The Power Monkey Podcast

Today we welcome our friend Angela Gargano to the show. Angela has a long history of athletics, beginning with D1 Collegiate Gymnastics, moving into fitness competitions, and even competing multiple times as an America Ninja Warrior athlete, before moving on to a full time role as a coach helping and inspiring women reach for and achieve their best in terms of fitness and wellness. Angela shares candidly what it was like to battle multiple knee injuries and how they helped shaped the trajectory of her career as well as fortifying her sense of identity.

https://www.angela-gargano.com/

•••••

EPISODE SPONSORED BY:

RXSG: https://www.rxsmartgear.com/

Whether you are just starting out in your fitness journey or you are an avid workout enthusiast, a jump rope is one of the most essential pieces of equipment you should have in your workout arsenal and I cannot recommend RX Smart Gear jump ropes highly enough.

Not only are they dedicated to constantly improving and challenging the community with their variety of ropes, but they are dedicated to the education when it comes to their ropes and promote proper movement and technique patterns which we love at Power Monkey Fitness.

They've recently launched their new Frevo rope, made of a high impact polymer that can withstand a 50# dumbbell impact.

CJ Martin is one of the truly original G's on the CrossFit scene, having started in 2006 and quickly transitioning into coaching and then owning what would become one of the most successful and recognized CrossFit gyms in the world: CrossFit Invictus. We go through what was effectively CJ's "Origin Story" and how the many years of coaching CrossFit Games athletes have given him a unique perspective, not just on programming and running a gym, but on what should and should NOT be part of a young teen athletes training journey...this part may be surprising to many of our listeners...but we think CJ's is on to something here.

Check out a FREE 1 month trial of the new Invictus Engine Program here: https://app.fitr.training/p/invengine

•••••

DOWNLOAD the NEW Power Monkey Training App here:

http://www.powermonkeytraining.com

Use code "LAUNCH" for 1 month FREE

•••••

This episode is sponsored by UCAN

UCAN is different. Its unique time-release profile allows for an extended energy supply that doesn't require a rescue mission and keeps your blood sugar stable - the key to better performance and health.

Power Monkey Podcast listeners can save 25% on UCAN by visiting ucan.co/powermonkey and using the code shared during the show.

4:00 - CJ's involvement with the Masters Fitness Collective

8:30 - Why CJ does CrossFit

9:45 - Where does CJ's passion lie

12:00 - How the coach/athlete relationship affects programming and the coaching

13:15 - Making the career change from lawyer to gym owner

16:00 - Helping others

18:30 - CJ athletic history

21:15 - How CJ's mindset set him apart

27:15 - What sets Invictus apart

28:15 - Relationships within coaching

31:40 - Trust within the coach/athlete relationship

33:00 - Athlete ownership

37:00 - Culture of customization

42:20 - Invictus coaches development

43:00 - Remote coaching

51:00 - Difference in working with Masters athlete's verses others

52:15 - Is Crossfit still a specialization sport for teens

53:30 - Diversifying within sport

57:45 - Social component of other sports vs Crossfit

59:00 - CJ's love for baseball

63:00 - Last min questions

This week we welcome multiple time CrossFit Games Athlete and former Professional Hockey player Adrian Mundwiler onto the show. Adrian is an absolute specimen out of Europe who has been dominating the European competition seen. But what we found most enjoyable to chat about with him about was his view on training and more specifically the coach/athlete relationship and what is most important there. Adrian is an incredibly cerebral athlete who journals after every competition and attacks his weaknesses with a diligent and deliberate approach. What an absolute pleasure to have him on the podcast today.

Adrian's IG: @adrianmundwiler

300: Why Adrian competes so much

700: Strategy at smaller competition vs. the Games

1045: Competing in Sweden

1400: Adrian training solo vs with other Games athletes

2100: How Adrian reflects after competition

2230: Adrians background as a pro ice hockey player and how that influenced his training and programming

2710: Why Adrian made the jump from Pro Hockey to CrossFit

3030: Adrians knee injury

3245: Dave talking about injury being an opportunity

3345: How Adrian took advantage of his injury

3700: Adrians strength gains

4400: What Adrian believes makes a good program

4800: Dave talking about Nike and Adrians new shoe

5200: Adrians internal mantra

5600: Power Monkey in Europe

5850: Last min questions

•••••

This episode is sponsored by: https://www.legends.com/

We are excited to have Legends as our apparel partner for 2022. Legends just dropped their Relay performance short this summer, now with water repellent technology, you can confidently add water training into your routine without switching up your gear or sacrificing on comfort.

Check out their latest color-ways including the animal instincts collection and follow them on Instagram for new apparel and collaborations! @legends

Its surprising how long it took us into the life of this podcast before we invited today guest on. Vanessa McCoy is a long standing member of the Power Monkey team, and is without question the most well rounded athlete on our team. Having competed extensively in both gymnastic AND weightlifting, Vanessa brings a unique perspective to the team. Outside of competed nationally and having lived and trained at the Olympic Training Center, Vanessa is a former CrossFit gym owner as well as gymnastic club owner. All of this to say that Vanessa shared with us some of her philosophies on training weightlifters today while leaning on some different methodologies from her seasoned past. We love Vanessa, we respect her greatly, and we cant wait for you to get to know her a bit more on this episode.

Vanessa's IG: v_real_mccoy

245: How Dave and Vanessa first met

630: Starting convo about the IF3

730: Vanessa talking about the international nature of the IF3

920: What are the tests and how balanced they are

1015: What the strength workout was this year at the IF3 world championships?

1330: The IF3 judging standards

1630: What was the Skill workout?

2210: What was the Endurance workout?

2410: the IF3 Open World Championships coming up

2530: How Vanessa met her husband Cogen at Power Monkey Camp

3115: Upcoming competition plans for Vanessa

3230: Vanessa as a coach: Her philosophies (accessory training)

3415: Examples of some explosive work that Vanessa has her clients do

3700: How Vanessa includes strength training into her gymnastics clients

3930: Vanessas top recommendations for a gymnasts training

4445: Opinion of more gymnastic included at the Games this year

4730: What Vanessa would like to see at the Games

5215: Final questions

5915: What Vanessa has coming up

••••

This episode is sponsored by Assault Fitness.

Assault has been a part of our Power Monkey Camp for a long time.

We've incorporated their runners, bikes and rowers in our endurance sessions as well as our competitions and nightly workouts.

See what all the hype is about and take advantage of their Machine Markdown Madness - Save big on their elite runners and pro bikes now.

Check out their full line up of machines at assaultfitness.com

On a special episode of the Power Monkey Podcast today, we have the trio of Dave Durante, Chad Vaughn, and Chris Hinshaw discussing the specifics surrounding their creation: Capacity WOD. Capacity WOD is a program designed to supplement your current program in small bite sized chunks. Specifically, this protocol is designed to help athletes improve their ability to recover during and after a workout so that they can increase their overall capacity to do work. Dave, Chris, and Chad have been testing this out for the past 4 years, with much of the methodology coming from Chris' many years of endurance racing. This is not an episode that you will want to miss.

CAPACITY WOD on IG: @capacitywod

https://app.sugarwod.com/marketplace/capacitywod/capacitywod

••••

This episode is SPONSORED by: https://victorygrips.com/

• Victory grips are the standard in hand protection plus they just launched their new Gym Affiliate Program.
• As affiliate owners, they understand the demands of gym owners. Their goal is to keep their Gym Referral Program process as simple as possible.
• You'll receive educational content, early access to upcoming releases and exclusive discounts for your members plus receive a percentage of the net sales.

••••

345: What is Capacity WOD as a methodology

530: What is active recovery

840: Why Capacity WOD helpful

1600: Clearance workout description

1800: Tolerance workout description

2430: How to manipulate and customize the workouts based on your needs

2745: Tolerance vs Clearance

2900: Example of a core capacity wod workout

3210: Example of D-ball workout with Fraser

3530: Duration of the intensity component

4000: Example of Clean DL workout

4120: How can athletes incorporate into their training

4535: Athlete ownership

We had the pleasure of speaking with CrossFit Games Athlete James Sprague on this episode of the podcast. James is a young athlete, having competed in the teen division at the Games multiple times. However, what we found most impressive about James is how mature the mental side of his athleticism is. We spoke at length about James ability to masterfully strategize a workout to win in competition (as witness by his most recent appearance at the Zelos Games), as well as how mentally strong he is when it comes to self belief and focusing on his goals and career. For such a young athlete at only 20 years of age, we are really looking forward to seeing what he is capable of in the years to come.

James' IG: @spraguerrrr

•••••

Check out the release of the new, rebranded and improved Power Monkey Training App!

DOWNLOAD IT HERE! http://www.powermonkeytraining.com

In it you will find personalized assessment based programs to help you: Develop specific skills, build capacity around those skills, prepare your body for longevity, and keep you focused on consistency.

Additionally you will find free daily core workouts to easily add into any of your existing training.

Remember...#TechniqueMatters

http://www.powermonkeytraining.com

••••

3:45 - James golf game

8:00 - Moving away from home so young to go train

10:35 - James issues with knee pain over the years

12:15 - Pre-hab exercises for knee health

13:45 - Learning how to be a mature athlete

16:15 - Matt Torres making a personal connection with the athletes

19:45 - James career plan

21:45 - Did competing at the games as a teens help

23:55 - Strategizing workouts

26:45 - Talking about workout 1 at the Zelos games

32:05 - Talking about gymnastics at the Games for a big guy

36:00 - Explanation of the new scoring systems at the Zelos Games (Z-Score)

46:45 - Competition plans for 2023

48:45 - College, getting a degree

52:15 - Self Belief

Our first episode with James a few weeks ago lead to a number of follow up conversations and messages from our listeners. So we decided to have him back on for a follow up discussion.

After more than 3 decades of total emersion in the high intensity fitness landscape, James has some controversial insights and takeaways that we discuss with him. Underneath it all, he believes, is the lack of awareness this sort of long term competitive training can have on your physical and cognitive ability as you age. Additionally, how the pursuit of such physical goals should be directed by true and virtuous driving factors rather than those of vanity and ego.

As with episode one, this is a though provoking and respectful conversation, we hope that you get as much out of it as we did.

• Start the OPEX Coaching Certificate Program: https://www.opexfit.com/ccp-level-1/
• Watch or listen to James' new podcast, the Live a Larger Life show: https://www.youtube.com/c/OPEXFitness/
• Subscribe to LearnRx for your daily dose of fitness education: https://learnrx.app/
• Explore the ultimate coaching software, CoachRx: https://www.coachrx.app/

EPISODE SPONSORED BY:

RXSG: https://www.rxsmartgear.com/

Whether you are just starting out in your fitness journey or you are an avid workout enthusiast, a jump rope is one of the most essential pieces of equipment you should have in your workout arsenal and I cannot recommend RX Smart Gear jump ropes highly enough.

Not only are they dedicated to constantly improving and challenging the community with their variety of ropes, but they are dedicated to the education when it comes to their ropes and promote proper movement and technique patterns which we love at Power Monkey Fitness.

They've recently launched their new Frevo rope, made of a high impact polymer that can withstand a 50# dumbbell impact.

This weeks guest is multi-time CrossFit Games Athlete and Podium finisher, Brent Fikowski. One of the most interesting portions of our conversation, among many, with Brent occurred when we dove into the subject of the "Professional Functional Athlete Association", which Brent is a key contributor for. Essentially Brent, and others, have taken it upon themselves to be a voice for their fellow athletes to help create a safer, more fair, and agreeable experience, both in and out of competition. They have been working hard to tackle safety issues in competition, workout standards, and even monetary compensation for the use of an athletes likeness on retail items being sold by top tier event sponsors. It is a long road, but one that must be done.

https://www.theprofessorproject.com/

Brent's IG: @fikowski

•••••

This episode is sponsored by: https://www.legends.com/

We are excited to have Legends as our apparel partner for 2022. Legends just dropped their Relay performance short this summer, now with water repellent technology, you can confidently add water training into your routine without switching up your gear or sacrificing on comfort.

Check out their latest color-ways including the animal instincts collection and follow them on Instagram for new apparel and collaborations! @legends

We had the pleasure of speaking with Brute Strength coach Matt Torres on this weeks episode. We were also lucky enough to have Matt attend our most recent Power Monkey Camp in the woods of Tennessee, where we got our first chance to really get to know how great of a human he is. Matt is the coach of a handful of the top CrossFit Games athletes out there, including Dallin Pepper, Danielle Brandon, Emma Carey, and others. Matt has a very deliberate and unique approach when it comes to coaching his athletes that comes from years of being an athlete himself and always striving to learn and grow within any opportunity he has had. We truly enjoyed having him and his athletes at camp, as well as getting a chance to have an even more in depth conversation here on the podcast. We hope you enjoy it as much as we did.

Matt's IG: @heycoachmatt

••••

This episode is sponsored by Assault Fitness.

Assault has been a part of our Power Monkey Camp for a long time.

We've incorporated their runners, bikes and rowers in our endurance sessions as well as our competitions and nightly workouts.

See what all the hype is about and take advantage of their Machine Markdown Madness - Save big on their elite runners and pro bikes now.

Check out their full line up of machines at assaultfitness.com

This weeks guest is James Fitzgerald, known by many within the CrossFit world as OPT, the founder of OPEX Fitness. James was the very first person to win the CrossFit Games back in 2007, and he has built quite a business since then. OPEX has an impressive string of affiliates throughout the world, and has been a source of fitness and programming excellence ever since. On this episode we speak with James about not only his history, but also about where he sees his business going in the future. He spoke quite extensively about his view surrounding fitness, where the industry falls short, and why he feels that the concepts of wellness and vitality are where his focus and pursuits are directed at this point. This was a very interesting discussion, you're not going to want to miss it.

• Start the OPEX Coaching Certificate Program: https://www.opexfit.com/ccp-level-1/
• Watch or listen to James' new podcast, the Live a Larger Life show: https://www.youtube.com/c/OPEXFitness/
• Subscribe to LearnRx for your daily dose of fitness education: https://learnrx.app/
• Explore the ultimate coaching software, CoachRx: https://www.coachrx.app/

••••

This episode is SPONSORED by: https://victorygrips.com/

• Victory grips are the standard in hand protection plus they just launched their new Gym Affiliate Program.
• As affiliate owners, they understand the demands of gym owners. Their goal is to keep their Gym Referral Program process as simple as possible.
• You'll receive educational content, early access to upcoming releases and exclusive discounts for your members plus receive a percentage of the net sales.