In this episode Christopher Sommer shares how language impacts logic, the biggest complaint with CrossFit and athletes, how to understand what you actually control. Listen in as we explore what he’s learned from top business professionals, serving his ideal client, and how he’s taking his mission to the next level.
Coach Christopher Sommer is a world-renowned gymnastics instructor and long-time US Jr National Team Coach with nearly 40 years’ experience at Regional, National and Olympic level. He is known for building his athletes into some of the strongest, most powerful gymnasts in the world. Coach Sommer is the founder of Gymnastic Bodies, a hugely popular gymnastic strength training system. His book, Building the Gymnastic Body, is a groundbreaking training guide designed for non-gymnasts to improve their strength and mobility with routines used by world-class athletes.
You can learn more about his work at: https://www.gymnasticbodies.com/
Episode Transcript
In part one, we talked about building a gymnastic body, how he helps individuals perform at the world-class level and how to stop waiting for others to confirm your success. In part two, we talk about how language impacts logic, the biggest complaint with CrossFit and athletes and how to understand what you actually control in your life. Please enjoy. There is a little later, you know, I, I, I certainly believe that right now, probably the most damaging thing in society is social media.
01:42
I think they’re spot on when they call it digital crap. Well, you can sit down and find all these fascinating, interesting things. And before you know it, there’s an hour, two hours, or they’re texting. My oldest daughter, you know, is a senior in college and I’m got a nudger. Quit texting people, go talk to someone, go be face to face. That’s so commotion. Oh, that was really great. So sweet. 80% of communications, nonverbal.
02:11
And you guys aren’t even being verbal, you’re being textual. I don’t even know what percentage that is. It’s like you guys aren’t learning to be emotionally healthy and interact social. You got to put this stuff down or they get addicted to it. I’m probably somewhere and they’re trying to put through Congress. They want a minimum age before kids can use social media. And for those who don’t know, jobs wouldn’t let his kids touch it. Exactly. And it was interesting to me. One of the reasons we went the direction I did with my other daughter.
02:41
for classics and all we do with her is her Latin. Turns out she’s a linguist. So we’re adding French, German, Spanish and Italian to it. Not bad for a girl who could write a sentence. Amazing. Right, and then once we’re proficient on that, I was a Mandarin linguist in the military, part of what I did at NSA. Once we’re done with our romance language work, that will go to our non-romance languages and we’ll see. You know, and I’m honest with her. You know what I’m saying? If we get this far.
03:12
these are the next steps in the process, rather than giving her a false sense of achievement of, Hey, this is what’s going to be, well, this is what it’ll be if you weren’t, if we don’t earn it. And no, you don’t, you don’t get to do it. You know, I, I understand psychology. So I make sure that every once in a while you pull out the other books, show her the Arabic books that are way more, show her the Russian books, you know, go over some stuff, Oh, look at this Greek.
03:39
I forgot what I got to do to get there. We’ve got these other two textbooks. We got a Swedish person and the hard things. Why, why do Latin grammar? Because it’s the structure of language. Why do we have to learn math facts first? What’s the phonics of mathematics? You can’t build mathematics unless you have the alphabet to do so. And then after mathematics, we go into symbolic logic.
04:07
where you can’t do symbolic logic if you don’t have it. And there, there’s all these things. And then it kind of comes, Oh, this is why I was doing that. Years ago, I had the only junior at this would have been early nineties, very early nineties, 19, somewhere 91 to 93. I had the only junior athlete in the country doing a triple back on high bar. Well, I’m a young coach, a little full of myself.
04:36
Now I’m an old fogey and still full of myself. So you can imagine, you can imagine I was, I was out of control. We’ve got one in the head of USA gymnastics standing next to me as we’re watching, I’m easier to strip when I’m waiting for the Brownie points. I’m waiting for the pan up fat, you know, Chris, you’re here, fellow coach. And you’re, you’re the best thing since sliced bread. We’re going to put your name on all Olympic warmups, you know, we’re needing everything after you. That didn’t happen. Instead, what he said was, wow, it’s a shame you screwed him up.
05:07
were the hardest dismounts in the world. And there’s no one else in the country who could touch him. I said, yeah, but this part of his swing is wrong and his shoulders in the wrong position, you’ve closed the shoulder angle. This kid is so talented. He could have been the first in the world to do a quad, compete the quad that was there and you blew it. Cause you didn’t do enough job. There’s two kinds of people in the world. There are those who take.
05:36
personal responsibility. And there are those that it’s always someone else’s fault. I’m the first. And so that hit me hard. And so from then on, everything I did was going to be the best I could possibly do. And I probably took it a little too far. I was once visiting with Jin Jing who was fourth at the 96th, I learned things. And with the Loser Chef, the one Worlds, when he was 16 and 83.
06:06
got all these Olympic medals and we’re talking about training and I’m like, yeah, I don’t do anything until unless it’s perfect. And they’re like, yeah, still a hell out. Sometimes Chris, you just kind of go once in a while, let some stuff go. You know, anybody else, anybody outside of been, we’re on better coaching out, accomplish more than you, you’re full shit, but you can see behind me, my extensive collection of personal Olympic medals, right?
06:34
So then when Jinjing and Volosachev go, give me this. But I did find that as a national team coach, it’s interesting that there are for most people, levels of success, and then there’ll be a level they reach and it spoils them and it varies for everyone. But for most people, there’s a level at which they get, you know,
07:04
I cast no shadow. I’m God’s gift. Everything is right. And I saw a lot of that as a national team coach with our national star. Cause we got, Demetri is in the room. The Indian is in the room. All these Russian and Chinese Olympians are in the room and they’re not interested in talking to them. They would get up and they would say things, but I was, and I would be ordering one.
07:33
Walked into the back of the room, sit down and Jin Jin’s talking about how the Chinese do heavy squats. Americans don’t want to hear it. So I walked back to Jin Jin, tell me, two to three sets. He’s got to talk to me without turning me to stand. I got to talk, we’ll get in trouble when you’re out because I’m not, I’m not the head of the program. And so, okay, two or three sets. How many reps? Two, two reps. Whoops. No one else was it because they want to minimize hypertrophy.
08:03
right? Because depending on what you’re doing, which also is applicable operations, right? Because the guys who get really, really buff a month later in the field, unless they’re a natural mesomorph, it’s gone. It’s gone. It’s, Betty Wolf pointed out, the most important indicator of success in that is the highest degree of relative strength possible coupled with proper joint prep. The biggest engine you can get in your frame.
08:32
most well-punctuated. And people today, they get way late because of social media, because they look at the genetic we gifted. Right? And these guys would have gotten huge by looking at the barbell. They were bigger than us before they even tripped. They could do everything wrong and they’re going to put on muscle. And that’s the last person in the world you want advice from for building strength and muscle. And they never struggled.
09:03
I’ve always had perfect shoulders, naturally perfect shoulders, which is why it took me so many years to figure out how to properly compare shoulders. Cause I had naturally flexible lats and naturally flexible pecs, naturally flexible bicep. So my shoulders just went, bam, I had perfect handstand as soon as I learned. Well, I can’t teach what I never learned. Which a lot of times is why great athletes are
09:32
Terrible cook. Sure. But who won six gold medals in 92. Good friend of mine took fatality in years to learn how to be a good coach. 10 years. I mean, he, he moved into my part of the country and I was like, Oh, yeah, my days are dominating to get my ass kicked. The first year my guys crushed and he’s pissed and there’s, there’s no piss quite like a Russian piss. You’re really great. I love that.
10:01
So that made me really happy. And then the second year he’s been bustling ass second and he’s going to get him. Well, I meet him again. Who is this little nobody white guy who’s never been on national team? What? And he’s kicking my ass. I don’t understand. And then the third year, because it takes Russians a while to warm up to third area, slaps me initially and God damn it Chris. And then we were good buddies after that. But it was interesting in that in the States, our approach didn’t fit.
10:31
We were too methodical. We were too practical. We were pucking and chucking. We weren’t doing favoritism. I wasn’t doing the politics. I didn’t become popular as a national team coach until I could spawn. I was wealthy and could sponsor the competitions. Then suddenly I was everybody’s best friend. I’m getting invited to go to world championships for the international mass, Hey, come talk to us. We got this, we got that. Never had that as a coach.
11:01
Never had that a coach, but it was interesting was that the people, the only people who approached like that were the Russians and the Chinese and then I could have training conversations with. And interesting today, if I’m studying, when I’ve spent a good number of years studying Olympic lifting, we’ve got it kind of broken down, you know, what’s, what’s the low hanging for, you know, what is, what is too specialized and probably for most athletes, not worth your time. And then one of the things you can get in, you know, 80%
11:31
In half the time is a better result than 10 years of prep per 90%. This doesn’t, doesn’t make sense. And so the American approach, well, I’d send my staff, you know, go get certified. They’d come home. All right. Tell me what’s their developmental process. Coach, there is one more. Okay. I don’t want you talking to the other guys at the class. I want you to talk to the head of U S weightlifting. What’s the process coach? I swear I’m going to, there is one.
12:01
I developed mobility, go state, they really don’t. So there is no process, but there is a process the way the Russians approach it. There is a process the way the Chinese approach it. And in my mind, that ticks all the boxes. Okay. I can, I can take these pieces and put them together and have some synergy. And these other guys, they’re just throwing stuff. You know, one guy, he, and he was second at nationals. He changed his lifting shoes and he blew his lung because of it.
12:30
How brittle and unathletic is your body that that little bit of a change breaks you? Now, to me, that’s just unacceptable. You know, I need to, one, I disagree that high level athletics has to mean poor health. I disagree with my athletes. They, all the national team athletes should be going around a circle. You know, and they’re, they’re talking, what’s wrong with you? All my wrist hurts.
13:00
My shoulder hurts, my knee hurts, my back hurts. They’re all going around and they get to my athlete. It hurts. Not a little shit. Nothing. Because they weren’t allowed to train that way. And in fact, two things guaranteed to make me angry in the gym. Okay. Not giving me your best effort. I don’t care if you’re successful because maybe you’re just not ready yet. Maybe it needs time, but I need your best effort.
13:30
And not your idea of your best effort, my idea of your best effort. And two, hiding an injury from me. Cause I know there’s a price to pay for that down the road. Well, Alan was a young athlete one time his nationals are a week away. He’s on pod wars his wrist and bulls sore that day. You know what people don’t understand is most things will go away in two or three days if you leave it the hell alone. Yes. But they don’t, they pick at it.
14:00
They pick at it, they pick at it and they mess with it. I’m going to make, just me. And so he’s like, I’m a little sore today. And he was getting ready to get up and it wasn’t trying to get out of him, but I showed him now. He’s coach next week is nationals. I was like, all right, here’s the deal. This would try to train my athletes to always be independent of me. Cause there’s always going to come a time where they get a sign in international
14:30
Or I can Olympic team and I’m not there or I’m there and I can’t be on the top floor because I’m not the designated coach and then gotta be able to handle their own business. And then Alan, no one shares next week. If you hit your pommel routine last week, no one cares. No one cares. Now, if this was the day of the meet, I’m going to tell you, and I’m sorry, dude, it’s game time.
15:00
You got to take care of your shit. But that’s a rare kind of specialized situation. That almost never applies. Right. The rest of the time is we err on the side of caution. Right. Why take the chance? So it takes another week longer to get to where you want it. Wonder race. Universe isn’t going to go, Oh, you run the lottery because you got there fast. You know, I’m good for you.
15:30
No, no one cares. And so the only one going to pay the price for being imprudent is the affluent.
15:39
And I see that in the fitness realm and it drives me crazy. And you remember it’s because they have nothing invested in their students. Right. And if a student gets hurt, they don’t care. But, but my students were my product and it took well years to get some of them where they were and if I break that, I start over, that’s it is that we learn to never hurt someone, you know?
16:09
Hey, you can always go harder tomorrow, but I can’t undo too hard. I can always go harder later, but if I blow it. So I had one forearm injury. I heard it on a Friday. Not as cranky as my one arm chins. I was, uh, modest by some people’s hairs. I was doing my chins with more than half body weight hanging. Life was good. And I was doing some.
16:38
I am cross work that I wasn’t ready to be doing. Yeah. But Doug wants. And so I heard it on a Friday and it felt better over the weekend. And then because it felt better on Monday, I did the same workout again. This time when it went, it was down for a year and a half. It was 12 months for most of the pain to go away. And it was an additional six months.
17:07
for all the pain to go away and all that progress lost. Lost. Very bitter but oh. And so that’s why we’re, we’re just be calm people. Yeah, we have to be calm. Detach. Be focused. Detach is a good way to say it. Treat yourself as your own coach. So I’m still coming back from cancer. What I’m still doing.
17:36
what I consider little girl weights. And I messed up the other day going into the gym and I did a review, my notes before I redid. And so I came home, I’m in a bad mood, I figured, you know, I missed my reps today. I’m in a bad mood, my wife, you know, what’s going on, you know. I understand it’s cancer, I understand I gotta be patient, but I gotta tell you something, I’m really tired of being a little girl. This is a really pissing deal. This is just annoying me.
18:06
And then I open my notes and I look at it and what I thought was a terrible workout, I’d remembered wrong. It was a PR by 10 pounds. Oh my God. By 10 pounds. And I was, I was upset because I was, I had been unreasonable. So that’s why even me, right. It’s not enough to keep our training journal review the journal before we go in the gym.
18:35
Review the journal or we use different methods of controlling intensity. I don’t, I don’t really like percentages. I don’t, I don’t like it. I find it powerlifting specific. Right. I find, and it kind of makes sense for powerlifting to my mind, you’re walking along the edge of a race. Okay. If I fall off this way, it’s okay. If I straddle that razor, it’ll be a happy campus.
19:05
And to me, that’s what they’re doing is, you know, they’re, they’re only, they’re red lining too often. They’re red lining instead of. All right. There’s a period of overload, there needs a period of load and there needs to be a period of under load. And that means you don’t get to kick the tires this day. And I see people not doing that. So it’s super important whether you’re using an SSC, whether you’re doing, uh, you know, a daily training match, whatever it’s going to be, you know,
19:34
where you’re not lighting your hair on fire every single day. That was my biggest complaint with where CrossFit ended up going. And it, I get it. It didn’t start off where it ended up. It started off much more level headed in the early 2000s, but then everyone fell in love with the whiteboard and everyone fell in love with the competition. And then it was a chance for everyone who had never been an athlete to feel like an athlete and they used to just annoying me.
20:04
You know, yeah, we’re, we’re forging elite fitness. Sounds like bullshit. You know how many decades I work in order to create elite athletes and be a lead and you guys made a sweat angel and now you’re elite. And guys, I’m not trying to insult your effort, but it’s not a leak guys. It’s not a leak. In fact, it might be hurting you. We’ve had conversations with the warriors. I didn’t want a podcast with barbell shrub years ago.
20:32
And, you know, according to us, you know, guys, most people, they’re going to eventually have to stop working out because they’re so hurt. And it’s, they can’t train anymore. They want to, and they’re all young and they’re all of them are hurting out and none of them are training. So, you know, are, are they’re doing power yoga or they’re doing, they’re trying to find ways to mitigate the damage that was done instead of, you know, if you’re feeling pain, that’s a very carefully designed.
21:00
evolutionary system to tell you something’s wrong. Yeah. And it’s not, especially if it’s joint related. There’s not as I think everyone would agree, almost all injuries are joint related. Very rare for something to be a muscle belly. Right. Happens. Yeah, happens, but usually it’s someone’s been juicing. Right. And they rip a quad muscle in half. I’ve never seen that in an app.
21:28
Never in my life, but you can start with a big bite on the hour at my quad. Or what will get some yoga people who managed to come in and manage to detach hamstring. There’s no wrong with yoga. I like yoga. It’s just the people is the problem is, and we’ve it’s funny over the years. We’re responsible. Our work, my work’s responsible for. Re-shaped and kind of the face of yoga. Cause now you’ll see them doing posture, your pelvic work. You’ll see them doing joint prep.
21:56
You’ll see them doing protracted handstands, proper shoulders, proper alignment, because they could, they were getting left behind and they did do the right thing. Right. You evolve or you get in the back. You know, and so that’s kind of where, you know, our, my, my new project on Moretown we mentioned briefly out of that CLTN six request, because I’d grown also. And so, you know, which.
22:24
Which weighted exercises are the most productive? Which ones you damage? Should you be dead lifting? I don’t think so. There’s a reason that D1 football programs and NFL programs don’t dead lift. The incidence of injury is very high. Yeah. Okay. Do a trap bar. You’ll clean, you’ll high pool. You all get, in fact, you’ll get more athletic benefit in doing the dead. Okay. But so to my mind.
22:54
Yeah, do it if you like. Okay. And especially, I guess if you’re built for it, but if you’re not built for it, why, why do a flat bench? Why put your shoulders, is this, Marcus, is this internally or externally rotate when I’m laying on a flat bench? This is internally. And turn out feel just if I’m here at this position, how awkward it is compared to external rotation for an incline press. Absolutely.
23:23
Why not do incline? Why, why not just avoid, there’s a reason that power lifters, when they stop competing, stop doing the wide grip flat bench because they hurt so bad. There’s a reason they just have her out overhead press. Okay. Well, I get it if you want to compete, but if you’re not competing and it’s not your thing, why do the abuse, why not do something almost moving the same amount of weight, but much healthier frame.
23:52
with no long-term damage. I absolutely agree. And you were talking earlier, we were mentioning, and I love all this talk about training and performance, but you were mentioning that this is the first interview that you’ve had since your cancer and you were discussing the mindset because we’ve both been through some adversity and it’s very easy for us to go to this place of denial, anger, this victimhood, this poor me, and then
24:20
Some people just live in that place of staying there, but there are people like yourself who already are used to excellence and you demand it more from yourself, even in this like darkness. What is it that makes a person strong enough to get beyond that? And what is it that keeps people there? Is it something that we can learn that we can acquire? Is it a muscle we can build? That is a wonderful question. And I, I didn’t realize it till, uh, visiting with Tim, Tim Ferris, when we were talking about it.
24:49
Tim was the one who pointed out that I’d never gone through. I just tell them, you know, my experience and what I’d done. And he pointed out, I never went through any of those stages. I never went through the denial. I never did any of the anger. This never occurred to me. So either either I’m psychopathic, a sociopath or he was just habitual. Right. Cause it literally never crossed my mind to do it. It was just, no, don’t get me wrong. It sucked. Oh yeah.
25:19
It sucked. It was not my preference, but I was never even the first day in the office. He was like, he was trying to do the cheerleader routine with me. The really bad doc who wanted to cut my throat out. He said, you can do it. You can fight. You can survive. Well, maybe I want to, I want to discuss quality of life after your treatment. It will, that it doesn’t matter. I said, it doesn’t. I’m, I’m going to put effort in.
25:47
I want to know what the end result of this effort is going to be. I’m not some little puppy and I’m just going to wag my tail because you said so. You need to tell me what the, well, you’ll be alive and you’ll be breathing. One of my dad’s greatest regrets was listening to doctors about the care for his mom because the last two years of her life were very poor quality of life. Where he wished with anything he had that he could have gone back in time and told the doctors, you know what? No, thank you. Because.
26:14
Some things just aren’t worth paying the price for. And so, you know, I never, I never went through any of that. My, my response was, all right, here’s what it is. I need to understand this because when they were there for saying, well, we’re going to give you a diagnosis. I look, well, there’s 1500 cases out of 330 million in country. I’m good. I was just going to be tonsillitis. No, I won that lottery. I can’t complain to my, I used to think.
26:43
Why can’t I win the real lottery? I can win that one that I don’t. When then that, that became a, all right. What was the situation here? Are the treatments they’re offering? There’s two choices. I can take their treatment with the end result of inside of that throat is going to peel and turn into tree bark. Never been able to swallow right again. It’s going to probably melt the jaw bone. It’s going to crack all the teeth.
27:11
It’s going to maybe permanently damage my brain. And so me of all people, unable to think, unable to speak, why in the wide father, or I can just know it. It was a good run. It’s about 40 years shorter than I had planned on. So I was never supposed to see 58. I’ll be 60 and eight. Congratulations. I was never supposed to see 58. So, okay. Well, I reject.
27:41
and treatments that are all free. And we were very fortunate. We had, we had a lot of heavy hitters go to bat for me. So, you know, we had appointments for, uh, I was in Mount Sinai in New York. Yeah. We had, uh, in this for Mayo clinic. So we had, we had a lot of, I did get to see the cancer industry from the inside and it is a business. And while there are good doctors there who care.
28:10
Bottom line is it’s a business, it’s $140 billion industry, and they’re heavily invested, heavily invested in putting you on that treadmill and making sure you go through these steps. And so, males thought that I was going to get on the treadmill. And so once you’re in the system, you’re in the system. Right. Look, I had the miracle cure.
28:39
One month I’m dead, I’m going to die. To over this being get ready to have massive brain invasion and brain damage. Can’t do anything. And then literally a month, month and a half later, I’m fine, but I’m in the system and I’m getting calls scheduled from the nurses and selling crimes. It’s just over. I know you’re really hurting, right? So I’ll let you know that we’re here. And I fight. How are you today?
29:10
NINGGA
29:12
Excuse me? This is Christopher’s honor. No, I’m fine. You have a good day. So what we ended up doing was I saw all the damage. So what people don’t realize is that full strength, I ended up doing a one tenth strength chemo. We go to the cities that people want, but full chemo destroys your immune system. And so most people who survive cancer.
29:43
three to five years later, end up getting another kind of cancer. Right. Because their system can’t fight it off. And then just goes, goes, goes, goes. And I was like, well, one, they’re going to do all of this. I’m going to do surgery. They’ll do radiation. I’m going to be maimed. I mean, crippled the unbelief. And I’m still going to get cancer again later and die. So basically I’m going to suffer catastrophically right now, and then have a living death.
30:11
for more years before I finally died for real. No, thank you. No, I’m going to, it was bad. You know, we, we went to, uh, looked around and it was my sister and found a German protocol where people from around the world, um, to get this, uh, gosh, insulin, IPT, maybe insulate insulin, fensiated treatment, something anyway, it ends up being half mile or a mile from my house, travel from around the world to come get
30:41
And what they knew is because cancer lives on carbs. Yeah, sugar. They would drop my blood sugar down into 50s to the low 40s, mid 40s. When it went lower one time, that was a bad scene. But then you get more glucose coming in at the same time you get your chemo and they could get away with one 10th chemo because it goes right to the tumor. Tumor just sucked it up.
31:11
But mind, there were people for those who are out there, if the cancer is small, it works well. I was in treatment one morning and Guy Nexon was just thrilled, right? And I knew my bad point. And he was like, yeah, I mean, I’m like, it just died, it’s gone. And he’s pumped. So he had throat cancer like me, so we’re talking. And I said, how big was your tumor? He said, yeah, the tip of my little finger. He said, how about you, how big is yours? I go.
31:38
He got real quiet in the room. He just, you could just see, you just, they don’t mean it. Basically you’re screwed. So, but it’s slowed it down gradually. So I went from stage two to stage four in that time, limps, everything’s involved, getting ready to hit the brain. And then, uh, now lucky. Cause most docs won’t tell you straight. And I get it. Maybe most people don’t want to hear straight, but if I answer, Pat will ask the question.
32:09
I’m going to damn on this answer. No, that’s going to suck. Tell me it’s going to suck. Don’t, don’t give me the mumbo jumbo of we’ll be here in Kumbaya. There’s no Kumbaya. You’re trying to cut my throat out. Well, we’re Kumbaya out there. There’s no way you can dress that up to make it look like a positive outcome. There just isn’t. Or don’t be here for your children. No, I’m not. I’m not going to be able to move. I can’t talk. Can’t do anything. I’m in agony. All I’m going to become is a bad memory.
32:38
Yes. Because it was the cancer was farther in my family. So we spent this time doing education. There’s no way out. Okay. And I read maybe the IPT will work. Maybe it won’t. It’s not been doing it. Clock’s ticking. So my concern then is I’d already had the financial stuff dialed in from the family. I used to tease my wife. You know what? It’s not a big deal. So yeah, I’m worth more than alive.
33:08
You know, women don’t like to hear that. No, they don’t. Yeah. Well, I almost, I was a few seconds away from dying on a treatment, more one treatment with point bad and, uh, it’s fast, bad reaction to something. It was fast. And, uh, just as tremendous crushing pressure on the chest from, uh, some kind of intravenous treatment. I’m here because one of the male nurses going by, I guess I just turned this.
33:37
white scarlet red, which was a symptom of this reaction. And who knew what to give him. And so I guess they said, you know, one more minute and you’re gone. Well, I thought that was funny as hell. I thought that was great. So we’re in our, we got our big panel of docs and they’re doing the review. And, you know, I said, you know, that was a missed opportunity. Cause you gotta remember, I still got this gigantic tumor and I’m still going to bite it and it’s a slow lingering.
34:06
team death. I mean, there’s no dignity to it. There’s no dignity to it. And so I was like, yeah, missed opportunity. You know, I was 60 seconds away from getting to miss all that crap. I said, I’m going in now. I was so close to getting the free out and the docs like, dude, seriously? Right. Okay. I was like, you know, you’re, you’re in the medical profession. I’m next military and a national team.
34:35
You’re supposed to have a dark sense of humor too. Right. Some gallows humor here. Yeah. You’re not, you’re not, you’re not hold up your end of the bargain. Not aid, I didn’t care. So it just became a, there are things to get done. How can I make my family’s life easier for me working? You know, how can life insurance, everything there’s millions there, they’re all good. So then how can I transition the business over to them? So if they choose to make and keep it going.
35:05
What new materials can I create for them? Do you have, how can, what, what can I do? And obviously still super hard on him. I’m sure I was a grump, but I’m a grump at the best of times. So I’m sure cancer didn’t, didn’t turn me into, you know, Prince charming. But, um, I don’t ever remember feeling angry. I don’t ever remember feeling whining the bitter, but
35:33
I also, I don’t think I can take credit for any of that. I don’t, I don’t, I don’t think it was this wonderful internal strength and I was aspiring to all this. It never occurred to me. It never occurred to me to run off and live up life. And I’m got these, and they told me after, you know, the girls are on yet I never wanted to go on being vacation or whatever. We’re on trip. This is me time and never crossed my mind. It was all about.
36:04
what can I do for my family? Because that’s what I’m most proud of in the world, right? That’s what is most important to me. And the other stuff is just stuff, second. And so that’s, that was, was on my mind. Maybe it was just all the years of always just being pragmatic. It was just another problem. And being upset wasn’t gonna do anything. Now, it was kind of like nationals, right? Where…
36:34
Technically, it’s another day.
36:39
just another routine. The reality of it, you’re doing a routine wearing that concrete dust, which is just immense pressure crushing on you. And the only way to learn how to handle that is for training to be absolutely as hard as possible, psychologically as well, maybe more psychologically than physically. So Olga Corvett
37:08
I was busy with the Lozarchep, my buddy who was Olympic champion, world champion at 16. Dimitri is very stony, but they kept putting Dimitri and I as ringmates at national team camps for years, for years. We’re just, we’re ringmates. And at first, you know, first couple of years, not a lot going on. And then one year we’re there, it’s evening, seven or eight. We’ve had our aim.
37:36
We’ve done our two-week trainings, all our meetings through the day, we’ve had dinner. We’re done, we’re in our room, we’re shutting down. And Dmitry goes, you know, I can’t do his accent, right? So, it’s a math-ment. It’s a math-ment. I’d like to hear more about that symptom. Because the Russians will never tell you specifics, ever. Dmitry is the only one. They’ll give you a little piece without context. Right. And then when you find out later, it’s one piece.
38:06
out of 17 pages on single space pages. And they gave me this one, like, Oh, here, here you go. So Demetri starts talking, right. Right. I, although a computer, he keeps talking to like two in the morning. Wow. I finally pass out. I think he kept talking as well. He was on a roll. He was, he was on a roll. But one of the things we discussed was.
38:36
Why did Olga Corbett have a meltdown at the 72 Olympics? Because in training…
38:45
She hit 98% of her routines. That’s as close to perfect as you can get. Absolutely. 98%. Yet when she got to the meat, fell over her ass. Tears, pictures are all famous of her crying while smiling and all this stuff. And what they figured out was, when she was training, training was too pleasant.
39:11
Training wasn’t stressful enough. So the judges waited until she was ready. For those who have never been to a world in Olympics, they don’t wait for jacks. They don’t care about you. This is a highlight of your life. You’re just another routine. They got a score that day. They don’t get a gym. So you’re in the warmup gym in another area. And at this particular point, they weren’t allowing one touch warmups on the equipment.
39:42
It wasn’t until Simone Biles complained, they finally changed the rule. So you would have to, in fact, Bondur ankle broke his back because of that. I didn’t tell her guys that. Well, the early 2000s, he broke his back and vault finals, but, uh, cause they had to warm up on two separate vaults, two different vaults. You’re in a back room in a separate gym where the equipment is the same technically, but everything feels different, but then they walk you down a concrete hallway where you stand and you wait.
40:14
till they’re ready. And then they’re gonna raise their green flag and you got 30 seconds.
40:21
to get up and crush it or fall over your ass like, Oh, get it. Right. So then what the Russian coach has figured out. So when they have, when they have a rushing cook, when there’s an athlete coming up in the hay gate, there was the personal coach, the head cook will work with the athlete. It’s that athlete belongs to that coach. And the Russian coaches bust at me all the time because they would want to start with a group of 10 athletes as little guys.
40:51
And then as they’re growing up through a team, athletes drop out for various reasons. They drop out and they’ll end up with two or three. And then they’ll start over again and we’ll do it again. And so a great coach might have three generations, four, if he’s really got a lot of endurance. Well, my Russian friends would come over. How many boys you work with? That was the only coach they liked in the U S.
41:22
Which really pissed the other national team coach. Really pissed him off. They would, I’d say, I got 50 boys. No. Yes. And then one word, I stayed sponsored. I said two.
41:40
This is America.
41:43
I believe everyone deserves a shot. Everyone deserves a shot. Some hit the road running when they’re young, but maybe they turn out later. Others are not much to speak of. And then hit their prime later on summer studs, the whole way. Others are worthless the entire time. I’ve seen the gamut of everything. And I do still believe that. And.
42:14
What, what the Russians and everyone else can understand is why American athletes enjoy their sport because they don’t, right. And you’re not enjoying it. And they don’t really like their teammates. It’s business. Business. If I do well, I get, I get paid. I do really well. We get an apartment. I do great. They give me my other shooting cars. Okay. That we would never accept in a learning. And.
42:42
But everything is predicated upon performance and results. In the nineties, I was just like that also was all results, all results, all results. One day I realized it’s just honors me. This feels wrong. Wrong. That if I have 10 athletes in a bird, give them either best.
43:04
One is the winner and nine are losers. Even if they did their best. And it really bothered me. It just really bothered me. And I’m super competitive. I’m super competitive. So I changed everything what I do in the gym. Everything became about best effort. What that athlete was capable of. I didn’t care the score. I go out and play some laps.
43:34
And it was their best effort and they stuck their landing as a hit routine. And so we put this stuff together, six events, six possible hits. The guys would boys love structure. Boys love to compete with each other and they’re big on seniority. Right. Cause we’re, we’re tribal animal, right? Tribal animal, we’re social standing. And so whoever, whatever level.
44:04
Had six hits, got to be lined up in the front of the line. You can always line everybody up. So the guy who did the best in the meet was in the front. They work our way down. And then I’d have a national team athlete in the middle of the line and some little eight year old lead in the front. You know, and technically this guy’s doing way harder skills. He shouldn’t be in the front. So yeah, but he didn’t give me the same level of what he’s capable of as his athlete in the front. I would tell you, men.
44:34
We’re not just here to be athletes. I’m training you to be young men. If you’re gonna be just another athlete, the last thing the world needs is another knuckle-draggers with the medals and medals. I said, excuse me guys, but no one gives a damn. You’re not good for yourself, you’re not good for society, you’re not good for your family. You basically have no value. Because then your value you bring to the table is what make up yourself.
45:03
And you’re not, you’re not a little girl who’s cute and everyone loves her right away. You’re a young man. You have no value, but what you create. So I want to see you best within this wall, these walls, I’m going to reward your best effort outside the walls. And they’re not going to care later. You go to your boss and blow a project and he loses a million dollars. He’s not going to give a damn. Then you did your best and you’re going to have to wait. I said, that’s even later.
45:31
Right now, before you could do your best later, you got to do your best in that. It’s the strangest thing. I’d already been dominating everywhere I went, but in kids on national team, the year where I quit looking at scores, we won like 50 state titles that year. We won everything because the boys were no longer worried about things out of their control.
46:00
control if someone’s more talented than them. You can’t control that. All you can control is what you’re doing with a hand of cards you’ve been dealt. That’s the only thing you got control of. Maybe it’s good, maybe it’s not. That’s the truth. And what do we find if we had this idea and we get it backwards in society, especially today, I’m worried about this person’s opinion. I’m trying to control what they think. But by doing that, what do I do? I just completely abandoned what I can actually control. I worry about the weather. I worry about…
46:30
Cancer was great. Absolutely. Right. Cancer. You know this, you get a lot of hangers on the more successful you get, you get, you get a periphery. Yes. But cancer was kind of the acid test because who’s there when you’re not in the line one. Who’s there when it’s dark. Who’s there when it’s nothing in it for them at all. Who takes the time. One friend
47:00
blew in because he knew my time in the earth was short. Run the zone is hard for him to come. Now it happened to be, I was already in recovery and tumor gulfed it. Met him at the airport. He was like, dude, what? I don’t understand. In fact, I ate my first meal with him. Well, yeah, cause I couldn’t open the jar. The tumor was too big. He was all seized. Well, that was, that was kind of a emotional meal. And wow.
47:29
This is, this is cool. Amazing. You know, but I think it was that focus on best effort to get, come back around when we were, it was that focus on best effort that when cancer struck, it had become, I mean, this was in the nineties, we’re looking at nineties, 2000, 2010. We’re going to 30 years of habitual. We do our best. Day in day out. So then when it came.
48:00
prices. I can’t take credit for it. It was just, I did what I’d been, what I’d always done. And then after Tim was like, yeah, that was amazing. We had to talk about it for quite a while, actually. The first time I don’t know, I learned in China, it’s just, it’s what everybody does. Now people do this, people do that, they get up to that in this school. I don’t know. It literally never crossed my mind. So, athletically,
48:30
financially, spiritually, if you want. It’s a universal core principle. Is that once, once you’ve done it in one arena, you can do it in others as long as you don’t artificially limit yourself. The thing we have to, we have to encourage people to stop settling for being. And you can.
48:53
Educated is not good enough. And I’ll, I’ll write it through the gamut. We’ve got sub literate. We’ve got a literate. They can read enough to function. We’ve got educated, but most of the educated have just memorized. Right. They regurgitate something they know for a moment, put it on paper, move on to the next thing. They don’t have it. Even maybe in their professional life. Right. I know the law school.
49:22
Right. And a lot of doctors fall in this category. Hey, where I can use the material that greater minds that have come before me have understood and shared. I don’t really understand it. So like, you know, I can’t build an iPad. Right. I can push the button. Okay. So a lot of people settle for being educated instead of going that next step of being intelligent.
49:51
And intelligent now, now we’re trying and I’ll, I’ll back educate. It might have a bit of this, but in a very specialized niche, whatever their specialty is, and they’re kind of helpless outside of that. Right. That’s why you see a lot of financial people will prey on doctors. Yes. Because what they’ve learned is hard to do in their specialty and they think they’re hot shit outside that special. And they’re not, which makes them easy marks. Okay. So some shameless people take advantage.
50:21
Well, Intelligent now is going to start trying to look for patterns, patterns of recognition. How do things relate? Things that on the surface aren’t necessarily obviously connected. And then if we get up into the genius level, then they’re looking for underneath the foundation, how is everything all connected?
50:51
This is why, you know, a standard deviation and an IQ of 16 points. So this is why it’s real hard sometimes that someone’s as an IQ, an average IQ of a hundred, understand what someone has 145 is talking about. They’re talking about core principles and they’re like, I just don’t want to get run over when I cross the street.
51:12
And you’re like, no, it works like this. And I met the law and I’m like 145. As far as geniuses go, I’m like, I’m the ghetto of geniuses. Cause you know, everybody goes so far above me that it’s ridiculous. I kind of look at them. Okay. I know they feel good. I have no idea what the hell you’re just saying. I have no clue. But if we can, even if we just take my daughter, for example, she, by proper training.
51:39
has improved almost two standard deviations now in IQ.
51:45
just by probably training. And so if we can take charge of our own lives in terms of education, professional development, athletic training, family, and that’s where I’m always interested in, I’m looking forward to having a conversation with you, that’s what I do at 10. There’s too much hero worship in the world. Absolutely. They call it, what do they call it?
52:14
teleprateriate or something like that. People are worshiping celebrities. I’m not interested in that. I’ve never been interested in that. What I’m interested in is that’s awesome how you did that. Now, how do I do?
52:31
How do I learn to do that? That’s why I love Steven Pressfield’s story. Yes. Right. 13 years of everyone telling me you are the worst writer in the world. You, we wouldn’t fit what you’re writing on paper towels. It’s so bad. Right. I want to learn what you do. And hey, he starts writing at 10 o’clock. Yep. And he’s going to write from those few hours.
53:00
When it starts quality dropping off, done. Maybe he keeps it. Maybe he doesn’t. Or some that stuck with me was the singer bond. Jokey. Same thing. True. You would think he’s a rock, long haired rock singer. Remember anything from this guy? Perfectionist perfectionist. He drove people insane because he might spend six months getting a three minute song or.
53:28
Now the most important thing, I already had that hard work. Yeah. Most important thing I learned from Bon Jovi was to be project oriented because the way their cycle goes, so what we’ll compare Bon Jovi to journey. Okay. Steve Perry and journey walks away at the height of their fame. Walks away after seven years. Can’t do it anymore. There was a non ending. Yes. Studio.
53:58
tour, writing studio tour, writing for seven years. On Jodie then did not made it to studio, but writing studio tour one year off. Yes. I don’t see you. I will talk to you. And that was, that was so helpful to me because now my life nationally runs in punch.
54:29
And the project may run a year, it may run three months. And then when I’m not on a project, there’s no guilt of it’s downtime. That’s it. We intellectually sprint with this knowledge that we have this, this waiting for us. So what happens now? We don’t subconsciously hold back because we know I have six months or a year. I give everything. I have to reach this level of excellence because you know, on the other side of you have this, but if we don’t, it’s not sustainable. The quality drops off.
54:58
It gets watered down. We start questioning ourself. We start questioning what we’re doing. And now all of a sudden we can’t even tell up from down. And we’re in this loop with this anxiety, this fear, this lack of understanding. Dead, deadlines are a good thing. Without a deadline time means nothing. I w I will say, I learned this the hard way. There are very few self starters in the world.
55:26
There are very few people who can hold themselves accountable without someone in a position of authority telling them to show up and what to do. As I always thought when I was first starting our business, it was just a lack of opportunity because my mentor, he was like, Chris, I’ve done hundreds of people over the years and you’re the only successful one I’d ever trained.
55:57
So you’re the old one. And, but I already had the habits. I just needed the skills that are to implement because they take things for grants that regular people never see. How to manage money, how you’re going to manage your tongue. What resources to report a wage site, never seen stuff. And I would, I would talk with Rob, I said, sir, you don’t understand your take this for granted because you grew up with it. It was mother’s milk.
56:27
I’ve never seen any of this. I had no clue this stuff existed. I don’t. But so when we start hiring staff, I’m just looking for good people and I’m expecting people keep up with me. And they’re trying, they’re good people, they’re trying. But it’s literally frying their brains. They’re so stressed.
56:56
You’re like, coach, just tell me what you want me to do. Just tell me what you want me to do and I’ll do it. I’ll do it coach. I’ll do whatever you need me to do. I said, well, yeah, but you’re missing the point. If I’m outlining the problem and outlining the solutions, why do I need you?
57:15
I don’t, you’re, that’s not an executive. An executive is I have this problem. On Wednesday, bring me three options to consider. Maybe I take them, maybe we don’t, but I need you to do the legwork. Can’t a lot of people can’t. And so I learned that it was, it was my fault because if I’m more capable, it’s my job to adjust my speed to where they’re.
57:45
reasonably challenged without destroying and then to not to promote too fast. While still getting the cream and opportunity to rise. Cause the cream always rises. People got to understand this if they’re not where they want to be. Maybe they’re like cream.
58:06
And that two things will happen when they hear that the guy who is cream. He’s going to go rod and S O B I feel myself proving you wrong. I would work my fingers to the bone. I was stolen one tree. He has a attitude because it’s cream. The other ones will take it personal. He’s main is harsh. It’s not fair.
58:36
We’re all equal under the eyes of the Lord. No, I’m sorry guys. We’re not. I train all my athletes exactly the same. But why do I have one that’s an alternate Olympic team and another one who goes to state, they did the same exercises, the same girls, the same hours, same moon, same demand.
59:05
What it is is it’s not nurture or nature, it’s woke. I can’t nurture what nature didn’t give you.
59:16
can’t. If you’re colorblind…
59:20
can’t make you Picasso. No. Not gonna happen. Or maybe you got, you’re slow. Sorry, slow is forever. Can’t fix slow. Yeah. Yeah, tight I can fix. What if someone’s naturally flexible? Almost always they’re weak. At a high level of athletics, not Joe Schmoly. We’re talking, we’re talking world-class performance.
59:51
They’re always going to be weak. I can make some organs tight, reading them. So they’re just some things that are nature gave it or didn’t. Now, what we encourage then is there’s a really good book called I want to see freak fact.
01:00:13
Um, the premise is basically go with your strength.
01:00:20
whatever you’re naturally gifted at.
01:00:25
What you’re weak at is never going to match it. Whatever your gift is run with it. Run with it. It now it’s not a blank check to ignore your weaknesses. Yeah. And you try, you try to bring them on you best, but whatever your strength is, you’re a great athlete, you’re a great writer, you’re a great speaker. You’re an artist, you’re great at business. It doesn’t matter whatever your best at. This is your winning hand.
01:00:55
Okay, go for it.
01:00:59
The sad part is sometimes people don’t enjoy what they’re best at. And that, you know, that breaks my heart for them. I’m sorry when I see it and it happens. And that was, I’ve seen some musicians that one instructor was a graduate at the St. Petersburg, it was St. Petersburg, it was Leningrad and it was St. Petersburg. And she had graduated from the St. Petersburg Conservatory of Music and was instructing one of my daughters.
01:01:30
Doesn’t she enjoys it, but she’s not passionate about it. And, but she’s pretty talented and we put everything off till the week before a reciter and then turn in a flawless performance and it would drive her instructor, she’s like, this can’t be done. What you’ve done can’t be done. People can’t do this. And I was like, sweetie, you’re really talented.
01:02:01
cheating chair because it wasn’t a passion. So in a perfect world, your gift and your passion alone. Right. And okay. Now you can run with it. What if it doesn’t? Uh, maybe this is me. Now a little bit of military, but you know, shut up and do it anyway. And you learn to love it. And you were too immature when it’s.
01:02:30
Maybe you didn’t understand. Right. So I don’t know. I go back and forth. I do know you can’t force someone regardless of how talented to become a champion. You can’t demand excellence. It is ultimately an individual choice. That’s so true. Coach. I could talk to you for hours. I have talked to you.
01:02:59
I cannot wait to have an additional conversation with you later on. Where can we learn more about everything that you’re doing? Where can we learn some of this work? Do we follow you on social media? Do we go to gymnasticbodies.com? Great question. Gymnasticbodies.com will be our body weight fitness programs. Yes. I highly recommend them for everybody. Very interesting that we have.
01:03:29
pre-designed programs they can just cookie cut or follow. Yes. There are others where the middle programs allow them to go in and have control over their variables. What exercises do I want? And it all creates all along videos for them. What sets and reps do I want? Okay. There’s nothing like it anywhere in the world. And then there’s also where they can go in and basically get it, you know, build your own EYL. Like bring your own gear. But, uh,
01:03:58
They can use our system allows them to use our entire library, all our mobility exercises and create their own programs. That is body weight focused along with the mobility on different levels of equipment needed, depending on where they choose they can start with just more space. If they want to follow me personally, I recommend on Instagram is where I’m most active at Christopher summer one. I kind of share whatever I find interesting there.
01:04:27
So once in a while it’ll hurt people’s feelings. There’ll be some politics. I don’t do it too often. If I post some Jordan Peterson, there’s always several addicts. Uh, but most of it is going to be prep is going to be what I find interesting politically, philosophically, literature, whatever I find interesting. Um, we do have a forthcoming podcast that, um, I’m looking forward to putting you on the list there. Can’t wait. Yeah. This is going to be fun.
01:04:57
I am getting close now to releasing the program that started off as the CLT-6 program. And that is basically a hybrid program of energy system work, weighted work, bodyweight work. And it’s about, it’s not powerlifting, it’s not bodybuilding, it’s not just calisthenics. It’s about increasing athletic performance. That’s all I’m interested in, is athletic performance.
01:05:26
Depending on their phenotype, their genetics, you can tweak some stuff for hypertrophy and that, but it’s not designed as a body weight, as a bodybuilding program. That is not as intent. It’s about increasing performance. So that’s something they’re interested in. Uh, it looks like I’ll eventually have to quit fiddling with it because I’m perfecting this, I keep, I keep tweaking stuff, but, um, I’ll probably do that. As a, um, a gateway program.
01:05:55
Beautiful. Using Mighty Networks where it’ll have a subscription portal. It won’t be cheap. They’re looking right now. It’ll probably be quarterly memberships. 350. Yeah. So we’re looking for people who are serious and who want to work. It’s got a nice note from Jim. He likes something crazy. I said, but what, what, what this one, some of my first book I did building a domestic body.
01:06:23
which is where you reached out when you saw that old, that someone had done a nice beam of it, of the cover, which is sitting over there in my first cover. I didn’t give them programming. I gave them progressions. Right. And so the unwashed masses were upset that I didn’t get them programmed. Well, then on our, on our first timeline program, I gave them follow this programming well now they’re upset that I gave them program. Okay.
01:06:52
Guys, you drive me crazy. So then in our current gymnastics body’s iteration, I need both. So then in this new program, the gym fit program, it is a mixture of both. I’m giving them the principles of training that I built the programs with. Multiple levels of entry recommended levels of strength before jumping in, but they can disregard these if they want because they’re adults.
01:07:22
And then I also want to encourage them, you know, guys, here are the basics, here are the templates and there’s a lot that I have free built for you. The purpose of this has also had a community. So, Hey, you know what coach I did this combination and I got this result. And we want that. So it’s going to be another own self-dream. That goal is for this to be an enclosed community. Minimize the chatter from the outside.
01:07:51
I’m not interested in being Moses coming down from the mountain with the 10 commandments, but you know, guys here, here are the principles that I have found hopeful, feel free to build your own here are training cycles I like, and that will follow as a general principle. But if you can convince me that your way is also viable, I’m good with that. I’ll I’ll I’ll incorporate that in a heartbeat.
01:08:20
And so that’s what this is. We want to continue to do best practices. It may not be the right time, but we used to do a really popular, always sold out our seminars. Probably going to restart those again. I’m old and lazy, so we’ll probably make them come out here. Arizona. That’s okay. Arizona is a great place to go everyone. And then I’m rebuilding out my personal gym. So, uh,
01:08:49
Probably I’ve restricted it for the last year as what just military, I in military and pro athletes. And I’m kind of looking forward to bringing in a few people at a time for some training. It’ll be a pricey, you know, the expense, I won’t charge them 20 grand, but it’ll have at least, you know, five grand price tag, so, you know, I want them to be vested in what they’re learning. So that.
01:09:18
And I want to see progress. And so just, just for the people who are considering, be aware that. If I’ll throw an Olympian out of the gym for not working hard, uh, I won’t bat an eye at us in the average jail, but I am all about best effort. Absolutely. I did, I did have one last thing. I did have one young man who had lost a hundred pounds and showed up at my, one of my seminars. Wow. And I.
01:09:48
I work people hard. Now we’re Seth Grayning, presentation and hands on now. But he still probably had another 100 pounds to lose.
01:10:00
I was just so damn impressed with his attitude that he was so weak that he had actually mobility was his workout. And he had the balls come. And so, you know what? I’ve got all the time, you know, feel free to, whatever reason, you know, there’s a lot of people I work with around the world, you know, under short stuff who DM me on Instagram with them have a bit of mercy, you know, but
01:10:28
A lot, a lot of times I enjoy that and we picked up some pro athletes. One, one picture right now we’re working with, we just wanted to ask a question. You know, we kind of, well, it led to some really good things for him. We’re probably going to extend his career by quite. But you know, bottom line is if people are coming in with a good attitude and are wanting to do their best and then, you know, am I, you know, Oh, right. Coach.
01:10:57
Christopher Summer, thank you so much again. Again, I look forward to many more conversations with you in the future.
