September 10, 2025 • 21 mins
Have you ever found yourself yearning for an experience that challenges you physically while simultaneously nourishing your soul? Something that takes you away from the daily grind and drops you into a community of like-minded individuals who quickly become family? That's exactly what I've found at Power Monkey Fitness Camp, and in this episode, I'm pulling back the curtain on why I'm about to return for my ninth visit.
Tucked away in the woods of Tennessee, about two hours from Nashville, Power Monkey brings together people from across the globe—from fitness beginners to professional athletes, from studio owners to weekend warriors.
No matter your background or fitness level, you'll find yourself immersed in a supportive environment where vulnerability becomes strength and strangers become lifelong friends.
The week unfolds through rotating sessions - all taught by world-class coaches. But what happens between those sessions might be even more valuable: spontaneous games, fireside conversations, and the kind of genuine human connection that's increasingly rare in our digital world.
By the end of the week, the transformation is palpable. People who arrived as strangers are in tears at the thought of leaving their newfound family. It's an investment that pays dividends far beyond improved fitness, offering a reminder of what it means to play, to connect, and to grow together.
Whether you're seeking professional development, community, or simply a reset, I invite you to consider what Power Monkey might offer you on your journey toward an unbreakable mind and body.
Check out the Camp Details here: https://www.powermonkeycamp.com/
Connect with Me
Instagram: www.instagram.com/tianasmindandmoves
Website: unbreakablemindandbody.com
Email: info@unbreakablemb.com
Download your Free 5-Min Pre-Workout Guide:
https://tiana-gonzalez.mykajabi.com/likeyoumeanit
Disclaimer: This show is for education and entertainment purposes only. This is not intended as a replacement for therapy. Please seek out the help of a professional to assist you with your specific situation.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:08):
Welcome to the Unbreakable Mind and Body
podcast.
I am your host, tiana Gonzalez,a multi-passionate, creative
storyteller and entrepreneurwith a fierce love for movement.
This is our space for powerfulstories and actionable
strategies to help you buildmental resilience and elevate
(00:28):
your self-care practice.
Together, we will unlock thetools that you need to create an
unbreakable mind and body.
Speaker 2 (00:38):
Welcome back to the show.
I am your host, tiana, and onthis episode I want to share
with you my experiences withPower Monkey Fitness Camp.
Now I have done an episoderegarding camp previously and if
I'm being fully transparentwith you which I always am I
(01:00):
wasn't in love with that episode.
The way that the narrativeunfolded and, as I went back and
listened to it a few times, tome my previous camp episode kind
of feels like not my best workand for some reason I struggled
(01:21):
piecing it together, trying tofit in all of the juicy details,
the things that connect us, whywe come together twice a year
in Tennessee, and so on and soforth.
So this is going to be mysecond take, sharing with you my
(01:42):
experiences at Power MonkeyFitness Camp.
Like sharing with you myexperiences at Power Monkey
Fitness Camp, if you follow meon social media then you know
that I've been there many timesand at the time of this
recording I am preparing toreturn to camp for my ninth time
in a couple weeks.
Super exciting, and it's reallya privilege to be there.
(02:03):
So let's talk about camp.
Power Monkey Fitness Camp is afitness retreat.
It's a week-long experience inthe middle of the woods on a
beautiful piece of propertyabout an hour and 45 minute
drive, close to two hours awayfrom the city of Nashville, and
(02:26):
the area is Lake Francis and theclosest town is a small town
called Crossville.
Super fun experience.
It's basically a property thatis a sleepaway camp for young
gymnastics athletes, and they dothese intensive experiences
(02:47):
throughout the year.
Obviously, during thesummertime, when school is not
in session, they're very busy atthe camp, and then throughout
the year, there are some specialexperiences, such as Power
Monkey.
Now, power Monkey has a longhistory in the world of
functional fitness, better knownor more widely known as
(03:10):
CrossFit, but it's so much morethan that.
And no, not everyone whoattends camp or who works at
camp or who shows up as a camperis someone who does functional
fitness.
As a camper is someone who doesfunctional fitness.
In fact, we have a ton ofpeople who come for all sorts of
(03:32):
reasons that vary.
Perhaps they want to meet newpeople, perhaps they want to
open their own boutique studio,perhaps they want FaceTime with
the incredible staff and coachesthat are present and engaged.
And the really fun thing aboutthe whole experience is there's
plenty of time for play, there'stime for exploration, there's
(03:55):
time for learning.
There's opportunity to get yourcontinuing education credits if
you are a fitness professionaland that is something.
If you're not, in the fitnessindustry as a trainer and a
coach, you do need to maintaincurrent accreditation to keep
your certification status.
So that is something that'sreally powerful and it's helpful
(04:18):
to be able to not only get yourrequirements completed in one
week, but also to have fun doingit.
Now, within the world ofCrossFit better termed
functional fitness, becauseCrossFit is a brand functional
fitness there's 10 majormodalities and I'm not going to
(04:40):
bore you with all the details,but here's the high level.
We have different aspects ofthe sport and for someone who's
a beginner or perhaps veryexperienced in one type of sport
or fitness, you may need helpin the other areas.
So there is gymnastics relatedwork, such as working on your
(05:03):
handstands.
There's ring work.
There's bar work, where you'rehanging from a pull-up bar.
There is also weightlifting, soyou would have the clean and
jerk the snatch.
There is also rowing, runningand, of course, you want to work
on your mobility.
(05:23):
So the week is spent tappinginto all these different corners
of the functional fitness realm, and everyone's at a different
level.
The beautiful thing about it isthis whole experience is?
It's a complete journey, fromthe start to finish.
(05:47):
It's a group of strangers.
Many don't know each other.
Many are coming for the firsttime and, believe it or not.
There are a ton of returncampers, but there are so many
people who come together andit's a little scary.
It's like when you were inkindergarten or first grade and
it's your first day of school.
And you are kindergarten orfirst grade and it's your first
(06:09):
day of school and you areexcited and nervous.
You're not sure what to expect.
You've only heard about things.
Maybe you've seen content onsocial media or you've heard
other people talk about theirexperiences at camp, and now
you're here for the first timeand it's an opportunity to meet
new people and to be vulnerableand to explore, to try something
(06:30):
new, to remember what it's liketo play, to connect with people
, to break bread with peoplethat maybe you've only ever seen
on the internet that you havelooked up to.
There are people who areprofessional athletes, we have
influencers, we have people whohave owned multimillion dollar
(06:52):
companies, and at camp everyoneis equal and it's a really
beautiful thing.
So I'm going for the ninth timeand I have to tell you that
every time camp is approaching,it's a time that I'm filled with
excitement and a little bit ofanxiety, there's a little bit of
(07:15):
stress.
I'm definitely a diva when itcomes to my lifestyle.
So as far as my sleeping, mynutrition, when I get to work
out, those things are toppriority for me, and if you
followed me or listened to anyof my previous episodes for any
amount of time, you know that Idefinitely take care of myself
(07:39):
at a very high level.
Some may call it selfish.
I quite frankly don't give ashit what you call it, but I
believe that by filling my cupfirst, it allows me to then give
to others with what my cuprunneth over with.
You cannot pour from an emptycup, right?
So, knowing that about myselfsometimes having that
(08:04):
uncertainty of who's going to bemy roommate at camp this week
coming up, or you know, I hopethat my roommates understand
that I'm a creature of habit.
I love to go to bed early, Ineed quiet time.
I also wake up very early andyou know we just have our
(08:25):
comforts, our creature comforts,and so I always try to make
sure that I'm as best preparedas possible.
But also I want to be a goodroommate too.
So when people come to camp, itstarts off with introductory
games, where we take all of thepeople who have signed up to
(08:47):
come as campers and we breakthem up into groups and each
group will travel among thecoaches, who are also split up,
and they play introduction games.
And it's really a nice time todo some icebreakers, to get to
know the people in your group,because once the week gets
underway, which starts Mondaymorning of that week away at
(09:10):
camp, you're with the same groupof people for the entire time,
so it would behoove you to bepaying attention to remember
people's names, and then thefriendships start to form.
Now I did skip over the reasonwhy I go to camp, because I
actually am not a camper.
I work as a subcontractor forthis awesome company, xfit Lab,
(09:36):
which does metabolic testing.
The testing is an add-onservice that we offer to people
who are already coming to campfor the week long experience.
So it would be, you know, anadditional charge to whatever
they have paid for for the campweek and they can decide if they
want to participate or not, andI help facilitate the testing.
(10:00):
So how lucky am I, because Iget to go to camp and I'm doing
work that I am so passionateabout that.
I strongly believe in that.
I love the data and the science.
I love staying on top of whatthe current data, research and
science is showing us about thehealth and wellness space, and
(10:25):
also, specifically,cardiovascular training,
muscular hypertrophy, powerspace, and also, specifically,
cardiovascular training,muscular hypertrophy,
powerlifting and strengthtraining.
Those are the things thatreally butter my bread and I get
to share that with people atcamp.
My first camp experience was inthe fall of 2021.
(10:45):
And I did quadruple duty and itwas damaging to myself, to be
fair, because not only was Iworking, you know, as a
consultant early morning, middayand sometimes at night,
depending on how many peoplewanted to be tested on a
(11:06):
specific day, because we couldonly do a certain number of
people within a certaintimeframe I also was
participating in the campexperience with a group, so I
was going to all of the stationsthroughout the week.
I also was trying to maintainmy own training program, because
(11:28):
I do have a remote coach whowrites my workouts for me, so I
wanted to do my best to stickwith my program and then
adjusting to the food thatserved at camp, the schedule,
getting the lay of the land,acclimating.
It was a lot and, I have to say, by the third day I was
(11:51):
extremely tired, totally tappedout, exhausted and just ready to
call it, and I did skip onestation because I was just very,
very tired.
I do tend to put an inordinateamount of pressure on myself.
Also, whenever there issomething that has my name on it
(12:14):
and it's work related, I take alot of pride in the work that I
do.
So, being at camp, especiallymy first time, I wanted to not
get out the park.
I wanted to be sure that I wasdoing everything right, that I
was open, receptive, vulnerable,connecting and also doing a
(12:42):
fucking amazing job like fivestars all around.
My personality type.
I am a people person and sobeing able to connect, being
able to communicate, overallthat was not challenging for me.
But energy management wasdefinitely something where I
(13:03):
screwed up because I was tryingto do too much.
And, as with anything in lifeand just like I tell my
one-on-one clients every day,you have to envision your time
as a pie or a plate.
Okay, so visualize that.
And then you have slices andwithin those slices, each slice
(13:29):
of the pie is somethingdifferent in your life.
So you will have nutrition, youwill have exercise, you will
have work responsibilities,family bills, chores, cleaning,
self-improvement, education,chores that require you to leave
(13:52):
the house, driving around,running errands, et cetera.
So you can do this exercise foryourself.
Take a piece of paper, draw acircle on it and then start
breaking up your pie and thenlabeling it.
And then what happens is whenyou add something new to the pie
or you need to cut anotherslice, you are taking away from
(14:18):
something else, but you're notadding to the pie.
We're not making the pie bigger.
The pie is already cut.
I'm sorry, the pie is alreadybaked.
You're just changing the sizeof the slices because now
there's someone new that hascome to dinner and they want a
slice of the pie too.
So how do you manage that?
And that's what I had to workwith when I was away at camp the
(14:43):
first time.
I didn't allocate my slicesproperly.
There was a huge part of itrelated to food and me having an
unnecessary level of stress andconcern around food options.
I have some food sensitivities,I have food preferences, don't
(15:07):
we all?
And I remember feeling notadequately prepared for that,
and so I had a stomachache thewhole week.
I wasn't going to the bathroom,because I typically have issues
when I'm traveling.
I get a little backed up andthen I was chugging water so I
(15:27):
was constantly peeing.
I mean, it was just a hot messand it did impact my experience
and I did try to be a greatactress and just you know stifle
that I also was pushing theprofessionalism above and beyond
also was pushing theprofessionalism above and beyond
.
And the thing is that I don'treally have to try with that.
I do love work, I love being ofservice, I love helping others.
(15:50):
So the work aspect was easy.
It was all of my own personalshit that I had to navigate.
Now I'm definitely going on atangent because I'm not really
telling you too much about campitself.
Within the week at camp there isa schedule that's laid out and
there is time allocated forlearning at each station.
(16:12):
So the stations there's 10 andthey're the 10 foundational, I
wouldn't say movements, butprinciples of functional fitness
.
Each station is two hours.
So within the day there's a fewbreakout sessions.
So let's say Monday, tuesday, Ibelieve there's three.
So that's six hours of learning.
(16:34):
Sprinkled in is a break forlunch.
Sprinkled in is also a breakfor some play Sprinkled in is
also fun.
And then at night there's somegames and each night there's
different things that can be youcan join or you can just choose
to chill out.
You can stay in your room, youcan go to a campfire, you can
(16:56):
play a pickup game of pickleballor basketball.
Some weeks, because camp is notalways the same, every camp is a
unique experience, with thegeneral format being the same,
but sometimes there's also timefor working out at night, if you
choose to, which is great forsomeone like me who is typically
(17:16):
working when the people who arecampers are on their breaks and
then when they're actually intheir learning portion of each
day of the week, the gym is offlimits because they're actually
using it.
They're learning.
It's a hands-on, very engagedtype of learning environment and
(17:38):
the 10 groups are all spreadout all over the camp property.
It is such a transformativeexperience because you show up
as strangers and the friendshipsthat form and grow day after
day after day.
By the end of the week peopleare crying, people are so sad to
(18:02):
be leaving each other and, yes,of course, we've got to get
back to our normal lives.
We've got to get back to workand kids and family and the
routine, but it is very much.
It reminds me so much of a filmcalled Armageddon.
So much of a film calledArmageddon.
(18:27):
And in the beginning of thefilm you see people from all
sorts of walks of life getting aphone call that they're needed,
their specialty is needed, andthey show up, no questions asked
.
They say yes, they cometogether and it's this unusual
group of people who may neverhave come together under any
(18:47):
other circumstance, but yet herethey are and in the film
Armageddon they're together tosave the planet truly from a
giant asteroid that's headedright towards earth, truly from
a giant asteroid that's headedright towards earth.
Now maybe we could frame campas a way of saving the planet
(19:14):
also, because it is anexperience where you are
enriching your soul, fillingyour cup, opening up to meeting
new people.
People from all over the worldcome to camp.
I have met people from Germany,from Italy, from Greece and
even from India.
Imagine someone traveling allthe way from India overseas to a
(19:36):
quiet little town in the middleof nothing in Tennessee.
It's just greenery and treesand a Walmart and a Buc-ee's and
it's amazing.
So I'd love for you to check outthe website.
This is a plug and I am goingto include it in the show notes
(19:59):
Power Monkey Fitness Camp.
The specific website will be inthe show notes.
Okay, I'd love for you to checkit out.
There may be time for you tosign up for the next camp and
reserve your spot.
Of course, it is an investment,but it is the best investment
(20:20):
that you can make for yourself,because what you leave with is
worth its weight in gold.
It will enrich your life in away that nothing else can.
I am so grateful for youlistening to my story, to my
rambling, to my yapping, allabout Power Monkey Fitness Camp.
(20:42):
It is a very, very specialexperience, one that I hope I
get to participate in for therest of my life, because it is
such a privilege, it is such anhonor to be standing side by
side with some of the bestcoaches in the world in the
(21:05):
fitness industry, and the impactthat we have collectively and
then as individuals, issomething that can't be fully
explained in words or replicated.
You just have to be there.
I appreciate your time andattention.
(21:25):
Thank you for being here, thankyou for listening and, as
always, I'll catch you on thenext one.
Welcome to the Unbreakable Mind and Body
podcast.
I am your host, tiana Gonzalez,a multi-passionate, creative
storyteller and entrepreneurwith a fierce love for movement.
This is our space for powerfulstories and actionable
strategies to help you buildmental resilience and elevate
(00:28):
your self-care practice.
Together, we will unlock thetools that you need to create an
unbreakable mind and body.
Speaker 2 (00:38):
Welcome back to the show.
I am your host, tiana, and onthis episode I want to share
with you my experiences withPower Monkey Fitness Camp.
Now I have done an episoderegarding camp previously and if
I'm being fully transparentwith you which I always am I
(01:00):
wasn't in love with that episode.
The way that the narrativeunfolded and, as I went back and
listened to it a few times, tome my previous camp episode kind
of feels like not my best workand for some reason I struggled
(01:21):
piecing it together, trying tofit in all of the juicy details,
the things that connect us, whywe come together twice a year
in Tennessee, and so on and soforth.
So this is going to be mysecond take, sharing with you my
(01:42):
experiences at Power MonkeyFitness Camp.
Like sharing with you myexperiences at Power Monkey
Fitness Camp, if you follow meon social media then you know
that I've been there many timesand at the time of this
recording I am preparing toreturn to camp for my ninth time
in a couple weeks.
Super exciting, and it's reallya privilege to be there.
(02:03):
So let's talk about camp.
Power Monkey Fitness Camp is afitness retreat.
It's a week-long experience inthe middle of the woods on a
beautiful piece of propertyabout an hour and 45 minute
drive, close to two hours awayfrom the city of Nashville, and
(02:26):
the area is Lake Francis and theclosest town is a small town
called Crossville.
Super fun experience.
It's basically a property thatis a sleepaway camp for young
gymnastics athletes, and they dothese intensive experiences
(02:47):
throughout the year.
Obviously, during thesummertime, when school is not
in session, they're very busy atthe camp, and then throughout
the year, there are some specialexperiences, such as Power
Monkey.
Now, power Monkey has a longhistory in the world of
functional fitness, better knownor more widely known as
(03:10):
CrossFit, but it's so much morethan that.
And no, not everyone whoattends camp or who works at
camp or who shows up as a camperis someone who does functional
fitness.
As a camper is someone who doesfunctional fitness.
In fact, we have a ton ofpeople who come for all sorts of
(03:32):
reasons that vary.
Perhaps they want to meet newpeople, perhaps they want to
open their own boutique studio,perhaps they want FaceTime with
the incredible staff and coachesthat are present and engaged.
And the really fun thing aboutthe whole experience is there's
plenty of time for play, there'stime for exploration, there's
(03:55):
time for learning.
There's opportunity to get yourcontinuing education credits if
you are a fitness professionaland that is something.
If you're not, in the fitnessindustry as a trainer and a
coach, you do need to maintaincurrent accreditation to keep
your certification status.
So that is something that'sreally powerful and it's helpful
(04:18):
to be able to not only get yourrequirements completed in one
week, but also to have fun doingit.
Now, within the world ofCrossFit better termed
functional fitness, becauseCrossFit is a brand functional
fitness there's 10 majormodalities and I'm not going to
(04:40):
bore you with all the details,but here's the high level.
We have different aspects ofthe sport and for someone who's
a beginner or perhaps veryexperienced in one type of sport
or fitness, you may need helpin the other areas.
So there is gymnastics relatedwork, such as working on your
(05:03):
handstands.
There's ring work.
There's bar work, where you'rehanging from a pull-up bar.
There is also weightlifting, soyou would have the clean and
jerk the snatch.
There is also rowing, runningand, of course, you want to work
on your mobility.
(05:23):
So the week is spent tappinginto all these different corners
of the functional fitness realm, and everyone's at a different
level.
The beautiful thing about it isthis whole experience is?
It's a complete journey, fromthe start to finish.
(05:47):
It's a group of strangers.
Many don't know each other.
Many are coming for the firsttime and, believe it or not.
There are a ton of returncampers, but there are so many
people who come together andit's a little scary.
It's like when you were inkindergarten or first grade and
it's your first day of school.
And you are kindergarten orfirst grade and it's your first
(06:09):
day of school and you areexcited and nervous.
You're not sure what to expect.
You've only heard about things.
Maybe you've seen content onsocial media or you've heard
other people talk about theirexperiences at camp, and now
you're here for the first timeand it's an opportunity to meet
new people and to be vulnerableand to explore, to try something
(06:30):
new, to remember what it's liketo play, to connect with people
, to break bread with peoplethat maybe you've only ever seen
on the internet that you havelooked up to.
There are people who areprofessional athletes, we have
influencers, we have people whohave owned multimillion dollar
(06:52):
companies, and at camp everyoneis equal and it's a really
beautiful thing.
So I'm going for the ninth timeand I have to tell you that
every time camp is approaching,it's a time that I'm filled with
excitement and a little bit ofanxiety, there's a little bit of
(07:15):
stress.
I'm definitely a diva when itcomes to my lifestyle.
So as far as my sleeping, mynutrition, when I get to work
out, those things are toppriority for me, and if you
followed me or listened to anyof my previous episodes for any
amount of time, you know that Idefinitely take care of myself
(07:39):
at a very high level.
Some may call it selfish.
I quite frankly don't give ashit what you call it, but I
believe that by filling my cupfirst, it allows me to then give
to others with what my cuprunneth over with.
You cannot pour from an emptycup, right?
So, knowing that about myselfsometimes having that
(08:04):
uncertainty of who's going to bemy roommate at camp this week
coming up, or you know, I hopethat my roommates understand
that I'm a creature of habit.
I love to go to bed early, Ineed quiet time.
I also wake up very early andyou know we just have our
(08:25):
comforts, our creature comforts,and so I always try to make
sure that I'm as best preparedas possible.
But also I want to be a goodroommate too.
So when people come to camp, itstarts off with introductory
games, where we take all of thepeople who have signed up to
(08:47):
come as campers and we breakthem up into groups and each
group will travel among thecoaches, who are also split up,
and they play introduction games.
And it's really a nice time todo some icebreakers, to get to
know the people in your group,because once the week gets
underway, which starts Mondaymorning of that week away at
(09:10):
camp, you're with the same groupof people for the entire time,
so it would behoove you to bepaying attention to remember
people's names, and then thefriendships start to form.
Now I did skip over the reasonwhy I go to camp, because I
actually am not a camper.
I work as a subcontractor forthis awesome company, xfit Lab,
(09:36):
which does metabolic testing.
The testing is an add-onservice that we offer to people
who are already coming to campfor the week long experience.
So it would be, you know, anadditional charge to whatever
they have paid for for the campweek and they can decide if they
want to participate or not, andI help facilitate the testing.
(10:00):
So how lucky am I, because Iget to go to camp and I'm doing
work that I am so passionateabout that.
I strongly believe in that.
I love the data and the science.
I love staying on top of whatthe current data, research and
science is showing us about thehealth and wellness space, and
(10:25):
also, specifically,cardiovascular training,
muscular hypertrophy, powerspace, and also, specifically,
cardiovascular training,muscular hypertrophy,
powerlifting and strengthtraining.
Those are the things thatreally butter my bread and I get
to share that with people atcamp.
My first camp experience was inthe fall of 2021.
(10:45):
And I did quadruple duty and itwas damaging to myself, to be
fair, because not only was Iworking, you know, as a
consultant early morning, middayand sometimes at night,
depending on how many peoplewanted to be tested on a
(11:06):
specific day, because we couldonly do a certain number of
people within a certaintimeframe I also was
participating in the campexperience with a group, so I
was going to all of the stationsthroughout the week.
I also was trying to maintainmy own training program, because
(11:28):
I do have a remote coach whowrites my workouts for me, so I
wanted to do my best to stickwith my program and then
adjusting to the food thatserved at camp, the schedule,
getting the lay of the land,acclimating.
It was a lot and, I have to say, by the third day I was
(11:51):
extremely tired, totally tappedout, exhausted and just ready to
call it, and I did skip onestation because I was just very,
very tired.
I do tend to put an inordinateamount of pressure on myself.
Also, whenever there issomething that has my name on it
(12:14):
and it's work related, I take alot of pride in the work that I
do.
So, being at camp, especiallymy first time, I wanted to not
get out the park.
I wanted to be sure that I wasdoing everything right, that I
was open, receptive, vulnerable,connecting and also doing a
(12:42):
fucking amazing job like fivestars all around.
My personality type.
I am a people person and sobeing able to connect, being
able to communicate, overallthat was not challenging for me.
But energy management wasdefinitely something where I
(13:03):
screwed up because I was tryingto do too much.
And, as with anything in lifeand just like I tell my
one-on-one clients every day,you have to envision your time
as a pie or a plate.
Okay, so visualize that.
And then you have slices andwithin those slices, each slice
(13:29):
of the pie is somethingdifferent in your life.
So you will have nutrition, youwill have exercise, you will
have work responsibilities,family bills, chores, cleaning,
self-improvement, education,chores that require you to leave
(13:52):
the house, driving around,running errands, et cetera.
So you can do this exercise foryourself.
Take a piece of paper, draw acircle on it and then start
breaking up your pie and thenlabeling it.
And then what happens is whenyou add something new to the pie
or you need to cut anotherslice, you are taking away from
(14:18):
something else, but you're notadding to the pie.
We're not making the pie bigger.
The pie is already cut.
I'm sorry, the pie is alreadybaked.
You're just changing the sizeof the slices because now
there's someone new that hascome to dinner and they want a
slice of the pie too.
So how do you manage that?
And that's what I had to workwith when I was away at camp the
(14:43):
first time.
I didn't allocate my slicesproperly.
There was a huge part of itrelated to food and me having an
unnecessary level of stress andconcern around food options.
I have some food sensitivities,I have food preferences, don't
(15:07):
we all?
And I remember feeling notadequately prepared for that,
and so I had a stomachache thewhole week.
I wasn't going to the bathroom,because I typically have issues
when I'm traveling.
I get a little backed up andthen I was chugging water so I
(15:27):
was constantly peeing.
I mean, it was just a hot messand it did impact my experience
and I did try to be a greatactress and just you know stifle
that I also was pushing theprofessionalism above and beyond
also was pushing theprofessionalism above and beyond
.
And the thing is that I don'treally have to try with that.
I do love work, I love being ofservice, I love helping others.
(15:50):
So the work aspect was easy.
It was all of my own personalshit that I had to navigate.
Now I'm definitely going on atangent because I'm not really
telling you too much about campitself.
Within the week at camp there isa schedule that's laid out and
there is time allocated forlearning at each station.
(16:12):
So the stations there's 10 andthey're the 10 foundational, I
wouldn't say movements, butprinciples of functional fitness
.
Each station is two hours.
So within the day there's a fewbreakout sessions.
So let's say Monday, tuesday, Ibelieve there's three.
So that's six hours of learning.
(16:34):
Sprinkled in is a break forlunch.
Sprinkled in is also a breakfor some play Sprinkled in is
also fun.
And then at night there's somegames and each night there's
different things that can be youcan join or you can just choose
to chill out.
You can stay in your room, youcan go to a campfire, you can
(16:56):
play a pickup game of pickleballor basketball.
Some weeks, because camp is notalways the same, every camp is a
unique experience, with thegeneral format being the same,
but sometimes there's also timefor working out at night, if you
choose to, which is great forsomeone like me who is typically
(17:16):
working when the people who arecampers are on their breaks and
then when they're actually intheir learning portion of each
day of the week, the gym is offlimits because they're actually
using it.
They're learning.
It's a hands-on, very engagedtype of learning environment and
(17:38):
the 10 groups are all spreadout all over the camp property.
It is such a transformativeexperience because you show up
as strangers and the friendshipsthat form and grow day after
day after day.
By the end of the week peopleare crying, people are so sad to
(18:02):
be leaving each other and, yes,of course, we've got to get
back to our normal lives.
We've got to get back to workand kids and family and the
routine, but it is very much.
It reminds me so much of a filmcalled Armageddon.
So much of a film calledArmageddon.
(18:27):
And in the beginning of thefilm you see people from all
sorts of walks of life getting aphone call that they're needed,
their specialty is needed, andthey show up, no questions asked
.
They say yes, they cometogether and it's this unusual
group of people who may neverhave come together under any
(18:47):
other circumstance, but yet herethey are and in the film
Armageddon they're together tosave the planet truly from a
giant asteroid that's headedright towards earth, truly from
a giant asteroid that's headedright towards earth.
Now maybe we could frame campas a way of saving the planet
(19:14):
also, because it is anexperience where you are
enriching your soul, fillingyour cup, opening up to meeting
new people.
People from all over the worldcome to camp.
I have met people from Germany,from Italy, from Greece and
even from India.
Imagine someone traveling allthe way from India overseas to a
(19:36):
quiet little town in the middleof nothing in Tennessee.
It's just greenery and treesand a Walmart and a Buc-ee's and
it's amazing.
So I'd love for you to check outthe website.
This is a plug and I am goingto include it in the show notes
(19:59):
Power Monkey Fitness Camp.
The specific website will be inthe show notes.
Okay, I'd love for you to checkit out.
There may be time for you tosign up for the next camp and
reserve your spot.
Of course, it is an investment,but it is the best investment
(20:20):
that you can make for yourself,because what you leave with is
worth its weight in gold.
It will enrich your life in away that nothing else can.
I am so grateful for youlistening to my story, to my
rambling, to my yapping, allabout Power Monkey Fitness Camp.
(20:42):
It is a very, very specialexperience, one that I hope I
get to participate in for therest of my life, because it is
such a privilege, it is such anhonor to be standing side by
side with some of the bestcoaches in the world in the
(21:05):
fitness industry, and the impactthat we have collectively and
then as individuals, issomething that can't be fully
explained in words or replicated.
You just have to be there.
I appreciate your time andattention.
(21:25):
Thank you for being here, thankyou for listening and, as
always, I'll catch you on thenext one.
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