Barbell Shrugged - The Godfather of American Weightlifting: Mike Burgener - TALKING DEPTH (The FULL DEPTH Aftershow)

Episode Date: November 9, 2016

This is Talking Depth the after show to FULL DEPTH.  So if you haven't watched the latest episode in our FULL DEPTH series w/ Mike Burgener, go watch that first then come back!

We just finished watching probably, I don't want to say the most epic yet today because I don't want to short any of the other full-depth episodes. No, you can say that. This episode was attributed to Mike Bergener. And wow. Like, this was absolutely insane. I got goosebumps the whole time. I couldn't. I got my phone.

I was writing on notes. Like, I don't know where to start with how impactful this is going to be when people see it. And especially to someone so deserving. Oh yeah, yeah.

That's what I mean. This is the after show, so like if you haven't seen it, spoiler alert's coming. We're going to talk about it now, so go watch that first. It's on Barbell Shrug YouTube,

BarbellShrug.com. Don't expect to be at Kong. I can get you. Tackle you, take you. Work you up. Put you in a cage. Make you feel all my rage. What was it called again? It was Camp Kill Yourself.

Yeah, it was Brandon DiCamillo, wasn't it? So that's different than the thing we were singing? The Asian rap was different. That was different. Tie My Shoe? Yeah, yeah. My name is Tie My Shoe. What's up, everybody? I think it was like a one-off, wasn't it? 99. That was different. That was different. Tie my shoe? Yeah, yeah. My name is Tie my shoe. What's up, everybody?

I think it was like a one-off, wasn't it? 99 Cent at McDonald's. At McDonald's. McDonald's. Oh, my God. I don't believe it. You pulling it up? Oh, Mike's pulling it up.

So simple. So simple. There you go. Put it on your mic. All right. All right. What's up, everybody? My name is Ty My Shoe.

And I am going to rapping for you today. Just a little freestyle. But first and foremost, I like to thank you. Woody, please look out for Pam for getting my belt back and helping me promote Sin My Shoe. Cheers. And in return, I will teach them how to make $1 million. Wow. And when you hear it, you'll be like, wow.

I don't believe. I don't believe. So simple. No skill involved at all. I don't want to laugh too loud. Oh, yeah, we can't laugh too loud. You know what? At least he's a gentleman and wrote a nice email about it.

He wasn't like, those effing eff suckers. Eff suckers. Can I fart in the mic? Suck an eff. All kinds of hate.

Go suck an eff. I got my favorite email. With your big black laugh. My favorite hater was this week on YouTube.

The guy who called us little cock suckers. That's what I'm talking about. Props to that guy if he's watching. That actually made me laugh. That made alluckers. Oh, yeah. That's what I'm talking about. Pause that guy if he's watching. Yeah. That actually made me laugh.

It made all of us laugh. I laughed. Nothing's worse than a shitty troll comment. It's just like, your language is bad. Okay, cool, whatever. But this guy was like, these little cocksuckers. That's funny. These guys are little cocksuckers.

I'm about to unsubscribe. He's about to unsubscribe. I love how other folks. So he's probably still here. I wanted to go on and log in and be like, you're not going to unsubscribe because you're a pussy. I bet you won't do it. Just to see if he did it.

Well, I love how other people came in and were like, well, it's just unsubscribe, dude. You ain't got to tell everybody about it. That was just the obvious thing. Hey, everyone look at me. Who's coming with me, man? That's what I was going to say. Who's coming with me? All I want's what I was going to say. Who's coming with me?

All I want to know is. What were people saying? They were like, you don't have to tell us you're going to do it. I'm going to unsubscribe soon right after I go to this corn concert. Well, if he unsubscribes, he's going to miss this awesome episode. Or this episode for the depth. That's what we should have said. So wait a minute.

How are you going to know what comes out next week? Yeah. If you're unsubscribed. He's going to miss this one. This one's amazing. And what It's going to be like, so wait a minute. How are you going to know what comes out next week? Yeah. If you're unsubscribed. He's going to miss this one. This one's amazing. And what's he going to be missing? He's going to be missing this week's Talking Depth. That's right.

Welcome, ladies and gentlemen. I'm your host, Mike McGoldrick, here with Alex Macklin. Wow, that was a smooth intro. Yeah. CTP and Coach Kurt Mulliken. I don't know why I threw the coach only in front of you. Like I don't have enough name already. It's kind of short, so I wanted to beef it up a little.

Actually, not really. Yeah, so we just finished. Hold up. And we got Steven Caserta. Oh, man, I'm so sorry. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, there you go. Steven's in our Shrug Strength Challenge program.

Oh, that's his signal. It's a thumbs up. Yeah, yeah. TGP does a shocker brawl. We invited Steven to come hang out with us this weekend. He's in our Shrug Strength Challenge program. He's in our Strong Strength Challenge program. He's from Syracuse, New York. Yeah, man.

Steven's been badass. And he does video. He does video, so it's perfect. We were sitting here, and this is usually audio only. I was like, fuck, throw the camera on. You know what? People are going to be like, I was wondering why that video was so steady. Such a smooth hand.

He wasn't digging his butthole the whole time. Far behind the mic. Speaking of comments, someone once was like, CTP, please can you hold the camera so I'm going to throw up? I think you get a lot of, yeah, because the cameraman has ADHD. Possibly, too. We film in a gym. It's hot in there. You have to dig in your

shit a lot. I see you do it. Why don't you film and not pick your b-hole yeah so oh my gosh back to it back to the topic I had such a great intro

and then now it's just derailed all over again that's gonna happen we just finished watching probably I don't wanna say the most epic yet today cause I don't wanna

to short any of of the other full depth episodes but no you can say that. This episode was attributed to Mike Bergner. And wow. Like, this was absolutely insane.

I got goosebumps the whole time. I couldn't – I got on my phone. I was writing on notes. Like, I don't know where to start with how impactful this is going to be when people see it. And especially to someone so deserving. Yeah. You know, before we dive to it,

is there anything else I need to mention before we all start talking about our thoughts on the show? No, open it up. Word. So, you know, first thing that comes to mind after watching that show is... Well, if you haven't watched it, if you haven't watched it, definitely go watch it.

Oh, yeah, yeah. That's what I mean. This is the after show, so if you haven't seen it, spoiler alert's coming. We're going to talk about it now, so go watch haven't seen it, spoiler alerts coming. We're going to talk about it now, so go watch that first. It's on BarbellStruck YouTube, BarbellStruck.com. When we interviewed Justin Thacker a few months ago, I was so fired up because I just love how genuine and passionate he is about coaching people.

He's like, I'm just figuring out the business because I just want to keep doing what I love. When you watch this episode with Mike, it is so freaking obvious how genuine his coaching is and how much he does it because he loves it. He's been a coach his whole life and everything else just kind of falls into place because of that. He's in it for the right intentions and it's just a beautiful thing. And then also, when we see these episodes like this, I'm like, man, like, this guy's

not asking for this attention. You know, it's just something that's so deserved and perfect timing. Earned. I would say earned. Earned. Earned. Absolutely. You know, and like, I don't see him as being the guy like, you guys come out and film,

you know, I got a lot of things I want to say. Like, no, like, he just gives, gives, gives knowledge. You know, he's got people there all the time. He's coaching people all the time. And he's not stopping. You know, it doesn't look like he's done anytime soon. Well, I mean, weightlifting is his passion. I mean, he said it on the episode.

I've met Mike. I went to Mike's gym last year, like after the CrossFit Games. And, yeah, man, everything that he was saying on the episode about, you know, his past for weightlifting and teaching and all of his philosophies on coaching weightlifting. I mean, he's he basically says that's that's who he is and that that's what he says, like all the time when you go and ask him, like, you know, what do you say to all the people that, you know, teach differently? He's like, you know, if you come to my gym, you know, I'm going to teach you this way, but there's a lot of other places. And I was – and when I went there, that was one of the main things that stuck out to me is because, you know, a lot of weightlifting coaches that have been around the game for a long time, you know, they're very, very sad in their ways. And Coach Berger definitely does have his way of teaching, but he's so open-minded.

Yeah. And Coach Berger definitely does have his way of teaching, but he's so open-minded, and he wants everybody to learn as much as they can about the sport because, honestly, he just loves the sport, and he just wants to spread the message of the sport. He doesn't really care where you get it from. He just wants you to learn about it, and that's what he comes across, like talks about in this episode. That's where his passion is. He just loves this sport.

He eats, sleeps, and breathes it. message was great i'll start yeah no you hear it you hear people say stuff like you whatever you put out into the universe like it comes back to you and like it and and you hear people say that all the time but but this you really see it like what he's what he's put out there and all the good that he's created and how it just comes back to him. And he lives in it. So awesome. And very few people get to live that life or experience, experience that because they don't, nobody commits like he has to a purpose of the higher for, for as long as he has. And you know what? Yeah, he, he could, you know, uh, narrow his, his reach to people that he teaches. But you heard him say on that show, he's like, I'm looking at the big picture, you know.

It took out of context, but I'm going after your children. Like, he's looking long term. You can't edit that line out. Yeah, because he loves, like, he loves. Well, his thing is stardom young, man. Yeah, like, he loves the sport, and he wants to reach so many people that this is his way of casting his net he could easily you know do one-on-one coaching charge you know whatever because he's free because he's because he's fucking the one of the best coaches in the sport he could charge 300 an hour people would pay it he could do that and shut the door and not share

anything he's not doing that no he is just giving sharing yeah and look how many people it's impacted because of it and now he's got a movie made after him. It's so funny because you think what he does is he focuses on the individual, like whoever was in there. We'll come back to that in a minute. But he gives so much attention that you could argue, well, he doesn't have the time to give that to everybody, so he's not helping the masses, right?

Whereas there's other people out there, like maybe even us, Barbell Shrugged to a degree, that we put out information, out information other people put out but we're not on that personal personal level all the time with all the people who listen to us yeah uh i'm not making any sense yeah but you would you would think okay well because he's doing that he's going to only affect this thing but no it's like yeah it just goes out and out yeah his his whole the whole concept of paying it forward i mean he he does it because you know know, he wants to teach. Like when he said in the episode, he's like he wants to teach the athlete, you, that, you know, your technique wasn't that good. I'm going to teach you so that you go and teach your athletes.

And then your clients have kids and you teach them about the sport. And that's how it grows. And that's – he wants it. Because he loves the sport, he just wants it to grow. Yeah. And, you know, that's him, you know, paying – he's all about that paying it forward. And that's essentially – even if he can affect one person, well, that one person is going to affect another person,

and it's just going to exponentially grow. And that's how he sees it. And I think that's totally true. Like, what's that – I can't remember that one quote. It's like, I mean, yeah, if you effect a lie of one person, you've essentially changed the world, you know? So I think that's one of his key philosophies. You ever seen the butterfly effect with Ashton Kutcher?

Yeah. Same thing. Essential theme of this episode was legacy, I feel like. And, you know, Coach Bergener, his mentor, I don't know what you call that, mentor, teacher rather, was Father Lang. And, you know, Father Lang was this old school strength dude like in Notre Dame who taught Coach Bergener how to weightlift. And now Coach Bergener is taking Father Lang's teachings and teaching that to everybody else. And now we have presented Father Lang's stuff through Mike Bergener. I wish we could go talk to that dude. It's about legacy.

It's crazy. Because of this internet and all this stuff like this and knowledge being free and open and everywhere, even though Father Lang's not here, his words and teachings are going to live on. Same thing with Mike Berger. Yeah, you know what? When it comes to CrossFit, who better of an ambassador for the sport to bridge that gap that there was between weightlifting and CrossFit?

Oh, for sure. Like, hearing him talk about the progress from, you know, people doing clean and jerks for time and, like, Isabel and Grace when that first came out, and he was like, no. How did that – because you – how did that feel with you? Since I came – Well, no, like, I remember when we were watching, you kind of were like, oh, yeah, people need to hear this.

Well, it's one of those, it's because we haven't seen it before and it's not our way, it's wrong, you know? And he's like, and he admitted he was kind of that way at first, you know, but it's like, it's just a great testament

to see someone who can accept change like that and actually apply it into meshing the sport so well. Because, like, the way that CrossFit has helped the sport of weightlifting in the United States grow and blow up, and then how the sport of weightlifting has helped make people better CrossFitters and enjoy the sport more. And, like, oh, man. Like, it's just, I think that he was just the right selection for it,

for the coach to come in and actually be the person in the middle to actually merge both worlds. Yeah. Well, I think Doug asked him, like, why are some other coaches didn't accept it as readily. Yeah. I can't remember what Bergener answered, but, yeah, I mean, Bergener was the main one that really just got involved with CrossFit.

Like, I can't think of – He probably had to give and take a little, you know? Yeah. I mean, I'm sure because, you know, he's a purist. He comes from – and I totally understand that. Like, he comes from a weightlifting background. He's like, what is this? Like, you're going to do 30 snatches per time and make it look just terrible?

He's like, no, no, no, no, no. Like, he didn't say like no you don't do that because that's not what you do because this is weightlifting i'm just going to teach you how to do it better but he also risked a lot by doing that that's it up yeah the weight lifting community the way it is yes and these old coaches he put a lot on the line he gave yeah to get that message out there yeah you know matt he talks about the first time he went to the first course he taught for CrossFit, and nobody could overhead squat with a PVC.

And, like, if you were so stuck to your guns on how things are supposed to be and the way you know how to teach weightlifting, like, it could have been a disaster. You could have turned off every one of those people to weightlifting. And that's an opportunity he saw to say, like, you know what? Like, I've got to change how I'm going to coach this now because this is what I'm dealt with. Yeah. And that goes into how he talks about how he coaches his athletes in competition. He kind of molds to the different stimulus that they're dealing with and what's going on at the meet.

This person needs to be riled up. This one just needs to be talked to. Like, you know, that's a good coach. That's a great coach because a good coach can get some results out of people. I've been reading this. I can't remember if I read this, but a good coach can get results out out of people. I've been reading this. I can't remember if I read this, but a good coach can get results out of people that are just like him or come from their background.

But a great coach can get results out of anyone. And I don't think it made the cut, but I remember him saying when we were there that he's gotten it wrong. For sure. He's gotten it wrong. He's been at meets and he's done the wrong thing. Was that in there? No. Okay, then it must have been cut. But he's gotten it wrong. He's been at meets and he's done the wrong thing. Was that in there? No.

Okay, then it must have been cut. But he's gotten it wrong and he gave a story on a time where he totally gave the wrong thing. So I think it's just something you learn from experience. You've got to be willing to try. If you've coached people, you know there's mistakes. There's no way that if you're a weightlifting coach, eventually you're going to want to coach someone in a meet. There's no way you're going to get it right the first time. It's the biggest fear.

Your biggest fear there is telling them the wrong weights or, you know, giving them the wrong advice. Like, it's just going to happen. It's just going to happen at some point, you know. Like, hopefully it doesn't happen at the Olympics or something. Yeah, I mean, part of being, I think, you know, part of that is just getting in there and trying and doing it. Like, I remember a few years ago I coached an athlete at her first national meet, and I was nervous as shit.

It gets crazy back there, like, in a national meet, because the temps and all that stuff are changing so, so quickly. And it was my first time, and I got really nervous, and then that kind of that energy kind of spilled on to her too so you changed one you changed one date with Alex he freaks out I can't imagine you well no it wasn't even that it was just it was just like yeah it was my first inexperience like with that whole with that whole environment and uh she's like are you okay but what he was saying what he was saying on there, those like, yeah, you've got to be whatever the athlete needs.

And then that really comes with experience. So, you know, if you're if you're, you know, trying to get into coaching, just you just got to kind of do it. I think, you know, I know you like I know how you lift. I've coached you at meets before. And, you know, I get super nervous. I get the farts when I get nervous. And I farted on Kyle Pierce one time, Kendrick Ferris' coach. That's funny. Because he was on stage lifting.

That's your claim to fame. Yeah, that is it. I'm sitting there. I'm like, Alex is lifting. I had these nervous farts. And he comes off stage. I was like, good, good attempt, man. And Alex was like, ah, it smells like shit down here.

I was like, I know, weird, right? Let's go stay warm you know before we get a clean jerk but uh we're around them again i think the the greatest thing uh out of all this what we're talking about right now is that how little we're talking about technique and and yeah and and what we're talking about like is coaching and what it is and it's not barking yeah cues it's not it's not that yeah well i liked what he said about that made me even think about a lot of things too. You know, the best coaches need to say very little is what he was saying. Like I can't remember the example he gave, but Coach – was it Rupp? I think it was Rupp, yeah.

Two-hour practice. Yeah, yeah. We're running a two-hour practice. Wouldn't say a word. Like too busy actually observing and looking at things. And, you know, overcoaching. People, especially, like, I admit, like, when I was first, you know, coaching people, I would overcoach the shit out of people.

We all did, I think. And, I mean, you don't need to bark a whole bunch of orders or shout a bunch of cues. Bergener's like, I give you one cue. That's it. Yeah, I think you one cue. That's it. Yeah, I think you have to go through that process. I think you've got to earn that image, that aura of being a good coach, because of that respect.

Because your presence should be enough to be a good coach in quality when you're there around your athletes where you don't have to say anything. You can observe. And when you do speak is when you see them making the same mistake repeatedly then it's obviously time for you to step in and say like this is why it's happening and otherwise let them go let them learn observe and you just make sure it's not happening over and over yeah and one thing i loved about this video or about this episode and especially uh interviewing mike bergener was you know he's been around the game for so long. Because I was always, in the back of my mind, I was like curious.

I wonder what he was like when he was younger. Like how did he coach? But you're getting all that stuff now. Like he's learned all the things that he's telling us like right now. This is just things that he's learned over time. And, you know, this is what he's figured out like over years and years and years. Like this is actually, this is what works. And this is what makes this episode so great because it's like you're getting all this knowledge and information through years of experience that no one really else – I don't even know has.

I don't know if you can research this kind of shit. There's not studies on it. There might be books written about coaching good qualities and things like that. I've read some. But this is just stuff that you've got to, the only way you'll get is through experience. And listening to others.

If you're so smart and you're such a good coach already, you do not have much room to grow. It's going to be really hard for you to learn new things. What's that quote? At the end of the episode, when the student is ready, the teacher will appear. when the student is ready the teacher will appear when the student has learned or what is how did it go i can't when the start when the

student is truly ready truly ready coach will disappear the teacher will disappear yeah yeah loud lazu freestyle yeah man what about those uh golly the fast eddie man like oh yeah that was all of his friends were a hoot. I'd say in all of the shrugged history, you know, filming over 200 episodes with that OG crew, and then now with you guys, I think in all the history, I think the moment where we, like, got to watch them train was just so impactful.

Man. And, like, I was just very grateful that I was even in a position to be able to watch that. It was cool. The way it was presented in the video, too, it was just, like, it couldn't have been better. I was just very grateful that I was even in a position to be able to watch that. It was cool. Well, the way it was presented, the video, too, it couldn't have been better. It was so good. And that's something I fear.

It's like a fear that I have is getting older. Yeah. Man. Shit, you know what? It made me want to change my life to make sure that I can get to that point. Oh, I know, man. That's exactly what I was thinking, too. Because, damn, there's nothing better than a bro session. I know.

Those dudes are a bro session into their 60s, 70s, and 80s. I want to do that forever. Well, the message is so powerful, especially what Bassetti was saying. It was like, just don't give up. Yeah, you may not be able to lift that weight today, but someday you will. And if you don't, you still did pretty damn good to get up there, man. When I heard that, I was like, oh, my God. Like, that was the message right there.

Fast Eddie is full of knowledge bombs, dude. Yeah, man. He needs his own podcast. I feel like the Mike's Geezers need their own podcast. Oh, man, that would be so great. That would be awesome. I'm jealous that y'all got to, like – that you got to be around them. Yeah, what a cool time.

I don't know much about Fast Eddie. What's his background, history? Well, he used to weightlift with Bergner. He was with Bergner. He went to Notre Dame with Bergner. Okay. And he has, I guess he had Parkinson's. That's what they said on the episode.

And he was like, you know, sometimes I wait until after everybody's gone to walk up the driveway. Because Bergener – That's a steep driveway. Yeah, Bergener has a really steep driveway to get up his garage. But then Bergener's wife chimed in. She's like, but you still walk up that driveway. I was like, oh, my God.

Every day. Man. That was powerful. That was very powerful. Man, the feels. I know. Yeah. Oh, man. I mean, you know what?

We talk about that in our programs, and you can have all the magical workouts, and you can do all the secret diet tricks, but that accountability is still so powerful. That grind. Those guys are all still keeping themselves accountable. Yeah. And I like that, too, because didn't you recently not call someone out, but the accountability.

Yeah. We call it calling out but no you just held someone and i think they appreciate that once you do that love you know like i'm doing it because i care not because you guys give each other shit you do not because i'm mad that i you know i think you're doing something wrong or whatever like i mean you're gonna do what you want to do you're a grown-ass man but i'm just here to like tell you how it looks from my end and why i think you're not making that that choice yeah yeah and you and the the, and the key phrase is that you do it because you care. They all care about each other.

And like Coach Bergen was saying, some of those guys are dealing with some depression issues, and they're like, well, where's this dude at? Let's call him up. Let's get him on the phone. Let's text him. Where are you at, sissy? See, I love that shit.

I love that they're talking shit. I don't like this G-rated world we're in. Oh, no. Why is everybody trying to be all friendly all the time? We know it really goes down in the bro thing. It doesn't change. Yeah. Yeah.

What was I going to say? What else did y'all gather from this episode? Man, I thought Chris and Mike and Doug all did an amazing job interviewing. They asked the questions that I found myself wanting to ask and then they would pop out and say it. Bergner, man, he answers

questions very well too. It's almost like, you know, he wasn't prepped for those. He didn't know it was coming. It was more, it's easy when you're doing it because you truly love it. The answers are genuine. Yeah. And it's like every damn thing he said was a nugget. Like every damn thing that came out.

That whole scene at dinner was like, you know. That was pretty cool. When you see it, you're kind of living vicariously through it. And you see, like, Chris prepping the food and, like, he, the way he made the meal and he has a way of, like, bringing people together, A, with words and B, with food and, like, that's one of my passions too. Yeah. And sharing.

So, like, seeing everybody come together, man. Something about that, eating at a table with a group of people, you share stories and, you know. That was super cool. Mike's wife, Leslie. Leslie said that at the dinner and you know uh mike's wife um uh leslie leslie um said that at the dinner you know she's like it's not many places you can find a bunch of tough grown-ass men weightlifters who are supposed to be you know crying for girls like yeah sitting here sharing their feelings around the table like that's that's pretty special yeah yeah i mean I mean, Mike's got a special thing going on

in this place, man. If you've ever been up there, if you're listening to this and you're in the San Diego area, I highly recommend you guys go up to Mike's Jam. Bonzel. It's free. It's a little bit outside San Diego, right? It's about 45 minutes.

Yeah. Well, from where we lived. I think Mike is usually there on Wednesday Yeah. Well, from where we lived. Yeah. I think Mike is usually there on Wednesdays, and it's totally free to go train there. But his gym, I was telling Big G, his gym, it's kind of scary to lift in. Why? Because it's packed usually. If you go on Wednesdays, if you go on the day he's there,

like when he's in town, it's packed. The time I was there I went I went there last year there was people from like Germany there because it was after the CrossFit Games you have basically his garage there's platforms but they're all like just super close super close together but then you have the garage ceiling and one time I was I was doing a jerk and I was right underneath like a like a pipe and I and I jerked and then I could feel the bumper hit the pipe water sprays everywhere like it's super it's super compact so you know if you walk or if you drop the bar like you got to be careful like but it's so fun because the atmosphere is so awesome like yeah there's people lift there's a's so fun because the atmosphere is so awesome like

yeah there's people lift there's a bunch of people lifting like mike's mike's in there like coaching people up like um there's other people like supporting you it's just a great environment like it's awesome so if you're if you're in the san diego area like i i highly recommend you look up mike's gym and see if he's in town and head up on there. I want to ask, like, what does he do? What does he do, like, beginner show up? Like someone who's like, I've never weightlifted before, but I love you. Dude, he will teach anybody. Like, seriously.

Take you out in the driveway. There were some people there. Yeah, there were some people there that. Bergner will warm up you. Yeah, no, no, he absolutely will. There were some people there that, you know, they weren't as experienced and they were looking for some help. And he will sit there and coach.

He will coach you. He coached me. He will coach anybody in that gym. He will watch your lift. I've watched so many Bergner videos. Oh, I know. Some of my favorites. One of the first ones that comes to mind,

and I say this because I just got back from New Zealand, was a video when he was coaching a couple of the All Blacks. I think it got him. I've never seen that one. The Owen Brothers or something. Frank Owens or Owen Frank, something like that. Something Owen was in there. Big, thick dudes.

Huge, powerful guys. Didn't say a word. They were just like, Owen Hart? No. Owen Wilson. No, he's coaching them in the videos, but I took more from that video just because this guy actually had mobility limitations and you just learn a lot from it aside from fancy shit. I took more from that video just because this guy actually had like mobility limitations. And he,

you just learn a lot from it on aside from fancy shit. Yeah. He was like, all right, well you're tight here. So this is how we're going to put your hands. You just like learn so much. And it's not some regular Joe Schmoe coach in that,

in a class who's like teaching the company a scale movement. This is a top level weightlifting coach working with someone with where they're actually at. So it was, I took a lot of good coaching from that. Yeah. And it's like a video i'll never forget like well with bergener like when he was saying you know he may not be able to go into the minutiae and explain all these like details but you don't need to do that with a lot of people you just need to keep it very very simple and that's that's like a lot i think a lot of people like how Bergener teaches weightlifting because he makes it so simple. Like his drills, you know, junkyard dog and the Bergener warm-up. They're just very, very easy, simple, simple drills.

And, yeah, maybe there are some coaches out there and weightlifting, you know, weightlifting athletes and stuff that will say, oh, no, that's not how it should be done. But if you're talking about just training, teaching a general population how to weightlift, you've got to keep it as simple as possible. I think he's teaching it as a fun sport. If someone comes to me and says, I want to learn to play hockey for the first time, I'm not going to be like, all right, we're going to run you through an assessment first. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I'm just going to give you a stick and be like, just go skate and play. Let's just play for a while and figure it out.

And then eventually like maybe work on some things. But for the most part, just fucking play for a while. Yeah, or you just jump in and get your first bucket. Yeah. You had a good teacher. Have any of you guys ever done the CrossFit weightlifting cert? I have not, no. Does he still teach it?

Do you know? I don't think he does. Josh Everett was teaching it. Maybe he pops into it. I don't know if he's teaching that. I think it's a son. Wasn't Chad on for a while? I thought it was his does. Josh Everett was teaching it. Maybe he pops into it. I don't know who's teaching that. Wasn't Chad on for a while? I thought it was his son. Casey? Casey Bergener? Probably. And Sage. I know he has. Yeah. Sage

used to compete and Casey Bergener almost went to the Olympics. I don't think he... There was something that went on, but yeah, he didn't make the team that one year. His wife did though, right? Natalie Woolfolk, yeah. Natalie Bergener and Natalie Woolfolk. She made the Olympic team. I remember watching a lot of videos of her lifting. Dude, I though, right? Natalie Woolfolk, yeah. Natalie Bergener and Natalie Woolfolk. I remember watching a lot of videos of her lifting.

Dude, I mean old school. Do you remember the CrossFit USAW Open in Colorado Springs? I did that. I got third place. No, second place. Yeah, he was third place. He was there. I think if we had Mike Bledsoe on here, he would have told us

a funny story. Tell me the story. Maybe I may mess this up, but Bledsoe on here, he would have told us this funny story. Tell me the story. Oh, well, okay. So maybe I may mess this up. But Bledsoe, maybe you told me the story about how Bergen was coaching like a bunch of athletes there. Oh, yeah. Do you know that?

Do you know the story? Yeah. So he's coached a bunch of athletes that have never done a weightlifting meet before, and they're all mostly CrossFitters. And this guy is like warming up, and runs apparently he runs up to coach berger and he's like coach a pr and it's like he's warming up and like coach is like sit your ass down you're not going for another 15 minutes he was he was just yelling at people that was so funny yeah that had to be a crazy time oh yeah i mean but like yeah i mean you had a bunch of crossfitters

who had never done a weightlifting meet. Oh, man, I can tell you. And it's so different. I remember it very clearly. Like, I think my lifts were a 230, no, maybe a 230 snatch. Yeah. And, like, a 300-pound clean and jerk. I mean, that was huge.

And it was top of the 94. Yeah. And then you rested and you did a MetCon after that. Yeah. But the interesting thing is they had, like, Chad Vaughn lifted in it, like, as a showcase. Top in the 94. Yeah. And then you rested and you did a Metcon after that. Yeah. But the interesting thing is they had, like, Chad Vaughn lifted in it, like, as a showcase. Spencer Arnold lifted in it. Yep.

I think he bombed out. Oh, I didn't. I can't remember. I remember him just not being very happy. But I remember watching Chad Vaughn lift, and I was like, it was so clear. Who was the weightlifter? I mean, he was an Olympian, so that like that's like even more clear but it was not there was maybe like two

weightlifters there like Spencer Arnold was like one that was like a good weightlifter and it's like Chad Vaughn there was like really no one else everyone else was a CrossFitter and a lot of

it man I'm telling you how far it has come oh my gosh like the people like me too man like I powered all my lifts I didn't mean to I just I like was so amped up and never lifted. It's funny.

I wonder if I saw you because I was watching you screaming on the internet. Weightlifting is. I was wearing a wrestling singlet. I still do. Purple. Because I'm OG. Weightlifting is, yeah, like you were saying, it has completely blown up. Like, Bergener had mentioned on the show when, like, a few years ago, there was 1,500 USA weightlifting members.

And now there's, there was 1,500 USA Weightlifting members, and now there's like 15,000. And a lot of that, you know, I think a lot of – Coach would credit CrossFit, but I think a lot of that is Coach Bergener's work. Yeah, for sure. You influence. Yeah, like with CrossFit weightlifting, like he basically went around teaching all these people how to weightlift in the CrossFit specialty certs.

Now you look at – really really it's crazy like a few years ago you would see crossfitters like they'll do a snatch and clean and jerk and it'd look horrible but now you look at crossfit athletes they're competing at the national level they're competing at the international level you you really can't other countries you've got they're beating yeah they're competing at the international level. You really can't tell. They're beating. They're going to the Olympics. It has completely changed. I think a lot of that has to do with what Coach Bergener has brought

to the community because he got people aware that technique is important. He said it in the right way. He said it in a way that's not going to turn you off and not going to do it right like like i said in that course you know the first one he ever did he could have had all them like i'm not going to go spend three hours doing mobility

you know like i am but i don't know you know that's just that's just matt that's just the magical piece of being a good coach is you got to know how to say it the right way to get them engaged you got everybody involved yeah it's not about how good you are at telling them what they're doing wrong. It's about how good you are at motivating them to want to do the right thing. Want to do better in the right thing. Yeah, absolutely. Speaking of being a good coach, Stephen, do you need to pick your butt real quick? How you doing?

Mentor. Okay, man. You got it down better than I do. Yeah. How about that Amy Everett piece? Oh, my gosh. I got a little – I thought I had something in my eye for a moment. You two were sitting down to the right behind her when we filmed.

It was me and Chris. Oh, I knew. I got a picture of that. Yeah, we were in Houston, and we were just chilling, but we watched that interview go down, and I was like, oh, shit. I was having to hold the camera like crying. I was like, oh. So let's talk about that for a second. I'll come back to me but talk talk about well yeah i mean i mean that was

just what coach bergener was saying is like yeah you can be good coach or great coach but you got to also know your athletes you got to know what they're going through you can't be a great coach and just have don't have a relationship with your athletes you know you got to know if they're going through you can't be a great coach and just have don't have a relationship with your athletes you know you got to know if they're having trouble with home or with a boyfriend or girlfriend or whatever in order to you know be able to effectively reach them and you know like with with amy like you know he walked her down the aisle that is clearly a very very special relationship they have and that has probably more than anything, contributed to her success. Well, and as a coach, too. She went on to marry Greg, and then what did they do?

Catalyst, man. Catalyst is where I learned how to weight. She was coaching Jessica Lucero at the World Championships, and Jessica Lucero just straight-up murdered it at the World Championships last year. did really good national world championships world championships yeah yeah so funny story it got cut I was thinking that record I don't maybe not cut too but uh after we did the interview with Amy after she stopped crying I don't know if y'all remember while we were sitting there but me and Chris or Chris was still asking her questions we're still filming

and uh embarrassing stories about Coach Bergner. Oh. Do you remember this? I think I remember, but I don't remember the story. So basically, you know, it was all this, you know, he's such a hard ass. We've seen that, you know, but he's, you know, whatever. He was like, she's like, would you believe that this guy is a huge, huge American Idol fan? Yes. Pause.

She clarified it by saying, he's not just an American Idol fan. He votes. I could totally see that, too. How awesome is that? That is awesome. That's awesome. I could totally see that. I wonder who he voted for.

It's funny when I'm watching the show. I'm like, who's picking up their phone and doing this? I got to admit, I'm an America's Got Talent fan, but I've never voted. I'm a voice guy myself. Yeah, you're like the voice guy. It's positive. I like the voice. It's positive.

Legit, you have some really crazy talented people in there doing acrobatics. We were talking about moments that we've remembered from the USAW thing or videos of him. One of my favorites was the Big Sky Montana. Oh, that video was awesome. That is so good. With Dan Bailey PRs, he goes nuts. And to see him light up after all these years just out there,

and there's all these fans that are there to see him and Rich. Do they still do that? I don't know if they do. During one big CrossFit tour or something. That was amazing. Yeah, the Big Sky. That was so – I think it's just too big now to have some of that stuff.

Rich has the big sign on his – Like Rob Orlando lifted. In jeans. Yeah, but they had two guys that came over because it was Rich and Dan. They were like, I'll let any three people try to beat the total of these two cats. And those guys went and got Rob Orlando. And he was like, I was eating a piece of cheesecake. And, of course, he thrusted his lifts because he's a strong man.

But, man, what a cool video. Yeah, that's a great video. I think another video, when I was first getting into weightlifting, a video with Coach Bergeron coaching Pat Barber on the clean and jerk. Oh, yeah. Oh, that's one of the – yeah, that was OG. It was like one of the first videos that I ever watched. It's the first fitness content.

Yeah, man. And I was like, oh, shit, I wish that was my coach because he just got so fired up. And watching, you know, Pat Barber, like, go at it, I'm like, oh, this is what I need to do. And, like, at that point, like, you know, Pat Barber was just getting started. And even at that point, I was like, oh, man, that guy looks awesome. And now look where he is. But still, like, seeing seeing and coach bergen was talking about like seeing it is is you got to see it you know you got to see the the keeping the bar close

and pulling under and coach was giving all these cues i was like oh that's what i'm supposed to be doing there's another one he did with uh you should go check out it's very helpful with james hobart back in the day where he does like a video analysis and he like they they did some lifts and then they went in and they watched the videos, and they were filming them going over the videos with lines. And James was wearing like slippers, like minimal shoes. And I remember watching it and being like, this boy is snatching. Oh, shit, that's 225 pounds.

Like James Hobart is strong as shit, especially for his body weight. And there weren't many people that strong back then. And anyways, yeah yeah a lot of good coaching cues you can pick up from there's there's so much stuff from uh coach b yeah online i think what's funny is that he was telling us in the video and in full depth to go watch videos but he wasn't talking about his videos we're sitting here talking about his videos like how much they've impacted us and how many we've enjoyed it made me excited to hear that ilia is his favorite lifter because i'm sure he's a lot of people's favorite lifter, but he's my favorite too,

just technique-wise. It's a beautiful watch. Well, I mean, Coach Bergener is incredibly – I feel like he's an incredibly humble dude. Like, you know, like you were saying at the top of the episode, like he doesn't do any of this for recognition really. He just – Yeah.

I mean, he wants to just teach people. You can just tell with the guys there. I mean understand like you're a busy coach you got a lot of people reaching out to you and wanting information and the crew came up and it was very clear and obvious that he left the doors open that was multiple days by the way yeah like that was not like a one day let y'all into his home for multiple days a week whatever gave you time and not once was it did it i know's not all on camera, but not once did it seem like he was like, all right, guys, you know, like, time's up. It was the opposite. When we were leaving, it was like, no, please stay.

Like, if we wanted to, we just had other shit to do, you know. I'm a killer. Super cool. That's awesome. Like, the most depressing thing of that whole fucking video was how fat I was. Man. Oh, that beard. Oh, my God.

Well, I mean, yeah, you had a I hate myself Man. Oh, that beard. Oh, my God. Well, I mean, yeah. You had a I-hate-myself beard. Oh, man. I guess I was just trying to grow it out. I'd never grown it before. Like, let it grow. So I was seeing what could happen, and that's what happened. So I shaved that shit promptly. No, I mean.

I was an Ilya fan until I saw this ad he did for LG. I don't know if you've seen it, but he was a spokesman for LG. He did all kinds of crazy stuff. Like for US LG too? No, just he'll be like posing in front of an LG TV. All his Instagram, none of it's lifting. It's all like weird pictures and products and stuff. Yeah.

Yeah. Well, I mean, yeah, this was an amazing. And like going, taking it back, like, man, Chris Moore, man. Dude. He was born to do that. He was having the time of his life. When I was watching it, I was like, man. Like the way that he interprets it and, you know, gives his spin on the points,

I'm like, man, that was like, yeah. He just – I mean, this was – He captured my thoughts. That was his thing, man. This was the first episode of full depth we did. So we, it's came out in different order than we filmed it, but this is what started it all. And like kind of the vision of where we were going and, and you know, it was me, Charlotte,

Chris, you know, the whole team, but it was kind of our baby. And, and then did Charlotte and Chris really fucking run with it? Speaking of which, like, you know, Chris passed away and you know, if you watch the other full depths, he, uh, he did the voiceovers, which like you passed away, and if you watch the other full depths, he did the voiceovers, which like you just said, I think he was born to do that job, which is voiceover on top of stuff. But I've got to give Charlotte credit.

Yeah, Charlotte did a really good job. She came in, like, you know, it was up in the air. Chris passed away before you could record it. Passed away before this was done, so it was up in the air. Like, what's this going to be like and to her credit man like hey I don't know how she sat down and edited it.

I couldn't like it's still hard for me to even like even the parts where he popped up it was like fuck. Yeah. I just wish

he could have seen this. Yeah. Yeah. He would be more than happy. Yeah. Blown away. Blown away man. This was crushed.

Good job Charlotte. Yeah. Amazing. Yeah. Whole team that did it. You know Mike, Doug, Chris. Heown away, man. This was crushed. Good job, Charlotte. Yeah. Amazing. Yeah. Whole team that did it. You know, Mike, Doug, Chris. He was proud, man. Man, it just gives me new inspiration and motivation

to continue to make awesome shit. Yeah. We got to pay it forward now. In so many different ways. The video ended on that note, too. It ended on the pay it forward. Man, just to be able to be here and make awesome shit. Man.

Well, I want to go watch it again. Happy Vice Friday. Yeah. Oh, speaking of Chris, though, we just released, or we didn't do anything, but barbellbooted.com, you should be able to buy the hard copy version of all three of his books, Get Changed, Progress, and Way Past Strong. Super cool. I don't have it here because it's at the office, Get Changed, Progress, and Way Past Strong. Super cool. I don't have it here because it's at the office, but it's hardback, super dope.

It's like 500 pages, so we'll see. Yeah, it's really cool. So go get it. It's a limited edition. Don't worry. I don't think it's going to be reprinted. We'll do other reprints in the future, but this is like a big special one. It's going to go to his wife and kids.

So go to barbellbuddha.com, see if you can still get one. And for everyone who did buy one, thank you. I know Janie and the kids appreciate that. Yep. And thank you for watching the show. Again, Charlotte, amazing job with this one. Other guys, you crushed it with the interviews. Other guys?

No, no, no. What the shit guy is? The shitty troll guy in the thing? He goes, Chris, Mike, and Tutorial Bro. Oh, my God. That's hilarious. Oh, my God. I'm sorry for laughing really loud at the mic, but that was just funny.

So, Doug. Yeah, Doug. And Mike. And Tutorial Bro. Oh, my gosh. That's hilarious yeah once again

another awesome piece guys this I feel like this episode man like this episode

is just gonna change a lot of people share it and on that note too like full depth if you haven't seen the other one so we do the

barbell stroke if you're new if this if you got here cause you had never heard any of this but you saw this video we do a podcast

weekly every Wednesday it drops on our website YouTube iTunes If you got here because you had never heard any of this, but you saw this video, we do a podcast weekly. Every Wednesday it drops on our website, YouTube, iTunes, so you can listen to it in your car. But this other show is called Full Depth. We only did a few of them. And there's four, right? Four other ones you can go back and watch. Two of them where we got invited to NASA. Show your shirt.

Show your shirt. Shen Kui. And, you know, me, Chris, and the guys, we filmed there and then talked about how they get strong for preparing to go to Mars, essentially. Yep. And then the next episode was Alex, his journey since episode one. He was just a guy at our gym and how he's gone from, you know, his weightlifting, your weightlifting journey. Yeah.

Yeah, we talked about how I just started off and made up my way to going to the American Open, which has always been a goal of mine. From beginner to the American Open. Yeah, from beginner, weightlifter, watching Coach B videos on YouTube. From junk in a bar to bars on a platform. That's awesome. And the other one was all about nutrition

and kind of barbell shrugged how we started. And then so on that note, we have 200, well, really 199, about 200 episodes with the OG crew. Go watch all that. If you want to hear some Chris Moore, perfect place to do it. So Mike and Doug, if you're missing them, you can always hear them on Barbell Business as well if you're a gym owner. And then also Chris Moore had a solo podcast, Barbell Buddha Podcast. So you can go at any point and hear I think around 100 episodes of that. So plenty of stuff out there with those guys still.

And, yeah, I guess that's all. Yeah, I mean, a lot of shit. Shout out to Steven. Yeah, shout out to Steven. Who's in our program. It's because of dudes like Steven. It's because of dudes like Steven that we're allowed, we're able to even do stuff like this.

As you notice, we don't have any sponsors. It's not brought to you. You're not listening to 20 minutes of commercials. We're trying to get hooked up with Chili's though. I'm trying to get that Chili's hook up, dude. I got the app and everything. It's because of people like Steven who put their trust in us to do something. We provide value and he keeps

this show going. Isn't that some crazy stuff, man? Like, we got – Steve is in our program now. He's here hanging with us, chilling with us, shooting the show. Hey, man. You want a job? I mean, but, hey, like, you know, that's what it is. Like, you know, Steven – people like Steven provide – Well, that's Kurt.

Yeah, that's Kurt. Kurt was in the program. That's Kurt. Yeah. You know, Kurt's sitting here now. Now he's here. Yeah. I mean, and it's because of, you know, folks like Steve and I,

we're able to do this stuff. So everyone else in the Stroke Strike Challenge, Muscle Gain Challenge, fucking Flight, Barbell Straighter, Barbell Bikini, fucking thank you. And anyone who's ever been in our programs, appreciate it. Because we've gotten to do amazingly cool shit like you just saw. And I will be forever grateful that we got to do that and get to continue to do that.

Absolutely. Thank you. That's awesome. That's the legacy right get to continue to do that. Absolutely. Thank you. That's awesome. That's the legacy right there. It's passing on, paying it forward. Oh, yeah, guys. Thank you for listening. Go to Barbell Shrugs.

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