S06E119 BISON 15 - From Football To CrossFit and More - Mike Warren
@botoxandburpeespodcast host Dr. Sam Rhee talks with Mike Warren @mikewarren___ about going from a college football strength mindset to chasing real, repeatable fitness through CrossFit, competition, and triathlon training. We dig into the moment looking shredded stops feeling like enough, and why hard goals, smart fueling, and a strong gym community change how we show up in life.
• high school lifting basics versus learning movement and speed work
• the jump in quality from high school to college strength and conditioning
• completing 75 Hard then realizing aesthetics are not the same as fitness
• getting humbled in a first CrossFit class and falling in love with the challenge
• why triathlon training and “hard things” improve mindset, focus, and work
#crossfitcoach #CrossFitCommunity @CrossFitAffiliates #supportyourlocalbox #crossfitaffiliate #gymowner #HealthyLiving #GymLife #CrossFit #FitnessJourney #BotoxAndBurpees #podcast @botoxandburpeespodcast @crossfitbison
CrossFit Bison - https://bisoncrossfit.com/
Stan Efforting Vertical Diet - https://www.stanefforting.com/vertical-diet
Vitruvian Games - https://vitruviangames.com/
ATHX Games - https://athxgames.com/
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TRANSCRIPT
Dr. Sam Rhee (00:00.982)
All right. Hello and welcome to another episode of Botox and Burpees. I'm here with my very special guest, probably one of the younger guests I would imagine I've had on Botox and Burpees. and also maybe one of the fittest guests. this is Mike Warren. He's been at CrossFit Bison for one and a half years now. A beloved member and friend to many at the gym. You've already made quite the impact, I would say.
Mike Warren (00:28.686)
Mm-hmm.
Dr. Sam Rhee (00:28.81)
in terms of your presence in many positive ways. and I just wanted to bring Mike on. I want you to talk about your experience and and as you said before we started, like your fitness experience in life. So let's get started, Mike.
Mike Warren (00:46.882)
Yeah, absolutely. I guess we could start off with where everything kinda stemmed from, and that was playing football at like a super young age, all the way throughout my college career. you know, it started with an easy curl bar, just doing bicep curls and tricep extensions in my bedroom. So it started off very meat headish. I was like eleven the first time I picked it up. It
Dr. Sam Rhee (01:05.142)
How old were you? How
You picked up a b barbell at eleven.
Mike Warren (01:11.678)
easy cobar. But like like I was saying it's it was super me head stuff, it was super rudimentary, it was nothing like how everything has evolved now, where it's I'm doing the triathlons, I'm competing with CrossFit comps. It's evolved so much over the so many years I've been trading. but what really kicked off everything was the passion to better myself.
Dr. Sam Rhee (01:25.513)
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.
Dr. Sam Rhee (01:31.788)
Mm-hmm.
Mike Warren (01:39.649)
And always working towards a goal. And that was always because of football. With lifting fitness in general, picking up that barbell made me feel like I was gonna give the best effort that I can on the field. So there was always a basis of why am I doing some type of fitness, whether it be, you know, lifting, running, speed work, plymetrics, agility stuff. There was always a goal towards that.
Dr. Sam Rhee (01:46.732)
Mm-hmm.
Dr. Sam Rhee (02:02.73)
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.
Mike Warren (02:08.148)
And that goal was to be the best football player I could be.
Dr. Sam Rhee (02:11.274)
Why did you love football so much?
Mike Warren (02:13.76)
It was something that I kinda started and I just was naturally pretty solid at it. And it just felt really great, just being on the field like every day. And i it was also like the camaraderie that you have with the team, the discipline that you build as a young kid, like all these foundational pieces to your life that I think stem not only
Dr. Sam Rhee (02:20.481)
Yeah.
Dr. Sam Rhee (02:29.846)
Mm-hmm.
Mike Warren (02:38.488)
from sports, but they also address a lot of other things in life, whether that be, you know, the sense of community, whether that be understanding that challenges actually lead you to the probably the best version of yourself. That's what I really enjoyed about it from a whole.
Dr. Sam Rhee (02:47.062)
Mm-hmm.
Dr. Sam Rhee (02:52.492)
Where did you go to high school to play football? okay.
Mike Warren (02:55.426)
That was Butler High School. Yeah, so like up twenty three.
Dr. Sam Rhee (03:00.372)
Okay. So y so you went to Butler High School, you learned how to do strength, learned a lot of work in now. So what was the strength training like at your high school? Did you have good strength coaches? Did you learn a lot about lifting and and and fitness?
Mike Warren (03:17.706)
Yeah, I mean in a high school it was still we did actually we did some power cleans, hand cleans, we we actually did some Olympic lifting in high school, which was al always really fun. but it was still, you know, pretty typical bench press, squat, deadlift, throwing some hand cleans, some box squats in there. but what really helped me build ev like my entire foundation was finally going to a real trainer
Dr. Sam Rhee (03:37.911)
Mm-hmm.
Mike Warren (03:47.599)
actually doing my agility work, my speed work, and just seeing improvements besides benching, squatting, deadlifting, like that was it's it's great to see numbers change, but once you start really like understanding your body and seeing how your body can move and understanding what other things that you can do besides just lifting, that's where the pr progress really came from. It was more the personal trainer side than like the high school exactly.
Dr. Sam Rhee (03:53.004)
Mm-hmm.
Dr. Sam Rhee (04:13.122)
Mm-hmm.
And then where did you I assume you took that to college? Wait, what position did you play in in football?
Mike Warren (04:22.582)
so in high school I was offensive guard, defensive end, defensive tackle, rush end, and then in college I just strictly played rush end.
Dr. Sam Rhee (04:31.412)
Okay. And what were your measurements like then and what are they like now?
Mike Warren (04:37.878)
So I guess I think at college I was two my heaviest was my junior, senior year. I was coming in at two forty eight, two forty five. Yeah, now I am like two fifteen.
Dr. Sam Rhee (04:47.051)
wow. Okay.
Okay. Wow. So you had to put on a lot of weight to be able to play in collegiate on the collegiate level.
Mike Warren (04:56.8)
yeah. I came out of h high school I think I was two twenty and then I put on like another twenty five pounds in college. It was a lot.
Dr. Sam Rhee (05:03.425)
my God. Okay. All right. So keep take all right, so take me through college then. So what was that like?
Mike Warren (05:09.452)
That was a completely different ball game. Like, you come from like I came from high school where it was a like big like when I once I got to college, my they kept on calling me Jersey Mike, like GTL. That's that was my thing. Because the I was so good at bench press, but everything else was lacking. Like I could bench press 375 for reps, but my squat was near my bench. Like it was horrible. So they were like, we need to fix that.
And they did. you know, it was so much it was so different. It w it was a lot of more highly skilled work. And 'cause our strength and conditioning coach over at Mammoth actually came from Mississippi State. So he was really, really good. He actually decreased our entire team's like injury pro portfolio by like half. Like every no one got injured. It was crazy.
Dr. Sam Rhee (05:52.15)
Mm-hmm.
Dr. Sam Rhee (06:00.97)
Mm-hmm. wow.
Mike Warren (06:04.658)
and that like helped us really tune up things. You know, we won the big South there. It was awesome. Just because I think personally a lot because of the training regimen that he i incorporated. it it was a huge foundational piece. And I think that just the change from high school to college is night and day.
Dr. Sam Rhee (06:24.328)
Mm. So what was your other non say training regimen like? Like did they track what you were eating or like any of the other metrics that usually are associated with health and fitness?
Mike Warren (06:37.184)
Yeah, I mean at Mammoth it was pr a little bit more simpler than I'm s like if you go to Florida State or Florida or Bama or something, right? So they would have food options for us in the mornings, lunch, evenings, and it would be like green is good, yellow is bad or is decent, and then red is don't do it. But of course all the offensive linemen are just going right for the red stuff. But the It was like cookies, cupcakes.
Dr. Sam Rhee (06:42.988)
Sure. Yeah.
Dr. Sam Rhee (06:58.946)
What's the red stuff? Like what?
Mike Warren (07:05.646)
Like 'cause you have like the dessert bar in college and then everything else where it's like chicken, broccoli at the dining hall, but everybody was just like, Alright, like all the offensive linemen were like, We're gonna skip the chicken and broccoli and go right to the cookies Which was whatever, but it was funny.
Dr. Sam Rhee (07:09.44)
Yeah.
Dr. Sam Rhee (07:23.106)
So so you played for four years at Monmouth then?
Mike Warren (07:28.768)
Yeah, I actually got cut short because of COVID, which really stunk because my it was my senior year was supposed to be the year that we were playing against Rutgers to open the season. Yeah. And then COVID happened and it took everything away. It it was crazy. It that was such like that's where
Dr. Sam Rhee (07:31.278)
Dr. Sam Rhee (07:42.531)
wow.
Mike Warren (07:52.447)
I went from I was I think I was benching like 350 at the time and then I was like, all right, Ruckers is we're coming going to Ruckers, like big time dream, big stadium, gotta get this done. Then I really trained hard and like bench got up to like four five in like four months. And that's when I was like squatting five fifty, like the entire I just revamped everything, and that was a lot of it was by myself because we couldn't go
to campus to train because of COVID. So we weren't we were still in limbo of like what exactly was gonna happen. So over all the years of training and stuff, I kind of just built my own regimen on how to train, how to gain strength, you know, honestly not too much speed or agility work in there. It was it was mostly like bench press squat, deadlift, stuff like that. But all my numbers grew, I gained like twenty pounds and then they let us know that, you know
Dr. Sam Rhee (08:23.926)
Mm-hmm. Right.
Mike Warren (08:51.681)
It got cancelled, which stunk.
Dr. Sam Rhee (08:54.412)
So how many years are you now out of college?
Mike Warren (08:58.89)
Now we are well, I graduated twenty one, twenty six, yeah.
Dr. Sam Rhee (09:02.002)
twenty one. So five wow. So okay, so then what happened after college? So you graduated and then w what was the next step of your journey, your fitness journey or life?
Mike Warren (09:11.778)
Yeah. I would say I was I did seventy five hard, like a year after college and that was where I that was really fun to me. I like challenging myself into new things, but
Dr. Sam Rhee (09:24.064)
Right. Seventy five hearts, so that's the program where you do what again?
Mike Warren (09:29.046)
it is it's two workouts per day, one workout has to be outside, it's like a gallon of water, think ten pages of a book, no alcohol, and then following a diet, basically. Yeah, for seventy five days.
Dr. Sam Rhee (09:42.4)
Wow. Okay. Wow. And you completed it?
Mike Warren (09:48.301)
Yeah. And I went from two five to like one hundred eighty-five. Yeah. And seeing me now, like it it was such it it was insane because I'm I mean my body fat was near none, but I felt like garbage. Like I couldn't run three miles if I wanted to at that weight. Like I was just gassed. Like I had no actual fitness behind me. And that's where a lot of things start clicking in my brain of
Dr. Sam Rhee (09:53.162)
Ha ha.
Dr. Sam Rhee (10:08.041)
wow.
Mike Warren (10:16.96)
Why am I doing this? What like yeah, it's great to look good, in my opinion, but I think that there's other things like intangibles that you get from whether it like besides just working out as a whole, the sense of community that you have in a gym, everything else, there's so many other intangibles besides just how you look that made me feel a little bit empty. you know, after doing it because
Dr. Sam Rhee (10:38.146)
Mm.
Mike Warren (10:44.396)
What I truly like to do is always working towards a goal. I think that's what makes me be the best person I can be and allows me to be the best person to others as I can be. and realistically, after that challenge, I kind of just went back into the routine of like just normal bodybuilding stuff. Like I gained like all the way back, like probably in two weeks. Like it was crazy. so there was no really sell like sense of
Dr. Sam Rhee (10:47.616)
yeah.
Dr. Sam Rhee (10:54.05)
Mm-hmm.
Dr. Sam Rhee (11:05.163)
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.
Mike Warren (11:13.9)
like drive there besides once I completed that, I'm like, all right, it's done. What's like there was nothing next. And then that's where I kinda stumbled around with CrossFit and I saw the guys, you know, they were Paraclean two seventy five or something. I forget what comp I watched. It like they were clean two seventy five. I like, I could do that. And then I saw them like front squat. It was like three fifteen. I'm like, I could do that. And so I was like, why not? Let let's j give it a try, right?
Dr. Sam Rhee (11:16.946)
Mm. Mm-hmm.
Dr. Sam Rhee (11:24.3)
Mm-hmm.
Mike Warren (11:43.266)
But then like the first class workout, I get blown up by everybody. I'm like, what? I thought I'd be good at this.
Dr. Sam Rhee (11:48.713)
Yeah.
Dr. Sam Rhee (11:55.488)
Where was this?
Mike Warren (11:58.463)
It was at bison. I I think it it I think it was like hand clean and like there was some type of running involved and I was getting passed by everybody and I was just like a I you know what know what's hilarious actually? I was running in my my lifters. That so Liz comes and she's like, What are you doing? Like she's like, I'm just gonna let this kid ride it out.
Dr. Sam Rhee (11:59.508)
it was at Bison? Would do you remember that workout? What was that workout?
Dr. Sam Rhee (12:15.298)
What? What?
Dr. Sam Rhee (12:19.227)
my god.
Mike Warren (12:27.47)
Like so like the first couple workouts I did I was running in like lifters because we were there was like power cleans in it. So I'm like I have to wear my my lifters for power cleans. But then there was also running, I was just like, screw it, I'm gonna run at them.
Horrible.
Dr. Sam Rhee (12:44.042)
Are I will say in in my in full disclosure, I have run in lifters when I f you know, early in my CrossFit career and then I realized the stability I got from the lifters was not worth destroying my my feet on the on the runs.
Mike Warren (12:58.529)
no. No. And I'm they're like ten pounds.
Dr. Sam Rhee (13:01.44)
Yes. So that so you did that and you realize this is like harder than it looked, I guess. What
Mike Warren (13:03.714)
And
Mike Warren (13:08.38)
yeah, for sure. it it was it was a lot harder than it looked coming in, you know, I feel like everyone probably thinks more highly of themselves than once they actually get their first work out in. It's pretty humbling. but it really drew in so much passion that I built up from a young age, whether that be the sense of community, the sense of discipline, the sense of just every aspect of
Dr. Sam Rhee (13:20.106)
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.
Mike Warren (13:37.151)
from sports that I lerned. And really the biggest foundational piece is understanding that through the hardest efforts I think you build the most character, whether that be challenges mentally or physically. But every day when you step into the gym, this is what I really love about it, is that you're pushing yourself, or at least I try to, to the best of my ability, and by doing that hard thing I clock in my brain that's like, alright
Dr. Sam Rhee (13:38.498)
Mm-hmm.
Mike Warren (14:05.078)
I did that challenge, I got through it, what's next now?
Dr. Sam Rhee (14:08.514)
So now that you've been CrossFitting for a year and a half or so, what is what are your strengths in CrossFit? What are and what is it that you find most challenging still in CrossFit? Either movement wise or time domain wise or whatever it is like, you know.
Mike Warren (14:24.47)
Mm-hmm. Yeah, I would say pride barbell cycling. Anything with a barbell, I love. I I really do. It's like, give me a barbell, I'll do the workout. It could last for 30 minutes. I love it. but then on right now, what I've really noticed is I'm my burpees are lacking. that's like a big flaw of mine that I have to get right. a lot of gymnastic stuff, still can't do handstand walks, which is I need to get that down.
Dr. Sam Rhee (14:35.042)
Mm.
Mike Warren (14:53.286)
I actually just started doing crossovers, which was good. I was happy about that. but I think like the necessary skills would probably be the handstand walking, better getting better at gymnastics. 'cause, you know, I could butterfly pretty well now with the chest bars. The bar muscle ups are still they're there, but, you know, they're not at the level that I'd like them to be at. And then stuff on the rings, right? 'Cause there's not I haven't practiced too much on the rings yet, so
Dr. Sam Rhee (14:55.828)
Okay.
Mike Warren (15:23.17)
Getting the rings down more, handstand walking, and probably some quad endurance at some point.
Dr. Sam Rhee (15:31.458)
How's your the time domain? So like say a five versus a 10 versus a 30 minute wad, you know, the I would assume s most ex football players are pretty good at machine work, but maybe like you said, the running might still be a challenge a little bit. how do you find all of those different pieces within CrossFit?
Mike Warren (15:39.928)
Mm-hmm.
Mike Warren (15:53.465)
I mean, I always start out hot. So I mean, I don't mind the five minute stuff. I do I like it because it's quick and it's done. I kinda I guess I would struggle more with the middle stuff, where that is like that ten, fifteen minute mark. I find myself struggling a little bit more because I try like the first let's say it's like something four rounds, those first two rounds, they're feeling great. The next two, I'm like
Dr. Sam Rhee (15:55.342)
Yeah.
Mike Warren (16:22.95)
god. The fur I went way too hard the first time. so I would say but on the longer end stuff now, since I'm I'm running like my long runs every single week now are like ten miles. So the the the longer end stuff, whether that be the running, it I I love it. Anything running right now I I'm really loving. but I think it's the middle aspect because the I could start off hot, so those first five minutes I'll be golden.
Dr. Sam Rhee (16:23.34)
Ha ha.
Dr. Sam Rhee (16:26.817)
Yeah.
Dr. Sam Rhee (16:35.711)
wow.
Mike Warren (16:51.734)
Longer stuff I know how to pace myself and my heart rate, I guess. And then but that middle tier area is where I would struggle with.
Dr. Sam Rhee (16:57.746)
Mm-hmm. Did you do Friday's workout with the 27-21 yeah? And how'd you do on that that second part? That's an open workout. That that's probably one of the worst open workouts ever. The 27, 21, 15, 9
Mike Warren (17:04.215)
I did.
Mike Warren (17:13.506)
Yeah, my quads were on fire. I did it at with eight thirteen.
Dr. Sam Rhee (17:17.022)
solid. Okay. All right. Nice. that w
Mike Warren (17:20.47)
It was decent. Especially after like the first part with the thrusters. I never tried to do a really heavy thruster before in my life, so that was interesting.
Dr. Sam Rhee (17:28.437)
Mm. What wait what weight did you do?
Mike Warren (17:30.668)
Two thirty five. Mm.
Dr. Sam Rhee (17:32.37)
before that, yeah. So okay, nice. That's pr that's all right. so you did petru let's see, you competed in the Vitruvian Games, which was your first CrossFit comp. So what did you learn? obviously competing is a very different sort of mindset and experience than say an everyday WAD. So what did you take away from?
Mike Warren (17:53.665)
I loved it. I really did. like stepping like and the Vitruvian Games honestly, I will say, was such a cool re like venue. It it was awesome. It felt like almost like a in person semis type of deal. so what I really kinda learned from it was just understanding like fueling for it, like understanding how much carbs you need to take in in between sessions and in between workouts, to actually
Dr. Sam Rhee (18:07.042)
Mm-hmm.
Mike Warren (18:22.882)
perform the best that you can. also just really understanding that you have to gauge your strengths and you have to gauge your weaknesses. And let's say you understand the one workout might not be the best for you. That means you really, really have to kill it on everything else if you want a podium or if you want to place highly in that. besides that, it was just so fun bat getting back to competing against other people again. It was awesome.
Dr. Sam Rhee (18:24.204)
Mm-hmm.
Dr. Sam Rhee (18:50.252)
Mm-hmm. What do you do outside the gym now in terms of like tracking your nutrition? You know, like what metrics are you like measuring or keeping track of now outside the gym?
Mike Warren (19:02.284)
Yeah, I would say every night I'm looking at my sleep score, whether that be good or bad, you know, that's the best I can do f with sleep is, you know, looking at my garment, seeing how many how I always try to aim for eight, get like six. It's realistically. but besides that I do the Stan Efforting vertical diet, which is just basically whole foods. It's a lot of red meat. and I love it. I think it's super simple. You hit got a lot of micronutrients in there.
Dr. Sam Rhee (19:12.385)
Mm-hmm.
Dr. Sam Rhee (19:16.478)
Okay. Mm-hmm.
Mike Warren (19:31.698)
and you know, I count my macros. So right now I think with training with comp stuff I'm around like three thousand calories and that's like two hundred and forty grams of protein and I think seventy grams of fat and the remaining is carbs.
Dr. Sam Rhee (19:42.614)
Mm-hmm.
Dr. Sam Rhee (19:49.282)
So now you have already tr competed in one triathlon, is that right? And so what made you decide to do a triathlon?
Mike Warren (19:54.882)
Yeah.
Mike Warren (19:59.307)
I would say it was kinda just what my body and my brain likes to do is just find new challenges and tr new try new things. And I was just like gung ho on trying something new besides lifting. And I was like, let's try the most grueling thing I can think of, which was a triathlon. Because I can't I couldn't even imagine coming out of college. I like in my brain, I was like running three miles is crazy to me. And
Dr. Sam Rhee (20:07.031)
Yeah.
Mike Warren (20:29.294)
It completely changed up once I started doing CrossFit. It changed the and this is what I was saying before, right? It's it's more than the physical, it's the mental side. It changed how I thought about myself. And by doing the hardest thing I could do, it made me grow in a lot of other ways besides the physical aspects. So once I realized that I
become the best person or I realize that personal growth is through the hardest things, I just keep on trying to challenge myself in some different type of way, whether that be physically or whatever comes up.
Dr. Sam Rhee (21:03.884)
So can you give me an example of how all of this effort in on your fitness side and getting over or, you know, facing these challenges has helped you say in the rest of your life? Like
Mike Warren (21:15.17)
Yeah, absolutely. I think like I said before, the h the harder things you do in life, the more personal growth you'll experience out of it. And I've become better to my friends, my family, you know, I've grown closer to God because of becoming the best version of myself that I could be. and it honestly
Dr. Sam Rhee (21:37.484)
Mm-hmm.
Mike Warren (21:40.355)
The fitness itself, it clears a lot of white noise out of your head. All that a lot of anxiety comes away. It's you know, just you and the next forty minutes of what you're doing that matter. It's everything else is outside noise and nothing else matters and you could just tunnel vision on one thing and I think everybody needs that in some aspect. And it really just helped me, besides, you know, what I help like try to help other people, it's like I said, the mental aspect.
And also just how it it's it's honestly helped with work too, because it's made me be a little bit more you know, if I wake up early, I go on a run, I come back to my desk and I feel a lot more fresh and I could hop on a call and do something more like effortlessly than I thought before.
Dr. Sam Rhee (22:26.848)
Mm. So what is your next challenge that you have coming up for yourself? What are you what are you training for next? What are you looking forward to?
Mike Warren (22:33.44)
So next week, me and Jess Torch, we have Thieves and Beggars. So that's the comp they're doing at Cedar Grove High School Field. and then after that, I would love to do the it's Athlete X or ATH X games over in yep, Houston, Texas. That's October seventeenth. And along the ways, between now
Dr. Sam Rhee (22:49.985)
right.
Mike Warren (22:58.388)
in the ATHX games, I would try to probably throw in a triathlon in between there. I think the Jersey State triathlon the or the one that I did last year is July nineteenth again, so I'll probably end up doing that at some point as well.
Dr. Sam Rhee (23:11.122)
Mm. So what is the Thieves and Beggars? Are is that a straight up CrossFit competition?
Mike Warren (23:17.504)
So it it is cross it's crossed to A. Like we have like rope climbs, chest to bar, but we also have like a yoke carry in there, sandbag cleans, it reminds me a little bit kind of like Rogue Invitational-esque, where they're doing like odd movements in there. It's not just strictly like what we did at nine eight where that was a lot of, you know, rig work, rope climbs, barbell cycling.
Dr. Sam Rhee (23:32.117)
Okay.
Mike Warren (23:45.133)
This is there's no barbells in this and it's just like odd movements, what with the yoke carries, sandbags over the yoke, sandbag cleans, that type of stuff. but you also have the crossfit stuff with the rig and, you know, rope climbs.
Dr. Sam Rhee (23:57.356)
Mm-hmm. What is your ultimate goal in the future, like long term? Is there anything that you see as like some sort of like far off goal in terms of anything here or in your life?
Mike Warren (24:12.046)
I think I would love to go to an in-person semis. Like that would be awesome. Like that would that is what I would love to do. I think that's a good goal to set out after a year and a half. I I don't want to be like, I'm going to the games.
Dr. Sam Rhee (24:30.018)
I thought you were gonna say that actually. That's why I cut I was setting you up to say that. No.
Mike Warren (24:36.182)
I would love to, right? But you you have to you have to also take a step back sometimes to like 'cause your goals could be so high. And I always like to have the highest goals, right? I would love to go to the games. That's a internal goal. That's like I keep that to myself. Right? But r realistically, I think you gotta take it steps at a time, understand how you're progressing in the sport itself. And that's another thing that really I think people
Dr. Sam Rhee (24:52.298)
Ha ha ha.
Mike Warren (25:04.902)
Like how I view CrossFit, I view it as a sport. I don't view it as a workout, right? And that's two different types of individuals I feel. but yeah, I think my biggest goal would be right now, obviously I would love to go to the games, but going to an in-person semi would be awesome.
Dr. Sam Rhee (25:24.876)
Well, your secret save with me. I won't tell anyone. Just kidding. So, I really appreciate it, Mike. I think t seeing you over this year and a half, I think has inspired a lot of people. I think your presence at the gym has brought not just inspiration, but a lot of joy and fun and entertainment as well. You you are a very happy person at the gym. and also your drive and and fitnessing. I mean, there's no doubt. Like
Mike Warren (25:27.159)
Ha ha ha ha.
Dr. Sam Rhee (25:54.528)
y you bring like a huge amount of tr you know, try hard to everything that you do. Like and, you know, fearlessness, to be honest. Like you you will go for any you'll you know, you'll shoot the sh shoot for the moon pretty much every time. and I think that that you know, for a lot of us that see that, we love that. I mean, whether it's in a competition, whether it's training for, you know, triat triathl triathlon or something else like
I think it just shows I think all of us, hey, maybe if Mike is doing these things, like why shouldn't I also, you know, shoot for these things or or have a little more freedom and joy in what it is? Like I I think you bring a lot of joy when you work out and and I think that that is a huge plus for any gym and I I really appreciate you being there and and I know a lot of people give you crap for, you know, because you're such a you know
Mike Warren (26:39.171)
Yeah.
Mike Warren (26:42.798)
Thank you.
Dr. Sam Rhee (26:54.026)
great person and easy going and you know, w whether people called you Jersey Mike back in the day, I I d I don't see it. Just kidding. You look exactly like someone from the Sopranos, honestly to me, but but but like you I really appreciate that. Like you're pretty special athlete in person. So good luck on the Thieves and Beggars, good luck on your next triathlon and I hope you make the
Mike Warren (27:01.004)
Hehehehehe
Mike Warren (27:05.606)
Ha
Mike Warren (27:13.208)
Thank you, Sam.
Dr. Sam Rhee (27:20.714)
ATH ATHX Games. That's what sponsored by Adidas, that's a big one. and look forward to seeing more of you in the at the gym.
Mike Warren (27:26.318)
Mm-hmm.
Mike Warren (27:29.986)
Yeah? Absolutely, Sam. Thank you so much. All right, take care.
Dr. Sam Rhee (27:32.758)
Thanks so much, Mike.
