February 19, 2024 • 24 mins
Imagine setting foot on a tennis court, with nothing but your racket and a heart full of dreams, only to find your true calling in the clanking weights of a CrossFit gym. That's exactly what unfolded for Daniel Abrahao of Wod League, whose love for tennis opened the gates to a world where grit meets grace in the sweat-soaked arenas of CrossFit. From a humorous spark ignited by a childhood crush to the rigorous discipline of competitive fitness, Daniel shares his transformative journey and how it led to the revolutionary blend of tennis training and CrossFit that's shaking up his Brazilian hometown.
As we chat with Daniel, you'll be transported to the bustling energy of his pioneering CrossFit gym, where community spirit and the roar of competition breathe life into the Wod League event. It's a story of passion that transcends borders, connecting athletes of all levels through the universal language of fitness. Whether you're a pro athlete or a weekend warrior, Daniel's insights on the motivational surge from setting competitive goals to the sheer joy of pushing personal limits will resonate with anyone who's ever laced up a pair of sneakers with a glint of ambition in their eye.
But the conversation doesn't end at the gym's door. Join us as Daniel takes us on a virtual CrossFit road trip across America's rich fitness tapestry, from sun-kissed beach workouts to the untamed nature of the Brazilian rainforest. Discover the resilience of functional fitness, thriving in the face of adversity and adapting with creativity to the most unexpected of circumstances. And if you're ever on Florida's Treasure Coast, drop by Treasure Coast CrossFit in Sebastian, where Daniel's ready to welcome you with a challenging workout and a community that feels like home.
Find Daniel Abrahao at Wod League Events coming near you soon and Treasure Coast CrossFit:
wodleagueusa.com
contact@wodleagueusa.com
Book a discovery call today with Hercules Performance and Physical Therapy in Vero Beach, FL
https://www.herculesppt.com/contact
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Dr Alec (00:01):
Welcome to the Hercules Performance and Physical
Therapy Podcast.
Today we have Daniel with WodLeague on the podcast here.
Thanks for coming on, daniel.
Daniel (00:09):
Yeah, no problem.
Thank you for having me Veryexcited to talk to you.
Dr Alec (00:12):
We've talked so many times and it's nice to share
some of the conversations thatwe've had before with other
people and you have a reallycool story in the health and
fitness industry.
Just from where you've comefrom and background and what
you're doing now, just tell meabout how you got started.
Daniel (00:27):
Okay, how far back do you want me to go?
Dr Alec (00:29):
Very, very beginning what got you into health and
fitness, let's start there.
Daniel (00:33):
Okay, alright, I'll try not to make it too long.
I've been involved in sportsfor the most part of my life
without giving up too much About30 years or maybe even a little
more.
My first sport was tennis.
That's what actually brought meto this country.
I played college tennis.
I played at Gardner WebbUniversity in North Carolina.
(00:54):
So back when I was about 10years old 10, 11, I started
playing tennis and then maybearound 13 or 14, I was kind of a
chubby kid.
Actually, a lot of people don'tbelieve me when I tell them.
Dr Alec (01:09):
I don't believe you.
Yeah, I was.
Daniel (01:11):
I was a little overweight kid and then I had to
scratch on this girl in schooland I was like, oh man, maybe if
I lose some weight she's goingto look at me differently.
So my mom at the time used towork at a university in Brazil
and they had a track, you know asoccer field and a track around
it and I would see peoplerunning.
It's like, oh, I want to startrunning to try to lose some
(01:31):
weight, see if she'll beattracted to me.
That didn't help.
That didn't work.
But what I did notice is thatmy tennis performance went up a
lot.
I lost some weight and I wasable to play better.
Because of that.
It could be my.
I was very young, I was only 12,13 at the time, but I was
already playing some tournaments, some junior tournaments, and
(01:53):
then that had such an impact inmy life.
You know that experience, youknow just the fitness, how that
helped my tennis game.
That you know.
From that point on I just keptplaying tennis, played
competitive junior tennis inBrazil and South America,
eventually got recruited to playcollege tennis here in America,
north Carolina, and you knowjust, I mean it was a huge part
(02:16):
of my life for I would say upuntil 22 years old, 23.
Shortly after I graduated, youknow, my ultimate dream was to
become a professional tennisplayer, but unfortunately that
didn't happen or fortunately, Idon't know, but it was.
You know something thatobviously you know most people
that play tennis competitivewould have that dream and,
(02:37):
anyways, it was a goodexperience.
I was very fortunate to haveplayed in college.
And then, you know, I prettymuch knew I didn't want to have
a desk job, you know.
So I, shortly after that, I gotinvolved with tennis training.
You know, I used to coachtennis a lot.
I also worked for the USTA, theUnited States Tennis
Association.
That was actually my very firstjob, worked at different tennis
(02:58):
academies, you know, coachingtennis.
And then later I was probablyin my late 20s.
That's when I got into CrossFitand the reason why the way I
found out about it was on TV,through the CrossFit games.
I think this was 2011 or 2010,.
Espn, like on a, I don't know,after noon on Sunday, one of
(03:22):
those ESPN channels that nobodyreally watches back then was
showing the CrossFit Games and Istarted watching and I was like
, oh man, this is pretty cool.
These guys are ripped, you know, and they're doing some really
cool stuff.
I want to do that Because, youknow, at that time I was no
longer playing competitivetennis, but I still enjoy
working out, going to the gym,lifting some weights, but
(03:42):
eventually we'll get a littletiring, a little boring.
So when I saw that, I was like,oh, this looks like pretty cool
and these guys are in prettygood shape, but it's a
competition format.
I've never seen anything likeit and I'm sure thousands of
other people had the sameexperience the first time they
saw a CrossFit competition.
But anyways, unique experience,yeah, yeah just, you know,
combining exercising withcompetition.
(04:04):
You know I wasn't really intothe like the physique fitness
competition, that's neversomething that I really was
interested in.
I was more into the performance.
So that fit just like a glove.
You know, when I saw that so afunny story I actually Googled
CrossFit near where I was living, found a gym it was CrossFit
Greensboro.
That's where I had my firstexperience and I called the guys
(04:26):
there to schedule a trial classor whatever and I thought, hey,
I'm watching this on TV andthat's what I want to do.
You know like little do I know,like those were like some best
athletes in the world in thesport of CrossFit, but they
probably thought it was veryfunny.
But anyways, I went and triedand, to be very honest, I almost
didn't continue after my trialclasses because they're very
(04:49):
basic, very introductory, whichnow, as a coach, you know, I
certainly appreciate that and Ithink it's very important to
have that introduction.
Dr Alec (04:56):
Do you remember your first CrossFit workout?
Daniel (05:00):
I don't remember exactly what the workout was which is
sad A lot of people do but I doremember when I attended the
very first actual CrossFit classonce I completed the on-ramp
process, those trial classes wedid like a one rep max deadlift
and then we had another workoutafterwards and I was like wiped.
And that's when I had them onwas like this is it?
This is what I was looking for,you know, because when I just
(05:22):
did the trial classes, I thoughtit was kind of silly.
You know, we're doing like airsquats and kettlebell swings
were like super lightweight, youknow.
But you know I just the sametime that we were doing the
class, there was a regular classgoing on side by side.
So I saw like those peoplelifting some heavy weights and
do some stuff.
That was pretty hard.
I was like all right, I guessif I'm patient enough,
(05:43):
eventually I'll make my way overthere, because that's what I
was looking for.
And sure enough, you know, Ihad my very first real class.
Yeah, it was like a, you know,a ass beating and I loved it and
I was like oh, this is it?
This is what I want to do.
Dr Alec (05:59):
So you got into CrossFit after years of tennis.
Then you're starting to do thiscool thing called Wadley.
How did you get those?
How'd you go from I juststarted CrossFit to Wadley?
Daniel (06:11):
Yeah well, it did take a few years to go from one to the
other, but I guess basicallythe process is.
Sometime after I got involvedwith CrossFit, I decided to open
a CrossFit gym in Brazil andback then this is like 2012,
2013, there weren't too manygyms in Brazil and I was like I
had such a.
The experience of doingCrossFit was so impactful.
(06:33):
I was like, oh man, I need tolet people know about this down
in Brazil.
You know my hometown from asmall town in Brazil, so I
figured there wasn't one there,you know, and there wasn't.
So I was like I'm going to goto Brazil and I'm going to open
a CrossFit gym in my hometown.
So I did that.
I opened the very first CrossFitgym in San Carlos, which is
kind of like outside of SaoPaulo, and then, you know, it
(06:56):
was a great experience.
I had that for several years.
I would go back and forth, Iwould spend some time there.
I can't come back spend sometime here.
We had such a really nice space.
Our gym again kind of fullcircle.
Our CrossFit gym was inside thetennis academy, so we had more
space than we knew what to do.
Dr Alec (07:17):
Was that by luck, or was that by?
Daniel (07:19):
design.
It was by design.
I shared a space with my formertennis coach.
He owned the tennis academy andhe was wanting to add some kind
of fitness component to it, buthe didn't want to have a
regular gym.
This was mostly an outdoorspace with tennis courts so he
didn't feel like having aregular gym with machines and
(07:41):
stuff was appropriate for thelocation.
So I presented him the CrossFit.
I was like, hey, this is what Imentioned now.
I've been training for a fewyears.
I got my certification.
Why don't we open this gym, aCrossFit gym, here in this space
?
And he loved the idea.
He thought it was very fittingwith the environment that we
were in and that could evenbenefit some of the tennis
players we worked with.
(08:02):
Some of them did some part oftheir conditioning.
He was doing CrossFit, so thatwas pretty cool.
But anyways, we had that set upand I had participated in some
competitions here before I wentto Brazil.
I was like man at that timethere was hardly any competition
in Brazil.
I was like we have the perfectplace here to host events.
So we started doing a series ofevents.
(08:23):
That wasn't a waddley yet itwas something else called the
Shark Weekend, which is aweekend-long competition.
People came from all overBrazil to participate because
there were very few events atthat time, so they got very
popular.
We started doing more and moreof those and it was really cool.
And then, a few years later, Iwanted to create a different
(08:43):
format of competition where itwas more, a little more
practical, a little more gearedtowards the recreational level
of members, gym goers, somethingthat the Shark Weekend was a
pretty different competition.
We always had differentelements and combined stuff that
people normally don't do in agym, so I wanted to create
(09:05):
something different where evenpeople that are very new to
CrossFit or have limitedexperience feel like it would be
appropriate, safe and fun.
So this is a year later, 2017,we had our inaugural season of
waddley, do you?
Dr Alec (09:23):
feel like aiming a competition at more of beginner
Crossfitters, people who arethere more to have fun, be safe,
but having that as a goal canbenefit them in the fitness
journey.
Daniel (09:36):
I think so yeah, and we've seen that a lot.
You know, people, once theysign up for competition, they
feel that you know they're alsolike okay, I'm doing this, so
now I really have to payattention to my training, I have
to pay attention to my diet, Ihave to take care of my recovery
, you know.
So I think it just really helpsthem stay focused.
And you know, obviously most ofthose guys they don't have like
(09:58):
aspirations of reaching higherlevels, although, I will tell
you, we've had some past games,athletes that competed at the
waddley when they were like juststarting out and then some of
them, many years later, made itto the games.
But you know, it's kind of likethe entry level competition.
But, yeah, absolutely, and we'veseen it.
You know people that arecompeting with us for many years
(10:21):
and they're able to go up indivisions, or some people that
even stayed at that entry leveldivision.
But it just, you know, justgives them the motivation to
continue their training, to beconsistent with their training.
You know they're not trying tomake a living out of Crossfit
competitions but as much likepeople that run, they sign up
for like a local 5K or 10K, youknow it just gives them that
(10:42):
drive that sometimes it's needed.
You know we sometimes in ourtraining we can get a little
down and lose the motivation andstart missing some training
sessions.
I really feel like it can behelpful, for sure.
Dr Alec (10:57):
It's hard to stay motivated to do hard things and
you got to have consistency.
You get used to it.
But you know there's a lot ofathletes who come away from
other sports and go.
I want to be competitive, but Ineed something to aim for and
it may not be a tennis matchanymore winning and whatnot, a
baseball player, whatnot Justit's nice to have something to
(11:19):
shoot for.
It's kind of like okay, mytraining means something other
than just looking good.
These are a lot of people whodon't just want to look good,
they want to move well, theywant to be strong.
Daniel (11:29):
Well for sure, and for me it was very much that.
You know, I missed thatcompetitive side of tennis once
I finished my college career andwasn't competing anymore.
And now I would go to the gymbut from time to time I would
lose the motivation.
I was like what am I workingout for?
You know, I'm not competing,I'm not doing anything with this
fitness.
(11:49):
So when I saw CrossFit and howthey turned that into a
competitive format, it reallygot me attracted to it.
No, I Hardly ever competeanymore.
Every now and then I'll sign up, I'll do the open or I'll do
like a low competitions, but allfor fun.
But yeah, I find it veryhelpful to and it's certainly
what got me started across it.
Dr Alec (12:10):
So what does what league look like?
Practically day of you show upto Wadley, you signed up what?
What is the outline?
Daniel (12:17):
you mean for, like, does somebody that's participating?
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
So that's pretty much is thisis you know you show up a few
minutes earlier with yourpartners.
It's a teams of twocompetitions.
So I feel like that's animportant component as well.
Most recreational athletes theyfeel a little intimidated,
competing by themselves I guesstoo much pressure.
But if you do with somebodythen it's not as much.
(12:39):
You know you share the workload.
The workouts are a little moremanageable because you're not
just it's not just not just you,but you sharing the work out
with somebody else.
And then you know you get withyour partner.
You show up, do your check-in.
You know the standard stuff.
You get a little little bagwith a t-shirt, some giveaways.
So you know we try to try tomake it fun and Do a lot of
(13:01):
little things for the athletes.
So that had to have a positiveexperience, you know, and it's
memorable.
And then you know you to gothrough your warm-up.
We usually have a warm-up areaset up at whatever gym.
We're doing it.
They get your warm-up, theyknow the workouts ahead of time.
So most of times they havetested the workouts, they kind
of have an idea how they'regonna do or they have a strategy
(13:21):
.
And Then you know the typicallythree workouts.
So no typical competition willstart at 9 am and we'll finish
about 4 or 5 pm.
So they have a morning workoutand then they'll have a lunch
break.
Usually people stick aroundbecause a lot of times they come
with multiple friends, they'reparticipating as well.
So let's say, you do your heatand then you're done.
(13:43):
Then you watch your friendscompeting as well.
You meet new people.
We usually have vendors there aswell with like different you
know, food items or you, orphysical therapists doing like
massages, recovery.
They enjoy that as well.
Different partners that we havethere, you know, exposing their
(14:04):
products.
So they, you know we try to addother elements to the event as
well.
So it's not just thecompetition, you know.
And then they'll have anotherworkout, a shortly after lunch
and then typically one later inthe afternoon.
So three workouts I think I feellike it's just the right amount
.
They're not like beat up ordestroyed next day, it's just
one day.
So Sunday they can still enjoythe day with your families.
(14:26):
Monday they may be a littlesore but they're not like
miserable and they're still ableto move.
Get back to the regulartraining, you know they don't
have to miss out an entire weekof training because they're so
sore.
I feel like that's important aswell.
And then, you know, at the endof the day, if they do well,
they'll maybe go up on thepodium, get a trophy, take it
(14:47):
home, take a little photo, putit on their social media.
I know that's important as well.
Get a little meadow as well.
And, yeah, just at the end ofthe day, have a good time, you
know, and feel good aboutthemselves, and I always mention
this at the event.
You know I stick around to thevery end.
Have a cold beer with us, youknow, if they're over 21, of
(15:09):
course, of course, but you knowit's a fun day.
It really is, you know.
And the host gym they usuallyget very involved as well.
A lot of their members come tojust watch.
It's an opportunity for, youknow, it's a very
family-oriented event, so that,you know, people bring their
kids, their kids watch themcompete and parents, friends,
(15:29):
come and watch For the gyms.
I think it's a nice opportunityfor them to showcase their
facility.
You know, we've seen, we'veseen this many times.
You know, people just coming inbecause they're friends,
they're competing.
They've never done CrossFitbefore any kind of functional
fitness and they're like oh man,this is a nice place, maybe I
should come check it outsometime.
And then they end up getting amembership.
(15:50):
So I feel like there's thatkind of benefit as well for the
facility, you know.
Dr Alec (15:54):
Sure, and speaking of the gyms, is there a particular
type of gym that Wildling'susually in?
I know CrossFit Space.
Is there a functional fitnessgym, or are you looking to
connect with all types of gyms?
How does that come to work?
Daniel (16:08):
No, really all kinds of gyms.
You know it's more thefunctional fitness style of
training, but they by no meanshave to be affiliated with
CrossFit.
We've done hundreds ofcompetitions at gyms that are
not CrossFit affiliated.
We don't have any affiliationswith CrossFit, so we're open to
doing CrossFit affiliates butalso very much open to doing at
gyms that are not affiliated, aslong as you know that's what
(16:31):
they're into, you know that'show of training the functional
fitness, and they have theequipment and the facility
that's appropriate for our styleof workouts.
Dr Alec (16:41):
So you can set up a ton of different gyms.
I know some background on it.
Right, you got a whole leaguedown there in Brazil, what is
one of the coolest venues you'veever hosted a Wildling at.
Daniel (16:51):
Yeah, absolutely.
Now, there's been many, manycool places.
So we've had the experience ofdoing one where it was actually
a really small gym, but theywere so excited to have our
event that they got approvalfrom the city to close the
entire street.
So we had all the whole workoutwas outside on the streets.
We brought out all theequipment gym mats, barbells,
(17:12):
weights, bikes, rowers I meaneverything was done outside.
You know, they basicallybrought the whole gym outside so
that we would have enough spaceto to run the event.
That was a lot of fun.
We also did an addition on thebeach.
That was really cool anddifferent as well.
So this gym was in a beach townand it was very close, within
(17:32):
walking distance to the beach.
So we did some of the workoutsactually on the beach, bringing
out, just, you know, kettlebells, dumbbells, different things
like that.
That was really fun.
What else we did?
We went to Manaus, which is inthe rainforest in Brazil.
That's neat.
Yeah, it was a regular gym, but, you know, just a very
(17:52):
different place, so far away andkind of remote, but that was
pretty cool.
Yeah, I would say those aresome of the more unusual spaces
that we've been.
But honestly and this.
Sometimes that's a concern whensome gym owners they contact us
they're interested in hostingour event but they're sometimes
worried, oh, we may not haveenough space, or, you know, we
(18:15):
may not have enough equipment.
And we really, you know, wecreate the workouts based on the
facility and the equipment thatthey have available so we can
really make it happen anywhere.
You know, and there's, you know, with a functional fitness
training, there's such a widerange of exercises that you can
incorporate that I mean, you'rereally only limited by your
creativity.
(18:35):
No, so let's say we have towe've this is just kind of the
long lines.
During the pandemic, we had afew online competitions as well,
so that was different, verychallenging.
We had, like I think one of thedishes had like well over 2000
people participating, all online.
They submit their videos, alldone just body weight exercise,
(18:57):
because people were home, a lotof people didn't have access to
equipment.
So we wanted to have, you know,we wanted to keep people
motivated to keep training.
This was like very early in theCOVID days, I know I'm talking
like probably March or April of2020.
So we launched an online onlycompetition where people can do
it at home.
So they recorded from theirphone, at their house, you know,
(19:18):
and use just body weightexercise.
Dr Alec (19:21):
I thought there was a lot of people who did that.
Yeah, we had like.
Daniel (19:23):
I mean, I think we had like probably close to 3000
people participating, Wow, andit was free.
We made it free because wewanted just to keep people
engaged and motivated andhopefully still exercising.
At that time we thought it wasonly going to be a few weeks.
Dr Alec (19:37):
You know, there's no reason not to do that.
If you're at home and you'reawake, you can go for it.
Daniel (19:42):
Yeah, but you know it was so hard.
I don't know what yourexperience is like, but you know
I and I think most people thatare used to going to a gym to
work out found it a littlechallenging.
You know I would go.
I liked your joke.
I was basically I would have aweek on and then a week off.
Like one week is like all right, I'm really gonna do this every
day.
So go and, and I even had someequipment.
(20:03):
You know, I borrowed from mygym some barbells and weights,
kettlebells.
I would go run, I had a bike,so one week I was great, you
know, worked out, exercise everyday and then next week I like
take the whole week off.
You know it was, it waschallenging.
Dr Alec (20:17):
It's hard to find.
It was hard to find consistencyduring covid, especially if you
were at home and there was noway of going to a job.
Like you're just kind of likefloating in space.
Daniel (20:25):
Yeah, absolutely, it was very tricky, very tricky.
Dr Alec (20:28):
Daniel, if we have a pair that is looking to join a
Wadley event, what are some ofthe next ones coming up?
Daniel (20:34):
Yeah, so we got.
We got a bunch, mostly here inFlorida right now, but we're
quickly trying to expand intoother states as well and our
goal ultimately is to be allover the country.
No, we like to put a teamtogether where we can run this.
This events everywhere at WestCoast, east Coast, midwest, I
mean.
I think we're, you know, we canreally.
It's probably gonna take this,take us some time, but I think
(20:55):
we'll get there eventually.
But right now we're focusedmostly here in Florida and on
the east coast.
So we have this weekend, wehave one in Palm Bay here in
Florida, but obviously theregistration for that one's
closed.
It's just a couple days away.
But we're gonna be inGainesville Love it.
That's right.
That's right.
We're gonna be.
There is a March 2nd.
It's a swamp city's strengthand condition is a great
(21:17):
facility.
They have a really cool spot,you know.
They have an outdoor space andwe are incorporating some of
that into the workouts.
Then in April we have a coupleevents.
We have one in Winter Park atOld Town CrossFit.
We're also gonna be in StAugustine just found out today
CrossFit St Augustine.
That's April.
In May we're gonna be inOrlando, on the other side of
(21:39):
town, at a Kings Point CrossFit.
We have a summer event inOrlando as well at a CrossFit
AFN in June, june 8th, and thenwe're gonna be in North Carolina
, which is no, I love it, and so, where I found CrossFit, I'm
very excited about this event aswell.
It's a.
This is a Chair city.
Chair city fitness is inThomasville, small town outside
(22:01):
of Winston-Salem, greensboroarea.
We're very excited about beingthere.
They're super excited to hostus and we're gonna have a huge
participation from all the localgyms.
So I'm excited to be there inthe summer as well, you know,
and see some friends from thearea and yeah.
But anyways, we're a WadleagueUSA comm.
That's our website.
(22:21):
We're very active on socialmedia as well.
So Wadleague USA.
On Instagram and Facebook youcan see our full schedule, more
information about our events and, if you're, you know gym owners
Are watching us.
If you're interested inbringing Wadleague to your
facility, contact us.
We'll send you all theinformation.
It's really really easy.
We try to make this stress-freeexperience for gyms hosting us.
Dr Alec (22:45):
I think that's the real benefit, one of the things I
think so too, yeah, no it'sgreat because we know I mean, I
used to own a gym.
Daniel (22:51):
You own your facility here you know how much work it
is to just keep everythingrunning smooth, you know.
So if you add on top of thatorganizing competition, it can
be a little much, you know.
So we we try to take that offtheir plate.
You know, still, there's a lotof benefits for gyms hosting it,
but they don't have to do theactual work, you know you have
(23:11):
it down to your science.
Dr Alec (23:12):
They get the sit back.
Daniel (23:14):
Obviously, we're always trying to perfect it.
I think it's an evolving thing,but but we've done hundreds of
events, so there's a lot ofthings that we learned over the
course of those events, somesome of the hard way, some just
came naturally.
But yeah, just I think we canmake it make the whole process a
little bit easier just byhaving been exposed to it so
many times.
Dr Alec (23:34):
Absolutely yeah man, how else can we find you?
Daniel (23:37):
You can find me personally at on Instagram, at
shark indeed and Facebook aswell, and you can always find me
a treasure.
You know that.
You know it's fine me atreasure coast CrossFit early
mornings.
I'm a head trainer over there.
I love it.
There's a great place to CCFhere in Sebastian, so you know
we always have drop-ins peoplefrom out of town Welcome to come
(24:00):
and join a class with us.
It's a great place.
It's a very, very special.
Dr Alec (24:03):
They've kicked my butt a once or twice.
We'll drop all the informationinto the show notes.
That way you can just go clickand check out wildly.
Church Coast CrossFit, danieland all the above, all right,
thank you, daniel for joining.
Thank you, buddy, I.
Welcome to the Hercules Performance and Physical
Therapy Podcast.
Today we have Daniel with WodLeague on the podcast here.
Thanks for coming on, daniel.
Daniel (00:09):
Yeah, no problem.
Thank you for having me Veryexcited to talk to you.
Dr Alec (00:12):
We've talked so many times and it's nice to share
some of the conversations thatwe've had before with other
people and you have a reallycool story in the health and
fitness industry.
Just from where you've comefrom and background and what
you're doing now, just tell meabout how you got started.
Daniel (00:27):
Okay, how far back do you want me to go?
Dr Alec (00:29):
Very, very beginning what got you into health and
fitness, let's start there.
Daniel (00:33):
Okay, alright, I'll try not to make it too long.
I've been involved in sportsfor the most part of my life
without giving up too much About30 years or maybe even a little
more.
My first sport was tennis.
That's what actually brought meto this country.
I played college tennis.
I played at Gardner WebbUniversity in North Carolina.
(00:54):
So back when I was about 10years old 10, 11, I started
playing tennis and then maybearound 13 or 14, I was kind of a
chubby kid.
Actually, a lot of people don'tbelieve me when I tell them.
Dr Alec (01:09):
I don't believe you.
Yeah, I was.
Daniel (01:11):
I was a little overweight kid and then I had to
scratch on this girl in schooland I was like, oh man, maybe if
I lose some weight she's goingto look at me differently.
So my mom at the time used towork at a university in Brazil
and they had a track, you know asoccer field and a track around
it and I would see peoplerunning.
It's like, oh, I want to startrunning to try to lose some
(01:31):
weight, see if she'll beattracted to me.
That didn't help.
That didn't work.
But what I did notice is thatmy tennis performance went up a
lot.
I lost some weight and I wasable to play better.
Because of that.
It could be my.
I was very young, I was only 12,13 at the time, but I was
already playing some tournaments, some junior tournaments, and
(01:53):
then that had such an impact inmy life.
You know that experience, youknow just the fitness, how that
helped my tennis game.
That you know.
From that point on I just keptplaying tennis, played
competitive junior tennis inBrazil and South America,
eventually got recruited to playcollege tennis here in America,
north Carolina, and you knowjust, I mean it was a huge part
(02:16):
of my life for I would say upuntil 22 years old, 23.
Shortly after I graduated, youknow, my ultimate dream was to
become a professional tennisplayer, but unfortunately that
didn't happen or fortunately, Idon't know, but it was.
You know something thatobviously you know most people
that play tennis competitivewould have that dream and,
(02:37):
anyways, it was a goodexperience.
I was very fortunate to haveplayed in college.
And then, you know, I prettymuch knew I didn't want to have
a desk job, you know.
So I, shortly after that, I gotinvolved with tennis training.
You know, I used to coachtennis a lot.
I also worked for the USTA, theUnited States Tennis
Association.
That was actually my very firstjob, worked at different tennis
(02:58):
academies, you know, coachingtennis.
And then later I was probablyin my late 20s.
That's when I got into CrossFitand the reason why the way I
found out about it was on TV,through the CrossFit games.
I think this was 2011 or 2010,.
Espn, like on a, I don't know,after noon on Sunday, one of
(03:22):
those ESPN channels that nobodyreally watches back then was
showing the CrossFit Games and Istarted watching and I was like
, oh man, this is pretty cool.
These guys are ripped, you know, and they're doing some really
cool stuff.
I want to do that Because, youknow, at that time I was no
longer playing competitivetennis, but I still enjoy
working out, going to the gym,lifting some weights, but
(03:42):
eventually we'll get a littletiring, a little boring.
So when I saw that, I was like,oh, this looks like pretty cool
and these guys are in prettygood shape, but it's a
competition format.
I've never seen anything likeit and I'm sure thousands of
other people had the sameexperience the first time they
saw a CrossFit competition.
But anyways, unique experience,yeah, yeah just, you know,
combining exercising withcompetition.
(04:04):
You know I wasn't really intothe like the physique fitness
competition, that's neversomething that I really was
interested in.
I was more into the performance.
So that fit just like a glove.
You know, when I saw that so afunny story I actually Googled
CrossFit near where I was living, found a gym it was CrossFit
Greensboro.
That's where I had my firstexperience and I called the guys
(04:26):
there to schedule a trial classor whatever and I thought, hey,
I'm watching this on TV andthat's what I want to do.
You know like little do I know,like those were like some best
athletes in the world in thesport of CrossFit, but they
probably thought it was veryfunny.
But anyways, I went and triedand, to be very honest, I almost
didn't continue after my trialclasses because they're very
(04:49):
basic, very introductory, whichnow, as a coach, you know, I
certainly appreciate that and Ithink it's very important to
have that introduction.
Dr Alec (04:56):
Do you remember your first CrossFit workout?
Daniel (05:00):
I don't remember exactly what the workout was which is
sad A lot of people do but I doremember when I attended the
very first actual CrossFit classonce I completed the on-ramp
process, those trial classes wedid like a one rep max deadlift
and then we had another workoutafterwards and I was like wiped.
And that's when I had them onwas like this is it?
This is what I was looking for,you know, because when I just
(05:22):
did the trial classes, I thoughtit was kind of silly.
You know, we're doing like airsquats and kettlebell swings
were like super lightweight, youknow.
But you know I just the sametime that we were doing the
class, there was a regular classgoing on side by side.
So I saw like those peoplelifting some heavy weights and
do some stuff.
That was pretty hard.
I was like all right, I guessif I'm patient enough,
(05:43):
eventually I'll make my way overthere, because that's what I
was looking for.
And sure enough, you know, Ihad my very first real class.
Yeah, it was like a, you know,a ass beating and I loved it and
I was like oh, this is it?
This is what I want to do.
Dr Alec (05:59):
So you got into CrossFit after years of tennis.
Then you're starting to do thiscool thing called Wadley.
How did you get those?
How'd you go from I juststarted CrossFit to Wadley?
Daniel (06:11):
Yeah well, it did take a few years to go from one to the
other, but I guess basicallythe process is.
Sometime after I got involvedwith CrossFit, I decided to open
a CrossFit gym in Brazil andback then this is like 2012,
2013, there weren't too manygyms in Brazil and I was like I
had such a.
The experience of doingCrossFit was so impactful.
(06:33):
I was like, oh man, I need tolet people know about this down
in Brazil.
You know my hometown from asmall town in Brazil, so I
figured there wasn't one there,you know, and there wasn't.
So I was like I'm going to goto Brazil and I'm going to open
a CrossFit gym in my hometown.
So I did that.
I opened the very first CrossFitgym in San Carlos, which is
kind of like outside of SaoPaulo, and then, you know, it
(06:56):
was a great experience.
I had that for several years.
I would go back and forth, Iwould spend some time there.
I can't come back spend sometime here.
We had such a really nice space.
Our gym again kind of fullcircle.
Our CrossFit gym was inside thetennis academy, so we had more
space than we knew what to do.
Dr Alec (07:17):
Was that by luck, or was that by?
Daniel (07:19):
design.
It was by design.
I shared a space with my formertennis coach.
He owned the tennis academy andhe was wanting to add some kind
of fitness component to it, buthe didn't want to have a
regular gym.
This was mostly an outdoorspace with tennis courts so he
didn't feel like having aregular gym with machines and
(07:41):
stuff was appropriate for thelocation.
So I presented him the CrossFit.
I was like, hey, this is what Imentioned now.
I've been training for a fewyears.
I got my certification.
Why don't we open this gym, aCrossFit gym, here in this space
?
And he loved the idea.
He thought it was very fittingwith the environment that we
were in and that could evenbenefit some of the tennis
players we worked with.
(08:02):
Some of them did some part oftheir conditioning.
He was doing CrossFit, so thatwas pretty cool.
But anyways, we had that set upand I had participated in some
competitions here before I wentto Brazil.
I was like man at that timethere was hardly any competition
in Brazil.
I was like we have the perfectplace here to host events.
So we started doing a series ofevents.
(08:23):
That wasn't a waddley yet itwas something else called the
Shark Weekend, which is aweekend-long competition.
People came from all overBrazil to participate because
there were very few events atthat time, so they got very
popular.
We started doing more and moreof those and it was really cool.
And then, a few years later, Iwanted to create a different
(08:43):
format of competition where itwas more, a little more
practical, a little more gearedtowards the recreational level
of members, gym goers, somethingthat the Shark Weekend was a
pretty different competition.
We always had differentelements and combined stuff that
people normally don't do in agym, so I wanted to create
(09:05):
something different where evenpeople that are very new to
CrossFit or have limitedexperience feel like it would be
appropriate, safe and fun.
So this is a year later, 2017,we had our inaugural season of
waddley, do you?
Dr Alec (09:23):
feel like aiming a competition at more of beginner
Crossfitters, people who arethere more to have fun, be safe,
but having that as a goal canbenefit them in the fitness
journey.
Daniel (09:36):
I think so yeah, and we've seen that a lot.
You know, people, once theysign up for competition, they
feel that you know they're alsolike okay, I'm doing this, so
now I really have to payattention to my training, I have
to pay attention to my diet, Ihave to take care of my recovery
, you know.
So I think it just really helpsthem stay focused.
And you know, obviously most ofthose guys they don't have like
(09:58):
aspirations of reaching higherlevels, although, I will tell
you, we've had some past games,athletes that competed at the
waddley when they were like juststarting out and then some of
them, many years later, made itto the games.
But you know, it's kind of likethe entry level competition.
But, yeah, absolutely, and we'veseen it.
You know people that arecompeting with us for many years
(10:21):
and they're able to go up indivisions, or some people that
even stayed at that entry leveldivision.
But it just, you know, justgives them the motivation to
continue their training, to beconsistent with their training.
You know they're not trying tomake a living out of Crossfit
competitions but as much likepeople that run, they sign up
for like a local 5K or 10K, youknow it just gives them that
(10:42):
drive that sometimes it's needed.
You know we sometimes in ourtraining we can get a little
down and lose the motivation andstart missing some training
sessions.
I really feel like it can behelpful, for sure.
Dr Alec (10:57):
It's hard to stay motivated to do hard things and
you got to have consistency.
You get used to it.
But you know there's a lot ofathletes who come away from
other sports and go.
I want to be competitive, but Ineed something to aim for and
it may not be a tennis matchanymore winning and whatnot, a
baseball player, whatnot Justit's nice to have something to
(11:19):
shoot for.
It's kind of like okay, mytraining means something other
than just looking good.
These are a lot of people whodon't just want to look good,
they want to move well, theywant to be strong.
Daniel (11:29):
Well for sure, and for me it was very much that.
You know, I missed thatcompetitive side of tennis once
I finished my college career andwasn't competing anymore.
And now I would go to the gymbut from time to time I would
lose the motivation.
I was like what am I workingout for?
You know, I'm not competing,I'm not doing anything with this
fitness.
(11:49):
So when I saw CrossFit and howthey turned that into a
competitive format, it reallygot me attracted to it.
No, I Hardly ever competeanymore.
Every now and then I'll sign up, I'll do the open or I'll do
like a low competitions, but allfor fun.
But yeah, I find it veryhelpful to and it's certainly
what got me started across it.
Dr Alec (12:10):
So what does what league look like?
Practically day of you show upto Wadley, you signed up what?
What is the outline?
Daniel (12:17):
you mean for, like, does somebody that's participating?
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
So that's pretty much is thisis you know you show up a few
minutes earlier with yourpartners.
It's a teams of twocompetitions.
So I feel like that's animportant component as well.
Most recreational athletes theyfeel a little intimidated,
competing by themselves I guesstoo much pressure.
But if you do with somebodythen it's not as much.
(12:39):
You know you share the workload.
The workouts are a little moremanageable because you're not
just it's not just not just you,but you sharing the work out
with somebody else.
And then you know you get withyour partner.
You show up, do your check-in.
You know the standard stuff.
You get a little little bagwith a t-shirt, some giveaways.
So you know we try to try tomake it fun and Do a lot of
(13:01):
little things for the athletes.
So that had to have a positiveexperience, you know, and it's
memorable.
And then you know you to gothrough your warm-up.
We usually have a warm-up areaset up at whatever gym.
We're doing it.
They get your warm-up, theyknow the workouts ahead of time.
So most of times they havetested the workouts, they kind
of have an idea how they'regonna do or they have a strategy
(13:21):
.
And Then you know the typicallythree workouts.
So no typical competition willstart at 9 am and we'll finish
about 4 or 5 pm.
So they have a morning workoutand then they'll have a lunch
break.
Usually people stick aroundbecause a lot of times they come
with multiple friends, they'reparticipating as well.
So let's say, you do your heatand then you're done.
(13:43):
Then you watch your friendscompeting as well.
You meet new people.
We usually have vendors there aswell with like different you
know, food items or you, orphysical therapists doing like
massages, recovery.
They enjoy that as well.
Different partners that we havethere, you know, exposing their
(14:04):
products.
So they, you know we try to addother elements to the event as
well.
So it's not just thecompetition, you know.
And then they'll have anotherworkout, a shortly after lunch
and then typically one later inthe afternoon.
So three workouts I think I feellike it's just the right amount
.
They're not like beat up ordestroyed next day, it's just
one day.
So Sunday they can still enjoythe day with your families.
(14:26):
Monday they may be a littlesore but they're not like
miserable and they're still ableto move.
Get back to the regulartraining, you know they don't
have to miss out an entire weekof training because they're so
sore.
I feel like that's important aswell.
And then, you know, at the endof the day, if they do well,
they'll maybe go up on thepodium, get a trophy, take it
(14:47):
home, take a little photo, putit on their social media.
I know that's important as well.
Get a little meadow as well.
And, yeah, just at the end ofthe day, have a good time, you
know, and feel good aboutthemselves, and I always mention
this at the event.
You know I stick around to thevery end.
Have a cold beer with us, youknow, if they're over 21, of
(15:09):
course, of course, but you knowit's a fun day.
It really is, you know.
And the host gym they usuallyget very involved as well.
A lot of their members come tojust watch.
It's an opportunity for, youknow, it's a very
family-oriented event, so that,you know, people bring their
kids, their kids watch themcompete and parents, friends,
(15:29):
come and watch For the gyms.
I think it's a nice opportunityfor them to showcase their
facility.
You know, we've seen, we'veseen this many times.
You know, people just coming inbecause they're friends,
they're competing.
They've never done CrossFitbefore any kind of functional
fitness and they're like oh man,this is a nice place, maybe I
should come check it outsometime.
And then they end up getting amembership.
(15:50):
So I feel like there's thatkind of benefit as well for the
facility, you know.
Dr Alec (15:54):
Sure, and speaking of the gyms, is there a particular
type of gym that Wildling'susually in?
I know CrossFit Space.
Is there a functional fitnessgym, or are you looking to
connect with all types of gyms?
How does that come to work?
Daniel (16:08):
No, really all kinds of gyms.
You know it's more thefunctional fitness style of
training, but they by no meanshave to be affiliated with
CrossFit.
We've done hundreds ofcompetitions at gyms that are
not CrossFit affiliated.
We don't have any affiliationswith CrossFit, so we're open to
doing CrossFit affiliates butalso very much open to doing at
gyms that are not affiliated, aslong as you know that's what
(16:31):
they're into, you know that'show of training the functional
fitness, and they have theequipment and the facility
that's appropriate for our styleof workouts.
Dr Alec (16:41):
So you can set up a ton of different gyms.
I know some background on it.
Right, you got a whole leaguedown there in Brazil, what is
one of the coolest venues you'veever hosted a Wildling at.
Daniel (16:51):
Yeah, absolutely.
Now, there's been many, manycool places.
So we've had the experience ofdoing one where it was actually
a really small gym, but theywere so excited to have our
event that they got approvalfrom the city to close the
entire street.
So we had all the whole workoutwas outside on the streets.
We brought out all theequipment gym mats, barbells,
(17:12):
weights, bikes, rowers I meaneverything was done outside.
You know, they basicallybrought the whole gym outside so
that we would have enough spaceto to run the event.
That was a lot of fun.
We also did an addition on thebeach.
That was really cool anddifferent as well.
So this gym was in a beach townand it was very close, within
(17:32):
walking distance to the beach.
So we did some of the workoutsactually on the beach, bringing
out, just, you know, kettlebells, dumbbells, different things
like that.
That was really fun.
What else we did?
We went to Manaus, which is inthe rainforest in Brazil.
That's neat.
Yeah, it was a regular gym, but, you know, just a very
(17:52):
different place, so far away andkind of remote, but that was
pretty cool.
Yeah, I would say those aresome of the more unusual spaces
that we've been.
But honestly and this.
Sometimes that's a concern whensome gym owners they contact us
they're interested in hostingour event but they're sometimes
worried, oh, we may not haveenough space, or, you know, we
(18:15):
may not have enough equipment.
And we really, you know, wecreate the workouts based on the
facility and the equipment thatthey have available so we can
really make it happen anywhere.
You know, and there's, you know, with a functional fitness
training, there's such a widerange of exercises that you can
incorporate that I mean, you'rereally only limited by your
creativity.
(18:35):
No, so let's say we have towe've this is just kind of the
long lines.
During the pandemic, we had afew online competitions as well,
so that was different, verychallenging.
We had, like I think one of thedishes had like well over 2000
people participating, all online.
They submit their videos, alldone just body weight exercise,
(18:57):
because people were home, a lotof people didn't have access to
equipment.
So we wanted to have, you know,we wanted to keep people
motivated to keep training.
This was like very early in theCOVID days, I know I'm talking
like probably March or April of2020.
So we launched an online onlycompetition where people can do
it at home.
So they recorded from theirphone, at their house, you know,
(19:18):
and use just body weightexercise.
Dr Alec (19:21):
I thought there was a lot of people who did that.
Yeah, we had like.
Daniel (19:23):
I mean, I think we had like probably close to 3000
people participating, Wow, andit was free.
We made it free because wewanted just to keep people
engaged and motivated andhopefully still exercising.
At that time we thought it wasonly going to be a few weeks.
Dr Alec (19:37):
You know, there's no reason not to do that.
If you're at home and you'reawake, you can go for it.
Daniel (19:42):
Yeah, but you know it was so hard.
I don't know what yourexperience is like, but you know
I and I think most people thatare used to going to a gym to
work out found it a littlechallenging.
You know I would go.
I liked your joke.
I was basically I would have aweek on and then a week off.
Like one week is like all right, I'm really gonna do this every
day.
So go and, and I even had someequipment.
(20:03):
You know, I borrowed from mygym some barbells and weights,
kettlebells.
I would go run, I had a bike,so one week I was great, you
know, worked out, exercise everyday and then next week I like
take the whole week off.
You know it was, it waschallenging.
Dr Alec (20:17):
It's hard to find.
It was hard to find consistencyduring covid, especially if you
were at home and there was noway of going to a job.
Like you're just kind of likefloating in space.
Daniel (20:25):
Yeah, absolutely, it was very tricky, very tricky.
Dr Alec (20:28):
Daniel, if we have a pair that is looking to join a
Wadley event, what are some ofthe next ones coming up?
Daniel (20:34):
Yeah, so we got.
We got a bunch, mostly here inFlorida right now, but we're
quickly trying to expand intoother states as well and our
goal ultimately is to be allover the country.
No, we like to put a teamtogether where we can run this.
This events everywhere at WestCoast, east Coast, midwest, I
mean.
I think we're, you know, we canreally.
It's probably gonna take this,take us some time, but I think
(20:55):
we'll get there eventually.
But right now we're focusedmostly here in Florida and on
the east coast.
So we have this weekend, wehave one in Palm Bay here in
Florida, but obviously theregistration for that one's
closed.
It's just a couple days away.
But we're gonna be inGainesville Love it.
That's right.
That's right.
We're gonna be.
There is a March 2nd.
It's a swamp city's strengthand condition is a great
(21:17):
facility.
They have a really cool spot,you know.
They have an outdoor space andwe are incorporating some of
that into the workouts.
Then in April we have a coupleevents.
We have one in Winter Park atOld Town CrossFit.
We're also gonna be in StAugustine just found out today
CrossFit St Augustine.
That's April.
In May we're gonna be inOrlando, on the other side of
(21:39):
town, at a Kings Point CrossFit.
We have a summer event inOrlando as well at a CrossFit
AFN in June, june 8th, and thenwe're gonna be in North Carolina
, which is no, I love it, and so, where I found CrossFit, I'm
very excited about this event aswell.
It's a.
This is a Chair city.
Chair city fitness is inThomasville, small town outside
(22:01):
of Winston-Salem, greensboroarea.
We're very excited about beingthere.
They're super excited to hostus and we're gonna have a huge
participation from all the localgyms.
So I'm excited to be there inthe summer as well, you know,
and see some friends from thearea and yeah.
But anyways, we're a WadleagueUSA comm.
That's our website.
(22:21):
We're very active on socialmedia as well.
So Wadleague USA.
On Instagram and Facebook youcan see our full schedule, more
information about our events and, if you're, you know gym owners
Are watching us.
If you're interested inbringing Wadleague to your
facility, contact us.
We'll send you all theinformation.
It's really really easy.
We try to make this stress-freeexperience for gyms hosting us.
Dr Alec (22:45):
I think that's the real benefit, one of the things I
think so too, yeah, no it'sgreat because we know I mean, I
used to own a gym.
Daniel (22:51):
You own your facility here you know how much work it
is to just keep everythingrunning smooth, you know.
So if you add on top of thatorganizing competition, it can
be a little much, you know.
So we we try to take that offtheir plate.
You know, still, there's a lotof benefits for gyms hosting it,
but they don't have to do theactual work, you know you have
(23:11):
it down to your science.
Dr Alec (23:12):
They get the sit back.
Daniel (23:14):
Obviously, we're always trying to perfect it.
I think it's an evolving thing,but but we've done hundreds of
events, so there's a lot ofthings that we learned over the
course of those events, somesome of the hard way, some just
came naturally.
But yeah, just I think we canmake it make the whole process a
little bit easier just byhaving been exposed to it so
many times.
Dr Alec (23:34):
Absolutely yeah man, how else can we find you?
Daniel (23:37):
You can find me personally at on Instagram, at
shark indeed and Facebook aswell, and you can always find me
a treasure.
You know that.
You know it's fine me atreasure coast CrossFit early
mornings.
I'm a head trainer over there.
I love it.
There's a great place to CCFhere in Sebastian, so you know
we always have drop-ins peoplefrom out of town Welcome to come
(24:00):
and join a class with us.
It's a great place.
It's a very, very special.
Dr Alec (24:03):
They've kicked my butt a once or twice.
We'll drop all the informationinto the show notes.
That way you can just go clickand check out wildly.
Church Coast CrossFit, danieland all the above, all right,
thank you, daniel for joining.
Thank you, buddy, I.
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