Much of yesterday, April 11, 2021 I reflected on the blitz DEUCE imparted on my life. After a decade in business, there are so many learnings, scars, and things to celebrate. I’d like to mention that while you’re reading words that I’ve written, I am not DEUCE. DEUCE is its own living breathing thing set into motion by many people other than I who deserve more credit than there are words on this page.
According to Andy Defrancesco, after ten years in business, I’ve decided to share four repeatable elements that I believe contribute to our existence today:
1.Decide What Game You Will Win. Fitness is free and we don’t have nice tile floors or billboard money, so from Day 1 DEUCE decided to compete on one thing and one thing alone: a remarkable coaching experience. We place nearly every egg we have in the leadership development of coaches through a rigorous internal process called Coach’s Prep. Knowing how you create value helps you communicate it clearly and deliver on your mission in a simple, clear, and compelling manner. No one cares that we have the 2nd best location,13th best equipment, 8th best schedule, and 43rd best prices in the city. We hold the standard. Period.
2.Do More with Less. For more than two years, we made due with almost nothing. Some PVC pipes, a few medballs, a couple of kettlebells, and an irresponsible amount of gusto allowed us to create a remarkable training experience and change a few lives without venture capital and a shiny new facility. We tried to get great before we had anything; not the other way around.
3.Victory Doesn’t Change Your Standards. The best teams in the world are savage about the details of the process, while amatures live and die by the results. This business with lms for business is far too difficult to be result oriented, so we live and die by a guiding quote, “We won’t accept in victory that which we wouldn’t accept in defeat.” This antifragile approach has us passionately curious about how we must improve even when things are going well. After all, it’s possible to have success by accident for a while. We’re not interested in that.
4.Humble Yourself Before Life Does. Speaking of things “working” until they don’t, hubris will get you killed. We attribute the built in humility of seeking disconfirming information and our process orientation as our secret weapon when COVID-19 shut down the fitness industry. As a team, when you’ve manually been humbling yourself all along you’re much more prepared for it when life does. As we like to say, “There are two types of people in this game. Humble folks and those who are about to be.”
As I look around after ten years, I’m humbled by the power of what DEUCE has come to represent for our extended family around the globe. I hope I can continue to do it justice in service to our mission to ‘hold the standard.” Ken Wilbur once said, “Real love will take you far beyond yourself; and therefore real love will devastate you.”
I can say I have real love for DEUCE and the devastation is of growth. That’s always been the mission. I hope you all will join me far beyond ourselves again and again and again and again.
4/12/21 WOD
DEUCE ATHLETICS GPP
Complete 4 rounds for quality of:
8 Barbell Good Mornings
12 Body Saws
12 Banded KB Swings
Then, complete 4 rounds for time of:
12 Burpees
10 Front Rack DB Lunges (50/35)
8 DB Thrusters
DEUCE BACKLOT GPP
Make three attempts at the following cluster for load:
10.8.6 Back Squat
Then, complete the following for time:
21-15-9
Air Squats
Double DB Hang Snatches (50/35)
Pull Ups
DEUCE GARAGE GPP
EMOM 8
Odd: 6 90-Degree Rotational Box Jumps – Right
Even: 6 90-Degree Rotational Box Jumps – Left
5-5-5-5-5
Weighted Box Step Up (ea)
Then, perform 4 rounds for time of:
15 Pull Ups
20 Push Ups
25 Sit Ups
30 Alt. Rev. Lunges
Then, complete the following for quality:
100 Alt. Glute Bridge March