Today, Commander Divine speaks with Chris Duffin, health and fitness entrepreneur, author of The Eagle & the Dragon, and founder of Kabuki Strength.

In this episode, Chris shares about growing up homeless as a child, his philosophy on fitness, and how he hopes to help people build resilience across every area of their lives.

Key Takeaways:

Weightlifting teaches you about life. Weightlifting can teach so many applicable lessons, but we often miss the connection. For example, some high-powered businessmen may execute amazing deals and strategies in the office, but then start flailing when they get to the gym. All they have to do is apply their planning and management skills, set expectations, and follow through. The inverse applies for people who get amazing results in the gym, but lack discipline in their work and home lives.

Strength training should be empowering. As a trainer, you should lead someone toward not needing you. The individual has the largest amount of power in overcoming pain and creating change in their body. The trainer’s job is to provide the right methodology, the right tools, and the right mindset. When people learn those three things, they can own everything. Focus on impact.

When it comes to fitness, Chris focuses on efforts that are going to make the biggest impact. For example, the ability to manage and control spinal mechanics has the largest global impact on the body, which is why Chris decided to do a 1,000 pound squat and deadlift for 3 reps each. Chris takes the same high-impact approach in business as well. Case in point: the mechanics of the foot has the second largest global impact on the body, which is why Chris started Bearfoot, a minimalist shoe company. Chris’ Grand Goals.

Chris has three main Grand Goals that he lives his life by: 1. Demonstrate. Chris walks the walk to show what you can accomplish with the principles he teaches. 2. Inspire. Go for it. Shoot for something that is just so crazy that nobody's ever done it. Chris revels in showing people that if you set your mind to it, you can pull off things that seem impossible (like 3 reps of 1,000 pounds). 3. Be charitable.

Chris has done a lot of feats of strength that also tie back into charity fundraisers for causes he believes in. The future of fitness. Chris’ company Kabuki Strength makes purpose-built barbells to help athletes train more safely and efficiently. They currently produce groundbreaking equipment for 90% of the NFL and MLB teams, but they’re not stopping there. Chris hopes to create a complete ecosystem of education, training tools, and data as it relates to the technology and art of coaching.

He hopes to reinvent the typical gym in the future and change the face of fitness, eventually scaling to integrate with clinical care.