February 14, 2023 • 49 mins
On today’s episode I am joined by Yosh Stoklosa, whom I’ve known for many years through our association with Romeo Athletics (in Enfield and Avon, Connecticut), him as a coach and trainer and myself as a long-time member.
We talked about coaching, the fitness industry, optimal health, and training, including programming and Olympic lifting.
Yosh is a Certified Sports Performance Coach and Personal Trainer at Romeo Athletics in Connecticut. Through his professional career as a Behavioral Counselor and Group Fitness Coach, Yosh learned about the importance of mental health and wellness, and now serves as a guide and mentor to others on their own fitness journey.
You'll learn all about:
- Yosh's background in fitness, coaching, and mental health
- His approach to training, programming, and coaching others
- Lessons as a Behavioral Counselor that apply to fitness / personal training
- What optimal health looks like
- The current state of the fitness industry
- Who benefits the most from hiring a coach (is it everyone?)
- Advice for someone who wants to go it alone to get started, be consistent, and find success in their training
- Top 3 priorities/tips regarding training
- How someone finds purpose (to stick with the plan / optimize their health)
- Olympic lifting (why someone would learn, benefits, why you enjoy competing)
Episode resources:
- Find Yosh on Instagram - @the_yo5h
- Find Yosh at Romeo Athletics (in Enfield and Avon, Connecticut)
- Watch the episode on video here
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Philip Pape (00:08):
Welcome to the Wits & Weights podcast, where we
discuss getting strong andhealthy with strength training
and sustainable nutrition. I'myour host, Philip pape, and in
each episode, we examinestrategies to help you achieve
physical self mastery through ahealthy skepticism of the
fitness industry, and acommitment to consistent
nutrition and training forsustainable results. Welcome to
(00:31):
another episode of Wits &Weights. On today's episode, I
am joined by Yoshi, whom I'veknown for many years, because we
have an association with Romeoathletics, him as a coach and
trainer and myself as a longtimemember. And I'm really excited
that we made this happen becausewe can sit down and talk about
coaching the fitness industry,optimizing your health training
(00:54):
wherever the conversation takesus. Yossi is a certified sports
performance coach and personaltrainer at Romi athletics, which
is in Connecticut, and throughhis professional career as a
behavioral counselor, and groupfitness coach, Yoast learned
about the importance of mentalhealth and wellness, and now
serves as a guide and mentor toothers on their own fitness
(01:14):
journey. Yost man, thank you forcoming on the podcast.
Yosh Stoklosa (01:18):
Philip, what's good, man? Yeah, I'm happy. I'm
excited to be here.
Philip Pape (01:21):
Yeah, so I've known you for years, we've chatted a
lot. But we haven't reallygotten into your background and
your story and kind of who youare as a coach. So I think we're
gonna explore that today. Andpeople are going to learn a lot,
and maybe some strategies alongthe way. So let's just start
with your background andexpertise where they intersect,
right, which from myperspective, looks like fitness
(01:41):
coaching and mental health,which is, I think, is an
interesting angle that we canexplore. So what's your story?
What inspired you to guide andmentor others in the way that
you do?
Yosh Stoklosa (01:50):
So I had recently before I moved to Enfield to
Romeo athletics, I had lived inBoston for over a decade. And my
career really started there as abehavioral counselor at an
organization called Bay CoveAcademy. And I got a
recommendation from a previouscompany I worked for in
(02:14):
Berkshire County, calledHillcrest educational centers.
So like, that was sort of thebreadth of my joke, because I
feel like if fitness and thatweren't a thing, I'd be
unemployable. Like, those are,those are really the only two
things I've dabbled in. So Istarted at Big of Academy. And
(02:36):
then somewhere down. Within my,I would say, my first year there
having known Rome and what hedoes with his gym at the time, I
had reached out to him and saidlike, Hey, man, I'd like to
follow your programming. If youcould coach me up, that'd be
great. I didn't go into detailabout why. But really, because
(02:57):
the the job itself as a as acounselor is pretty heavy. We we
treated some pretty, pretty hardyouth from the greater Boston
area with very severe learningand behavioral difficulties. So
(03:18):
I mean ages, we would we betreating kids anywhere from 12
years old to 20 years old,because after that, they would
age out of the program. Theycouldn't provide resources or
funding for any, any child overthe age of 20. So did that for,
again, probably the same amountof time that I was training in
(03:42):
coaching in the Boston area. Soonce I got in with Rome, started
working out, I said, Oh, youknow what, it'd probably be
better. Now that things weren'twhat the program wasn't well, on
that side, but as I continued todo the behavioral counseling,
and that work, he had suggestedthat I go to CrossFit Fenway,
(04:04):
which was maybe a mile and ahalf down from where I worked.
So I joined that as my firstaffiliate and kind of did the
training coaching and thetherapeutic stuff like pretty
much like right in line witheach other.
Philip Pape (04:18):
All right, cool.
And so for those listening, whenyou say Rome, you're talking
about Andrew Romeo. He's the CEOand head coach. Now just for
people because people I have aninternational following here.
Many people all over the worldand maybe beyond listening, but
for anybody in the Northeast orin Connecticut Romeo athletics,
Andrew Romeo, it's named afterhim. So Yoshi is there in the
(04:39):
Enfield facility and they haveanother facility opening up by
the time this goes out. It mightbe open already in Avon. So
anyway, that sounds pretty cool.
How, you know, your backgroundled you to another area that
you're also passionate about andthen you got this opportunity
from Rome. And then so then youmoved out here when in started
coaching here,
Yosh Stoklosa (04:59):
I'm moved out here in June of 2019. Okay.
Yeah, I may was I gave my, itwas funny because I had one of
the great things about myprevious employer, they would
have weekly supervisions. Andkind of like feedback loops,
right? So, you know, her namewas Carol, she walked in, I
(05:22):
said, Hey, I have some somethingto tell you. And she goes, No,
you're leaving. I'm giving youguys 30 days, I'm going to help
train the next person who'sgoing to fill my spot. But yeah,
so I moved here. I had to, I hadto settle up some things with
where I was living in Southie atthe time, and then had to get
(05:42):
that beater of a car that I'msure you saw when I first moved
down here. So right around likethe first week of June,
Philip Pape (05:49):
okay, in 2019. So you'll you're left with class
from your old job, that's theway to do it, you know, not
burning bridges, helping totrain the next folks. And then
how you know, time dilation fromCOVID is crazy, because I feel
like I've known you a lot longerthan that. And it's, that's
three years. Okay. So you gotthere, not even a year before
(06:10):
everything got locked down.
Yosh Stoklosa (06:12):
I know. So yeah, we Roman. Roman, I joke about
that all the time, Kate doRome's wife. Because, I mean,
and people should know, too,that this wasn't just like a
random email that he sent mesaid, Hey, come work for me. We,
we had been, Rome has been mycoach and my own, like pro he
(06:34):
programmed for me. Probably thesame amount of time that was in
living in Boston. So probably,like a decade, if plus even.
And, you know, we would dabblein that conversation. And he
would tell me that there mightbe some work available. And
again, I was just a, I was inJesus, I was in my early 20s, at
(07:01):
that point, when we had thatfirst conversation, and I just
wasn't ready to leave the city.
So like this had been going onfor a while, before I actually
was able to move down here. So Ihad known like you and other
members of the gym, and kind ofthe greater community there for
a really long time.
Philip Pape (07:21):
Cool. Yeah, and we, we saw each other a lot, because
you were there in the morning.
And I would go in, usuallyaround seven. And for those who
listen to the show, they know,they know I have a home gym. So
that's usually what I workoutthese days, but still have a
great relationship with you andthe other coaches, they're
roaming athletics, with withnutrition and with with
everything with the website. SoI will see you in the morning.
(07:42):
And, you know, we chatted, butwe didn't really go dive deep
into you as a coach. So I wantto get a little bit into the
training and programming side ofthings. You know, what is your
approach as a coach to trainingprogramming? Do you work with
specific types of clients? Doyou work with specific
performance goals and so on?
Yosh Stoklosa (08:01):
Sure. So I would say right now my current client
load, they're more the generalpopulation. And by that, I mean,
these are individuals who comein with no one like particular
skill set they want to focus on.
And truthfully, circling back towhat you said about COVID. Like,
the vast majority of people whoI train right now have really
(08:25):
kind of come off of the kind oflike the onset of COVID, where
they were forced to do nothing,and they realize how much their
health was deteriorating in somein some, in some ways. So they
just they needed what again, fortheir, like, mental health to
(08:48):
get healthier and really asbroad of a stroke that, you
know, paints it's, it's beenit's been cool to get to build a
relationship based on like, thefact that all of us went through
the same thing and now like,hey, the gym or the fitness
industry is super vulnerable tobegin with, like as someone new
(09:11):
approaching like yourself, saylike, hey, hey, Philip, I need
some help with some some fitnessor nutritious nutrition, excuse
me, coaching. So, yeah, for themost part, they're all there.
They don't have any specificskills that they want to focus
on. They they're looking for thebigger picture and the great
thing about what we do is we cando the fitness piece, and also
(09:33):
have like a mentoring slashcoaching side to it. So I don't
just take my clients in, youknow, it's just a workout and
then see you Friday. We we talkabout a lot during our sessions.
We try and bounce ideas off ofone another so that I know and
(09:54):
that they're aware of that I'mstill doing right by them. As
far as what their goals are, andas far as how I train them, you
know, I have very, very basiclike principles like rooted in,
like the strength andconditioning community. And
again, like, it's kind of the, Iknow, like what the meat and
(10:18):
potatoes of of a workout that Iwant them to do. And then no
matter regardless of like, whattheir training goals are, so
that's all the like, the largerlifts, the bigger movers like
the squat and the deadlift. Andagain, this is, of course, to
say that they all are having anappropriate amount of manner to
(10:38):
like perform those movementssafely. So there's that the,
there's a hierarchy typicallythat I like to follow first, and
like moving well, exploringwhere any limitations are, as
far as like movement patternsare concerned, like we can add,
then, you know, some add alittle bit of intensity or a
(11:00):
little bit of load to that, andthen kind of increase the volume
or the speed at that point. Soit's really, again, if we didn't
have those, that firstconversation with them to begin
with about like, hey, fill up,tell me more about yourself,
like, what are you here for?
(11:20):
What are your biggest limitingfactors, concerns? And what kind
of experience do you want tohave with me?
Philip Pape (11:26):
Cool. Yeah, I mean, that sounds what I'm hearing is
it's highly individualized. Butthere are principles you follow,
right? There's principles ofstrength and function in overall
movement mechanics, right. Butyou have to take each person in
and it makes sense, the generalpopulation is the majority of
people, right? Like, I thinkmost people going through, even
on the nutrition side are notsaying, Hey, I have a
(11:47):
bodybuilding show that are aCrossFit competition. That's a
tiny slice of the population. Soit totally makes sense. You do
that. And then, you know, forpeople watching or listening,
you know, usually saying is youcould you could get a template
online that tells you like,here, the main lifts, and it's,
it's going to take you a decent,it's going to take you pretty
far as a beginner, if you'relike totally healthy, you have
(12:08):
no limitations, and you go forcertainly at the time, but at
some point, you're gonnaprobably hit a wall or get
injured or something thatsomeone like Yoast can come in
and say, Hey, this is you, thisis how you move this is you
know, how we can work together.
So I really liked that I see howyou work with your clients all
the time. And it looks like it'smore than just, Hey, do these
three sets, I'm here watchingyou. It's you know, let's chat.
(12:31):
Let's figure it out. Let's andyou're not you're not like
wasting time. You know, I knowsome trainers just like chat to
chat, but you're actually tryingto get something out of it.
Yeah, they're paying for it.
Right? Yeah,
Yosh Stoklosa (12:43):
exactly. Yeah, at the end of the day, at the end
of the day, they have entrustedmyself or one of the other
coaches with, with that level ofvulnerability, right. Like, it's
hard enough to, it's hard enoughto say like, I need help in, in
anything. But especially withlike nutrition coaching and
(13:05):
fitness. So, we, you know, wereally try and do as much as we
can with that first. So it's notoverlooked down the road, like a
Alright, fill up like we'regonna, I'm going to put you on
this like Brickhouse program,and we're going to, we're going
to get you strong, fast,powerful that okay, that's well,
(13:26):
I'm good. But you know, there'sother things that like, I need
to work on, it would help if,you know, not only if we, if you
coach me through what we'redoing exercise selection,
pairing order, etc, like wise,like, that's fine. But tell me
how, where this is going tocarry me outside of the gym, and
(13:47):
other relationships that I mayhave with people that have
nothing to do with withexercise.
Philip Pape (13:53):
Right? Right. It's not, it's not all about how much
you can deadlift. Right. But canyou walk up the stairs at the
Patriots game or whatever yourteam is? Yeah. Cool. So you
mentioned mental health and, andjust health in general. So what
what lessons have you learned asa behavioral counselor that you
were talking about in Bostonthat apply to fitness and
personal training, and then, youknow, kind of what it means to
(14:15):
be healthy? And that optimalhealth that you were talking
about?
Yosh Stoklosa (14:20):
You know, I think more there are enough people
that know all like thephysiological effects of how
exercise like, you know,triggers hormones that make us
like, feel happy and better. ButI unless you have seen some,
like seeing that change insomeone or seeing that change in
yourself. A lot of that is kindof new. You know what I mean?
(14:41):
Like, oh, well, if I exercisefor half an hour a day, doing
aerobic anaerobic strengthtraining workout, like I'll feel
happier. Right. And I think,again, some of that gets
overlooked because we numberone, a lot of us don't have our
own baseline to go off to beginwith. So working at that, even
(15:04):
again, like through that firstyear at the job, I noticed how
much of that work I was takingwith me like at the end back
home into the weekend. And thenat some point, it just felt like
it was it everything just likebled into one another. And the
first one, I was able tointroduce the, the extra, more
(15:31):
high intensity exercise into mything I was doing it like three
or four days a week. You know, alot of that helped me understand
that there are really healthyoutlets. So go go and use them.
See how they see how you fitthem into your car, you fit them
(15:53):
into your week, and then again,like that baseline now is week
to week, I'm not taking all thatI'm not taking work home with
me, I'm not taking all thatcathartic like nasty stuff into
conversations with other people.
So it was, I think when I firstwhen I first kind of had the
(16:13):
idea that like oh, like shit,this is this stuff is working. I
just was able to start havingbetter conversations with people
at work and at the gym, again,like at work about what I do at
the gym. And then vice versa,like that in the gym or in a
class like telling people likewhat I do for work, I'm and
(16:34):
prior to that it was just like,you know, like,
Philip Pape (16:38):
I'm mad. I was abstract, it was just the
Yosh Stoklosa (16:40):
shitty job, I don't feel good. Or like, Well,
yeah, I don't have time to workout. So I don't know how to make
it better.
Philip Pape (16:48):
All right, so what are the missions of this podcast
is acknowledging that we wereskipped? pretty skeptical, the
fitness industry, right? And wedo everything possible to split
out what works, the things thatactually work from all the noise
and nonsense and all those darninfluencers on the internet? So
what are your thoughts? What doyou what are your thoughts on
the industry, or overall thestate of the fitness industry or
(17:11):
anything around, you know, justkind of when you have clients
coming in, and they ask youquestions that you're like,
they've been googling stuffagain.
Yosh Stoklosa (17:21):
I, I would like to think it's been good. I'd
like to think it's gettingbetter. But I also like, I'm not
smart enough to know all thetrajectories right now only like
what is in front of us and likewhat we're what we're dealing
with, I think, I think a hugeissue has been the kind of the
(17:47):
format that social media hasplayed. And I, I see that at
times as a as a vessel forpeople to just absorb
information. And then you can,you can just regurgitate it back
out at any speed to anybody. Youdon't need to care, like who it
(18:08):
goes to who, who it affects tosome degree, and then it just
all settles to variouscommunities or people that you
know, are very, I guess,susceptible to this quick feed
of information. Because as humanbeings, right, like we do a very
(18:31):
poor job at like waiting, andhard work in the sense that
like,
Philip Pape (18:38):
if something truly want a quick fix, if something
means a lot
Yosh Stoklosa (18:41):
to me, I don't want to spend that much time to
get there. So I that's alwaysbeen a tough question for me to
answer only because, you know,when you when you open up
Facebook or you open upInstagram, there are a number
of, of influencers, justpushing, like their own agenda.
And I would say more than halfof them are well, more than half
(19:06):
of them have been able to dupethe general public into thinking
that they care about a specificcause or they care about you.
And then they're like sidepeddling supplements or, or, or
meal or whatever, or, orworkouts and, and I don't like
(19:28):
listen, when I first started, Imade the same mistakes again,
like hundreds and 1000s oftimes. And it's just at this
point like you said, like atthis point in the fitness
industry, like we you know, weboth had enough skin in the game
to to then have much morevaluable and objective feedback
(19:49):
to people like no person to sellyou like a two week detox or
like, strength program is reallyreally cares about like, who you
are. And then the longevity ofyour, of your goal. So I, I will
say I've met a lot of super,super generous and kind, people
(20:13):
who are also great coaches andalso great mentors, and the fact
that they're out there doingtheir things and their community
does, it does provide, like,just a sense of relief, like,
hey, you know, there are morepeople like us doing the right
thing, they know how hard youhave to work to provide and
setting the example the way weknow, can work over the course
(20:36):
of, of years, or for the rest ofyour life. Right. And now, like
kind of the uphill battle isstill the the people who come in
and are super reserved of youropinion, because they watched? I
don't know, they watched a tictock video on.
Philip Pape (20:57):
Yeah, now you have to unravel that in some sort of
rational way where they trustyou. Yeah, you know, I like how
you kind of spun that into apositive, right, because we
don't definitely, I never wantto talk bad about other coaches,
I want to acknowledge the factthat you do have to be skeptical
and aware of the content andwhere it's coming from. And you
would hope that over time, thegood coaches would start to take
(21:20):
over and flood the interneteffectively and drown out the
bad actors. And as people getfrustrated, and try these
things, and blow a bunch ofmoney on something doesn't work
that eventually they're going tocome around. But we know humans
are humans, there's always gonnabe some of that, right? So hey,
this is Philip Pape. And if youfeel like you've put in effort
(21:42):
to improve your health andfitness, but aren't getting
results, I invite you to applyfor one on one coaching to make
real progress and get the bodyyou desire. We'll work together
to figure out what's missing. Soyou can look better, perform
better and feel better. Just goto wits & weights.com/coaching,
to learn about my program andapply today. Now back to the
episode. Cool. Yeah. And I justwanted to go off on that little
(22:06):
tangent because you and I hadalso chatted about some of the
technical aspects of how do wemake videos and put captions on
there. And like, we're trying togo out there on social media and
put stuff out there. Justbecause it's one it's the way a
lot of people connect today.
Right? All right. So as coaches,right, we, we understand how
valuable it is when someonefinds a, a good coach that can
(22:27):
work with them to get themprogress quickly. And I know you
said you know, it takes time.
And it's to become sustainable,there's no quick fix, but you
can still get there a lot fasteroftentimes, by having a coach
than trying things were yours onyour own. So let's get into some
of those specifics from yourperspective, who would benefit
(22:47):
from hiring a coach versus, hey,this person is perfectly fine
going going on their own?
Yosh Stoklosa (22:54):
I honestly think any anybody can can find value
in in hiring anotherprofessional to Florida for
whatever goal or for whateverreason. And I think in
particular, it's because weagain, as like, busy human
beings, right? Like you have, Idon't have you have a family. I
(23:20):
don't myself, but again, likethere are certain stressors that
we would gladly let other peopleworry about and take care of for
us. And again, like I'm happyto, I'm happy to pay for that
service. So I think an examplethat comes to mind for me is,
you know, I have typically likea very busy schedule most days
(23:45):
of the week, right? And one ofthe things that I reach people
who I reach out for, excuse meare like meal prep services,
right? So looking for very, likestandardized, credible places
that like offer ready to gomeals so like okay, I'm gonna
pay for a box to get it I bringhim in to work with me if I have
like, a half an hour betweenclients. I'm good to go. So that
(24:09):
I that I think to dance yourquestion there, if you are, if
you are struck, everybodystruggles, whether we've done
this for 10 years, 50 years,whether you're coming off the
couch into the gym, or again,like someone like myself, just
getting back into an Olympicweightlifting program, right
(24:31):
like you will always find youwill always find a way to put
stress on yourself because youthink you that you can just take
it all in. You can be that likeyou're that alone, gunslinger
type that you can handle it all.
And at some point, you're goingto hit a wall and you won't be
able to do it anymore. And Ithink at that point, you either
(24:52):
fall into one of two camps, likeI have to set healthier
boundaries for myself andprioritize things that maybe I
don't need to rush to do all thetime. Or like, like you said,
ask for help, like hire a coach,like buy a program from a coach.
Because that being able tosustain the, the part of
ourselves where we feel the needto just carry it on for length
(25:15):
of time is incredibly stressful.
And I've done it myself and itgets so like, just physically
draining that I do believe atsome point, no matter who you
are, you can find an area ofyour life where you can at the
very least reach out for reachout for some guidance.
Philip Pape (25:37):
Yeah, yeah, I like the way you put that because and
it may not it may not even be ina coach, right? It may be
somebody you know, maybe afriend, a may, it may be a one
time thing, right? I know, I hadto work on my squat years ago,
and I went to a specific coachspecific to that type of squat.
One time and it like it was asif I had worked on it for two
(25:59):
years and at one hour, becausethe coach was so valuable, and
knew so much more than I did.
And what you're saying is wehave way too much to do in our
life, to be able to takeeverything on. And we can only
rely on willpower, motivation,discipline, consistency,
accountability to ourselveswithout anybody else, we can
only do that for so long. Andthat's where a coach can be
valuable. Now people listeningto this podcast are like, wait a
(26:21):
minute, Phillips been telling mehow to do everything. Now for 35
episodes, he's got these greatguests on like, Josh, and I want
to do it on my own anyway, Idon't want to hire a coach just
yet. I do want to get intotraining. So let's just let's
just play devil's advocate for asecond. And what are the top
priorities then for someone whowants to get started wants to be
consistent, find success? Andthen of course, at some point,
(26:44):
they are going to need an entirecoach, right? But if they want
to get started on their own,what, what should they be doing?
Yosh Stoklosa (26:51):
And this is gonna sound against the grain, I
guess. But first, you have toidentify a problem, right? And I
mean, it has to be somethingthat's super palpable, right,
that has, unfortunately, broughtyou some, some grief in some
area of your life. So I thinkyou identify a problem first,
(27:13):
right? You, you have, you haveto open up a bit and kind of
make suggestions to yourself inway in areas that it's deeply
affected you and daily, dailyhabits, relationships,
conversations, etc. I also thinkthat if you're doing it, if
(27:36):
you're serious about it, and youthe goal is to ask for help, you
need to ask other people forfeedback on on yourself. And
that and that's something thatI've, I've learned even just
recently through the theleadership academies that I've
had the opportunity and pleasureto go to up in, in Manhattan,
(27:57):
and one of the things that iscommonly called next jump, and
one of the things that theydrive is that we you know, as,
as individuals, it is almostimpossible for you or for us to,
to see our own blind spots. AndParsh part of the reason that
it's so difficult for people toask to help is because they
don't know what they need helpwith. And so if we identify a
(28:22):
problem, if we're asking forhelp or feedback from other
people, right, then we can gointo the area of to explore,
like, where how often, we canmake that happen nutrition,
fitness, exercise, like mentalhealth, anything like education,
any part of that infrastructure.
And then throughout thatprocess, using us as an example,
(28:46):
like, we, we reach out, or youwould reach out to us sit down
with myself and one of the othercoaches and say like, Hey, you
know, this is really what I'vebeen struggling with for several
months or several years. And nowI'm at the point where I know I
can't mitigate it myself and Ineed I need other resources, I
(29:08):
need your help I need this iswhat I've been struggling with.
And that's again, like goingback to what we were talking
about, originally about how youyou know why why is it important
to build a relationrelationships with people
understand, like what will needlong term down the road? And
this is a big reason. Becausewhen they come to ask for help,
(29:29):
you just don't want to say like,well, Philip, I'm gonna teach
you how to squat and you know,Booth like, You're fit. And so
and, and I'm not going to I'mnot suggesting to anyone that
you know, these conversationsare easier that every person
that I have the ability to meetwith like, at all of a sudden
like all the layers get peeledback like that's probably that's
(29:51):
not the case at all. So yeah todo and then like that's where
again now input like, likesomeone like yourself Are
myself. Now we have to do rightby them by asking the right
question,
Philip Pape (30:07):
man, you just, you just covered something, this is
like gold. And I want thelistener to be aware of what you
just said. Because I asked youabout where they would get
started with, with training andyou made it about mindset and
you made it about like your truelie, your true goal, your true
gap in in from where you are nowto where you want to be. And you
(30:29):
know, what I get from that is weall we're all struggling in
something, right? And let's sayit's fat loss. So from a
nutrition side, I've got tons ofclients come in and say, Okay, I
want to lose weight. Is thatreally the problem? Right? Is
the problem that you want tolose weight? Because I bet
you've done things many timesover the years that caused you
to lose weight successfully.
Short term, right? Is that theproblem? And we have to dig in
(30:50):
and say no, it usually comesdown to the mindset of notes
that you want to feel a certainway that you want to be able to
play with your kids, you want tobe able to do the things you do
and then you kind of back backinto that. Okay, what does that
mean? Was that mean? Was itmean, at the end solution may be
you need to get stronger and noteven worry about the scale? I
don't know. I mean, it dependson the person. But that's
(31:10):
awesome. Yes. Like what you justtalked about?
Yosh Stoklosa (31:15):
It's again, like, it's through a lot of trial and
error. And you made a reallygood point too, because I even
like, I mean, I've over the pastthat, you know, been on the
scale, like gone the InBody, youknow, looked at myself in the
mirror and been like, I shouldlike probably lose some weight
too. But, you know, why do Iwant to lose weight or gain
(31:38):
weight? Like, what am I tryingto objectify there? And again,
like, I What, for me, thatreally turns into what my habits
are like. And if I have shittyhabits, I'll just automatically
explore like, well, I need tolose some weight. And but my,
(31:59):
but my habits won't disappear.
So like I I told I 100% agreethere that it's, it's a lot more
than just write like thatservice layer strategy that you
might have. Because it's notalways going to be it's not
always going to be that easy.
Philip Pape (32:18):
Yeah. Yeah. So that's great advice for folks
listening, you know, reallyponder that and ask yourself,
not only what my goal is thatmaybe that's the first step like
what my goal is, but then askyourself why that's my goal. And
maybe that'll lead to the realgoal, the real short term
process transformation that youneed to go through. Okay, so
let's, let's talk about somekind of fun stuff here. In terms
(32:41):
of the lifting side, you're anOlympic lifter, I haven't really
gotten into that on the show atall, because I'm more focused on
traditional lifts when I do talkabout it. And I have a love hate
relationship with lifting frommy, from my history, because I
learned about it throughCrossFit, which, you know, pros
and cons of that. And I rememberyou getting me to push myself on
(33:03):
Grace, like so people listeninggrace is one of the words in
CrossFit where you do 30 cleanand jerks for 135 Now, today,
that probably wouldn't feel sohard. But at the time, it wasn't
as strong and you're like, yougot this man, you got the the RX
and you know, I could do it. Itwasn't like I was going to
injure myself. And I got itdone. But tell me why somebody
(33:24):
would want to learn the Olympiclifts the clean and jerk the
snatch why they're valuable aspart of somebody's programming.
Yosh Stoklosa (33:32):
So I would I mean, I think, obviously, like
if you want to, if you want tocompete in the sport of Olympic
weightlifting, like yes, ofcourse, like, you are going to
have to learn the snatch, you'regoing to have to learn the clean
and jerk outside of that,honestly, I mean, there is a
layer of this where, you know,you see it looks cool, like and
(33:55):
you learn it, and there's fun,like it is a really, really fun,
they're fun exercises to learn,develop, develop an awareness
for and then ultimately you getbetter at, you know, whether
it's a snatch or a clean, thingsare so precise and get so
technical, that when you evenmake when you succeed, a lift by
(34:18):
a pound by two pounds by fivepounds, even like that is taken
a lot of freakin work to do. SoI would I would say to some
degree, people that if you'regoing to try something a little
more challenging than yourcurrent trajectory offers, you
know, one, it'll, it'll show youright off the bat how much
(34:39):
discipline you have. Because theworkouts that don't go as
planned, the weeks that don't goas planned. Well, we'll see if
you come back the next day andpick up train where you left
off.
Philip Pape (34:55):
All right, so it's a mental game for sure. It's a
skill. It's mental. Yeah.
Yosh Stoklosa (35:01):
On the I guess on the more objective side of
things to like, they're great. Ido believe that they're great
exercises for certain athletesto, to learn, maybe not. And by
that I mean, take a I only saythis because I was watching a
video on Instagram today anOlympic thrower, like like those
(35:23):
guys are the most powerfulathletes in the world on one of
the variations of the Olympiclifts that they use as the hang
power, snatch, hang power clean,because it'll start just by
placing like little stars abovethe knee, you have very minimal
length or distance of movement,but you have to be super
(35:44):
explosive. And these are guysthat are putting up several 100
pounds. And I mean, again, it'sit's humbling for someone like
myself to see who's beentraining them for like 10 years,
and seeing like these collegeathletes come in and just do
something. So again, in my eyes,so incredible from such a
difficult position. So that'slike being a more than being an
(36:07):
athlete itself in certainsports. I think they're
appropriate not not not allsports, like do I think that any
that if you're a elite caliberor professional athlete, you
could benefit from the use ofthem? 100%? Do I think that
they're necessarily appropriatefor every like program you might
be following? Not not in everycase like that, you know, you
(36:32):
walk a very fine line there. ButI guess to answer your question,
it is always cool to takesomebody out of say, like just
doing CrossFit. And say andsuggesting to them, Hey, how do
you feel about like gettingreally, really strong over the
next like three months? Andyeah, of course, I wouldn't, I
wouldn't do that. Cool, you'regonna stop doing all the shit
(36:55):
that makes you hurt in lineyou're back after. And I'm
gonna, I'm gonna teach yousomething a little more fun. And
at the end of that, I'm going toput you in an actual competition
to see how you do. So I guesslike someone who is open enough
to try something different tohelp their performance in said,
(37:15):
area already. Like it's going tobe it will be a lot of fun. And
you're going to learn a lotabout your, your level of
tenacity as an as an athlete oras an individual.
Philip Pape (37:27):
Yeah, that's a good way to put it. That would be me
with a snatch constantly back inthe day not wanting to do the
snatch, shoulders, man. But it'sfunny because there's, I've
always had interesting opinionson that over over the years,
too, because the Olympic Liftsare kind of how I got into using
barbells through CrossFit. Itwasn't till years later that I
(37:50):
just focused on pure, you know,strength movements, just to
build strength. But there aresome programs, I think, like
starting strength, for example,that incorporate the power
clean, early on, as the deadliftgets really heavy as an
alternate pole movement inbetween just so you're not
deadlifting, like every session.
And yet, even though I've seenarguments about that, it's like,
(38:10):
you still can only lift so muchduring a power clean. So why
would you do other poles or rowsor something like that? But
Yosh Stoklosa (38:18):
yeah, I would say that I agree. That was tough for
me too. Because if I'm, if I'mlooking at that, and someone
saying like, Hey, if you'restalling on your deadlift, do,
do a power clean, do whatever,like number one? I don't? Again,
in my opinion, I don't thinkthat that truly necessary. I
don't I'm not like what kind ofadaptation? Am I going to get
(38:40):
through that? That being said,if you asked me like, hey, is
there a variation of a lip, thatcould help the performance of my
deadlift? And I would teachsomeone how to do a poll, like
just a basic clean full, eitherfrom risers or from like a rat,
or having the injured individualput straps on and go from some
(39:02):
position above the knee, right?
For sure. Yeah, like that. Andyou've done before like we
overload rack pulls that thereare many reasons to do rack
poles, but one of the, one ofthe larger benefits of a rack
pole is to break past thatsticking point of a either of a
conventional deadlift, rightwhen you're getting it towards
your knee and people might looklike they buy a taser. But
(39:25):
again, like that, I think whatyou're what we're both saying
really is, it's a very, you'regoing to have to know that
athlete or that individual sowell number one, to even suggest
that number two, then if they'reable, even able to perform it
well enough to get theadaptation or benefit from that
(39:47):
to then provide them a biggerdeadlift. And but that's where
like good coaching comes in.
Right? Like a good a good coachis going to look at that and
say, you know, I felt like yeah,you don't need a power clean one
because your shoulders and yourwrist can't take it but I can
teach how to pull. Like youdefinitely have enough power
like your back strong enoughyour your, your, your legs are
(40:10):
strong enough to handle thatkind of position. So we're just
going to shave some weight offthe star and we're going to
teach you how to like producesome some speed tools. So it
just that that to me definitelycomes down to the the level
headedness of, of a coach toeven put that in their athletes
program.
Philip Pape (40:28):
Cool. Yeah, all good stuff. I mean people
listening, they wonder aboutthat. And I know folks that do
and Olympic lifts mainly for thefun of it, and the skill of it
and the athleticism side of it,which seems to be the dominant
driver, especially if you wantto compete. So pretty cool.
Pretty cool stuff, man. Thanksfor we haven't covered that on
the show yet. So I'm glad wecovered a little bit, you know.
(40:49):
Now, last thing or one of thelast things a little birdie told
me that you're a foodie. Butyour favorite beer is Bud Light.
Now, I think you're in goodcompany. I think you're in good
company on the food side withme. Okay, my wife could tell
you, my wife makes most of ourdinners these days, and they're
delicious. But she's not afoodie. She just she she finds a
good recipe throws it together,serves it to me. And I'm like
(41:12):
commenting on the mouthfeel andthe texture and the seasonings I
taste and like all this stuffsuch a snob. So but is it true
that you're a foodie and yourfavorite beer is not some barrel
aged Imperial Stout, but itreally is Bud Light.
Yosh Stoklosa (41:25):
Yeah. 100% I am a foodie. And again, I think this
lert like, enjoying food hascome off of like a part of being
in the fitness industry and andthat most people that probably
seems obvious because like ifyou're going to do the provide
like your yourself withphysicality, like the like the,
(41:46):
the, the workouts and thetraining that you're going to
do, like, Hey, why wouldn't theypair that with eating right?
Like, I like to say that everyevery fitness. I'd like to say
that every fitness professionaldoes that. But I don't know,
like, so the food piece camefrom wine teaching, I've taught
(42:06):
myself how to do the Olympiclifts, I want to teach myself
how to, to cook, I want to Ijust it's more of a point of
creativity. And then when Ilearned when I learned how to
cook, and I'm not like, my, Idon't have this huge continuum
of what I'm good at, like in thekitchen, but like, I want to be
(42:28):
able to do that for myself. Ifeel like that is a necessary
task. I get that, that all of usshould at least try. Yeah, the
foodie piece like is and nowlike knowing how to do that it
has given me such a more justevery time on restaurants or, or
(42:51):
people suggesting that like,hey, like I know you enjoy like
making this you should try itfrom here. It makes it like, I
guess the whole experience muchmore enjoyable. Overall.
Philip Pape (43:03):
Yeah, again, yeah, gastronomy or whatever it's
called. I'll write with you,man. I mean, I mean, there's
there's a dark side of foodieism in that, you know, you eat
out all the time because youlove food so much. But the
positive side, like you said, isyou learn to cook your own
stuff, and you really getcreative. Now you can now food
can serve you you know, it's notlike you're just shoveling it in
(43:24):
for the calories. You know,you're actually trying to make
it an experience as part oflife. And hey, we're human. So
just make it work with yourmacros and with your goals. And
you're good to go. Right? Yeah,I
Yosh Stoklosa (43:33):
think everyone should learn how to cook for
themselves for sure.
Philip Pape (43:36):
Yeah, yeah, definitely. And eating at home
is a good way to stick to yourplan, too. All right, so the the
second, the last question I liketo ask all guests is what one
question Did you wish I hadasked, and what is your answer?
Yosh Stoklosa (43:49):
Oh, geez. I admit I don't what, um, I guess. Okay,
what are Do I have any personal
Philip Pape (44:01):
personal training goals
Yosh Stoklosa (44:03):
or training goals? Yeah. And I guess I guess
I don't at the moment, I would,people may think that it would
be to train for, like aweightlifting competition. And
I, I guess I have, I'm trying toget better at just enjoying the
train for the sake of being ableto train and getting stronger
(44:25):
and healthier, versus alwaysneeding a spot to prove what I'm
doing. Right. So if I'm trainedin the sport of Olympic
weightlifting, yes, most peoplewill find a meet to do and
compete and I and Iwholeheartedly agree with that.
I think if you're doing thatsport that has that result or
(44:45):
outcome to it, like 100% Youshould challenge yourself and do
that. But I right now, I just, Iguess I don't have that goal in
mind yet, and I'm learning howto literally just do it for the
sake Get having fun lifting.
Philip Pape (45:03):
That's a great, that's a great one. Man. That's
a great one. Because, yeah, Iknow I throw you for a loop and
you're like, you came up with aquestion. And then you realize
the answer is you don't have agoal. But that was the money
answer. Because some people needto learn to just just, like,
suck it up and enjoy theprocess. I don't mean suck it
up. I mean, enjoy the process,like live every day, each step
(45:25):
along the way. It's not sixmonths from now, every time
Yeah. And I
Yosh Stoklosa (45:29):
think this comes with this just comes with
experiences that like, damn nearall of us do not have the
ability to just focus on thatpart of our health and wellness,
like just the training, I seethe other the other. If I'm
(45:50):
booked morning to evening, and Idon't get to work out how am I
gonna react to that, right,like, at some point, outside of
the chance that you can become aprofessional at it, or not a
professional but like, be paidto do it. You're gonna have to
prioritize other things likefamily, your your work. And I'm,
(46:11):
I think over the last coupleyears, I've done a lot better at
saying like, you know what, thebusiness that I'm helping to run
right now takes precedence overmy training. And that doesn't
mean that I never trained, itjust means I'm not going to. I'm
not going to like, setintentional blocks out in the
afternoon for myself just so Ican work out like I leave them.
(46:34):
I want to fill them with as manypeople as I can. And then what I
do every Thursday or Friday isgo look into the next week and
see like what can I do haveavailable and then I will put
kind of strategize and move mytrain around that and in most
cases, I'm I get a good a goodenough block of time every day
(46:54):
to at least do something I'vestarted doing 2025 minutes of
like aerobic work now like in soat the very least, if I can do
that, it's a good day.
Philip Pape (47:03):
Cool. Yeah, you got priorities, and you're still
making it work. So you'reawesome, man. Well, this has
been a fun talk. I'm gonna Oh,the last the last question of
course is where where can peoplelearn about you?
Yosh Stoklosa (47:15):
Yeah, so number one, if you are in the if you're
a Connecticut based in your inthe Enfield, Enfield summers
Ellington Suffield even ifyou're over in Springfield
Agawam like if you're in thesurrounding area, myself and my
other colleagues are located atRomeo athletics at seven moody
(47:36):
road. Again in EnfieldConnecticut, I do have a
Facebook page that I don'treally put much on. And it's
really just my name you justYoshi and my Instagram page
where I put most of my clientstraining in my training on and
my handle there is at theunderscore, y o and then five in
(47:59):
place of the F and H
Philip Pape (48:01):
Yes, perfectly easy to remember. Yes No, just
kidding I'll put it in the shownotes. So we got Romeo athletics
we got Romeo athletics which hasa website rolling athletics dot
fitness for people just if youwant to find address that you
mentioned, Facebook Yoshi, andthen Instagram at the Yogesh
where the SS of five minutes anunderscore I'm gonna put it in
the show notes so you don't haveto remember that. And man it was
(48:23):
great talking to you talkingabout all this stuff. Appreciate
you joining me and of courseI'll be roaming athletics.
Alright, man. Oh, yeah, man.
Thanks, dude. Thanks forlistening to the show. Before
you go, I have a quick favor toask. If you enjoy the podcast,
let me know by leaving a fivestar review in Apple podcasts
and telling others about theshow. Thanks again for joining
me Philip Pape in this episodeof Wits & Weights. I'll see you
(48:45):
next time and stay strong.
Welcome to the Wits & Weights podcast, where we
discuss getting strong andhealthy with strength training
and sustainable nutrition. I'myour host, Philip pape, and in
each episode, we examinestrategies to help you achieve
physical self mastery through ahealthy skepticism of the
fitness industry, and acommitment to consistent
nutrition and training forsustainable results. Welcome to
(00:31):
another episode of Wits &Weights. On today's episode, I
am joined by Yoshi, whom I'veknown for many years, because we
have an association with Romeoathletics, him as a coach and
trainer and myself as a longtimemember. And I'm really excited
that we made this happen becausewe can sit down and talk about
coaching the fitness industry,optimizing your health training
(00:54):
wherever the conversation takesus. Yossi is a certified sports
performance coach and personaltrainer at Romi athletics, which
is in Connecticut, and throughhis professional career as a
behavioral counselor, and groupfitness coach, Yoast learned
about the importance of mentalhealth and wellness, and now
serves as a guide and mentor toothers on their own fitness
(01:14):
journey. Yost man, thank you forcoming on the podcast.
Yosh Stoklosa (01:18):
Philip, what's good, man? Yeah, I'm happy. I'm
excited to be here.
Philip Pape (01:21):
Yeah, so I've known you for years, we've chatted a
lot. But we haven't reallygotten into your background and
your story and kind of who youare as a coach. So I think we're
gonna explore that today. Andpeople are going to learn a lot,
and maybe some strategies alongthe way. So let's just start
with your background andexpertise where they intersect,
right, which from myperspective, looks like fitness
(01:41):
coaching and mental health,which is, I think, is an
interesting angle that we canexplore. So what's your story?
What inspired you to guide andmentor others in the way that
you do?
Yosh Stoklosa (01:50):
So I had recently before I moved to Enfield to
Romeo athletics, I had lived inBoston for over a decade. And my
career really started there as abehavioral counselor at an
organization called Bay CoveAcademy. And I got a
recommendation from a previouscompany I worked for in
(02:14):
Berkshire County, calledHillcrest educational centers.
So like, that was sort of thebreadth of my joke, because I
feel like if fitness and thatweren't a thing, I'd be
unemployable. Like, those are,those are really the only two
things I've dabbled in. So Istarted at Big of Academy. And
(02:36):
then somewhere down. Within my,I would say, my first year there
having known Rome and what hedoes with his gym at the time, I
had reached out to him and saidlike, Hey, man, I'd like to
follow your programming. If youcould coach me up, that'd be
great. I didn't go into detailabout why. But really, because
(02:57):
the the job itself as a as acounselor is pretty heavy. We we
treated some pretty, pretty hardyouth from the greater Boston
area with very severe learningand behavioral difficulties. So
(03:18):
I mean ages, we would we betreating kids anywhere from 12
years old to 20 years old,because after that, they would
age out of the program. Theycouldn't provide resources or
funding for any, any child overthe age of 20. So did that for,
again, probably the same amountof time that I was training in
(03:42):
coaching in the Boston area. Soonce I got in with Rome, started
working out, I said, Oh, youknow what, it'd probably be
better. Now that things weren'twhat the program wasn't well, on
that side, but as I continued todo the behavioral counseling,
and that work, he had suggestedthat I go to CrossFit Fenway,
(04:04):
which was maybe a mile and ahalf down from where I worked.
So I joined that as my firstaffiliate and kind of did the
training coaching and thetherapeutic stuff like pretty
much like right in line witheach other.
Philip Pape (04:18):
All right, cool.
And so for those listening, whenyou say Rome, you're talking
about Andrew Romeo. He's the CEOand head coach. Now just for
people because people I have aninternational following here.
Many people all over the worldand maybe beyond listening, but
for anybody in the Northeast orin Connecticut Romeo athletics,
Andrew Romeo, it's named afterhim. So Yoshi is there in the
(04:39):
Enfield facility and they haveanother facility opening up by
the time this goes out. It mightbe open already in Avon. So
anyway, that sounds pretty cool.
How, you know, your backgroundled you to another area that
you're also passionate about andthen you got this opportunity
from Rome. And then so then youmoved out here when in started
coaching here,
Yosh Stoklosa (04:59):
I'm moved out here in June of 2019. Okay.
Yeah, I may was I gave my, itwas funny because I had one of
the great things about myprevious employer, they would
have weekly supervisions. Andkind of like feedback loops,
right? So, you know, her namewas Carol, she walked in, I
(05:22):
said, Hey, I have some somethingto tell you. And she goes, No,
you're leaving. I'm giving youguys 30 days, I'm going to help
train the next person who'sgoing to fill my spot. But yeah,
so I moved here. I had to, I hadto settle up some things with
where I was living in Southie atthe time, and then had to get
(05:42):
that beater of a car that I'msure you saw when I first moved
down here. So right around likethe first week of June,
Philip Pape (05:49):
okay, in 2019. So you'll you're left with class
from your old job, that's theway to do it, you know, not
burning bridges, helping totrain the next folks. And then
how you know, time dilation fromCOVID is crazy, because I feel
like I've known you a lot longerthan that. And it's, that's
three years. Okay. So you gotthere, not even a year before
(06:10):
everything got locked down.
Yosh Stoklosa (06:12):
I know. So yeah, we Roman. Roman, I joke about
that all the time, Kate doRome's wife. Because, I mean,
and people should know, too,that this wasn't just like a
random email that he sent mesaid, Hey, come work for me. We,
we had been, Rome has been mycoach and my own, like pro he
(06:34):
programmed for me. Probably thesame amount of time that was in
living in Boston. So probably,like a decade, if plus even.
And, you know, we would dabblein that conversation. And he
would tell me that there mightbe some work available. And
again, I was just a, I was inJesus, I was in my early 20s, at
(07:01):
that point, when we had thatfirst conversation, and I just
wasn't ready to leave the city.
So like this had been going onfor a while, before I actually
was able to move down here. So Ihad known like you and other
members of the gym, and kind ofthe greater community there for
a really long time.
Philip Pape (07:21):
Cool. Yeah, and we, we saw each other a lot, because
you were there in the morning.
And I would go in, usuallyaround seven. And for those who
listen to the show, they know,they know I have a home gym. So
that's usually what I workoutthese days, but still have a
great relationship with you andthe other coaches, they're
roaming athletics, with withnutrition and with with
everything with the website. SoI will see you in the morning.
(07:42):
And, you know, we chatted, butwe didn't really go dive deep
into you as a coach. So I wantto get a little bit into the
training and programming side ofthings. You know, what is your
approach as a coach to trainingprogramming? Do you work with
specific types of clients? Doyou work with specific
performance goals and so on?
Yosh Stoklosa (08:01):
Sure. So I would say right now my current client
load, they're more the generalpopulation. And by that, I mean,
these are individuals who comein with no one like particular
skill set they want to focus on.
And truthfully, circling back towhat you said about COVID. Like,
the vast majority of people whoI train right now have really
(08:25):
kind of come off of the kind oflike the onset of COVID, where
they were forced to do nothing,and they realize how much their
health was deteriorating in somein some, in some ways. So they
just they needed what again, fortheir, like, mental health to
(08:48):
get healthier and really asbroad of a stroke that, you
know, paints it's, it's beenit's been cool to get to build a
relationship based on like, thefact that all of us went through
the same thing and now like,hey, the gym or the fitness
industry is super vulnerable tobegin with, like as someone new
(09:11):
approaching like yourself, saylike, hey, hey, Philip, I need
some help with some some fitnessor nutritious nutrition, excuse
me, coaching. So, yeah, for themost part, they're all there.
They don't have any specificskills that they want to focus
on. They they're looking for thebigger picture and the great
thing about what we do is we cando the fitness piece, and also
(09:33):
have like a mentoring slashcoaching side to it. So I don't
just take my clients in, youknow, it's just a workout and
then see you Friday. We we talkabout a lot during our sessions.
We try and bounce ideas off ofone another so that I know and
(09:54):
that they're aware of that I'mstill doing right by them. As
far as what their goals are, andas far as how I train them, you
know, I have very, very basiclike principles like rooted in,
like the strength andconditioning community. And
again, like, it's kind of the, Iknow, like what the meat and
(10:18):
potatoes of of a workout that Iwant them to do. And then no
matter regardless of like, whattheir training goals are, so
that's all the like, the largerlifts, the bigger movers like
the squat and the deadlift. Andagain, this is, of course, to
say that they all are having anappropriate amount of manner to
(10:38):
like perform those movementssafely. So there's that the,
there's a hierarchy typicallythat I like to follow first, and
like moving well, exploringwhere any limitations are, as
far as like movement patternsare concerned, like we can add,
then, you know, some add alittle bit of intensity or a
(11:00):
little bit of load to that, andthen kind of increase the volume
or the speed at that point. Soit's really, again, if we didn't
have those, that firstconversation with them to begin
with about like, hey, fill up,tell me more about yourself,
like, what are you here for?
(11:20):
What are your biggest limitingfactors, concerns? And what kind
of experience do you want tohave with me?
Philip Pape (11:26):
Cool. Yeah, I mean, that sounds what I'm hearing is
it's highly individualized. Butthere are principles you follow,
right? There's principles ofstrength and function in overall
movement mechanics, right. Butyou have to take each person in
and it makes sense, the generalpopulation is the majority of
people, right? Like, I thinkmost people going through, even
on the nutrition side are notsaying, Hey, I have a
(11:47):
bodybuilding show that are aCrossFit competition. That's a
tiny slice of the population. Soit totally makes sense. You do
that. And then, you know, forpeople watching or listening,
you know, usually saying is youcould you could get a template
online that tells you like,here, the main lifts, and it's,
it's going to take you a decent,it's going to take you pretty
far as a beginner, if you'relike totally healthy, you have
(12:08):
no limitations, and you go forcertainly at the time, but at
some point, you're gonnaprobably hit a wall or get
injured or something thatsomeone like Yoast can come in
and say, Hey, this is you, thisis how you move this is you
know, how we can work together.
So I really liked that I see howyou work with your clients all
the time. And it looks like it'smore than just, Hey, do these
three sets, I'm here watchingyou. It's you know, let's chat.
(12:31):
Let's figure it out. Let's andyou're not you're not like
wasting time. You know, I knowsome trainers just like chat to
chat, but you're actually tryingto get something out of it.
Yeah, they're paying for it.
Right? Yeah,
Yosh Stoklosa (12:43):
exactly. Yeah, at the end of the day, at the end
of the day, they have entrustedmyself or one of the other
coaches with, with that level ofvulnerability, right. Like, it's
hard enough to, it's hard enoughto say like, I need help in, in
anything. But especially withlike nutrition coaching and
(13:05):
fitness. So, we, you know, wereally try and do as much as we
can with that first. So it's notoverlooked down the road, like a
Alright, fill up like we'regonna, I'm going to put you on
this like Brickhouse program,and we're going to, we're going
to get you strong, fast,powerful that okay, that's well,
(13:26):
I'm good. But you know, there'sother things that like, I need
to work on, it would help if,you know, not only if we, if you
coach me through what we'redoing exercise selection,
pairing order, etc, like wise,like, that's fine. But tell me
how, where this is going tocarry me outside of the gym, and
(13:47):
other relationships that I mayhave with people that have
nothing to do with withexercise.
Philip Pape (13:53):
Right? Right. It's not, it's not all about how much
you can deadlift. Right. But canyou walk up the stairs at the
Patriots game or whatever yourteam is? Yeah. Cool. So you
mentioned mental health and, andjust health in general. So what
what lessons have you learned asa behavioral counselor that you
were talking about in Bostonthat apply to fitness and
personal training, and then, youknow, kind of what it means to
(14:15):
be healthy? And that optimalhealth that you were talking
about?
Yosh Stoklosa (14:20):
You know, I think more there are enough people
that know all like thephysiological effects of how
exercise like, you know,triggers hormones that make us
like, feel happy and better. ButI unless you have seen some,
like seeing that change insomeone or seeing that change in
yourself. A lot of that is kindof new. You know what I mean?
(14:41):
Like, oh, well, if I exercisefor half an hour a day, doing
aerobic anaerobic strengthtraining workout, like I'll feel
happier. Right. And I think,again, some of that gets
overlooked because we numberone, a lot of us don't have our
own baseline to go off to beginwith. So working at that, even
(15:04):
again, like through that firstyear at the job, I noticed how
much of that work I was takingwith me like at the end back
home into the weekend. And thenat some point, it just felt like
it was it everything just likebled into one another. And the
first one, I was able tointroduce the, the extra, more
(15:31):
high intensity exercise into mything I was doing it like three
or four days a week. You know, alot of that helped me understand
that there are really healthyoutlets. So go go and use them.
See how they see how you fitthem into your car, you fit them
(15:53):
into your week, and then again,like that baseline now is week
to week, I'm not taking all thatI'm not taking work home with
me, I'm not taking all thatcathartic like nasty stuff into
conversations with other people.
So it was, I think when I firstwhen I first kind of had the
(16:13):
idea that like oh, like shit,this is this stuff is working. I
just was able to start havingbetter conversations with people
at work and at the gym, again,like at work about what I do at
the gym. And then vice versa,like that in the gym or in a
class like telling people likewhat I do for work, I'm and
(16:34):
prior to that it was just like,you know, like,
Philip Pape (16:38):
I'm mad. I was abstract, it was just the
Yosh Stoklosa (16:40):
shitty job, I don't feel good. Or like, Well,
yeah, I don't have time to workout. So I don't know how to make
it better.
Philip Pape (16:48):
All right, so what are the missions of this podcast
is acknowledging that we wereskipped? pretty skeptical, the
fitness industry, right? And wedo everything possible to split
out what works, the things thatactually work from all the noise
and nonsense and all those darninfluencers on the internet? So
what are your thoughts? What doyou what are your thoughts on
the industry, or overall thestate of the fitness industry or
(17:11):
anything around, you know, justkind of when you have clients
coming in, and they ask youquestions that you're like,
they've been googling stuffagain.
Yosh Stoklosa (17:21):
I, I would like to think it's been good. I'd
like to think it's gettingbetter. But I also like, I'm not
smart enough to know all thetrajectories right now only like
what is in front of us and likewhat we're what we're dealing
with, I think, I think a hugeissue has been the kind of the
(17:47):
format that social media hasplayed. And I, I see that at
times as a as a vessel forpeople to just absorb
information. And then you can,you can just regurgitate it back
out at any speed to anybody. Youdon't need to care, like who it
(18:08):
goes to who, who it affects tosome degree, and then it just
all settles to variouscommunities or people that you
know, are very, I guess,susceptible to this quick feed
of information. Because as humanbeings, right, like we do a very
(18:31):
poor job at like waiting, andhard work in the sense that
like,
Philip Pape (18:38):
if something truly want a quick fix, if something
means a lot
Yosh Stoklosa (18:41):
to me, I don't want to spend that much time to
get there. So I that's alwaysbeen a tough question for me to
answer only because, you know,when you when you open up
Facebook or you open upInstagram, there are a number
of, of influencers, justpushing, like their own agenda.
And I would say more than halfof them are well, more than half
(19:06):
of them have been able to dupethe general public into thinking
that they care about a specificcause or they care about you.
And then they're like sidepeddling supplements or, or, or
meal or whatever, or, orworkouts and, and I don't like
(19:28):
listen, when I first started, Imade the same mistakes again,
like hundreds and 1000s oftimes. And it's just at this
point like you said, like atthis point in the fitness
industry, like we you know, weboth had enough skin in the game
to to then have much morevaluable and objective feedback
(19:49):
to people like no person to sellyou like a two week detox or
like, strength program is reallyreally cares about like, who you
are. And then the longevity ofyour, of your goal. So I, I will
say I've met a lot of super,super generous and kind, people
(20:13):
who are also great coaches andalso great mentors, and the fact
that they're out there doingtheir things and their community
does, it does provide, like,just a sense of relief, like,
hey, you know, there are morepeople like us doing the right
thing, they know how hard youhave to work to provide and
setting the example the way weknow, can work over the course
(20:36):
of, of years, or for the rest ofyour life. Right. And now, like
kind of the uphill battle isstill the the people who come in
and are super reserved of youropinion, because they watched? I
don't know, they watched a tictock video on.
Philip Pape (20:57):
Yeah, now you have to unravel that in some sort of
rational way where they trustyou. Yeah, you know, I like how
you kind of spun that into apositive, right, because we
don't definitely, I never wantto talk bad about other coaches,
I want to acknowledge the factthat you do have to be skeptical
and aware of the content andwhere it's coming from. And you
would hope that over time, thegood coaches would start to take
(21:20):
over and flood the interneteffectively and drown out the
bad actors. And as people getfrustrated, and try these
things, and blow a bunch ofmoney on something doesn't work
that eventually they're going tocome around. But we know humans
are humans, there's always gonnabe some of that, right? So hey,
this is Philip Pape. And if youfeel like you've put in effort
(21:42):
to improve your health andfitness, but aren't getting
results, I invite you to applyfor one on one coaching to make
real progress and get the bodyyou desire. We'll work together
to figure out what's missing. Soyou can look better, perform
better and feel better. Just goto wits & weights.com/coaching,
to learn about my program andapply today. Now back to the
episode. Cool. Yeah. And I justwanted to go off on that little
(22:06):
tangent because you and I hadalso chatted about some of the
technical aspects of how do wemake videos and put captions on
there. And like, we're trying togo out there on social media and
put stuff out there. Justbecause it's one it's the way a
lot of people connect today.
Right? All right. So as coaches,right, we, we understand how
valuable it is when someonefinds a, a good coach that can
(22:27):
work with them to get themprogress quickly. And I know you
said you know, it takes time.
And it's to become sustainable,there's no quick fix, but you
can still get there a lot fasteroftentimes, by having a coach
than trying things were yours onyour own. So let's get into some
of those specifics from yourperspective, who would benefit
(22:47):
from hiring a coach versus, hey,this person is perfectly fine
going going on their own?
Yosh Stoklosa (22:54):
I honestly think any anybody can can find value
in in hiring anotherprofessional to Florida for
whatever goal or for whateverreason. And I think in
particular, it's because weagain, as like, busy human
beings, right? Like you have, Idon't have you have a family. I
(23:20):
don't myself, but again, likethere are certain stressors that
we would gladly let other peopleworry about and take care of for
us. And again, like I'm happyto, I'm happy to pay for that
service. So I think an examplethat comes to mind for me is,
you know, I have typically likea very busy schedule most days
(23:45):
of the week, right? And one ofthe things that I reach people
who I reach out for, excuse meare like meal prep services,
right? So looking for very, likestandardized, credible places
that like offer ready to gomeals so like okay, I'm gonna
pay for a box to get it I bringhim in to work with me if I have
like, a half an hour betweenclients. I'm good to go. So that
(24:09):
I that I think to dance yourquestion there, if you are, if
you are struck, everybodystruggles, whether we've done
this for 10 years, 50 years,whether you're coming off the
couch into the gym, or again,like someone like myself, just
getting back into an Olympicweightlifting program, right
(24:31):
like you will always find youwill always find a way to put
stress on yourself because youthink you that you can just take
it all in. You can be that likeyou're that alone, gunslinger
type that you can handle it all.
And at some point, you're goingto hit a wall and you won't be
able to do it anymore. And Ithink at that point, you either
(24:52):
fall into one of two camps, likeI have to set healthier
boundaries for myself andprioritize things that maybe I
don't need to rush to do all thetime. Or like, like you said,
ask for help, like hire a coach,like buy a program from a coach.
Because that being able tosustain the, the part of
ourselves where we feel the needto just carry it on for length
(25:15):
of time is incredibly stressful.
And I've done it myself and itgets so like, just physically
draining that I do believe atsome point, no matter who you
are, you can find an area ofyour life where you can at the
very least reach out for reachout for some guidance.
Philip Pape (25:37):
Yeah, yeah, I like the way you put that because and
it may not it may not even be ina coach, right? It may be
somebody you know, maybe afriend, a may, it may be a one
time thing, right? I know, I hadto work on my squat years ago,
and I went to a specific coachspecific to that type of squat.
One time and it like it was asif I had worked on it for two
(25:59):
years and at one hour, becausethe coach was so valuable, and
knew so much more than I did.
And what you're saying is wehave way too much to do in our
life, to be able to takeeverything on. And we can only
rely on willpower, motivation,discipline, consistency,
accountability to ourselveswithout anybody else, we can
only do that for so long. Andthat's where a coach can be
valuable. Now people listeningto this podcast are like, wait a
(26:21):
minute, Phillips been telling mehow to do everything. Now for 35
episodes, he's got these greatguests on like, Josh, and I want
to do it on my own anyway, Idon't want to hire a coach just
yet. I do want to get intotraining. So let's just let's
just play devil's advocate for asecond. And what are the top
priorities then for someone whowants to get started wants to be
consistent, find success? Andthen of course, at some point,
(26:44):
they are going to need an entirecoach, right? But if they want
to get started on their own,what, what should they be doing?
Yosh Stoklosa (26:51):
And this is gonna sound against the grain, I
guess. But first, you have toidentify a problem, right? And I
mean, it has to be somethingthat's super palpable, right,
that has, unfortunately, broughtyou some, some grief in some
area of your life. So I thinkyou identify a problem first,
(27:13):
right? You, you have, you haveto open up a bit and kind of
make suggestions to yourself inway in areas that it's deeply
affected you and daily, dailyhabits, relationships,
conversations, etc. I also thinkthat if you're doing it, if
(27:36):
you're serious about it, and youthe goal is to ask for help, you
need to ask other people forfeedback on on yourself. And
that and that's something thatI've, I've learned even just
recently through the theleadership academies that I've
had the opportunity and pleasureto go to up in, in Manhattan,
(27:57):
and one of the things that iscommonly called next jump, and
one of the things that theydrive is that we you know, as,
as individuals, it is almostimpossible for you or for us to,
to see our own blind spots. AndParsh part of the reason that
it's so difficult for people toask to help is because they
don't know what they need helpwith. And so if we identify a
(28:22):
problem, if we're asking forhelp or feedback from other
people, right, then we can gointo the area of to explore,
like, where how often, we canmake that happen nutrition,
fitness, exercise, like mentalhealth, anything like education,
any part of that infrastructure.
And then throughout thatprocess, using us as an example,
(28:46):
like, we, we reach out, or youwould reach out to us sit down
with myself and one of the othercoaches and say like, Hey, you
know, this is really what I'vebeen struggling with for several
months or several years. And nowI'm at the point where I know I
can't mitigate it myself and Ineed I need other resources, I
(29:08):
need your help I need this iswhat I've been struggling with.
And that's again, like goingback to what we were talking
about, originally about how youyou know why why is it important
to build a relationrelationships with people
understand, like what will needlong term down the road? And
this is a big reason. Becausewhen they come to ask for help,
(29:29):
you just don't want to say like,well, Philip, I'm gonna teach
you how to squat and you know,Booth like, You're fit. And so
and, and I'm not going to I'mnot suggesting to anyone that
you know, these conversationsare easier that every person
that I have the ability to meetwith like, at all of a sudden
like all the layers get peeledback like that's probably that's
(29:51):
not the case at all. So yeah todo and then like that's where
again now input like, likesomeone like yourself Are
myself. Now we have to do rightby them by asking the right
question,
Philip Pape (30:07):
man, you just, you just covered something, this is
like gold. And I want thelistener to be aware of what you
just said. Because I asked youabout where they would get
started with, with training andyou made it about mindset and
you made it about like your truelie, your true goal, your true
gap in in from where you are nowto where you want to be. And you
(30:29):
know, what I get from that is weall we're all struggling in
something, right? And let's sayit's fat loss. So from a
nutrition side, I've got tons ofclients come in and say, Okay, I
want to lose weight. Is thatreally the problem? Right? Is
the problem that you want tolose weight? Because I bet
you've done things many timesover the years that caused you
to lose weight successfully.
Short term, right? Is that theproblem? And we have to dig in
(30:50):
and say no, it usually comesdown to the mindset of notes
that you want to feel a certainway that you want to be able to
play with your kids, you want tobe able to do the things you do
and then you kind of back backinto that. Okay, what does that
mean? Was that mean? Was itmean, at the end solution may be
you need to get stronger and noteven worry about the scale? I
don't know. I mean, it dependson the person. But that's
(31:10):
awesome. Yes. Like what you justtalked about?
Yosh Stoklosa (31:15):
It's again, like, it's through a lot of trial and
error. And you made a reallygood point too, because I even
like, I mean, I've over the pastthat, you know, been on the
scale, like gone the InBody, youknow, looked at myself in the
mirror and been like, I shouldlike probably lose some weight
too. But, you know, why do Iwant to lose weight or gain
(31:38):
weight? Like, what am I tryingto objectify there? And again,
like, I What, for me, thatreally turns into what my habits
are like. And if I have shittyhabits, I'll just automatically
explore like, well, I need tolose some weight. And but my,
(31:59):
but my habits won't disappear.
So like I I told I 100% agreethere that it's, it's a lot more
than just write like thatservice layer strategy that you
might have. Because it's notalways going to be it's not
always going to be that easy.
Philip Pape (32:18):
Yeah. Yeah. So that's great advice for folks
listening, you know, reallyponder that and ask yourself,
not only what my goal is thatmaybe that's the first step like
what my goal is, but then askyourself why that's my goal. And
maybe that'll lead to the realgoal, the real short term
process transformation that youneed to go through. Okay, so
let's, let's talk about somekind of fun stuff here. In terms
(32:41):
of the lifting side, you're anOlympic lifter, I haven't really
gotten into that on the show atall, because I'm more focused on
traditional lifts when I do talkabout it. And I have a love hate
relationship with lifting frommy, from my history, because I
learned about it throughCrossFit, which, you know, pros
and cons of that. And I rememberyou getting me to push myself on
(33:03):
Grace, like so people listeninggrace is one of the words in
CrossFit where you do 30 cleanand jerks for 135 Now, today,
that probably wouldn't feel sohard. But at the time, it wasn't
as strong and you're like, yougot this man, you got the the RX
and you know, I could do it. Itwasn't like I was going to
injure myself. And I got itdone. But tell me why somebody
(33:24):
would want to learn the Olympiclifts the clean and jerk the
snatch why they're valuable aspart of somebody's programming.
Yosh Stoklosa (33:32):
So I would I mean, I think, obviously, like
if you want to, if you want tocompete in the sport of Olympic
weightlifting, like yes, ofcourse, like, you are going to
have to learn the snatch, you'regoing to have to learn the clean
and jerk outside of that,honestly, I mean, there is a
layer of this where, you know,you see it looks cool, like and
(33:55):
you learn it, and there's fun,like it is a really, really fun,
they're fun exercises to learn,develop, develop an awareness
for and then ultimately you getbetter at, you know, whether
it's a snatch or a clean, thingsare so precise and get so
technical, that when you evenmake when you succeed, a lift by
(34:18):
a pound by two pounds by fivepounds, even like that is taken
a lot of freakin work to do. SoI would I would say to some
degree, people that if you'regoing to try something a little
more challenging than yourcurrent trajectory offers, you
know, one, it'll, it'll show youright off the bat how much
(34:39):
discipline you have. Because theworkouts that don't go as
planned, the weeks that don't goas planned. Well, we'll see if
you come back the next day andpick up train where you left
off.
Philip Pape (34:55):
All right, so it's a mental game for sure. It's a
skill. It's mental. Yeah.
Yosh Stoklosa (35:01):
On the I guess on the more objective side of
things to like, they're great. Ido believe that they're great
exercises for certain athletesto, to learn, maybe not. And by
that I mean, take a I only saythis because I was watching a
video on Instagram today anOlympic thrower, like like those
(35:23):
guys are the most powerfulathletes in the world on one of
the variations of the Olympiclifts that they use as the hang
power, snatch, hang power clean,because it'll start just by
placing like little stars abovethe knee, you have very minimal
length or distance of movement,but you have to be super
(35:44):
explosive. And these are guysthat are putting up several 100
pounds. And I mean, again, it'sit's humbling for someone like
myself to see who's beentraining them for like 10 years,
and seeing like these collegeathletes come in and just do
something. So again, in my eyes,so incredible from such a
difficult position. So that'slike being a more than being an
(36:07):
athlete itself in certainsports. I think they're
appropriate not not not allsports, like do I think that any
that if you're a elite caliberor professional athlete, you
could benefit from the use ofthem? 100%? Do I think that
they're necessarily appropriatefor every like program you might
be following? Not not in everycase like that, you know, you
(36:32):
walk a very fine line there. ButI guess to answer your question,
it is always cool to takesomebody out of say, like just
doing CrossFit. And say andsuggesting to them, Hey, how do
you feel about like gettingreally, really strong over the
next like three months? Andyeah, of course, I wouldn't, I
wouldn't do that. Cool, you'regonna stop doing all the shit
(36:55):
that makes you hurt in lineyou're back after. And I'm
gonna, I'm gonna teach yousomething a little more fun. And
at the end of that, I'm going toput you in an actual competition
to see how you do. So I guesslike someone who is open enough
to try something different tohelp their performance in said,
(37:15):
area already. Like it's going tobe it will be a lot of fun. And
you're going to learn a lotabout your, your level of
tenacity as an as an athlete oras an individual.
Philip Pape (37:27):
Yeah, that's a good way to put it. That would be me
with a snatch constantly back inthe day not wanting to do the
snatch, shoulders, man. But it'sfunny because there's, I've
always had interesting opinionson that over over the years,
too, because the Olympic Liftsare kind of how I got into using
barbells through CrossFit. Itwasn't till years later that I
(37:50):
just focused on pure, you know,strength movements, just to
build strength. But there aresome programs, I think, like
starting strength, for example,that incorporate the power
clean, early on, as the deadliftgets really heavy as an
alternate pole movement inbetween just so you're not
deadlifting, like every session.
And yet, even though I've seenarguments about that, it's like,
(38:10):
you still can only lift so muchduring a power clean. So why
would you do other poles or rowsor something like that? But
Yosh Stoklosa (38:18):
yeah, I would say that I agree. That was tough for
me too. Because if I'm, if I'mlooking at that, and someone
saying like, Hey, if you'restalling on your deadlift, do,
do a power clean, do whatever,like number one? I don't? Again,
in my opinion, I don't thinkthat that truly necessary. I
don't I'm not like what kind ofadaptation? Am I going to get
(38:40):
through that? That being said,if you asked me like, hey, is
there a variation of a lip, thatcould help the performance of my
deadlift? And I would teachsomeone how to do a poll, like
just a basic clean full, eitherfrom risers or from like a rat,
or having the injured individualput straps on and go from some
(39:02):
position above the knee, right?
For sure. Yeah, like that. Andyou've done before like we
overload rack pulls that thereare many reasons to do rack
poles, but one of the, one ofthe larger benefits of a rack
pole is to break past thatsticking point of a either of a
conventional deadlift, rightwhen you're getting it towards
your knee and people might looklike they buy a taser. But
(39:25):
again, like that, I think whatyou're what we're both saying
really is, it's a very, you'regoing to have to know that
athlete or that individual sowell number one, to even suggest
that number two, then if they'reable, even able to perform it
well enough to get theadaptation or benefit from that
(39:47):
to then provide them a biggerdeadlift. And but that's where
like good coaching comes in.
Right? Like a good a good coachis going to look at that and
say, you know, I felt like yeah,you don't need a power clean one
because your shoulders and yourwrist can't take it but I can
teach how to pull. Like youdefinitely have enough power
like your back strong enoughyour your, your, your legs are
(40:10):
strong enough to handle thatkind of position. So we're just
going to shave some weight offthe star and we're going to
teach you how to like producesome some speed tools. So it
just that that to me definitelycomes down to the the level
headedness of, of a coach toeven put that in their athletes
program.
Philip Pape (40:28):
Cool. Yeah, all good stuff. I mean people
listening, they wonder aboutthat. And I know folks that do
and Olympic lifts mainly for thefun of it, and the skill of it
and the athleticism side of it,which seems to be the dominant
driver, especially if you wantto compete. So pretty cool.
Pretty cool stuff, man. Thanksfor we haven't covered that on
the show yet. So I'm glad wecovered a little bit, you know.
(40:49):
Now, last thing or one of thelast things a little birdie told
me that you're a foodie. Butyour favorite beer is Bud Light.
Now, I think you're in goodcompany. I think you're in good
company on the food side withme. Okay, my wife could tell
you, my wife makes most of ourdinners these days, and they're
delicious. But she's not afoodie. She just she she finds a
good recipe throws it together,serves it to me. And I'm like
(41:12):
commenting on the mouthfeel andthe texture and the seasonings I
taste and like all this stuffsuch a snob. So but is it true
that you're a foodie and yourfavorite beer is not some barrel
aged Imperial Stout, but itreally is Bud Light.
Yosh Stoklosa (41:25):
Yeah. 100% I am a foodie. And again, I think this
lert like, enjoying food hascome off of like a part of being
in the fitness industry and andthat most people that probably
seems obvious because like ifyou're going to do the provide
like your yourself withphysicality, like the like the,
(41:46):
the, the workouts and thetraining that you're going to
do, like, Hey, why wouldn't theypair that with eating right?
Like, I like to say that everyevery fitness. I'd like to say
that every fitness professionaldoes that. But I don't know,
like, so the food piece camefrom wine teaching, I've taught
(42:06):
myself how to do the Olympiclifts, I want to teach myself
how to, to cook, I want to Ijust it's more of a point of
creativity. And then when Ilearned when I learned how to
cook, and I'm not like, my, Idon't have this huge continuum
of what I'm good at, like in thekitchen, but like, I want to be
(42:28):
able to do that for myself. Ifeel like that is a necessary
task. I get that, that all of usshould at least try. Yeah, the
foodie piece like is and nowlike knowing how to do that it
has given me such a more justevery time on restaurants or, or
(42:51):
people suggesting that like,hey, like I know you enjoy like
making this you should try itfrom here. It makes it like, I
guess the whole experience muchmore enjoyable. Overall.
Philip Pape (43:03):
Yeah, again, yeah, gastronomy or whatever it's
called. I'll write with you,man. I mean, I mean, there's
there's a dark side of foodieism in that, you know, you eat
out all the time because youlove food so much. But the
positive side, like you said, isyou learn to cook your own
stuff, and you really getcreative. Now you can now food
can serve you you know, it's notlike you're just shoveling it in
(43:24):
for the calories. You know,you're actually trying to make
it an experience as part oflife. And hey, we're human. So
just make it work with yourmacros and with your goals. And
you're good to go. Right? Yeah,I
Yosh Stoklosa (43:33):
think everyone should learn how to cook for
themselves for sure.
Philip Pape (43:36):
Yeah, yeah, definitely. And eating at home
is a good way to stick to yourplan, too. All right, so the the
second, the last question I liketo ask all guests is what one
question Did you wish I hadasked, and what is your answer?
Yosh Stoklosa (43:49):
Oh, geez. I admit I don't what, um, I guess. Okay,
what are Do I have any personal
Philip Pape (44:01):
personal training goals
Yosh Stoklosa (44:03):
or training goals? Yeah. And I guess I guess
I don't at the moment, I would,people may think that it would
be to train for, like aweightlifting competition. And
I, I guess I have, I'm trying toget better at just enjoying the
train for the sake of being ableto train and getting stronger
(44:25):
and healthier, versus alwaysneeding a spot to prove what I'm
doing. Right. So if I'm trainedin the sport of Olympic
weightlifting, yes, most peoplewill find a meet to do and
compete and I and Iwholeheartedly agree with that.
I think if you're doing thatsport that has that result or
(44:45):
outcome to it, like 100% Youshould challenge yourself and do
that. But I right now, I just, Iguess I don't have that goal in
mind yet, and I'm learning howto literally just do it for the
sake Get having fun lifting.
Philip Pape (45:03):
That's a great, that's a great one. Man. That's
a great one. Because, yeah, Iknow I throw you for a loop and
you're like, you came up with aquestion. And then you realize
the answer is you don't have agoal. But that was the money
answer. Because some people needto learn to just just, like,
suck it up and enjoy theprocess. I don't mean suck it
up. I mean, enjoy the process,like live every day, each step
(45:25):
along the way. It's not sixmonths from now, every time
Yeah. And I
Yosh Stoklosa (45:29):
think this comes with this just comes with
experiences that like, damn nearall of us do not have the
ability to just focus on thatpart of our health and wellness,
like just the training, I seethe other the other. If I'm
(45:50):
booked morning to evening, and Idon't get to work out how am I
gonna react to that, right,like, at some point, outside of
the chance that you can become aprofessional at it, or not a
professional but like, be paidto do it. You're gonna have to
prioritize other things likefamily, your your work. And I'm,
(46:11):
I think over the last coupleyears, I've done a lot better at
saying like, you know what, thebusiness that I'm helping to run
right now takes precedence overmy training. And that doesn't
mean that I never trained, itjust means I'm not going to. I'm
not going to like, setintentional blocks out in the
afternoon for myself just so Ican work out like I leave them.
(46:34):
I want to fill them with as manypeople as I can. And then what I
do every Thursday or Friday isgo look into the next week and
see like what can I do haveavailable and then I will put
kind of strategize and move mytrain around that and in most
cases, I'm I get a good a goodenough block of time every day
(46:54):
to at least do something I'vestarted doing 2025 minutes of
like aerobic work now like in soat the very least, if I can do
that, it's a good day.
Philip Pape (47:03):
Cool. Yeah, you got priorities, and you're still
making it work. So you'reawesome, man. Well, this has
been a fun talk. I'm gonna Oh,the last the last question of
course is where where can peoplelearn about you?
Yosh Stoklosa (47:15):
Yeah, so number one, if you are in the if you're
a Connecticut based in your inthe Enfield, Enfield summers
Ellington Suffield even ifyou're over in Springfield
Agawam like if you're in thesurrounding area, myself and my
other colleagues are located atRomeo athletics at seven moody
(47:36):
road. Again in EnfieldConnecticut, I do have a
Facebook page that I don'treally put much on. And it's
really just my name you justYoshi and my Instagram page
where I put most of my clientstraining in my training on and
my handle there is at theunderscore, y o and then five in
(47:59):
place of the F and H
Philip Pape (48:01):
Yes, perfectly easy to remember. Yes No, just
kidding I'll put it in the shownotes. So we got Romeo athletics
we got Romeo athletics which hasa website rolling athletics dot
fitness for people just if youwant to find address that you
mentioned, Facebook Yoshi, andthen Instagram at the Yogesh
where the SS of five minutes anunderscore I'm gonna put it in
the show notes so you don't haveto remember that. And man it was
(48:23):
great talking to you talkingabout all this stuff. Appreciate
you joining me and of courseI'll be roaming athletics.
Alright, man. Oh, yeah, man.
Thanks, dude. Thanks forlistening to the show. Before
you go, I have a quick favor toask. If you enjoy the podcast,
let me know by leaving a fivestar review in Apple podcasts
and telling others about theshow. Thanks again for joining
me Philip Pape in this episodeof Wits & Weights. I'll see you
(48:45):
next time and stay strong.
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