Speaker 1: Are you ready for this? Jean Merriman A one of
Speaker 1: hand effect. Boom boom boom. I'll go to light. This
Speaker 1: is Lights Out with Sean Merriman. What's up, guys. You're
Speaker 1: back again with another lights out podcast with me Sean Merriman,
Speaker 1: And we got one of the best gymnast Olympic gymnasts
Speaker 1: of all time, Gabby Douglas. Been a huge fan of hers.
Speaker 1: I grew up actually, uh not too far from Dominick Dolls.
Speaker 1: Dominic Dolls was my favorite gymnasts growing up up. She
Speaker 1: grew up thinking about five or six miles from me,
Speaker 1: back in PG County, and so I got into the
Speaker 1: school a long time ago by watching her because it
Speaker 1: was the only one person representing back from when I'm from.
Speaker 1: So Um, she got plenty of things going on. I
Speaker 1: actually had a tech summit that I was speaking at
Speaker 1: about four years ago, and I'll get into it. A
Speaker 1: NASCAR does she remember? She probably does it? Um, But
Speaker 1: Gabby came and spoke right after I got on stage,
Speaker 1: and it was awesome. Just didn't know she had so
Speaker 1: many things going on on. Super intelligent and let's talk
Speaker 1: to you about a SMOOTHI king. You know, she got
Speaker 1: a huge things she's promoting with SMOOTHI king. We're gonna
Speaker 1: find out what that is. So here we go, Gabby Douglas, Gabby, Hello, Hello,
Speaker 1: what's up? What's happened? Then? You know, you know the
Speaker 1: last time I've seen you, I think was that a
Speaker 1: tech summit some years ago. I don't know if you
Speaker 1: remember that. It was in um it was in Hollywood, Okay,
Speaker 1: So why did I get up here? And I'm like, wait,
Speaker 1: it looks familiar, like where have I Where have I
Speaker 1: seen him? I know him? We both spoke at that
Speaker 1: at that text summit. I was supposed to come up
Speaker 1: and say something to you whatever, and I don't even
Speaker 1: know if I introduced myself. But but what what you
Speaker 1: got going on? You got you got so much stuff
Speaker 1: going on? Like what's what's the main thing you have
Speaker 1: going on? And taking up most of your time? Oh?
Speaker 1: My good as well? I have so many things taking
Speaker 1: at my time, um, which I'm super grateful for. But
Speaker 1: I would say the one thing is um me, I
Speaker 1: guess like just with brand things and just getting you know,
Speaker 1: building even my platform and just so many things, so
Speaker 1: many things. I know, So how how is it different?
Speaker 1: Because I know like obviously you know you're still pretty
Speaker 1: active and stuff like that is an adjustment not competing
Speaker 1: because my first two years when I retired, I was
Speaker 1: like I was losing it a little bit. I was
Speaker 1: sitting back like man, I'm like, I'm it's not like
Speaker 1: you're trying to find your identity. It's just that that
Speaker 1: little thing that wake you up, like that that competition
Speaker 1: to get you going was missing. So I got into
Speaker 1: like m m A just to kind of feel that
Speaker 1: void a little bit, like what what did you get into?
Speaker 1: The kind of like Okay, cool, I can I can
Speaker 1: compete in something a little bit to give me ed still,
Speaker 1: like where were you got going on? Well that's so
Speaker 1: interesting and so interesting to hear from. Um just give
Speaker 1: different perspectives. But for me, I didn't have that. UM
Speaker 1: I guess uh miss if you will like on this
Speaker 1: competing when you know what I'm saying, Like after the Olympics,
Speaker 1: I got to so many things because there were so
Speaker 1: many things that I couldn't get into because I was
Speaker 1: training because I was allowed. And so now I'm like,
Speaker 1: I'm a chef. I love skateboarding, I love to play
Speaker 1: the guitar, I love just so many things that I've
Speaker 1: gotten into, um, hiking, and just to be honest, I
Speaker 1: didn't might be into a little bit because there's so
Speaker 1: many things I couldn't do. That's one of the things
Speaker 1: I picked up over the last couple of years. It's hiking.
Speaker 1: Like I never thought I'd be doing so much outdoor
Speaker 1: shot because I wasn't like an outdoors person at all,
Speaker 1: and like I wouldn't go camping, I wouldn't do none
Speaker 1: of that. But now I'm hiking. If it's in l
Speaker 1: A and I'm running a Griffin Griffin park, um, you
Speaker 1: know I'm in I'm in Vegas now most of the time.
Speaker 1: So there's big heights of red rock in different places
Speaker 1: wherebo I traveling out on the weekends, I'll go hike. Yeah, honestly,
Speaker 1: I love hiking. I love nature and especially being indoors
Speaker 1: a lot. Like I would always go from the car
Speaker 1: to the hotel, the hotel, you know, to the gym,
Speaker 1: and the gym to the so I was always in
Speaker 1: a building and like now finally get to go outside
Speaker 1: and enjoy life, enjoy air and not be so confined
Speaker 1: into into hotels and cars and and gymnasiums. And so
Speaker 1: that's for me, that's when I really got connected to nature. Was,
Speaker 1: you know, being taken a break from from nastics. I'm like, wow,
Speaker 1: I was pretty you know. Okay, So let me let
Speaker 1: me ask you this. Um you you offered like plenty
Speaker 1: of time for Dance with the Stars, right, And my
Speaker 1: my publicist when when I retired, like a couple of
Speaker 1: years after I retired, they offered me to come on
Speaker 1: Dance with the Stars, and I said, I said, no,
Speaker 1: do not even put my name in it. Don't put
Speaker 1: my name up for it. I'm way too damn big
Speaker 1: to be out there with a glitter blouse on and
Speaker 1: like you know and shimmy in my shoulders somewhere and
Speaker 1: slide across the floor. I would not do it, right,
Speaker 1: So what was what was your thing? Like? What happened
Speaker 1: with you with that? Well? I was recently on The
Speaker 1: Mask Dancer, which I just I love that experience because
Speaker 1: I love the fact of being mysterious and never was
Speaker 1: like who is it and like throwing off different people
Speaker 1: like oh I'm a sassy girl. Oh I'm ballerina. Oh
Speaker 1: like I'm sury Candy, And so it was really fun
Speaker 1: just to embody different types of characters. While still remaining
Speaker 1: in the same character. But I've never been on this
Speaker 1: with stars. I've been asked to do dance from the
Speaker 1: Star several times and I said, no, Um, I just
Speaker 1: I don't know something about the mass answer like I said,
Speaker 1: that drew me to It was more about a character driven.
Speaker 1: It was more about having fun than being technical. And
Speaker 1: the footwork and the fox drawn Oh you get a five.
Speaker 1: Oh I didn't like it, you get a nine? Like
Speaker 1: this is more fan it was more fan base, and
Speaker 1: I just I'm not known for my dancing background, and
Speaker 1: so like, I look, if you can't dance, just go
Speaker 1: ahead and say you can't dance, just it's be so good.
Speaker 1: We could just keep it wanting if you can't dance,
Speaker 1: if you will. But like as far as like doing
Speaker 1: the dancing in heels, that's another added piece. And so
Speaker 1: I'm like, and I've already you know what I'm saying,
Speaker 1: And I've seen those packages on the TV, like you're
Speaker 1: not getting it right and you're not and I'm like, yeah,
Speaker 1: I don't think that's for me. No, you would have
Speaker 1: done well, I mean you would have killed it, my
Speaker 1: my big gass. There would have been no way that
Speaker 1: I was, I would have made everybody look small and
Speaker 1: probably you know, look look uncoordinated. It looks what is
Speaker 1: his what is his big self doing on this show?
Speaker 1: But I've seen a lot of people tall, small, whatever,
Speaker 1: and I think they look good like it. Really though,
Speaker 1: it depends on the technique because you can do something
Speaker 1: slow but it's still like smooth and it's like, oh,
Speaker 1: that still look good. So I mean, are you are
Speaker 1: let me ask you, are you happy to be out
Speaker 1: of this like this whole pandemic? Like how was the
Speaker 1: pandemic for you? Well, honestly it was. It was very different. Um.
Speaker 1: I was traveling so much, um speaking engagements for brands,
Speaker 1: for shoots, and I was literally I was barely at home,
Speaker 1: Like I literally my home was in the air. It
Speaker 1: was on a plane. And so one day it was
Speaker 1: like everything's canceled and like all right now everything's on zoom,
Speaker 1: everything's on video, and I'm just so many people have
Speaker 1: sent me so many things microphones and cameras, and I
Speaker 1: literally have become a little camera woman, like okay, we
Speaker 1: gotta plug in this and the the the USB in
Speaker 1: the se because I mean you know what I mean,
Speaker 1: Like people want professional outtakes and they want professional things.
Speaker 1: So it's like I'll become a cameraman. So anytime you
Speaker 1: need get down something, just you know, call me up.
Speaker 1: I got you. I'm gonna hit you up. And I
Speaker 1: guess I got a lot of stuff coming. Um. I
Speaker 1: was just actually in Texas about three about four weeks ago.
Speaker 1: Now I spent a lot of time in fristcal Um.
Speaker 1: I got some guys in Houston I worked with and
Speaker 1: the UM. One place I'm gonna go check out as Austin.
Speaker 1: I've never been to Austin. I've heard it popping. I've
Speaker 1: never been Austin. Yeah, I heard the same thing. So
Speaker 1: they pushed up. Then they pushed the Olympics back right
Speaker 1: a year because of the whole pandemic and everything that happened. Um,
Speaker 1: how is how does that in you opan different? Because
Speaker 1: I know in football and I said that when they
Speaker 1: come out of this pandemic, there were going to be
Speaker 1: a lot of injuries, right because there was no really
Speaker 1: no all season, no training camps all that stuff. What
Speaker 1: what happens in you know in your sport when something
Speaker 1: gets put because you already got to wait with four years, right,
Speaker 1: so now you get it pushed back a whole fit year.
Speaker 1: What do you what do you think is gonna happen
Speaker 1: with that? Honestly, I just I mean for me, if
Speaker 1: you know what I'm saying, like putting myself in it. Um,
Speaker 1: I would just be concerned with burnout because we go
Speaker 1: so hard every single day and we don't have one
Speaker 1: day off. Um. And so now it's it's been pushed
Speaker 1: back a year, and so you have to decide either
Speaker 1: burnout or being extremely lazy, you know, because you don't
Speaker 1: want to push yourself to the maximum because it's not
Speaker 1: time yet. And then if you kind of scale back,
Speaker 1: Oh how much do I scale back? Oh? Then you
Speaker 1: risk the chance of being lazy. Your endurance is going
Speaker 1: to be shoddy. Um. And so I don't know. I
Speaker 1: guess it just depends on the athlete, depends on the mindset.
Speaker 1: But I would say burn out or just get completely
Speaker 1: complacent or lazy. Fox Sports Radio has the best sports
Speaker 1: talk lineup in the nation. Catch all of our shows
Speaker 1: at Fox sports Radio dot com and within the I
Speaker 1: Heart Radio app search f s R to listen live.
Speaker 1: In your opinion, there's no one between right, You're going
Speaker 1: all the way in or you're just kind of gonna
Speaker 1: step back. Yeah, we're trying to go all the way
Speaker 1: in or you know what I'm saying, like to take
Speaker 1: a step back. But when we do take a step back,
Speaker 1: it's one day, it's not a long period of time
Speaker 1: because gymnastics is all about muscle memory. Do it over
Speaker 1: and over again so you don't mess up. And so
Speaker 1: it's just do I go doing not? Is Hulympics happening?
Speaker 1: Is it not? And so it's it's really difficult, especially
Speaker 1: as an athlete because this is your whole life, right
Speaker 1: are they still asking you to be involved? Like how
Speaker 1: involved are you now? Are you just completely away from
Speaker 1: the sport? I do mentor um people who are and
Speaker 1: youngers who are trying and buying a spot too, and
Speaker 1: Pete for the Olympics. So I do keep my feeding
Speaker 1: so um, I'm grateful that I can share my experiences
Speaker 1: and help these younger gymnasts um achieve something greater than themselves.
Speaker 1: Who do who do you? Like you got any favorites
Speaker 1: business coming up right now? Like if you look back
Speaker 1: and you say, okay, who's the who's the Gabby Douglas
Speaker 1: like of that time because you was the first ever
Speaker 1: a whole lot of stuff, and you kind of set
Speaker 1: the tone for a lot of things. And who do
Speaker 1: you see if you look back right now, that that's
Speaker 1: the young Gabby coming up. If oh, man, see that's
Speaker 1: so hard because um, there's so because I know a
Speaker 1: few people and there's so much talent and um, so
Speaker 1: much tenacity and encourage. So I don't I don't know
Speaker 1: if I can really sing out single out anybody, because
Speaker 1: you know, as an athlete, everyone works. Not everyone shouldn't say,
Speaker 1: but you know, majority of people work so so hard
Speaker 1: to get to point A to point B, and so
Speaker 1: I don't know. Okay, Well, look, last but not least,
Speaker 1: I gotta ask you because he's one of my favorite James.
Speaker 1: I love Smoothie King. What you got going on with
Speaker 1: with Smoothie King, Well, I'm glad you're King of Smoothieking
Speaker 1: because I've been a long time fan of Smoothie King
Speaker 1: for so long. Even after practice, I would get Smoothi
Speaker 1: King with my best friend. And I'm just really excited
Speaker 1: to team up with a brand who believes in clean
Speaker 1: ingredients and organic veggies. And we have the hydration watermlon
Speaker 1: Smoothie which is so great and so beneficial and at
Speaker 1: the right time because it's summer and it's coconut water,
Speaker 1: strawberries waterlon juice, which is key to hydration. So get
Speaker 1: your Watermono. So so let let me tell you a
Speaker 1: funny story about Smoothie King. I competed on American Ninja
Speaker 1: Warrior a couple of years ago. And you know, I'm big,
Speaker 1: right naturally, I walk around about two hundred seventy pounds
Speaker 1: and my shoulder is big, so I'm looking at all
Speaker 1: the ninjas that's on the show. So for one week,
Speaker 1: I had nothing but Smoothie King. Every day I didn't
Speaker 1: I didn't eat, I didn't do anything at the grain juices,
Speaker 1: the you know, the veggie juices. For one whole week
Speaker 1: I had Smoothly King. I dropped seventeen pounds, right, and
Speaker 1: I go on this show just to find out I'm
Speaker 1: still way too that big. So just heynds, it's a big,
Speaker 1: big shout out the Smoothly King. Well, Gabby, I appreciate you.
Speaker 1: M hopefully I run into you again. This time. When
Speaker 1: I see you, I'm gonna come up and talk to you,
Speaker 1: because I was a couple of feet away from me
Speaker 1: right after you went off the stage and we were
Speaker 1: back there, I think, chilling in the green room, and
Speaker 1: I still didn't get a chance to talk to you.
Speaker 1: But when I do, since you already offered the camera
Speaker 1: and you got the skills I need to I need.
Speaker 1: I need your assistance, need your help. Let's go off.
Speaker 1: I'll help you with dancing as well. So I got you. Okay, listen,
Speaker 1: I'm on it. I'm on it them because you know
Speaker 1: you give me, you give me, give me the right away.
Speaker 1: I'm hitting you up. Let's go. And I remember this
Speaker 1: because I'm like, oh yeah, this HM call that's right, okay, cool, Hey,
Speaker 1: take it easy, guy. I appreciate you. Thanks for your time.
Speaker 1: Thank you so much. Have a good one. Thanks guys
Speaker 1: for listening to another lights Out podcast with me, Sean
Speaker 1: Merimon and man, Gabby is cool, right, super super cool. Um,
Speaker 1: I'm still upset I didn't go up to talk to
Speaker 1: her and introduce myself. UM's got a ton of business
Speaker 1: things going on, and I'm definitely gonna take her up
Speaker 1: on that offer. She's a videographer and really good to camera.
Speaker 1: So I got a bunch of things coming up, a
Speaker 1: bunch of different shows, and you know, shoots and things
Speaker 1: like that, so I'm definitely hitting her up. UM, good
Speaker 1: luck with the Smoothie King partnership. We're sure nothing but
Speaker 1: the best. And uh, thank you for guys who listening
Speaker 1: there to another Lights Out podcast me Sean Merriman. We're
Speaker 1: gonna be back next weekend. I want to give another
Speaker 1: thank you two guys. Um, seriously, we just crossed over
Speaker 1: two hundreds and thousand listens a month, and uh, it's
Speaker 1: really because of you, guys, obviously, you you like what
Speaker 1: we're doing, UM leaving those great reviews and comments. UM,
Speaker 1: I don't get a chance to respond to them all,
Speaker 1: but I do see them. So we're gonna keep pushing
Speaker 1: and keep going this thing and keeping big because that's
Speaker 1: what we do. Thank you. M