Starting, Growing, Selling the Granite Games and the Future of CrossFit Sanctionals w/ Granite Games Founder John Swanson - Barbell Shrugged #411
Barbell Shrugged
Doug Larson
4.7 • 2.8K Ratings
🗓️ 31 July 2019
⏱️ 70 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
John Swanson is the founder and CEO of The Granite Games, owner of Fast Factory Fitness, and owner of Factory Forged.
The goal of The Granite Games is to create a platform that allows all levels and ages to chase their athletic dreams. Our event gives athletes of every skill level the opportunity to compete and have their own professional athlete experience. Each element of this experience is carefully crafted to create a lasting impression. Everything from the athlete's personalized name tag to the design of the competition floor all play a critical role in this experience.
In this episode of Barbell Shrugged, the crew catches John Swanson weeks before the sale of the Granite Games to Loud and Live. Swanson is not only the CEO of the Granite Games but the owner of Fast Factory, a gym in St Cloud, MN and Factory Forged, and online gym consulting business for CrossFit affiliate owners.
Minute Breakdown:
0-10 – How to Run a Competition the Size of the Granite Games on a 9 months schedule.
11-20 – Coaches walking the walk before coaching others
21-30 – Why you should not sell memberships based on athletes using the facility
31-40 - Did you ever think about ending the Granite Games
41 -50 - Creating a long term solution for the Granite Games
51 -60 - Creating sanctions with major events throughout the year
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One Ton Challenge Weekend
August 1st - 4th
Find your 1rm in the snatch, clean, jerk, squat, dead, bench.
Add them up to find your One Ton Total.
The goal is 2,000 pounds for men and 1,200 for women.
4 days. 6 lifts. 1 goal. 1 Ton.
http://live.onetonchallenge.com
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Shark Family, it's CrossFit Games Week and I don't even know what to say. We have so much going on. |
| 0:07.0 | If you're going to be at the Games, you've got to come hang out with us. We're flying in Wednesday night late. |
| 0:12.0 | We're going to be at CrossFit, Big Dane, all day Thursday. We've got three shows scheduled. |
| 0:19.0 | Craig Richie is on the books, Russ Green from CrossFit headquarters is on the books, |
| 0:25.0 | and then Adrian Conway at 4.30 in the afternoon, which is going to be killer because he's also competing in the One-Tone Challenge. |
| 0:34.0 | Friday morning, we've got a couple shows that are sort of books, so I don't want to say them yet. |
| 0:40.0 | And then we're shutting it down about 1 pm and prepping for the One-Tone Challenge, which is taken off from 5 to 8. |
| 0:47.0 | First lift is at 5.30. We're going to start covering it at right about 5 o'clock. |
| 0:52.0 | Athletic announcements will be about 5.15 and we have been told that the final event will end at 5.10. |
| 1:00.0 | So if you're going to be at the Alliance Energy Center and Madison was constant for the CrossFit Games, make sure you get over to hang out with us. |
| 1:11.0 | The One-Tone Challenge is going to be sold at Whisk Hits, just took gold at Pan Am's, clean and jerk 217 kilograms. |
| 1:19.0 | It's like 465 pounds or something like that. |
| 1:23.0 | We had to ensure that we had enough weight at the event. |
| 1:27.0 | So there's two male platforms with 600 pounds and we had to get an additional 100 pounds just because he's going to be there. |
| 1:36.0 | But we've got a stacked line up, Leah Cassiano, just set up with Savage Barbell. |
| 1:42.0 | They're bringing three females and one male Kenny Leverage, three times Games Champ. |
| 1:48.0 | We've got a platform that's got Whisk Hits, Adrian Conway and Easy Muhammad lifting. |
| 1:53.0 | So it's going to be so lit and then Saturday, we're going to be at the Fit-Aid booth all day, Sunday, all day at the Fit-Aid booth. |
| 2:00.0 | Make sure you get to the Fit-Aid after party afterwards. It's an all white party. |
| 2:04.0 | So make sure you're there. That's just where we're going to be throughout the week. |
| 2:08.0 | Killer Show today, we're hanging out, John Swanson. |
| 2:11.0 | I don't know if there's anybody in the cross space that I respect more than I have been able to learn from in the last couple of years. |
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