Brent: It's about 5 a.m. I've had my vitamin pills. As a kid I could never swallow pills. It was funny. I think for some reason I thought you had to trick yourself into swallowing them. My name is Brent Fikowski. I'm from Kelowna, British Columbia, and I rain at Kelowna CrossFit. I wake up early. On average let's call it 5 a.m. Typically I'll bike to the gym, which is like 15 minutes. And I'll warm up and I'll start my session and then I'll be training for two hours. Today is shoulder and tricep day. Strict pressing and strict handstand push-ups and strict ring dips and maybe a little bit of bench press. All just strength. Nothing really for time. My typical day of training changes throughout the year. Basically since the Games until now it's been the gym for two to three hours just basically doing various types of strengthening exercises. Whether that's with a barbell or bodyweight. The average day in the life of Patrick Vellner: I usually would wake up about 7 a.m. I get up, put together some breakfast. Nothing fancy. Whatever's going to get me through the first few hours of the day. Another day of school, man. Another day at the office. I'm going to two strap it. I'm a nerd, man. For real. I don't go that one strap. I got too far to walk to one strap. I live fairly close to my school. A good 10 to 15 minute walk, depending on the weather. I'm a student. I'm full time. I study to be a chiropractor right now. Pursuing the health field is something that's important to me and I'm passionate about. First time back in Lecture Hall One, so I'm trying to figure out where we sit. It's called Chiropractic Principles and Practice. It's mostly just a little bit of the history, a little bit of ideology and new techniques that are coming around. So it's not as dense of an information class, but it's actually a fairly useful practical class. Pretty good. And Doctor Mike's a pretty good lecturer, so it's fun to come listen to him. I work at a company called Straw House Labs. My role within the company is the financial controller. The accountant. Yeah, it's a pretty relaxed work environment. Everyone gets a lot of work done. We use stand-up desks and come in and out whenever you'd like, as long as you're getting your work done. And it's a lot of fun. I'm trying to be proactive and sort of always expanding my mental game. A lot of time in a float tank, in particular, but even sometimes before I go to bed if I'm a little stressed I try to strip away the immediate stress and anxiety in preparation. Trying to visualize and really understand why I'm feeling certain ways and how I can change that if it's not a way that I want to feel. It's pretty casual around here. When you come workout, I don't think you need to be at the gym for hours and hours on end. I think it's more about good, efficient use of time. Depending on who's in here, someone just puts their phone on. You could come in one day to reggae or salsa and then just have some metal the next day. I don't know. I'd probably put country on, to be honest. When you're just lifting or doing whatever, it's good. I like that. I'm a country guy. I like it. I've got a half a lunch that I didn't finish this week, which is sweet potato, beets, and some pork. Really high quality meat and vegetable and stuff. That's always the priority. My lunches throughout the week... weekdays are always measured and my breakfasts are exactly the same. And then everything else is—more or less—the same as those meals, but just kind of eyeballing it. These are all the records I own... so when I was like 16, I bought 350 records for 400 dollars off this DJ. This is pretty thorough, but they all came alphabetized and they were already on a list so I just kept the list. [Heber]: How many records do you own now? A little over 500. That's a lot. You know what, I just listened to "In Rainbows" the other day, which is probably one of my favorite records here. [Ian]: What's happening right now? We're just going to play some pick-up baseball, or the best we can simulate it. We may not have a field or a proper ball or bases, but this is going to be street rules. We get out in the field and try to blow off some steam at the end of the week and hit some balls or go play some football or go do something. I mean, I'm sure our softball is not up to par with the American baseball. We would probably get spanked by anybody. Any little leaguer. But hey, we're out there being active. It's using your fitness. That's about it. That was a blast. That's what Fridays are all about. It was perfect. Play some ball with the boys. Something I've encountered recently is trying to live every day, every minute, every hour in a mental state that I would be comfortable competing in. One of my goals has been to sort of create a life that I want. And that life is—for me right now—one of mostly dedication to my work and my training and then I'm maintaining a really good relationship with mostly Claire, but then also with my family as well. I don't think that there's probably much of a difference in the actual training. In general, you'll build different pieces into your training and I just break them up in my day. Some of those guys might not need the gym or they might do different things in between. In the middle, I just go to school. I think it'd be kind of silly to look at it like, "Ah, you did so well this year. You went form not making it "to coming in fourth. You should change everything so you can be better." It's like, "Well, maybe I'm doing everything right. Because clearly I'm pretty good." [Pat]: The excitement is warranted! I mean, this is our competition for the year! This is the Open, so it's okay to be nervous! You want to do well, but enjoy it. It's going to be fun. [Sean]: We are starting in Montreal, with two athletes who finished right next to each other at the CrossFit Games. Patrick Vellner, of course, on the podium in his rookie year. Brent Fikowski just two point back of him, in fourth place. This is really a solid match-up here. [Patrick]: Everyone's got some hard opinions, man.
[Brent]: Yeah, no. That's what it is. [Patrick]: Oh, you got some Tic Tacs? It sounded like there's a Tic Tac thing shaking. [Brent]: I left them in the hotel room.
[Patrick]: Receipts? You can keep those. [Patrick]: Canadian colorful currency.
[Brent]: This Canadian fake stuff. [Patrick]: You eat kiwis on one bite, right?
[Brent]: Of course. I'm a man, ain't I? [Patrick]: That's the real shit. [Patrick]: What do you think Dave has planned for the people? Single arm overhead lunge?Or snatch. [Brent]: Single arm overhead lunge? Like a one arm? What if there's a workout with wall balls and I can only do like 15 and I just get tired? Because I'm not aerobic anymore cause all I do is squat with bands. [laughs] [Patrick]: All I do is bodybuild. The Foreigner song "Jukebox Hero", which is--that's you. [Patrick]: I only do group classes so that I can crush everyone. It was great for my confidence. [Brent]: Vellner and I get a long really well. It's funny. We haven't really known each other that long but we're kind of peas in a pod. More like swimming, where you're like... That's how I used to swim. [Patrick]: That's how I still swim. [Brent]: Pat's a pretty easy-going guy. More easy-going that me, which can be frustrating when someone who's better than me supposedly—by two points—is just so relaxed about what he's doing throughout the year. Brent the Professor, ladies and gentlemen. Were you looking into that little hole? [Brent]: Yeah I thought I saw something in there. It's like Narnia. You can only get into Narnia when you go into the closet, not looking for Narnia. That's such a frustrating concept, if you knew it was there. Those are the things that keep Brent up at night. The concept of Narnia in the closet. Getting in and out of the closet is hard [laughs] [Ian]: How do you feel now that everyone's in here?
[Patrick]: It's good. I think it's fine. I don't know. It'll be done before we know it, I think. It's like any Open workout. You get anxious to find out the workout for the Open or the Regionals or the Games at any time, right? So, I'm anxious to figure it out. [Brent]: To beat Vellner would be a lot of fun. It would be good. I mean, yeah, we became really close friends at the Games and it was close and he took me out there and then it'd be nice to start the year off with a win and it'd be good to put the finishing touches on things here at the Open announcement. [Brandon]: One debate we can have is what we expect to see here tonight in this match up with two of the bigger personalities in the sport. And two of the breakout athletes from a year ago. [Bill]: They are both so spectacular in their athletic skills and their abilities and what they've been able to accomplish in such a short amount of time. It's short known to the Games. Vellner did go to the Games on a team the year previous to that. Fikowski misses going to the Games two years in a row by a total of two points with both of those years. So these guys aren't new to the sport of CrossFit by any means, but they're rookies last year at the Games. They have made an outstanding name for themselves. [Brent]: The last few years of CrossFit—competitively—have been an interesting journey. I had sort of low expectations for Regionals. I just wanted to be a contender. I did everything I could that weekend and it wasn't quite enough. And then I missed out again and that was heartbreaking. So Regionals was something of a disaster. I went out and did exactly what I didn't used to do. I blew my arm up on the snatch ladder and burnt out in spectacular fashion. As long as the head judges and the medical staff would deem me able to compete, I can still compete. [Brent]: And then at Regionals this year, I crushed everyone. [Patrick]: Kind of after I had hurt myself, in the medical tent, Dave [Castro] came in and basically told me to go home. It rattled me a little bit, so my goal was to have to have him come shake my hand and share that moment with him and be like, "Look. Remember that time when you thought "I was going to go home after Event 1. Do you remember that time?" Here we are. [Sean]: Patrick Vellner, a rookie, trying to get himself onto the podium in third place needs a 6th place finish or better in order to guarantee that. Brent Fikowski has dealt with heartbreak the past two years and here he is, finally at the CrossFit Games. [Brent]: To finish it, I was overwhelmed. With joy. Just because I was so proud of the way I attacked that event. The big finale and I didn't choke or anything. I just did my best. So it was sweet. [Sean]: And Brent Fikowski is across the finish line! He's trying to get himself onto the podium! Now he will wait and see. Fikowski will finish third in the event. Vellner is going to barely hang on, it looks like, to third place. [Brent]: It's like, "Wow, you just came in fourth at the Games. There have been guys who have been doing this forever that have never done that. There are guys who have been doing this forever who never won an event at the CrossFit Games. [Patrick]: I remember standing in the tunnel of the medal ceremony with Matt, Ben, Katrin, Tia, and Sara and we're like, "Oh shit. We made it!" [Patrick]: I think it'll mean more in the coming weeks and in the coming season. When you've got a reset. I don't get points for last year. You have to show up again. Every week. Every year. And you've got to earn your spot. I think in the next few years, I'll start to really understand the value of that. For now I'm still just riding the wave. [Brent]: I think I've proven enough whatever I'm a contender and now I get to do what I want to be as good as I can be. I want to be as good at CrossFit as I can be. And I think that can put me on the top of the podium. Will it? I don't know. Maybe. We'll see. [Patrick]: These are the fixings here. These are the goodies. This is great. We got like a full circle firing squad. I like it.
Im gonna get downvoted for this and I accept that.
People who say Fikowski is a douchebag are the same people who say Noah is a douchebag. These guys just aren't as polished in front of a camera as a lot of the perennial games athletes are. They say what's on their mind without constantly filtering it to come off as humble and sweet, which I personally really love, and it's what makes me like watching them and Travis Williams and Josh Bridges over super polished people like Katrin, who at this point just has a smile and a princess wave plastered on her wherever she goes. Just my opinion.
Who's the nerd at hq dropping an alpha flight reference
Great first video. Love this series more than Fittest on Earth.
Ahhh, my Canadian boys! 🇨🇦😍
Excited for Ep. 2