In the 52nd episode of The Strength Connection Podcast, Mike and our special guest, Founder of Dark Horse Rowing, Shane Farmer will talk about his origin story, his background with strength and conditioning, finding rowing crew in college, his introduction to Crossfit Invictus, teaching rowing worldwide, founding Dark Horse Rowing, and more.

Join us in this insightful and captivating talk! 

In this chapter you will discover:

(1:00) Introducing our special guest Founder of Dark Horse Rowing, Shane Farmer  @darkhorserowing

(1:05) Shout out to Eric Malzone @emalzone

(2:05) Shane’s origin story

(2:50) Lack of fitness in high school years

(3:15) Joining track and field

(3:35) Joining Baseball club

(3:45) Transferring to University of Santiago

(4:00) Baseball Team tryouts

(4:50) Trying Rowing for free

(6:05) About leaving Colorado

(7:50) Lack of a mentor

(8:00) Getting better at school

(8:25) “Somebody who truly believes in you can change your entire future.” - Shane Framer @darkhorserowing

(8:55) Job in a Mexican hospital

(10:05) What Shane loved about sports

(10:40) Shane’s parent’s athletic background

(11:35) Love for competition, adventure, and fitness

(13:10) Visceral elements of baseball

(15:25) About being naturally good at Rowing

(15:40) Attending sports fair

(16:45) Baseball practice doing 6K

(21:50) Rowing on a machine

(24:40) Water Rowing

(25:10) “When you are rowing in a boat you want to disappear. If you are a standout athlete in a boat you are doing something wrong.” - Shane Farmer @darkhorserowing

(25:30) The objective when Rowing

(27:05) Dark Horse Rowing’s goal

(29:05) The art of Rowing

(29:40) Military analogy

(30:10) Shane’s seat in the boat

(30:40) “Rowing is the only sport where you finish the crossline backward.” - Shane Farmer @darkhorserowing

(30:55) Shane’s job on the team

(33:00) Coxswain vs rowers

(35:10) Rowing competitions

(37:15) Shane’s introduction to Crossfit

(37:20) Shout out to Stephane Rochet Linkedin Stephane Rochet 

(38:40) Strength conditioning before Crossfit

(38:55) Shout out Jim Harbaugh @coachjim4um

(40:00) What to do when nobody cares

(42:15) Senior year training plan

(42:40) Entitled sports team

(51:00) Starting coaching

(51:40) Black sheep of Crossfit community

(53:00) Shout out to Kelly Starrett Twitter @thereadystate

(53:00) Shout out to Carl Paoli @carlpaoli

(53:00) Shout out to Mike Burgener @mikeburgener

(53:05) Shout out to James FitzGerald @opexfitness

(57:30) Dark Horse Rowing’s objective

(58:30) The free bagel story

(59:20) “I’m in the business of building character, not about teaching people how to row.” - Shane Farmer @darkhorserowing

(59:40) “You learn who you want to have in your life and you have to act on it.” - Shane Farmer @darkhorserowing

(1:00:30) “We can’t control the outcome, we can only control our process.” - Shane Farmer @darkhorserowing

(1:02:55) “Regrets come from not putting effort.” - Michael Kurkowski @mike_strength_connection

(1:03:35) “No matter how much we want, we can't control anyone else but ourselves.” - Shane Farmer @darkhorserowing

(1:05:00) Anti dogmatism

(1:06:15) Mastery by Robert Greene

(1:07:35) Finite vs infinite game format

(1:08:15) World rowing championship

(1:10:25) Having a heart of student

(1:12:40) Best changes in Shane’s life

(1:13:00) Learning from successful people

(1:16:05) Shout out to Kevin Hart @kevinhart4real

(1:16:30) Just listen!

(1:17:30) USD Men's Rowing @usdmrowing

(1:19:20) Where can you find Shane Farmer? @darkhorserowing

Youtube: Dark Horse Rowing