start thinking about opening the gym I started 20, beginning of 2013,.
Speaker 2:I would say Right, I opened Powerpack in 2015 of July, so about two years later.
Speaker 1:I would say that's dope and like what made you even start that process?
Speaker 2:The owner of Mountaineer kind of like nudged me. He was like I think you should try it out. And I was like I don't know. And I was like I do want to open an affiliate. I just I'm a college kid, I'm broke, I have no money. And he was like, hey, this is a list of the equipment you should get. This is what you should do to like go to the bank and blah, blah, blah, getting a degree, you're going. I was like, all right, fine, went back and I was like I I'm gonna nudge him until he tells me yes, and I kept doing it, kept doing it and finally he was like, fine, and I remember he wasn't happy about it. But then two weeks later he texts me. He goes hey, I found a building that we should check out. Maybe let's go. He's gonna. Let's go, he's going to go pop.
Speaker 1:That's funny.
Speaker 2:We went there and then, literally like a week later, we signed the lease of the place. It was so cool.
Speaker 1:Damn dude, that's awesome. Did you have anyone in your family that, like ever, owned a business or anything like that? Or was it just like the owner of the previous gym that was giving you the small business advice?
Speaker 2:No, that was just a gym owner. And then I literally like taught myself on the fly, cause my dad is a pretty high up uh elevator supervisor. He was an elevator mechanic. My mom went like from different types of jobs. She was like a hairdresser and then worked at UPS and then she was a substitute teacher for most of her life. Um, so, yeah, I had like no, like who do I go to the help? So it was really just that uh guy thomas and uh maoneer. I was like hey, I need to just pick your brain. Like what do you do? Like every time something happened at the gym I was like what do I do here? What about? Right, and he would check in too. So it's pretty cool, like he didn't have to do that. But uh just shows how cool the cross community is and like people look out for each other yeah, man, and like I'm going through the same experiences right now.
Speaker 1:You know, like people that you haven't talked to in years, start coming back and and offer you advice and be genuine about it.
Speaker 2:That's like the the best part to me tell me about the first year and you know we all want to see it like if you're in gonna run a town. We want to make sure that town's just as fit as you want it to be, you know for sure, tell me about, like the process to opening up um.
Speaker 1:Tell me about bringing members in. Tell me about all that stuff.
Speaker 2:I'm not going to lie to you, my first year absolutely sucked. Not the actual opening the gym, it was getting to that point. So it was just. It was a building that was hit by Sandy, so they were redoing it and they were doing like complete, like gutted. We did everything. They split the actual building up to three units at the time, redid everything. They split the actual building up to three units at the time. It just took time.
Speaker 2:The town that we're in is so particular on zoning. It was like go from a retail zone to a light industrial zone for a gym, just getting the appointment to go to the court date or whatever it is in the town meeting and getting it approved and literally like we're there for five minutes and it was approved, but we had to wait six months to get to that date. So I signed the lease in October of 2014. And it just was supposed to be January 1st 2015. It got pushed back, got pushed back all the way to July, right. So come March, my dad's like hey, you got to do something for money. Like we can't just like shell out money, right. And like you just pay for stuff you don't have any more. You're at zero. I was like, yeah, you're right.
Speaker 2:So what I did was I ended up doing free workouts in the parking lot. I asked the landlord if he would let me and he got he's. I have to say I have a pretty cool landlord. He got a uh, storing, storing storage container to put all the equipment that I got that was supposed to come on January 1st and be ready. It was just I was able to put it in there, um, and I would drag it all out, drag the mats, drag the rowers, drag everything out, and then we'd do a workout and then we'd put it back in there. And then Tuesdays, isn't it ended up being three times a week. So no-transcript up to. And then the first year we went from 22 members day one all the way to like 78, 85 end of year one, which I was like I think we got something here. You know, know, I think I think it's actually yeah.
Speaker 1:That's sick, dude. I know about that feeling man. I'm waiting for my electrician to get back to me now with the plans to submit so I could finally move forward with like start to bring everything in there. You know, you feel like you're stuck in like this middle ground.
Speaker 2:You're like you feel like you're going to be annoying if you text them, but at the same time you're like hey, start like this new chapter and and open a book. That's. I think that's the hardest part about it. Everyone says like the hardest part about owning a gym is like the day-to-day stuff. And yeah, it gets tedious sometimes and it's tough, but I think waiting for you just to start it is the toughest part.
Speaker 1:Right Cause, if you know what you're, the work that you could go work. Once you're able to work, like when you can't work, that's when you feel the most limited right, and that's when I get stressed, when I'm limited more than anything else. You know, I agree with that. So tell me about like the present now dude, like what makes you start a competition in the first place?
Speaker 2:uh. So we started after year one of power pack. I was like I love win competitions, I want to host one. We ended up up hosting one. It was our first year. We got 70 people, 70 teams signed up, which was like damn cool and like these people don't know me, like why are they signed up? And it was just because I was on Conquest and I guess they saw it and they wanted to do it. And then every year we did it up until COVID, and then we stopped for two years because one we expanded and then COVID actually happened.
Speaker 2:So COVID happened, then we expanded, um, so I was like waiting just to get like the gym together and then we we brought down by the bay back, um, just one time. We used to do two times a year. We did it one time a year on 2022, bringing it back, and then 2023, it grew and then 2024, we had our biggest one ever with 118 signed up. So, year after year, just trying to think about better workouts, think about better ways to improve the experience and like have people have fun and kind of keep it like a local comp but make it into feeling like it's a two-day big comp people go yeah, like my biggest thing is that, yeah, I want to do for the community.
Speaker 2:It's fun, but people train like I don't know. I'm sure you have people that you've seen, athletes wise that train like two, three, four hours a day and they're they never. They never made the games, but they win a lot of local comps and it's like I want to be able to pay those people like, pay them off, be like, hey, your hard work is seen and maybe you can't go there, but you always got a place here and it'd be fun. Your championship, yeah, why not?
Speaker 1:I love that. So tell me about, like I guess. First tell me what were the divisions this year. Right, you were two days, 2024, biggest year. Did you tell me the divisions?
Speaker 2:uh, so I'm pretty sure last year was our first two day. No, 2023 was um. So it was uh, elite, co-ed, rx, co-ed male and female. So we have three different divisions there. Scaled, had the same ones, so co-ed, rx, co-ed male and female. So we have three different divisions there. Scaled, had the same ones, so co-ed, and then male, female, and then we had a master's um 35 to 44, same sex, and then same 45 plus damn what did it start off originally, as what were the divisions the first year?
Speaker 2:arts and scale year, one individual or co-ed? Uh, the first year was co-ed. Um, actually no, it was same sex, and then, like I said, we used to do two, and then the spring one used to be, uh, co-ed.
Speaker 1:It was called battle of the bays b-a-e-s, and so just the b-a-y yeah keep it on the brand a little bit, kept the same, um.
Speaker 2:And then when I put out a poll like, hey, what do people want to see as a two-day comp? I see a lot of people do same-sex comps. We want to be a little bit different. What about a co-ed comp? And people all vote for that? So we ended up doing that. And then I asked to add what year was that? That was two years ago, okay. And then we asked to add like a master division. I was like, all right, if I'm adding a master division, I want you guys to show out, because every time we had a master and there's like one female team and you're just gonna work out for fun and you get the prize.
Speaker 1:Like it's not fun, like you want to compete, um, and then this year they showed out too, so it's pretty cool down to gavin young's out there, man, because I've just said I had a whole bunch of polls last week about crossfit competitions and I just said, masters, you hardly ever sign up for local comms. They always, they always talk about it. Right, they every time like I do one afterwards in the comments and my dms they're like oh man, awesome, I'm gonna sign up next year. Like add the masters division. Bro, I've done it all. I've done 40 to 50. I've done just 50 plus. I've done the ages added up. I've done it all, bro. They never signed up fun too.
Speaker 2:The age added up ones.
Speaker 1:Those are pretty cool that's what I'm saying, man. I did it, I think. Oh, this year's brawl had an all right one. They had an all right, uh, masters division with the ages added up, so this year was pretty good. I will give you guys that I think that had like seven, eight teams in and stuff, but even other competitions that I go to, just just like you said, they don't sign up, bro, and y'all are fit.
Speaker 2:We had 12 teams in the Masters 35 plus for the male, I think, another four or five in the female and then 45, they both had three. So it's got to be one of two things. One it's either the program they're like I don't like this program, I can't do this stuff or two it's they get injured. It's they get injured. You know, when we get older, you know, I've seen it myself that more injuries pop up, nagging injuries, and you end up not being able to compete. So it's got to be one of those two things that end up shying them away. But this past year they all they asked for the Masters Division and they it was the second biggest division, so it was cool.
Speaker 1:That's good, that's good, you know. You know what I think it is too A lot of them do RX. Shout out to Janet and Mark and them from Prime. They're always doing RX divisions, even when there is a Masters Jenny Butler out there, always doing RX divisions. So shout out to you guys. So we talked about the divisions and stuff. Tell me how do you program it. Just tell me about this year. How do you?
Speaker 2:go about programming Upcoming year or last year, the year that just passed 24 so, literally the day after, because my mind is still in like competition mode, I sit down, I take like I don't. My wife is like going to bed. I'm like, all right, I'm gonna take a good 25 minutes before I go to bed and I'm just gonna program next year, like in my head, what I'd love to see, and then throughout that year, we test it, we change things. I try to make sure the time caps are good, um, the movements are good. Maybe they might be too hard for rx, maybe scale down a little bit, stuff like that. Um. So I did the same thing after 2023, even though we had that crazy storm and all that stuff, and I told my wife I was like I don't know if I want to do another one. That was crazy. And she was like you know what, take some time, got to bed sleep on that started programming and literally I had it all wrote out.
Speaker 2:Send it to one of my buddies I was like what do you think these workouts? And he's like love them.
Speaker 1:I was like all right, cool, these are gonna be the 25 workouts book it ready to go, ready to go when you're sitting down, like, does it change from year to year or is there something that you're like? Like you like to program, like you have a programming style, or is it just kind of like what you're thinking?
Speaker 2:uh, so I try to do one of my buddies uh, I don't know if you know sean smith, he has done battle by the bay, I mean, I think almost every year, and he said he loves doing it because I program the workouts so evenly, like there's so many good different tests, so it's not just like all barbell and then you're like, okay, well, someone who's very good at barbell is obviously going to win this. I have a very they're down. Yeah, I have a crossfit test, I have like stuff like that. Um, but then I try to keep it as team oriented as possible, because a lot of these co-ed teams or team of three teams, uh, competitions are like you do work, you rest now, you do work, you rest. No, I want both people working. Hate that.
Speaker 1:Hey, what I do, or no, no, no, no, hate what you're talking about. No, what you do is the way it's supposed to be.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's like it's a team workout, right, people should be working out together. So like, if there's a machine, no, we got two machines, two people working on the machine. So it's like I don't know, I try to do it. So it's like you're gonna get a really good test and you're gonna test your fitness, but at the same time there's no like taking a load off, like some workouts might be like that, where it's work, rest, but not every single one.
Speaker 2:And another thing is that I've learned from my mistakes in the past that people want to see a race. So I'm making a time cap, very a amrap. If it's an amrap, it's like max cows, something like that, like I did one last year and people two years ago and people liked it. But I realized that, like man, amraps are, so that, like local comp vibe, I want to make it that local comp vibe, but on top of the actual test and a race. So I think those are where my vision goes for programming is is it going to be team oriented? Is it going to be fun for a spectator to watch it? Because people like going to see people race each other, um, and then is the movements like hard enough for the division and is it going to be like the skill gap is too high or too low?
Speaker 1:those are like where my eyes go to when I program yeah, you said you had an elite division, or was it rx elite and skilled? What separates elite from r RX at your competition? Like if you had to put some kind of overall thing on it or if you have the movements exactly?
Speaker 2:Like you ever do an RX comp, and then they have, like chest to bar, pull-ups instead of muscle-ups.
Speaker 2:Yeah, like hey a lot of people could do muscle-ups, you know. So I would say, like Elite, maybe Ring, you know Ring is a little bit higher than bar and then for RX we'll do bar muscle ups. I hate the, the, the whole big drop off that you have in the skill gap. So I try to keep as close as to elite but maybe the weights will be higher. So, like rx is using a 50 pound dumbbell, rx, uh, rx plus elite is using a 70 pound dumbbell, stuff like that, um, maybe rx is doing double unders but at least doing crossover double. Like that's when the skill, like there's a bigger skill gap there than just a small.
Speaker 2:Like, yeah, I know so many rx athletes do rs comps and like man, I wish I had muscle ups because I train those, I do those. I have. I could. I have to do elite division just to even see that movement. But I don't have a 305 pound clean and I was like I. So I kind of try to mesh those two a little bit, but the weights are going to always going to be a.
Speaker 1:Is there any movements or things you don't think should be seen at local comps or that you hate what you see at local comps? That's a good question.
Speaker 2:Random question Sing-a-landers. No, I'm just kidding. No, I think it just depends. This year is the first year we're going to bring Compete Force in for the Worms and stuff. That's kind of cool. Um, I don't.
Speaker 2:I don't think I've ever done a little con where I'm like, oh, this is a dumb movement, maybe like one athlete has to hang from the bar when someone else is doing stuff. Like that kind of stuff is just like all right, it's like gimmicky almost in a way. Yeah, I don't like it if it's done right. Yeah, if it's done right. Um, if all three people are working, I'm cool with that.
Speaker 2:No, I don't think there's any movements that I really don't like. I think it's more just throughout the whole day. Like if it's a local comp and it's like hinging motion, hinging motion, hinging motion, then I'm just like I'm 35. My back's going to blow out. Or if it's like leg dominant I want to make sure that people walk away and it's like, yeah, my legs are sore, but so are my shoulders. You know, like it shouldn't just be one dominant squatting movement or hinging movement. It should be very universally like thought about that way. That's the only thing that bothers me. I don't think there's any movements, that I walk out of comfort. I was like, well, I was dumb, you know.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I gave the point. I hate to see cleans anywhere because it's almost no, except for if it's a heavy movement like one rep max or complex.
Speaker 2:That's good, but anytime people are cycling cleans, it's almost always no reps. Man, there could be so many that you could like heavy. Uh, the light front squats when people don't even push their hips to.
Speaker 1:I'm just like oh yeah, it's terrible. And rowing, because you always see terrible rowing whenever you go out to these competitions. The rowing form is terrible.
Speaker 2:Teach your athletes better mechanics at the affiliates, guys I'll take garbage rowing form over like awful, like elbows, bent front squats and like that's bad. I think they'll get hurt more in the front squats in the row, but I do understand what you're saying, it's for sure. Oh, we wrote so much. We gotta, we gotta, fix that well I know I'm like damn.
Speaker 1:No coach ever told you to do that just a little bit better. That's crazy.
Speaker 2:That's probably one of the things that cooks the most is rowing.
Speaker 1:I'm just like, hey, you're getting lazy Chest up Come on, tell me your favorite workout from this year, from 2024.
Speaker 2:We didn't even get to do it. That's the set, damn. We had to change day two, but I'm bringing it back for 2025. So that's a little hint if people watching this that are doing Battle Buddy today. But I'm going to put a little different twist on. So it was supposed to be burpees and toes to the bar into. It was a two-part workout, two different scores, and then people had to do shoulder overhead with the barbell for a score in the middle and then back changing the workout, but same type of amount of reps with toes to the bar and toes the bar and burpees over the bar.
Speaker 2:Um, so this year we're going to do it again. We're going to change the time cap a little bit, but instead of one person worked with the shoulder overhead, we're going to do max shoulder overhead with the uh, the worm instead. So, yeah, change it up a little bit, a little bit more like kind of keep the same Cause. A lot of people have said we didn't get to do that workout. Um, yeah, a little bit of 2025 twist on it like two-person worm shoulder overhead.
Speaker 1:Is that what you mean?
Speaker 2:yeah, so the workout started 21. I'll just do the lead version. It's 21, 15, 9 um toes of our synchro toes, the bar, and then synchro burpees over the bar and then there was a tap of that and then rest one minute and then you went into the uh shoulder overhead we're gonna do with the worm. And then there was a time cap to that and then rest one minute and then you went into the uh shoulder a little bit ahead we're gonna do with the worm, and then there was a time cap to that, and then rest one minute and go right into 45 and 45 oh yeah, oh like not 21, 15, 9, 45 and 45 45 toes the bar, and then 45 burpees and then, like the divisions, the rep scale that's gonna hurt so bad.
Speaker 1:Yeah a lot of bad.
Speaker 2:What is wrong with you, yeah?
Speaker 1:no, that's great. I love that that's going to hurt so bad, oh man.
Speaker 2:First workout of day two. But people wanted to see the cause. The clean ladder never got the finish. So we changed the clean ladder and it I didn't get it, Cause the, the energy and all the PRS and just like the video we got of it was like all the energy and all the prs and just like the video we got of. It was like all right, I'd listen to athletes. It was sick. Yeah, I was like all right, I we made the right decision.
Speaker 1:Pat, pat every athlete pat yourself on the back that wanted that, because you guys were right yeah, for sure, all that content from that was some of the most sick stuff from the year. Yeah, um, barring the freaking tornado that you can't, you, you, you like, can't do anything about, like, tell us one thing. You're like I kind of wish I would have changed this or I could do this a little bit.
Speaker 2:Uh, better, like some sort of feedback you walked away from from this year I wish I was able to get uh, I just bought a like a big fan, like a big, like six foot fans. If I could have had two of those by the time we had battle of the bay, I think athletes on the floor would have been cooler and then, as soon as they got off the floor, they could have the ice and everything like that and water and then also be in front of the fan, cool down a little faster. I think the hardest part was to get athletes to cool down like, yeah, but it's still like dry hot, you know that muggy hot, um. So the only way to get in school was like people, like we're just getting bags of ice and like throwing it on people, yeah, um. So if I could have those fans, it's just like they made such a big difference at the end of the summer here, because I mean, look at today I don't know where you are, but 75 degrees out here it's ridiculous.
Speaker 2:It's ridiculous the weather outside help out big time, even during the classes, so I knew they would have helped out. So my goal is to get another one of those just for battle by the band.
Speaker 1:It's nuts dude. I walked outside this morning and it was like gray and I was like, oh, this is exactly what it should look like on election day, you know right now. Oh, this does extend, that's cool. So we talked about a little bit before man and there's been a dude who went and won the bastards games and also did a bunch of local competitions and then he popped hot for some peds. Man, did you? We don't have to go too deep into this. When did you feel that kind of vibe at battle by the bay?
Speaker 2:so I didn't know him before he signed up for battle by bay. I I heard rumblings about him doing local cops and stuff and people that I know that did him. But like this guy is just an absolute beast. And then we had a week left and he signed up. So I was like trying to get stuff together and make sure. So I was like kind of distracted by the cop setup then just like honing in on him.
Speaker 2:But after the cop and I was like this guy's winning every single workout and one of my buddies who was in the arcs division former regional athlete, retired but did it with his uh, wife was like we drug testing at the end. I wish I could afford that, why. And he was like I just I'm just saying like god first, I mean I've never seen something more hot than anything you know. Like. So I was like okay, cool. And then he went to the games and won almost every workout. The games beat people in the below him by like four minutes who are games at now masters. And I was just like man, if he doesn't get popped I'd be, I I bet my whole mortgage on it. Like he has to like it, just it just right.
Speaker 2:And then it happened and I was like damn, that message was like we got first place, we got to. Like people said they moved up the leaderboard. And I was like damn, that message was like we got first place, we got to. Like people said they moved up the leaderboard. And I was like hell yeah. And my buddy made that picture and I was like can I post this? He's like I don't know, people might not like you posting that and we posted it and I was like we're getting nothing but praise, people think it's awesome and he goes yeah a very small population of people might not like that small population of people might not have liked that.
Speaker 2:Everyone else loved it, yeah, and he was like I'm so glad I told you to post that I was like why you told me not to right.
Speaker 1:Right, dude, let me just say that trident is sick too. Like I said before, that's an awesome trophy.
Speaker 2:It is one of the coolest things about. I'd say, like me and my wife have gone back forth over the years and then now that it's blown up, she's like oh, it's kind of cool that you have the trident as the dude. It's, that's sick. It is like the the symbol of like the competition, like people want to put that on their gym wall you know where? Their their home gym that's sick dude.
Speaker 1:So did you after that, right like hillar's vids, come out cross the game without their announcement? Did you ever talk to him personally? Yeah, no, no, no. Uh, adele, uh, I reached out to him, but Taylor, yeah, no, no, no.
Speaker 2:Adele, I reached out to him but they blocked me so I didn't get to reach out to him. Then I reached out to Jim asking like hey, if the Trident's on the wall, is there any way we can get that back so we can give it to the second place winners, who kind of deserve it? No answer, and then the whole picture of him with the trident, like the whatever, and I sent him Halloween shit. I was like, so I guess that's a no.
Speaker 2:Because you read my note. So what I did is I'm ordering a new one and I'm going to send it to the second place team, just so they have it. Damn, what a gracious dude man. That's awesome, I mean, they deserve it. So I'm going to give it to them.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's so cool, man forget this dude.
Speaker 2:I can't believe they never answered. He blocked me too, like, yeah, if anyone commented on hillary's post, he, I think, black, because a bunch of my buddies got blocked too yeah, I was waiting to see like some some uh something come about this.
Speaker 1:But like the day after his wife started following the hungry dog page and then I went to his page after and I saw that he blocked me and I sent her follow request back. Cause, bitch, you follow me and your private, so I'll follow you back. See like what you got going on behind this private wall and she declined it and I'm like I don't got nothing to do with this shit. Why are you blocking me and stuff? Why are you following me just to block me?
Speaker 2:but it's nuts, man, it had to have been on the hilo post, but it's. He was pretty cool to post that and I mean we got a ton of people messaging saying thank you so much. Your comp is now on my radar because of this. And I was like this I didn't he's in, I just did it because I thought it was fun and I thought it was second place deserves to be first place now.
Speaker 2:So it's more for that. But also just thought it was funny because so many people that did that comp talked about it with me and like I was like, all right, well, this is a followup. So now I got to follow up on that Right. But I got a lot of messages being like hey, I can't wait, your comp is on my radar now I want to do it. Of me putting a big X over Simmons, it was hilarious.
Speaker 1:I can't lie, I thought I was cracking up.
Speaker 2:The fourth place team in RX messaged me and goes hey, I know we weren't on the podium, but if I send you a picture, will you post us saying I got you and I just put like a little box. It just ended up being you have to poke fun at some of those things and yeah, it's not happy about the fun being poked at. But I mean you want to put your yeah? I mean, from what I heard, story-wise, he was very like um, bragging about everything he did, um, so I just hey, I'm gonna come right back at you with some, you know, yeah dude make consequences.
Speaker 1:Great again. That's what I gotta say out there, dude, like you do some shit, stuff comes along with it, man. That's just how it is yeah it's funny bro.
Speaker 2:Hey, I was into you every day, and then something came out about me. You ain't gonna hold that over my head, of course. That just that's how it is. But what now? Friends are not friends. That's exactly what you're gonna do, just because either, if you're my friend, you're gonna be like oh, what's up?
Speaker 1:look what I got now and then if you aren't right, man, you are such an ass to me.
Speaker 2:I'm coming back at you. And he played back into it.
Speaker 1:He posted that picture knowing what was going on online. So like, come on now, bro, like it'd be one thing if the story that I told about his wife and him blocking me was wasn't true. So, like I, like we knew that he didn't see it or we could think that he didn't see it, but you clearly have seen all this stuff. You know and, like everyone's, got some inside sources to hear about what you're probably doing over there. You know allegedly so, like you're, you're an active participant in it. Man, just like, go serve your four years, come back outside hopefully you're clean by then and then get back to it. Like, on that note, did you, do you hold anything against like ricky gerard or people that pop before, or do you think they should be able to come back and and have a career again?
Speaker 2:no, I think there should be the ban. I think the four-year ban is. I mean, if this is going to be your life, that's four years. If you're not making money like that's right, pretty bad. You know you have to go find work elsewhere, um, unless you own a gym or something like that. Uh. So I think four years is fine. I think it's. It depends on when they come back. I think there should be a heavier testing. It's not four years. See you later. We won't talk to you again. I think it's four years. You also have to be on this protocol where it tests you every single month until the four years. You have to be clean every month, or it just prolongs it. I think that's how it should be. Probation that'd be smart, yeah yeah, that handle it.
Speaker 2:Um, but I know they don't. That's just that costs so much more money than it needs to be. Um, yeah, but yeah, I think I think four years is enough. I think if it was a year it wouldn't be. People would be like, yeah, I'm gonna, I'm gonna do peds tomorrow, you know, yeah, but four years is a long time without work, in my opinion. Think about like four years of you not working like four years waiting for the electrician.
Speaker 1:I'd be pissed.
Speaker 2:Please do the wiring, please, yeah. So I think it's a good enough band. I just think they could follow up on it a little bit more, you know.
Speaker 1:Yeah, for sure. This is so funny man. This dude posted that picture. I can't believe he did that. Like, how long before did he have the uh beside an outfit played out?
Speaker 2:what a sicko so I was talking to someone that I knew, and so when I first messaged the gym, the trainer was on the wall. The next day when I messaged that's when he posted I was like it's not on the wall anymore, obviously I guess the no I was like take care.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's hilarious. Man like devito commented and put me on the case, I'll get it back. That shit was just so funny man.
Speaker 2:Hey, do you have his address? I was like, no, I'm not going to give you his address.
Speaker 1:We're not going that far, dude. I see you guys posted that you have a whole bunch of pre-sales already going down. What's people signed up like? Tell me what are the plans for next year? Like what are you hungry for?
Speaker 2:So I would like to get the same amount of teams. I think that was a perfect amount for, like what we can hold. I just want more vendors, more sponsors, stuff like that, just because I want them to see how cool it is, and I think that would just bring more of the energy towards the athletes that are competing and even the spectators energy towards the um, the athletes that are competing and even the spectators. Uh, but I'm just hoping for a weather-free event, because if we have another storm like that, um, um, this next year I'm 100 getting a venue, gotta be pizza. We can't do it outside. I mean, I love having it outside the gym. I think it's such a unique thing because we have that big out. It's in like a competition floor, um. But yeah, weather is my biggest anxiety driven thing throughout the year. When it comes till june, I'm just like, please, no weather, please, no bad weather.
Speaker 1:Oh man freaking and, uh, new jersey in june. We all know what that's. If you're from this area, you know what that's like. You know, and it was ridiculously hot this summer for like two full months, like straight. When you're talking about that heat wave, I was like, oh damn, I forgot about that. For a second man, the heat wave lasted like another two months, like straight. When you were talking about that heat wave, I was like, oh damn, I forgot about that for a second man.
Speaker 2:The heat wave lasted like another two weeks afterwards, like almost, until I feel like July 4th is when it started to break.
Speaker 1:That's crazy. Do you have any big surprises that you can share now, any small surprises you can share now? People can expect. Give us something.
Speaker 2:So we increased the prize pot by 4k, so from 10k to 14. Um, let's go. Uh, each division is now going to win a little bit more money, so we already shared that. But the big thing is the complete force. Um, the complete force. They're going to be a sponsor, right, and then we're going to have those worms, so I think that's going to be pretty cool throughout the weekend that they're going to have to, they're going to have to be a little bit more familiar with more teamwork than we already bring to them. So I'd say that's the biggest teaser so far this year.
Speaker 1:I love that. And, dude, it's like I've been in those positions before where, like, okay, I have these. I have a three movement workout where both partners are working for two of the movements. How can I make both partners work for this third movement? You know? So, when you said it's going to be both of them going together, I was like, oh, that's going to, it's going to double the pain, like, literally, it's going to be great.
Speaker 2:A little bit less of a time now, but yeah, it's still going to be like that's going to be a good one to watch.
Speaker 1:You know excited for that. Well, on man, I can't wait to get this episode out there and get people even more hyped up for next year's event. Bro, of course I am excited for it. It's going to be a good one. Hell yeah, dogs, we're going to get out of here. Have a good day, peace Alright. That was Frank Delaney. I hope you guys enjoyed the episode. You can follow him at DelaneyAllDay on Instagram. Powerpackfit for the gym's Instagram, powerpackfit for the gym's Instagram and BattleByTheBay underscore for next year's event. If you enjoyed this episode, please consider liking and subscribing to the show on Spotify, apple Podcasts, wherever you're tuning in right now. So stay tuned for all the awesome guests that we have week to week and feel free to follow us at HungryDogBarbell on Instagram.