Fitness Fads or Legit New Methods?

What's new and interresting in fitness? Sometimes we have fun exploring a new trend that pays off.  More often, it's useful to just stick with the "boring" basics over a long period of time!

From about 14:30 - 18:30, Tali's mic had a glitch- sorry about the audio! After that point it's all good.

When we're scrolling online, or even when we read in-depth articles from trusted sources, we can come accross some interesting fitness advice. Some of it is useful, some of it's not, and some of it is actually just wrong or dangerous! 

In this episode, Tali and Cody discuss some of the trends, and more importantly, the usefullness of sticking with the "boring" foundational work that actually gets you stronger and fitter over time. 

Transcript

Speaker 0:01

Hey everyone. It looks like we've had a little bit of an audio glitch in this episode, so before we get to it, I just wanted to give you a heads up. It only lasts for about two or three minutes, so if we can just, suffer through it or fast-forward through that part. we decided to leave it in because it's, almost a two-hour podcast and the rest of it is great. So sorry about the little glitch. We're working to improve our systems over time to bring you more value in the future. In the meantime, here's the episode.

Tali 0:31

Just, I don't know. I have been starting to order extra hot lattes recently. Did you notice that?

Cody 0:38

Yes.

Tali 0:39

And you know who orders them normally?

Cody 0:41

Who?

Tali 0:41

My dad.

Cody 0:42

Oh.

Tali 0:43

Yeah.

Cody 0:43

Are you s- you're turning into your dad?

Tali 0:45

I, well, that's the second time I've said it today, haven't I?

Cody 0:47

Mm.

Tali 0:49

Oh, man. Well- Good luck to you.

Cody 0:56

Yeah. Good luck to

Tali 0:59

you,

Cody 1:00

too. We're rolling.

Speaker 3 1:01

Yeah, I figured. Um, well, we're

Tali 1:03

here. We did it. We took a week off- We're back and we're back.

Cody 1:06

Mm-hmm.

Tali 1:07

Yeah. I don't necessarily mind this cadence every other week.

Cody 1:12

We'll do what we can.

Tali 1:12

Yeah.

Cody 1:13

We're

Tali 1:13

doing- We do what we want

Cody 1:14

we're doing a lot.

Tali 1:15

I was gonna say, we'll be gone next week, and it's Chief Joseph Days, so no one's gonna be listening to it anyway.

Cody 1:22

Well, these are for the archives. I figure people listen to them way after the fact anyway.

Tali 1:27

Sure.

Cody 1:28

So what does it matter?

Tali 1:29

I was told to count on really crummy Wi-Fi this week in the gym. We had, like, a little moment where the music cut out while everybody was, like, nearing the end of their workout, and it was like, "Bah," party foul. Uh, and Jen yells out, "It's almost Chief Joseph Days." So, uh, yeah, we might have a lot of interruption. But nothing happens next door, right?

Cody 1:53

No, it's just the bandwidth in the county, I think is what they're referring to.

Tali 1:57

Except there was one time that you and I, and Reagan, went to something pre-Joseph Days, and it might have been here. Maybe it was in Joseph. I can't remember.

Cody 2:13

It's pretty much all on Joseph.

Tali 2:14

Okay.

Cody 2:15

Yeah.

Tali 2:15

Okay. We're safe.

Cody 2:16

Uh, yeah. Maybe we'll download some playlists for the gym.

Tali 2:21

Good idea.

Cody 2:21

Cause working out in silence is- The

Tali 2:23

worst

Cody 2:24

its own kind of torture.

Tali 2:26

It's funny because I have this term that I called library lifting. Have I told you about this?

Cody 2:30

No.

Tali 2:31

I haven't?

Cody 2:33

Not for a while, anyway.

Tali 2:34

Okay. So, uh, every once in a while I'll invoke library lifting, which is, like, touch-and-go lifting that's, like, really, really quiet to- Mm ensure that you've got tension to, like, the very last moment.

Cody 2:48

Gotcha.

Tali 2:49

So I think I talk about it on deadlifts more specifically. Rather than, like, dunking it down to the floor- Mm-hmm which, you know, has its own time and place, for sure, but we're so often trying to be precise about people's positioning, and when I cue them to have, like, a library lift, really, really quiet, it tends to get the result that I want. But interestingly, library lifting could also be thought of as lifting in silence, and that's the worst.

Cody 3:16

Yeah. The problem is it's not silence. The... When, if I don't have music on, I'm just listening to my knees.

Tali 3:25

It's a great backdrop. Super motivating.

Cody 3:27

Percussion instruments.

Tali 3:28

Yes. Reee. Mm-hmm.

Cody 3:31

Bend-

Tali 3:31

That's the worst

Cody 3:32

bending cardboard, yeah.

Tali 3:33

I was gonna say, I would take popping over bending cardboard any day. Makes me sick.

Cody 3:39

Yeah.

Tali 3:39

Yeah.

Cody 3:40

That's how it sounds when I go upstairs.

Tali 3:42

Sorry. Yeah, sometimes I can hear it.

Cody 3:46

When I, when I go up the stairs?

Tali 3:48

I can hear it when I go up the stairs. Oh. I don't really know what that's from though, do you?

Cody 3:53

Um-

Tali 3:53

Cause I know what, like, popping is from- It feels- and crunching is from

Cody 3:56

it feels like cartilage, but I'm assuming that it must be gas bubbles around the cart- cartilage and not actual soft tissue.

Tali 4:05

I always think of it as like- It doesn't hurt I'm really dehydrated or something. Eh. It's, like, real dry in my joints.

Cody 4:11

I don't, I don't think that could be my excuse. I down so many LMNT packets every day. Yeah. How could I possibly be dehydrated?

Tali 4:18

Did you see that people have been taking the LMNT packets? Thanks, guys.

Cody 4:21

Mm-hmm.

Tali 4:22

I'm really-

Cody 4:23

Sorry about the weird flavors.

Tali 4:24

Yeah. There might be a reason that those ones ended up there. I am really curious though, uh, some people have taken the chocolate one home, and I'm, like, dying to know what that's like without actually having to-

Cody 4:37

What you gonna do with that?

Tali 4:37

spearhead it.

Cody 4:38

Yeah.

Tali 4:39

Someone said something about, like, a salty hot chocolate.

Cody 4:42

I

Tali 4:42

did. Like, you put it... Did you do that?

Cody 4:44

Yeah, I told you about it and it was- Oh disgusting.

Tali 4:46

Oh.

Cody 4:46

Yeah.

Tali 4:47

Darn.

Cody 4:47

It was too salty. Like-

Tali 4:49

What if it was just a bigger cup?

Cody 4:50

You'd have to dilute it into, like, many cups.

Tali 4:54

Many cups of hot chocolate. Yeah. Mm, probably not.

Cody 4:57

Cause- It'd be some- 'cause I only put a little bit in. I didn't put a whole packet in.

Tali 5:00

And it was still too salty?

Cody 5:01

Yeah, it was- Shit real s- yeah.

Tali 5:03

Okay. So maybe not.

Cody 5:05

Reminded me of the time I was a kid when I was at my grandmother's house and she never had sugar in the house, and she always had- Wait, which grandma are you talking about? boring ce- cereals. Yes. Leila. Yeah. So just- You liked-

Tali 5:18

super sugary cer- cereals at one grandma's house- I know and the opposite at the other.

Cody 5:23

I know. That's why I was in culture shock when I'd go to one grandma's. And all she would have is Grape Nuts or Corn Flakes, and that was it. And so I was hunt- hunting for sugar, and there was a big container that looked like sugar in a restaurant, but it, it was salt. And I ate the cereal with the salt on it.

Tali 5:43

Oh. Knowing you, you probably liked it.

Cody 5:47

No. It didn't turn out well.

Tali 5:50

You know, you always say that your grandma would have liked me, and she always sounded kind of scary to me, but maybe we would have liked each other 'cause I like those cereals too. Oh, I

Cody 6:00

know.

Tali 6:03

Ah.

Cody 6:03

You guys could've all had your greens together and yeah.

Tali 6:07

But she was like e- she was kind of doing that in, like, all areas of her life, right? You had told me something about, like, the fabrics that were allowed in her house or that she would wear all had to be, like, natural woven things. She was a-

Cody 6:19

allergic to many synthetics. Yeah.

Tali 6:23

Well, that'll do it.

Cody 6:23

So it was rough. So-

Tali 6:27

Well, that kind of brings us to our theme.

Cody 6:28

Sure. What, what is that? In

Tali 6:29

a

Cody 6:30

weird

Tali 6:30

way. Um, well, I have a- The basics. Yeah. I, well, not just the basics. I have a note here that says, "Keep it simple stupid." And, um, you know, so many of our members, like, especially if they're, they've been with us for a little while, they, uh, tell us or update us that their, um, algorithms on their social media feeds, like- drastically change. And I'm gonna guess if that's the case, then you guys are probably seeing all kinds of fitness influencers, coaches, gyms, athletes, whatever. Like, really, it's a vast world out there. And a lot of it is great, and a lot of it's garbage.

Speaker 3 7:15

Mm-hmm.

Tali 7:16

And I just wanted a chance to talk to you about, like, what your thoughts were around it or what your experience around that has been, especially since you and I are making content now. Like, how do we differentiate ourselves? And, you know, how does that spill over into what we do in the gym?

Cody 7:33

Mm-hmm. Yeah. I, there's... Well, there's a few things about this. Uh, there's people who are presenting things as if they are cutting edge or interesting, and they're just silly, first of all. So there's, like, a whole category of stuff that's just garbage, like, just straight up, "Yeah, probably shouldn't do that," or it's just a waste of time. Uh- And there's some people who are very specific about their goals and just paint the whole rest of the world as if the rest of the world should have their goals.

Speaker 3 8:07

Mm.

Cody 8:07

And so what I mean by that is I see a lot of guys dogging on certain exercises because they're not effective. But when they say effective, what they mean is they are bodybuilders and they're trying to put on size, and so they crap on some movement like the deadlift as if it's useless and high risk. And I'm like, well, for you, because you are not training functionally, you are trying to look good in the mirror, and maybe you're right, maybe that is a higher risk than you need to do to get a big back. But that's not everybody's goal in life- Mm-hmm is to have a huge back. So maybe- Are

Tali 8:44

they not transparent about that? No. Or are they just like, "Oh, it doesn't, it's not gonna be-

Cody 8:48

No, there's just this huge- worth your time" trend right now that deadlifts are dangerous and- What? and that they're, uh, high risk to reward, and you're better off just doing, like, back extensions and whatever.

9:00

Cause

Tali 9:00

we all have a GHD at home.

Cody 9:02

What? Well, and, and everybody has different things like, "Oh, you could just do this and this," or, "You could just do that and that and get just as good as results." And I'm like, well, when you say results, you're not defining what you mean- What the results

Tali 9:13

are, yeah

Cody 9:13

by results. Because if you're talking about building bone density and overall, you know, rigidity through your whole body and all the mechanics that it takes to lift something properly off the floor, like, if, if your goals are not just aesthetic in the mirror goals, then the deadlift is probably one of the most valuable lifts you could possibly do, and- I was just

Tali 9:34

gonna say

Cody 9:35

and the risk is so low. I have coached for 22 years. I've seen a few minor back strains that people got over. I have never seen a catastrophic, like, life-altering injury like people talk about on the internet. "Oh, you're gonna end up with back surgery." It's like, well, in 22 years of coaching thousands of people, I've never once seen a serious injury from deadlifts. And I don't

Tali 9:57

think you're exaggerating that you're in the thousands at this point.

Cody 10:00

Oh, no. No, I have coached thousands of people. I have, absolutely. I've done the math.

Tali 10:05

That's amazing.

Cody 10:06

So it's, there's just I, I'm not seeing what they're seeing, you know? It's like, well, yeah, you can be stupid and go into the deadli- deadlift inexperienced and try to lift as much as you can, and you're right, that's probably pretty high risk. But- They

Tali 10:19

probably just don't know how to deadlift

Cody 10:20

but if you're like, you know I mean, that's the thing is, like, this has become this big topic in certain circles, and I think it's a silly non-issue. It's just like, well, you either, A, don't know what you're doing, or B, it doesn't match with your goals, but that doesn't mean it's not useful.

Tali 10:38

Right. I think the issue is the, like, the dogging on other methodologies.

Cody 10:43

Mm.

Tali 10:44

I mean, I certainly have my own biases and, um, opinions about maybe other- modalities of training, but it kind of reminds me of those, like, political ads. I forget what they're called, when you, like, intentionally shit on your opponent.

Cody 11:01

Yeah.

Tali 11:02

I, like, I think those people lose credibility almost immediately because you're needing to put somebody down in order to rise up. Mm-hmm. And that is such a lazy, losery tactic.

Cody 11:14

Yeah.

Tali 11:14

So I

Speaker 3 11:15

kind of, like, tune that out, I think,

Tali 11:16

when I see that kind of stuff online.

Cody 11:18

Yeah. I- Yeah I'll admit I was guilty of this for a time, but it was, like, 20 years ago. I, of, when I went, I, so when I got my cert through NASM and started personal training National Cas Sports-- National Academy of Sports Medicine starts with sort of like a, uh, stability foundation. So you kind of do cycles, right? You do like 12-week cycles of just working on stability. So there was a lot of stuff like BOSU balls and bands and things like that. And then you kinda graduate to more closely to a bodybuilding style with some legit strength movements in it. But i- as technical as that book was and the-- or that course certification, uh, lot of emphasis on anatomy. L- uh, you know, it was a really good foundation, but they didn't ever approach anything like deadlifts, cleans, like most big barbell movements. They did- Those aren't displayed at all they, no, they just kinda shied away from them. And I think they do have other certifications, but the main, the personal training certification did not cover a lot of that big stuff. So I, when I was introduced to, like, cleans the first time, I'm like, "I don't even know what you're doing here." And, and, uh, I'd already been a personal trainer for a couple years. So I find CrossFit, and all of a sudden, at that time, people may not know this, I mean, I've been around a while, and when CrossFit was brand new, like in the mid to early 2000s, nobody knew what it was. It was just like this tiny little, um, online community that was starting to spread through word of mouth, 100%, 100 word of mouth. Um, but when I saw it, I was like, "Oh man, it makes everything else look stupid." Like- the, the things they're doing are amazing, and the people who are doing it look incredibly fit and capable, and they can, like... I was watching girls do muscle ups on rings, and I was like, "What the hell is this? This is so cool." Yeah. That must have been really

Speaker 3 13:19

exciting.

Cody 13:19

Yeah. And- Well- And then they- Yeah uh, to top it off, they were very, they shared all their information. Like, everything was free. You could just watch video after video after video of coaches coaching people with cues and, like, how to do things, and I was like, "Goldmine." Like, at the time, nobody was sharing information at all. So I became really biased. I was like, "Oh, if it's not CrossFit, it's just stupid and out of date."

Tali 13:40

Oh.

Cody 13:40

But- I mean- I've come around, like 20- Sure 20 years later, I'm like-

Tali 13:44

Like, we still come back. Like, we still prioritize this way of training.

Cody 13:48

Yeah. And I'm still really biased toward functional training in general, uh, because I think it carries over to things in your life more appropriately. But, um, I I do bodybuilding at least once or twice a week now. Mm-hmm. And I used to kind of shit on that for a while because I thought it was a waste of time or not as cool as CrossFit, but now I see that the older I get, the more important it is for me to maintain some muscle mass. Yeah. And so bodybuilding has a long, rich history of people who have figured out what to do to make that happen. I

Tali 14:19

would like to look into that long, rich history, those photos that we saw the other day- Yeah of those people from, like, the early 1900s.

Cody 14:26

Mm-hmm.

Tali 14:26

So cool. I'm really curious, like, on the women's side, like, where were they training? What were they picking up? 'Cause you don't, you don't often see the photos of the women actually, like, holding weights and things. Yeah,

Cody 14:37

you're right. So I'm

Tali 14:38

just kind of curious what that looks like.

Cody 14:39

There was a couple of those gals we saw on those photos yesterday that were big.

Tali 14:42

They had

Speaker 3 14:43

backs.

Cody 14:43

They were m-

Speaker 3 14:45

Backs.

Cody 14:46

And, and guns. Yeah, like- Yeah, it was pretty impressive they were obviously moving some weight.

Speaker 3 14:49

Yeah. Um, I was thinking about old timey CrossFit and how it was just like a blog, if you remember. Yeah. And that kind of ties into the theme, too. It kind of reminds me of, like, old Facebook when- Mm that was easy to navigate, and it was really simple, and it was like all-

Cody 15:04

Your friends

Speaker 3 15:05

in chronological order. And now Facebook is, like, this cesspool of a nightmare.

Tali 15:11

Um, but, uh, it's interesting

Speaker 3 15:15

hearing about, like, the,

Tali 15:17

the progression that

Speaker 3 15:18

NASM takes because if I really were to train people the way that I'd want

Tali 15:22

to, that's probably

Speaker 3 15:23

how I'd wanna do it. Mm-hmm. Right? I know that I have really suffered in my own practice because

Tali 15:29

I have a gimpy stability and a focus, and I'm like a gummy girl. Like, I really do need to build, like, holistic tension throughout my body and build meaningful strength there. Um, and so the only thing when I think about NASM is, like, they don't necessarily take into account that being a trainer or a coach I feel like more of our job is like how do we keep people accountable, not just to keep doing the right things-

Cody 16:00

Oh, it's almost all of it. That's- So,

Tali 16:02

so one reason I think that like we lean into CrossFit or like we learned CrossFit is that like you, you build momentum very quickly.

Cody 16:11

Mm-hmm.

Tali 16:12

And there's all this kind of like shiny stuff to be excited about. You know, I remember my very first day going to CrossFit. I was so scared. Um, I was a part of like a two-week, uh, on-ramp group and I used to like get the stomach nerves-

Speaker 3 16:29

Mm-hmm

Tali 16:30

like, like clockwork at therapy training. Um, but I remember my first coach, Megan Pierotti, she, um, at the time she was a mom of two. Her kids were probably like under the age of 12 at this point, and I came into the gym and she was just like cranking out pull-ups. And I was like, "Is that what I'm gonna be able to do?" You know, I was just so inspired. And I think, um, that is a huge contributing factor, um, of

Speaker 3 17:03

like not only why people gravitate towards this, but why we distribute it too.

Cody 17:08

Mm-hmm.

Tali 17:09

Yeah. But the thing about

Speaker 3 17:11

that too is that there's kind of like a point where it topples over where, uh, I think we had mentioned in our last episode that I'm like really interested in learning bar muscle up. Well, there's like 500 different ways that you can learn how to do that, and some of the things are really simple and like a little unsexy and like really effective. Mm-hmm. And then there's like all this really fancy stuff with all this like really, uh, intensive setup with bars and bands and med balls and like all this stuff that would probably really slow my progress because just thinking about setting it up

Tali 17:49

is too much of a hassle.

Cody 17:51

Yeah, there's friction there to even be able to get into a steady practice.

Tali 17:55

Sure. Or it's like skipping a lot of foundational steps. Yeah. You know, it's like trying to make something overly complicated that like really doesn't have to be that way. Mm-hmm. And what's funny is that I think this crosses like all different industry skills, whatever, is like we're drawn to that- cool, sexy thing, but what's really gonna get you there is, like, the boring stuff.

Cody 18:20

Yeah.

Tali 18:21

Or, like- Yeah the simple stuff.

Cody 18:22

It's, uh, such a cool video I saw the other day on social media from, uh, Dave Durante, shout out Power Monkey. Uh, and he was talking about the muscle up and how there, before CrossFit, there was no such thing as a kipping muscle up. That was not, that's not a real thing in- It's just a tired- in, in gymnastics muscle up. Well, it's a way to get your muscle up before you actually are strong enough to get the strict movement. And so he- That

Tali 18:46

you would actually perform.

Cody 18:47

Yeah.

Tali 18:47

Yeah.

Cody 18:48

And so to your point, specifically about that muscle up, it's like, yeah, you can learn all this stuff with bands and boxes and jumping techniques and kipping and, and all these, like, shoot through things with barbells and whatever, but that's, actually you're learning the skills it takes to kinda cheat your way there. Whereas what he was talking about is you need to work to pull higher on your pull-ups, when you do strict pull-ups. Like, pull your arms down to your sternum, down to your, you know, your hands should go down to your sternum and chest so that you are just in the position where you can roll over into the dip. Um- And get there that way, and not- and then you'll have the kipping pull, your, or kipping muscle ups as a tool to use for volume or time in a metcon or something like that, but you'll also have the strength to prevent injury-

Tali 19:38

Yeah

Cody 19:38

in those positions because you can just literally muscle your way through it, the muscle up. And so, uh, it was a great video. He said it a lot more eloquently than I just did, but he, uh, he was calling out kind of like instead of getting all fancy about it and learning all these techniques, instead of being so technique-driven, you need to get the foundation of just strength to be able to do that with a simple movement of dips and pull-ups, but you need to extend the range of motion of those as you get stronger.

Tali 20:06

Interestingly in weightlifting, you know, when you were talking just now about kipping, I was like, "Well, in weightlifting, like, those movements are like catapults, like a- Oh, yeah kip would be."

Cody 20:16

Mm-hmm.

Tali 20:16

And you want to use those. We, we tr- actually try to, like, kinda beat muscling those lifts out of people- Mm-hmm because you're not applying technique, you're only applying strength. And weightlifting is about much more than just strength. But I would say the foundational elements that cannot be skipped are the mobility and the stability.

Cody 20:38

Mm-hmm.

Tali 20:39

You know, the strength doesn't matter as much. The strength comes next.

Cody 20:43

Yeah. Um- I mean, I was just talking to a good friend of mine about his problem getting down quickly into the clean, and it's just that I think the reason why it's hard for you to change directions from the pull up or the jump up to receiving that bar down and that quick change of direction isn't necessarily something you can beat out of yourself with technique if you are so tight that the bottom of your squat-

Tali 21:07

Is scary

Cody 21:08

is a scary position. It's your- Yeah brain putting the brakes on- Mm-hmm 'cause you probably shouldn't be jumping into that position.

Tali 21:14

And that's when all sorts of those, like, really crummy compensations show up, like a rounded back or- Yeah elbows dropping to the knees and things like that.

Cody 21:22

Yeah.

Tali 21:23

I have to say, it's been really fun lately for me to coach weightlifting. I told you this the other day, but I feel like I'm seeing it all so clearly all of a sudden, and I think that that, um, partly has to do with my own training, which is incred- very much in line with what we're talking about today. Um, you know, for the last couple of months I've been coaching on the floor more often, um, or much longer days than I had been for the last year. And, um, you know, I can't make it to any classes at the moment or, you know, I'm really using my time between classes to nap, rest, eat, whatever. And so what I decided to land on is like, all right- I used to go to rat pack class every once in a while 'cause I really liked to do that lifting. How long did that lifting actually take? Probably about 30 minutes if I was on task and working by myself. Mm-hmm. And so what I decided to do, and I've been at it for the last, like, f- four to six weeks, of a half an hour of lifting a day, and that's it. Day one is snatches, and then the back squat. Uh, push press, deadlift, clean and jerks. And I'm doing rat packs, you know, is it, would you call that Wendler cycling? It's close.

Speaker 3 22:41

Yeah.

Tali 22:41

Yeah. Wendler cycling, the sevens, fives, and threes. I think there are ones in Wendler, so it's slightly modified. Uh, and then I'm doing, um, barbell clubs, uh, weightlifting, just the clean and jerk and just the snatch, like, progressions. And, um, it's been awesome. I can't tell you, like, how tempted I am to, like, do other fancy stuff-

Speaker 3 23:06

Mm-hmm

Tali 23:06

that I either see on the internet or that y'all get to do in class or whatever. But I just know that right now my bandwidth doesn't allow for that, so I have to be really Selective and, like, keep it simple, right? Mm-hmm. Let it be approachable. Let it be done hard and well. Like, that was what I wanted is, like, I wanna be able to hit these really hard even if it's for such a short time.

Cody 23:32

Yeah. Needs to be high effort, but low com- complexity. It doesn't have to be complex. Uh, in fact, you're... There could be an argument that just focusing on those basics will open the doors for more complexity later on, 'cause you'll have this, this strong foundation to work from. Yes. Mm-hmm.

Tali 23:50

Well, and of all those things, that's the most important to me is to stay as strong as possible.

Cody 23:54

Mm-hmm.

Tali 23:55

Um, you know, I feel a lot more, like, injury-prone if I try to hit a metcon, like, here or there or if I try to do two hours of weightlifting here or there. Mm-hmm. So it's like what is this baseline that I can, like, really build a foundation on? And then when my schedule allows or when I'm ready to ramp up, like, that momentum is already there, the strength is there, the progressions are there for sure. Um, I saw this funny video yesterday of this gym owner and he made a reel that said like, "Oh, you own a gym. You probably work out all day long." He shows like all the things that he's actually doing all day long and that obviously resonated.

Cody 24:40

Yeah.

Tali 24:40

There's parts of it, me that feel like this is ironic as hell that I have such a short amount of time to work out right now and I literally live at my dream gym.

Cody 24:50

Yeah. We're-- Well, welcome to owning a gym. I've, uh-

Tali 24:52

You've always talked about it and I didn't believe you. Yeah.

Cody 24:55

I remember, uh, so many times that I would be, you know, as a coach/owner, the only time for me to work out is those little windows between classes all day long. Uh And I would start and I'd be- I would have, like, a three-hour window. Oh, I got lots of time. I'm gonna get my workout in, and then, then, well, before I do that, I probably should finish this Facebook ad. Mm. And then I would-

Tali 25:20

Sabotage

Cody 25:21

y- go out, yeah, onto the floor, and then it's like, "Ugh, well now I only have 90 minutes before people are gonna start showing up. I better get warming up." And I would literally warm up and look across the gym and see something that needed to be fixed or moved or cleaned or, you know, and it's like, I'd s- "Oh, well, I'll just do that between sets." Yeah. Yeah, right. So I, you know, I Before you know it, I'm, like, up on a ladder fixing something. It's like, "Well, I guess I'll try again tomorrow."

Speaker 3 25:48

Yeah.

Cody 25:49

And, uh, yeah, that sucks, but the cure for in- that in anybody's life, even if you're not a gym owner, is, um, to always set the bar low for yourself. Set

Tali 25:59

the bar so

Cody 25:59

low.

Tali 26:00

Like,

Cody 26:00

get your bar low so that you can step over it. Like, you just need to be able to work that consistency into your life and set the barrier so low that you can just, like, I'm just gonna touch this, or I'm just gonna show up to class. I'm just gonna make that two days a week my priority or my three days a week, and it's like that, that's just, even if it's, um, less effort than you want or a paired-down version from what you want or whatever, this, the consistency is everything.

Tali 26:29

Well, and that's what's so great about, like, that Wendler cycle, right? It's seven fives and threes. There's noth- there's, like, no fanciness to it whatsoever. Yeah. But it's incredibly effective.

Cody 26:38

Oh, yeah.

Tali 26:38

I've been doing so well on this program, and when I first started weightlifting on my own between coaching sessions, um, that was the same format that I used. So it's feeling really full circle right now, which is kinda cool, because at that time I was coaching, like- Like, I can't even remember how many hours I was coaching, 'cause I was working at three gyms, if you can imagine.

Cody 27:04

Oh, yeah.

Tali 27:04

Yeah.

Cody 27:05

That's kind of the norm.

Tali 27:06

Yeah.

Cody 27:06

You either own a gym or you work at three or four of them.

Tali 27:09

Yeah.

Cody 27:09

Or it's your part-time gig.

Tali 27:11

Or if you're lucky, you work at one gym and it's Nike. Yeah. Um, yeah, that was a sweet gig. Um, yeah. Wow. Well, what's just funny about that is I used to complain that I lived in my car, because I would have to commute from gym to gym, like, all over Portland or all over Seattle, and, um, interestingly, even working on the Nike campus, I would still have to drive from one part of campus to the next, 'cause the gyms were, like, always on the perimeters from each other. Yeah. So, like, Serena Williams was, like, on the north side, and Bo Jackson was on the south side. And sometimes my appointments would be so close together that I couldn't just, like, run across campus. That was such a fun time.

Cody 27:50

Yeah.

Tali 27:51

Yeah. I still get, like, little memories from my Google Photos every now and then, like, that was so cool.

Cody 27:56

It was cool.

Tali 27:57

Yeah. I was very emotional, like, the first day that I coached there. I... There's, like, a whole-- There's, like, a playlist that I listen to when I'm lifting- Mm-hmm at least, like, on, during competitions, and one of the songs there was a song that was playing in the locker room while I was getting ready for my first shift, and I was just, like, you know- feeling it.

Cody 28:19

The saunas were nice, too.

Tali 28:21

Well, it's funny, because I-

Cody 28:22

Good, good perks for your man.

Tali 28:23

I had-- Yeah. Glad you took advantage- of that, 'cause I never did. Uh, I had really felt like I had made it having that job, but I think I feel more like I have made it having my own gym.

Cody 28:34

Yeah. It's your baby now.

Tali 28:36

Oh, yeah. You're all my babies. Um, you know, I don't remember what exactly we were talking about this week, but, um, we, you know, often talk about the gym and our members, like, over coffee and breakfast or dinner. Um, you know, just kind of bragging about, like, how you all did that day or let me show you this video of this cool thing that, uh, that happened. Um-

Cody 29:03

From before and afters in the squat depths.

Tali 29:05

Yeah, I'm excited- Yeah for you to post those. Those were so cool. Um, and I, I think this is known, and I think this is felt by our current members, you know, prospects might not know this about the nature of working with a coach. We deeply care about our members, deeply. Um, oh, gosh. Talk amongst yourselves. Um, I'm just so proud of everybody. This was such a great week that we had for so many reasons. I mean, there's always, um, reasons week to week. Um, but I hope people know that, like, what really keeps us in the game this long, like you and I have been talking about some of our coaching history today already, and we're looking back, like 15 years now.

Speaker 3 29:54

Mm-hmm.

Tali 29:55

And the reason that I love coaching so much is, like the close view that I get of the very best in people, and being a part of that support to get them there.

Cody 30:06

Mm-hmm. And part of the best in people is also seeing the struggle. Like the s- you know- Part of it we see people all the time who have- I mean, this is just true everywhere you look in life, so this is not, uh, trying to single anybody out or offend anybody, but sometimes we see people quit on themselves-

Tali 30:26

Yeah

Cody 30:27

and it feels really terrible from our, because we feel like we failed them when they quit.

Tali 30:32

Absolutely.

Cody 30:33

Uh, we take a lot of responsibility for that, so it's not just a business retention. It's like, "I really care. I really don't want you to quit because this, I know this is so good for you- Oh, yeah if you would just trust me enough to get through this phase."

Tali 30:46

Well, you j- But- Can I just point in on what you had said?

Cody 30:49

Yeah.

Tali 30:50

It's the trust.

Cody 30:51

Yeah.

Tali 30:51

Right? It feels like there's, um, a lack of trust when that happens, that like, "I'm not gonna take you to where you wanna go."

Cody 30:59

Yeah.

Tali 30:59

And it's hard to not take that personally sometimes.

Cody 31:02

But the inverse of that is that for the majority of people we work with, we get to see them overcome those, and we get to see, like you said the other day, there are people in our gym who have been with us for, you know, they're coming up on their first year or s- or two or three years, who have had far greater challenges than some of those people who we have seen quit.

Tali 31:23

Yes.

Cody 31:23

And they stuck it out. They c- they stayed here, and w- with physical challenges, emotional challenges, you know, family issues, like- Well, and

Tali 31:31

that's exactly what it takes

Cody 31:33

like all these things- Yeah and they still show up, and it's like so incredible, and we feel so proud of them, you know, and what they're doing because, uh, we know that if they can, if they can overcome that, they can stick with this for life, and it's gonna be life-changing forever. You know, I have You were talking about history, and it's so cool. I see, um, this gal once in a while will pop up on my Instagram feed from her gym, that she's posting videos from her gym that she owns, and I introduced her to CrossFit like 15, 17 years ago, and now she owns her own affiliate-

Tali 32:11

That's cool

Cody 32:12

and is, like, kicking ass, and she's got like three kids and, uh, you know, she's, they've got the family and everything, but they're, um, the gym looks amazing and it's really fun to just know that along the way we're planting seeds that will probably grow into things that are going to outlast us and our relationship and our time here- Yes and like all that stuff. This is, like, life-changing.

Tali 32:37

Oh, yeah. I tell people all the time that I hope everything you learn in here you take elsewhere. And so, you know, when people have quit our gym, our hope is that they just moved on to something else.

Speaker 3 32:49

Yeah. Always.

Tali 32:49

Always. Right? Like that-

Speaker 3 32:50

Yeah.

Tali 32:51

I would be so happy to hear that, "Oh, I found another trainer in the county that is a better fit for me," or, "It works better for my schedule," 'cause a schedule Like can seriously get in the way of your abilities to do much of anything for yourself. Um, but if we hear that they're quitting completely and just like stopping everything that you worked for up until this point, I mean, we can only speak from our own experience and working with thousands of other people of what a hole that is to get out of again. Mm-hmm.

Cody 33:23

Yeah.

Tali 33:24

You know? It's so... It's hard. And I'm just gonna throw this out there. I was debating whether or not I would bring it up. But my hope is, is that if you do quit our gym, please don't ghost us. Um, the reason I say that is I know that there are a lot of reasons, whether it is us or it's you, there's a lack of conversation sometimes where, um, people like Irish goodbye the gym. And, you know, if we were living in Portland or Seattle, like I can see how that would be totally easy to do or to get away with. But living here, what's special about living here is that you know your neighbors, you see them at the grocery store, we see each other at restaurants, you go to parties and you find out everybody's, like who everybody's friends are, and I hate that people feel like they can't talk to me because they've quit my gym.

Cody 34:23

Mm-hmm.

Tali 34:24

Please don't do that.

Cody 34:25

Yeah.

Tali 34:25

It's so, it's so not necessary to close that door, um, completely. Whether you decide you wanna come back to the gym in the future or if you just wanna like be my neighbor.

Cody 34:36

Yeah.

Tali 34:37

Um-

Cody 34:38

Yeah, there's never- I

Tali 34:38

hope I, I hope I said that in the way that I really mean it.

Cody 34:40

Yeah. There's never any animosity or resentment or judgment even. Like we don't- we're not out here judging people. We want the best for people. Yeah. And so sometimes we feel bad, like if we, if you had to quit, we feel like we, we let you down, like we really wanna help you, but that doesn't mean we don't wanna talk to you when we're out and about or, uh, you know, at a, at an event here in town. Uh, we'd still love to see you and check in on you. And- And- When you, when you talk about like people going on to other trainers, that's not a resentment or jealousy thing, that's a relief. When I see a past client and then I hear like, "Oh, they're training with such and such now," I'm like, "Oh, good. Oh, I'm so glad that they're doing... Like they're still in it." Yeah. "They're still doing it." Like I would ra- much rather that than they're at home doing nothing. You know, that, that's what breaks my heart, is to see people make progress and then, um, just pull out of it completely.

Tali 35:34

Yeah.

Cody 35:35

Yeah.

Tali 35:35

And don't feel like you have to tell us about anything that you're up to. You know? Like- Yeah we also have lives outside of the gym, so don't feel like you have to tell us, um, what's happening in that part of your life, um, if you don't want to. But like- Yeah.

Cody 35:50

Yeah

Tali 35:50

These just don't, don't just drop off.

Cody 35:52

Yeah. And there's a tendency for sometimes for people to, I, you know, it's just, it's small talk. It's, it's our business, so that's what people are gonna talk to us about, which is understandable. But- Mm-hmm there's also, like, a tendency for sometimes people to meet us out and about in a restaurant and be like, "Oh, I should do this or that." And it's like- Oh,

Tali 36:11

like prospects or people who-

Cody 36:13

Well

Tali 36:14

wanna be prospects- Yeah or something?

Cody 36:16

Or even people who haven't been in the gym for, you know, who quit. You know, like it can both- Oh be both ways. Either people who have not trained with us ever or people who have trained with us but are not currently, and they kinda say like, "Oh, I know I need to do this or that." And I'm like, "That's your life. That's fine." You do what you wanna do. Yeah. I mean, it's, you don't have to- Yeah you don't owe me an explanation about anything. Like, I don't... It's fine, you know? Like, I want you to be happy, and I want everybody to be happy, successful, and healthy, and have great relationships. And I, you don't need to explain your gym situation to me.

Tali 36:46

Well, let me just put it into t- you know, I always, when I have, when I get myself kinda stuck socially, I often ask, like you or Alyssa, like, "How should I say that?" Like, "What should that sound like?" Because I think if left to me, I'm gonna say either way too much or a whole bunch of things that are, are uneffect- or ineffective. And so, you know, I'm just gonna, like, throw it out there that if you do find yourself in that situation with us, just say, "You know, it didn't work for me," or, "It wasn't, like, the right fit for me," or, "Thank you so much, but I've decided to do something else." Mm-hmm. Like, those would be great choices.

Cody 37:21

Yeah.

Tali 37:22

And we get it. We totally get it.

Cody 37:23

Yeah.

Tali 37:24

I just, um, don't wanna be like- ignored in public. It's really, really painful. Yeah. Um, but enough about that. You know, um, I f- I was thinking about this video that I had seen yesterday, which was like a perfect fit for what we're talking about today, and it was somebody doing a ring muscle-up, um, and they had... Try to imagine this. They had a band on each ring, and they were, like, tied around a short, like, foam roller. Not as long as our foam rollers that are in the annex, and not as short as the foam rollers that are in the gym- Yeah but somewhere between that. They

Cody 38:03

make a two-footer, yeah.

Tali 38:04

Yes. And so you, like, pull yourself, you know, you're holding onto the rings, and you pull, you swing your legs over each side of the foam roller so that you're essentially sitting on it. So you're, like, in a-

Cody 38:19

Okay

Tali 38:19

chair. With a

Cody 38:20

swing.

Tali 38:21

With bands to help you swing up and over. And I was like, "What the hell is this?"

Cody 38:26

What's the foam roller for? I'm trying to picture

Tali 38:28

this. Like- You're, it's supporting your weight. Like, you have something to sit on, and you're suspended with these bands that are attached to it. But why not just- So rings, bands, foam roller.

Cody 38:37

Okay, but why... I, I'm still struggling to see what the purpose of the foam roller is, because you could just do that with just bands, right? You could just- I don't

Tali 38:43

know

Cody 38:44

you could just sit in the band.

Tali 38:45

I'm gonna look it up, but, um-

Cody 38:47

I think it's- Mm-hmm an example of people trying to be creative to get clicks.

Tali 38:51

Yes. Yeah. And that is what I really wanted people to be wary of, like, just as you start to see more and more about fitness stuff, is just, like, having a discerning eye for what is new, innovative, or just a different way of thinking about something- Yeah or what is clickbait. Um-

Cody 39:09

You know, and it's funny because I've seen some things too where people are trying to be creative, and kudos. I mean, I also like to make up exercises. I've done that s- since I became a trainer 20 years ago. I still make shit up, you know? But, um, my hope is to make up things that are gonna be effective. And what's funny is a lot of times we see things online that it's not necessarily bad, it's just, like, if you're g- if you got one hour to spend in the gym, that little fancy setup thing is probably just not the best investment of your time.

Tali 39:38

Well, and I'm also looking at this, like, sh- like, sure, this person's really fit, but, like, this is not a progression that I would put any old human on. This looks dangerous as hell. Here, click this first video so you can see what I'm talking about

Cody 39:57

Uh, if you send this to me, I'll post a link to the, in the description so that people listening to this podcast can get a-

Tali 40:05

Your face is so funny.

Cody 40:08

Um.

Tali 40:09

My hope is they're playing around and not like, "Here's how you clean up your transitions in a muscle up," or something.

Cody 40:15

Yeah. This almost looks to me like, uh, in order to do this setup and actually perform the muscle up the way she is, you'd already be able to just do one without all the dangly bits in the way.

Tali 40:31

Isn't that so I just feel like getting into position on its own is, like, such a-

Cody 40:36

That's funny

Tali 40:37

dangerous game to play, and they called it a muscle-up hack. Like, nah.

Cody 40:42

Nah.

Tali 40:42

I think you're just playing. Yeah. Which is fine.

Cody 40:44

Which is fine.

Tali 40:46

Yeah. Call it what it is.

Cody 40:47

It looks a little, uh, it, it looks a little dangerous in the fact that if you started to lose your grip, you would end up headfirst. In a regular ring muscle up, if you start to lose your grip, your feet are under you, and that would tie up your- feet on the way down.

Tali 41:06

I don't even wanna know.

Cody 41:07

Yeah, so.

Tali 41:08

I'm sure you all have also come across gym fail videos, and I feel like a lot of them are shit like this.

Cody 41:13

Yeah.

Tali 41:14

It's not-

Cody 41:15

A lot of people-

Tali 41:15

It's not from, like, anything- that we are performing here. It's, like, all of the fancy flair that people add onto what otherwise could be pretty straightforward.

Cody 41:24

Yeah. There are people out, like, um, Squat University, uh-

Tali 41:30

Do you know the name of that guy?

Cody 41:31

I really should, but he- he's had

Tali 41:33

that handle- I don't know his name either, but I've been watching his videos

Cody 41:35

forever He's had that handle for so long, I forget. I've heard it, but I just forget his name. Just kinda like the beard, the, the best you can be guy. Like, he's-

Tali 41:43

Great mer- it's great branding

Cody 41:44

It's great branding, and I-

Tali 41:46

But what's

Cody 41:46

your name? And his business is, his business is called Kinstretch, but I forget the dude's name because it's, like, the beard guy.

Tali 41:52

Beard, yeah,

Cody 41:52

beard guy. Um, but anyway, the Squat University is usually putting out a lot of interesting stuff, and he's a physical therapist, so his knowledge is very deep, and he works with a ton of high-profile athletes and all this kind of stuff. So his content is quality, and it's good, but I think... I mean, I've talked to other people who are kinda almost as famous as him who are influencers online, and there's a huge pressure to have to keep making content in order to keep your job. Like, your business depends on putting out fresh content, and so I-

Tali 42:25

That's hard

Cody 42:26

I see a lot of pressure, I think, on people like that or Kelly Starrett. Love these guys. Like, I follow them. I eat their, like, their content all- You eat what now? all the time. Yeah, like, the, uh, I think it's good stuff, but I think sometimes it can get really deep into the minutia weeds, um, because they're have- they have that pressure of continuing to put out content all the time. And so, uh, it's not that they are teaching anything bad, but it's just like the, this is a really niche thing, and if you have back pain and you wanna try this thing, maybe give it a shot for a couple weeks. But don't feel like they are offering you foundational things for you to build an overall fitness, um- for yourself because it's usually addressing, like, one injury, one instability, one thing, like, on a joint specific for a person. So a lot of their content is stuff you're not probably ever gonna try, and if you do, it's probably just something to try temporarily, see how it goes, and address that one little issue you have. But don't look at them as, like, fitness programs.

Tali 43:35

Sure. Well, you touched on something kind of interesting, and that's the pressure to produce. Mm-hmm. So, so true, right? Um, I mean, mean, you and I can relate to that to some degree, like maybe when it comes into programming, but we also have this, um, like part of our methodology is to repeat things over and over again to s- to compare changes and progress. Mm-hmm. Um, so that kind of works for us in that way of not having to con- continuously be creative, um, to a point where it might not be beneficial anymore. And I think that we have also watched, like, you know, Greg Everett and Squat University and Beard The Best You Can Be and Kelly Starrett, we've also seen them over, like, the course of a decade-

Speaker 3 44:18

Yeah

Tali 44:19

where we've seen their expertise deepen.

Speaker 3 44:22

Yeah.

Tali 44:22

And a lot of those guys, those were all guys, weren't they? I'm gonna put, uh, Megan Gallagher in there just so that we've got some lady representation- There you go um, who work with actual clients. That's a really important one to me- Yeah to kinda seek out is, like, do you work with actual humans? Yeah. There are a lot of influencers, which influencer is not a bad word. There are great influencers, and then there's other influencers who I think might take advantage of their platforms. But if that is a person who has been fit their whole lives and has never worked with a client before, then they might not be the right source to work with you or for you to take advice from them. And so I think that that's something to really pay attention to is, like, does this person have, like, practical application? Are they, um, working with other bodies other than their own? And do they have a deepening level of expertise, or is their continuous content starting to be, like, kinda grabbing straws or shock value or whatever, like hokey stuff to, like, get your attention?

Cody 45:33

Yeah, and there's also just the whole don't believe everything you see on the internet thing. I mean, I've- You bring up a really good point, which we've talked about a l- little bit in the past that, like, being fit or being a great athlete does not make you a great coach. Also, there are great coaches who are not great athletes, and th- those are just two different skill sets completely. Completely. It's not a do as I say, not as I do situation. That's not what I'm saying. I'm just saying that, um, one is not a prerequisite for the other. In fact, oftentimes the best athletes are not the best coaches because a lot of times the best athletes, the best, I'm not talking about, like, pretty good, the best athletes are often genetically gifted people who are less prone to injuries and, and m- and more robust and have better body composition naturally, and they work their ass off. I'm not trying to diminish their accomplishments, but to be the best, you kinda have to have everything going for you.

Tali 46:28

I also wanna add something to that. If, like, athlete versus coach, whoever spends the most time coaching-

Cody 46:36

Right is probably

Tali 46:37

gonna be a better

Cody 46:38

coach. Y- right.

Tali 46:39

Yeah.

Cody 46:40

Yeah.

Tali 46:40

Yeah. Yeah.

Cody 46:41

Um, but if it kinda, um, is something that you've never, if you've never been overweight, if you've never been-

Tali 46:48

Injured

Cody 46:49

injured for a long period of time, if you've never been h- living outside of the gym for a long period of time. So, you know, some people went from high school to college sports to, like, being a professional athlete or, uh, an influencer or whatever, and they've never even experienced what it's like to not be in the gym culture. And so how-

Tali 47:06

How do you bring people in?

Cody 47:07

Yeah. Um, so, uh, I guess my point is I've... Just as a specific example, I used to have a neighbor who was, like, in their 50s and, um- We're just gonna pause for a second. Just a second. Okay, we're back. Uh, so where was I? So, uh, we were talking about people, like how do you know who to listen to online?

Tali 47:33

Mm-hmm.

Cody 47:34

I'd like to pick your brain about that for a second, but before I do, I have this antidotal story, this N of 1 that I can, uh, share with you. I used to have a neighbor who was an air traffic controller, and so by his own admission, uh, please don't be offended if you're an air traffic controller, but by his own admission, he sat a lot at work. He was just a seated job.

Tali 47:55

Oh, I thought you were gonna say something so much meaner.

Cody 47:59

Well, it could be- You could- 'cause this guy was a little off. But, um, he, uh- drank coffee and, like, Coke all day long or all night long, depending on the shift. Um, seated, high-stress environment, but- Yeah also, uh, just a lot of sedentary. He-- The only thing he did for fitness was pick-up basketball twice a week at the YMCA.

Tali 48:19

Oh, no.

Cody 48:20

But the thing is, is that he was in his 50s, and he was ripped. He had, you know, sinewy muscles and a six-pack, washboard stomach. But my point is, he was very gifted genetically. You see that sometimes. There are some people who just look super, super fit, and I know this dude was not fit. He smoked cigarettes. He drank soda pop. He had a seated desk job. Like, if we really- We're not all

Tali 48:45

that lucky

Cody 48:46

if we really put him-- Yeah, like, i-i-if we really took a holistic view of it, this guy is not healthy. But if he had an Instagram profile, you would have never known it, because he looked shredded.

Tali 48:57

Yeah.

Cody 48:57

He had the genetics for it. And so it's just kind of a thing I wanted to put out there as just cautionary. Like, just because someone's got abs doesn't mean they know what they're talking about, first of all. And, and- Well,

Tali 49:08

and abs definitely don't-

Cody 49:09

And it-

Tali 49:10

equate fitness either.

Cody 49:11

Yeah. Abs don't mean fit necessarily. Um, often they do. I mean, the, the reason we associate it with fitness is that it's hard to achieve, and so it, it often is correlated, but, uh, not always. Yeah. Sometimes people just have really good genes, or they-- maybe they are super fit. They still might not know what they're talking about because they have the genes to kinda, like, do things wrong and still succeed, if you will.

Tali 49:35

Or they've got a runway built up where, like- Yeah perhaps before this career took place, this person was incredibly active, and to be able to maintain that doesn't take as much as it would be for those of us who have to, like, get there-

Cody 49:49

Yeah

Tali 49:50

um, to begin with.

Cody 49:50

So

Tali 49:51

that

Cody 49:52

makes me curious, though. If you were to give people some cues on who to listen to online? Like, how do you- you and I kinda recognize BS when we see it because of our experience as coaches.

Tali 50:06

I feel like we notice it so quickly too.

Cody 50:08

Yeah.

Tali 50:08

It does not take long to, like, sniff it out.

Cody 50:10

It's kind of intuitive. But what- Yeah what would you say are some things to watch for if you're not a coach, as far as, like, what's cool and what's just silly, or who seems trustworthy versus who just looks good?

Tali 50:25

Um, I feel like that's hard to identify. What keeps coming up to me is, like, something completely different. Like, how do you kind of, um, sniff out coaches in person?

Cody 50:36

Mm.

Tali 50:39

Um, but this could, I guess, could be applied to people online if One is if they have an answer for everything.

Cody 50:45

Yeah.

Tali 50:45

You know, that's something I'm always, like, really, um, uh, what's the word, suspicious of, if somebody has an answer for everything I ask. It's o- it Like, if they don't We don't know everything.

Cody 50:58

Mm-hmm.

Tali 50:58

And we haven't done everything. Mm-hmm. And don't pretend like you did, 'cause I'll know. Um, that's one thing.

Cody 51:07

Yeah.

Tali 51:08

Um-

Cody 51:12

I was just thinking of the people that we trust online. So, you know, you were talking about Greg Everett, Kelly Starrett Well,

Tali 51:18

I'll bring up another one, Hunter Elam. She is somebody that I actually was seeking out coaching myself. Um, she does nutrition and, um athletic training remotely, and it was, it's kind of hard to find somebody who does both. And she comes from a competitive weightlifting background. She's not doing it anymore. She's got kind of this whole angle of, like, life after sport for people who are competitive athletes, which is, you know, I'm part of that market, like, have been trying to seek out something like that for a long time. And so, um, I think her having such a deep background in weightlifting and really understanding, like, what supplementary training could look like that isn't weightlifting itself, because she understands the modality and the defining features so well, um, to me that felt trustworthy.

Cody 52:14

Mm.

Tali 52:15

Yeah. And honestly, she doesn't really put out a lot of, like, speaking content. She just puts out, um, her workouts. Mm. And I've actually learned, uh, I had her app. I was, like, one of her beta testers, and, um, there were a lot of things that I carried over into, um, sport-

Cody 52:34

Mm

Tali 52:34

for our youth program that I actually really liked. Because like I said, it's a way of kind of like training the same things that I would want from weightlifting, but if I'm working with kids that I get to see very sparingly or just through the summer or a month at a time, that it would be safe and approachable. Mm. So, I mean, I usually try to test pilot that stuff myself. Um, when I felt like I had more bandwidth to train, I would always try to layer in, like, "Well, what's the thing on the internet that I saw this week that I wanna try?" Uh, and sometimes those things would stick with me for years, and that would be... If I think to come back to it over and over again, then I'm like, "All right, that's kind of, that's pretty credible."

Cody 53:16

Yeah.

Tali 53:16

But if I try it and I'm like, "This is stupid."

Cody 53:18

But you and I also have, you and I also have a base of knowledge that kind of lets us parse out what looks like it might be useful or what's not, uh, based on our understanding. But I'm- Um- One thing I can kind of point to that's, like, if, if you look at a lot of influencer content, there's usually a big promise. Like, "Finally, fix your shoulder. Finally, fix your back- Mm with this exercise. This is the unlock. This is the thing." And y- compare that to, like, Squat University, when he says, "If you have low back pain, when you do XYZ, it might be ABC." The language is so different. "You could try this." Yeah. And so he's j- he's not promising a fix-all for everybody who has back pain. It's like, "Maybe try this if, if, if these are the circumstances and this is what you're feeling, it might be this." Versus- Yeah, he's,

Tali 54:11

like, offering his findings based off of real work with real people.

Cody 54:15

Yeah.

Tali 54:16

Yeah.

Cody 54:16

Uh, versus a lot of influencers that I see that are just like- This thing is finally gonna be the thing that cures everything for you. It's, uh- And- So that's a big warning sign, which may seem- Yeah obvious when I'm explaining it now, but it's really compelling when you're scrolling, and you see this thing- And you're in

Tali 54:32

pain.

Cody 54:33

Yeah. And it's like, "Oh, my knee hurts," and then all of a sudden this thing is like, "Fix your knees with this amazing routine." Um, it makes you kinda wanna try it.

Tali 54:40

Well, we can also be a great screening tool, right? Like, I've had people bring accounts to me and be like, "Is this legit? Is this a good person to follow?" Yeah. And I'm like, "I'm happy to give my two cents." There was actually this one guy that both Joel and I, like, came across kind of at the same time, who I really love. He's a CrossFit coach, and he, um, really influenced how I've started, uh, tackling double under faults with our members. Mm. He just has some, like, different ways of speaking about the same things that we already do. You know, sometimes the content is the same, and the way it's packaged is different, and this particular coach is great with the packaging.

Cody 55:22

Mm.

Tali 55:22

He speaks in terms that are, like, really easy to understand, um, and I really appreciate that. Um, and so I've been kind of using that as a guide for some things to just try out some new language, 'cause it always is about how it lands and how it's received by the athlete, right? So I've just tried to break out of maybe some of my defaults because I need new material. You know?

Cody 55:49

Mm-hmm.

Tali 55:50

We always do.

Cody 55:51

Do you?

Tali 55:52

I mean, when you and I were talking about weightlifting camp, I'm going to weightlifting camp in September- for a week.

Cody 55:59

It's official now.

Tali 55:59

It is official. You announced it. I booked a place, and I've put this off for two years. Um- Yeah, I, there's a few reasons why I, I wanna go, but one of the things that I find to be the most compelling about going is, um, to be able to coach weightlifting in a different way or in a deeper way or something.

Cody 56:23

Mm-hmm.

Tali 56:24

Because I'm gonna learn so much as an athlete, and that's always been the point for me is like, what do I, what have I internalized, and how can I give it back or pay it forward?

Cody 56:33

Yeah. You'll be-

Tali 56:34

So-

Cody 56:34

working with the best.

Tali 56:35

I know.

Cody 56:37

I'm excited for you.

Tali 56:39

I'm a little scared.

Cody 56:41

That's good.

Tali 56:42

Yeah.

Cody 56:42

Being a little scared's good. It puts you- I'm

Tali 56:44

not-

Cody 56:44

puts you in the right frame of mind sort of

Tali 56:45

Well, I'm not scared of the weightlifting. I'm, like, scared to be on my own for a week. When was the last time I did that?

Cody 56:53

You've, like, become wifed up.

Tali 56:55

I have. I warned you about this.

Cody 56:57

Wow.

Tali 56:58

And here we are. Um, yeah. I'm excited. Um, yeah. I'm really excited. Thank you for helping me make it happen.

Cody 57:07

Yeah, I'm excited for you. So if anybody wonders if I'm dragging ass mid-September, just realize I'm the- I, I'm the only coach here for a week. Uh, maybe. We'll see. We'll- Yeah the team might be, uh, a little bit freed up to, to help.

Tali 57:22

Yeah. Change in season goes far.

Cody 57:25

Yeah.

Tali 57:25

Um, yeah. Thank you.

Cody 57:26

But I'd like to get back to a little bit about, to just for usefulness of what you might look for to s- to test out- things that we see on the internet or trends in fitness in general. It doesn't even have to be an influencer situation. It could just be like, right, right now Hyrox is, like, on the rise, and more and more people are hearing about it. And so that's, uh, that's more of, like, a fitness trend if you will. Or-

Tali 57:51

Have you taken the time to look into it yet?

Cody 57:54

Not- honestly, no, because- Me neither to me it just looked like diet CrossFit, and I was like- Diet CrossFit there's already CrossFit games. Like, why reinvent the wheel and do it in a lesser way? And the reason I say

Tali 58:06

lesser- Do you think it's so successful- I just- 'cause it's been repackaged?

Cody 58:08

Yeah. Yeah, it's just a branding thing. It's just- They don't seem to have judging totally a branding thing. It's just, yeah, so that's what I was gonna say is that- I, I'm not hugely experienced with it, so I don't mean to knock it for anybody who's involved. Um-

Tali 58:20

We'll Google it

Cody 58:21

it's, it's cool. But I have seen competitions where it, apparently did- just didn't have a lot of standards as far as the movement quality. Um, and they were al- letting people get away with things that they would not be able to do in a CrossFit competition, which is often- A

Tali 58:37

CrossFit class, hello

Cody 58:38

which is, which is funny 'cause it's, CrossFit is often criticized for, like, having low standards. And it's like, well, and Hyrox isn't? 'Cause I've, uh, I, I mean, I saw, yep, this specific example I'm talking about was wall balls in a conf-

Tali 58:53

I was gonna say the same thing

Cody 58:54

in a competition. And it's like, it was kinda like if they got the ball up there, every rep counted, uh, whether the squat was there or not. Like, they were doing half-depth squats that were not consistent range of motion. And I'm like, well, how is this a competition if the person next to you is squatting below parallel and you are not, but your reps count, too? Then there's no, that's not a competition- Honestly, I think- that's on equal footing, so

Tali 59:18

I think this is CrossFit's fault, like CrossFit HQ's fault. You know, there's been a huge callback to bring, um, regionals and sectionals back.

Cody 59:27

Mm.

Tali 59:27

They don't do that anymore. So, like, all the regular people don't have any competitive outlet anymore unless the affiliates are putting on events. Yeah. Which, you know, we're not a CrossFit affiliate, but, like, could you imagine putting on a competition? Like, we don't have the time for that.

Cody 59:42

Well, we don't have the time or facilities for that.

Tali 59:44

Exactly. So, um, I think CrossFit leaving that huge gaping hole open is what allowed Hyrox to fill the space.

Cody 59:53

Yeah. That and some negative branding.

Tali 59:56

Well- It was kind of a perfect storm for sure.

Cody 59:57

Yeah.

Tali 59:58

Absolutely. But doesn't that make some sense in terms of, like, who that's accessible to?

Cody 1:00:02

Yeah.

Tali 1:00:03

Yeah. But- If it's the open to the games and nothing in between- Right then there's nothing for the rest of us to aim for.

Cody 1:00:10

And participate in.

Tali 1:00:11

Yeah.

Cody 1:00:12

Yeah.

Tali 1:00:12

What's the point?

Cody 1:00:13

Yeah. Um-

Tali 1:00:14

I hate that they did that

Cody 1:00:16

but what I was trying to get to, though, is that there are some trends that are k- There's fit- Popular there's, there's fitness fads and then there's fitness trends, and there's things that are kinda like- Mm-hmm garbage, and then there's things that are like, "Oh, that's new and interesting." So what, what's the difference between those? That's what I'm trying to get out of you, is like what would- Oh you look for if you saw something online that looks like, "Oh, that looks legit even though I've never seen it before. I would like to try that and maybe offer it to our clients." I would s- Or, "That looks silly."

Tali 1:00:45

I'll say- Yeah I'll just bring it right back to the beginning of what you had mentioned when you first discovered CrossFit. Wow, these people who seemingly were unlikely are incredibly capable.

Cody 1:00:58

Mm-hmm.

Tali 1:01:00

They're capable. I think about that all the time when it comes to, like, my own fitness journey and my, like, you know, current state with being a, like, a tired business owner is, like, I've actually become a very capable person doing this kind of training.

Cody 1:01:17

Mm-hmm.

Tali 1:01:18

You know? I feel like I can run across the street if I was needing to, or I'd be able to, uh, jump down from a, a high surface to the floor without injuring myself, or I could, you know, go do some, like, physical activity with my friends without getting injured or worried if I could even do it. And so to me, that's the, that's the thing that I'm looking for. You know, we, we see, like, fitness influencers or, like, fitness excuse me, models who, like... I don't know if you remember this, but I think it was Wodify or, like, one of those platforms which was ironic as hell, that the opening screen when you would open up the software was, like, a fitness model-

Cody 1:02:07

Mm-hmm

Tali 1:02:07

overhead squatting, I'm doing air quotes- overhead squatting not to full depth-

Cody 1:02:13

Uh-huh

Tali 1:02:14

with likely fake weights.

Cody 1:02:15

Yeah.

Tali 1:02:17

You know? I see that a lot in, like, um, fitness equipment commercials where, like, the people they hire, like, don't move well. Oh, yeah. And it's like, "What the is going on here?" I mean, I,

Cody 1:02:29

I saw this. There's a-- I should have saved it. I should have just kept it and put it up on the wall in my gym.

Tali 1:02:34

Mm.

Cody 1:02:35

Uh, 'cause I remember where I was at the exact moment, and one of my coaches brought in a Men's Health magazine.

Tali 1:02:43

Mm-hmm.

Cody 1:02:43

Men's Health, I mean, it's a pretty big publication. It's, it was kind of a major deal at the time, back when magazines were still kind of a big deal.

Tali 1:02:50

Mm-hmm.

Cody 1:02:51

Um, and in Men's Health, they had this, like, strength routine, and they were describing the deadlift, but the photo was somebody with the barbell in the front rack position as if they had just cleaned it. And it- And I'm like, "Uh..."

Tali 1:03:09

Blame it on the editing.

Cody 1:03:10

Um, yeah, but still, like, that should be, like, the final pass should be legit in a magazine that is specifically a fitness magazine. Like, this is supposed to be an authority for people to follow, and it was like just- How embarrassing. Yeah. Um, yeah.

Tali 1:03:26

Yeah.

Cody 1:03:27

So it's- it's hard to know what to trust. But I think, um, I think you're right in that- Before you kinda buy into whether a post or an influencer or a fitness trend is legit, maybe look at the results from it. So, like, what are the people who are involved in this able to do?

Tali 1:03:45

Mm-hmm.

Cody 1:03:46

Um, so that's one example. Uh, the other example might be their longevity, and I hate to do that 'cause it makes it really hard for new people to break out. But-

Tali 1:03:56

Uh-huh

Cody 1:03:57

but Kelly Starrett, I have been f- we have been following for years and years. I think I first heard about Kelly Starrett back in 2007.

Tali 1:04:05

Yeah.

Cody 1:04:06

And he's still at it. Um, Squat University, that dude's been around for a long time. You and I have been sharing his content for years. Um, same with ev- Can I just

Tali 1:04:16

say something controversial?

Cody 1:04:17

Everybody, everybody that we've mentioned has just, they have some history and some staying power, and you know that they have a lot of clients behind backing up what they're doing. What's your controversial take? What's your hot take?

Tali 1:04:28

I feel like, I was gonna say that I feel like Squat University's content has gotten, like, too fancy for me.

Cody 1:04:33

Yeah. Well, that's what I was talking about. Like, h- there's this, there's this pressure to-

Tali 1:04:36

The pressure to continue to produce

Cody 1:04:37

to continue to produce content.

Tali 1:04:38

It used to be, like, so simple, straight to the point.

Cody 1:04:41

Uh-huh.

Tali 1:04:41

Kind of a la Greg Everett, and that's why I will always refer people to Greg Everett, is like, there is no fluff. There is nothing extra that you don't need.

Cody 1:04:50

Yeah.

Tali 1:04:52

Yeah.

Cody 1:04:53

Yeah. It's

Tali 1:04:53

funny 'cause- I'm just getting a li- It's, it's just teetering in that way, and I find myself just not stopping when I'm do- scrolling as much.

Cody 1:04:59

Yeah. Um, I remember following Greg Everett when he was, when, when Catalyst was a affiliate, like a CrossFit affiliate, and so it was- Wow way back. Uh, in like a- again, this 2007 era, um, is when I first heard about him. And it's funny because his content I think was, because the technology at the time was not as easy. Like, this is pre-iPhone or right about the time of, that the iPhone was released, the first iPhone. So taking video, people kind of forget, it was not like it is today. Like, you could maybe take videos with your phone, your, your cellphone, some of those had v- built in, but they were, like-

Tali 1:05:40

Real crummy

Cody 1:05:41

real bad. Like, real grainy and choppy and probably had no audio, and, like, it was pretty bad. Um, so his content being put out, I think, was out of a necessity to just, to be able to do it. It was short and s- concise and, like, a 30-second demonstration of what this exercise looked like, and he started building up this catalog. And it's funny because I think it was born out of necessity early, but he stuck with that. Like, he's still putting out content that's very

Tali 1:06:09

sh- Digestible

Cody 1:06:09

short, concise, one movement. Like, here's this one fix, and it's really cool.

Tali 1:06:15

I have noticed that his posting lately is a lot more nuanced. It's, like, the teeny, tiny things that can make a big difference. Mm-hmm. Because he's already taught us how to snatch and clean a jerk at this point.

Cody 1:06:26

Yeah.

Tali 1:06:26

Um, so that is interesting. I have been, um, eating up a lot of content of a, I won't be able to pronounce their name, of a Chinese weightlifting coach. Um, that's been great. It's been really, really good. It's not really, like, um, organized. It's just, like, you, they're just, like, working with their athlete, and they just, like, pull out their camera really quick and be like, "This is what I'm fixing."

Cody 1:06:52

Mm.

Tali 1:06:52

Um, that's been really cool. And, like, hello, Chinese weightlifting. Like, that's gonna be legit. So, um, yeah. I think, you know, you were talking about, we were talking about Wendler, and you were just talking about, like, pre-uh, iPhone or, like, I'm thinking about when I got started was, like, pre-Instagram. Um, and so, you know, the strength cycles that I was looking for were just things that I had heard in the gym.

Cody 1:07:19

Mm-hmm.

Tali 1:07:19

Wendler, Outlaw, Catalyst. You know, those were just some names that were being thrown around that, like, still really hold up well. It's like you were saying, there's no need to reinvent the wheel, but I can understand that, you know, people wanna have a say in this market or they wanna have an influence on this market. Um, and I don't know. I don't know enough about other industries. People always- Like I'll tell people in the gym sometimes, I'm like, "I gotta tell you, like I don't really have a lot of other skills than this, to be honest." This is what I've been doing for the last 20 years. Um, so I don't have a lot to say about much else. And so, um, I would venture to guess that this is a challenge that is all over industries, whether it's like sewing- Mm or ranching or, uh, painting. Yeah. That it's like there are gonna be all these like really cool ways of trying new things, but it's like we're always gonna go back to the basics- Yeah and build off of that.

Cody 1:08:27

Well, we've even experienced

Tali 1:08:27

this once- It just, sometimes things get pulled out of thin air that are, it's like, what?

Cody 1:08:30

Yeah.

Tali 1:08:31

Like that, this, that thing I showed you on my phone. Mm-hmm. Like what?

Cody 1:08:35

Silly.

Tali 1:08:35

Like what even compelled you to try that?

Cody 1:08:37

The, uh, uh... There is an example that I remember when we were first moved to the ranch, we were getting sent a lot of things from other people, uh, at least I was, from my friends- Like previous

Tali 1:08:47

clients and stuff?

Cody 1:08:48

No, my friends would send me like gardening tips and ranching tips- Oh and chicken housing that's more efficient, and all this stuff. And it's like, well, that looks good on Instagram, but I guarantee you if you throw your potatoes out on top of the soil and cover them with hay, it's just gonna be a weed patch. Like that's not gonna work. Like they, they made it look in the video as if you just bury your potatoes in hay and then leave it, and the hay keeps the weeds down, and the potatoes- But it- grow under, and then you don't have to dig them up because they're just right on top of the soil. And I'm like, that is- What if you

Tali 1:09:21

live on the slope that's like windy as shit?

Cody 1:09:23

Yeah. Well, my point is, is that the post was bullshit. Like, it's pretty much staged. You can tell that the-

Tali 1:09:30

I wonder if that morel propagating thing- Yeah was staged too.

Cody 1:09:33

Yeah, could be 'cause-

Tali 1:09:34

Cause that was really cool.

Cody 1:09:36

Yeah.

Tali 1:09:36

We- And we bought everything for it. Do you remember that? Yeah. We bought the buckets, the aeration system.

Cody 1:09:41

We only tried

Tali 1:09:42

it once. Is that what it's called, aeration?

Cody 1:09:43

Yeah. But it's-

Tali 1:09:44

No, we didn't do it at all.

Cody 1:09:45

Well, I put some, uh-

Tali 1:09:47

You're supposed to make like a slurry slurry.

Cody 1:09:50

Yeah.

Tali 1:09:50

You did it.

Cody 1:09:50

I, I put it in the corner of the garden under that tree on that, that end. Uh-huh. And, and nothing happened. But, uh, yeah.

Tali 1:09:58

Yeah. Did you guys know that we tried homesteading for a little bit?

Cody 1:10:00

I, I think homesteading is a little bit of a strong term.

Tali 1:10:03

It was COVID times. It was- We thought we were gonna need to trade our cars in for horses. Do you remember that? Do you remember having those conversations?

Cody 1:10:10

Uh, it was a potential, yeah.

Tali 1:10:11

Right. Yeah. It was so unknown. It was such a weird time.

Cody 1:10:15

It was a weird time.

Tali 1:10:16

Such a weird time.

Cody 1:10:17

Uh-

Tali 1:10:18

And here we are running a gym again.

Cody 1:10:20

Yeah. Well, do you have anything else you wanted to add about this? I think-

Tali 1:10:25

Um, I did you did And it's a little bit unrelated, but I wanted a chance to talk about something practical on each episode. And, uh, we talked about this with our coaches this week too, about how to add weight in any given strength session. I know that's real broad- Mm but I would like to just give some really clear instructions on what we wanna see, what is safe, and what not to do. 'Cause some of y'all already know what those are- Mm but some of y'all don't. Does that sound worthy-

Cody 1:11:02

Yeah of

Tali 1:11:02

going into?

Cody 1:11:03

I mean, yeah, let's break it down real quick. So when you're Doing a strength session, you know, regardless of what the lift is-

Tali 1:11:12

Why don't we pick a, like something we did in Rat Pack this week or what we're gonna do in Peak Fit this week. Yeah. Let's pick something.

Cody 1:11:17

Yeah, we can. But, uh, just re- regardless of what it is, it's, it's sets and reps, and it has rest in between. Like, this is the foundation of, of strength training is, um, a progressive overload system, uh, where you're pushing the limits. And if you're pushing the limits, you have to get there gradually. You can't just go in cold and pick up a heavy barbell. So-

Tali 1:11:38

Unless you're me. No, I'm kidding.

Cody 1:11:39

If we're talking about deadlifts, for instance, sumo deadlifts or deadlifts, um, and if it's a week of fives or threes, we might be trying to push the weight up a little higher than the last time that we did fives or threes. Um, we can't PR every day that we come into the gym, but we can, um, sort of test the limits because the... when you, when you lift a weight that you can lift for five times five sets, and you feel like you could have done 15 reps, then it's... The only time that's effective is if you're injured and you need to scale it back just to get movement in. There is benefit to movement. But if you always train that way, you're gonna really blunt the effects of actually getting strong. Mm-hmm. You have to challenge yourself. You have to get to the point where you're, you get that last rep and you're like, "Whew, I didn't know if that was gonna happen or not, and I was able to maintain it." I say challenging,

Tali 1:12:34

but doable.

Cody 1:12:35

Yeah. So you're able to keep everything together. You're good form. You're moving well. You have quality. Nothing hurts, and you get the job done, but it was kind of like it, it took everything out of you in order to accomplish that. So that's where we're trying to get to the best stimulus. So just with that as the foundation now, um, in order to get there safely, uh, the mistake that we see- So

Tali 1:12:55

this is the don'ts list

Cody 1:12:57

the don'ts list. The mistake that we often see is, uh, people maybe start at half of their working max, and then they add two or three kilos, and two or three kilos, and two or three kilos, and then they only end up at the last set with maybe 65% of their max, and they realize that-

Tali 1:13:16

Oh, shit

Cody 1:13:16

"Oh man, I could have done so much more. Let me just slap on 20 kilos here because I know I got that in me."

Tali 1:13:23

I'm just mad about it- listening to

Cody 1:13:26

it. So that is a- textbook what not to do. Uh, because- Uh, taking a big jump later in the cycle means that you have taken the largest increase in weight when you're already somewhat fatigued. Yeah. So it goes beyond warmup, and you start to get a little bit tired.

Tali 1:13:45

I can kind of see how maybe people would think like, "Oh, I'm warm now, so now I can challenge myself."

Cody 1:13:51

Yeah.

Tali 1:13:52

But that ain't right.

Cody 1:13:53

Yeah.

Tali 1:13:53

The thing is, is that this will shock the shiza out of your body if you have trained your brain and your body to take two or three kilo jumps. It knows what to expect. It knows how hard to work. But then if you surprise it with something that's, like, 10 times the amount or whatever, then it's unlikely that you're gonna be able to maintain your good form-

Cody 1:14:17

Yeah

Tali 1:14:17

because you've overloaded your body way too quickly.

Cody 1:14:21

Yeah. Um, and I wanna get back to another point about that too, besides just the danger factor. Mm-hmm. Uh, but I think I'll circle back around to it 'cause maybe we'll talk about how to do it properly first. So-

Tali 1:14:32

We already started the don'ts list.

Cody 1:14:34

Well, what else is there? Isn't that what you wanted to talk about- Um- was basically taking big jumps at the end?

Tali 1:14:39

Yeah. I would just say, like s- like, um, jumps that are varied up and down. Like, it's not meant to be a rollercoaster. It's not like, "Oh, I've got five rounds of work with 20 pushups, and some rounds I'll do them all prescribed, and some rounds I'll break it up into sets of five, and the next round I'll do two sets of 10." Like, this is not the arena to, like experiment with things like that. W- uh, strength training should be intentional and a little tighter than that.

Cody 1:15:08

Mm-hmm.

Tali 1:15:08

So just kind of like doing whatever you feel like, not a good plan. I think it is good to go in with a plan, but be- you have some-- you might have, give yourself some opportunity to adjust-

Cody 1:15:19

Mm-hmm

Tali 1:15:20

as you go.

Cody 1:15:21

Yeah.

Tali 1:15:21

So would that be it for don'ts and adding weight? Oh, I've got one.

Cody 1:15:26

Hmm.

Tali 1:15:27

How we load the barbell. I know that's something that- Oh, please you like to talk about.

Cody 1:15:30

Yeah. So- proper loading. Let's go into proper loading. Um, probably should make a video of this so you can see what I'm talking about. But basically, if you always use the l- fewest number of plates on the bar to get to the weight that you're trying to load. So if you need 60 kilos on the bar, instead of a 20-kilo bar with stacks of 10s or stacks of 10s and 5s on the outside of that, yeah, it's the same weight, and that's the argument that people think is like, "Well, it's the same weight. What difference does it make? 60 kilos is 60 kilos." But, uh, from a coaching standpoint, and even from an athlete standpoint, the more individual plates you have on the bar, the more chances there are for a mistake.

Tali 1:16:17

Mm-hmm.

Cody 1:16:18

So if you have stacks of 10s and 5s and two and a halves and a one and a, and three halves or whatever silly silliness is on there, um, we all have to stop and count up exactly what you have on the bar.

Tali 1:16:32

Yeah.

Cody 1:16:32

Now, an experienced athlete and/or coach can look at a bar that's properly loaded, and a lot of times, if it's properly loaded, I can tell you without having to stop and count the plates. I know that if there's-

Tali 1:16:45

What that

Cody 1:16:46

is if there's 25s on a 20-kilo bar, I just know that those big plates mean 70. I don't have to stop and do the math. Right. I just know big plates means 70. Um, so it's a good place to start. Uh, so properly loading is safer in that way.

Tali 1:17:02

Yeah. Can we just say, like, why that's important to us as coaches?

Cody 1:17:05

Well, I can give you just a couple of examples of what happens- Yeah in the dirty loading situation-

Tali 1:17:13

Mm-hmm

Cody 1:17:14

with lots of different plates, is I've seen people hit accidental PRs with 20 kilos more than they thought they had on there.

Tali 1:17:22

I just got a text this weekend- of a member who was like, "I have to come clean. I did that."

Cody 1:17:28

Yeah. And it's always kind of a fun surprise, like, "Oh, you did it. It looked good. Your form looked good. You're stronger than you thought you were."

Tali 1:17:36

Yeah.

Cody 1:17:37

But that's not an excuse to make that happen because that is a really bad idea, 'cause sometimes you can lift one or two, and then you get a muscle strain, and then you can't figure out why, and it's like, well, you accidentally took a huge jump because you didn't do the math right.

Tali 1:17:51

Yeah.

Cody 1:17:52

Uh, so that's one obvious kind of, like, danger situation. I have also seen, uh, I think it was in the same week, this happened two or three times, uh, where people had the bar unevenly loaded- Oh because there were so many plates on there that it was confusing with their workout partners, and so one person left a two-and-a-half off of one side on a shoulder press, so-

Tali 1:18:14

Oh, right

Cody 1:18:14

like, that's five pounds on one side more than is on the other side.

Tali 1:18:20

Why are we talking in pounds?

Cody 1:18:21

B- 'Cause I'm trying to get it to be relatable. Okay. A two-and-a-half kilo- Got

Tali 1:18:25

it. Okay

Cody 1:18:25

plate- I

Tali 1:18:26

was like, "Wait, what?"

Cody 1:18:27

A two-and-a-half kilo plate is, like, over five pounds.

Tali 1:18:29

Yeah. It's not... Yeah. That's important.

Cody 1:18:32

And so with one arm, you know, like, that's l- lopsided, and so they couldn't figure out why it was so hard to push out one side of the barbell, and it was, like, lopsided and crooked going up for three reps. And then we put it down and, and then I started, like, counting the number of plates on there, and I'm like, "Well, you just lifted, you know," whatever it was, "23 and a half kilos."

Tali 1:18:57

Yeah.

Cody 1:18:57

Because two and a half was all on one side. Uh, so those are the obvious reasons. I- And, and second, uh, just, just to wrap up, like, as a coach, like I said, I can intuitively see what's on a properly loaded bar.

Tali 1:19:10

Mm-hmm.

Cody 1:19:11

Uh, or at least if I do have to count it up, it's faster 'cause I know how to do it.

Tali 1:19:15

Eight- the eight-kilo bar is really hard for me to- The eight--

Cody 1:19:17

yeah, the eight-kilo bar- do quickly uh, is... I'm starting to figure out, like, if a g- we just get greens on there, then it's 10, and then it's a lot easier. Or red's 13. Yeah. But, um- What that does also is it saves time in the gym, and it helps the coach coach you better, 'cause we know what you're lifting.

Tali 1:19:35

Yeah.

Cody 1:19:36

Cause a lot of times I, I don't know what people are lifting because I don't have time to sit and do the complicated algebra that it takes to figure out what's on their bar with all these weird plate configurations.

Tali 1:19:46

Yeah, if you can help it. Like, every once in a while- I'll walk up to a bar, I'm like, "What the hell is this?" "What are you lifting?"

Cody 1:19:51

Yeah.

Tali 1:19:52

Um, I don't wanna be at that point. The cool thing about our gym and the cool thing about the way that we've decided to run it, is that we get to know you all so well. So we at least have, like, an idea of, like, what neighborhood you're lifting in- Mm-hmm de- depending on the lift. Um, and so it just allows us to, like, teach you better and to collaborate with you better if we can see what's happening clearly. I was gonna say that there might be an exception when you are working with another person. Um, but I always try to have the rule of, like, you cannot have more, more than one set of any color of plates. Just because you're doing two kilo jumps every time doesn't mean you get to hoard all of the one kilo plates and add them every time. Yeah. You get one set. Like, y'all be spoiled if you think that, like, you get to hoard all those weights. If you think about, like, other places we've trained-

Cody 1:20:47

Mm-hmm

Tali 1:20:48

there wasn't enough weight to go around sometimes. Yeah. So that you would have to, like, be on it. And so it's also that too. It's kind of a gym etiquette thing. If you're taking all those plates, you're taking them away from other people who need to use them too. So loading efficiently is also the loving thing to do.

Cody 1:21:05

Yes. Yes. The generous

Tali 1:21:07

thing. Mm-hmm.

Cody 1:21:08

Yeah. Um, so to circle back around to how to increase weight set over set. Um, the way I like to do it, and you can, you know, please feel free to have your own, um, way of explaining this, but- Well,

Tali 1:21:22

there's a lot of ways to talk about it, right?

Cody 1:21:23

Well, I always try to have a plan going in. Mm-hmm. Like you said, it-- we're not just gonna improvise as we go, um, but we are gonna be willing to pivot if things don't feel right or if thing, if you're just not feeling as strong as you thought you did that day. Um, there's always the opportunity to, to change your plan. But having a plan ensures that you have some direction on where to go and what kind of jumps to take early on. And the way I do it, personally, and for most of my clients, is we figure out what the objective is today. Mm-hmm. Like, if you're feeling 100% and it's a day that we're doing, like, three reps, and so you're trying to go for a new PR or maybe at least the heaviest that we've done in the cycle so far, then we're gonna s- look at that as a small percentage, not a huge PR. We're gonna just not be greedy, even if you're feeling amazing. Um, I'll just use an example of 100 kilos 'cause the math is easy, but just know that this is true whether it's 12 kilos or 100. Um, let's say your goal for your last set is to hit 105, so that's a 5% increase over your previous attempts at, at this lift. Um, I would load up the, uh- Train Heroic or your workout journal or whatever with the last r- set first, and I pre-fill that and I put 105. That's the goal. Now I wanna creep up on that, so I might hit 100 before that, or 90, or 101 or 98 or something pretty close to that. It's kind of based on percentages, so 100 might be a bigger gap than if you have a 20 kilo max- Mm-hmm then it might be one kilo, right?

Tali 1:23:06

Well, the, the format is the same.

Cody 1:23:08

Yeah. So one kilo on 20 is the same- You're creeping

Tali 1:23:10

up on

Cody 1:23:11

it is the same math as five kilos on 100. Mm-hmm. So just, just realize that when I'm s- talking about five kilos, it's relative. Um, so I would pre-fill the last three. Mm-hmm. So I'd be like 105, 197 or something like that, or 95, so that they're small increments in those last few, and then bigger chunks for the first two or three sets to get you there. So it's like, okay, now we wanna feel what 50 or 60% feels like before we even get down this road, and so that's their first one, then we split the difference with that second set. So if we're, uh, starting the heavy sets at 95, then I might go something like 85 before that, 75 before that, and then maybe 60 before that. So now you've got 60, 60% of your working max for most people on any given day that you're not injured is usually just doable all the time. So you can test it out, then you've got 60, 75, 85, then it's like 85, 90, 95, 100, you know, like really small increments at the back end.

Tali 1:24:14

So you're talking about a tapering method-

Cody 1:24:16

Yeah

Tali 1:24:16

right? Where the jumps vary, but they only decrease in weight.

Cody 1:24:22

Yeah, the heavier you go-

Tali 1:24:22

They never increase.

Cody 1:24:24

Yeah, the

Tali 1:24:24

he- That is the important part. Yeah. They never bounce back up.

Cody 1:24:28

Yeah. So the, the increments always decrease as you get heavier.

Tali 1:24:32

Yes.

Cody 1:24:32

Not the other way around. And I wanna- Right before we move on to other approaches, I just wanna give one example of why That's also effective long-term in training because in that session it's safer. Like you were talking about, there's no big shock to the system like- Yeah oh, it's been five, five kilo jump, five kilo, five kilo, 15 kilo. Like, whoa. Like, your body doesn't know how to handle that. But from a training volume perspective, if you do the math-

Tali 1:24:59

Mm, mm-hmm

Cody 1:25:01

on, like Train Heroic will give you a, a summary at the end of your workout how much total weight you lifted. So if you do the math of your five sets that are f- you know, three reps each, that's 15 reps all together, and if you do the math of adding what each of those reps were by adding them- Individually individually by the weight. So the total weight that you moved in the session is what I'm trying to get at. If you build up with larger increments in the beginning and then have heavier sets at the end that are really close to each other, versus the opposite of that, taking small jumps in the beginning and then a big jump at the end, you will be lifting more total weight by far-

Tali 1:25:43

Mm-hmm

Cody 1:25:43

in that one session. You will have moved more total weight than if you had done it the other way, even if you end up with the same set at the end.

Tali 1:25:51

Yes. That's huge.

Cody 1:25:53

And so- And not

Tali 1:25:54

something we really talk about much.

Cody 1:25:55

Yeah. And, and so w- with volume of workouts, and we talk about consistency a lot, consistency, consistency, consistency, but, uh, in strength training you can break this down and, and one of my favorite coaches for this, um, gosh, uh, had his name and as soon as I said favorite coaches I, uh- uh, Westside Barbell, um, gosh dang it. Uh, it'll come back to me. Anyway.

Tali 1:26:19

It's not Rob Orlando, is it?

Cody 1:26:20

He's... No, Westside Barbell, he's passed away now, but, um- Anyway, he's super geeky scientific about this. Like, he charts out volume over weeks, years, like total weight lifted, d- the velocity of the bar. Like, he's tr- he's geeking out on all these different aspects of what actually gets results. And volume, volume wins. I mean, volume wins every time. And so even if it's three reps- Well, it's the same

Tali 1:26:48

on that pyramid that we talked about recently- Yeah about, like, cardio kind of being at the base, like your work capacity-

Cody 1:26:53

Yeah

Tali 1:26:54

being at the base. It's the same conversation in weightlifting terms-

Cody 1:26:58

Yeah

Tali 1:26:59

or in strength training terms.

Cody 1:27:00

So just before we move on to w- the, just to tie up that point, if you get more volume on that workout, then you lift 20% more weight. Now times that times 52 weeks of training. You have moved tons, literally tons and tons and tons more weight that year- Yeah if that's always your method, versus the haphazard just throw weight on the bar kind of thing. And that makes a massive difference in how strong you get.

Tali 1:27:26

Yeah, that's something that I've actually had, like, a little bit of a gripe with in Olympic weightlifting. There are some lifters or coaches that will kind of prioritize PRs on the platform.

Cody 1:27:38

Mm.

Tali 1:27:39

And kind of like skipping all the steps to have, like, good quality and consistency in their performances, and are just kind of like hail Mary-ing it And like, good with getting one, like two out of six lifts that day.

Cody 1:27:58

Mm-hmm.

Tali 1:27:58

It's like, no, go for all six for six. Like, I understand that there's kind of like a showcase element to competition, but like, I will always prioritize a six for six day than a PR, uh, on a one or two out of six day. You know what I mean? Mm-hmm. In terms of like the quality of that athlete. I mean, there are different things to prioritize.

Cody 1:28:23

I'm just trying to think of like, it's also a competition, so if you wanna win, sometimes you have to just try to PR in order to stay in the fight against your

Tali 1:28:32

competition. Well, I would say this is a, it's just a bias that I have, right? Yeah. And it's the way that I compete as well. So- hot take. Um, okay, so that was the taper method. Um, now when I- I've been doing this with Rat Pack a lot lately because now we've got like two full waves of our most recent programming done, right? We've gone two times through seven fives and threes. So what I'd like for us to start doing is like, all right, let's look at that data. On the days that you've done sevens, on the days that you've done fives, on the days that you've done threes, what are the patterns in terms of the weight jumps that we're seeing that you feel comfortable with? Oh, on sevens I feel pretty good taking five kilogram jumps. I'm able to maintain that pretty well. I know for me personally, when it comes to the threes, I can take like 10 kilo jumps, but I have a very different strategy when I've got higher volume that day. Mm-hmm. So, um, the consistent jumps, right? Like, I'm just gonna stick to five kilograms as long as I can, whether that is all the way through the sets or, you know, I might have to appeal to the taper method. Um, but that is another way of going about your weight jumps. When I tell people or when they ask me like, "Well, what can I jump?" I'm like, "You can either match that-"

Cody 1:29:53

Or less

Tali 1:29:53

Or less.

Cody 1:29:54

Yep.

Tali 1:29:55

So it's the matching each time, that would be, um, another way of going about it- Mm-hmm where it's just consistent all the way through.

Cody 1:30:02

Mm-hmm.

Tali 1:30:02

The important thing though is, is that you likely will have to start a little bit heavier-

Cody 1:30:07

Mm-hmm

Tali 1:30:08

in order to nudge that weight forward.

Cody 1:30:10

Or just add in a couple warm-up sets that you're not really counting.

Tali 1:30:14

Right.

Cody 1:30:14

Yeah, yeah.

Tali 1:30:15

Yeah.

Cody 1:30:15

Has working sets. Uh, and that brings me to a third method, which is a linear progression. So in that case, you're gonna warm up and get to, say, 80% of your working max, uh, as efficiently as you can. Uh, so three to four sets to get up to 80, and then maintain the same weight and see if you can lift the same weight- Oh,

Tali 1:30:36

yeah. That's probably the least used- Yeah in our programs. Yeah. I see it, in Barbell Club we do it a lot.

Cody 1:30:42

Yeah.

Tali 1:30:42

Um-

Cody 1:30:43

But if you're hanging-

Tali 1:30:43

But it's to appeal to that same thing that you were talking about, total weight moved.

Cody 1:30:47

Yeah. And if you can hang out in the 85% range of your working max for multiple sets, that is extremely productive work. Yeah.

Tali 1:30:56

I think that's an important one, and we will see it at the end of the RAT PAC cycle when we prescribe the percentages. Mm-hmm,

Cody 1:31:01

mm-hmm.

Tali 1:31:02

Um, not only does this encourage, uh, consistency of the quality of your lift, which we will always be in favor of, um, but I also think it does this really important thing that is gonna sound probably not so fun to a lot of you, which is like you're not meant to PR every day you come in here. And just know that there is gonna be a day where, like, that's not gonna happen, no matter how hard you try. Yeah. Like, there is just a point where, like, we are not afforded that kind of, that quick progress.

Cody 1:31:34

Yeah.

Tali 1:31:34

And I think it's an important lesson to, like, pull the reins in every once in a while. Um-

Cody 1:31:41

Yeah, I've had, I've been mentioning this in class lately, and part of it's 'cause of the maturity of our gym. Like, we're in our third- Mm-hmm and a half, fourth year now. Uh-

Tali 1:31:49

Fourth

Cody 1:31:50

and we have some people who have been here since the earliest days, up in our garage. Um, and so I'm having to explain to the newer folks, like even, and, and the more experienced folks is like now that we have this difference, like people who are just getting started and people who have been here for years, just know that the, you probably will PR almost every time you come into the gym the first year you come in, unless you're like already a gym rat when you get here. But if you're new to this, you are gonna PR a lot in the beginning. Don't expect that to be a forever thing. Mm-hmm. Like, that's your first year. Then-

Tali 1:32:26

Enjoy it while it lasts

Cody 1:32:28

and then it tapers, and then the next year, the second year, you can PR frequently, but not every time. And then by year three, those PRs are hard-won and few and far between, and that's just normal.

Tali 1:32:41

Well, and we're talking about strength specifically here. I would say almost the opposite is true when it comes to skill work Wouldn't you say?

Cody 1:32:50

Um, yeah, I guess. Yeah, like, yeah

Tali 1:32:53

Like when we talk about like toes to bar or- Big handstand push-ups. Big

Cody 1:32:56

breakthroughs.

Tali 1:32:57

Yeah. That actually comes later. In year two or three, yeah You're not gonna be doing those right up front. I did mention to our coaches, like remind people that like handstand push-ups are a top-shelf skill. Like they might be doing the same per- the same, uh, modification for a while, but like we wanna build a lot of consistency there before we push the next step, because the, the demand is so much higher.

Cody 1:33:20

Yeah.

Tali 1:33:21

Yeah. That is kind of interesting to contrast.

Cody 1:33:24

Yeah. Yeah. Well, we've talked about that on a previous podcast too of, uh, in measurements of success, you can always shift what you're measuring, uh, to find new ways to succeed- Mm-hmm and keep the motivation going, 'cause there's just so many different aspects. But yeah, strength, uh, is a bit of a bell curve. So it's really steep in the beginning. You make a lot of progress, and then it's like a real hard slog for a long

Tali 1:33:46

time. And that's why you have to keep doing it.

Cody 1:33:48

Yes. Yeah.

Tali 1:33:49

That's why you have to keep doing it.

Cody 1:33:50

Yeah.

Tali 1:33:50

Um, okay, so we talked about the linear method, the consistent method, and then the tapering method- Mm-hmm for adding weights in any given strength cy- or any given strength session. Um, I think we should just finish by saying like what happens when you've miscalculated. There are a couple different things. Um, so I had mentioned to you that someone got to the end of their session, and they're like, "Ugh, I was way too conservative." Mm-hmm. And I was like, "Cool. Let's see how much time we have. Oh, we're doing fine? Great. Let's go ahead and add in a couple more sets. You're feeling good in the tank. I've seen that your lifting is really looking great. Go for it. Add more sets." Don't do the Hail Mary because you, you know, started off too slow.

Cody 1:34:34

Yeah.

Tali 1:34:35

Stretch out the session longer. Yeah. But be willing to do that.

Cody 1:34:39

Yeah, if you, if you take, uh, too small of chunks in the beginning and you don't realize it until your last set or two, then that's never an excuse to just stack on a bunch of weight.

Tali 1:34:49

Yeah. There was somebody who was like loading up some twos on push presses, and I was like, "You sure you wanna do that?" Like, I stopped them, like, 'cause it was early on, and I was like, "You are holding yourself back already-" Yeah "right from the beginning." And sometimes the way that we have to frame that, the second thing that happens when that goes wrong is like, "So be it."

Cody 1:35:09

Mm-hmm.

Tali 1:35:09

You're gonna get to the end ran- your end range today based on the weights that you chose. And if it feels like you didn't get that far, we'll write a note for next time."

Cody 1:35:17

Mm-hmm. Yeah.

Tali 1:35:18

Yeah.

Cody 1:35:19

Yeah, and that brings up something I really wanted to emphasize, which is if you have a training journal or train heroic or something, you have a way, if you are tracking your workouts at all anyway, you have a way to make notes. And I think people are really I think the, a lot of people are really good at recording data, you know? Mm-hmm. And so we get like, "Oh, I did two extra warmup sets," or something like that, and they're, they, they put in what they did, but they don't often put in how it felt. And I always- Huge talk to future Cody. When I'm, whenever I'm logging my workouts, I'm always writing a note for what I'm thinking about the next time I do this workout. So if I get five sets of 12 dips, I can put on the notes that like, "Well, those last two I had to pause at," or, "The last two I had to, like, do a little bit of a kipping, you know, motion to get those to happen," so that I know that I didn't just get five sets of 12. I got five sets of 12 barely, and had to struggle for the last few.

Tali 1:36:24

I- And

Cody 1:36:25

then-

Tali 1:36:25

I just wanna share some notes. Um, 'cause I, I definitely took advantage of my notes, and I used to do this whether I, like, wrote it in a journal- Yeah or on my TrainHeroic, uh, app. And so for my tall clean plus cleans, um, I said, "Last set felt the best. Felt tight and secure."

Cody 1:36:42

Yeah.

Tali 1:36:43

So, like, tried to give descriptions of, like, what made it feel good.

Cody 1:36:47

Yeah.

Tali 1:36:48

Right? Like, what are we wanting to feel in those moments? And then for my, um For my dip snatch and my hang snatch, I wrote, "Holy shirt. 35 kilograms out of the gate felt hard," in all caps. Um, and then I wrote, "Slow, smooth dip made for a better balance." And for my hang snatch, I said, "Thumbs hurt today."

Cody 1:37:14

Uh, yeah.

Tali 1:37:15

Yeah. Uh-

Cody 1:37:16

So

Tali 1:37:16

those are what my notes sound like.

Cody 1:37:18

Yeah, my, similar to mine. So yesterday I did, uh, an Arnold press. If you don't know what those are, they're fun. Uh, and I did a bunch of them, and then I did a chest press, and then the... I was kinda trying to go to failure 'cause it was a really short workout. Mm-hmm. We didn't have a lot of time. We were just in and out. So I just did three sets to failure, basically. Uh, 21, 19, and 13 on a chest press with the same weight. Uh, so I said max reps with 40-pound dumbbells, uh, controlled descent, important, because that changes how many reps you can do if you're doing tempo work.

Tali 1:37:51

Mm-hmm.

Cody 1:37:52

Uh, post-Arnold press sets. So I'm telling myself that I did this exercise after a previous one, 'cause that can also affect- So you

Tali 1:37:59

were saying you were tired

Cody 1:38:00

And then it says last set, one or two in reserve, but feeling dangerous, form slipping. Geez. So-

Tali 1:38:07

Ain't that descriptive.

Cody 1:38:09

Yeah. So form slipping on the, uh, which is why I s- cut it at 13 versus 21 reps where I started, so.

Tali 1:38:16

Okay.

Cody 1:38:17

Uh-

Tali 1:38:18

Great notes. Yeah. Those were great notes.

Cody 1:38:20

So if you have more in reserve, rather than stack on a whole bunch of weight, stack on some notes for yourself so that next time it's like, "Oh, I need to start heavier next time."

Tali 1:38:29

Yeah.

Cody 1:38:29

And just say that, "I need to start heavier next time-" Mm-hmm and then we'll know.

Tali 1:38:33

Yeah. If you're wondering what you're supposed to be doing while you're resting between sets, that's what you're supposed to be doing- Yeah. is writing those notes.

Cody 1:38:39

Yeah. Mm-hmm.

Tali 1:38:40

Yeah. That's why we give you lots of time.

Cody 1:38:42

Yes.

Tali 1:38:43

Yeah, 'cause it makes for a much better attempt next time.

Cody 1:38:48

Yeah.

Tali 1:38:48

Or the inverse, right? If things aren't going as planned, you're gonna look back on that history and be like, "Well, that doesn't make any sense."

Cody 1:38:56

Mm-hmm.

Tali 1:38:56

Make sense of it. Yeah. Yeah. Especially in Peak Fit, we don't see the lifts quite as regularly as we do in the other programs 'cause we're doing so many other great things, and so giving yourself those reminders are very important.

Cody 1:39:10

Yeah.

Tali 1:39:10

Yeah.

Cody 1:39:11

One other thing I'd like to just mention quickly, if you misjudge your weights, uh, on the low side, so you feel like you had a lot more to give but you're almost done with the session, is, uh, I'll f- I will oftentimes add holds or tempo work to those. So, um, you know, if I'm doing pull-ups for instance, and it's like the last round of a set where I'm not on a timer, I'm just doing them for reps, and I feel like I have a little gas in the tank, maybe I'll just hold chin over bar on the last rep and just like hold chin over bar and come down slow and controlled just to get... Like, I wanna get the most out of my time here. I wanna get the most productive thing. So a deadlift, uh, getting back to strength, is like if I'm on a lighter day of deadlifts, maybe it's on the sevens or something, and at the very last set I feel like, "Mm, man, I have a lot more to give. I should've started heavier-" Then hold the top of every one of them for three seconds That

Tali 1:40:04

would be fun

Cody 1:40:05

You know? Um, there, there's ways to get a lot of benefit even out of a lighter load once you're there-

Tali 1:40:10

Yes,

Cody 1:40:11

this- without having to put yourself in danger to do it.

Tali 1:40:13

I know if I have less than the time that I want to do the lifting that I've planned for myself, I'll always appeal to tempo work, 'cause that's gonna make me work really effing hard in a very short amount of time.

Cody 1:40:26

Yeah.

Tali 1:40:26

Yeah. Um, I do wanna just kind of like, ugh, just like touch on just kind of feeling things out. 'Cause it is ideal to come in with some kind of plan, to use your data as a reference point. Um, but let's say you forget your phone at home and you don't know your data, or you're coming into Open Gym and, like, Cody and I can't look up your information for you. Going based off of feel, you wanna appeal to, like, the rule of uh, matching the jump or going less

Cody 1:41:01

Mm-hmm

Tali 1:41:01

That will always be the case in this gym, okay? Um, but when it comes to going off of feel, like we've said this so many times, like load up to 50% and then decide from there.

Cody 1:41:14

Mm-hmm.

Tali 1:41:14

Right? 50% is gonna be a safe number to, to kick things off after the blank bar. Probably should have said that. Um-

Cody 1:41:23

Well, there's general to specific. We've done, I think, podcasts on warmups before, but we, we would start with a general warmup just to, like, get moving- Mm-hmm and then get more specific so that blank bar or dowel work and then a blank bar so you're moving properly, and then you get that 50% load up.

Tali 1:41:39

Well, I just wanna make it super clear here, 'cause I find myself saying it still, is that I always expect you to tr- do the blank bar first. Mm. Always, always, always. Just because we did it as a group with a dowel that weighs nothing is not gonna give you enough information of, like, what kind of day you're having here-

Cody 1:41:58

Mm-hmm

Tali 1:41:58

or if something's gonna bother you.

Cody 1:42:00

Yeah.

Tali 1:42:00

You gotta get a little weight in your hands, show me you can move the bar well, and then we put on that 50%. Yeah. But always stop at the blank bar.

Cody 1:42:08

Maybe people's experience are a lot different than mine, but I'm always kind of surprised when people are willing to get right into a MetCon or a lifting session without practicing with a blank bar or a, a few reps of each thing. I mean, it's not just a coaching thing. Ev- even when I'm about to do a MetCon on my own, and it's-

Tali 1:42:27

Or like when we've worked out with other coaches

Cody 1:42:28

and

Tali 1:42:28

stuff

Cody 1:42:29

and it's, and it's basic as hell, like- Yeah it's a, it's rowing and sit-ups or something like that, I will still do a few practice sit-ups because you never know how it's gonna feel until you get started. I'm always reminded of this one time when I didn't do this. Uh, it was a CrossFit Open, and the workout was max burpees for five minutes.

Tali 1:42:48

Seven minutes.

Cody 1:42:49

Ugh, whatever. It was hell. And, uh-

Tali 1:42:51

Do you remember your score? 'Cause I remember mine.

Cody 1:42:53

Yeah. So let me- finish my story here. I, it was with a, uh, tap on a bar that had to be like five inches out of reach or something like that- Mm-hmm up overhead. And so I did the first burpee, and, like- My wrist was on fire. Oh. It was just like something- Oh like tweaked right in my wrist, so I got, like, one. That was one burpee, and I had- What? to stop. I hurt myself getting into the first one. My point is, is you never know what your body is ready for. And so that blank bar is really important. To- It is how many times do you get in a push press situation, fi- it feels fine in the warmup. You're doing down dogs, you're doing all this warmup, and then you get on the dowel, and it feels fine. And then you get your first loaded rep on, and it's like, "Oh, my wrist is not right today." Like, it... You don't know it until there's some load placed on that.

Tali 1:43:40

Mm-hmm.

Cody 1:43:40

So that blank bar is definitely critical.

Tali 1:43:43

It's non-negotiable.

Cody 1:43:44

Yeah.

Tali 1:43:45

Um-

Cody 1:43:46

What was your score?

Tali 1:43:47

My score. Well, let me tell you my conditions first. I was not one of the lucky people who got a bar. I got a gymnastics ring. So you know what happens when you hit a gymnastics ring?

Cody 1:43:56

Yeah. We both-

Tali 1:43:56

It swings Yeah. And so sometimes you do a burpee, and it's not there for you to hit it again. Yeah. Um, my best score was 110 burpees- Wow in seven minutes.

Cody 1:44:05

Ouch.

Tali 1:44:06

Yeah.

Cody 1:44:07

You're burpee queen.

Tali 1:44:09

I don't know how good that score was. Yeah. But I know I, I... They did it, like, two years in a row, I think. Um, maybe we'll bring it back.

Cody 1:44:18

Ugh.

Tali 1:44:18

And we can name it after me.

Cody 1:44:20

Ugh. You want people to hate you?

Tali 1:44:24

No. But I do think that workout that we did last week with the 10 burpees at the end-

Cody 1:44:29

Mm-hmm

Tali 1:44:30

allowed people to make peace with the burpee. Yeah, it

Cody 1:44:33

was a fun workout.

Tali 1:44:34

I'm just saying, it was like, eh, everything else clearly outweighed-

Cody 1:44:38

The 10 at

Tali 1:44:39

the end the 10 burpees at the end.

Cody 1:44:40

Yeah.

Tali 1:44:40

So sometimes the burpee is the moment to look forward to.

Cody 1:44:44

Yeah. It's the light at the end of the tunnel.

Tali 1:44:47

Speaking of end of the tunnel.

Cody 1:44:48

Mm-hmm.

Tali 1:44:49

Anything else you wanna say?

Cody 1:44:50

We probably should put this one to bed. Okay. It's, like, a hour and a half, I think.

Tali 1:44:54

Okay.

Cody 1:44:54

Maybe longer.

Tali 1:44:56

I'm also getting really hot in here.

Cody 1:44:57

Yeah. We need some AC. But-

Tali 1:44:59

We need something

Cody 1:45:00

but glad we made it happen.

Tali 1:45:02

Yeah. That was great. Thank you.

Cody 1:45:04

Thanks for listening. If you made it this far, especially thank you. It was a long one. We got a little rambly.

Tali 1:45:09

Put it on two speed. Probably should've said that

Cody 1:45:11

at the beginning. Yeah. Always. Always put us on two speed. We sound way more intelligent when we're- Take the pauses out.

Tali 1:45:18

And more practiced. Yeah. Yeah. It sounds a lot better. Okay. Uh,

Cody 1:45:22

anyway, if you have anything you would like us to bring up in the future, please let us know. Um, doing the podcast is fun for us. Uh, doing newsletters is fun for us. Posting on social, it's all fun for us. Most of the time we just don't know what the topic should be. So that's like the hardest

Tali 1:45:38

part- It's just like

Cody 1:45:38

what

Tali 1:45:38

we were talking about with those influencers, like, help, you know, help us. Give us what you want rather than us having to, like, you know, dig for things.

Cody 1:45:47

Yeah. Yeah.

Tali 1:45:47

Yeah.

Cody 1:45:48

Sometimes it's just hard to know what to, to talk about. So anyway, we would love your feedback and requests. Uh, all, the all request line. Anyway, thanks for listening. Bye.

Speaker 1:46:04

Hey everyone. It looks like we've had a little bit of an audio glitch in this episode, so before we get to it, I just wanted to give you a heads up. It only lasts for about two or three minutes, so if we can just, uh, suffer through it or fast-forward through that part. Uh, we decided to leave it in because it's, uh, almost a two-hour podcast and the rest of it is great. So sorry about the little glitch. We're working to improve our systems over time to bring you more value in the future. In the meantime, here's the episode.