Tag: Health

Did you catch the Monaco Grand Prix on Sunday? While the attention was rightfully focused on the Formula 1 drivers battling it out on the track, Sergio Perez’s first-place finish wasn’t the only noteworthy story from the weekend. To mark the occasion, TAG Heuer released the new Monaco Grand Prix, a special edition of its longstanding series of watches inspired by the famous F1 street circuit. The new TAG Heuer Monaco reimagines the square-shaped watch with a new titanium case and details that recall its 1970s forebears.

From the beginning, TAG Heuer Monaco was a watch that broke the mold. It was introduced in 1969, and it departed from several watchmaking conventions. First and most obvious was the square case: It was a rare feature on chronograph timepieces, and it continues to be a hallmark of Monaco watches today. The ’69 original was also waterproof, featured an automatic movement (also rare for chronographs at the time), and stood out thanks to its blue dial with contrasting white and red accents.

Later editions of the Monaco would appear with a range of new colors. In the 1970s, TAG Heuer debuted a version with contrasting grey tones, and later that decade, the company created the famed “Dark Lord” Monaco. The watch got its name from its matte black case, which was paired with orange and red accents for good legibility—a nod to its roots as a tool watch for racing drivers.

Aesthetically, the new TAG Heuer Monaco is a riff on the Dark Lord, but it includes plenty of upgrades. The case is made from DLC-coated titanium for exceptional strength and durability with minimal weight. (Only one previous Monaco, a 2021 limited edition version, was made with titanium—and Max Verstappen wore it during his dominant 2021 F1 season.)

The new Monaco continues with the familiar “circle-in-the-square” layout of previous iterations, but there are new textures on offer: The main dial circle features a satin-brushed finish that contrasts with a rough sandblasted finish on the squared portion of the dial. According to TAG, that finish is inspired by the pavement of F1 tracks and the tires on F1 cars.

Against that rich black background, the bright red chronograph hands really pop, as do the rose gold main hands and indices. To make them even more legible, the hands are coated with Super-LumiNova for better visibility in the dark. Flip it over, and the see-through case back provides a glimpse of more rose gold accents. To top it off, this blacked-out watch is paired with a black alligator leather strap and a black titanium buckle. How’s that for a new Dark Lord?

TAG didn’t skimp on the mechanicals, either. The watch is powered by an in-house-made Heuer 02 automatic movement. It offers a hefty 80-hour power reserve, so you won’t have to worry about this watch stopping if you take it off for a few days. Just like a Formula 1 driver, it’s ready to go full tilt.

[$8,200; tagheuer.com]

Get it

There are two things you need to know about PXG founder and CEO Bob Parsons: he’s golf-obsessed and loves gambling. So naturally, Parsons is keen to put some cash on his regular matches.

“I just love to put myself in that position,” Parsons says. “The feeling’s wonderful.”

He’s not alone. Many players thrive under pressure. PGA tour pros will often play big money games to simulate the experience of a major championship. It’s also fun for amateurs to see if they can handle the pressure and not let the fear of losing diminish their abilities.

For Parsons, the trick to maintaining his focus with money on the line is remembering to have fun.

“I’ll catch myself not being happy about how it’s going, and I start thinking, ‘Brother, you’re doing the opposite of what you need to do to win.’ ” Re-engaging with a more jovial spirit almost always turns things around.

Of course, it’s called gambling because the risk of losing is a reality. “The most I’ve ever seen change hands on a hole is $9,600,” Parsons says; he is a billionaire, after all. “I’ve got the wherewithal to handle it. But I think about what I might lose and just accept it.”

What is golf gambling: types of games to play

As in the game of golf, gambling on it requires adhering to established etiquette, such as: Never welch on a bet, or no one will want to play with you; don’t get over-competitive, or no one will want to play with you; don’t tally up scores or exchange money on the greens, as it slows play.

Also, don’t gamble with money you don’t have or can’t comfortably afford to lose. If you think you might have a problem please contact ncpgambling.org.

For those who want to spice up their regular game with a little cash on the like, there are loads of ways for players to bet on a golf match. The “Nassau” is probably the most common. Essentially, it’s a match-play format with wagers on the front nine, the back nine, and the aggregate. Another intensely popular wagering concept is ‘Wolf.”

Each member of the group rotates as the “Wolf,” who hits the first tee shot. That player can then choose a partner as they tee off for a best ball contest on each hole. The “Wolf” can also choose to play solo against the rest of the group for a larger wager (usually double). And for those who are supremely confident in their game, the “Wolf” can also choose to go “Lone Wolf” before they hit their tee ball, which escalates the action further.

For fans of math, “Daytona” is a two-against-two game and scores are displayed as a double-digit integer—with the lower in the first place and the higher in the second. So, if you rolled in a par putt for a 4 and your partner made a double bogey, the group score would be 46; and if your competitors made bogey and double, their score would be 56 and the point differential would be 10. Each point can be assigned a dollar value. Had you made birdie, your team score would have been 36 and your opponents’ score flips their highest number first—now 65—for a 29-point shift.

But for Parsons and his usual crew of competitors, there’s only one game, and it’s called “Sweat.”

Parsons describes his favorite on-course cash game as a kind of modified version of “Wolf,” in which you have the option to choose a partner for a hole. In “Sweat,” it’s one person versus the rest of the group, “so you have to beat three or four capable golfers’ best ball, which is no easy task,” Parsons says.

Every hole starts out with a value of one point. Parsons and his crew typically play for $100 per point. But here’s where it gets interesting: Any of the sides can double the bet against the person who has the tee whenever they want—as long as the ball has not already been holed. This is called a “roll.” A player can decline the “roll,” but they would then forfeit the hole and wager.

In another twist, when you “roll” someone, they get a half stroke advantage. So, you’d want to be in a good spot before kicking up the action.

Birdies automatically double the bet, eagles quadruple it, and a hole in one is 10x. There’s also what Parsons calls a “stop loss” rule that insists any player up 5 points or more must accept a “roll.”

There’s also no limit for “rolls” per hole, so “Sweat” is a game that can escalate quickly. While it sounds like it might be hard to keep track of where everything is during a match, Parsons insists it’s quite the opposite. “If you’re in it, you know exactly what’s happening,” he says.

Obviously, Parsons plays this game on a fairly sizable scale and will pretty much wager whatever his fellow competitors want to, but there are stakes he finds too high.

“Any amount that would devastate somebody I was playing with,” Parsons says. “I would have no interest in doing that.”

With two major championships down and two to go, the PGA Tour summer season is in full swing. The time between May’s PGA Championship and mid-June’s U.S. Open tends to be quiet, with one key exception: the Memorial Tournament, Jack Nicklaus’ event at Muirfield Village Golf Club in Ohio.

The Memorial tends to be notable for a few reasons. One is that broadcasters and players alike will shower praise on Nicklaus—and avoid any recent controversy surrounding him. Another is a strong field: As is the case in most years, the 2022 Memorial Tournament will draw most of the best players in the world. While it’s still not a major-caliber field, it comes closer than most tour events. In 2021, the Memorial had the sixth-strongest field of any tournament outside the majors and World Golf Championship events. In addition, last year’s Memorial Tournament leaderboard saw plenty of drama: Patrick Cantlay beat Colin Morikawa in a playoff after 54-hole leader Jon Rahm had to withdraw due to a positive COVID-19 test.

Wondering who to watch at this year’s event? Here are six players worth keeping an eye on at Muirfield this week. If you’re the betting type, you can browse a full odds list here, and the list below is loosely ordered by each player’s odds of winning.

This article was produced in partnership with Dometic.

Dometic has long been the leader in refrigeration solutions for the adventure set, so it was only a matter of time before the brand launched a comprehensive camping collection: Dometic GO. The line is comprehensive, comprising a bevy of gear like a folding table, collapsible chair and bench, and multi-use blanket. The highlight, though is the Hydration Water Faucet and Hydration Water Jug 11L.

Don’t be fooled: These items may seem mundane, but the Dometic crew has cracked a common pain point felt by nearly all car campers: dispensing fresh water. Whether to wash your face, brush your teeth, or fill a basin to wash dirty dishes, efficiently transporting water wherever you need has been an oft-missed necessity in the outdoor space.

H₂O Heaven

Water vessels have been around for millennia, so it doesn’t seem like it could undergo much improvement, but The Jug is a clever innovation.

“Our goal was to create a water container with the user in mind—not just focus on its ability to store water,” says Owen Mesdag, outdoor product manager at Dometic.

It comes after years of buying 1 or 2.5 gallon containers that are heavy and hard to pour, or cheap and flimsy.

But the Jug is fashioned in a rectangular shape from tough, rotomolded, low-density, food-grade polyethylene. It’s designed to fit behind the wheel wells and has removable webbing handles, which reveal slots to attach to tie-downs when taken off. The Jug also has multiple ways to get the water out two ways—through a large 4-inch opening that allows for easy filling and cleaning, and a Nalgene-style 63mm opening with a flow reducer gasket for splash-free pouring. It can also connect to accessories like the included spigot, water filters, or the Faucet.

We love the 11-liter size. It may seem like an odd number, but it’s intentional.

“It’s half the size of a conventional 20-liter water jerry can, but when two are stacked on each other, they take up the same space as a conventional container,” Mesdag says. “The square-ish shape also makes it easier to carry, and you can tote 22 liters at the same time because the load is balanced between both arms.”

Let It Flow

And then there’s the Faucet, a trick piece of outdoor kitchen gear that brings the convenience of running water into the outdoors with no muss or fuss. Mesdag explains the concept was taken from the types of auxiliary water pumps used besides the main faucet on kitchen sinks that dispense filtered water. Dometic just added features and mounting abilities to fully adapt the design for camping use.

It turns any container into a running-water system with an internal rechargeable battery good for 150 liters; has a one-touch on/off button; features an integrated LED light; and comes with a puck you can put in different locations to attach the magnetic base to for sturdy placement on a variety of surfaces.

That’s not all, says Mesdag. “The pump [in the Faucet] is self-priming,” he says, “meaning the user doesn’t need to worry if there’s air in the system, unlike some pumps which must already be full of water to function. It also has an anti-syphon check valve inside, so if the water level in the Jug [or other container] is higher than the Faucet, it won’t leak.”

GO Camping Now

Combined with some of Dometic’s other new car camping options in the GO collection—like furniture (Chair, Table, Bench) and storage (Hard, Soft)—the Faucet and Jug round out the brand’s innovations beyond its renowned electric coolers. Everything is made to pack up smartly and efficiently to maximize space in the smaller confines of a car, SUV, or CUV, and easily set up a basecamp around your vehicle.

Having access to water is essential, not a luxury. Isn’t it time you invested in the right gear?

I like the idea of fitness apps. You get a workout plan in the palm of your hand that, in theory, provides motivation and eliminates the guesswork from your training session. The problem is a lot of fitness apps aren’t designed for people who actually want to push themselves in the gym. At best, they offer watered down workouts that might help you burn a few calories. At worst, they’re a complete waste of time. Then there’s MTNTOUGH+, a new app developed by the Bozeman-based gym of the same name that’s designed to address overall fitness holistically—addressing everything from mental toughness to nutrition. Yes, it’s loaded with burly workouts that’ll leave you sweat-drenched. I spent a month testing every aspect of the app to see if it’s worth the $29.99 monthly subscription fee. The result? I got my ass kicked—in the best sense.

The brick and mortar MTNTOUGH made a name for itself by developing full-body workouts for mountain athletes and military personnel (think backcountry hunters who need to hike for miles with a deer on their back or soldiers who want to stay in shape for their next deployment). The workouts themselves, however, have an appeal that’s far broader than that niche market. The company has always designed programs focused on building strength and endurance that anyone can purchase à la carte through their website. We covered their heavy pack workout last spring.

This new app puts all of the workout programs in one place—along with nutrition guidance and bonus content like podcasts, interviews, and tutorials on mental toughness. It’s broken down into four types of workouts: Bodyweight, Backcountry Hunter Series, Military Specific, and Minimal Gear programs. Each of those courses are divided further; for instance, Minimal Gear program has one series of workouts that uses kettlebells and another series that uses a heavy backpack. The Backcountry Hunter program has a preseason prep workout track, along with a spring training camp and postseason strength track.

While this all may sound confusing, it basically means you have a lot of different workout options within the app. Some of them will have you burpeeing into oblivion. Others rely on classic lifts like squats and cleans. But notice I used the word “program.” Instead of single workouts, MTNTOUGH+ is designed to guide you through entire fitness phases (building strength, building endurance, maintaining strength, etc.), with specific programs you’ll follow for up to four months. You choose a program—like No Gear 60—then follow it for 60 days as one workout builds into the next.

From a fitness perspective, the principals are solid. You’re strengthening multiple muscle groups and systems, and constantly challenging yourself day after day. It also eliminates the fickle nature of our human brains. I work out several days a week, but before I started following MTNTOUGH+, I’d simply do the exercises I wanted to on any given day based on how I felt. Working through something like the four-week kettlebell-dominant KB20 provides guidance on the reg and helps me progress toward my fitness goals because the program has me either add weight or reps while diversifying the work I’m doing at the gym. In other words, I’m not basing my conditioning on how I feel. I’m following set guidelines that are proven to lead to results.

And the workouts are hard. I can’t stress that enough. I had trouble getting through some of them at first. Most training sessions will take about an hour and typically hinge on supersets, so you’re constantly moving and pushing yourself without much rest. Personally, I enjoy the variety built into each program. Choose the Backcountry Spring Training Camp program, for example, and you’ll be supersetting bench press and deadlifts one day, and burning through box jumps, farmer carries, and spin bike laps the next. It keeps you engaged and delivers results—if you can keep up.

On the other hand, if you’re someone who’s used to doing bench presses every other day (like me), you might get frustrated with the lack of routine. There’s no “leg day” or “back day” and you won’t repeat the same exercises three days a week. This app isn’t designed to build a big chest. It’s designed to build overall strength, endurance, and mobility for athletes who have to perform, so every day is a full-body workout.

I spent four weeks bouncing around the app and sampling the different programs—but the best way to use MTNTOUGH+ is to pick one program and stick with it from beginning to end. After you’ve finished one, move on to the next. There’s a solid variety of programs to choose from. If you only have 30 minutes a day and can’t get to the gym, do the 30-30 bodyweight program. If you love kettlebells, knock out KB20. If you’re a gym rat that likes to throw heavy weight, Backcountry Hunter Postseason Strength is your jam.

And the workouts aren’t the only value in MTNTOUGH+. I’m not really into the motivational videos, but I became mildly addicted to the mobility tutorials and worked them into my nightly TV-watching routine. I thought the nutritional plan was helpful, too. It wasn’t groundbreaking (e.g. eliminate processed foods and focus on proteins and healthy fats) but it made me think about every calorie I put into my body and made me realize I haven’t been eating enough protein to support my training.

After 30 days, I’m encouraged by the results. I’m leaner and stronger and eager to see where the app can take me. Curious about checking it out for yourself? Here’s a sample workout taken from the Backcountry Hunter Postseason Strength series.

THE WARMUP

• Row x 500 meters
• High knees x30 seconds
• Butt kicks x 30 seconds
• World’s greatest stretch x 30 seconds
• Overhead lunge x 30 seconds
• Walkout/inchworm pushups x 30 seconds
• Lateral lunge x 30 seconds
• Floor wipers x 30 seconds

THE WORKOUT

1. Half-mile sprint: On treadmill or outside—as fast as you can maintain for that distance.

2. Superset ball squats and release pushups ladder: For the squat, focus on form—dropping your butt until it touches the top of a medicine ball or low bench. For release pushups, do a standard pushup, but at the bottom, rest your chest on the floor and release your arms to the side before pushing back to the top. You’ll complete a ladder in the following sequence:

• 20 ball squats + 2 release pushups
• 18 ball squats + 4 release pushups
• 16 ball squats + 6 release pushups

*Continue until you finish with a set of 2 ball squats + 20 release pushups

3. Half-mile sprint

4. Superset forward lunge and barbell military press ladder: You can do lunges with bodyweight or use dumbbells to increase the challenge. You’ll complete a ladder using the same sequence as above.

• 20 forward lunges, 2 barbell military presses
• 18 forward lunges, 4 barbell military presses
• 16 ball squats + 6 release pushups

*Continue until you finish a set of 2 forward lunges + 20 barbell military presses

5. Half-mile sprint

6. Core finisher

• Plank x 1 minute
• Left side plank x 30 seconds
• Right side plank x 30 seconds
• Plank x 1 minute

Want to try MTNTOUGH+ for yourself? Right now, you can save 15% on MTNTOUGH+ with promo code “LAUNCH” for monthly or “LAUNCHYEAR” for annual savings. You can purchase videos individually, or pay $29.99 monthly subscription fee.

Learn More

 

If you’re not sure what to get dad for Father’s Day, I’ve got you covered with tons of ideas. It can be a little tricky to shop for dads and husbands! I’d love to hear any gift ideas you’re planning, too.

Hellooooooo. Anyone else feel like Father’s Day is sneaking up on us this year? This past year has flown by in a second and an eternity at the same time. I wanted to share some gift ideas if you’re planing ahead! We have a few weeks but I figured I should get started now. If you have any awesome gift ideas, please shout them out in the comments!

For the fit dad:

If he loves to golf, check out this lulu polo and these shorts. The Pilot wears these polos and shorts almost every time he’s not in uniform.

An insulated golf bag.

New Bose Free Wireless headphones. We have these and LOVE them. They’re on sale right now, too!

The perfect crosstraining tee.

New cross training sneaks.

A massage gift card at his favorite spot.

A foam roller.

A HigherDOSE sauna blanket! If your guy is into fitness, this is an amazing recovery tool. Use FITNESSISTA15 for 15% off.

An Oura ring. I love this thing SO much for detailed sleep tracking and that it tests my readiness levels based on previous day’s activity, body temp, sleep quality, etc. If your guy likes to geek out on fitness stats, this would be a great gift.

For the chef:

An Ooni pizza oven. I totally want one of these for the backyard 🙂

Flavored wood chips for the BBQ.

This BBQ sauce gift set.

BBQ tool set.

These cedar grilling wraps are amazing.

“On the rocks” set.

A bluetooth speaker to listen to while he’s outside grilling.

Whiskey sampler.

An air fryer for healthy yet still delicious, twist on traditional fried foods. We got this one and I’m obsessed.

Wood wine caddy.

A Traeger! This is the Pilot’s gift this year. We’re all going to enjoy this one! 🙂

For the sports fanatic:

A man crate.

Important golf socks.

Baseball bottle openers + stand.

Golf ball whiskey chillers.

Baseball park map glasses.

For the beer lover:

Pressurized growler for craft beer.

Craft beer tasting kit.

A shirt from his favorite brewery.

A beer cap map to showcase his faves from the US.

Beeropoly.

Clothes, gear, and random:

A car wash membership. This is a practical gift that is always appreciated.

New Dopp kit.

Low-top sneakers. (The Pilot has these in grey and wears them all the time.)

Couch bowl! Perfect for late-night cereal eating.

Athletic shorts that look nice for everyday.

Nap robe. Everyone needs a nap robe, really.

New sunnies. Love these Ray-Bans.

A beautiful take on a family “tree.”

Counterman collection. The Pilot uses this collection and loves it. It’s very gentle on skin and smells amazing. I maybe steal the shaving cream and body wash every now and again. 😉

A classy jewelry stand for dudes.

A new watch. 

A bottle breacher. I feel like I recommend these on every guys’ gift guide, but they’re a really awesome unique gift.

A funny shirt just for the occasion. I got this one for the Pilot for a Disney shirt and it’s been a huge hit. This is another one of his faves and perfect because the new Top Gun movie came out recently.

An epic collection of dad jokes.

What do you usually do for Father’s Day? Any amazing gift ideas to share?

xo

Gina

The post 2022 Father’s Day Gift Guide appeared first on The Fitnessista.

During most nature programs, an encounter with a deadly animal is the climax, where the host cautiously circles, gets the shot, explains from afar, then gets the heck out of there. Kings of Pain on The History Channel is different. Instead, wildlife biologist Adam Thorn and animal handler Rob “Caveman” Alleva take turns getting voluntarily bitten or stung before moving on to find the next dangerous creature. For some, this could be considered nightmare fuel—spending quality time in close quarters with scorpions, spiders, and feared reptiles. Basically, it’s all climax.

Despite outward appearances, Kings of Pain is in pursuit of science—with the hosts building on entomologist Dr. Justin O. Schmidt’s Pain Index. First developed in 1983, the pain index was started as a scale to rank the pain associated with insect strikes on a scale from one to four. Thorn and Alleva are advancing that work into new species, as well as adding video documentation of the attack and aftermath to the findings. The first season took the pair from Bolivia to South Africa in search of dangerous encounters. For the second season, the agonizing action was brought to them on a contained set in Southern California.

Men’s Journal sat down with the two hosts of Kings of Pain to discuss what drew them to the show, the most painful bites, selecting the animals, and the most shocking moments from filming the show.

Men’s Journal: How did you guys end up with this gig? There aren’t many job offerings centered around animal attacks—let alone takers.

Rob “Caveman” Alleva: I was fascinated with animals and had a few projects that I lucked into. One of my first gigs in television was for a documentary where they needed footage of someone getting bitten by nonvenomous snakes on high-speed film. I don’t know why, but that sounded cool to me—and I did it. So you could say that I had a little experience. The idea of a pain-ranking television show had been floating around for years. History had this project where they wanted to expand the pain index that Justin Schmidt, a famous entomologist, started. I have to say with the liability and danger involved in a project like this, I can’t believe that any network actually went forward with it. They said they picked me as one of the cohosts because I seemed like a fun travel companion and looked like I didn’t mind being bitten by creatures.

Adam Thorn: I’ve been obsessed with animals my entire life and worked on a few documentaries. I was contacted by the network who said they liked me for one of their shows and wanted to fly me to Los Angeles to do a chemistry test with a few guys. I thought it was going to be a typical animal series, and it wasn’t until I was there that they told me I was going to be getting bitten by animals. I was actually game for it. To be honest, I’m always getting bitten and stung by animals anyway, so it wasn’t exactly new territory. That’s something that Caveman and I found out that we had in common—that we would let these animals bite us out in the field out of morbid curiosity. This show gave us an opportunity to satisfy that curiosity, but also bring science and documentation into the equation.

So tell me about how you decided on what animals to get bitten by in the first season?

RA: There was a preliminary list from the producers when Adam and I first signed on. The first animal on the list was the fer-de-lance which is a highly venomous pit viper. We looked at each other and laughed, because it was clear that they weren’t pulling any punches. We were like, “Are these guys going to kill us?”

AT: Getting bitten by the fer-de-lance would have been a combination season premiere and season finale!

RA: There were a lot of animals that we wanted to put on ourselves as well. There was a pretty thorough vetting process. Once we aligned on a species, it had to be okayed by the network, cleared by a doctor, and vetted by the insurance.

What animal were you most apprehensive about going into filming—and which one ended up being the worst in the moment?

RA: I’m not a big fan of centipedes, and we picked a doozy of a centipede in the first season—the Asian Giant Centipede. That was filmed toward the end of the first season, and by that time I think we felt like we knew what to expect. But it ended up wrecking us for 12 hours straight. There was vomiting and the worst pain of our lives. It was to the point where I started to question whether the pain index was worth it.

AT: I have had a longtime fear of tarantulas. I love all animals, but have always had a thing with spiders. In the third grade, when I was reading an animal book and turned to a spider section, no joke, right when I flipped open to that page a gigantic wolf spider crawled onto my hand. In that moment, fear was burned into my brain. I remember when I first saw a tarantula on the list for the first season of the show. I was worried about it, but tried to put it out of my thoughts. On the day, it was just as horrifying to me as I’d feared. It was traumatic to me both physically and mentally. I actually wasn’t as worried about getting bitten by it as simply handling it. So the worst part of that segment for me wasn’t the pain, but when I had to put the tarantula on Caveman so he could get bitten.

I’m glad you’re both still standing here. Has there been any lasting damage done from these bites?

RA: There was no question that a reticulated python bite was going to be rough, but I don’t think we knew how bad it was going to be. The first python we caught was eight feet long. We let it go in order to get a bigger one. The one we found next was a 16-footer, and we believe it was a male—which have serrated teeth. That wasn’t ideal, but it was the snake that we had. We were wearing facial protection and groin protection, everything that we could think of. The python got a lucky hit on my ulnar nerve, which is the largest unprotected nerve in your body. It’s located right where your “funny bone” is—and it felt like I’d hit it times a thousand, and the feeling didn’t go away for weeks. I’m still dealing with the fallout of that strike to this day. I had to have surgery and a lot of physical therapy. I have a lot of weakness in that hand and a lack of coordination. I still drop things a lot, and this is three years later. All I can say is, it could have been worse, but it was still a reality check. Going into the second season we really stressed that we needed to do everything we could to avoid permanent damage to our bodies—like the sort I’m still dealing with from that python bite.

When did you guys find out that a second season was in the works—and how’d you feel about it?

RA: I was still at the beginning of dealing with my injury at that time, scheduling surgeries and deadlines with insurance. But ultimately this has been a passion project for us, so it didn’t take too long for us to decide to do another one. Preproduction on the second season began immediately and it was going to be on the road again—but we ended up having to shut that plan down because of the pandemic. It was heartbreaking. We didn’t know what was going to happen with the show. Then a few months ago, Adam got an email about doing the show on a contained lot in Los Angeles. I didn’t get the email at the same time. To be honest, at the beginning I didn’t know if I was still included. I was like, “Does this mean I’m out of the show?” But eventually they got in touch with me too.

AT: Since we had to step back in 2020, we thought this chapter of our lives and this series was dead in the water. The email I got was pretty presumptuous. It didn’t ask if I was interested in doing the show again, it just said we were filming and I needed to sign these papers. But it was a very welcome message, because every other production in the world was shut down. The show flew us out to Los Angeles, kept us outside and distanced, and brought the animals to us. It was a pretty seamless operation. Plus we had a medical team close, so we were able to explore more deadly animals.

What sort of deadly animal are you especially glad to take on with medical personnel at close hand?

RA: Our favorite animal in the second season is one that we wanted to do in the first season, but the network was originally against it because of the danger element. This season we were able to get shocked by an electric eel. It took us almost an entire season to get one to us. Originally we were expecting to get one that was maybe two feet long. The one we ended up getting was four feet. They have cells that are basically millions of tiny batteries that all come on together. There were a lot of questions, like if we should have it shock us outside of the water or in the water. There was also a lot of confusion on what part of the body should be touching the eel. What we discovered is that on land they’re more dangerous. We didn’t really know much about it. We just wanted to get shocked and hopefully not die.

AT: The fact is, it was a very new experience. You don’t know how your heart is going to respond to something like this. I’ve been shocked by electrical outlets at home, but that isn’t really a reference point. Again, because we filmed this season all in one location, instead of out in the field like the first season, we were able to have more medical support around. That gave us a lot more confidence, having all of Dr. Ben Abo’s equipment so close. That helped us push the limits more than we did in the last season. There were a lot of animals that we did during the second season that have killed people—and the electric eel is one of them. Feeling the power of an electric eel is mind-blowing. Caveman and I actually wanted to go back for seconds.

Was there an animal that hit you harder than the rest?

RA: The Orange Baboon Tarantula was one of the worst. We could hardly do anything for a few days after we were bit. There was extreme weakness all over the body. People will be able to see all of that.

AT: Doing the OBT this season pretty much brought back my fear of spiders, which I thought I’d kicked after last season.

Beyond adding entries to the pain index and creating entertainment, is there a deeper purpose for a program like this?

RA: I was bitten in 2011 by a Southern Pacific Rattlesnake. I wasn’t that worried at first, knowing that it’s survivable. I was photographing one, and like an idiot got bitten. A few minutes later, my blood pressure was crashing and I was losing the ability to use my legs. I was also losing the ability to speak and darkness was closing in around my eyes. I started to think I might be one of the rare cases where someone does die from that bite—and two people did actually die that year from that species, so it’s not unheard of. I was looking down at my shoulders and my muscles and there was movement. It looked like there were snakes underneath my skin. It was terrifying to see. But because I’d worked on programs that covered snakebites, I knew it was fasciculations. The fact that my body was responding like that, and I knew what was happening, gave me comfort. That kind of knowledge is great to have in those scenarios, so we’re hopeful that along with helping the pain index people are also learning about the effects these attacks can have.

AT: I get a lot of messages from people who say that they are into animals now because of the show. It didn’t scare them off of these creatures at all. There are a lot of us who were drawn into the animal world by sharks and dinosaurs, the powerful or violent ones, and from there the interest deepens. Let’s be honest, they are cool and impressive. If that brings them to do more research and stoke curiosity, we’ve done our jobs. I think people will also see that in a lot of cases, these animals were hesitant to bite or sting us. It’s not like they were just jumping at the chance to cause harm. It’s only when they perceived a real threat when we were handling them a certain way.

RA: Our biggest fear going into this show was that we were going to scare people away from nature and animals—because we’re showing these dangers out there. Thankfully, it’s had the opposite effect. I hear from a lot of parents who say that their kids want to be biologists after seeing our show.

Kings of Pain airs on The History Channel.

 

Sour beers, made for centuries in Belgium and only recently gaining popularity stateside, are just what they sound like: brews that have been given a funky flavor during fermentation by the introduction of bacteria and wild yeasts. Sour beers aren’t always sour, however, and are often called American wild ales in recognition of the fact that the flavor range of these beers are expansive—from dry and hay-like to tart and fruity.

By any name wild beers are now one of the most creative corners of the world’s beer scene and among the most complex beers to drink in the world—able to replace a great bottle of wine at the center of any meal. Here is a list to get you started.

Best Sour Beers and Wild Ales in the World

1. Wicked Weed Oblivion Sour Red

Ashville, North Carolina has become one of the country’s hottest brewing scenes, but most of the talk has been about the national craft breweries that have established second homes in and around the city rather than the natives. Wicked Weed brews on a smaller scale, but their best beers don’t play second fiddle to anyone. The Oblivion Sour Red shows what the fuss is all about. It’s a dark sour with a cherry pie nose in the Belgian Flemish tradition. The sourness is light and lends a balance the malt body with great fruit flavors from an addition of blackberries and a dry finish.

Men’s Journal’s Everyday Warrior With Mike Sarraille is a new podcast that inspires individuals to live more fulfilling lives by having conversations with disrupters and high performers in all walks of life. In our ninth episode, we talked to Adam Rippon, a former American figure skater. Rippon was the first openly gay athlete to win a medal for the United States in the Winter Olympics, winning bronze in the team event at the PyeongChang Games in 2018.

Listen to the full episode above (scroll down for the transcript) and see more from this series below.

This interview has not been edited for length or clarity.

---

Mike Sarraille:
Welcome to the Everyday Warrior podcast. We are joined by Adam Rippon, who I think is a total badass and everyday warrior. This was a last minute, sort of thrown together, during South by Southwest, and I appreciate you taking the time. I know you got in yesterday and you’re leaving today, but when I heard you were in town and open to a podcast, having known who you are and followed your exploits, there was no way I could pass on this. So I’m glad we made this happen in less than 24 hours, but welcome to the podcast.

Adam Rippon:
Well, thank you. Well, there’s no way I could pass on it either. So this is just really off to a great start.

Mike Sarraille:
Good. And so we are sharing in mimosas, we’re going to get relaxed here. Good. Well, first off, I said this earlier, you didn’t recognize it, nor would you know that we share a birthday, November 11th Veteran’s Day. That is-

Adam Rippon:
In the same year, 1989. We were born in the same year. Yeah.

Mike Sarraille:
Yes. I was born in 1989. Thank you. He’s already hooked me up. So let’s dive right in. This is going to be a wonderful conversation for a lot of people, and I’m excited to learn from you because you’ve done so much in only 32 years, to my 44.

Adam Rippon:
Well, you’re very sweet. Let’s go. I’m ready.

Mike Sarraille:
Let’s go. Okay. So born in 1989, November 11th, in Scranton, Pennsylvania. Is Scranton a hotbed for Olympic level figure skaters?

Adam Rippon:
All right. Look me in the eye, and what do you think? It’s not. There’s not a lot of hot bedding in Scranton, to be honest. And no offense to Scranton, love the place, but I’m from the east coast, so the winters are cold, and I got into skating because it was just somebody had a birthday party or the big thing to do where we’re from is in the winter you go to Montage Mountain to ski. I’m assuming you’ve obviously heard of Montage Mountain.

Mike Sarraille:
Actually, I have not.

Adam Rippon:
No, it’s-

Mike Sarraille:
In California we have Squaw Valley and …

Adam Rippon:
Right, but in Scranton we have Montage Mountain.

Mike Sarraille:
Is it [crosstalk].

Adam Rippon:
It’s our Squaw Valley. Is what?

Mike Sarraille:
Is it a mountain …

Adam Rippon:
No.

Mike Sarraille:
… or is it a hill?

Adam Rippon:
It’s a hill.

Mike Sarraille:
It’s a hill.

Adam Rippon:
Barely. I’ve never skied on it either.

Mike Sarraille:
Okay.

Adam Rippon:
Do you love the way that the story is going by the way yet?

Mike Sarraille:
So Scranton is, and I had a good mentor, a guy named Bill Campbell who’s from a coal mine in Pennsylvania, and he went on to be the secret coach of Silicon Valley, but always when he talked about his upbringing in Pennsylvania, it was a blue collar town, it was hard living.

Adam Rippon:
Totally. It’s exactly that. It’s a really strong, middle lower class town. Really great people, really hardworking people, and a lot of people who’ve been there for a really long time, like generations.

Mike Sarraille:
Good.

Adam Rippon:
And that’s me.

Mike Sarraille:
And so you said you got interested in skating when you were at a birthday party?

Adam Rippon:
Yeah. Well, so my mom would bring me skating every winter, and I hated it. And the only thing I really wanted to do was have a soft pretzel and a hot chocolate. Can you blame me? No. And so I just never liked it. And then there was a girl in my class who had a skating party, and I went, I was like nine, so I was a little older, and I just loved it. And I kept asking my mom to like, “Can I go back? Can we please go back?” And then famously our birthday is November 11th. For my birthday. I got signed up for the group lesson classes, and so that’s how I got started.

Mike Sarraille:
In Scranton,

Adam Rippon:
In actually Pittston, which, as it sounds, is worse than Scranton.

Mike Sarraille:
And how far is that from Scranton?

Adam Rippon:
It’s about 30 minutes on the turnpike.

Mike Sarraille:
Okay. And so your mom’s driving you out. And I’m sorry, going back, just looking at your life, because we always do research our guests, out of respect. Your parents divorced when you were 13?

Adam Rippon:
Yeah. Yeah. I think my parents got divorced, I was about 13. Yeah.

Mike Sarraille:
13. And you’re the oldest of …

Adam Rippon:
Six.

Mike Sarraille:
Six siblings.

Adam Rippon:
It’s a lot.

Mike Sarraille:
I only had three. So with that many siblings, is that a competitive environment? Cause I mean, I got to assume you’re competing for mom and dad’s time and resources, bathroom time?

Adam Rippon:
I think that when there’s so many of you, everybody wants to find their own thing. And that’s what me and my siblings all did, we all found our own thing that we really liked to pursue. And when there is so many, there’s obviously going to be an age gap. And so for me, to my younger siblings, I feel almost more like an uncle to them than I feel like my older siblings are kind of like actually my siblings. Does that make sense?

Mike Sarraille:
So did you become, in some sense, the man of the house, when your parents finally got divorced?

Adam Rippon:
Let’s say yes.

Mike Sarraille:
Yeah. To a degree?

Adam Rippon:
Well kind of, but also no, because by the time my parents were divorced, I wasn’t living at home anymore, because I was living in Philadelphia during the week to train. So on a Monday morning, I’d have my little portable radio with my headphones, and I’d listened to 98.5 KRZ on the Greyhound bus. And I’d take the Greyhound bus from Scranton to Philadelphia, then I’d do the same thing on Friday from Philly back to Scranton. So I wasn’t home for a lot of the big parts of like my parents separating.

Mike Sarraille:
So I’m assuming, as you’re describing it, when your mom signed you up for those lessons, the instructors are like, “Hey, your son has talent. He’s beyond these lessons, we need to get him into a different circle.”

Adam Rippon:
I think what it was, was that it was the first thing that I was really into, and I just loved and I just wanted to do it all the time and I did everything I could to make sure that there was no excuse that I couldn’t get to the rink. And I remember I wanted to skate in the morning and my mom was like, “You know, everybody needs to get up for school and I need to get everybody ready.” And I remember that for a while I would wake up all of my siblings at 4:30 in the morning, and I would panic them that they were late for school, and I would get everybody ready and make their lunches and stuff. And then by five o’clock I could wake my mom up and be like, “Can we go to the rink? Everybody’s ready for school.” And that’s just good business. Yeah..

Mike Sarraille:
So when they recognized you had real potentially competitive talent, did that then become to dominate your life? Cause I’m assuming, as you’re telling me so that, you’re not enrolled in regular school by this point? You’re doing remote learning, computers and then spending most of your time on the rink?

Adam Rippon:
Yes, I was being homeschooled, which I couldn’t not recommend more. I was really good with school and I liked school, but with the homeschooling it was tough because I really needed that accountability. So when I finally was in high school, I started doing it online with a charter school program, which was much better.

Mike Sarraille:
Because you felt like you had some sense of homecoming [crosstalk]

Adam Rippon:
Yeah, because I wasn’t listening to my mom. Are you kidding me?

Mike Sarraille:
We don’t, and that’s the thing of teenagers is they think you have everything figured out.

Adam Rippon:
Yeah, and the other thing about teenagers is that they suck.

Mike Sarraille:
I’m not … As a father of a 14 and … Actually my daughter turns 18 today.

Adam Rippon:
Wow.

Mike Sarraille:
I know.

Adam Rippon:
A lot of birthdates, odd.

Mike Sarraille:
A lot of birthdays. But teenagers think they have everything figured out. So did I, I was not easy to live with. In retrospect, I look back at my parents, I’m like, “You were right about 99% of the things.”

Adam Rippon:
I know, that’s what’s so sad. And of all the fighting that I’ve done with my parents, which I haven’t done a lot, I was a teacher’s pet, a teacher’s parent. But all of the things that my mom would get upset with me about, when I was younger, she was right. Which I guess I have to hand it to her.

Mike Sarraille:
We just don’t like to tell them directly. I don’t think [crosstalk]

Adam Rippon:
No. Right. Yeah.

Mike Sarraille:
So in many ways you didn’t live a traditional teenage life, cause you were so laser focused on skating. I’m assuming during the weekends you were going to every competition you could, is that accurate?

Adam Rippon:
Yeah. I would go home during the weekend, so I’d spend some time with my family then, and then there would be competitions, and that’s when my mom would get pulled away from the family, because then my mom would travel with me. And we went to a many different competitions all down the east coast. And so yeah, it was just that’s all I was focused on. And I know that in retrospect, or thinking about what’s a normal childhood, it might sound like I was making sacrifices, but from my perspective I never was because I was getting to do something I really loved to do.

Mike Sarraille:
So you just had pure love for the sport?

Adam Rippon:
Oh yeah. It was just like the first time I felt like I was good at something.

Mike Sarraille:
Was there a certain feeling on the ice when you’re by yourself that just drew you in? Cause I see that being a highly competitive environment, which may be a turnoff to some people. Was that mean, was it spiritual in a sense?

Adam Rippon:
I think what I really loved about it was I liked the performance aspect of it, but I loved the learning and mastering new elements, and I loved just the training of it, especially as I got older. I would say now when I look back at my career, the most fun I had with it was probably in the last few years before I competed at the Olympics, because I just loved that training so much.

Mike Sarraille:
And the competitions didn’t scare you?

Adam Rippon:
I didn’t love competing.

Mike Sarraille:
What were you feeling before a major competition?

Adam Rippon:
Bad.

Mike Sarraille:
Nervous?

Adam Rippon:
Yeah, like I was going to have the worst diarrhea in the history of the world. And I remember, I specifically remember when I was skating in my last event in the Pyung Chang Olympics, and I remember thinking like, “Why do I do this to myself? This is awful.” And then of course the second it’s done, I’m like, “This is the most amazing thing ever.” And I always would remind myself like, “Just focus on how you want to feel when it’s over, so that these feelings that you’re feeling, this feeling uncomfortable, use it as a way to perform to a higher level.”

Mike Sarraille:
The human psyche is so fickle.

Adam Rippon:
Totally.

Mike Sarraille:
“I hate this.” And then all of a sudden you’re done, you’re like, “I love this is the best feeling in the world.”

Adam Rippon:
Yeah. And I had to, as I got older, re-channel the way that I would feel my nerves. I think sometimes I felt like it made me hold back, and I had to just remind myself that like, “Oh, this is adrenaline that I can use to take it a step further that I couldn’t in practice. So this is actually a really good thing.” And I would remind myself of that, and it was something that really changed the way that I competed.

Mike Sarraille:
So you started really getting serious about skating at the age of 10. Is that late compared to a lot of the Olympic level skaters?

Adam Rippon:
Yeah. I mean, in my sport specifically, for the men, a good age to be at your peak and at the Olympics, would be like 22 to 24. You’re still young enough but you’re mature enough, and you have enough strength to be competitive and strong and handle all of the elements and everything. So a lot of people get started much earlier, like five, six.
Because skating is a weird thing because I think when sport meets a skill, right? Playing chess is a skill. You need to know how to calculate all the moves and have a feel for what people are going to do. And the skating aspect of it is a total skill. You need to just spend hours and hours and hours and learn how to skate, but you also need to be a really great athlete. So it’s like you need to have this skill, to showcase your athletic ability. And I think that’s what I really loved about it.

Mike Sarraille:
So a lot of people don’t have insight into what a traditional day is for you training. Walk me through that. Cause I’m assuming there’s time on the ice, there’s time in the gym, there’s time for flexibility. What does that look like for an Olympic level competitor?

Adam Rippon:
I think, okay, also I know that this is stupid but I didn’t realize how much time I was spending doing it, until I wasn’t doing it anymore. But a normal day if I was training. So let’s go back to like 2017. Okay, we’re going to the ring together. I don’t want to wake up that early. It’s like 10 o’clock, okay? I’m not a SEAL Team Six member. 10:00 AM is kind of what we’re [crosstalk]

Mike Sarraille:
First off, I don’t know what SEAL Team you just mentioned. Let’s reset from the … I have no knowledge.

Adam Rippon:
Okay, so 10:00 AM, does that feel good to you?

Mike Sarraille:
That feels good.

Adam Rippon:
Okay, felt good to me. So that’s when [crosstalk]

Mike Sarraille:
But what time were you up?

Speaker 3:
Nine.

Adam Rippon:
Nine. Yeah. Yeah. We’re really not pushing it yet. So I’d wake up. I’d have breakfast. I’d get started. And then I would head to the rink, I’d be at the rink around 10 o’clock.

Mike Sarraille:
Okay.

Adam Rippon:
So then we’d be at the rink. I would do a lighter workout for about an hour. So I’d be in the gym over there for about an hour, then I would train and I’d be on the ice for about two hours. Then after that I would do another light workout. And then-

Mike Sarraille:
And when you say a light workout, what does that look like?

Adam Rippon:
Basically, so in skating, when we do all of our jumps and our spins, you have a side that’s your dominant side. So when I would land a jump, I would only land on my right leg, so everything is on your right leg. So when I would do a light workout, we would do different stability exercises, so that your body isn’t too unbalanced. And so we would do a lot of that stuff to keep the body in line. So we would do band work. It would basically look like a workout at Curves.

Mike Sarraille:
Well actually Tom Brady is doing lot of those same type of workouts.

Adam Rippon:
Yeah, and he’s doing fine.

Mike Sarraille:
I think we could both agree there.

Adam Rippon:
Yeah.

Mike Sarraille:
Yeah. When you say you were right side dominant, is that because you were right-handed?

Adam Rippon:
Yeah. So when you’re young, your coach will kind of see which way you naturally want to spin or do all of your different elements, and then from there they’ll just teach you in that order. I think it’s better to be right-handed because also all of our patterning on the ice is the same, and you kind of go with like the flow of traffic. So if you’re lefthanded, everyone’s always in your way, and you’re always in everybody else’s way. It’s tough. Being lefthanded is tough.

Mike Sarraille:
My wife is in the crowd raising her hand, she’s lefthanded, so she may disagree with that. You you say balance, but still were the workouts to build just your right side a little stronger than the left?

Adam Rippon:
So basically a lot of our weight training, and a lot of what our workout would be, we would do that on the ice. So it wasn’t a lot of weight training. Basically everything we would do on the ice, then we would take that off the ice and we would try to realign ourselves and do a lot of lower body stuff. Not a lot of upper body stuff.

Mike Sarraille:
[crosstalk] So predominantly first skaters it’s lower body strength, I would assume?

Adam Rippon:
Yes. So as a single skater, which I was, I skated by myself, we had no upper body, we did not do anything. Because you want to be as light as possible, and so your trunk is obviously going to be much bigger and thicker. And so we would focus on the legs, and basically when you do all of the jumps, there’s not any sort of arm strength or upper body strength that you need, you just don’t want them to get in the way. So when you rotate and move them around, when you’re doing all of the elements, you move them in a way that they catch the least amount of air as possible.

Mike Sarraille:
Okay.

Adam Rippon:
So we did tons of core, obviously, but no upper body. So that’s the first half of the day. And then we would just repeat that again so that … You’re following me?

Mike Sarraille:
I’m following you.

Adam Rippon:
And then I would go home because I am actually a crazy person. And then I would wear this sauna suit.

Mike Sarraille:
The sweatsuit?

Adam Rippon:
Yeah.

Mike Sarraille:
Like wrestling.

Adam Rippon:
Yes.

Mike Sarraille:
Yes.

Adam Rippon:
And then I would go for a jog in it every night, for about 40 minutes.

Mike Sarraille:
That’s a long job.

Adam Rippon:
Yeah. Especially when you’re sweating your ass off.

Mike Sarraille:
So you were training from 10:00 AM to … What do you think?

Adam Rippon:
At midnight. I would probably in the middle of that, because I would postpone this run as long as possible. So obviously it was like, I should have done it at 8:00, but I would wait until midnight.

Mike Sarraille:
Midnight. So before we get to the mid-roll break, I know you came out and talked in the New York Times about body image. And do you feel you were living a unhealthy life in a sense while you were competing?

Adam Rippon:
I think being an elite athlete, isn’t a healthy thing.

Mike Sarraille:
[crosstalk] degrees do you get? Peak performance is not intended to be sustained.

Adam Rippon:
Right. And I think to be an elite athlete, you have to push yourself to do crazy things to be competitive. And I think when you have an opportunity to look back on it, you realize some of the insanity you put yourself through, and you realize that like … I’m really grateful for a lot of people who have these conversations of mental health and talking about eating disorders and stuff like that, I think it’s really important because it helps other athletes get to a point of being elite, without doing a lot of the mistakes that someone like I would’ve made.

Mike Sarraille:
Well, that’s the whole intent, right? Each generation passes on to the next [inaudible].

Adam Rippon:
Totally. Yes.

Mike Sarraille:
Don’t do what I did. To what degree were there external factors in that push to be so thin, [crosstalk], is that the sport or was that internally drained by you?

Adam Rippon:
So for me it wasn’t a body image thing. It was, I could see who was having success around me, and I saw that they were thinner, and I was being as logical as possible and was like, “Okay, if I want to be better I should just get thinner.” And so that’s when I absolutely went overboard. Do you know what kefir is?

Mike Sarraille:
No.

Adam Rippon:
It’s like that liquidy yogurt. It’s basically what old grandmas eat. And I would just have a bottle of that every day. That’s-

Mike Sarraille:
Okay, so let’s step back to your diet. Your diet was …

Adam Rippon:
So basically the year getting ready for the Olympics I was much healthier. I was probably like the healthiest version of myself, because the year before I had broken my foot, and I feel like I totally broke my foot because I was just eating like Bob’s Bread. You know that nut bread?

Mike Sarraille:
Yes.

Adam Rippon:
Yeah.

Mike Sarraille:
How many calories?

Adam Rippon:
I was probably having … I mean obviously I had some binges here and there, but on a day where I was like, “Oh, I did a good job.” Was probably having like 600 calories. Yeah.

Mike Sarraille:
That’s one of my meals.

Adam Rippon:
Yeah.

Mike Sarraille:
That’s one of my six meals a day.

Adam Rippon:
That was one of my days.

Mike Sarraille:
What were the adverse …

Adam Rippon:
See the craziest thing about it is that I was skating really well, and that I was getting a lot of praise for being so lean and fit. And I still wasn’t the smallest person there, so nobody was worried about me. And I also didn’t think, I thought I was just doing what I needed to do. So I was like, “I don’t have a problem.” But then all of a sudden when you like break your foot just walking to go put your skates on, which is how I broke my foot, I was like, “Okay, this might be something I have to address now.” Cause I knew it was something I would deal with but just later, because it didn’t feel like an issue I was actually having. Cause I didn’t have an issue. But then when you look at it you’re like, “Yeah, just having bread and I Can’t Believe It’s Not Butter isn’t a day meal.” It is delicious though.

Mike Sarraille:
Well that is wildly, I think we all agree now wildly unhealthy. Maybe not the best for your body, cause I’m sure it threw your hormones off wildly off with that few calories. But you broke your leg, is it true the doctor looked at you, because he said, “Hey, you’re probably out for quite a while.” And you said, “Hey, that’s not going to work.” [inaudible] and he said, and I quote, cause you said, “I’ll be ready four months.” He was like, “You’re a delusional bitch.”

Adam Rippon:
Yeah. Well I am a delusional bitch, so it did make complete sense. So I remember I broke my foot, it was almost a year to the day of Olympic qualifiers. They would be in a year in that time. And I remember where I broke my foot at the rink, and I remember looking out this window at the rink, and was like, “You know what? I’m going to take this time.” I don’t know what happened, but I was like, “I’m going to be fine. I’m going to move out to Colorado Springs.” Because there’s an Olympic training center out there. So it was like, “I’ll move to Colorado Springs for a few months. I’ll get my shit together. Blah, blah, blah.”
That being said, that window at the rink, it isn’t there, but I still vividly remember looking out a window, obviously delusional. So I remember just having this clear vision of like, “I’m going to get it together, and all of these, …” Of course in that moment, every kind of mistake that you’ve made comes to like, “Oh, if I had done this, this wouldn’t have happened.” Or whatever. So in that moment I’m like, “You know what? I’m going to work with the best people who are out there, and I’m going to make sure that I’m in the best shape of my life. I’m going to use this as an opportunity. I don’t need to worry about any of the shows that they would do in the summer. I don’t need to worry about doing any other competitions. I have a year to get ready for the Olympics that everybody else doesn’t have, because they have to still do so many different things.” So in that moment that’s where I was like, “I’m going to use this to my advantage.”

Mike Sarraille:
You know the average person they’d look at you and they may say your life in general is delusional?

Adam Rippon:
Yeah.

Mike Sarraille:
You know that [inaudible]? Driven beyond means. Driven beyond means. And you looked at a guy who probably went to school for eight years to get his degree, doing his expert opinions. And you were done. Like I appreciate your input.

Adam Rippon:
Yeah.

Mike Sarraille:
I’m going to disregard that and all your education. Get out of the way.

Adam Rippon:
I mean, it’s just, it’s totally wild. Truly if you set your mind to it, you’ll find a way there somehow. And there was always so many different points of my life where I was like, “I don’t know how I’ll get there, but I won’t worry about how I’ll get there, I just want to keep focusing on when I’m there, this is what I’ll feel.”

Mike Sarraille:
You know, watching, going through special operations, assessment selection to make it in managed media, the SEALS, the green berets, the [marshoks], they’re all [inaudible] to love all these communities. You quickly learn, especially when you go back as an instructor and watch it, is that the body is so resilient, it will go for days. But the mind, the mind is the number one thing for a lot of people which will break. I’ve seen a lot of guys quit SEAL training, that could have kept on on going. Their bodies could have kept on ongoing, it was just absolutely their mind.

Adam Rippon:
Yeah. I mean, obviously I can’t relate.

Mike Sarraille:
No you can. You were at the international level.

Adam Rippon:
I can relate to it because there were just so many times where I just completely disassociated my mind from my body, and was like, “Just think of your whole body as like you’re a robot. Just keep going. You can keep going, just take your mind completely out of it.” And that’s how I got through a lot of training sessions. That’s how I got through a lot of competitions and events, that I just pretended that I wasn’t living in my own body.

Mike Sarraille:
I’m upset you’re not staying in Austin a little longer, cause I would’ve love to see what you consider one of your hardest workouts. And I’m assuming it would put me to the test, but just to go through it, I’d love to see that. So we’re going to have to link back up when you-

Adam Rippon:
We will. Yes.

Mike Sarraille:
Okay. Good. Well, before we go to mid-roll-

Adam Rippon:
One of my hardest workouts now, you can obviously make it through that now. It’s more mimosa based.

Mike Sarraille:
I just worked out with Tim Kennedy, who’s a big UFC fighter, former green beret, well still a current green beret. He and his squad crushed me to the point where I was not walking around normal for about three days.

Adam Rippon:
No, you’ll walk around normal with me. I promise. You’ll be fine.

Mike Sarraille:
So before we go to mid-roll, and we’re taking about a five minute break, we ask our guests two hard questions, and you can totally say, “I default until after the break.” If you want to think about this.

Adam Rippon:
Okay.

Mike Sarraille:
Hardest decision you ever made?

Adam Rippon:
Okay, I’ll answer it. I won’t default. I think the hardest decision I ever made was moving out to California. Because I moved out to California almost 10 years ago, and when I moved there it felt kind of like my last chance, to hope and make an Olympic team or make something really meaningful of my skating career. And when I moved out there, I didn’t have anything. I remember I had $80 in cash, that I went to like a Bank of America and was like, “Can you open something with cash?” And they’re like, “Yeah, it’s a bank.” And I was like, “Okay, I get it.” And that’s it. And from that moment, I just relied on really amazing people around me. I lived in my coach’s basement. It was scary, but it’s like a point of my life where I’m so grateful, and it’s like the best thing that ever happened to me

Mike Sarraille:
So that begs a question for Olympic athletes. Are they too scrounging to make it by?

Adam Rippon:
Oh yeah. Only the athletes, especially in like a niche sport, like skating, where it’s something that you watch every four years, if you’re in the general public. Right? So only if you’re at, I would say like if you’re in the top five in the world, you’re making money. Top five, top six. You can make money because you’re medaling at a lot of your events. You’re getting asked to do a lot of the shows. So you can make a nice living. And in the last few years, I was making a, for a skater, very decent living. Because I wasn’t the best, but I was in the mix of the guys at the top. So I was able to make a decent living for myself, which I mean, I basically was able to pay everybody back from when I couldn’t afford it.

Mike Sarraille:
Are there any countries that support their Olympic athletes better than we do?

Adam Rippon:
You know …

Mike Sarraille:
And I know that’s loaded question.

Adam Rippon:
It’s super loaded, because in the U.S., that athletes aren’t supported by the government. So everything is through private sponsors. So when the U.S. athletes go, it’s like Tide pods and like McDonald’s. That’s how we got there, through those sponsorships and through private donors who enjoy the Olympics, and they love watching the Olympics and they love supporting athletes. So all of that funding is through sponsorships and donors.
In a lot of different countries, it can be sponsored by the government. So it’s like a government program that has money always there and allotted, and they can invest in different trainers or doctors or specifically buy an ice rink just for one coach. So it’s totally different. I know some of my Italian friends, their athletic department is sponsored through their military. So they’re all members of the military. And again, it’s another government program. So in the U.S. it can be very tough, where there’s a huge drop off. If you’re not in that upper echelon, you’re scraping by.

Mike Sarraille:
So I naturally thought our government subsidized, with the Olympic training center and everything.

Adam Rippon:
That’s all private. Yeah.

Mike Sarraille:
Interesting. Okay. I just learned. Last hard question before we go to break. Hardest regret, or I should say the biggest regret in your life, thus far?

Adam Rippon:
You know, actually I’m grateful for all of the times that I’ve like made mistakes, and I feel like they feel like regrets, but I used to be regretful of those mistakes, but I’ve realized that if I carry them with me and I actually learn something from them, I won’t make them again, and they’re important for where I would like to go. So I think the only regret I have is that I didn’t come to that mentality sooner, because I would’ve felt less embarrassed about the shortcomings I’ve had. I would’ve felt less embarrassed or like ashamed that maybe I didn’t go to an Olympics sooner. Cause the Olympics I competed at was the third one I tried to qualify for, and I think I was really defining my whole career on that. Which it’s just a competition.

And once I was able to let go and be like, “You know, you made mistakes, that’s why you didn’t go. It’s not unheard of to make mistakes. People make mistakes.” And I think also something that athletes, 99% of athletes go through is they have this moment where they’re like, “Okay, I’ll never be the best. I’ll never be like the Olympic gold medalist. I’ll never be the world champion.”

And I was a really good athlete, like I am a national champion and I’ve been to an Olympic games, but there is this weird sort of you wrestle with this fantasy of yourself that might not come true. It’s not even a come to terms, it’s more realizing that, especially in sports, being the best is so circumstantial, and it really has nothing to do with the amount of work that you’ve done or haven’t done or could you have done more? It’s like, “How tall are you?” Like, is this the shape of a person that’s doing really well? Are we really focused on jumps or is it more about performance?” And that comes and goes in waves. And it’s having this realization with yourself that the best … You’ll remember and sometimes you won’t, how you placed, but you’ll always remember how you felt at those events.

And so there was a moment where I really had to focus inward and be like, “Yeah, if I am my best, that is my version of success.” And I had more success from it. I won more medals. I was making more money. I was on Olympic teams. I won a national title, had an Olympic medal. So it was in that mentality of letting that go. Because it was this fear of like, “Is it ever going to happen? Is it ever going to happen?” And it was like, “No, it’s not, but that doesn’t mean you’re not good at this.” And I think it was realizing that and I could let go of what felt like regrets.

Mike Sarraille:
That is the best answer we’ve ever had on any podcast. We’ve had some pretty prolific guests. It is part of life, and those things that went wrong, if you learn from them, then they provided you the greatest lessons in life.

Adam Rippon:
Hundred percent.

Mike Sarraille:
And it’s amazing, sitting here with someone who was on the international stage, saying, “I was never going to get that gold medal.” You got that bronze medal, which 99.9% of the bigger skating community will never reach …

Adam Rippon:
Totally. Yes.

Mike Sarraille:
… and you are good with it.

Adam Rippon:
Because that color, I’m so happy with what I was able to do because I won my medal in the team event, and I’m so proud of the way that I was able to help my team and skate for my team in that moment, that I can’t control the way that y teammates may have skated if we didn’t medal, but I know that I did everything I was asked to do in that moment and I was a real asset to my team. And so the medal was so secondary. And when I think of the medal ceremonies at the Olympics and stuff, when I was on the podium, and it’s an amazing moment but in that moment you realize like, “This isn’t for me, it’s for my mom to watch. This is for my coaches to see.” My moment was when I got to skate and I got to do what I wanted to do, and I did my job the way that I wanted to do it. But that moment of getting that medal, it’s a necklace. It’s nice. Really. Listen, I want to keep it, right?

Mike Sarraille:
I’d say it’s a pretty coveted necklace. And you have your whole nation behind you. And after the break we’re going to get into that, especially because you had broken some barriers with your moral courage, and I want to get into that for the everyday warriors listening to this. Warriors within the respect profession, you demonstrated moral courage that previous generations did not have.

Adam Rippon:
Well, I appreciate that.

Mike Sarraille:
Okay. So we’re going to take a break for our sponsors and we’ll be right back.cAnd we are back with Adam Rippon. Thank you.

Adam Rippon:
Thank you.

Mike Sarraille:
So before the break, I wanted to ask this question. This is almost like asking somebody over their forties what their age is. How much did you weigh during that period where you felt you were doing what’s necessary to compete?

Adam Rippon:
I think now when you think like, did I have a problem or was I obsessed with it, that I can give you, the very specifics? So I weighed 147 pounds, and I knew that I was okay if I was living within the range … So my Olympic weight was 147, and it would be like 147 to 150. I would live in this three pound range. And I knew that if I was over 150, it was like … I never went over 150, but when I was not eating anything, honestly it wasn’t that. I couldn’t push myself to lose any more weight than what I had. I was like 142 to 145, but it was this five pound difference that was pivotal to me being a healthier athlete.

Mike Sarraille:
What are you weighing now?

Adam Rippon:
165.

Mike Sarraille:
And do you feel you’re the healthiest you’ve ever been?

Adam Rippon:
Yeah. Sometimes I look at older pictures of myself and I’m like, “Wow.” It’s so crazy because in my world everybody was like, you know I would make like fat jokes about myself, and everyone would be like, “Ha, yeah, you’re right.” And now when I see it I’m like, “That is so crazy to me that this person would be like, “I have weight to lose.”” In the last few years, obviously, when you train for the Olympics, I didn’t personally know how to go to the gym and not train for the Olympics. So I didn’t enjoy any of it, and I like realized it was something that I loved, and that I needed to find a way back into it. So over the past year I’ve been getting back into working out and stuff, and so I gained more weight up on top that I just didn’t have before. I’m still a few pounds away from you though.

Mike Sarraille:
My wife would say different. She thinks I need to lose about 10 pounds. That’s the house I live in, and the abuse I go through. In that sort of same vein, what is your diet and workouts now? Are you still skinny?

Adam Rippon:
No. No. I like-

Mike Sarraille:
So you’ve just sort of given it up?

Adam Rippon:
Yeah. I wouldn’t say like, give it up. I’d be like, “Don’t do it anymore.” Right? I still have it.

Mike Sarraille:
When you step on the ice, does it evoke certain …

Adam Rippon:
No.

Mike Sarraille:
No?

Adam Rippon:
I mean, I still love it, but it is sort of like I enjoy going skating and I have friends that I used to train with and stuff that will go to the rink and we’ll skate together, and it’s always fun. But there’s this like frustrating moment of like, “I can’t do what I used to do.” So like, “Okay, what am I going to do?” Yeah. It’s weird. So I enjoy being on the ice, but I don’t really skate very often, but I make an effort to go because I do enjoy being out there.

Mike Sarraille:
So for your diet and your workouts, do you have a system? Do you have a trainer? Are you following a specific diet because-

Adam Rippon:
Now?

Mike Sarraille:
Yeah.

Adam Rippon:
Honey, it’s a free for all.

Mike Sarraille:
It’s a free for all.

Adam Rippon:
Free for all.

Mike Sarraille:
Yeah?

Adam Rippon:
Yeah. I’m barely getting by. No, I’m kidding. I’m not kidding. I think now it was also totally changing my relationship to food, and changing … It was everything because I live at, this might shock you at a very intense level, and it was like having a healthier relationship with food and realizing to like, you can enjoy it because I never enjoyed food. I would eat it because as somebody who’s trying to go to the Olympics, it was just my version of gasoline. So I’d just eat whatever was the leanest whatever, and just eat that. So I never ate because I enjoyed it, and I’ve slowly learned how to do that. My husband, he loves to cook. So that’s great because my version of cooking is truly just making toast and cereal.

Mike Sarraille:
Sounds like my wife. I’m going to pay for that comment later, you know that, right?

Adam Rippon:
We get each other.

Mike Sarraille:
Yeah. So let’s dive in because, again, the title of the podcast is Everyday Warrior, and I believe, and I know some people hear that and they’re like, “I’m not a warrior.” And I’ve tried to explain the concept to them, they sort of warm up to it, and you are a warrior within your respective profession. In your profession you went to the top. I mean you’re a bronze medalist in the Olympics, but you’ve also taken on a new fight. And as I was doing research, in the article in 2015, you came out as the first openly gay figure skater.

Adam Rippon:
Yeah.

Mike Sarraille:
And I was actually shocked, by 2015. I thought that would’ve been like 1998, 1990s. First off, the moral courage that must have taken, because not only socially do you open yourself up, and nobody wants to open themselves up to the, what I call the keyboard warriors, the people I don’t respect.

Adam Rippon:
Yeah. Totally. Yes.

Mike Sarraille:
Who just want to fling insults. So you opened yourself up to the public, but there was also, from what I read, fear of how you may be judged by the judges in the actual Olympics.

Adam Rippon:
Yeah.

Mike Sarraille:
Dude, you got to walk me through just your mindset going into that, your motivators, was it enough enough?

Adam Rippon:
So the mindset actually of why I even wanted to, because I think ideally everybody’s sort of like, “There’s no reason to come out. You should just be able to be yourself and do whatever and it doesn’t matter.” And I think to everyone in my friend circle, my family, my coaches, they all liked who I was, and they could’ve give it a shit.
But the first time I felt like it was something that like, “Oh, maybe I’ll have to talk about it.” Was in 2014, the Olympics were in Russia, and they had this anti-gay propaganda law, which it was super unclear what that meant, like what would it mean if somebody spoke up against it? And I felt like if I made that Olympic team, if I said something, was I putting myself or my family or my teammates in danger? Was I going to ruin their experience? And I never really said anything, I would just defer the question. And I never made that Olympic team, so it didn’t matter.
But in those next few years after … You know, not making that Olympic team was super devastating, and it was probably the lowest I felt as an athlete, because it felt like that was my time. And I had missed my time, so now it was coming to terms with, “Okay, you’ll never go to the Olympics. You’ll never do all of these things that you thought you would.” And I had this kind of Renaissance a few months after this very low point of I was like, “I’ll do one more competition. I’m going to train for it the hardest I’ve ever trained for anything in my life. This will be the last one. I don’t care if I get first. I don’t care if I get last, but whatever. If I get last but I’m proud of it, I’ll be the happiest last place person ever.” And that’s what I kept telling myself. And I skated the best I ever skated. And I was like, “Oh my God, no, I can totally do this.”
And so in that moment of feeling like I really had nothing to lose, that’s when I was like, “Okay, I want to redo a lot of those things that I wish I had done before.” And one that was really important to me, was being an out athlete. So in those years after not qualifying for that Sochi Olympic team, I was like, “I’m going to redo all of this fucken dumb shit that I should have done when I had the opportunity. I’ll redo it now.” So I used it as an opportunity to do that from that younger version of myself. And so in a way I was lucky because like I wasn’t a national champion at that point. I wasn’t an Olympian at that point. So the audience that I am telling like, “I’m gay,” to is small, but it was a personal thing for me to be able to share it.

Mike Sarraille:
You know it’s amazing. You just said when you sort of said, “Screw it, what do I have to lose?” How your perspective on things change.

Adam Rippon:
Totally.

Mike Sarraille:
I remember, when I was an officer, but the SEAL that came up to me was enlisted and he saw that I was uncomfortable speaking to crowds, which funny enough, fast forward, that’s what I do for a living. And he said, “Hey, Mike, I came up with this theory.” And he said, yeah, I hate to swear, he said, “It’s my fuck it principle.” He said, “Fuck it.” He said, “Before I do anything that I naturally have a fear of, I say, “Fuck it.”

Adam Rippon:
Totally.

Mike Sarraille:
So if you’ve got a crowd of a thousand people, you say those words, what is the worst that’s going to happen? You be yourself, you be vulnerable, and just be you.

Adam Rippon:
Yeah. And, I mean-

Mike Sarraille:
And if people don’t accept you then screw them.

Adam Rippon:
That is a hundred percent what I do and do now, and I experimented with like, you know if you don’t have anything to lose, which at that point I had truly nothing to lose. But in those moments, I never acted on the defense. I was so aggressively going towards things, because if I fell flat on my face or if I didn’t do it, it didn’t matter. It truly didn’t matter. It didn’t mean that I would have less than what I had at that moment, cause in that moment I didn’t have anything. So it was like failing didn’t scare me anymore, and once I wasn’t scared to fail, I actually was the most successful.

Mike Sarraille:
So when that article came out, let’s focus very little on this, but did you receive a lot of negative …

Adam Rippon:
No, there’s just I received like almost no attention from it. And I knew that that would happen, because I just talked about my own personal coming out experience in this article, and it wasn’t about anything other than getting ready for some season or something. But I talked about it and it was in there, and then I was then a publicly out athlete. So there just was not a lot of like … It didn’t get picked up anywhere. I didn’t expect it to. It was like, “What, the kid who didn’t make the Olympics?” Like, “What does he have to say?” So it was to a really small group, and just skating people, who they would reach out to me and they were very nice about it. So my coming out experience as an athlete, was very positive. Because it was to people who knew me.

Mike Sarraille:
But I have to assume for some teenage skater who was struggling with the same thing, I’ve got to assume you had some outreach where people are like, “Hey, thank you. Thank you’ve giving me the courage to be who I am.”

Adam Rippon:
I didn’t realize at the time, because for me it’s my personal experience of it, right? But I didn’t realize, and I see it especially now, especially four years from my own Olympic experience, as an athlete, I see four years how the landscape has totally changed, and it’s great. It’s amazing, but I couldn’t have imagined the way that it is now, four years ago.

Mike Sarraille:
Really.

Adam Rippon:
Totally. It’s all foreign. Because I have a big mouth, and I run it all the fucken time. And so I think for a while it was just sort of like, “Oh, Adam just does his own thing.” And it’s interesting now to see the ripple effect of that now, that not everybody’s going to have like a big mouth like I do, but they’re able to kind of be more of themselves in this weird sort of like athlete box.

Mike Sarraille:
Do you think that’s going to be your defining impact? Again, you competed at the Olympic level, but do you think that’s going to be … I mean, to me, I hope the answer’s yes, because that’s an awesome impact. The path you have blazed for so many young men and women, who are fearful of the judgment that they’re gay, when in retrospect, and in reality, this is coming from San Francisco, but …

Adam Rippon:
Right.

Mike Sarraille:
… so what?

Adam Rippon:
Yeah, I think especially somebody kind of like me, who’s pretty loud, and I like to speak my mind, and what I make up for being five eight in shoes, cause I’m five seven without them.

Mike Sarraille:
Well we’re have to get in some cowboy boots, that will give you at least two inches. We’ll work on that.

Adam Rippon:
Yeah, I make up for it with talking. But I hope that when I can look back at what I’ve left in the sport that I was doing for my whole life, that I was able to help other young skaters, or other young athletes, feel like who they were wouldn’t define the kind of success that they could have. Cause I felt like when I was young that it might.

Mike Sarraille:
And so for your work and for your courage, you were recognized in 2018, this human rights campaign, Visibility Award, what did that mean to you? Was that a realization for you? Was it a, ah-ha moment?

Adam Rippon:
Not really, it was just all kind of surreal because it all happened so fast.Even when you go to the Olympics, whatever sport you compete in, everything around it is different, but everything in what you’re doing is exactly what you’ve done a million times. You’ve probably competed at that rink before. You’ve definitely competed against all of those people before. You know all of the judges. They’ve judged you for years. You know all of the faces. So all of it is so familiar, and it doesn’t feel like this experience. And still when I’ll see things or I’ll talk to people now, I still have this weird sort of like, “Oh, it’s much bigger than I even could have imagined it.” It’s very strange. It’s very strange to go on basically this one month trip, and come back and your whole life is totally different.

Mike Sarraille:
And eventually you went against Mike Pence, but I’m assuming that maybe those were a few words that turned into something bigger?

Adam Rippon:
Well, so basically, when you get ready for the Olympics, a lot of people talk about like, “You want to have the best experience.” Like, “Have a great experience at the Olympics.” And I was thinking about, for me, what’s the best experience? And I was like, “Well, for me, the best experience I can have at an Olympics would be I can meet a lot of people. I’ll get to be stupid and make a bunch of people laugh, but I’ll also be able to showcase who I am as an athlete, but I’m going to have a lot of fun.” And for me that also meant that any question I was asked, I told myself I would answer it, like I was at dinner with somebody, very candidly. I would be super honest.
And I remember I did one interview, in my car, right before the Olympics. And the rink that I trained at it used to be a grocery store. So it’s in this strip mall, it sounds very glamorous. It was in this strip mall, so I’m literally in like a taco Bell parking lot. And I remember that I was doing this interview on the phone, and the woman who was doing the interview, she asked me, she was like, “What do you think of Mike Pence leading the athlete delegation?” And I remember this was a moment where I was like, “Okay, I can either live up to that promise of answer this the way that you would at a dinner table, or just give it the answer of like, “You know, I don’t really have any thoughts on it. I’m focusing on myself.” But I was like, “No, I don’t care. I’m going to say what I think.” And that’s all that was, and it snowballed into something so much …

Mike Sarraille:
Bigger,

Adam Rippon:
… bigger, and so much crazier than I ever thought it would. And I’m glad it did, because I think for a lot of queer people in that moment. I know for me, it felt like in that moment that it was … The last administration was so polarizing for people, that I think that they just felt like … I know I had moments like that where I was like, “I don’t think I matter.” I felt maybe things will go backwards. It was scary, it was weird, and it felt like a moment of … I think somebody like me, when you see me, I think for a long time people think like, “Oh, you’re a gay best friend. You’re a sidekick.” And I think for somebody like me, I was like, “Oh my God, wait, I can be like the main character.”

Mike Sarraille:
As everyone should be of their own story.

Adam Rippon:
Of their own story, yes.

Mike Sarraille:
Adam, I can assure you, you are not a side kick. You’re winning Olympic medals, dude. That’s so funny, but that’s society putting that in your head.

Adam Rippon:
Totally. And it’s like your own expectation of what you’re capable of, right?

Mike Sarraille:
Okay. We’re jumping ahead to season 26 of Dancing in the Stars, which first off, which was probably one of the most competitive seasons-

Adam Rippon:
I mean, it was very good.

Mike Sarraille:
But I mean, there were …

Adam Rippon:
Just athletes.

Mike Sarraille:
… let’s say international level athletes, all competing. And I know it was a shorter version, but going into that, what did you think your chances were?

Adam Rippon:
I mean, I really didn’t think about it. Again, it felt like it was right off of the Olympics. So I was like, “Oh, this is just a continuation of like that experience.” So I remember thinking like, “Oh, it’ll be easier for me.” Truly the only advantage I had was that I’ve worn a costume before. And then I had no idea. My best way to describe doing Dancing With the Stars, is if you have a week to learn a sentence in a different language, and you can master it and then you’ll know it. And you’ll know that one sentence, but you don’t know any other fucking words, and you don’t know anything else. You don’t have a basic understanding of the vocabulary or anything, but you’re able to get this one sentence down, and that’s truly what it is.

Mike Sarraille:
Do you credit the fact that you guys won, a lot to Jenna?

Adam Rippon:
Oh, totally. I mean, because she’s an amazing teacher. It’s again like when you have great teachers, it makes the work so much easier, you enjoy it and, yeah, my partner Jenna was absolutely the best.

Mike Sarraille:
Yeah. You still keep in touch with her?

Adam Rippon:
Yes.

Mike Sarraille:
Yeah?

Adam Rippon:
Yes.

Mike Sarraille:
Okay. What about Tanya?

Adam Rippon:
What about Tanya? What do you want to know? I’ll tell you anything.

Mike Sarraille:
Had you met her prior to that point?

Adam Rippon:
No, because in skating Tanya Harding is like the boogie monster.

Mike Sarraille:
Still to this day?

Adam Rippon:
Yeah. She’s not allowed at events. She’s not allowed to coach. She’s not allowed to be present. She’s banned. Completely banned. So she’s truly like the big bad Wolf.

Mike Sarraille:
Did you get some time with her?

Adam Rippon:
A little bit.

Mike Sarraille:
How was that? What were your impressions? I’m putting you on the spot here. No comment is totally [crosstalk].

Adam Rippon:
I mean, what do you think? Like white trash, But I am white trash, so I can say that. It was like any lady I would’ve met in Scranton. Right? Fair?

Mike Sarraille:
I’m sure you just made a lot of enemies in Scranton with that comment.

Adam Rippon:
I already had them.

Mike Sarraille:
Okay. Okay. As we sort of wind down in this podcast, you’re 32 years old.

Adam Rippon:
I know.

Mike Sarraille:
I say that and I’m like, “It’s just so damn young.” And I see the people in the crowd are like shaking their heads. What’s important to you moving forward? You’ve got to be thinking of that. You’ve already cemented your legacy, by one, the Olympics, by two, having the moral courage to be the first openly gay athlete. Where do you go from here?

Adam Rippon:
That’s a great question. I like turn into a pool of water. When I think of when I had the most success as an athlete, I focus on what I enjoyed the most from those experiences. And the experiences that I’ve had since, I’ve been able to use a lot of the tools that I’ve learned as an athlete. Like I really enjoyed the planning, the training, but I’ve always loved performing in front of people. I’ve always loved making people laugh, and I’ve had a lot of opportunities to kind of go more into the entertainment world, and I’ve loved it and I’ve enjoyed it so much. Some work doesn’t, but some does feel like super purposeful, and one thing I’m able to do, I feel like I’m able to like no matter who the person is or whatever, I feel like I’m able to connect with like anybody. I do truly feel like I could walk into any room and leave and be friends with everybody. And I want to be able to continue to do that and to be able to keep doing things that I really enjoy.

Mike Sarraille:
You’ve never met a stranger.

Adam Rippon:
No, that’s a great way of putting it. Yeah.

Mike Sarraille:
So media and going down that pathway, is something of the interest to you and-

Adam Rippon:
Yes. Yeah. I love it. I’m really grateful for the opportunities that I’ve had, but all of them I’ve enjoyed so much.

Mike Sarraille:
You’ve got the personality, I have no doubt that you’re way ahead, but a good mentor of mine said, “Mike, you’ve got a face for radio and a voice for TV.” So I guess I’m screwed. And you are recently married?

Adam Rippon:
Yeah.

Mike Sarraille:
How’s that? How’s that? So you met your husband over Tinder.

Adam Rippon:
Yes. I did give.

Mike Sarraille:
Give the quick story there, because that is just the new norm.

Adam Rippon:
So a few years ago I was in … He’s from Finland, so I was in Finland, and I was at a competition. Obviously, I told you, super focused on Tinder and we matched. We never met, and then we talked for months, and then we finally met, and then …

Mike Sarraille:
Where did you guys meet? he came to the States?

Adam Rippon:
We met at LAX …

Mike Sarraille:
Okay.

Adam Rippon:
At the airport. And at first I didn’t know, that sounds like a bad idea, right?

Mike Sarraille:
It sounds like a bad idea, but if you canvas so many people that have flown men or women in from far. Yeah, it’s a gamble. Anything’s a gamble.

Adam Rippon:
Life is a gamble.

Mike Sarraille:
Going on a first date with somebody you meet at the bar, from that quick interaction, that’s a gamble.

Adam Rippon:
That’s also a gamble. Yeah. That’s the original Tinder, meeting someone at a bar.

Mike Sarraille:
All that Tinder and Bumble have done, is expedite the process. A lot of people are like, “Yeah, hey, that’s not a way to meet somebody.” No, it’s absolutely a way to meet somebody, it’s [crosstalk]. It expedites the process.

Adam Rippon:
Yes.

Mike Sarraille:
And here’s the other thing too. My wife talked about this all the time. We didn’t meet on Tinder or Bumble, but we both were on it is, anyone who tells you that attraction is not the first ingredient, is lying through their teeth.

Adam Rippon:
Yeah.

Mike Sarraille:
You don’t look at a girl across the bar and says, “Hey, I’m not physically attracted to her, but I bet she’s got a great personality.”

Adam Rippon:
I know. Here’s the thing, I’ll tell you though, about my Tinder profile. My now husband, was like, “I remember looking at your pictures and you had such a beautiful smile.” That smile, I had Photoshopped because I was starting my Invisalign, and I was like, “I’ll just kind of move my teeth around to the way that I know they’ll end up.” Eventually, that was my smile, but at the time it wasn’t.

Mike Sarraille:
When your husband on Tinder, had you already won the …

Adam Rippon:
So we Met on Tinder before the Olympics, and we met in person after.

Mike Sarraille:
Okay.

Adam Rippon:
Yeah. And he’s told me that it was a very odd experience …

Mike Sarraille:
To watch you on TV?

Adam Rippon:
Well, it was all of a sudden, one day he saw the newspaper in Finland and I was on the cover of it. And he was like, “This is this guy from Tinder?” So it’s funny to hear his perspective of everything, because I truly was just some random person, we were talking with each other. Yeah, his perspective of it is very interesting.

Mike Sarraille:
Did you have any competition photos on your profile?

Adam Rippon:
No.

Mike Sarraille:
No.

Adam Rippon:
I had one or two skate, and I think I had one skating one where I was on the ice, because I was like, “Maybe that’ll work.” It didn’t really work. I mean it worked eventually, I got a husband out of it.

Mike Sarraille:
So he sees you in the front page. I mean that’s just points. That’s points.

Adam Rippon:
Yeah.

Mike Sarraille:
I tried that with my wife, I leaned in on our first date. I’m like, “Hey, let me tell you something.” Cause I was at the time still, I was still an [inaudible]. I’m like, “Hey, I’m a Navy SEAL.” And she looked at me and she’s like, “Oh, awesome.” Had no clue what it is. It was the first time that I had ever gone on date with a girl that didn’t know what it was. And I had to be myself from there, and so it was just a real struggle from that point.

Adam Rippon:
Well, because with JP and I, I was like, “We’re never going to meet, so I don’t care.” So we would talk and I would truly be actually honest for the first time. We just would ask each other intense questions, and I would actually answer them super honestly, because I was like, “I’m never going to meet this person.” And then obviously we became very close because of just really having no guard up from the beginning.

Mike Sarraille:
How’s he adjusting to the L.A. life?

Adam Rippon:
He loves it.

Mike Sarraille:
He loves it?

Adam Rippon:
Yeah. He loves it.

Mike Sarraille:
Where where did he live before?

Adam Rippon:
He lived in Helsinki before.

Mike Sarraille:
Okay, so he came from a larger city.

Adam Rippon:
Yeah.

Mike Sarraille:
Okay.

Adam Rippon:
No loves it. And we live outside of the craziness of Hollywood.

Mike Sarraille:
Yeah. Pasadena.

Adam Rippon:
Yeah, Pasadena. Pasadena’s great. So it’s very walkable, so it’s my favorite part of California.

Mike Sarraille:
Except for the taxes.

Adam Rippon:
Exactly. I don’t love those. I’m still finding a way to not pay them, but it’s not working.

Mike Sarraille:
It is every American’s duty to pay as less taxes as possible.

Adam Rippon:
Hundred percent.

Mike Sarraille:
Hundred percent.

Adam Rippon:
Yeah. Anything you can write off. If anybody here has any extra receipts, I will take them. You and I will use them.

Mike Sarraille:
You just put a bullseye on your back for the IRS.

Adam Rippon:
It’s okay.

Mike Sarraille:
You’re getting audited in 2022.

Adam Rippon:
I know, I know it.

Mike Sarraille:
You heard it first here. Well, as we close out, again, we ask two questions for the listeners.

Adam Rippon:
Okay.

Mike Sarraille:
Again, our everyday warriors, warriors within the respected professions that are trying to live their best lives, and you’ve lived a multitude of lifetimes within your 32 years. How will Adam measure if he’s lived a fulfilling, purposeful, impactful life? When you’re 70, what is it that you’re going to look back and be like, “I lived well>:

Adam Rippon:
I’m 32, hopefully there’s many more years of me to do things that I’ll be proud of, but for what I’ve done so far, I’m very proud of it. And sometimes I think about, like, I can’t believe that in those moments actually stepped up to the plate. It feels unreal, and it feels like I don’t know how I did that, but I think for what I’ve done so far, I’m very proud of. And I think that I won’t focus too hard on what I want my legacy to be, or whatever I want to leave behind. I feel like life has led me to circumstances where I could either take advantage of them or not, and I think that that’s what will continue to happen.

Mike Sarraille:
My old man, again, who’s been right about 99% of the things, and he’s born and raised in San Francisco, built his own little empire. Good, good man, and my finest man said, and he saw me struggling. “Life is a mystery to be lived, not a puzzle to be solved.

Adam Rippon:
Yes.

Mike Sarraille:
So just take it as it comes. Lastly, again, we all have fundamental principles by which we live our lives. What are those one to three principles, your keys to success up to this point, that you’ve lived your life by, that maybe myself can take on board to live a better life?

Adam Rippon:
I think there’s two things that I take with me to everything that I do, and the first one is that nobody cares. Because everybody’s so focused about what does everybody else think, that when you finally realize like, oh, everybody’s thinking that. They don’t care about what you’re doing. And even if they talk shit about you, they’re going to do it for five minutes. Even if they’re railing you behind your back, and you have no idea, it’s only for five minutes and then it’s done. Then they really don’t care. And I think that I always look to people who I seemingly think don’t care what people think, and I really admire them, and I’m like, “Yeah, I should live more like that.”

Mike Sarraille:
When did you come to that realization though? What age?

Adam Rippon:
I would say I started caring less probably five years ago. And obviously there have been times where I’ve cared more, and it’s you have to get to a realization again of like, just let it go. It doesn’t matter that much. And the other thing is, go into every situation like you have nothing to lose. And every time I feel like I have nothing to lose, it’s that letting go of the fear of failure. And when I’m able to do that, I feel if things don’t go the way that I want, it’s okay, I can learn from it, but I never see it as something bad. And I used to see it as something bad. So those are the two things that I take with me into everything that I do.

Mike Sarraille:
So you see the upside of failure now? It’s part of the process of life?

Adam Rippon:
Totally. Yes. 100%.

Mike Sarraille:
Well, Adam, thank you for joining us for this episode of the Everyday Warrior. First off, from all of America, thank you for representing our nation, and kicking ass, and more so thank you for the moral courage for doing, on the social side what you think is right, for a lot of young men and women that look up to you man. Thank you and I mean that.

Adam Rippon:
Oh well, thank you. And thank you for your service. I …

Mike Sarraille:
Well, dude, I was happy to do it. Trust me, I was surrounded by men and women that were better than me. So to all the listeners, thank you for joining us on this episode of the Everyday Warrior podcast, brought to you by Men’s Journal. Don’t forget to subscribe to the show and pick up the newest edition of Men’s Journal Magazine, which I’m in.

Adam Rippon:
I’ll be picking it up, don’t worry.

Mike Sarraille:
I would sign it for you, but actually the value of the magazine goes down when I sign it.

Adam Rippon:
I doubt that.

Mike Sarraille:
We had an expedition where we all skydived into the Mount Everest region, which was cool. I was definitely nervous as hell, cause I just had a hip replacement. But Men’s Journal, why I took this deal and I love this company is it’s packed with amazing features on health and fitness, which are both important to both of us, even more so with my thing, adventure and travel. Are you much of a traveler?

Adam Rippon:
You know, yeah. Unconvincing, right?

Mike Sarraille:
Do you wish you had traveled more?

Adam Rippon:
I should travel more. Yes.

Mike Sarraille:
Yeah. As everyone should. And even traveling, if you only have a budget to go from California to somewhere in Nevada or Arizona-

Adam Rippon:
Yeah, totally. Yes.

Mike Sarraille:
… do it. We also cover style. The coolest gear hit in the market, and I’ve got to ask you, what is that one device you always have on you? Other than your cell phone, that’s the easy answer.

Adam Rippon:
Okay. Device I always have with me. I mean, it’s cell phone oriented. My laptop, I need to have my laptop around, or a portable charger.

Mike Sarraille:
You said a portable charger …

Adam Rippon:
Yeah.

Mike Sarraille:
… is your everyday carrier?

Adam Rippon:
Does that work for you?

Mike Sarraille:
I’d agree.

Adam Rippon:
Thank you.

Mike Sarraille:
I’d agree.

Adam Rippon:
Okay.

Mike Sarraille:
All right. And [inaudible], next time, I’m Mike Sarraille your host. Thanks for joining us.

This article was produced in partnership with Dometic

One of the best parts of car camping is the ability to haul the necessary gear to make gourmet meals in the middle of nowhere. You don’t have to cram everything into a pack then schlep it into the wilderness. And there’s no need to forgo your favorite food for dehydrated grub—or measure out oil and spices to liven up backcountry meals.

Of course you still have to be choosey, since the ultimate car camping kitchen can comprise some heavy, space-consuming items (e.g. a stove, grill, pots, pans, utensils, pantry staples, water). We’ve made a blueprint so you can maximize what you can bring while minimizing the space it takes in your vehicle.

Creating a Camp Kitchen

Putting together the backbone of your kitchen—the stuff you actually cook in and eat out of—used to mean a bit of foraging through old utensils and pots that should really be retired. But nowadays, there are lots of turnkey options for creating a great cooking station in the outdoors that’s light, durable, and efficient.

First off, it’s good to have some storage options lined up to pack away all of your various pieces of cookery. For that, go for Dometic’s new line of storage solutions. Soft-storage containers come in two sizes: 20 liter ($100) or 10 liter ($60). These handy little cubes are tough, as well as being ideal for storing lots of gear since they’re made from water-resistant, rugged thermoplastic-coated polyester, which gives them a semi-rigid structure that can collapse down. Add in the slip-in insulated totes—GO Pac Insulated 20L ($50) and 10L ($40)—and your storage transforms into a cooler. The 50-liter GO Hard Storage ($150) will also be available soon.

For covering the nuts and bolts of a camp kitchen, we like the Decked x Pathfinder Campfire Cooking Kit ($475), a collab between Decked, which makes the ultimate pickup bed drawer system (and a cool new tool box), and The Pathfinder School, a survival resource and outdoor gear company founded by noted survivalist Dave Canterbury. This all-in-one system gives you a ton of great-quality cookware to handle up to four campers.

Some highlights include: 120- and 64-ounce pots with lids and spouts, a folding skillet, four bowls and plates, four camp cups with lids, four sporks, and camp tongs which split apart to become a small ladle and spatula. All of this is made from single-wall, high-grade stainless steel so you can cook on a stove or open fire. And the best part is it all nests neatly and fits into the included Decked D-Bag ($200).

Being able to bring along a nice knife and large cutting board is another perk of packing a full-featured backcountry overlanding kitchen. OXO, which makes some of the most reliable kitchen utensils, just came out with a new line of kitchen essentials for the outdoors. And two of the best options are the Santoku Knife ($20) and Steady Surface Cutting Board ($13).

With the knife, you get a 5.5-inch stainless steel blade configured in the popular santoku blade style, great for chopping and slicing. A locking sheath keeps the edge (and your hands) safe when tossed in storage and the non-slip handle helps grip the knife securely, even when wet. Add in the BPA-free plastic cutting board, with handy non-slip feet and built-in drip channel featuring corners with reliefs for pouring, and you’ll be well on your way to gastronomic bliss in the backcountry.

Another camp kitchen essential is a clean-up kit. Sure, you could just assemble one from the random bits in the cabinet under your kitchen sink, but why not get something that’s super useful but also small and compact? The new Sea to Summit Camp Kitchen Clean-Up Kit ($40) definitely fits that bill as it gives you a 10-liter kitchen sink (that packs up tiny); a soap bottle that clips into a handy pot scrubber for better grip; a double-sided washcloth; and super-absorbent, fast-drying kitchen towel. All of that comes stored in a small, convenient zippered case with a total weight of 9.5 ounces.

Indulge in Backcountry Luxuries

Bringing along efficient, packable, high-performing kitchen gear is satisfying, but to really indulge in the luxury of car camping it’s important to pack some stuff that can really transform your culinary expectations in the wild. One piece of cookware no serious car camper should be without is either a cast iron skillet or Dutch oven, which are perfect for sizzling up some bacon over an early-morning fire or slow-baking cobbler in the coals after the dishes are done.

Check out the two-person team at Borough Furnace in the Finger Lakes region of New York for some minimalist, rugged cast iron creations like the Seasoned Dutch Oven ($240) or Frying Skillet ($300). Handmade in small batches, either of these cast iron beauties will be an excellent addition to your camp kitchen. The company is also the only brand in America to make a cast iron pot with a porcelain enamel coating (see: Enameled Dutch Oven; $280), à la Le Creuset, so if you have the means, spring for that.

Another car camping kitchen essential is an electric cooler. With Dometic CFX3 25 ($900), gone are the days of messing with rapidly melting ice that turns chilled food into a soggy mess. This pint-sized powerhouse is the perfect companion for a car filled with outdoor gear, since it’s only 22 in x 16 in x 13 in and weighs 28 pounds. The 25-liter interior will hold 33 12-ounce cans, though we suggest filling it up with perishable food and regulating your beverages to a traditional cooler with ice so nothing gets water-logged or affected by fluctuating temps.

The CXF3 25 is also tough with a beefy frame and aluminum handles. An easy-to-read, black-on-white LCD display and available smartphone app make operation and monitoring the little fridge a breeze. You can also tote along an independent battery source like the Dometic PLB40 to keep it powered up and off your vehicle’s battery when out adventuring.

Running water is a luxury you don’t get in the wilderness, unless you’re in a pimped-out RV or stay in a developed campground. Dometic’s new GO Hydration Water Faucet ($100) is a game changer.

Compatible with any water container—though we suggest the Dometic GO Water Hydration Jug ($70) for its quick-connect spigot, comfy webbing handles, and two openings for easy accessory attachment and cleaning—the faucet uses a long-lasting battery that gives it the juice to pump water quickly. It also provides a night light for aprés campfire toothbrushing. A puck base and magnetic base allow for multiple mounting options around your campsite to maximize utility.

One last luxury that can come in handy at campsites is a foldable fire pit/grill like the Front Runner Box Braai/BBQ Grill ($222). Some sites don’t allow fires if they’re touching the ground. That’s where a flat-pack grill like the Box Braai shines. Made from stainless steel, the quick-to-setup grill gives you plenty of cooking surface to satisfy a large group and comes with a base that keeps it upright along with catching any errant embers.

With a multitude of awesome options out there, bringing your culinary prowess to the backcountry in the trunk of your car or bed of your truck is easier than ever, it’s just a matter of picking out the best gear.

Shop Dometic’s new GO line here.

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