Podcast Summary
From High School Football to Military and Beyond: The Founders' Journey: Two former athletes with diverse backgrounds in powerlifting, military, running, triathlon, boxing, and Muay Thai opened Atomic Athlete to offer comprehensive fitness training, emphasizing strength, conditioning, and mental toughness.
Jake Signs and Todd Moore, the co-owners of Atomic Athlete in Austin, Texas, opened their gym based on their personal experiences with strength training and a desire to help others. Jake's initiation into strength training came from a challenging high school football scene, leading him to powerlifting and eventually the military. He identified a need for effective training methods after observing issues in the military. Todd, on the other hand, was the absolute worst athlete in the gym but found solace in lifting weights. His passion for fitness led him to running, triathlon, and eventually boxing and Muay Thai. Together, they opened Atomic Athlete to provide comprehensive fitness training, incorporating elements of strength, conditioning, and mental toughness, inspired by their diverse backgrounds and experiences.
Preparing for real-life challenges: Atomic Athletes' training focuses on improving mental and physical health through hybrid workouts, preparing individuals for everyday obstacles in a controlled gym environment
Atomic Athletes' training philosophy goes beyond physical fitness and focuses on making athletes better functioning humans both mentally and physically, by training in the gym to perform outside of it. The programming at Atomic Athletes, described as hybrid, incorporates various elements such as lifting, running, and breathing, but is distinct from CrossFit, with a primary goal of preparing individuals for real-life challenges. The gym serves as a controlled environment for athletes to face and overcome obstacles, ensuring failures occur there rather than in their everyday lives.
A purposeful approach to fitness: This gym prioritizes structured fitness programming over random daily sessions, focusing on consistent improvements through well-planned strength and cardio workouts, and using traditional methods like periodization and progression.
At this fitness gym, they prioritize fitness as a tool for various endeavors, rather than just a sport. Their main goal is to develop high-level fitness through well-planned programming, avoiding confusion and random daily sessions. They believe in following a well-thought-out program, as evidenced by their use of traditional methods like periodization and progression. They combine strength training and cardiovascular conditioning effectively, and while they appreciate the benefits of Olympic weightlifting, they recognize its difficulty for the average person and keep it to a minimum in their in-house programs. In essence, their approach is purposeful, structured, and focused on making consistent improvements, rather than just exercising for the sake of it.
Improve skills, gain strength with Olympic weightlifting: Olympic weightlifting enhances skills, reduces injury risk, and brings new challenges to workouts for long-term progress
Incorporating Olympic weightlifting into a training routine can provide both skill development and strength gains. Weightlifting, as a skill-based sport, offers the added benefit of increasing strength as skills improve, while also reducing the risk of injuries due to the focus on form and technique. The overhead squat, a common weightlifting exercise, can be particularly challenging due to mobility limitations, making it an effective assessment tool for identifying areas of improvement. Overall, adding Olympic weightlifting to a training regimen can bring new challenges and variations to a workout routine, leading to long-term progress and development.
Focus on duration and intensity for effective training: The Atomic Athlete program emphasizes functional activities and prioritizes duration and intensity over specific exercises for optimal cardio effects.
Effective training, whether it's for weightlifting or cardiovascular conditioning, requires dedication and focus on duration and intensity rather than specific exercises. The Atomic Athlete program emphasizes this approach, using various tools and modes for conditioning, including running, tire drags, sandbags, and bodyweight exercises. They prioritize functional activities and aim to minimize skill limitations for optimal cardio effects. An example of this is the "Curtis Pease," a challenging exercise involving repetitive movements that can be done without requiring specific skills, allowing for intense work and heart rate control.
Full-body workout with taxing effects on muscles, heart, and lungs: Focus on diet basics for success in high-intensity programs, prioritize consistency, training hard, and a clean diet.
The Curtis P exercise is a full-body workout that taxes muscles, heart, and lungs, making it a challenging and effective exercise. Outside of the gym, a clean and consistent diet is crucial for success in a high-intensity program like hybrid. For most athletes, focusing on diet basics, such as adequate calories and macro nutrients, is more important than getting into complex nutrient timing. Consistency, training hard, and a clean diet should be prioritized before delving into intricate food adjustments. A training plan or progression can help athletes manipulate their food intake and observe the impact on their performance.
Nutrition and mental toughness are crucial for success in sports: Athletes have more control over nutrition and need individual discipline, while mental toughness is built through consistent training and exposure to stresses
While consistent training in the gym can lead to visible results, nutrition is an area where athletes have more control, but also more opportunities to falter. The role of coaches is limited in this aspect, making individual discipline and daily nutritional priorities crucial for success. Furthermore, developing mental toughness and resilience starts with consistently showing up for workouts and gradually exposing oneself to different stresses in a controlled environment. Over time, athletes can build mental strength and become more resilient, enabling them to push through challenges both in and outside the gym.
Online gym coaching offers high-quality training from home: Gym's online coaching portal provides diverse training options, high-quality programming, and a supportive online community, allowing athletes to train consistently from home.
The mental fortitude required for consistent training is crucial, whether it's done in-person at a gym or online through a coaching portal. The online coaching portal, offered by the gym in Austin, provides athletes with programming, exercise videos, coaches' notes, and an online community for training. The gym offers a variety of programs, from hybrid-based to sports-specific, running-based, arm hypertrophy, core, and bodyweight-based. These programs have been vetted through real-life testing with athletes and adjusted accordingly. The online platform offers diverse training options, ensuring there's a program for every fitness goal. The gym's programming is geared towards training, not just working out, and the online portal provides access to the same high-quality training as in-person, with the added convenience of doing it from home.
Building a community beyond the gym: Atomic Athlete fosters camaraderie and mental resilience through uncontrolled environment events and teamwork, creating a unique gym experience that goes beyond physical fitness.
Atomic Athlete goes beyond just providing a workout, they aim to build a community and prepare their members for real-life challenges outside the gym. By organizing events like Ruck type events and the Vanguard, they offer athletes an opportunity to test their fitness in uncontrolled environments and foster a culture of hard work and accountability. This not only helps individuals improve their physical abilities but also builds mental resilience and a strong sense of camaraderie among members. The gym's focus on teamwork and pushing each other creates a unique tribe mentality, where everyone supports and motivates one another to reach their full potential. This approach goes beyond the typical gym experience and creates a lasting impact on the lives of its members.
A weekend event exposing participants to diverse skill sets: Vanguard is a 36-hour intensive event offering attendees a taste of various skills from experts, potentially igniting a lifelong pursuit.
Vanguard is an event designed to expose participants to various skills and experiences, acting as a primer to potentially ignite a deeper interest or passion. The event, which includes activities such as firearms training, self-defense, butchering, and medical training, among others, was initiated as a way for a group of friends to justify recreational expenses to their accountant. With the help of their well-qualified network of military, fighting, and outdoor industry professionals, they created an intense, 36-hour event that provides attendees with a taste of diverse skill sets. Vanguard aims to revive neglected skills and knowledge, offering attendees the opportunity to learn from experts and potentially inspire a lifelong pursuit. For more information about Atomic Athlete, where Vanguard is hosted, visit their website.
Passionate Gym Owners Jake and Todd Moore of Atomic Athlete Gym: Visit Atomic Athlete Gym in Austin for an excellent workout experience or check out their online programming. Use coupon code 'free ship' for free shipping on all domestic orders from their website.
Jake and Todd Moore, the owners of Atomic Athlete Gym in Austin, Texas, offer an excellent workout experience, whether in-person or online. During the podcast interview, they expressed their passion for helping people get fit and improve their overall well-being. If you're in the Austin area, consider visiting their gym. For those not in the area, check out their website, atomic-athlete.com, for more information on their online programming. The Art of Manliness team also mentioned their own positive experiences with the gym and encouraged listeners to check out their store for various gift ideas, including the Detective's Wallet, Ben Franklin's Virtues Journal, and the Chicago comb. As a special offer for Art of Manliness listeners, use the coupon code "free ship" at checkout for free shipping on all domestic orders, supporting the podcast and the website's content. Stay manly!
