Guinea Pig Coaches

After this weekend’s strongman event, I wanted to do two things. Firstly, I wanted to thank you all for coming down and supporting me. The overwhelming amount of DEUCE people in the crowd surprised me and the event coordinators. Believe me. Second, I wanted to tell you all that I’m back.

The last 6-8 months have been the most narrowly focused training months I’ve ever had. In the process, I said “No” virtually every time you all asked if I was taking class. I often trained alone and there’s no way I’ve been as close to you all as I could have been.

I don’t regret it, though. When I decided to compete in California’s Strongest Man, I justified my absence from GPP and training along side my fellow Strongman 202 studs, because it was necessary as a coach and an athlete to see my commitment through. It’s the same commitment I’d ask of all of you with similar goals. Competing Saturday and saying things like, “Well, it’s not like I did my best, I was doing CrossFit this whole time..” is an excuse I didn’t want to give.

I often worried during my “absence” if the impression was that I thought GPP or our Strongman 202 program wasn’t good enough for me. Quite the contrary. Each of those programs are perfect examples in my eyes of what they should be. However, with a specific event on a specific date coming things change, not just for me, but for everyone.

Furthermore, I believe that we as coaches have a responsibility to push this thing forward. I don’t believe that this must come from competition, but it can. Pushing myself forward in this way was important for me and, in many ways, I think it’s important for the gym.

In that way, we’re doing a great deal of experimentation here with you all in mind that has nothing to do with strongman. In fact, we’re getting ready to start yet another big experiment that will affect future DEUCE Gym program offerings. I’m confident that we’ll need to continue to experiment with ourselves to continue to offer the best training experience within 500 miles of here, and that you wouldn’t want it any other way. After all, complacency is contagious.

Until the next experiment, I’m happy to say I’ll see you all in class!

 

Logan Gelbrich

@functionalcoach