“If you want to find a guy who can lift, make him work the fields for a day or do a bunch of manual labor, then invite him over for dinner and watch how much he eats. A guy who eats a lot is a guy who can handle a load” - Coach Joe Gazio

Have you ever met someone who believed in something so intensely that you had no choice but to shut up and listen when in their presence? We have. His name was Coach joe Gazio.  Three years ago at Active Life Athletics we realized that the weightlifting coaching acumen while acceptable, or even good for a CrossFit gym was inadequate from an elite weightlifting perspective. So we sought out the most knowledgeable person who we could find to fill the void.

Coach Joe, a Ukranian educated and immersion minded coach spoke to our staff and our members with very little sympathy for inadequacy. You did not question why he asked you to do something because you just knew he was right and he had already tried it your way and failed more times than you had even thought about it. We were looking for someone to teach us without gimmicks or tricks.

With Coach Joe in charge you could PR your snatch with improper technique only to hear him say “that was all arms, do it again.”, with no acknowledgement for the accomplishment. When elite athletes come to our clinic for our help the person who they often stayed in contact with afterwards would be Coach Joe. They enjoyed sending him videos for review and questions about their programming.

Coach Joe walked with a posture that seemed to be stuck in the starting position for a heavy lift yet he stood taller than most in the coaching world. Unfortunately we lost Coach joe to Pancreatic Cancer this past week. We don’t know many things, but one thing we do know is that there will never be another Coach Joe. After you listen to this episode that we recorded a little over a year ago, you will understand exactly why.