The Military Mindset: Balancing Work And Fitness W/ Chandler Smith — Real Chalk #61
Barbell Shrugged
Doug Larson
4.7 • 2.8K Ratings
🗓️ 5 February 2019
⏱️ 64 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Chandler Smith (@blacksmifff) is making a name for himself in the fitness world while holding it down in the Army—except for one time he got his finger chopped off. (You bet that story is included in this episode!) But he's fine, and crushing it on the Misfit team at Wodapalooza.
What does it take to be an athlete with a brand? We talk about the way the game has changed, being competitive while working a day job, and how sometimes you just need to fail until something works. Chandler gives us a glimpse into the influence Army training has had on his fitness career, and tells us what's next for him.
It may not always love us back (injuries, bad judges, the new Games qualification format) but we've got a lot of appreciation for this sport and all the crazy people we get to do it with. Whether you're a failed athlete in another sport, or you peaked and needed a new outlet, or you're just a savage addicted to the pain cave, there's room for you.
Now get out there and kill it!
-Ryan
1:00 How the game has changed since Fisch's day (failed athletes and real jobs)
5:15 Chandler's training/school balance, transitioning from wrestling to CrossFit
8:00 Adapting to limitations (Tarzan and Jane)
9:30 Fisch's military aspirations and some backstory
14:30 How military training influences CrossFit, but also the toll on your body
20:00 Injury repair and maintenance
27:00 If you can't win the Games, build a brand
36:00 You may not be able to imagine your life trajectory yet, so just go do stuff
37:00 The things Ryan does to get a workout in
40:30 Chandler chopped his finger off, but it just stoked the fire
45:30 What's next? Don't hold your breath for a Army x CrossFit collaboration
47:00 We're all weirdos here. Some of us are born with it, some of us have worked really hard.
54:30 Where to find Chandler
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Show notes: http://www.shruggedcollective.com/rc-smith
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Shrugged Collective is a network of fitness, health and performance shows that help people achieve their physical and mental health goals. Usually in the gym, but outside as well. In 2012 they posted their first Barbell Shrugged podcast and have been putting out weekly free videos and podcasts ever since.
Along the way we've created successful online coaching programs including The Shrugged Strength Challenge, The Muscle Gain Challenge, FLIGHT, Barbell Shredded, and Barbell Bikini.
We're also dedicated to helping affiliate gym owners grow their businesses and better serve their members by providing owners tools and resources like the Barbell Business Podcast.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Ladies and gentlemen, it's Tuesday. I hope that you missed me more than a little bit. |
| 0:05.6 | That last episode with Armin Hammer was fire. |
| 0:09.8 | A lot of you guys have been messaging me throughout the past week telling me how ridiculously funny |
| 0:14.7 | some parts of that episode were. And as you know, I get a little bit out of hand sometimes. |
| 0:20.3 | I'm sorry if I offended you. |
| 0:22.3 | No, I'm not. I'm really not. |
| 0:25.9 | Anyway, it's always good to get to learn all the good things and have a great time while doing it. |
| 0:30.3 | That's the whole reason the Real Chalk podcast exists. |
| 0:32.7 | Real talk. Real chalk. Your boy. |
| 0:35.1 | Alright, anyway, I'm getting excited. |
| 0:36.8 | We get to sit down today with Chandler Smith. |
| 0:39.7 | If you guys don't know who Chandler Smith is, he's one of like, I don't know, |
| 0:44.8 | five badass black athletes in the CrossFit community. So you had to have seen him at some point. |
| 0:49.5 | He was just at Wata Paloza on the misfits team, which is where we did this episode. |
| 0:54.1 | So he became into the back of the Fit A tent and sat down and hashed out some things. |
| 0:59.3 | I think what's really cool about this man is that he was competing while he was in the West Point Army Academy, |
| 1:06.9 | which is pretty awesome. I think anybody who can go through training like that and compete at the same time at anything at all is |
| 1:12.8 | a-okay in my book. Not only that, but he's been just killing it in general. |
| 1:17.7 | And I think the best thing that is like most memorable on his behalf, well, there's two things. |
| 1:23.1 | But the first one is that he went to Regionals and was just throwing down with Ben Smith one day, |
| 1:28.3 | which is funny because his name is Blacksmith. So it's like the Black Ben Smith, which I thought was hilarious. |
| 1:32.8 | But anyway, he just came out like blazing and did really, really, really well and almost made it to the games |
... |
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