Episode 7 - Are Specialty Classes Worth It? Wes Piatt on Silver, Parkinson’s, Kids, and Barbell Clubs

 of you was went going on no.

Conrang risk Yeah, tonight.

Nice.

What a let's see what you got a Christmas shirt on.

Oh, yeah, dude.

No lift no gift.

No lift no gift.

Well, go.

Dude, I actually was wearing one holding.

I took it off though because last time I wore a red shirt on the show like the like blew out the there's kind of offensive.

Anyway, check this guy out.

Oh, that is kind of offensive.

That is sick.

Let's go.

Yeah, every part of the snatching clean and jerk.

I love it.

Yeah.

All right.

Yeah, like the bright red just like blew out the frame.

It was like, oh, we can't do that anymore.

It's just me and you today.

Nick, you are the panel.

I love it.

Be the panel.

I don't have to worry about anybody else's opinion.

It's just mine.

That's great.

It's perfect.

That's the way I operate my life anyway.

Yeah, siloed out.

Let's go.

All right, we're okay.

All right.

Before we start, since we're talking about specialty classes today, I want to play a little game called is this a real class or something you convinced yourself is a good idea because that guy won't fucking stop asking for it.

I love that.

All right.

So just a yes or no, you don't have to get into explanations if you don't want.

Just no justification.

Just just vibes.

Okay.

At your gym, is it a real real class, real specialty course, run club or is that just people jogging circles? No, that's not.

We don't have one of those.

Get your first pull up or muscle up.

Is that a class that ends in tears tears for PRs? I think that would be an awesome class of ending PRs for sure.

And we should do that actually.

Mobility hour where everyone sits on the crossball and gives each other the crazy horse eye.

Better than stretch lab.

Shots fired.

All right.

Here we go.

What about the burpee book club, wherein you discussed chapter three and then do 30 burpees for emotional processing? I think that would make people quick crossfit.

Oh my god, no.

Okay.

How about a 2010 CrossFit Throwback class, board shorts, vibram 5 fingers and zero warm up because the lion doesn't stretch.

That might be my outfit for this year's Halloween, I think actually.

I love that idea.

Just like Pat Barber.

Yeah, it's basically just showing no shirt, no shoes and board shorts on and definitely free-balling the whole thing.

Yeah.

And vibrams.

Yeah, it's not for sure.

I think I was the only idiot that had those back in the day actually.

I don't know why.

I just remember seeing someone wearing them.

Oh, tons of people are wearing them, but wearing them in the grocery store.

And I remember thinking like, I'd rather you be barefoot.

I don't know what it is about the toe, the toe sock thing that just like, it just got to me.

I'm like, man, just take them off.

Be barefoot in here.

I'd be more comfortable.

Yeah, it's funny actually.

That's how I picked my doctor.

I showed up to his office and to do like a general check up and just see if I wanted it.

And he was wearing sock shoes as shoes.

And I was like, you're dope.

I'm in.

I'm listening to you.

Let's go.

It out to the dermatologist one time and the guy had a Hawaiian shirt that was unbuttoned to buttons and a gold chain underneath.

And I'm like, this guy, I trust him because he ends obviously.

And he's not going to yell at me for that.

So I'm in.

Well, this guy's fully himself.

Yeah.

You know what I mean? He's not like playing into the system.

You're showing up with a couple buttons down and a gold chain on to check out people's moles.

You got to comment.

He definitely got that before Jackson, Shane's were a thing or whatever.

For sure.

All right.

Last one is this especially course.

The blunt mile.

It's the same rolls as the beer mile, but you take a rip every 400 meters and try not to get with lap Iran.

The world record is probably seven minutes in a lost hoodie.

Dude, it's way better than a beer mile.

I tried to beer mile one time and like literally almost threw up in the second round.

So I would probably win that, I think, actually, I'd like to, I'd like to partake.

Yeah, there we go.

All right.

Perfect.

Well, now that we've eliminated our sponsorship chances forever, let's talk specialty classes.

Let's do it.

All right.

So with me today, my co-host partner and judgment and fellow, we've tried everything in 15 years of affiliate ownership is West Piot CrossFit Red shirt games athlete affiliate owner coach of coaches and leader of the No Shuffle Club, especially class helping Parkinson's athletes do things their doctors said they couldn't.

At Excel, we run CrossFit Silver, a thriving class for members 60 plus plus kids classes.

We've done weightlifting cycles and pretty much every experiment in the fitness world has tossed our way.

And I am Danny Lear, Caffin and Keele's co-founder Jim owner coffee dealer and the guy who once made a six week snatch course because not enough people were using the hook rip.

So today's big question, are specialty classes essential or are they just passion projects disguised as business strategy? So real quick, let's just know how West's brain works if we didn't get a little little key to that already.

So here we go for the lightning round of rapid fire, which class smells worse? The weightlifting shoes or middle schoolers after dodgeball warm up? Middle schoolers for sure, they're going through all sorts of home model shifts and stuff.

Did a real problem.

Yeah.

Okay.

What's likely to cause more drama? Someone's kid crying in the corner or a grown adult blowing through the time cap because they refuse to scale burpees.

Honestly, I think probably the kid in the corner would get more like people saying stuff, but what would hurt me more is is a ladder for sure.

Yeah.

Yeah.

I think the complaints versus your complaints are different there.

Yeah.

A true or false 90% of all specialty classes eventually end up with exactly two people who show up every week.

Not for us, but hasn't been the case.

All right.

And last one, six week weightlifting course or an ongoing barbell club, which one keeps humans showing up week after week? We've done both and on with ongoing weightlifting club is definitely more culture building lasted longer people were stoked on it making huge progress within classes.

It was amazing.

I wish we could bring it back.

Yeah.

Why can't you? I'll just don't have the time right now.

There we go.

All right.

We'll get into that.

I'm sure.

So here's the deal.

Every gym thinks they need specialty classes weightlifting endurance gymnastics kids masters medical at excel.

We run cross it silver.

It's consistent while attended and surprisingly rowdy.

West runs the no shuffle club specialty class for Parkinson's clients that's changing lives in real time.

We both run kids classes specialty blocks, ongoing clubs, and the occasional specialty class that lasted two weeks because no one wanted to work on holerox at 7 p.m.

So the question is are specialty classes essential or are the distractions? Do they actually build community or do they pull people out of your main class? The thing that actually pays the bills.

So let's get into it.

West big picture.

A lot of gyms at specialty classes because other gyms do or because that one guy's after he's asking for it.

Do they actually make members better or do they just make your schedule worse? I think you can do either for sure and it depends on the person that's putting them on depends on the amount of people that want to do it.

It depends on if it's going to actually help with getting results within the actual group classes too.

And I think if you can say yes to all of those things and like yeah do it.

It's going to be awesome for the members and it's going to be awesome for you.

You're going to expand your knowledge trying to look up new ways to coach these new things.

You're going to learn obviously we learn the best by teaching other people you know so you'll learn a lot more a lot faster than you probably would not doing it.

And the members get stoked on stuff like that.

Man like they really want to get into those types of classes all the time you know it's just more like having the resources I think to do it than it is if you should or shouldn't do it.

Yeah the resources and the knowledge.

Not a very strong weightlifter maybe shouldn't be teaching a barbell club if the goal is for all those people to go do a competition or something but teaching a barbell club just for them to get a little bit like you only have to be able to count to two to teach them to count to one right and I think about that all the time.

And you can count colors in weightlifting too.

You don't even even have to count the actual weights.

That's how I taught my daughter colors or like worked on colors with her is the kilo plates they're how they're different colors and the change plates are different colors.

And so on the edge of a platform so it's kind of an angle so she get a little fingers under it she was like 18 months old.

I'd line up the half kilo one two you know what and so I said okay go grab me the white one and she'd bring over the little half kilo one and then eventually like the red one is two and half kilo she'd be like that's probably no over with it.

That's so awesome.

Oh did it was the best and she's pretty strong now so I guess there's something to that.

That's going to be such a fun research project in the future to watch these kids that have literally growing up in these cross-fitchens under these circumstances that have never existed in the world like what is that going to be like you know it's going to be so cool.

I brought it up on another episode I don't know if you're on or not but just talking about like kids oh we were we're talking about people not being able to deadlift body weight.

Yeah I said before my my daughter when she was 11 or she might even just 12 now I think she was 11 at the time she deadlifted 155 pounds for a set of five and like it was fine you know what I mean and she's not bit like scroll she weighs 90 pounds she's like four four ten like your muscles are like rebar yeah but she doesn't look like she just I mean she looks like solid but she's not like this is literally good pick things up her entire life you know exactly yeah her entire life she's like done hard things she's strained against weights then in a fun way she's you know like having fun with it you know yeah well how cool yeah that's I just always think to myself and like don't screw that up somehow yeah you know you know what I said to the the coach who's coaching the class afterwards I I litter ass up for not having to go up oh god I see you're telling you don't think there's another five pounds on that bar did she just set a five come on let's go man yeah and my youngest daughter deadlifted a 70 pound cuddle bell when she was like six or seven years old and then that night what was your favorite part of the day picking up the big yellow cuddle bell like they love it they love it yeah they love it challenge heck yeah we have a family photo of all of us doing that like you know me make Joey June they're all deadlifted in a kettlebell and Joey had a 70 pound kettlebell in that for sure it's so funny people are worried about like kids are gonna get hurt when they're lifting weights uh there's too much research that shows that's not gonna happen now you know what's from saying like once last time you heard about a seven year old like blowing out their back it doesn't happen yeah it doesn't they're because they're made of more connective tissue than they are actual bones and stuff at this point you know and if they can't do it they just don't yeah yes exactly you see like a kid sitting in a grocery cart at the store helping his mom put things and he's in the cart right and he like goes to pick up this watermelon and gets in like the most perfect deadlift position feet flat knees tracking toes like and he can't lift it and he doesn't like blow his spine out of his back in the grocery cart he just goes like wow mom get it I can't lift it yeah exactly that's exactly it it just doesn't happen you know yeah cuz like we these moving nobody taught us how to deadlift or press like this is shit that we just know how to do from birth it is how we are meant to move it's picking something up off the ground yep it's it you know and there's but there's in like an archetype of what that actually looks like when it's done well and we'll see it the most in toddlers also kids shouldn't lift weights is that how you think human beings like have lived forever like you think that kid you're like okay yes like go to one of these like uncontacted tribes in the Amazon you think like the the five-year-old's not carrying like baskets of water a hundred yards uphill and then climbing to the the top of trees to get into the house like he's not out hunting and carrying in the kill of course they are zero sense for these kids not to be picking up heavy things and climbing and moving just like that we've been doing for literally eternity that dude all right little aside we're on and no one has a thing on that unless you guys have followed up same thing is like the you know six-year-old wreck league soccer or start and practice you get in a circle and stretch I'm like you've seen a six-year-old ball at a hammy like that's the only thing you need to be let's get a moving you know what I mean like they're gonna be fine like let's look all the way let's work on some skills you know what I mean like after practice you want to stretch a little bit get some good habits all it's sure you know but great point like why are we in a circle doing like uh you know standing forward fold with a bunch of six-year-olds that's a great that's a great actual question to ask the coach I think next time so hey so why are you stretching what are we doing here I I decide I I went two one or two ways with it I either just didn't say anything because I appreciate that they're volunteering and helping out or I say or I go with the exact opposite way and say hey can I help you coach you know to me I'm like that's with my daughter's t-ball team I just walked down on the field on the first practice and I was like hey I'll help you out okay here we go really my actions depend on my time availability yeah and the Meg was like looking at me she's like you have to go help and I'm like all right it's exactly it yeah and now I don't say anything yes see I went the opposite when they're little I didn't say anything I'm like out of the matter they're six but now they're like Maddie's 12 with soccer I'm like hey can I help like I think I can you know like use to get a little bit older now you know it's a little let's have a hold out a little bit all right back to original topics a little more what's the real value of the no shuffle club beyond just getting movement from these Parkinson's patients well damn if you ask that lady that lit me up a morning chocolate I would say nothing but in my opinion it's functionality of life and what that means is that they are in a burden to their family they're in enhancement to their family oh man I mean that yeah nailed it I mean I think that's such a great a great point um you know like we have the cross it silver class you know kind of similar type thing lady come that you can't put her hands over her head like literally can't get her hands over her head because her son and law has been living with her and getting everything out of cabinets for the last five years yes she lost two weeks two weeks later she's like look what I can do you know you've been doing that your whole life but like less of a burden more able more capable you know that's really what happens to these guys when they get diagnosed with this disease whether we also we also have stroke as well in the class so it's Parkinson's or stroke and when they get diagnosed with this disease immediately they they feel like such a burden to their families like now they got to take me to these doctors visits if it's even just that let alone like hey can you help me up I can't get up can you put this in the cupboard for me because I can't do it anymore can you get me a walker and start and all of a sudden it just becomes more and more of a burden so it's like the goal is to make them feel like no actually hey grandma's come into help this is going to be awesome to have here here here on vacation with us to to hold the kids when we need her to hold the kids and to carry the the but the luggage into the hotel you know it's like that's what we're doing in the no shuffle club we're not trying to solve Parkinson's and we're not trying to beat the stroke we're trying to give them functionality of life back oh wow that's incredible it's it's you know a story that exactly exemplifies that is this lady would go to the bank every week right which is the most old lady thing in the world and she couldn't drive anymore so her someone a driver and then he'd get out he had to help her stand up out of the car hold her hand while she steps up onto the curb and then she could walk in yep and then after like three months of doing CrossFit she he he goes he gets out of the car he walks around she's half what are the door and he's like hey and like she didn't even notice she did he's like whoa whoa whoa yeah and she even noticed she just like got up stepped up started walking in no didn't even like the most organic way possible yeah fast forward it's been a year now and last month her grandson took her to the San Francisco Academy of Sciences and they walked like two and a half miles she went up three flights of stairs that's cool that's what she went for like not being able to stand up out of the car to that talk about not being a bird and like he wants to take her places a year ago he wouldn't have invited her exactly you know exactly we have the same similar story Darlene and our no shuffle club she went from her one goal that she had the day she walked in she's like I just want to walk somewhere with my husband without my walker and I was like crying I got you got it you know and like she sends me a video like six months ago or a picture of her standing there with her husband holding his hand without a cane or a walker yeah the message below going like I did it we reached our goal then she shows me yesterday in class her walking on the beach by herself with nothing like on yeah yeah sand and up and down dunes and I'm like this is awesome got her life back yeah exactly man it's amazing once then sometimes people get overweight and they want to do some activity but they're like well I can't go for a walk because what if I fall down a block away and I can't get up it's like I'm not even going to walk because I fall on screwed and then they just add more they keep you know putting on more weight and then it just exacerbates the whole problem because they're not having any activity right dude it's like could you imagine carrying all that weight around all the time and like how tired you would feel and then somebody's like come work out and you're just like dude I've been working out all day you know man I put on a 20 pound of weight vest and I walked for two miles I was sweating exactly exactly like a man that being a hundred pounds yeah and walk around with that for fucking 24 hours oh my god and I get it like when I say that people will always be like yeah but you know there are bodies adapted to that over time right and they got used to it and I'm like that's still stress on the system all day like man it's hard to argue like being fat's bad for you it's just like it's just like it's in every way it's just like the only way it's not bad for you as if the zombie apocalypse happened and you were able to hide out long enough and you were able to just eat away at your fat and slowly live and live and you just outlast everyone like I'll tell you it's good for it's the other people in the zombie apocalypse when you run out of food and you start you start getting after a compadre's you know what I mean you want that nice marbled meat all right uh so it is as terrible with you being the entire panel we're not getting anywhere uh we're getting everywhere today yeah yeah uh why do people tend to flock to specialty classes uh and feel like they need something else I think we all like to do things that we're good at or we like to pursue things that we're not good at like why do I skateboard because I suck at it and I think it's really rad when you accomplish something that you suck at that's how I motivate myself and I think that there's the other side of the coin too where people are like oh I love to do that therefore I want to do more of that and get better at that thing and kind of specialize a little more right like and you get to feed both of those that's pretty awesome yeah do you think a lot of times the demand is real or is it coaches and gym owners who want to offer something different are they do you sometimes create the demand in your own mind yeah I think that that can become a scarcity mindset for sure if you're like seeing numbers and aren't supposed to be there so you're thinking about ways to make more money and this might be a way to make more money and I think the second that that becomes the reason why you're doing it you're not going to make probably any money on it you know because it won't be authentic nobody will be into it or it'll burn you out because you don't even want to do it you know you're just doing it to make money I think if you're going to do a side project it's got to be a passion project it's got to be something that you're like oh I always love to look up weightlifting or gymnastics stuff on YouTube and I find myself following those Instagram accounts and like you're just naturally pulled in that direction then do it because it's like you're going to scrap that itch and it's going to feel good for you too yeah I think that's that passion project thing is a big deal if you're doing something just because you know you think you need the money but if you're not enjoying your time there you're not going to do a good job like you might you might do a great job for a few classes but you know it's going to come around to class three four five and you're going to start thinking about those other things you'd rather be doing when it's time to leave home to go down to the gym to coach it you're like here we go you know this whole thing and that's just that's not a good way to go about it especially if there's like two or three people that actually signed up for it and they're just like all right us and three people yeah yeah sorry the awkward well let's talk pipeline so with these different classes you know you have your kids and then maybe a team's class you got a doll you have your no shuffle club or the silver class you know do you maybe you get some you know medical it was an agen pop or weightlifting to crossfit or crossfitters to weightlifting or bring their friends to the weightlifting and then they have joining crossfit or advice for us all that so which specialty classes actually feed your regular classes oh well the way we have it set up is and it's funny to me that actually there are more gyms that have a silver sneakers or a no shuffle club or whatever you want to call it because all of your members are going to get old what are you going to do when they get so old that they you know like you want to have something established in there for them to like go into and to where they leave they leave for 10 years yeah right yeah if you're going to your business longer totally they leave for 10 years they want to come back but they're like I can't do what I was doing 10 years ago because over that 10 years they've put on weight they haven't done anything other than sit on the couch and and sit at a desk we've had the idea of going back to a regular class and and now they're 63 and I don't I think 63 is not old because we've got 63 member year old members in my gym they're doing bar muscle ups and have freaking six packs right but that's because I live in this silo 53 to 63 without any exercises going to make you feel like 83 probably exactly right so I think that's definitely something to read a less intimidating way to come back and that's what we've kind of found in that class specifically we is with our crossfit silver is it's it's it's not people that have been going to our gym who were in there we have 86-year-old woman who does a regular classes you know but she's been going to us for 15 years like 17 literally 17 years right since we started but it's the person it's my parents who haven't been going to the gym even though off and on to really more often on right and then we have the class and my mom just retired got a little bit of time now you know and it's like why could you do that that doesn't I'm intimidating right yeah because she's been around you her whole life well I mean that's I am I look just like her so well no she just has a vicarious experience through you so she's not as intimidated to go to that place versus a normal like anytime fitness or current she's probably like actually no that's more intimidating right going to my son's gym or even like a friend of a friend who knows that their son owns a gym or knows right like crossfit is everywhere now so I feel like people are actually more like like feel more normal in the crossfit gym they do a regular gym anymore we got what do you hear of the go to rager gym I don't know do yeah and I feel awkward or do everybody's looking at me and I hate it and yeah that's weird and like with us that are silver class though old person class it's a lot of parents of members and it's that same thing like if they might want their mom to do it but their mom's like why can't do it you do yeah but you say hey we got a class just for you it's only for people that are over this age it's that thing and it breaks down that barrier a little bit totally yeah but we've got like classes all the way from like you kids through Parkinson's and the whole point is to be able to do crossfit forever because like we truly believe it's the best thing that you can possibly do and we even say that if something better comes along we will do that like we were we're not tied to totally these movements were tied to results were tied to you actually going to the doctor and seeing your blood pressure come down seeing your body fat go down seeing your your overall expectancy of life getting longer and and you being excited about that being able to use it so I need to have you know every step of the way something for them to go into and to do yeah or even just to start with right like I mean potentially someone starts as I mean we've had it we've had people start as kids and then they're in high school they anyway then now they're adults and they go to our adults classes right like we've we've had people like do the whole go the whole way you know yeah we have this one girl Ava actually who so we're actually starting our kids class when we first opened up went into our adults class went off to college came back and joined our firefighter program that we have here and then got hired as a firefighter a couple months ago dude that's like a whole life cycle I've been with this girl on soon when she's done and I'm just so proud and it's like if you don't if you don't have all those you don't get the opportunity to feel what I just felt with Ava and that sucks for you you know do you think that specialty class all right okay is our specialty classes retention tools or marketing tools or both yeah they're both and they're great yeah I mean that's pretty much it right yeah and they are a great marketing tool again you get these people in their 60s 70s who had maybe never think about CrossFit but you got something just for them they were come in or we do kids we do we do our kids classes in like six week blocks and then over the summer we do like one week camps right and then when we have some kids come in the one week camp and then sometimes their parents end up signing up happens all the time right yeah because they come and watch and hang out they see the place those places kind of intimidated yeah actually it's kind of clean in here I thought it'd be gross it's not you know and like hey this guy was actually super nice and I thought he would be a jerk and you're just breaking down all these barriers that's kept them from coming in by having those one week camps and stuff yeah we've had the same thing happen it's awesome and they see people coming in for the regular classes and they're like oh these are normal people they're not all like me yeah in fact I could probably beat them yeah look just like me except that clown all right well act funny thing my next question is actually just bringing your kid actually to adult members and just let right into that does happens what was it I said the next question was going to be about bringing kids bleeding to adult members yeah and it's funny we both have that experience I mean look at like all of the CrossFit game winners now and athletes they're all started as like CrossFit kids CrossFit teams went to the teams CrossFit games now they're there at the regular it's pretty crazy actually to be like damn this is where we're at now okay this is cool we're watching like literally kids that this is all they've done and how along did we say that man I wish I had this when I was in high school or junior high you know but we didn't have it there and now these kids have had it it's freaking crazy I can't wait to watch the transfer and send to into like I don't want to say real sports but real sports you know what I mean like watching these kids are doing CrossFit like going into NFL and the major like baseballs and being like no I worked out in the CrossFit gym that's why I got here or is that not going to happen and we're not going to see that that's going to be really interesting yeah that is interesting I haven't really thought of it from that angle you know like is it is it that we're just specializing in specializing in CrossFit and it doesn't have transference to sports or is it like no of course it does like we know it does look at the Olympic skiing team at Greg took him through CrossFit right they all won gold medals not doing more skiing just doing CrossFit you know I think that 80% of the past two or three Olympics weightlifting teams are people that started doing CrossFit that's freaking awesome you know no no no weightlifting it's very specific it's that it's also like you know barbell and everything but still I would just love to see like a rotational sport like baseball or golfing or basketball where these people are like oh they don't do any rotation steps so therefore they suck and we're like well look at what I did to this guy right I just want to be able to do that soon I'm hoping that that happens I feel like being in pretty good shapes going to help you out yeah I mean look at the I mean you got quarterbacks and stuff in the NFL right that are doing it and showing it and stuff I'm just excited to have that that pull out everyone's a little more car yeah that car you know for sure I mean you know not exactly the same it's more like fitness stuff but there's my daughter my 12 year old there's another girl in her class whose parents own it across the gym as well right it's great yeah they used to go to our gym long time ago like 10 years ago they opened their own place it's been awesome and anyway I'm like hey who you know ran the mile was your mile time you know yeah I was like 803 oh how many girls beat you exactly it's like well this one girl who plays like club soccer I'm like okay yeah it's like and then Bailey like the other girl who's parent and I'm like all right there it is like that's fine like whatever you know what I mean so it's like the the club soccer players and then the CrossFit kids are the ones who are like running these eight minute miles in seventh grade and beaten there you know that's exactly what we say right like the specialist will win and we will get second 100 percent but I'll beat you but I'll get second place in every like to the specialist but I'll beat you and everything else right exactly we will be consistently better do you do backflip I don't know anymore I could do it I'm sure I'm feeling for sure I've done it with the kids but I haven't done it in about a year and I think it's just like my shoulder kind of made me stop doing stuff like that so I don't know but you used to be able to do standing backflip yeah yeah I learned it by there was a CrossFit workout on .com a long time ago back in like 2011 or 12 probably it was 10 rounds of three dead lifts of 315 and one back tuck it was a backflip and so you're like on the main side they had like Lauren Galassie going through a progression of how to learn a back tuck and one of them was like you just hung from the reins and then pulled your hips up and did a skin the cap but let go and land it on the ground so I did that for the workout but then I was obsessed with trying to get a backflip after that and I ended up getting it in like three days or something I think yeah oh that's right I haven't done one in years like probably five or six years but when Charlie Zamora and I used to hang out all the time of course there were backflips involved I'm pretty sure that was the last weeboss camp so it was always I wouldn't really do it on my own but then we're together doing them a different time so like spot me for two and then I'm good I just want to back underneath me for a couple of them yeah nice or someone who knows how to spot it you know you know whatever it's like yeah totally spot me for two and then and then you can set the camera up and we'll do them next to each other on the beach here yeah I love it yeah what made me think of that is just you know kind of just this whole specialist and and that type of thing and I mean I was 30 years old you know or so when I learned and like I I basically could do a standing back tuck from I don't know around like 29 or 30 up until I was 36 or 37 and it's like I lost the ability I just stop doing them because I stopped traveling around the country with this guy who'd get us into wild shit you know we just stop hanging out with like you didn't have as big of like a ego with all of your friends and stuff right everybody's just a little bit challenging people to backflips I'm some people would maybe say I don't know if this true some people would maybe call me a bit of a wild man and I when you're when you're when you maybe are and you're traveling with another wild man you know this is part of the deal it's good time you should have any good time it's having to get time that's what you tell your wife when you come home I was just having a good time and handstands on the RV while we're driving down the freeway and stuff yeah let's go thank us how did you get those stitches on your eye just doing handstands in the RV at 70 miles an hour down the high five yeah I said I said don't worry about it yeah all right who who what structure now okay talk about back to back to this is the most like unhinged off topic okay well as far as the especially classes what structure actually keeps will consistent six week courses or ongoing I know you mentioned you've had a lot of success with ongoing classes but have you tried like a six week six week course for things and do you like that not like it sometimes the answer always depends every time we do it afterwards I'm like are why did we do that you know but for some reason when we go to do it it feels like okay there's look there's education going out there's things that are happening people are learning new stuff like they're hearing different stuff from us we're having to learn new things so I see the benefit in them for sure but I also for me I want like an ongoing thing because I want anytime you know to actually make some changes in you and they're like life changes I don't want like quick six week you know fixes I want like a life changing experience that's what I'm going after so I'm a long-term class for sure okay talk about benefits to six week course we've done both right we've done both things lately I found more benefits in this in those six week one the shorter ones part of it is the it's less for coaching commitment like we're talking about one second I got open store for this guy sorry I'm sorry I missed it last time so yeah come on in yeah thanks yeah let's get right there man so weak thank you last things pipe yep cool thanks you can edit that out right yeah it's we found so part of the thing about during the six week course model instead of ongoing is the coaches commitment like you mentioned we don't have a barbell club now because we don't want to spend the time on it or some you know maybe you don't have another coach to you would trust to do that class or whatever or not willing to and that's kind of my situation like I don't want to be on the schedule ever so we had a we had an ongoing class a weightlifting class those Thursday nights at seven p.m.

just that once a week weightlifting especially class that was literally ours as well yeah there's an it's weightlifting weightlifting night in America I guess so and we did it for a couple of years and it was great and I have quite a bit of experience in weightlifting I mean we had we had guys at the gym who like qualified for the American open and stuff like from you know training on their own and then once a week showing up and doing this class and we had people from other gyms coming in it was great but then over time eventually you know people kind of cycle through and then he show up and it's like the same two people every week for three to five weeks in a row and then I'm sitting here like you know kind of like I got these kids at home and I'm you know it's like I'm coming down there with these same two people and you know it's just or this week there was is there going to be no one there tonight you know like that thought is like that's not easier to stay motivated for shorter periods of time definitely and so six weeks I feel like I can get people I can get so if I know five personally as struggle to commit to something for more than six weeks because I got other things going on in my life the same is true for your clients right of course and the community and so having a six week course we we've I found that kind of people can they can do that it's like I can block out Thursday nights at seven for six weeks yeah you know I'm just like I can't and we we really found out the kids as well our kids it was fine we had people in there we were struggling to kind of grow it and it's like well yeah I sick and sign up anytime and kids are playing sports and stuff like that so we switched like six weeks on and then like two to three weeks off and then six weeks on and we did that start selling them out we sell out 12 to 15 kids every single time now like it's a lot of things before it starts I'm laughing because we do the same thing with our sports performance class actually it goes in six week blocks for a couple weeks in between and stuff I even think about that when I was like yeah ongoing classes because I kind of see that as like an ongoing thing but it is in six week blocks yeah yeah we do the same it makes a lot of sense for sure definitely yeah definitely both ways and nobody wants to be tied to something forever right like you want to have an out at some point like there's got to be that well but I guess the the answer might be depends on the class because like the like the no chocolate is going to go back to it yeah yeah exactly like we want people there forever doing that not going away and we want people to go into that class too and something like a barbell club or gymnastics class or whatever it's like really you're going after a goal right the goal is like clean and jerk snatch more do more muscle ups like those are our goals basically so it makes sense to have even like micro cycles of that you know and meso cycles of that and you don't want to necessarily have that continuous thing because you probably want to make progress forever oh man one that'd be nice yeah now earlier kind of mentioned a little bit about the monetary side of things right so let's talk money there's another thing about six weeks versus ongoing you know gyms love the idea especially classes but a lot of times people don't charge for them so should specialty classes be an upsell you know in addition to regular membership options or should specialty classes or courses be included with people's memberships I mean you got to get paid but and if you can find some way to get somebody to sponsor the class I guess then you could do it for free right but if you can't find like a ongoing sponsor is going to sponsor all those people then no you need to get paid and the facility needs have the lights on and it needs to be worth your time so no you definitely got a charge for it when you mentioned that you had a barbell club does an ongoing barbell club did people pay extra for that or is that part of their membership yeah it was just like 39 bucks extra a month probably get more people showing up that way yeah it's like it's the same thing we have open gym here too it's 39 bucks extra a month if you remember we've got a recovery room that's like 20 bucks extra a month if you want to use that you know it's like cheap it's nothing they're just gonna break the wall it's less than probably one of the apps that they have on their phone you know but but hopefully they get way more out of it yeah yeah interesting I I also feel like that's a benefit of six weeks instead of ongoing again talk about the no shopper club and our silver it's different because they're doing that and not your regular classes right like that is their crossfit that is their fitness they're here for right but as far as like when we did the Thursday night weightlifting class like we didn't charge extra for that it was just part of their membership because it felt like it's this plan I don't know obviously I think that was a mistake no I don't think so because I think I think as long as the members know it and they appreciate it and they actually see it as like wow what a bonus right like this is rad then it's like totally worth it and especially for your culture and your branding and all that stuff but if it's like they're like yeah this is what's expected then I would be nervous about that you know yeah well I guess that's the six week class is you're signing up for a thing there's a start date and end date if that feels like something more that you would pay for rather than just like hey Thursday nights we got this thing if you want to do it or not or what yeah it sounds more like an open right like Friday night lights come on and hang out with us it's fun and it's not like it's a little extra for us to do but it's more about like building the community and the vibe right yeah anything else so yeah all right um so what makes something like the No Shuffle Club financially sustainable oh my gosh it's I mean we have a sliding scale that we do with the No Shuffle Club because some of them are fixed you know income tell me about that and stuff and so we want to make sure that they can come and we have it go like basically we do anywhere from a hundred to two hundred and ten dollars a month and we ask them to pay what they can afford and that they're all so integral and they're also amazing that like 90% of them pay me the full amount how many days a week do they come in to do you hundreds of the bottom what if someone says I really want to do this by can afford a hundred dollars a month then they still come I've got people that actually don't pay me but you've got other people that are paying two hundred bucks a month yeah it's different when I'm trying to take somebody from a walker to a cane to a walk walk who then it is to like take a fit person to get fitter you know what I mean what are your regular membership prices two ten for a 12 months and then it goes up from that two thirty five two fifty depending on the membership so the sliding scale for the No Shuffle Club basically goes from a hundred dollars a month or maybe less up until you're kind of base price for your membership yep yeah and then there's an add-on they can do if they if they graduate out of the No Shuffle Club which there's a certain number benchmarks that they have to be able to do then they can go to the wellness class which is also two days a week but on Mondays and Wednesdays not two days and Thursdays and that's only that's forty nine dollars for an add-on for that class so then they could come four days a week for two fifty or whatever a month how many people on average are showing up to No Shuffle Club 15 to 20 the pretty much everyone who's signed up shows that power yeah they are consistent it is the there's our most consistent class is the so the only time if they're not there it's because they're on vacation sick or at the doctor's appointment but not usually the last one because they schedule their doctor's appointments around the gym because it's their favorite part of the day yeah yeah totally I'm super intrigued by the sliding scale yeah you know it's kind of hey here's the deal like the we know that a lot of people it's because you could do it for everybody but it makes a lot of sense when you're talking about an elderly population because such a large percentage are on fixed incomes they have no ability to make more income right they're usually past their prime and they can't actually just go out and get another job whereas like someone who's going to the gym they could also they're yeah their expenses are different with medical anyway I feel like a younger or more able person you know it's also maybe still promoting within their job they might make more money or they might or they could cut out different expenses you know whereas like I don't I think that probably the elderly pop doesn't have those many options for those types of things you know I would yeah I would also say though that like if somebody came to me and this this happens and we have people like this right now they come to me and say I can't afford this and I want to do it then I find something for them to do yeah and they help me like one of them cleans our bathrooms and other one cleans the floors at the gym another one does the back recovery room and the upstairs and like they all have a minimal amount of work to do that I pay them technically hourly for what they make right now at their normal job you know and I say okay you pay off your membership basically they're like down and I'm like dope let's do it you're helping me out oh my god I don't have to clean the mezzanine every week I don't have to clean the recovery room every week I get to go home all early with my kids and you get to work out like this is a win-win I think that's totally acceptable and morally fine as long as the bathroom cleaning person it's just what they always do not what they do after you walk out of there and you're like hey dude you gotta go clean that up no no yeah it's like certain days of the week they come in after it's closed and they clean the bathrooms and that's it and I think it is like something they wanted to do I ask them like hey we have like all of these things I need done out of those which would you want to do right and they're like yeah I'll clean bathrooms I don't mind and I'm like dope right that's awesome I'm inspired by your sliding scale for the for the old people yeah it was like because right off the bat like about 80% of them were like there's no way we can afford that you know and I'm and at first I'm like yeah you can like you got it and then I start actually take a step back talking to my mother-in-law and my father-in-law and all the people who are like no we are on fixed incomes like yeah we know exactly how much we could spend every month and we are doing and you know and that's what retirement is and also I mean like it or not they've been alive a long time they've seen the prices of things fluctuate so much like a hundred dollars to someone who's 80 years old sounds a lot different than a hundred dollars to someone who's 20 right just because like I like shed a hundred dollars is to be my mortgage you know what I mean you know what like I bought my house for $50,000 in 1953 and you're telling me this membership is $200 a month like that was my month I made yeah my monthly paycheck was $200 when I was 18 years old right and like yeah and I think that that the psychological side of just inflation and stuff like I mean they're not dumb they're they're I'm not saying that don't take that no no but it is sticker shock for sure yeah and just like a frame like what your frame of reference like you do you remember what was your like the first job you got what minimum wage was like what you got paid yeah it was like eight bucks an hour I think yeah that's what I was thinking I was like yeah was it six seventy five I might have been like oh yeah I think it might have been six seventy five yeah you're right you know yeah I was a landscaper oh I was working in the in the kitchen of a restaurant I was like make up yeah I did that before I got my landscape with my mom she'd make us come and like help clean up the restaurant at the end of the day so I'm tossing tables and I was like seven oh man oh dude my grandpa had these rentals he'd be like I'm gonna hire a day laborer or do you want to come work with me I was 10 years old I'm like sure he's like yeah I'll pay him in a wage I mean he paid me like 65 so stoked like 625 an hour and I'd be out there helping him like build walls to like separate this bit let's go let's go let's go I mean talk about that like that's the frame of reference right like you know what would you what it was been on wage and your parents were you know their first job right it's like you yeah if 10 bucks an hour was balling out you know when you were in high school even though you know times of change there's the sticker sticker shock aspect for sure yeah and then you know it was it was kind of difficult at first now thinking back at it because like I did have some people who were more just like hey I don't think it's worth that kind of attitude and so I had to tell them and I was like no like I understand that it's like hard for you to understand that this is it worth this much money but like it is and I'll prove it to you but you know like I'm not gonna give you a discount just because you don't think it's worth it I'm not gonna be like okay that's fine pay me whatever you think it's worth like I'm I'm talking about people are like no we think it's worth that but we can't afford that then oh my gosh I'll always help out somebody until we're like bursting at the seams and we literally only have square footage for every person in every class and they're all coming like that's the only time when I would have to tell somebody no because we just don't have the space to do it you know right other until we get there then I'm like yeah we'll we'll figure it out all right um how much training do coaches need before taking on specialty populations or specialty classes I think it depends on the specialty population and the safety risks that you have so if you're like a bunch of young guns doing weightlifting yeah there's a safety risk there for sure but not as big as with the no shuffle club you know like people who are walkers and canes and really have like bad balance and can't use parts of their body and you know like you you you were putting them in an an environment that's meant to be safe with a lot of things that are unsafe so you have to have some level of training to be able to just have honestly the almost like self confidence that you will be okay in that class and that no matter what happens you feel like you could handle it for me I'm like yeah if they have a heart attack if they have a stroke if they fall down bring it on her head open I have seen all of this when I was a firefighter and I was in the military and I know how to fix all of this and yeah I can't save their life probably but I have everything and I'm like way more comfortable in that setting and like somebody else who's straight out of you know high school maybe it hasn't experienced anything so I think the the type of you know training that you get as well as your life experience really do matter for sure I am so grateful that I've never had to use our AED but at the same time my pardon me is kind of chomping on the bit to light someone up word like I don't want it to happen in my gym I don't but also like I've been looking at that thing for a long time their life savers brother it's pretty cool to let save somebody's life with it that's for sure like every every CPR call that we've shown up to you and that person's actually lived it's because there was an AED put on them already and it wasn't like that they even got shocked but they were given directions on the pipe pump on this dude they're like oh okay yeah I got it and the timing of it yeah yeah exactly you know it's like it's so so that's the only only times I've ever actually saved anybody's life with CPR was when that was applied before I think preventative but you know what I mean I mean when I was a lifeguard for a while that was always what we said a dry lifeguard is a good lifeguard if you're if you're coaching your classes right you shouldn't be happy to save lives in there you know hopefully not you know but things do happen things happen they happen they have one guy in an on ramp that I thought was having a heart attack and I like got out the AED and everything but he just passed out because he was like you know I held him at I held him in an overhead squat way too long and he was all too old for it and he came up and he was like I don't feel good and I was like let's go upstairs it's like you don't look good yeah I need to look good at all we have stairs you passed out and I was like I killed them oh my gosh I like got up all calmly and I looked over the mezzanine at the whole class it was going on it was like hey nobody freak out but I need somebody to grab the AED and bring it up here please I'm next time I can next time like the class is routing I'm trying to get their attention I'm sorry pull that one out I'm like hey I want to remain calm just go and grab the AED for me and look oh that like that will help I may get some eyes on you yeah I definitely will you get you get patty to stop talking for sure um also you know and then as far as training the coaches need I like to think that any CrossFit coach that's worth their weight um could handle these because in a regular class the you have such a wide variety of people right you have the athlete who you might need to tell them to put a little more weight on or you might need to tell them to you know which will work a little harder and push them a little bit more you also have the person who like can't like they got a squat to a 30 inch box you know and you have this like big variety in there and it's like if everyone's modified appropriately and scaled and and really kind of getting the same same work out of the workout that day and doing like that I mean a class full of people who need modifications but at least they're all going to be more modifications but lower you know lower lift higher things easier things easier things easier things teach right there's a lot easier to teach someone to squat on and off a 30 inch box than to get low parallel you know okay now just move your feet a little and then stand up right yeah yeah and so but that's also I like to think that you know I also like to think that we do a really good job and really train our our coaches and and they and we're very good at scaling and modifying and all that I also know the reality is that it's intimidating to work with people who you know you maybe you you view as fragile or you know something like that and there's the intensity like you kind of mentioned yeah could be scary or this is 100 pounds a hundred pounds overweight and 63 and you are you do kind of have one eye on that AD during the class right 100 percent I'm constantly watching them and looking for signs of all of that stuff honestly it's like you're like I'm like hey is anybody having a stroke is anybody look like they're gonna pass out does anybody you know my putting in a situation that they can't handle right now like I'm always thinking about that stuff in those classes for sure yeah man we did a 50 cows for time on the assault bike a few weeks ago and half the class looked like they were having a stroke dude that's messed up yeah yeah I think we did that like two years ago or something like that and I haven't done it since you know I need a couple more years for it to kind of go away before we get back dude it's like 500 meter row like we did this or no we do it at we did a 2k row 2k and I like I put out on this thing I was I was getting ready for my Tahoe bike ride so I was in pretty good shape my cardio is pretty pretty high the normal for me you know and I just I ended up just going for it on that and I hit this pair this PR and it was awful and it was like the like the last minute was the worst minute of my entire life you know finished it and then like whatever the next week there was like some rowing in a workout just like and I was like I'm not I'm not getting back on yet I need like a month man if it's like if you could give people a pill to feel that so they understood what they're capable of you would do it you know oh dude just get them on there say all right today you're gonna row a 647 or 643 2k I just watched I just watched Dave Castro with Andrew Hiller in Korea and they had them doing 500 meter rows for time and one of the guys like and Andrew got off of the row and we're like oh oh it was so hard and they're like walking around and stuff and I'm like you didn't go 100% oh yeah your feet would still be in the straps bro you'd be laying off of the machine with your feet and the straps going why why I don't know why maybe this is just because I haven't done it the right way but I feel like most of my 500 meter PRs have been completely cold it's like a class does it and then I'm like kind of feel like doing that now and just sitting down and just ripping and just like finished before you get tired and then you just die next to the rower and you feel worse for the next seven minutes you know yeah that's gonna feel awful for like the rest of the day for sure best way to PR man just hit that thing call oh my god it'd be fun then to try it the other way right like it really warm yeah yeah yeah unlike it's gonna be worse the next Memorial Day does do it after Merth there you go yeah are we headed towards more specialty programs or back to basics you think I mean my specialty program is actually back to basics is really what it is you know it's like doing it right yeah the irony of it is there but like um I think as long as the basics are there in your gym and your teaching knows and everybody's doing those and like yes especially classes should be what you're doing it gives them opportunity the coaches too you know to make a living so I mean just dude you just said it man like you know I'm trying to I'm trying to get I'm trying to do CrossFit with more people not trying to get more people doing things on top of CrossFit like there's nothing wrong with it and I'm not saying we won't ever do like Barbell courses and stuff again of course we will but like I love the kids classes because you're doing CrossFit with these kids I love the silver class and CrossFit with these old people we just picked up some contracts the apartment complex as well we go there and like do do a fitness class in their little fitness center and you know what we go and we do CrossFit like I just want like I just you know it's like maybe we don't need to do more stuff it's like the maybe just focus on your core competency and remember yeah I remember Chris Spieler started to cut you off no I remember no I don't feel or get at a level one one time talking about this how he would have people come into his gym with kids and be like oh my kids gonna be the next Olympic skier my kids can be the next Olympic wrestler and stuff and he's like yeah cool he's like you got a specialty program for him and he's like yeah yeah come on in yeah I do come on in and he's like you know what I had him doing CrossFit and he's like we didn't do any ladders even we didn't even do any of it like like any we did CrossFit because that is what they're missing is fitness you know and you give them more fitness because that's what we know what to do and then you let their coaches do all of the other stuff that's I mean that's exactly how it works like that's what these people need from us is they need GPP like that's that's what they need and it's anyway it's like the whole thing you want them showing up on day one of practice whooping everybody's ass and fitness that's what you want them doing that's it it's like if you're teaching to you got this kid he's a baseball pitcher don't have him throw a weighted ball that's the silliest shit in the world right like he doesn't need to be doing a ton more rotational stuff you know and that's the thing it's been like all these trainers are like oh you got to get them moving in their direction and I'm like do they do thousands and thousands of reps doing that like I want to get them fitter that is my job I was talking to some firefighters yesterday and this is exact topic I see no you need it as it is you need to do GPP I said I'm I'm not saying we're not going to do any weighted carries or rotational stuff of course we will but you do that shit every day I like you know I was never firefighter but we've done some fundraiser like I put on full turnouts and the mask and everything done to work out it's fucking awful yeah you do not to breathe while you're working out like you do that every day you know what I mean like you don't really need weighted carries and rotational stuff you need a base of that's the pyramid that's the pyramid yeah yeah that's not that's not our spot that's not our spot you need the base you know because when you get tired you get sloppy and when you get sloppy you get hurt you know and so you need to be fit and then that other stuff you're already you're doing it every day yeah yeah yeah it's exactly I love it you know reach there hopefully they believe me all right all right well you know what I think I mean that was it funny last question is going to be about do people want general fitness or micro communities well I'll tell you what we just nailed her right there they need general fitness right I know what they want maybe you what maybe you got to sell them what they saw them what they want and give them what they need but as long as we're getting the results they're looking for than all things anything wrong with that no no no no they're there for all right rapid fire our specialty classes actually needed to make people more fit or are they just a fancy way to get people in the door they're not needed but they're awesome should specialty class to get their own t-shirt or is that just how cold start yes and yes yeah uh better better specialty demographic to coach kids hopped up on snacks or adults hopped up on pre-workout oh I'm gonna say adults the kids are just hard all right and uh what's harder to manage expectations or attendance expectations true false every specialty class eventually becomes a support group true there we go I will lap my last two cents on this is that is absolutely true the best nutrition challenge we've ever done is I said we got with like 80 people sign up and I said okay right um I'm not gonna tell you what to do I sound like a tell it to do different people different things work for different people okay here are four types of diet types of nutrition protocols you can follow and they have all I've done them all and I've had success with all of them but some people love tracking macros if you're a CPA this what you're gonna want to do if you like numbers if you like to eat you want to eat a snickers you can have a snickers every day maybe not much else but whatever like you do macros or you go you do almost you do ketogenic diet it works like just cut like you just don't want to think about it and just like eat when you're hungry don't eat food things or you want to or you can eat paleo so you know every little bit more but yeah yeah you got more options with stuff but two degree you know what I mean you can have some fruit and things like that whatever stuff for a couple spots of grocery store yep or the microbiome diet which is the strictest diet you can eat but probably the most healthy thing you can do for yourself so it's like a sliding scale right of these things I love that and I said pick which one you want which one you know you relate to and then I'll give you advice and tips and then they did and they broke up in these four groups and then when we met every week they just broke up into their groups and talked about how their week went you're just standing there in the corner I just went around to the groups what's going on over here oh this person had problems finding like what to eat on the road okay cool ketogenic diet you know pork rinds next question right yeah totally you know but it was it was support group class that's all when they just sat there with people they're following the same diet protocols them every week it was like AA but they're sitting there talking about their their struggles and their specific in their specific diet that's awesome yeah it's fun 80 people is huge man good job yeah try it again the next year got like 40 so I don't know maybe I didn't yeah well that's the other 40 are still doing the other stuff you know that's it dude honestly that's a big part of it and what was rad about that too is we had we got beginning and after body fat testing which also did like lean mass and body fat percentage and so at the end of the six weeks we actually saw not only which groups lost the most amount of weight but which one lost the least amount of lean mass and which ones maintained or gained lean mass and all of the above and so you can be like all right yeah these all work but here's the ones that were actually most effective that's super rad yeah that's fun all right huge thanks to Wes who carried the entire panel like it was a partner deadlift workout and his teammate was a toddler I'm not easy if you're trying to overcomplicate your schedule congratulations you're one of us go rate this show share it with the coach who thinks they need another barbell club and remember if you start a new specialty class you now have two more hours of cleaning chalk off the mats per week see you next time on not in my box where hopefully I talk less