Joe Di has been with Spartan for a few years, most known for heading up the Spartan SGX Training Program. Just recently, he was named "Director of Sport Initiatives". As "a part of a panel of guys", this covers things like Elite Heat Rules, The Spartan Pro Team, etc. Listen in to learn about : The new obstacles in Tahoe Why rules changed around The Rope Climb and The Herc Hoist When you can and can't kick the bell The constant evolution of rule change in our sport Keith Allen then calls in to di...
Sep 30, 2016•1 hr 2 min
Episode 200 - Ryan Kunkel has a masters degree in Environmental Health. So how the hell does that guy end up creating one of the first successful mud runs? Tune in to learn: How he and his partner got started. "Going from 0-100" and having 18,000 registered at their 3rd ever event. Outlasting the boom bust of 2013-2014. Experimenting with Urban Warrior Dash, Iron Warrior Dash, and giving away $100k (twice). Much more Today's show is sponsored by Wetsuit Warehouse - ORM15 saves you 15% on anythin...
Sep 30, 2016•34 min
David Magida began obstacle racing in 2012 and found his way to many podiums, eventually securing one of the first spots on the Spartan Pro Team. After 3 grueling years, he slowed down his racing circuit to open a gym. That was just the beginning in an OCR story that is still being written. Listen in as Matt and David discuss: The "OG Days" of OCR 2012-2014 Push versus pull strength David's gym Elevate Appearing on and eventually getting a gig on NBC Hanging out with Randy Moss David's book Spar...
Sep 23, 2016•1 hr 21 min
We begin today's show with on-site interviews from the (well received) return of Civilian Military Combine from last weekend. You will hear from: Amelia Boone - TV Commentator Coach Pain - Pit MC Robb McCoy - Finish Line MC Rich Rosa -Managing Partner Garfield Griffiths - Race Director/Mad Genius Next up is a phone chat Matt B. and Keith Allen. They discuss the recent obstacle based tv shows we have seen so far in 2016. These include American Ninja Warrior, BattleFrog College/League Championship...
Sep 16, 2016•1 hr 19 min
On today's show we speak with Dr. Joe Galasso of the Special Spartans Race. These children's races "offers kids with intellectual, and/or developmental disabilities (IDD), and those with cognitive, learning and/or vocational delays a chance to build self-esteem, pride and physical accomplishment". We learn what this event is all about, the success it's been having, and where the program is going. Spartan Races schedule for remainder of 2016. 9/24 Citizen's Bank Park 10/01-10/02 Tahoe, CA 10/15 S...
Sep 09, 2016•25 min
Dustin appeared on the 1st episode of the year and the feedback was great. Turns out many of you really enjoy hearing things outside of OCR. So if you only want 100% obstacle stuff, this episode is NOT for you. If you like-a the nerdy stuff, this episode includes the following subject matter: Batman Vs. Superman Deadpool DC versus Marvel (including DC's parallel to BattleFrog) Gishwhes - one of the charities Dustin supports How you actually say Dustin's last name Dustin's new gig at BoneFrog Oh ...
Sep 02, 2016•1 hr 12 min
Episode 195 - Believe it or not, we have never dedicated an entire show to Hunter McIntyre. The closest being a 20 minute sit down back in April of 2014 as part of the USOCR episode. On today's show, Hunter and Matt discuss: The Boundless episode where he took on a French 140km bike race (and lost) Why he is training to be an "endurance athlete" and not necessarily a "Spartan Racer" His new World's Toughest Mudder 2016 teammate (and why he was chosen) The recent Spartan DQ's and what Spartan can...
Aug 26, 2016•1 hr 10 min
Being athletic growing up, Lindsey tried just about every sport you can think of. A few years ago, she bought a street bike, got bored quickly, and looked into competitive mountain biking. Then, in October of 2014, she had a bad bike accident which left her paralyzed below the waist. Told immediately she would never walk again, she has been determined to prove that doctor, and many others wrong. She got an adaptive bike, is riding harder than ever, and found the OCR community along the way. For ...
Aug 19, 2016•38 min
This week's podcast has (just about) everything. Finish line interviews with some of best in the sport. Additional interviews with Ryan Atkins and Spartan's Mike Morris a few days after the race. Oh, and Matt talked to former NFL Wide Receiver and future Hall Of Famer, Randy Moss. Athletes at the finish line include: Hunter McIntyre Ryan Atkins Brakken Kraker Bear Novakovich Lindsay Webster Faye Stenning Rose Wetzel Today's show is sponsored by: BoneFrog Challenge – ORM10 gets you $10 off all 20...
Aug 12, 2016•1 hr 20 min
Jessica spent many years in an office environment with "a ton of work and a ton of numbers". She found a passion in fitness , and decided she should go all in to coaching with no Plan B. Becoming a personal trainer led her to boxing, becoming a WBFF Pro, and eventually World's Toughest Mudder. Listen in as she and Matt discuss "healing from the inside out", some of her adventures into all these fitness genres, as well as plenty of WTM talk. Today's show is sponsored by: Rugged Maniac – $5 off wh...
Aug 05, 2016•39 min
On today's show we talk with two of the top men at BattleFrog Series. Kevin Jones is an engineer by trade, but two months ago, he joined the ever growing list of OCR fans turned OCR employee. On his drive from Ohio to Miami, he stopped by the ORM offices to chat with Matt about it. Learn about his start in OCR, and the wild ride since that has led to him becoming the Chief Marketing Officer at BattleFrog. Next up is a call with BattleFrog CEO Ramiro Ortiz. (Kevin joined for this call as well). M...
Jul 29, 2016•54 min
Episode 190 - Matt B. traveled to Lebanon last week to cover the Puma Hannibal Race. In this episode, he talks to Amine Dib, co-founder of the race. Topics in this podcast chat include: Amine's work ethic His impressive fitness career Learning from Billy Blanks How he and his team are putting together an international obstacle race series. And more. Today's show is sponsored by: Obstacle Course Training - Training plan's from the world's best obstacle racers. ORM15 gets you 15%o off. Obstacle Gu...
Jul 22, 2016•38 min
You probably don't know Pete Coleman. You don't know him because he is that rare bird that doesn't tell the world about every accomplishment (or attempt) on social media. So allow me to do it. He's done The Killington Beast and UltraBeast on back to back days, finished multiple Spartan/Peak Death Races, The Georgia Death Race, and most recently earned a Belt Buckle at Western States. On this episode, we talk about how he trained for and completed one of the hardest races in the world, The Wester...
Jul 15, 2016•1 hr 17 min
Sarah Williams was bored with work and frustrated with pay scales in the banking industry. So she decided to backpack across South America, climb a bunch of mountains, and be a chalet host in Switzerland. This led to the birth of Tough Girl Challenges. Learn about the cool events she's done since, and how she wants to help empower women with her brand. Enjoy the first of two episodes this week. Today's show is sponsored by: Rugged Maniac – $5 off when you use the code PODCAST. MudGear – Order no...
Jul 13, 2016•38 min
When stuck for a title, always go with the obvious. In this episode, we talk to Ryan Hogan, former CEO of Reed Street Productions and current CEO of Hunt A Killer, LLC. Reed Street launched their first Run For Your Lives event in Maryland in the fall of 2011. 12 months and 13 events later, the company grossed 8.2 million dollars. Another 12 months later, they closed their doors, leaving participants and vendors holding the bag. So what the heck happened!?! In his first interview since it all hit...
Jul 01, 2016•48 min
In this episode: Matt spent quality time with Joe Desena in Vermont at last weekend's Agoge. The conversation with Joe goes a really long way and includes: The story behind his tattoos. Who will take over Spartan when he's gone. What he thinks of the new Spartan Team TV show. The early days of Spartan. What he is doing in Asia. Much, much, more. Today's show is sponsored by: Udder Mud Run – Use code RUNORM for $10 off this race! Wetsuit Wearhouse – Save 15% using coupon code ORM on all purchases...
Jun 24, 2016•1 hr 23 min
In this episode: Hobie Call backs up his claims to win at Palmerton, PA and The Spartan World Championships. He also talks about Facebook haters, masters athletes, and retirement. Ryan Atkins comes on to talk about losing to Hobie, what he thinks will happen at Palmerton, how he ranks his race schedule, and who is partner is for WTM 2016. Damn, this one's good! Today's show is sponsored by: CMC Race – The Civilian Military Combine is back. Sept 10, Brooklyn, NY $10 off with code ORM. MudGear – O...
Jun 16, 2016•54 min
The Preface Two weeks ago, Obstacle Racing Media published a podcast interview with Dr. Jason Wagner. We reached out to Jason as a direct result of his blog post questioning the legitimacy and effectiveness of the “Elevation Training Mask”. I personally reached out to TrainingMask.com shortly after this episode aired to see if they wanted to respond to any of Jason’s findings. I got in touch with the CEO of Training Mask LLC, Casey Danford, and he suggested we speak with Brian MacKenzie. Brian i...
Jun 12, 2016•49 min
Episode 183 - Matt Iseman and Jeff Cain. Matt and Matt talk about stand up comedy in LA, how Iseman got to American Ninja Warrior, and new stuff for the Ninjas in 2016. Matt and Jeff talk OCR old days, Barkley Fall Classic, and Jeff's non profit, For Those Who Would. Today's show is sponsored by: BoneFrog Challenge – ORM10 gets you $10 off all 2016 races. Epic Series - Use code ORM20 for 20%off June 11 in San Diego, CA. Liquid Run - Code ORM25 gets you $25 off admission. Show Notes: Matt Iseman ...
Jun 03, 2016•42 min
Noah Galloway is back on the show for the first time since 2014. Since he last appeared, he rocketed into America's collective conscious by finishing 3rd on the 20th season of Dancing With The Stars. Episode 182 - In today's episode, we talk about why he decided to do the show, after turning down several other reality show opportunities. We also talk about what it's been like since the show ended, and all of the new things he is up to. These include being on Fox's American Grit, and most recentl...
May 27, 2016•39 min
Episode 181 -Jason is a doctor/obstacle racer who wrote a blog post that began this way: I’m a lung doc and have spent more hours than I can count studying cardiovascular and pulmonary physiology. This makes it nearly impossible for me to ignore all the attention that elevation training masks are getting. We read the rest of hist post and we found it insightful and humorous. We wanted to bring him on so that we could ask questions about what training masks do/don't accomplish. In addition, we as...
May 20, 2016•39 min
Episode 180 - Tough Mudder announced several changes to this year's team competition at World's Toughest Mudder. We got Nolan Kombol on the phone as quickly as we could. Nolan's been with Tough Mudder since July of 2010. His current title is Senior Director of Product, which means, he and his team are responsible for your on course experience and all of the obstacles that go with it. We go into the new changes and answer some questions including: What is the total payout for a winning team that ...
May 05, 2016•59 min
That time Cookie and Matt had a nice chat at a Mexican restaurant.
Apr 29, 2016•1 hr 10 min
Episode 178 - Carrie Tollefsen appears on this episode to talk about about training, how to make running seem interesting on television, and the joys of milkshakes and PB&J. We also learn about her journey from college athlete, to Olympian, to television broadcaster, and host of her own web series. Today's show is sponsored by CMC Race - The Civilian Military Combine is back. Sept 10, Brooklyn, NY $10 off with code ORM Wetsuit Wearhouse - Save 15% using coupon code ORM on all purchases. Show...
Apr 22, 2016•38 min
Episode 177 - On today's show we talk with Matt Booth (Specialty Store Sales Rep) and Zach Gray (Product Testing Coordinator) for Mizuno. Having never owned a pair of Mizunos, your fearless host Matt B. Davis drove up to Mizuno USA Headquarters in Norcross, Georgia to see what he could learn. Matt, Matt, and Zach end up discussing: Sizing up the competition Predicting and preparing for future shoe trends Pardon The Interruption Social Media Louis C.K. The NFL and much more Today's show is sponso...
Apr 15, 2016•1 hr 3 min
Episode 176 - We first met Joel before his second World's Toughest Mudder, back in November of 2012. Earlier that year, he had his first attempt at The Barkley Marathon where he successfully completed one loop. Since then, he has completed a few 200 milers and several other endurance races. For this year's Barkley, he again completed 1 loop before being timed out. He stayed the remainder of the weekend to cheer on runners, and be a part of the magic that is Barkley Weekend at Frozen Head State P...
Apr 07, 2016•1 hr 21 min
Episode 175 - On today's program, we attempt to answer that burning OCR question: What exactly is a race director and what does he do? We spoke with two members of the Spartan Race Team at the March 5-6 event in Conyers, Georgia to dig deep and find out. We don't want to spoil almost an hour of really good conversation, but one thing is clear - No one person makes the magic happen. Quick Rundown of The Players: Mike Morris - Vice President of ProductionRoger Mast - Race DirectorWoody-Course Mana...
Apr 01, 2016•1 hr 2 min
Episode 174 - First up on the show today is Rob Dickens from Rugged Maniac. Rob was first interviewed by Matt for the first time in January of 2013. 3 years later, Rugged Maniac have nearly doubled in size and were recently named one of the Ten Best Businesses to come out of Shark Tank . Listen in as Matt and Rob discuss: How do Rugged keep customers coming back? How has Rugged grown while others are shrinking? What has happened since Shark Tank? How do they plan on expanding into Canada? What's...
Mar 24, 2016•53 min
Episode 173 - Matt sat down with Mike in the tiny office of the Decatur, Big Peach Running Company. This just so happens to be the store where Matt got fitted for his first "real" pair of trail running shoes back in December of 2011. This hour long chat covers several topics including: How did Mike go from "marketing guy" to shoe store guy? How did store 1 become store 7? How do you find good "culture fits" for a shoe store? What are the benefits of being a parent who runs a lot? How does a runn...
Mar 18, 2016•1 hr 14 min
Episode 172 - Ella Kociuba burst onto the OCR scene in December of 2011. At just 18 years old, she signed up for the open wave at the Glen Rose Super. She ended up finishing faster than the winning female in the elite heat. In 2012, she began signing up for elite heats and made the podium in her first several races. Her high point of the year was finishing 3rd at the Vermont Beast Championship race behind Claude Godbout and Amelia Boone. Arguably, the best two women in obstacle racing at that ti...
Mar 10, 2016•43 min
