Dr. Sarah Summers (Act 1) | Kettlebell lifter, musical theater enthusiast, NERD!

I'm going to say, yeah, music, Hamilton, because I'm so off of my I am not listening. Okay, let's sing bird. Let's sing bird. Oh God. Oh, we're, uh, what's easier? No, no, bird, bird is fine, bird is fine. It just makes me cry. Oh, it's such a good sign, but it makes me cry. For, um, oh, we'll just, we'll just, we'll do. Raise a glass to freedom. Something they can never take away. No matter what they tell you. Raise a glass to the four of us. Tomorrow there'll be more of us telling the story of tonight. We'll tell the story of tonight. Welcome to the platform podcast where we talk to coaches, athletes, experts and real people to learn about their approaches to training, nutrition, mindset, and much more. I'm your host, Jordan Konirai, founder and head coach at the Twin Cities Ketaba Club, and I am on a mission to help others build sustainable, healthy lifestyles. This week, my guest is Dr. Sarah Summers. Now, she is a Ketaba lifter on the team Ritalstruck out of Ontario, Canada, and she is a fellow musical theater enthusiast and, uh, nerd across many, many facets. And I think you will see in this episode that we nerd out, uh, very, very hard. And I am very excited to tell you that I had her on for not one, but two episodes. One, this one was pre Twin Cities Ketaba open competition, having occurred. We did it the day prior to the competition while she was here in town. And she is the first person that I have ever interviewed in person. Uh, and we did that so that we could sing together, uh, as you heard in the teaser here prior to this intro because we are such musical theater nerds and we sing a lot. And one of the things that Sarah and I connected on so much is our love of music and our love of musical theater and our love of singing. Um, so I just felt like I had to do this interview in person with her, uh, so that we could sing together because we sing with each other all the time. We've become really good friends now throughout the course of the pandemic. And via Zoom up until this in-person meeting that we finally got to have, um, which was just phenomenal. So, um, this will be part one of, uh, of this, uh, of this interview. And I will say that the second part is post the competition. And it was honestly because Sarah was like, we did not get into nearly enough kettlebell sport and, uh, we talked way, uh, way more about other things as you'll hear in this episode. So, um, fair warning. There's a lot of nerding out across the number of dimensions, but I hope you enjoy the conversation and can feel the love in the conversation because it really was so much fun. And thank you, Sarah, for being patient with me, for inviting you on. I've wanted to have you on for a long time, but I wanted to do it in person. So, uh, you are the first person in person that I have gotten to interview. So, I really appreciated it and it was fantastic. So, thank you so much. And to the listeners, um, thank you to you. As always, I'm grateful that you listen to this podcast. And, um, if you enjoy the content I put out, uh, as always, I will ask you to please leave us a five-star rating and review, share with friends, um, and let people know about this podcast. And of course, if you want to step onto the platform and competing kettlebell sport or need help with your nutrition, please reach out to me as I help athletes of all levels reach their goals without wasting time using my integrated coaching approach. You can of course follow me on Instagram, Facebook, and YouTube at Twin Cities Kettlebell or email me at Twin Cities Kettle Club at gmail.com. Now, without further ado, let's step onto the platform with my friend, Dr. Sarah Summers. All right, welcome in to this week's episode of the platform podcast. We are coming to you from lovely little Canada, Minnesota. And I have my guest, Sarah Summers, in from Canada. So, from Canada to little Canada. Yes. Welcome to the smaller version of where you're already from. We got really excited last night. We were driving to our Airbnb. We saw a little Canada and all the Canadians look like yay. I honestly have no idea why they called it little Canada at all. Yeah. But it does make me happy. Yeah, I might have to find that out before I leave, because yeah, we should probably go on a on a fact finding. Yes, yes. It would be, yeah, it'll be very important for us to find that out. So, Sarah is in from from Canada and you are a member of team Riddle Strug, V team Riddle Strug. So, we had a fun we had a fun moment at the airport last night. I was able to help pick pick them up because you've got what's seconds six of us and then Bobby's Hicks is staying with us as well. Yeah, six people flying in from from Canada. So they had to get a rental car. And I was like, Hey, I can help pick people up because bags and what have you. So, we had a fun little moment when we pulled up through the truck and parked and just got out and the biggest most joyful group hug you have ever seen because Jordan has been in our chat group since February and we've never actually met in person, but I feel like he's my best friend. It was yeah, it was like it was so fun. Yeah, the cop that the cop was staring us up and down pretty pretty good, but I think we were just so happy he just even a cop couldn't disturb that. It was probably like he was honestly really, he probably didn't give a shit about the half of the fact that I just threw the truck in parking. Yes, really even like pull into a parking spot. I was like there they are. Well, how about the fact that Steve like jumped in your passenger side like before you had even parked. I don't know whether he was just that excited or if he was just cleaning shotgun. Yeah, for sure. Him and Matt, you know, they've got their friendly, their friendly rivalry with you know, he had to clean shotgun even though Matt is, I mean, roughly a foot taller. Yes. So, you know, he's more than a foot taller than me. So, yeah, you know, so, well, Sarah, thank you so much for coming on. We didn't even get a chance to thank you. It's okay. I'm so thrilled to be here. It's been a long time coming. Yeah, I know it was, I know it was probably becoming a point of frustration for me, but I had long, I had long decided that you were going to be somebody that I needed to interview on person because we sing. Yes. Like we both sing. Yeah, and this is one of the things that we have in common is they shared love for music, for musical theater, for vocalists, which we will definitely get into. So, I was like, yeah, you can't do that on Zoom. We've tried. Yeah. We have tried and Zoom cannot handle people singing at the same time at like, mute one person's microphone or something or the audio gets super garbled and I mean, it would sound rough. Yeah. Really rough. Not that we're going to sound super sharp, but there will be singing BTW. Yeah. We're probably going to say. So, sorry, not sorry in advance. Yeah. So, we'll start with some of the traditional. Yes, we should probably talk about kettlebells. Yeah, a little bit. People what they want. Yes. You know, and some doses. So, how long have you been doing kettlebells in general and kettlebells specifically? Yeah. So, thankfully, it had some memories come up earlier this year. So, I have actually been able to pinpoint the ear that I started and that was 2016. Okay. So, five years now. You're like a toddler. Yeah. Yeah. Or more than a toddler now. I guess you're like a young child. Yeah. Yeah. A broken young child. This sport, I seem to reach good success and then, you know, enter myself in stupid ways. So, yeah, or just, you know, I think it's just a journey of learning your body and the biomechanics of your particular body and then reacting and becoming stronger. So, your husband is Matt Boris. Yes. Some people should know. So, Matt was on before. Yeah. His injuries predated kettlebell sport just as do mind due to stupid men activities. Yeah. Smashing our heads into each other and things like that. Well, you're talking about specific injuries that you've picked up in your journey on kettlebells. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, I had a few here and there from softball and I do have arthritis on my right. And my right wrist. But I just like learning how to lift properly ice and lifting heavier weights. You tend to realize that there's some, you know, some biomechanical things you need to work through. So, I would say not only have I been on a kettlebell journey, I've also been on a mobility journey as well in learning about my body in a way that I never thought I would because I mean, I injured myself here and they're growing up, but not to this extent. But I have a great team in place. So, including Dr. Kettlebell himself, Eric St. Ange. Yeah. Dr. Kettlebell. Yeah. He is he is just as tall in person. I thought he would be apparently he was taller than some people expected him to be. Bobby thought he was he was like, you're even taller than I thought. This is the joy of actually giving like to get together in person. Yeah. What I'm excited about is like, we've we've been faces on screens now for, I mean, like you said, since February. Yeah. Yeah. And like, you know, I've known, I've known of you guys and like interact with you adjacently in football sport for a while. And like to actually get a chance to have a group hug and like to see that Eric is the giant I thought he was. And that Steve is Steve is short. And you know, that we all talked about, you know, like it's super fun. Yeah. A bigger grind of mine is like, we were both at US Nationals in 2018 and Michigan, right? I was not. Oh, you weren't. Oh, okay. There were just some Kettle 363 and 16 T-shirts and stuff. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. That was probably. Okay. But never mind. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. For sure. Yeah. Kettle 316 has has proliferated more and more, which I'm, which I'm happy about. I still have to define what what Kettle 316 actually. Yeah. Cause, you know, I remember his like, you know, John 316. And then there's awesome 316s. I just walked your ass. What is Kettle 316s? Yeah. Like, I don't. I haven't actually. How do we nail that down? Cause you're like very good with your, like, your Viking-related branding and stuff. But to not have the Kettle 316 nail down, you might have to talk to Amanda Zoltz about that. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, yeah. I definitely need some. I need some influencer help. I need some. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Many people that are that are sharper at it than. Yeah. I can't take, I can't take credit for for that brand. Yeah. Like it was my brainchild, but like my, my friend Raul Castillo's out in Cali. Yeah. He's, he's the guy that really came up with the brand identities. Got it. I can't, I can't claim. I can claim like with a lot of things. I can claim like the, the idea seated with me, but I have very little actual artistic talent. Oh, yeah. So I can't bring my own ideas to life. I just like explain them to them. Yeah. So I'm thinking, like a rough sketch and they take what I did and make it like bad. Yeah. Exactly. This is so much, they're like, yeah, give me any feedback you have. Give me as many iterations as you need. I'm like, this is so much cooler than anything I could actually come up with. Right. I'm not that creative. Other than being able to create ideas, but I can. Yeah. Well, that's why I think Team Riddle checked by now is pretty well known for awesome t-shirts. And it's good to have a person around like that like Eric Lamb, who's been working with us and they work with, he works with Swanson Mountain Fitness now too. Oh nice. Like he's done all of our logo designs, you know, our superhero inspired logo design logo designs and yeah, yeah, there's no copyright infringement. No, absolutely not. But like we're you know, Steve Eric and I are just like very superhero obsessed. So it's good to have someone around you to bring your vision to life. Yeah. Okay. We want to be known for Good Swag. Yeah. So you guys definitely had Good Swag. I got a branded mask when y'all got the way. Yes. Yeah. That was a little surprise. So there's the Team Riddle Struct slash Team LaVoy mask. Yes. How has Merca welcomed you with the masking and everything? How was traveling? It was weird. So we landed last night and we went to this great little this great bar or local bar and where is it? Badness Heights. Badness Heights. Which is technically where we are. Yeah. We're like ready to invade little Canada. We're on their northern border. Yeah. And we were all all the Canadians at least we were wearing our fat face less into the rush on because we're just very conditioned to at this point. Like we have vaccine passports on Ontario. But if you get up from your table, you put a face mask on. Like that's just what happens. And Americans are like. Yeah. Yeah. And especially because we were all wearing our like kettlebell stuff and then we had the matching face mask. We're all wearing like shirts and head skulls. Yeah. Like the Team Riddle Struct. The Team Riddle Struct OGT shirts and yeah. So I don't know if it was a face mask. I don't think it was. It may not have been the face mask. But you know, considering I am American, I'm home versus you know, being welcomed by a foreign country. So. So do you have dual citizenship? No. The citizenship, citizenship application is actually pretty extensive in Canada. And I just haven't got to keep people off of that sweet nationalized health. Yeah. But like you you can get the health care being a permanent resident. I'm pretty much only not allowed to vote. That's like the only thing. Well, I mean, given the last few election cycles in America, I can't say that I blame them for not wanting Americans to vote in their elected. Yeah. Well, absentee ballots, baby, if you live overseas, use those absentee ballots. So do you make a difference? Especially when you are voting in North Carolina. Okay. Like I am. Yeah. So I, when I go for like the world world teams and stuff like that, I am competing as an American. That's why we go to like US championships and things like that because that's me. Yeah. So we got to do it. We got to do it. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yeah. A origin story. Like we got to how you kind of got a decadent. Okay. So you are born in America. Yes. I was actually a midwestern by birth. I was born in St. Louis, I'm sorry. Okay. And then we moved to Pittsburgh when I was six and that's where I grew up. Okay. And then. And then UNC Chapel Hill. Yeah. So I went to undergrad at NYU. And then I did New York University. I've never heard of it. Oh, yeah. It's kind of a big deal. I don't know. I don't know. Anybody from Broadway? I don't know. Like maybe Adina Menzel. Oh. Oh. Yeah. And I was in that one, that one show. Oh, my God. A friend. Wicked? No. No. That one too. Oh, wait. What else has seen on for? Oh, yeah. Into the unknown. Yeah. Yeah. I have your name butchered by John Treble. Yeah. And she's also Jewish is being a Jew. We like to like tell everyone who's Jewish. So I get to name drop the NYU affiliation and her Jewish. You have the chosen ones on. Yes. Yes. Yes. Of course. We're not discriminating. Yes. No, absolutely not. Absolutely not. But you know, we I think we should start like a Jewish like lifting chat group. Matt Boris will have to hook us up with that. Well, have you have you have you seen of the the Jewish kettlebell challenge? Cain Jerkstein? You have to you have to you have to follow them on. Okay. Okay. It's yeah. Well, I do follow like these really lifters. A lot of them. So it's it's nice that they're getting a little group going. And then it's Solomon Ross getting of course. Yeah, you know, a friend of the podcast. So yeah, I hope you're still listening as well. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So there there are some nice Jewish lifters out there. Absolutely. Okay. Yeah. Okay. How do you NYU for undergrad? Yes. And then so I said you see UNC Chapel. Yeah. That's where I got my PhD in history. Yeah. So I don't um oh, so should I should I have entered you as doctor? Um, technically I am a doctor, but I know it's okay. It's okay. Sorry. And um female academics tend to be really hesitant to put the doctor in front their name when they're not a medical doctor, but I'll do it sometimes when I'm flying just because it's kind of cool. Like I do have a doctorate and I have the right to call myself doctor Summers. So yeah. And I do like I still teach online at Wilford Laurier University. So when I am teaching I am doctor Summers. So yeah. I have no credentials like that. So congrats. Thank you. And so doctorate in history. Yes. German history. German history. Yeah. Specifically why German history? Uh, I really fell in love with the language. Uh, so I had a fantastic German teacher in junior high school. Um, Dr. Kessler, Mr. Kessler, um, oddly enough when I got to UNC Chapel Hill, one of the professors in the German department there also graduated from my high school. And also got into German because of Mr. Kessler. So yeah. And uh, my really good friend in elementary school, her mom is a German teacher at another school district. And so they always had like exchange students staying at their houses and stuff. So it was kind of a living language for me a little bit. Um, with that. And uh, I just, the language is so interesting and challenging, very, very challenging. It is a very challenging language. Yeah. And I don't back down from a challenge. Let me tell you that. Give me six declensions. I don't care. Some of the reasons it's challenging for people that don't express individuality. Yes. The articles are gendered. Yeah. But there's no rhyme or reason to why they're gendered a particular way. Yeah. Well, I mean, about 40 to 50 percent of the time there is an actual reason why it's like female male or neuter. But then you kind of guess and the rest of the 60 percent of the time. Yeah. For the majority of the time. Yeah. I have no idea. Yeah. Yeah. And it's really just practice. Like when I'm not practicing German, I screw up the genders like you would not believe. Yeah. Well, that's on native speakers. No, whether or not native speakers, how often you screw up the chose with things. Yeah. Yeah. Which, and I fool people because I'm actually pretty good with my accent. Like if, when I'm there and I've been there for a while, like it's very hard to pick up that I'm not a native speaker. But then I start making grammar mistakes. And then it's fairly obvious. Yeah. Exactly. So I've always loved history as well. So when I got into history, just made total sense to me, did you German history? But I obviously, you know, everyone thinks every German historian does like World War One, World War Two Holocaust. And I actually focus on post 45 German history and feminism in Germany. So yeah. Reconstruction era. How did they how did they rebuild from? Actually, not even more of the 60s and 70s. So like the student protest. Yeah. Student protest movement, feminism, feminist movement, but also politics like high politics. And how are you still up to date with current events? Oh, yeah. Yeah. Well, like Angela Merkel was so interesting. I'm going to start getting really technical here. But the Christian Democratic Union, Union being a very Catholic based organization hasn't always been the greatest with, um, especially helping women work in Germany. There's a lot up until maybe about 10 years ago, like most of the school system was half day. So like it was at Angela Merkel's party. Yes. Angela Merkel's party. Yeah. Sorry about that. Um, but Ursula Von DeLion, who you've probably heard about, um, because she's, uh, Germany's representative to the EU right now. And I think she's the president of the EU. I have to fact check that. But I think you're right. Yeah. She started got her start as the family as the family minister. And she actually, she's got like eight kids by the way. She's like this, yeah, she's crazy. Not crazy. But like it's just, yeah, it's not, it's crazy in the sense that she's, yeah, that she's been able to get, get to where she has with so many children, because that's really bucking the norm, especially for her generation in, in West Germany. So, um, but Angela Merkel, who is also a doctorate, she's got a doctorate in, um, in medicine, not medicine in biology, I think, her chemistry. Um, and she's not married, but she, or not married, she doesn't have children. And she also have underlying and just like, reformed everything, which is really interesting. So, Angela Merkel did propagate like a good reform of, of child care policies and things like that for women in Germany. Um, so who steps in now? I don't know, man, they're still trying to figure that out. I, I check back in December. We'll know by then. They're trying to, yeah, figure that out. How do you feel about the resurgence of, uh, fascist factions and like the Nazi party is, like, yeah, it's really scary. I mean, always, also as a Jew, like, it's scary. And I have, I have, um, friends who are German historians, um, who are like black feminists, German historians, who have faced such bad, just such bad experiences in Germany, just like on trains and things like that, having like the most, just plurable, disgusting things said to them. Uh, and it's, especially in the eastern parts of the country, it's a huge problem, but it's very economically based. Like, there's a high, still high level of unemployment in the eastern parts of Germany, um, and things like that. And, um, it's scary, especially even though I didn't, my dissertation did not focus on Holocaust history and fascism. It's still, still something I studied with Christopher Browning, who's one of the foremost Holocaust historians and him and some other Holocaust historians have published very good kind of criticism of like the Donald Trump era and things like that. And like, there's some, it's not a perfect collation, you know, correlation, but you see it still see a lot of the troubling trends. Um, and it's about polarization. That's really what was happening about the time that Hitler came to power was a huge polarization right and left in Germany. And some of the elections that the Nazi party were participants in went equally like right and left, like far right, far left. Um, so, uh, it's, it's scary to look at that, um, it's, it helps tremendously that Donald Trump is no longer in power, uh, you know, he, but when you see the movement that he created, and, um, it, it's still very scary to watch. And I'm not entirely sure, like what to do about it as well. That makes two of us. Yeah. The, uh, the global trend towards authoritarianism is from, from democratic rules. Yeah. Well, the autocracy is very scary. And yeah, but they're, you know, you look at Bwerte and the Philippines and, well, hungry. I, the, where the IUKL championship is going on right now. Right now. Right now, like, uh, hungry has been one of the scariest cases in, in Europe as well. So, which sucks because I've been a beautiful, like, it's such a beautiful country. A beautiful country. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I have, I have a lot of friends that have gone and my friends that are well-traveled, they told me that, that Hungary is one of the, like, most beautiful places in the world. Yeah. Yeah. And like, Buddha passed itself with such an interesting city with such an incredible history. And it's just like, uh, it's really, we feel a little hopeless, you know, as a single person watching geopolitical events, but it's, I think it's important to be informed as an individual, not as a single person. Yeah. Yeah. You're not, you're, you're not single, uh, sorry, you're so married. That was an individual, not as a single person. All right. So, uh, I will, I will, uh, part of the line from Hamilton and say, let's get off of politics. Yes. Thank you. And what we're about kettlebell. We'll get back, we'll get back to, we'll get back to kettlebell. Yeah. You alluded to, you alluded to, uh, some injuries that you're, uh, you have a good team in place that are helping you with. So, what are you, so what are you dealing with? And what are you doing, uh, tomorrow? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I'm here to compete, man. I've been working really hard. So, um, there's been, I've had two major injuries over the past five years, which I guess is like pretty good, uh, I don't know, this current one's still kind of picking me in the butt, but, um, so I developed SI joint issues in my back, uh, and then learned that, you know, this thing called strength training is probably really important as like a cursory to kettlebell lifting, but also that's when I really got heavily into yoga from ability. I know there's many different ways to do mobility, but yoga seemed to work the best for me. Uh, and, um, right now back in May, right after the Swanson mountain fitness, uh, this, the North Ogonquin kettlebell open the shout out to Lorraine. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Can't wait to meet you guys. Um, you haven't met them. No. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So, again, yeah. I just just, I would love because you're in Canada, like, yeah, when some dumb of this, we should talk about like all of the things that happened over COVID among Canadian kettlebell lifters, because it's kind of a cool story, but anyway, like I hit 80 reps with double 16s for long cycle, and then I busted my knee. Uh, I have like a pretty, I had injured the meniscus in my knee, and I've been, I've could only do, I at least could still lift. I just could only do one arm lifts. Uh, the extra weight of two bells just, um, you know, obviously like my knee needed to heal and things like that. So, um, I've been working with Eric on both, you know, he's a chiropractor, but he does a lot of soft tissue things as well. And also a doctor, also a doctor, um, and, I, I would like to slacker on the credentials. No, well, I just, I feel like it's amazing, absolutely amazing working with someone that does kettlebell sport as well. Uh, because initial reactions from other healthcare providers I've gone to in the past has been like, what the F are you doing like doing that? Yeah. And Eric, you know, Treesau, like, and all these, like, he's going to do everything in his power to make sure that I can still do what I'm doing to the extent that I can, you know obviously but there's no nose unless it's like really really bad. It's like figure out what you can do because you need to keep moving. But you know I've been working in my rehab very very diligently and just you know giving it time to heal. It's also hard because my current employment means I'm on my feet all day so that has been difficult to get through as well for the healing process but I back in August I found that I could lift double bells again and I thought I'd just be only be able to do jerk but realize that the long cycle actually was good like that the rehab had helped. The mobility it can do is helped so tomorrow I am lifting double 12 kilogram long cycle and I've never been so proud to step on the platform with double twels even after I said I would never lift double 12s of the competition ever again but it's just it's part of the journey right now for me and I'm so excited that I can get on the platform and lift two bells between my legs many for many repetitions so I'm hoping by March or so that I'll be able to compete with the double 16s again. Yeah I was supposed and what's it's kind of I'm very I'm just focusing on the positive but I was I was actually transitioning to the double 20s when all of this happened too so I was really looking forward to getting into that like semi professional class because I've worked really hard in the past year for that and so it was really disappointing and really took a toll on my mental health for a while but I've just been really focused on the positive I don't know just when I was able to pick up the double bells again it was like okay I'm home you know like I'm I'm doing what I love and you know it's healing like it's healing yeah and then I'm also doing snatch tomorrow a double 16 kilogram snatch yeah yeah so I'm super pumped first in person competition since October of 2019 so shout out to Dave and Dirkia for that competition that they got to little did he know that would be our last competition for a very very long time in person but he always puts on a good comp and yeah so just really excited to meet some new lifters that I've gotten into the game during COVID and to see my my best bud Amanda Zoltis in her first in person competition too so yeah we're going to be wrapping Amanda and I are on the platform in the last flight which is not unintentional I mean I put myself in the last flight intentionally and then that Amanda goes yeah I do so yeah they'll be good lunch and the last and the last set before we get into the reviews yeah they'll be a lot of shouting during that one yeah well I think there's just gonna be a lot of there's gonna be a lot of shouting in general I think everybody is really excited about getting to lift in person yeah so many people that are doing like their first competition yeah very excited about and then there's gonna be some PRs tomorrow and then there's some people that have leveled up their game then I'm really excited to see and yeah the the competition for best overall coefficient is gonna be hot and heavy between two of our friends of the podcast even riddle and we also into the mighty mouse yeah the little way which there's been a lot of chirping between the two of them the past 24 hours and the amount of math that they've been talking about trying to figure out how many reps what they're gonna weigh in it's been really fun and there's some other they're both through a triathlon yes they're both yeah both like relatively light yes yeah and they're lifting relatively heavy yes compared to their body weight so their coefficients are gonna be stupid yes and it's gonna be it's gonna be really fun and they've been just crushing their training sets yeah like I can't I can't wait to see it thank you so much for tuning into this episode of the platform podcast by the time this episode's come out we will have completed our first annual twin cities kettlebell open and I hope it goes as well as I think it well so I want to once again give a thank you to all of the people who participated either virtually or in person and I want to especially thank our sponsors elevator belts barefoot athletic shoes pro kettlebell 27 degrees apparel camber and customs and inspired nutrition and thank you to each and every one of you who listen to this podcast and decided to participate I hope to see you again next year now without further ado let's get back into this episode yes I'm really excited to see that I'm really excited to see Carter Berry oh yes oh yes oh yes it was the first time I've met Carter in person oh okay yeah and then my boy Tim Boyer is oh my god I'm so excited for big 10 hand in like 30 yeah he texted me this morning I can't wait to meet you first and I'm like bro I can't wait to talk about inspiring COVID story like like a lot of people I started noticing him on reddit on the kettlebell forum and on the arc kettlebell and it just and then all of a sudden he was like training sport and I'm like is Jordan training camp like that was my immediate thought actually was like is he working with Jordan it just seemed like it would be such a good fit and yeah it's you know yeah Tim yeah Tim yeah Tim and I Tim and I connected right away and he's honestly like you know it's like it's like the same thing that happened with with you and me like he became one of my best friends right away yeah right away and I was just like this guy is just somebody I can talk to for like like and this is this is you know no offense to anybody else that I coach like we get on our check-in calls and we'll talk for you know our usual cadence on our check-in calls for like 20 30 minutes about like what's going on with this nutrition house yeah what's the plan all those things and then we'll just talk for like another hour about life so like reveal Jordan is my nutrition coach as well um but yeah it's the same thing when we have our esteem calls it's like we have to like cut ourselves off it's like it's late like it's meant that we can't say anymore yeah yeah for sure yeah but it's good like I love the connections that we make in this sport are phenomenal yeah it's been it's been fantastic yeah all right awkward transition okay something we have to talk about yes why is Star Trek or Star Wars the better of the two franchises which is better oh why go um I'm going to pull the introvert and say they're both amazing in different ways okay no no you don't get that easy which is better you have to pick one okay um I think I'm gonna go Star Trek um just because I feel like it has a more continual influence my life like Star Wars kind of comes in in an out but I always have Star Trek playing in one iteration or another in my life it's like my it's like my my baby blanket if you will okay yes all right best captain ever same time okay well it is okay everybody knows it's Picard oh yeah and and I'm sorry the new Picard show is fantastic it's so it's even artistic like it's so well done they bring in previous characters so oh no sorry it's okay it's okay it's okay you know Hamilton that's okay yes I so I will say I actually like Star Wars I like Star Wars better like yeah not not because it's better you're right they are they're different they're they're different yes um and it's and it is but the reason I have so much appreciation for Star Wars is we're not for Star Wars I would have never liked Star Trek okay that's fair like Star Wars I was like I was a reticent nerd like yeah okay I want to be nerdy but like I've been nerdy my whole life and just into yeah yeah like I totally get you like I totally get you um but it's but it's like sci-fi and fantasy just played such a strong role in my life because my father like foundation has just been turned into a television series on Apple TV and foundations a series of books written by Isaac Asimov and that was literally my first sci-fi book because my dad had his copy when he was like when he was a teenager so I think it was um I don't know but it was like I haven't watched any episodes because I'm waiting until they're all so I can just watch them all I can't do this like you you can't go back to 1997 where it's like scheduled TV yeah yeah yeah yeah to be able to binge Netflix ruined it yeah yeah to be able to binge I just was so freaking excited I just had to start watching because Lee Pace is in it too which he's like doing is doing is coming out which oh I'm gonna see if anyone wants to go tonight honestly like I'm just so freaking excited for June like you have no idea people no idea so much like I love that like so that sci-fi is getting traction again like yeah you know so I just yeah and I don't think I could have chosen a better director for it too like um just um you know Blade Runner 2046 is pretty good but um the same director did a rival as well which was such a like a movie a sci-fi movie that made linguistics cool like yeah not an easy task and he's just he's such a great director and I think he just has the right look and feel for a more modern day take on June but I actually love the the old one too yeah so I will I will watch it on occasion because it's just so campy and it is there is a campiness to the original book too in like a weird way so yeah I was just like awesomely bad like uh it's but the card isn't it that is true so yeah I had I had I had I had asked well I would like I think I think the difference between Star Wars and Star Trek is um Star Wars is you know it's sci-fi and Star Wars definitely skews more towards the fiction yes and Star Trek skews more towards the science component like obviously fictional as well but like it's just it seems nerdier and like my super smart friends are like yeah Star Trek is the smarter life that's what smart people okay and they're like they're like very they're very aggressive yeah and the like Star Wars is kind of like um like Greek mythology like there's a reason why you kind of have the same family story playing over and over again and things like that um which is amazing like I love Greek and Roman mythology Icelandic mythology like all of that Norse mythology like um there's only eight stories yeah yeah yeah they always tell the same stories in different yeah exactly but the the cartoon tv shows are amazing too um but Star Trek is more rooted in uh a like social consciousness and social justice which as a person that's very interested in kind of social movements and things like that like and has always been interested in those topics um even before um you know I went to grad school like it's a world it's envisioning a world in a society that um it's like that envisioning science fiction like a world that we would love to have you know where there's no poverty and things like that now I loved eat space nine though because you actually learn more about other planets and like you know the whole beijor versus kardasia and like there is some tones of kind of the holocaust in that as well with the occupation and some of the stories that at least in the first couple seasons that they explore like the trauma of occupation and internment camps and resistance and things like that um that because but they have more time like they've got multiple television shows with you know every one of them having so many seasons yeah and I have such a hard time even comparing the two for yeah like when you have so many installments of the story to tell like you can tell it in so much greater granularity yeah but it's really actually hard to compare the two but I do understand the the philosophical debate between the two because yeah one definitely is much is much more like you said it's much more classic and like the ties to to Roman mythology yeah and and other other mythology and and Star Trek is more of its own creation yeah there's less influences to it but but I also I do actually one of the things I really always appreciate about about Star Wars is that it's such a amalgamation of different religious philosophies yeah universalistic it's like there's a lot of Dallas and that there's a lot of Buddhism and there's a lot like there's a lot of different there's a lot of different things and it was honestly uh the western world's exposure to eastern philosophy in all ways right like yeah a lot of people were not consciously aware of Buddhist Buddhist practice or Dallas practice at all yeah until they saw Star Wars and then go deeper into Star Wars and you realize oh these are actually like religious themes that have been since the sixth century yeah and and that's so I think the clone war like the television Star Wars shows are really redeeming some factors that all fans hate about like the movies especially the first three episodes like the Clone Wars like really drew out Anakin and his change and his relationship with Padmaid too like you actually see them as a couple and like the struggles they went through and makes and it makes his turn at the end a little bit more I hate yeah yeah best dialogue yeah although I think rebels is probably my favorite of the the cartoons but the bad batches pretty cool too but they only have one season there's a there's a there's a very strong uh canonical orthodoxy that's emerging in my household I've been checking in on you and your Star Wars viewing with your kids because that's just like a that's a momentous occasion when you start being able to do that yeah they're going full on down the rabbit hole which I'm super excited about so you know the spoiler alert are Halloween costumes this year are my kids are going my kids are going as Luke and Leia because Blaine girl yeah I had to go as either Anakin or Vader and my wife had to go as Padmaid my daughter was like you can't be Leia you can't be ready she's like she's like I'm going as Leia because I'm your daughter on that has to go as Vader because or yeah yeah their father like they were very focused on the canonical accuracy up until the point of light saber color choice then my son was like no I want a green lightsaber he's going as green lightsaber Luke oh interesting costume doesn't match green lightsaber Luke but that's a whole thing okay okay got it he just wanted a green lightsaber is five yes we'll give it to him we'll give it to him we'll let him have that yeah yeah so it's it's fine so all right now we're gonna now we're again awkward pivot because you know I want to be respectful of your time because you have a COVID test yes yes I have to be able to get back to what time is your COVID test in two forty five okay we got a little time yeah we'll have to go pick everyone back up okay best musical ever go oh I knew I knew you say fuck it's okay this podcast yeah let's do oh fuck okay and this is sad because I knew you're gonna ask me this and I've been thinking for months and months like what I would say but I think this I would have to say rent because it was the first musical I was truly obsessed with but there's something about that first obsession that I had which then explains why I got so obsessed with Hamilton because I'm fully capable of being like just absolutely obsessed with musicals but when I was a freshman at NYU a lot of my money went into seeing rent like all the time on Broadway so it was different when you see yeah yeah exactly my my first experience with Broadway was seeing layman which was my first yeah that was my first musical too yeah and that that's still the only thing I've seen on Broadway in New York some of us didn't go to NYU sorry sorry yeah like that blew my fucking yeah so good and like seeing seeing the vocal talent that it requires to be like because even the people that are in the chorus yes are phenomenal and half of them are understudies and you can't even tell when they're when they have to fill in yeah it's not yeah the level of talent it takes and just so people know like everybody's like everybody kind of assumes that if you've made it on Broadway like if you're in a Broadway show that you're making good money and no that's not the case yeah and half of them are like starving artists like yeah hoping to make their shot like yeah you can make decent money but maybe not for me yeah yeah yeah yeah they and that's the great thing they are unionized so they they make decent money but maybe not for living in New York City let's put it that way yeah yeah if they weren't living in Manhattan yeah yeah so but yeah like that was an amazing part of going to NYU was not only I was committed to seeing as much as I could but my university was committed to making New York City our learning playground so they offered a lot of discount tickets um there were oftentimes uh so we had like a book that we read as freshmen kind of and we have these little um maybe these discussion groups to like introduce introduce us to university and everything but are all the books they chose had something related to it going on on Broadway at that time so I did uh um uh taming of the shrew and then we saw Kiss Me Kate we got free tickets to go see Kiss Me Kate on Broadway which is a fabulous like show by the way really really funny um and just that we had it really as well known yeah but we basically have like a ticket booth at NYU and they got us discount movie tickets Broadway tickets like anything that was going on uh and there was a lot of programs that brought like movies to us like we saw previews of movies all the time and things like that so um I was so incredibly spoiled going to NYU from a cultural standpoint um to just have all of that there for me and to really cultivate my lifelong love of Broadway and just being able to go all the time and uh you know I grew up in a very a family that was very into musical theater like my even my my grandparents I remember driving around the car with them we'd always have musicals on in the car and same with my family like we just listened to musicals as much as we listened to everything else so um yeah like I was really spoiled but rent was like my first obsession so we're just talking like listen to the soundtrack all the time like actually listen to the soundtrack for the first time in a very long time the other day and I remember all the words to a three hour long entirely singing musicals so yeah I was pretty impressed with myself yeah I still know all of the words to the south park musical hey that is a conversation you have with my husband not me well yes I know I know but that's uh that's it's one of those that it's funny though how like the things that you attach to um has as much it's not uh that it's a detriment to their quality but it has as much to do with when it hit you yeah as it does with their quality right yeah because like like they miss this phenomenal yeah uh uh I like to say it's the best musical of all time you have to put it up against so many other phenomenal musicals yeah but for me it's like it's either they miss her Hamilton yeah and it's just because of to your point like yeah how those are the two musicals that I got fucking yeah Hamilton was like crazy well that Hamilton came out actually during my first my SI joint injury and all I could do was go on hikes like that was the only thing I was allowed to do was just walk and I would go like I was living in Guelph, Ontario which there's a lot of free hiking trails around there so I would just put in my headphones and walk during the entirety of Hamilton like and so that's that's what I did yeah yeah so like I was playing some pretty epic heights and things like that and because it was all that I could do like I couldn't lift anything what's your favorite song from Hamilton um satisfied okay yeah okay is my favorite song um cannot sing it worth a lick but as we talked about this my vocal range is more my voice is more uh um it's more alto yeah yeah so those I know which is not really well represented in Hamilton no but burns not bad burns not bad um but yeah so it's just uh that I it was like the right time for me to get obsessed with the new musical because I don't know uh having music that has a plot line also helps tremendously on long walks and things like that yeah well it has a history nerd yeah yeah but as a history nerd like a musical that is based on actual US history is huge too like that that was a huge thing for me because like I didn't I didn't major in history like my brother did oh okay and like like I love history yeah I'm like uh very few people like as they say in the musical like very few people understood Allie's and her Hamilton's influence on the US structure yeah and and therefore the world structure that we live in now but it's not only that historians love Hamilton because uh Lin-Manuel and Miranda just had this I he understood he somehow weaved like um historical interpretation into the musical so that I think that's one of the reasons why love satisfied so much it's a counter history to the meeting of um uh uh Eliza and Hamilton because uh Angelica's perspective was totally different on that night yeah and that that whole situation and when you see the staging they do the exact same staging for both songs but it's done with different lighting to show how like two separate situations can breathe different interpretations and that is so hard to teach to students yeah that that is what the core of history is it's not facts it's interpreting the past because you have different facts put at you there's what you saw what they saw and then there's what you saw yeah and then there's well actual happened is even well or a third yeah what a third part yeah yeah there's like this like that meeting happened on this date in 1782 or whatever but it's like you know Angelica's sources yeah so if you look at Angelica's archive you come up with a like a distinct interpretation if you look at you know Alexander Hamilton's letters you come up with a different interpretation and only by blending them do you maybe come up with it but you come up with a very complicated interesting story and that's what that's what um and then interweaving also Alexander's obsession with his legacy into the end is um it's most professors wish they could do that in the classroom that's the big and then when manual Miranda did it in a musical so it's just like yeah Angelica yeah the comma after dearest yes yeah my dearest which even grammar grammar is integrated into Hamilton's I'm sure you know this but fun fact is that it was actually so in the musical it's it's it's Hamilton teasing Angelica about the about the placement of a comma of a comma but in actual letters it was Hamilton that did that yeah yeah which is a which is a fun thing that you learn from reading the actual biography yeah which is actually good read it's yeah I so it's huge yeah and I've been I've been working my way through it for like a year before yeah but I can't read I was reading it before bed but I can't read it before bed because then I can't sleep yeah yeah I can't read before bed I'm just a very voracious reader and I just want to stay up and read yeah I can read before bed but like if I read the wrong things then my mind it doesn't help quiet my mind it actually makes me stay up yeah even later um I would like to just give a good shout out to Gordy Jordan's dog who has been keeping me company during this entire podcast as my emotional support dog while I go through this he is dead asleep just in happy happy land right now totally happy totally happy okay so burnt so satisfied is your favorite yes is your favorite song yes okay uh is that the best song too or those are those interchangeable or is that I actually think my shot is probably one of the best songs and musical just just just everything that goes on in that song it's just like crazy and I think it has some of my manual Miranda's like best like writing in the musical too so yeah that's my opinion okay yeah okay I could I could see that what about you oh well I think we talk like my I don't know if it's even my favorite song like okay favorite song and this is where it's hard like it's like what's your favorite song to sing yeah and I think are you going towards burn because the vocal performance because we agree that yeah billisou's burn is one of the best it's the best vocal performance and yeah control and range and the ability to emote yeah it's from it like yeah that's the thing that for me with music always makes the biggest difference is does it make me feel yes and every time I hear that song yeah like when when she that last note when she's like I hope that you burn yeah and you can feel yeah the just yeah see even anger yeah she's experiencing and like yeah and it's both like heartbreaking and you empathize with her at the same time it's so fucking amazing for me is when she sings you you you like that it's just like it's like you like just self-centered bastard you only thought about himself and not everything that you built at home yeah there's like there's so many there's so many nuggets in that yeah yeah so I love that song yeah but then if it was like if I was choosing one that I like there and even this is still hard for me because like if I was picking a part that I that I wanted to audition for it would probably be Aaron Burr oh yeah that's very stupid because yeah but but then but then I'm like I actually might even be better for George Washington because and and like and Aaron Burr is kind of slight and like in the same way in the same way that Hamilton was so whereas Washington is big authoritarian yeah he's got that yeah and he's got those big vocal parts yeah and that actually suits me even and his those parts are in my wheelhouse the guy that's playing Aaron Burr right now is a big dude oh really yeah yeah I follow him on Instagram yeah he's he's actually a pretty big dude so at least he looks like the room where it happens is one of my favorites like and like there's and there again that's that it's that where he's like you kept me from the room where it happens yeah for the last time yeah yeah you can hear him yeah like that he does such a good job of emoting that like that's where the switch flip where he was being like a decent guy who was ambitious to like fucking sociopath yeah we'll do anything he takes to get to power yeah and you're like oh yeah I like it's like the turn of Darth Vader yeah yeah yeah wait for it such a great song for that too yeah such a good song yeah that was really hard to because there's like the the sick a patient of the rhythms and some of the things are the timing and the vocal range of the song to is so so extreme yeah yeah yeah like that's yeah that's one of the things I that one of the things I love about that song but yeah and that another one that so I can't pick a favorite it's okay but like but you made me okay yeah I did make it but like dear Theodosia oh such a beautiful song and it's another one it's another one that has that has layers to it because it's it shows again it's brilliance of Lin-Manuel Miranda he shows what is the thread that these two men had in common yeah exactly and like why were they friends at one point yeah exactly they were going they were both in the war yeah both had children at the same time and what is one thing that everyone has in common yeah whether whether you're far right or far left forever right everyone loves their fucking kids yeah yeah yeah becoming apparent and those things like those things change people yeah like we all have those moments that that tie us together right and to hear them both like you like oh I want to make the world the best I can for my son yeah the world the best I can for my daughter exactly they have that thread and then later it's like why did Aaron Burr like the thought that he you know he said what did he think before he shot Hamilton was yeah this man is not going to make an orphan of my daughter yeah yeah yeah and had already lost his son yeah exactly like like he was already dealing with that and Burr was not he was not put on a lot yeah and Burr by all accounts was like so close with his daughter like so close with his daughter so yeah yeah it's so it's just it's super it's super interesting I know I know you got I know you got to go soon so I have to like go right now actually okay yeah so I'm going to be respectful of your time yes I have to ask you okay I have to ask you the the adventure question yeah so if you were if you were giving somebody if you're giving somebody advice on they're starting on their journey with general sport what is the one piece of advice that you would give to to somebody getting into the sport now get a fucking coach and do your research and get a good one I like Steve has just been like such an important part of my life for the past five years and like you know he gets me physically where I need to be he's a great emotional support as well um and I think I just see all these people like on the the Facebook groups and stuff they're like okay like how can you just buy myself and thankfully everyone times then it's like you can't do this safely without having a coach um or at least you know several degrees and exercise science I would say but um I'll like get get a coach get a freaking coach um especially if you're you're committed to it um I can see maybe working with a very knowledgeable friend like Amanda did with us but I always told her it was like I will get you to your first competition if you like it we're finding a coach because I I don't have any certifications or anything like that like I know good form um you know I had a decent idea about workouts and things like that but it was just not safe for her long term to be working with me um and it's just not a sport that you can safely do I think without having a coach and um and it can be I have still upped up my body a little bit even with a coach but that's that's just my own biomechanics but but Steve is like really amazing with mobility too so it's he's just like this perfect resource for me and yeah like the counterfactual right yeah you hadn't have Steve shepherding your program yeah how much worse could anything exactly exactly yeah so just don't eff around with it like if you can't afford it then maybe just do hardstyle stuff I don't know but like uh you know find a coach find one that you know has good students and um you know do your research because this is a very symbiotic relationship and you know Steve's become like we're really great friends with his him and his family now too and it's just like you you need you need someone that will tell you the truth tell you the truth about your form um and you know we'll we'll you know shut down your bullshit there's there's what you think you can do and I've been I've been you know I you know I've been there to you where there's what you can think you think you can do and then there's what your coach knows you can actually do and what's reasonable and you need you need that support um and it's so easy to do uh over the internet now to you with like videos and things like that so in zoom so yeah get yourself an epic coach all right don't but don't be around the bush yeah all right so thank you so much yeah obviously nerd out on many many times yeah so we will we will have to do this again yes yeah so we will maybe talk about catapult sport I don't know we'll talk more about catapult sport we'll talk more about where are you talking about all the things yes we we went we went all the over the whole gamut yeah we we will definitely have you back for awesome yeah because we have we have way more things we can talk about all right all right we will talk soon thank you sorry I really have to go no you're okay thank you for listening to this episode of the platform podcast we will be back with a new episode again next week thank you once again to everyone who participated in the 2021 Twin Cities Catapult Open and please stay tuned as we are preparing already for the 2022 Twin Cities Catapult Open I hope to see you there and of course if you have any questions please reach out to me on social media you can reach me at Twin Cities Catapult Club Club.com at Twin Cities Catapult Club on Facebook or Instagram and I hope to see you for a new episode again next week thanks for listening.