Show notes
What is a Garage Gym Athlete? Welcome to the Garage Gym Athlete Podcast!! What is this podcast?? The Garage Gym Athlete Podcast was born from a community of underground athletes you've probably never heard of before. The idea for this show stemmed from Jerred Moon, the creator of Garage Gym Athlete programming, when he would do weekly coaching calls with Garage Gym Athletes. He found each athlete had such a unique story, an inspirational journey, and had overcome their own set of challenges that could help impact other athletes...but only if the stories could be told to all. The athletes all have a diverse background; some from Powerlifting, CrossFit, Olympic Lifting, Endurance Training, Military Operators, Collegiate Athletes, Spartan Racers, Obstacle Course Racers, and many other forms of physical training. It takes the experience of these athletes braving the extreme heat, bitter cold, early mornings, and late nights to tackle their training and become athletes. This podcast is for Garage Gym Athletes and by Garage Gym Athletes. Athletes share their experience (whether a beginner or advanced), share their knowledge, and give us a glimpse into the life of a Garage Gym Athlete!! We all know the gym SUCKS...And it comes with a long commute, crowds of people, occupied equipment, and much worse...Also, home fitness SUCKS...Because the treadmill becomes a clothing rack...Or you spend an hour with a DVD jumping around in your living room...But we're changing the game...By providing the other guy (who's strapped for time) with intelligent training to help them perform and look like an athlete. Our aim is for this podcast to inspire your own Garage Gym journey and to pick up as much as you can from other Garage Gym Athletes who are crushing it!! This show's transcript: You may have never heard of us, but you can't deny our momentum. The steam behind this movement is growing rapidly. Some of us are Spartan Racers. Some of us are Special Operators. Some of us are CPAs, fathers, mothers, your friends, your neighbors… but one thing we all have in common is that we are all athletes. Before I tell you exactly what a Garage Gym Athlete is, I have to answer a more important question…. How did we get to this point? When did we start giving the proverbial middle finger to the fitness norm? What changed? Or more importantly…what broke? If you crack open your fitness history books, it is not hard to draw a direct line to how we got here. The first thing you have know is there are consequences, or aftereffects, to every significant event in the fitness industry. We call them AFTERMATHs. If we go back to 1953 you'll see the significant push in home fitness by a man named Jack LaLanne. Jack LaLanne was an American fitness, exercise, and nutrition expert who is sometimes referred to as the "Godfather of Fitness". He started the "Jack LaLanne Show" on 28 September 1953. The show was noted for its minimalist set, where LaLanne inspired his viewers to use basic home objects, such as a chair, to perform their exercises along with him. Home fitness is born. Wearing his standard jumpsuit, he urged his audience "with the enthusiasm of an evangelist," to get off their couch and copy his basic movements, a manner considered the forerunner of today's fitness videos. While he made a significant impact in the fitness industry… There was just one problem: Jack wasn't hardcore enough. He didn't pump you up. An aftermath to his impact was bound to ensue. Jack's LaLanne aftermath? Arnold. Arnold needs little introduction, as Schwarzenegger is considered among the most important figures in the history of bodybuilding. Schwarzenegger's was so prominent in the health and fitness scene he was even appointed to the President's Council on Physical Fitness and Sports, on which he served from 1990 to 1993. Even with Arnold's admitted steroid use, he exploded the industry. Everyone was looking to pump iron and look like Arnold. While an exciting time; this is where a new rift begins. A new aftermath begins to build. And it's important that you NOTE this one — as it changed fitness culture forever. As highlighted in the documentary "Bigger, Stronger, Faster" people started learning that all of their heroes from Arnold to Rocky were pumped full of performance enhancing drugs. This truth put a splinter in the fitness industry. And while that splinter was festering, the explosion of vanity-based fitness, tanning beds, harmful supplements, and men shaving their legs reigned supreme. What we call globo gyms came onto the scene heavily in the 90's; gyms where you can get a haircut, go for a swim, lift weights, and pay your taxes all while eating a krispy cream donut and having access to 357 channels on one of 200 treadmills. And, unfortunately, that is all still king today. But not everyone was OK with this status quo. Like I said, there are consequences, or aftereffects, to every significant event in the fitness industry. The next aftermath began in 2002. In 2002, a man named Greg Glassman introduced the world to CrossFit and started writing about Garage Gyms and fitness training that built athletes. And whether you love or hate CrossFit, is irrelevant. As CrossFit has made an arnold-sized impact in the world of fitness. The mentality of CrossFit was on the tip of everyone's tongue. Greg Glassman just gave it a name. CrossFit was simply the counterculture to pumping iron, bicep curls, and chest day. It gave people a home who hated the fitness industry in its current state. It created a lot of Garage Gym Athletes. But it doesn't stop there. In 2005, Tony Horton introduces the world to P90X. Perhaps one of the most popular fitness programs in the world. Steeped heavily in the counterculture to mainstream, P90X gave home-fitness a new life. Picking up where Jack LaLanne left off…only this time, it was different. Both P90X and CrossFit were pushing intensity for greater results and with minimal equipment. Then, CrossFit goes mainstream, functional fitness explodes, and fitness comes to the home-front with over 30 different spin-offs to P90x and other similar programs. And if you fast-forward just over a decade to today we are now at the beginning of something new. Like I said, there are consequences to every significant event in the fitness industry. And we are just beginning a new aftermath. Garage Gym Athletes are learning that intensity is important, but only when coupled with intelligent programming. We're getting smarter. We're evolving. We cutting contracts, memberships, and leaving the status quo behind. We don't want to jump around in our living room to a DVD and we don't need a $200/mo. gym membership. We only want results. And we're getting the result… …but we also started a movement. This grassroots movement that is garage gyms is exploding for a number of reasons, and I am truly excited that you're now a part of it. If you are sick of all that is involved with getting in shape—with becoming stronger and fitter… you're in the right place. Training and getting in shape can be a chore at times, but is it really the training you don't enjoy? With a little observation, or self-analysis, you may find the chore is often not the training itself. Yes, training can suck, but is it really that bad? The worst part about fitness is all that comes with it: a long commute to the gym, crowds of people, occupied equipment, hygiene concerns, monthly fees, and much more. You have a job, family, and all of life's chores and tasks to worry about. Who wants to start or end their day with what feels like another chore? A trip to the gym involves changing into appropriate clothes, driving, waiting, more driving . . . and the routine simply takes you from one climate-controlled box (work) to another (the gym) with your only chance for fresh air coming from walking across the parking lot. Not to mention that every day you "just don't feel like it" and decide to skip the gym, it costs you money! Commercial gyms are designed for the masses—TVs, isolation machines, and a bunch of stuff you don't really need. It may make you feel better to have "gone to the gym today" but wouldn't't you rather train effectively and efficiently? Your head should be nodding at this point. Perhaps when you think of a garage gym, you think of Rocky Balboa chasing chickens and lifting logs. Or maybe you think of a version of your commercial gym stuffed in your garage. The reality is somewhere in between. A garage gym can be an effective and efficient world-class training facility. It is built to suit your performance. Some of the fittest people in the world train in garage gyms regularly because they know the secret: less equipment, fewer isolation exercises, and less junk; but more efficient training. The thought that will eventually cross your mind is, "I don't have the money or time to make my own garage my gym." While certainly not dirt cheap, you can do it for as little as $500, which is the equivalent of about a year and a half of the cheapest gym pass. If you use your garage gym for just two years, you will have made money on the investment. In addition, it only takes about two weeks to complete. And that's if you take your time. And now is the time to become a Garage Gym Athlete. In the past, it was near impossible to have a garage gym. Not too long ago you wouldn't be able to find a store that sold a kettlebell, and to order one online would have cost you a fortune in shipping fees. Not to mention any larger and heavier equipment you may need. Currently, it is very affordable. Luckily, the popularity of CrossFit® and the sport of weight lifting have exploded in recent years. This popularity has made getting high-quality barbells, plates, and other equipment much more economical. There are plenty of stores and websites that offer free shipping and easy availability. In the future, it will become even more affordable. And just a prediction here; when the supply of CrossFit® gyms exceeds the demand in coming years, you'll potentially see CrossFit® gyms going out of business left and right. Now, while I wish nothing bad upon any gym owner, or their livelihood, it will make for an opportunity for you to snag great equipment at huge discounts. In spite of affordability, you have to be a little crazy to want to pursue fitness outside of the conventional gym, right? Well, I don't think the Garage Gym Athlete is crazy, I consider the Garage Gym Athlete "other." A term I like to use a lot is the "other guy (and gal)" to describe those who are interested in becoming a Garage Gym Athlete. Never be average, always be other. The other guy is not average; he is a doer. If it can make him better, he'll try it. If it's too heavy, he'll learn how to lift it. If it's too far, he'll still run to it. He will take on many challenges, is comfortable with the fact that things will never be perfect, and will go out knowing he was never average. Life Happens. Maybe you got stuck in a desk. Maybe your schedule got filled to the brim. Maybe you feel like an average life, for you, is like fitting a square peg into a round hole. Well, if you're reading this, there's a good chance you would like to make some changes. You'd like to see how strong you can actually become, how fast you can truly run, and how much better you can actually be. And to embrace being "other" is to be a Garage Gym Athlete. Welcome to a new aftermath. Welcome to the Garage Gym Athlete podcast!