What is going on, everybody? Welcome to the Clydesdale Media Podcast. My name is Scott Switzer. I'm the Clydesdale. I have with me someone new to the scene, kind of, but not really. Her name is Jenny Hall. You may know her as Dense Updates, but she has popped on the scene giving us updates about all the content going on in the CrossFit space, and we're here to get to know her. So what's going on, Jenny? Hey, good morning. How are you? I'm good. I'm good. So it's funny.
I've been following you since before your Dense Updates. Yes. Dense after forty. Yeah. And you were Dense Mom for a minute too, right? Like Dense Mom something. Maybe. I think I changed, I used to change the name in the profile a couple of times just to try to be funny. One time I think I changed my name to Potster. Just like my profile name because I had posted something and a few athletes weren't happy with me. So I, and then I quickly changed it back. That's mom.
Yeah. Yeah. Um, so, uh, Damien Fink says her stuff has been going, gaining popularity. Well, why do you think we have her on here? Well, I appreciate you having me on. Yeah. And this is your first ever podcast. First ever podcast. We take pride in having people on for the first time. Colton Mertens did his first podcast with us. I love Colton. He's such a good dude. Emma Carey.
So that's something we take pride in is people who dive into not necessarily all the big names in the space, but kind of that next tier and hope that they get to that upper tier. So we're super excited to have you on here. I want to start with... learning a little bit more about you and kind of your origin story. Yeah. So I started doing CrossFit in two thousand and ten. So I've been around for quite a while and kind of the typical story, you know, visit a CrossFit gym.
Some friends from work had brought me to the gym that they go to and Did a workout and was like, oh my God, that was so hard. But then was like finding myself back there the next day and then the next day. And then my week trial was up and I was like, yeah, sign me up. And then just never looked back. Here we are, fourteen years later. That was all the way back in two thousand ten.
So the end of two thousand ten, just before my thirtieth birthday, I was just kind of like looking for something different. I'd already done, you know, like running on the treadmill and narrow stance squats in the rack at Lifetime Fitness kind of thing. And I was just looking for something different. And the guys that I worked with came back from lunch one day and they were all sweaty and gross. And I'm like, where did you guys go?
And they're like, Oh, we went in this warehouse and did this workout. It was like P-Ninety X style. You probably wouldn't like it. I'm like, I'll go. And then, yeah, it was brutal. I still remember that first day we had to do wall balls, like on the outside of this warehouse. They didn't have like a wall ball target or anything indoors. It was outside in the sun. just shooting it up on the side of the warehouse wall. Like no line, just throw it anywhere. It was, it was awful.
But yeah, I loved it. I'm going to trade it. My first workout ever was Murph. Oh geez. Yeah. Yeah. Not, not pretty for a guy. Not the first one. Yeah. I just remember the wall balls. I honestly don't remember anything else that was in it. Cause I just remember like hitting myself in the face with the ball and like not being able to, get it far up there and looking around like, oh my God, these people must think I'm so foolish. But yeah, then everyone cheers you on and you're like, oh, okay.
Yeah. So were you always into fitness? Did you do athletics as a kid? No, I mean, I wasn't an athlete per se. I did dance for a lot of years. When I was nine, my mom, I lived in, I grew up in Northern California and my mom was really into like the country dancing, which doesn't seem like it would be a thing in California. But she would drag me around to all these like family dance things.
And I just started, I learned how to dance and then ended up just getting really competitive with that and did that until pretty much until I graduated high school. My junior year, we won a world championship in Nashville. So that was kind of fun, but it was, I say dancing is just as hard as any other kind of sport. There's a lot of eight hour practices, just madness, practicing every night after school for, you know, almost ten years straight.
Yeah, I know one of my original co-hosts and still with us is Kat, and she studied ballet all the way up through high school, and the hours she did were just as grueling as anything I did. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, I got teased a lot for it in high school, but it was good times because we did two-step, country, West Coast swing. Country was not cool back then. It seemed to be a little bit more popular towards the end of high school. Yeah. But it definitely gave me like a lot of body awareness.
So I think that kind of transferred over when it came to CrossFit. I picked up pull-ups really quickly, double-unders, things like that, butterfly pull-ups, like that kind of stuff like immediately just made sense to me. Whereas some of the other like technical stuff like in the snatch and ring muscle-ups and things like that were a little bit harder. So I went back through your Instagram and like is back, not as far as I could.
And I read a thing where you were diagnosed at one point with something and the doctor wanted you to be less active and to start medication and you chose to take it on with CrossFit. Can you walk us through what happened then? Yeah. So I was probably, let's see, it was before I moved here. So twenty four, twenty five, somewhere around there, I just started feeling like really run down and would get like random, crampy, aching feelings all over my body.
And then, you know, I was like, OK, I should probably get out and run more, do stuff like that. And certain things would kind of counterbalance it. And I would find myself feeling better and then not feeling better. But then closer to my thirties, but right before we moved out here, it, it just seemed to take a massive toll on me. And I contribute a lot of that back then to maybe stress, life stress. I was a single mom and living on my own and things like that.
But yeah, so went to a couple of doctors. We did all the kinds of blood tests, all the things you could think of. And they basically were just like, we think you have lupus. And I was like, what's that? And then you start looking into it and they're like, can't be out in the sunlight. And yeah, You have to be on therapy medications, you know, to combat all those symptoms. And I'm just like, that doesn't like, I knew a girl in high school that had lupus and it didn't, it didn't seem right to me.
And so I wanted to get a second opinion. So I went and saw a couple other doctors and they all kind of came back to the same conclusion. I was like, well, shit. So then I never started my treatment in Arizona where I lived. I waited, I came back out here and, went and saw another doctor. I won't say the name of the clinic, but it's a well-known like rheumatoid arthritis type clinic and they treat lupus as well. And yeah, so they just wanted to start me on therapies and medications.
And I was just like that, let me, let me do some research. So I just went down the rabbit hole of different things and it was like, okay, maybe, maybe this stress and my lifestyle has a little bit to do with it. Maybe I should stop smoking. Maybe I shouldn't go out as often with my friends and have drinks or eat Taco Bell and, you know, things like that. So I slowly kind of started doing my own thing there.
And then when I found CrossFit shortly after, honestly, I started noticing like big changes. And then it was like six months later, I felt like I had zero symptoms. And haven't had any sense. So I was like, all right, doctors. How much do you attribute to the physical exertion of CrossFit and how much to like changing your diet? I honestly think it was a combination of everything. And it's hard to really say because it wasn't like I just.
cut one thing at once I kind of was starting all of it at the same time so it's really hard to say like oh it's because I changed my diet because don't get me wrong like I still would go out with my friends and have drinks every once in a while if I could get a babysitter um and I was still wasn't eating that great it's you know a few years into CrossFit or when people really start like trying the different zone diets and paleo and things like that so at first it was more I was just
trying to do what made me feel better and I would cut little things, but, um, I will say like three weeks after doing CrossFit, I quit smoking cold Turkey. Mike was like, I can't do this anymore. I can't breathe during these workouts. And that was great.
Yeah. that's got to be a big one yeah I had smoked for many years and now I'm just like it's so gross yeah I grew up in a house with two parents who smoked and um when I moved out like just being around it now I can't even handle it it's yeah um uh but So you're a single mom at the time. How hard is it to work a full-time job, be a single mom and find time for you to get fitness in?
Honestly, I mean, it wasn't, it wasn't as hard as I think people would think it would be like, yeah, being a single mom is hard and you got to go to work every day and drive through traffic to get your kids and do all the things. But she would just come along with me and the community was really inviting and welcoming and other people there had kids. And so our kids would kind of just play around outside and it was fun. really more like fun for them.
And then sometimes they could come in and like do little workouts by the side of us. I think maybe had it been a different environment of a gym, because I know some gyms are a little more of a younger crowd or more competitive crowd. And at that particular gym I was at at the time, everybody, you know, there were lots of kids running around. So that made it really easy. And honestly, she was such a great kid. She didn't really put up a fuss.
Like she'd just come and hang out and she'd cheer us on. And then we go home, eat dinner and go to bed. Uh, I've seen pictures of you and your daughter doing handstand hold like competition. Yeah. Is that your oldest daughter? So that is actually, um, my middle. So my oldest just left for college. She, um, goes to Baylor full ride scholarship. So very lucky there. She's a real smart girl. Um, and she used to do CrossFit with me. Um, She'd been around it since she was five.
And then at some point in high school, her academic schedule and all of her extracurriculars kind of got in the way. So it took a backseat, but she's hoping to start back up. And then that's my middle child in the most recent videos. She's been doing gymnastics now for about a year. And so I'm always like, come on, Madison, let's go. Let's see. Can you beat mom? Let's go. And she's getting there. She's going to beat me soon. So it's so cool. Cause like I have a similar story.
If I tried to go to like lifetime with my daughter, it would have never worked. No. Yeah. When you go to CrossFit and, and you're there with five other sets of parents who all brought their kids and then those kids kind of get to know each other and grow up together. Yeah. It actually became a beautiful thing. And my daughter just graduated from college. So like I'm even on another step up, um, which is crazy. Yeah, it is crazy. I love seeing all the kids.
Like our gym is, has grown a lot over the years, but we've always had like a tight, like mom group, we call it. So at one point I wasn't working full time and I was at home taking care of the two littles. And so Our mom class kind of just all of a sudden just blew up. It was ten or twelve of us moms, and all of us brought the kids, and they'd all play. And now all the kids do CrossFit Kids, and they compete with each other.
And we're getting to kind of see the evolution of their fitness along with ours. It's really cool. So you have one going off to college, and you have two others. How old are they? Two more girls. So three girls total. Eight and nine. Oh, nice. Nice. Yeah. So back to back, um, I got remarried, um, had Matson in, um, did that part that did that open pregnant, had her at the end of may or at the beginning of may, I'm sorry.
And then found out when she was five months old that I was pregnant with my youngest. Um, she was kind of a surprise. Um, so had to do the next year's open also pregnant. which was fun. Yeah. And did I see in your Instagram that with one of the kids, your water actually broke while working out? Yes. With the little, with the youngest. Yeah. I, so I actually had to be put on bedrest for a couple of weeks with her.
My blood pressure was getting really high and they attributed it to just having babies so close back to back. Like they say, your uterus doesn't have time to, you know, I didn't get to do all the birth fit things and the things that are out there now that kind of help you with pelvic floor issues and all that sort of stuff. And so they say just having them so close back to back. But anyways, I was on bed rest for a couple of weeks and then they released me and they're like, oh, you're fine.
And I want to say about a week and a half later. Yeah. We're just doing a wall ball workout and about twelve wall balls in. Everyone's like, oh, my God. And they just ran me out to the car, grabbed my kid out of the child care and drove myself to the hospital. And four hours later, there's Lucy. Wow. Yeah. What a testament though, that you're able to work out all the way up, uh, until that point. Yeah. I actually felt really good with, with both of them. Like never really had any kind of issues.
I'd scale where I needed to scale. Um, the first one I did a little bit more running longer throughout that pregnancy, but with the second one, I didn't feel like running as much. So I cut that back really early on. Um, But like after Madison, after my middle child, she, I was back in the gym like a week and a half later and I felt really good. And I think I even did a competition that summer. I recovered pretty quickly from her.
So my next question to you is you join a CrossFit gym, you, you have, you're diagnosed with lupus and, and you figure out a way around traditional medical treatment and you go more, more organic and it works. Right. And so you've got to be, you know, they say CrossFitters love to talk about CrossFit. Like it, it had to change your life so much. Did, could, did you shut up about it ever?
No, I mean, I'm, I was definitely that, that CrossFetter that is telling everybody at work and trying to get everybody to join. And, um, yeah, talking about it with my family and trying to get my family to go telling them how good I felt and, and they could see it. Like the people around you, it doesn't, you don't have to tell them all the time. They can see the differences in your body and your skin and all of the things.
Um, so yeah, I definitely, and I still, even to this day, I mean, I will preach. It's the best thing that ever happened to me. Yeah. Amen to that. Yeah. I totally agree there. And, but the hardest, the hardest people to convince her family. Oh yeah. Yeah. Friends, friends, you can get them to jump on board. Yeah. Family, not so much. So my brother and his wife did CrossFit. They lived down in Houston for a while and they went to, I want to say it was CrossFit Memorial.
And they had an elite athlete there. I think she was a regional athlete at the time. And they did CrossFit there, and then they did CrossFit in Jersey. And now they live just outside Columbus, and they still do it. I have several siblings, but my little brother was the only one that did CrossFit. What state, Columbus? Columbus, Ohio. So where I'm at. Oh, yeah. So he's, well, he's not right outside Columbus. He's in Stowe. Do you know where that is? Yeah. Okay. Yeah, I'm up north. I'm in Polaris.
Polaris. So I go to what was Christy Arum O'Connell's gym. Oh, okay. And then she just sold the gym like three weeks ago. Oh, wow. Yeah. So, but yeah, it's the same vibe still. Yeah. They sold it to two members of the gym. She's doing the programming right now for .com, right? Or was it last week? Yeah. And then I saw something. It was like IBEX training. Is that her personal training platform that she does? Her and her husband, Patrick. Her husband is like an eight-time regional athlete.
A lot of people don't even know that. Yeah. I did not know that. But he created IBEX training, which is just like HWPO. You can buy it.
one track um and it's it can be it can be used for affiliates it can be used for an individual it can be compete but it has different levels um and then yeah it's it's the best programming I've ever done in my life really the most right the most fun for me because I'm not a competitive athlete I'm just gonna have fun and stay fit have you tried them all like have you tried all like like the mayhem and the HWPO.
And I used to go to a different gym who, who went through a couple different, uh, programs. Uh, so they did comp train, they did mayhem. Uh, I've, I've seen HWPO and tried a couple of days, but that's so like intense. And we were, we had a short, a short spurt on HWPO after the twenty, twenty two games. Our gym was on that for a little while.
And then we went back to our traditional programming, which is Marco Coppola's dense protocol, which we've pretty much all been on aside from that time at HWPU. Yeah, what I like about the IBEX is it's a lot of interval training. Yeah. And I seem to respond to that better than like just straight up long. And I say that, but like we have every Thursday was a like long, long workout. Mm-hmm. Forty minutes. Mm-hmm. And I don't know. I just really liked it.
I enjoyed it compared to Mayhem and Comp Train for sure. Yeah. So were you at, did you go to the Rogue Invitational when it was the first year it was there? Uh, first, first three years. Yeah. So the second year was COVID and I was a judge. So I was sex and panchecks judge for that when they did it online. Oh, okay. Yep. Yeah. Uh, so yeah, both in Columbus though. Yeah. We went to that first year in Columbus. That was, that was pretty awesome.
Before they started that, it was just a grass field in front of the country. And they turned it into a stadium, which was really cool. It was really cool. I love Rogue. My old office is only five minutes from them, which was really dangerous. Oh, wow. Yeah. You'd be like, oh, I'm just going to stop over here on my lunch break. Yeah. Corey Leonard says interval training. You say, have you heard of our Lord and Savior? Brandon Luckett. Corey, we have heard. So, yeah.
So you you're in you're in CrossFit now. What was the switch to like make you a fan of the sport? Honestly, I was immediately a fan. So when I started in twenty ten and then and that was at the end of the year and everyone was talking about this online open. So the first year of the online open twenty eleven. At the beginning of the year. And I was like, well, what's that? And so I immediately hit the internet and I came across a video that was put out.
It's Dave Castro, Greg Glassman, Nicole Carroll, Josh Everett, Tony Budding. They're all talking about CrossFit Games. I don't know if you remember that video. Um, but they're talking about the history of the games and they go through being out on, you know, Rancho de Castro and Woodstock of fitness and all that stuff. And after watching that video, I was like, okay, I need to see more.
And so from there, it was like, I would consume any and all content I could find when it came to the CrossFit games. And it's always the big hype. It was so exciting that time of year. And you're watching the leaderboard and you're going to look on YouTube to see if anyone's posted videos and, Yeah, instant fan. It was weird for me because I started CrossFit in two thousand eleven, probably a year after you did. But my gym, they weren't, there were no elite athletes.
There was no like talk of, they didn't even do the open. Okay. It wasn't until twenty thirteen that three of us decided to sign up. Me and my two buddies and we were like the guinea pigs to first do it. And then the next year it blew up like you paved the way for your gym. Yeah. The bad thing is there's still videos of me out there trying to get my first chest of our pool hanging from the pull up bar for like seven minutes.
I think there was like sixty five pounds snatched that first year and I couldn't even snatch that. I was like it was it was awful, but it was fun. It was fun because it kind of made you feel like you were a part of everything. Right. Like you could follow around with the people that were just super amazing. But then you could also kind of participate in your own way. And I think there's something to be said for that too.
Like if you, if your gym has more like competitive athletes, then there is going to be that instant awareness of the bigger stage, the games and everything that's going on there. So yeah, like we had some athletes that had a team that year at regionals. And when I say regionals, it was like in a field in the country where And like some small part of Houston that you didn't even know existed.
And I remember like tugging my cooler and my kid and all my shit out there across the lawn to get to the bleachers that are at the back of this property. And there were like four sets of wooden bleachers all around the little thing they had outlined or the arena floor. Yeah, it was pretty crazy. And so from there, it was like, oh, well, this is really cool. And I started getting to know those local athletes. So it was back when like Asia Bardo was coming up and Carrie Kepler and Lisa Teal.
And yeah, I even remember I still have like one of those really old books that they made with all the athletes in it from the regional that year. It's pretty cool. Yeah, we were lucky here in Columbus because it was held at our fairgrounds, the Ohio State Fairgrounds. Yeah. And then this region was just jam-packed full of the Rich Froning stuff, Graham Holzer, Marcus Hendren. Yeah. So when I dove into that first Open, then I wanted everything about the sport.
I wanted to follow this the whole way through. And that year, all those guys were at our, our regional here in Columbus and I was hooked for life. Yeah, it's definitely, it's, it's such a cool environment to be around. It was so exciting. And I brought the kit, my daughter and she loved it. And a lot of people from our gym came and then it kind of just got to be a thing. Okay, well now we have to go next year. And then the next year it was, it moved into a bigger stadium and then the next year.
So I started at a gym. I was there for two and a half years. And then, um, some of the coaches there had met Marco and he was going to open up his gym. And a lot of people kind of liked what he was doing with his programming and things like that. So I kind of went to go check it out and yeah, so started with him. And then they immediately, that gym immediately had a team at regionals, um, And then pretty much every year we had a team at regional.
So it was like, we, the whole gym would go, we, our whole crew, we'd all, you know, get hotels together and, and go watch the team and support. We've got all the shirts from every year regionals on all that stuff. So we've w we're probably one of the more like hardcore fan gems in the area. I would say just because of that fact. Yeah, I love it. The community aspect of it is the best part. It really is. It's so awesome. I'm like, I don't understand why more people don't want to do this.
Yeah. It's so much fun. Hi, Barry. Yeah, so now you're consuming it all. Yeah. If I look at your Instagram before you switch over to Dense Updates, it was a lot of your progress, like kind of showing what you're doing in the gym. And the cool part is you're making these videos where you're showing what you're doing in the gym and then you're showing like the same movement in real life. right?
Like you're lifting a sandbag, you turn and now it's, you're holding your daughter or those are fun for a deadlift. And then you're lifting a laundry basket or like, I thought those were really cool. Thank you. That was a lot of fun. We are, um, our gym owner was pushing, um, like a media challenge this summer. And I was trying to think of just more creative ways. Cause usually it's just me and my group of friends lifting or doing whatever.
And sometimes I would Mike us up and just catch some of our funny moments and I don't know how many people even ever watch those, but we thought they were funny. Um, but then the challenge was like, uh, it kind of like pushed me to, you know, try something different. And so, um, yeah, I was like, how can I, how can I use some of this movement and show how functional it is and how you're, you're probably already doing those things. You just don't realize it.
And so, yeah, I really liked the one with the, um, the clean into the push jerk. And it was like, I was picking something up in the closet and putting it up into the shelf overhead. Yeah, those were fun. And then I got my daughter in on that sandbag one. Yeah, they were brilliant. And those are things that I think like CrossFit Media should use to promote the methodology.
Like I think it's to show like the reason you're doing this is so that for the rest of your life, you can do the everyday things in your home. Yeah, absolutely. And more affiliates too. Like our gym owner had a great idea there doing that, that media challenge and trying to get, it was kind of like we could all get points for our content. And at the end of the summer, he'd pick a winner or, you know, pick a winner, whoever had the most points.
So it's like getting your, your member base involved to make that content and put that out there as well. Just gets more eyes on it. And yeah, like you can tag CrossFit and maybe they'll collaborate, but it really, it's us and the people in the gyms and the affiliates that, are putting the most content out there and making the most impact in that way. Have you ever got CrossFit to collaborate? I do not believe so. Just checking. I have to think about that. I don't think so.
No. And all the stuff that I've tagged them in one time, they, they shared. Yeah. Collaborated. Yeah. If they dive a little further down my, my Instagram, I think I have a comp, video on there of me and my bestie. And the shirts that year were a little controversial, so that might be why they wouldn't want to post any of my stuff. Yeah, just said Trump won. Rich Froning thought it was cool. He was there that year. It was at BCS, the one that he programs for. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, yeah.
Like right after all that drama. So it was fitting. That looks like a fun competition to go to someday. That's a good one. That's definitely one of the bigger ones around here that our gym does every year. That one in TFX, that one's coming up. We've got a lot of teams that are going to be competing there. And I love that they're throwing masters in now. That's good for us old folk because I'm not going to lie, it gets hard when you're in your forties to keep up with those twenty-year-olds.
It does. Yeah. So see the big jug says, wait, did I meet Jenny at the twenty twenty three games with a baby that said get to the chopper? No, actually we did not go that year. I was at twenty twenty four. I was there this year and then twenty twenty to our team in Madison. And that was really cool. I didn't get to go. Our team went in twenty sixteen out in Carson, but I just had my youngest child and then the other one was still in diapers. And I was just like, there's no way we're.
even going to try this with a one month old and the other one I was like that would have just been zero fun for us and I didn't want to put them through that especially it being outdoors and in the sun the whole time I was like that's just too much preparation so I had to sadly watch that one from home So my, my next question is you, you make this transition from these, these videos about you and you kind of getting better to now like updating everybody on what's going on, on all the different
content aspects in the space and the timing of that. I know that you're, you're friends with Marco and his kind of like first uh, video on what happened at the games out and you start doing these updates almost the exact same time. Yeah. Was that just coincidence or, um, no, I mean, so because I consume so much content and I have that long history of knowing all the things I'm kind of always been known as that person in the gym.
Like if they want to ask a question about something or they, somebody will randomly come up and be like, Ginny, what was that one workout that one year at the open and this or that or, you know, and ninety nine point nine percent of the time I have the answer. So it's kind of just like, go ask Ginny. She knows, you know, one of those things. And so I've always thought about wanting to do something like this. I just. I don't know. It just was never the right time.
I was either too busy with work or personal life or whatever. And then everything kind of happened at the games. And then there was just so much content all at one time and just everywhere. And, you know, people would be asking me in the gym and I'm just like, I'm going to just make a video. I'm like, I'm just going to all the stuff I've consumed. I'm just going to try to lump it all together in ninety seconds. And there you go. And so that's kind of how that started.
It did help that Marco was also putting out content because I could kind of use that as well. But there are so many voices in the space. And, you know, with Sevan and Talking Elite Fitness and you guys and Barbell Spin. And there's just so much out there. And then aside from Instagram, it's like, oh, people all ask someone if they had seen something. And they're like, oh, no, I didn't see that. So that's kind of where it stemmed from.
did you anticipate like the response you would get and how many people started watching these? No, I mean, honestly, none of my, I would say if you go back and look, a lot of my videos are kind of like around the one thousand to fifteen hundred view. Like I just figured somebody might come across something or but if somebody happens to share it, then you see that it gets more views and that sort of thing.
But honestly I didn't really have any expectations for it I just wanted to put it out there and if somebody finds it great if if not okay it's there if you ever want to find it so what I love about it is like the weekend I was in birmingham with the masters right I because I was there all day I had no time to to consume any content yeah So then for my drive home, I go to your Instagram to hear what are the hot topics where they're at. And then I line up my queue to listen on the drive home.
Yeah. And it it's perfect. And if I ever get like, where I just need balance in my life and I need some family time and I just check out for a day, I can go to your update and see, okay, who said what, where, and where do I need to go, like get caught up. And it really helps me sort out like what I'm going to listen to. Yay. Well, I love that. And I don't know if you even had that intention of it, but it helps me tremendously.
Yeah, I mean, I guess that really is the intent behind it because of the fact that there are so many things out there and people might not know what they're missing. It's like if you can try to just touch on a little bit of everything, then they can decide for themselves what they want to go listen to.
Yeah. I did a poll the other day because I was just curious like how many of the people that do regularly follow me or even bother to look at my story, I wanted to see like what content they're consuming regularly. And so it was just, you know, which podcast, and it was basically all the podcasts, which ones do you watch the froning and you guys and spin and all the ones that I already talked about and sub on.
And it's, it seems to be a lot of the people who consume the same amount of content are the ones that are following along as well. So I found that interesting. Yeah. Just because they know a lot of that content already. Right. But they're still coming to my page to check it out. So that's cool. Have you noticed a shift in the responses you get now on your Instagram or the DMs? No, I don't. I usually would just, I wouldn't get a ton of DMs.
There's a couple of people who like really want to talk in depth about stuff. And I'll respond. Like I try to respond to everybody, but no, no change. Just like a couple of people have actually commented on the videos, just being like, Hey, thanks. Appreciate it. Keep it up. which I think is cool. So I don't, right now I don't spend a ton of time on making the video. Cause like I told you earlier, I, I just try to just go off the fly.
Like what I remember I consumed and what key things I think people might want to know about. And then I just kind of, you know, plug them all in and make the videos and trim where needed. If I start rambling. Yeah. That's my train of thought there. Your iPhone to do it all. Yeah. I'm just using my iPhone. I have like a little iPhone stand that I, the same one I use at the gym and I just pull it up and find some sunlight and get to recording. Um, Corey Lawrence says, I'm not one of those people.
I like dark humor and blueberry. Um, So do you have hard, fast rules? Like you say, what would I can get in in ninety seconds? Do you go by the Instagram real rules like you make sure it's under ninety every time or? Yeah, I mean, right now I'm only doing them on Instagram. I have been like posting them over to the YouTube channel as well.
I did make one YouTube video and that was just kind of me breaking down the timeline because I had a lot of people at my at the gym and Just be like, oh, if I sit down to read that timeline, it's going to take me like an hour because it was so in depth. And I mean, it was so good. It was so detailed. So I just kind of went through it and read some of the all of the stuff that really stood out to me. And that's, you know, some of the stuff we didn't know and and things like that.
But other than that, yeah, I'm just doing the ninety second reels right now. Do you see... So I noticed early on, it was just, hey, Siobhan talked about this. Hey, if you go over to Hiller, he did this with Danny, blah, blah, blah. Then as you've gone along, you're inserting a little bit of your own editorial comments now. Like the courage is growing. Now you're throwing in more.
Do you see... a desire for that to grow even more into like a longer format or do you want to just stick with what you have? Um, I'm trying. I'm trying to keep those updates completely unbiased, right? Like just give people everything that's out there. Like whether or not I agree with the content or not, I'm still consuming it. Like there's definitely some people out there I don't enjoy listening to, but I'm going to consume it anyway.
Just because I feel like for me to have, to be able to give that back to the people, you have to give them everything so they can see from every side of it. Um, so there, there might be a space where I would make videos, you know, with more of like my, my side of thing, my input on certain things. But right now I feel like Hiller does a really good job. He's a big personality in the space. And, um, Yeah, so I don't see myself going full-on YouTube video personality and that sort of thing.
I really enjoy doing the updates, honestly. Okay. Yeah. Uh, cause I could, the way you're inserting some editorial stuff, I could see you. Well, I feel very strongly about the PFAA stuff. And so, and I'll just be, I don't know if that's what you're speaking on, but the, um, in particular, John Woolley had made like an, he was doing like a news update video that I've never seen him do before. And I was like, Oh, okay. Somebody else had a good idea.
Yeah. And it was like five minutes long, but it was just like, here's what's going on in the last week kind of thing and talked about this and talked about that and then entered some stuff with the PFAA. And I was just kind of like, oh, well, all right. But we kind of, we're leaving some things out.
And I feel like if you're leaving things out, then you're kind of leaving that open for interpretation or maybe just trying to push like a certain narrative that you want people to hear, which it's his platform. He can do whatever he wants.
But I just wanted to kind of add on that and I was in my car that day and I'd been sitting in traffic for like an hour and a half and I was just listening to this and I was just like well wait a minute let's because he specifically like addresses a specific question and I was like well you didn't really answer that question and so yeah that might that there there's probably going to be those times that's just me you might get a random video where I'm just gonna be like wait a minute I
don't agree with that But I'm trying to just give the people the updates, where to find the stuff, and then they can decide for themselves. Yeah, the PFAA is a... So I have very strong feelings about the PFAA. Yeah. And whenever I remark about it, I get the strongest comments back that I ever get. which it just blows my mind that there's this organization and that's the thing that's triggering everybody. Everybody. Yeah. Like why?
Yeah. Like I, you can't say anything bad about Brent or Pat or you're going to, you're going to hear my wrath. Yeah. And I love, I love Pat. I've always like, he's my number one, like this last year at the games. Um, They had a, um, it was like a fan favorite vote that they were doing. And, um, I'm always voting for Pat. Like he's always been one of my favorite male athletes to follow in the sport. Um, but yeah, there's definitely some things I didn't agree with in some of those videos.
And I don't think that it's a bad thing for people to be talking about that, honestly. Like, I think it's a good thing. There should, we should all be able to have those open conversations. That's been my answer to the people who are coming after me is, this is an open platform. I never say you can't express your opinion. I can express mine and you can come back with yours and I'll even put it up on the screen.
And we can talk about it, but to just shut it all down and say you're unsubscribing and doing whatever because I blasted the PFAA, it's kind of ridiculous. Yeah. And nobody's... I don't feel like anyone's really... blasting them or bashing them. It's just, we, we, we don't necessarily agree with everything, which they've even said themselves, like not everyone's going to agree with you.
Not everyone's going to like your decisions, but it's okay for in this space to have opposing opinions on these things. And so, yeah, the people who are like, oh, I'm just not going to follow you anymore. Or, you know, you're a bad person because you think this or that, or yeah, that, I think it has to be tied with Castro because they want him gone. And if you are saying something bad about the PFA, you must be supporting Castro. And I think that's truly the trigger.
Yeah. Yeah, there's definitely people who have drawn line in the sand. If you want it this way, then... I don't want anything to do with you. And I just think that's ridiculous. Yeah. My whole beef is like, how is the PFA just by default? The, the people who get to represent the athletes because they're not really representing all the athletes. Yeah. Select few. They've decided that they're going to cover. Yeah. Well, I want to know more about that process too.
Cause I don't think that's been said. Like we know that the criteria is to be a voting member, but what's the criteria to be voted in as a board member? because it's kind of all over the place. I think I posted in the comments of that one video to John Woolley, like, well, this is all their names. These are all their stats. Some people haven't even been to a games that are on this board. Like how, how are we determining who we're voting for?
Are we just picking anyone from the region that's willing to volunteer and just being like, Oh, you got my vote. Or how does that work? How do you get elected to a board with absolute voting rights when you're not even a voting member of the body? Yeah. Like that doesn't even make sense. It is wild. I would be curious to know more about that. Yeah, and the fact that the only vote that the body gets is who's on the board. Right. Supposedly.
Yeah. And then after that, all the other votes are done by the board. Right. They have like what monthly calls where they will invite the members, I think, and then they'll have discussions. And I know they've said one of their last discussions that it wasn't even a majority that agreed with them on certain things. So it's like, well, that's also concerning. But yeah, I find it. We could have a separate show on that. Yeah, we could probably go into a lot of that for sure.
So as you have dove into doing this, has it become something you've really started to love and enjoy doing? Yeah, absolutely. I love it. I love, like, if I'm not talking about CrossFit in a day, something's wrong with me. Like, I'm always talking about it. I come home and, you know, my spouse and I will talk about it. I'm talking about it with my friends at the gym. You know, most of my friends are people that go to the gym. Um, so that also helps my closest friends.
Um, so yeah, like I, I love all of it. I'm consuming all of it. I'm watching all of it. I'm talking about all of it. I've, I've followed it for so long and through its entire evolution and it's, it becomes a part of your life when you've been doing it for. Fourteen years. It's like, how can you not care about those things and how can you not love it and want to be, you know, I, I tell everybody like I'm a lifer. I could never see myself.
doing anything else and not being a part of this community. So what do you see in the future? Just continue doing this or maybe dabbling in some other areas to see what else you might like to put out? Yeah, I'm enjoying doing this right now and kind of seeing where that goes. And yeah, if other opportunities come up or other ideas come to me, then Yeah, I'm going to explore them. I'm just kind of enjoying doing this right now and seeing where that goes. Might start making some other videos.
I don't know. Right now, my goal is just continuing to do the dense updates and kind of grow that part of it and then see what happens from there for sure. if people want to sign up and, and, and follow you on Instagram, they can do that by going to at dense underscore updates. That's me. And hit that follow button so that you get all the updates of what's going on. And I do appreciate the fact that you do give a very unbiased opinion about, and you include all the shows.
So if you don't know what to tune into next, go to dense updates and listen. And Jenny will tell you what's going on in each show. She doesn't tell you which one to go watch. She just says, Hey, this happens on this show and that show. And you can go check all that out. That's right. Anything you want to tell the listeners before we let you go for the day? No. I have one other question. What do you do for a job? So right now I do like bookkeeping and accounting.
I was working for, I was working full time for a roofing company here in Houston. And literally the day we came back from the games, he was like, we are shutting down operations. I was like, Ooh, that was kind of a weekend. I really didn't mean that on a Monday morning, but okay. So I've just kind of been helping him close things down and get his books all together and things like that. And been doing some, some contract work on the side at home for right now.
And that's kind of what's freed up my time to be able to make a little bit more of these videos. So yeah, I'm probably going to stay on that path. I can't, I can't see myself going back to a traditional, nine to five and working for the man. So. Yeah. Yeah. I didn't have to work for the man anymore. I would love to just talk to people like this. Yeah. Right. It'd be nice. But someone's got to keep the lights on in the house. That's very true. And the internet flowing or we couldn't even do this.
So that is true. I mean, if I have to all work three jobs, I don't care, but yeah, I'm fortunate enough right now to, To be able to take a little bit of time for myself and just figure out, yeah, what I want to do. I'm forty four and so I'll be forty four. And I've had a lot of just bouncing around careers over the years. And it's like, man, I just want to find one thing that sticks. But trade work is I've worked for a lot. I've worked for a plumbing company.
a roofing company, um, and then a custom home builder, just, you know, accounting and all that stuff. And COVID was, was a bad time for everybody. And roofing is wildly competitive here in Houston. So unfortunately that didn't work out either. Yeah. Is what it is. You know, I didn't find the thing I loved in my life, which is doing this at Um, and then I dove in head first and my wife is probably like, I'm glad you found it. Work on balance a little bit, but we're getting there.
Well, Jenny, this has been a blast. Um, and, um, I'm going to keep you in my contacts to have you back because I'm sure there are subjects we can talk about that, like we just talked a little PFAA, and I think that could have went on for a good hour. Yeah, awesome. I'd love that. I'd love to be on with Jamie. I love her. I follow her. She's super awesome. Fittest Yeah, I wish she believed that. Everybody around her believes it. I wish she believed it.
I feel like that's such a common thing for some Masters athletes. My best friend, she's a little bit older in the fifty to fifty four. And I'm like, girl, you're going to the games next year. And she's like, nah. And I'm like, hmm. Yeah. Yeah. We have to convince them that they are as good as they are. Yeah. What I love about masters is, you know, here comes Jamie off the games and now her son's in his senior year of school. And then that becomes a priority, right?
She can't like an elite athlete just gets to keep training. Nope. She's got a, her son's senior year is what's most important. And so that takes the front seat right now. Yeah. Your kids, your family, your jobs, all those things. A lot of those athletes don't have sponsors and all that stuff. So yeah, definitely harder on them. And speaking of Masters athletes to cross promote, in about eight minutes, the episode three of Behind the Scenes at the Masters CrossFit Games comes out. Oh, yeah.
I've got my notification on. I'll be watching that. So you check into that. It's twenty five minutes today. So not too long. Pretty digestible. And I hope you enjoy that. With that, Jenny, thank you so much for doing this. Yes. Thank you so much. I appreciate it. Have a great rest of your day. Yes, sir. You too. We'll see everybody next time. Bye, guys. Bye.