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.

Topics discussed in this episode:

• 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)

RELATED LINKS

• 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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At Wits & Weights, we help you achieve optimal health that fits your lifestyle—without excessive dieting, cardio, or food restrictions. Philip Pape, host and certified nutrition coach, helps high-achieving people use their wits to build their body, reclaim their time, and gain control over food through one-on-one nutrition and lifestyle coaching.

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Transcript

Philip Pape  00:08

Welcome to the Wits & Weights podcast, where we discuss getting strong and healthy with strength training and sustainable nutrition. I'm your host, Philip pape, and in each episode, we examine strategies to help you achieve physical self mastery through a healthy skepticism of the fitness industry, and a commitment to consistent nutrition and training for sustainable results. Welcome to another episode of Wits & Weights. On today's episode, I am joined by Yoshi, whom I've known for many years, because we have an association with Romeo athletics, him as a coach and trainer and myself as a longtime member. And I'm really excited that we made this happen because we can sit down and talk about coaching the fitness industry, optimizing your health training wherever the conversation takes us. Yossi is a certified sports performance coach and personal trainer at Romi athletics, which is in Connecticut, and through his professional career as a behavioral counselor, and group fitness coach, Yoast learned about the importance of mental health and wellness, and now serves as a guide and mentor to others on their own fitness journey. Yost man, thank you for coming 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 really gotten into your background and your story and kind of who you are as a coach. So I think we're gonna explore that today. And people are going to learn a lot, and maybe some strategies along the way. So let's just start with your background and expertise where they intersect, right, which from my perspective, looks like fitness coaching and mental health, which is, I think, is an interesting angle that we can explore. So what's your story? What inspired you to guide and mentor 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 in Boston for over a decade. And my career really started there as a behavioral counselor at an organization called Bay Cove Academy. And I got a recommendation from a previous company I worked for in Berkshire County, called Hillcrest educational centers. So like, that was sort of the breadth of my joke, because I feel like if fitness and that weren't a thing, I'd be unemployable. Like, those are, those are really the only two things I've dabbled in. So I started at Big of Academy. And then somewhere down. Within my, I would say, my first year there having known Rome and what he does with his gym at the time, I had reached out to him and said like, Hey, man, I'd like to follow your programming. If you could coach me up, that'd be great. I didn't go into detail about why. But really, because the the job itself as a as a counselor is pretty heavy. We we treated some pretty, pretty hard youth from the greater Boston area with very severe learning and behavioral difficulties. So I mean ages, we would we be treating kids anywhere from 12 years old to 20 years old, because after that, they would age out of the program. They couldn't provide resources or funding for any, any child over the age of 20. So did that for, again, probably the same amount of time that I was training in coaching in the Boston area. So once I got in with Rome, started working out, I said, Oh, you know what, it'd probably be better. Now that things weren't what the program wasn't well, on that side, but as I continued to do the behavioral counseling, and that work, he had suggested that I go to CrossFit Fenway, which was maybe a mile and a half down from where I worked. So I joined that as my first affiliate and kind of did the training coaching and the therapeutic stuff like pretty much like right in line with each other.

 

Philip Pape  04:18

All right, cool. And so for those listening, when you say Rome, you're talking about Andrew Romeo. He's the CEO and head coach. Now just for people because people I have an international following here. Many people all over the world and maybe beyond listening, but for anybody in the Northeast or in Connecticut Romeo athletics, Andrew Romeo, it's named after him. So Yoshi is there in the Enfield facility and they have another facility opening up by the time this goes out. It might be open already in Avon. So anyway, that sounds pretty cool. How, you know, your background led you to another area that you're also passionate about and then you got this opportunity from Rome. And then so then you moved 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, it was funny because I had one of the great things about my previous employer, they would have weekly supervisions. And kind of like feedback loops, right? So, you know, her name was Carol, she walked in, I said, Hey, I have some something to tell you. And she goes, No, you're leaving. I'm giving you guys 30 days, I'm going to help train the next person who's going to fill my spot. But yeah, so I moved here. I had to, I had to settle up some things with where I was living in Southie at the time, and then had to get that beater of a car that I'm sure you saw when I first moved down here. So right around like the 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 the way to do it, you know, not burning bridges, helping to train the next folks. And then how you know, time dilation from COVID is crazy, because I feel like I've known you a lot longer than that. And it's, that's three years. Okay. So you got there, not even a year before everything got locked down.

 

Yosh Stoklosa  06:12

I know. So yeah, we Roman. Roman, I joke about that all the time, Kate do Rome's wife. Because, I mean, and people should know, too, that this wasn't just like a random email that he sent me said, Hey, come work for me. We, we had been, Rome has been my coach and my own, like pro he programmed for me. Probably the same amount of time that was in living in Boston. So probably, like a decade, if plus even. And, you know, we would dabble in that conversation. And he would tell me that there might be some work available. And again, I was just a, I was in Jesus, I was in my early 20s, at that point, when we had that first conversation, and I just wasn't ready to leave the city. So like this had been going on for a while, before I actually was able to move down here. So I had known like you and other members of the gym, and kind of the 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, usually around seven. And for those who listen to the show, they know, they know I have a home gym. So that's usually what I workout these days, but still have a great relationship with you and the other coaches, they're roaming athletics, with with nutrition and with with everything with the website. So I will see you in the morning. And, you know, we chatted, but we didn't really go dive deep into you as a coach. So I want to get a little bit into the training and programming side of things. You know, what is your approach as a coach to training programming? Do you work with specific types of clients? Do you 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 general population. And by that, I mean, these are individuals who come in with no one like particular skill set they want to focus on. And truthfully, circling back to what you said about COVID. Like, the vast majority of people who I train right now have really kind of come off of the kind of like the onset of COVID, where they were forced to do nothing, and they realize how much their health was deteriorating in some in some, in some ways. So they just they needed what again, for their, like, mental health to get healthier and really as broad of a stroke that, you know, paints it's, it's been it's been cool to get to build a relationship based on like, the fact that all of us went through the same thing and now like, hey, the gym or the fitness industry is super vulnerable to begin with, like as someone new approaching like yourself, say like, hey, hey, Philip, I need some help with some some fitness or nutritious nutrition, excuse me, coaching. So, yeah, for the most part, they're all there. They don't have any specific skills that they want to focus on. They they're looking for the bigger picture and the great thing about what we do is we can do the fitness piece, and also have like a mentoring slash coaching side to it. So I don't just take my clients in, you know, it's just a workout and then see you Friday. We we talk about a lot during our sessions. We try and bounce ideas off of one another so that I know and that they're aware of that I'm still doing right by them. As far as what their goals are, and as far as how I train them, you know, I have very, very basic like principles like rooted in, like the strength and conditioning community. And again, like, it's kind of the, I know, like what the meat and potatoes of of a workout that I want them to do. And then no matter regardless of like, what their training goals are, so that's all the like, the larger lifts, the bigger movers like the squat and the deadlift. And again, this is, of course, to say that they all are having an appropriate amount of manner to like perform those movements safely. So there's that the, there's a hierarchy typically that I like to follow first, and like moving well, exploring where any limitations are, as far as like movement patterns are concerned, like we can add, then, you know, some add a little bit of intensity or a little bit of load to that, and then kind of increase the volume or the speed at that point. So it's really, again, if we didn't have those, that first conversation with them to begin with about like, hey, fill up, tell me more about yourself, like, what are you here for? What are your biggest limiting factors, concerns? And what kind of experience do you want to have with me?

 

Philip Pape  11:26

Cool. Yeah, I mean, that sounds what I'm hearing is it's highly individualized. But there are principles you follow, right? There's principles of strength and function in overall movement mechanics, right. But you have to take each person in and it makes sense, the general population is the majority of people, right? Like, I think most people going through, even on the nutrition side are not saying, Hey, I have a bodybuilding show that are a CrossFit competition. That's a tiny slice of the population. So it totally makes sense. You do that. And then, you know, for people watching or listening, you know, usually saying is you could 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're like totally healthy, you have no limitations, and you go for certainly at the time, but at some point, you're gonna probably hit a wall or get injured or something that someone like Yoast can come in and say, Hey, this is you, this is how you move this is you know, how we can work together. So I really liked that I see how you work with your clients all the time. And it looks like it's more than just, Hey, do these three sets, I'm here watching you. It's you know, let's chat. Let's figure it out. Let's and you're not you're not like wasting time. You know, I know some trainers just like chat to chat, but you're actually trying to 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 entrusted myself or one of the other coaches with, with that level of vulnerability, right. Like, it's hard enough to, it's hard enough to say like, I need help in, in anything. But especially with like nutrition coaching and fitness. So, we, you know, we really try and do as much as we can with that first. So it's not overlooked down the road, like a Alright, fill up like we're gonna, 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, I'm good. But you know, there's other 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're doing exercise selection, pairing order, etc, like wise, like, that's fine. But tell me how, where this is going to carry me outside of the gym, and other relationships that I may have with people that have nothing to do with with exercise.

 

Philip Pape  13:53

Right? Right. It's not, it's not all about how much you can deadlift. Right. But can you walk up the stairs at the Patriots game or whatever your team is? Yeah. Cool. So you mentioned mental health and, and just health in general. So what what lessons have you learned as a behavioral counselor that you were talking about in Boston that apply to fitness and personal training, and then, you know, kind of what it means to be healthy? And that optimal health that you were talking about?

 

Yosh Stoklosa  14:20

You know, I think more there are enough people that know all like the physiological effects of how exercise like, you know, triggers hormones that make us like, feel happy and better. But I unless you have seen some, like seeing that change in someone or seeing that change in yourself. A lot of that is kind of new. You know what I mean? Like, oh, well, if I exercise for half an hour a day, doing aerobic anaerobic strength training workout, like I'll feel happier. Right. And I think, again, some of that gets overlooked because we number one, a lot of us don't have our own baseline to go off to begin with. So working at that, even again, like through that first year at the job, I noticed how much of that work I was taking with me like at the end back home into the weekend. And then at some point, it just felt like it was it everything just like bled into one another. And the first one, I was able to introduce the, the extra, more high intensity exercise into my thing I was doing it like three or four days a week. You know, a lot of that helped me understand that there are really healthy outlets. So go go and use them. See how they see how you fit them into your car, you fit them into your week, and then again, like that baseline now is week to week, I'm not taking all that I'm not taking work home with me, I'm not taking all that cathartic like nasty stuff into conversations with other people. So it was, I think when I first when I first kind of had the idea that like oh, like shit, this is this stuff is working. I just was able to start having better 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 like what I do for work, I'm and 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 work out. 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 were skipped? pretty skeptical, the fitness industry, right? And we do everything possible to split out what works, the things that actually work from all the noise and nonsense and all those darn influencers on the internet? So what are your thoughts? What do you what are your thoughts on the industry, or overall the state of the fitness industry or anything around, you know, just kind of when you have clients coming in, and they ask you questions that you're like, they've been googling stuff again.

 

Yosh Stoklosa  17:21

I, I would like to think it's been good. I'd like to think it's getting better. But I also like, I'm not smart enough to know all the trajectories right now only like what is in front of us and like what we're what we're dealing with, I think, I think a huge issue has been the kind of the format that social media has played. And I, I see that at times as a as a vessel for people to just absorb information. And then you can, you can just regurgitate it back out at any speed to anybody. You don't need to care, like who it goes to who, who it affects to some degree, and then it just all settles to various communities or people that you know, are very, I guess, susceptible to this quick feed of information. Because as human beings, right, like we do a very poor job at like waiting, and hard 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 always been a tough question for me to answer only because, you know, when you when you open up Facebook or you open up Instagram, there are a number of, of influencers, just pushing, like their own agenda. And I would say more than half of them are well, more than half of them have been able to dupe the general public into thinking that they care about a specific cause or they care about you. And then they're like side peddling supplements or, or, or meal or whatever, or, or workouts and, and I don't like listen, when I first started, I made the same mistakes again, like hundreds and 1000s of times. And it's just at this point like you said, like at this point in the fitness industry, like we you know, we both had enough skin in the game to to then have much more valuable and objective feedback to people like no person to sell you like a two week detox or like, strength program is really really cares about like, who you are. And then the longevity of your, of your goal. So I, I will say I've met a lot of super, super generous and kind, people who are also great coaches and also great mentors, and the fact that they're out there doing their things and their community does, it does provide, like, just a sense of relief, like, hey, you know, there are more people like us doing the right thing, they know how hard you have to work to provide and setting the example the way we know, can work over the course of, of years, or for the rest of your life. Right. And now, like kind of the uphill battle is still the the people who come in and are super reserved of your opinion, because they watched? I don't know, they watched a tic tock video on.

 

Philip Pape  20:57

Yeah, now you have to unravel that in some sort of rational way where they trust you. Yeah, you know, I like how you kind of spun that into a positive, right, because we don't definitely, I never want to talk bad about other coaches, I want to acknowledge the fact that you do have to be skeptical and aware of the content and where it's coming from. And you would hope that over time, the good coaches would start to take over and flood the internet effectively and drown out the bad actors. And as people get frustrated, and try these things, and blow a bunch of money on something doesn't work that eventually they're going to come around. But we know humans are humans, there's always gonna be some of that, right? So hey, this is Philip Pape. And if you feel like you've put in effort to improve your health and fitness, but aren't getting results, I invite you to apply for one on one coaching to make real progress and get the body you desire. We'll work together to figure out what's missing. So you can look better, perform better and feel better. Just go to wits & weights.com/coaching, to learn about my program and apply today. Now back to the episode. Cool. Yeah. And I just wanted to go off on that little tangent because you and I had also chatted about some of the technical aspects of how do we make videos and put captions on there. And like, we're trying to go out there on social media and put stuff out there. Just because 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 someone finds a, a good coach that can work with them to get them progress 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 faster oftentimes, by having a coach than trying things were yours on your own. So let's get into some of those specifics from your perspective, who would benefit 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 another professional to Florida for whatever goal or for whatever reason. And I think in particular, it's because we again, as like, busy human beings, right? Like you have, I don't have you have a family. I don't myself, but again, like there are certain stressors that we would gladly let other people worry about and take care of for us. And again, like I'm happy to, I'm happy to pay for that service. So I think an example that comes to mind for me is, you know, I have typically like a very busy schedule most days of the week, right? And one of the things that I reach people who I reach out for, excuse me are like meal prep services, right? So looking for very, like standardized, credible places that like offer ready to go meals so like okay, I'm gonna pay for a box to get it I bring him in to work with me if I have like, a half an hour between clients. I'm good to go. So that I that I think to dance your question there, if you are, if you are struck, everybody struggles, 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 Olympic weightlifting program, right like you will always find you will always find a way to put stress on yourself because you think you that you can just take it all in. You can be that like you're that alone, gunslinger type that you can handle it all. And at some point, you're going to hit a wall and you won't be able to do it anymore. And I think at that point, you either fall into one of two camps, like I have to set healthier boundaries for myself and prioritize things that maybe I don't need to rush to do all the time. Or like, like you said, ask for help, like hire a coach, like buy a program from a coach. Because that being able to sustain the, the part of ourselves where we feel the need to just carry it on for length of time is incredibly stressful. And I've done it myself and it gets so like, just physically draining that I do believe at some point, no matter who you are, you can find an area of your life where you can at the very least reach out for reach out 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 in a coach, right? It may be somebody you know, maybe a friend, a may, it may be a one time thing, right? I know, I had to work on my squat years ago, and I went to a specific coach specific to that type of squat. One time and it like it was as if I had worked on it for two years and at one hour, because the coach was so valuable, and knew so much more than I did. And what you're saying is we have way too much to do in our life, to be able to take everything on. And we can only rely on willpower, motivation, discipline, consistency, accountability to ourselves without anybody else, we can only do that for so long. And that's where a coach can be valuable. Now people listening to this podcast are like, wait a minute, Phillips been telling me how to do everything. Now for 35 episodes, he's got these great guests on like, Josh, and I want to do it on my own anyway, I don't want to hire a coach just yet. I do want to get into training. So let's just let's just play devil's advocate for a second. And what are the top priorities then for someone who wants to get started wants to be consistent, find success? And then of course, at some point, they are going to need an entire coach, 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 to identify a problem, right? And I mean, it has to be something that's super palpable, right, that has, unfortunately, brought you some, some grief in some area of your life. So I think you identify a problem first, right? You, you have, you have to open up a bit and kind of make suggestions to yourself in way in areas that it's deeply affected you and daily, daily habits, relationships, conversations, etc. I also think that if you're doing it, if you're serious about it, and you the goal is to ask for help, you need to ask other people for feedback on on yourself. And that and that's something that I've, I've learned even just recently through the the leadership academies that I've had the opportunity and pleasure to go to up in, in Manhattan, and one of the things that is commonly called next jump, and one of the things that they drive is that we you know, as, as individuals, it is almost impossible for you or for us to, to see our own blind spots. And Parsh part of the reason that it's so difficult for people to ask to help is because they don't know what they need help with. And so if we identify a problem, if we're asking for help or feedback from other people, right, then we can go into the area of to explore, like, where how often, we can make that happen nutrition, fitness, exercise, like mental health, anything like education, any part of that infrastructure. And then throughout that process, using us as an example, like, we, we reach out, or you would reach out to us sit down with myself and one of the other coaches and say like, Hey, you know, this is really what I've been struggling with for several months or several years. And now I'm at the point where I know I can't mitigate it myself and I need I need other resources, I need your help I need this is what I've been struggling with. And that's again, like going back to what we were talking about, originally about how you you know why why is it important to build a relation relationships with people understand, like what will need long term down the road? And this is a big reason. Because when they come to ask for help, 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'm not suggesting to anyone that you know, these conversations are easier that every person that I have the ability to meet with like, at all of a sudden like all the layers get peeled back like that's probably that's not the case at all. So yeah to do and then like that's where again now input like, like someone like yourself Are myself. Now we have to do right by them by asking the right question,

 

Philip Pape  30:07

man, you just, you just covered something, this is like gold. And I want the listener to be aware of what you just said. Because I asked you about where they would get started with, with training and you made it about mindset and you made it about like your true lie, your true goal, your true gap in in from where you are now to where you want to be. And you know, what I get from that is we all we're all struggling in something, right? And let's say it's fat loss. So from a nutrition side, I've got tons of clients come in and say, Okay, I want to lose weight. Is that really the problem? Right? Is the problem that you want to lose weight? Because I bet you've done things many times over the years that caused you to lose weight successfully. Short term, right? Is that the problem? And we have to dig in and say no, it usually comes down to the mindset of notes that you want to feel a certain way that you want to be able to play with your kids, you want to be able to do the things you do and then you kind of back back into that. Okay, what does that mean? Was that mean? Was it mean, at the end solution may be you need to get stronger and not even worry about the scale? I don't know. I mean, it depends on the person. But that's awesome. Yes. Like what you just talked about?

 

Yosh Stoklosa  31:15

It's again, like, it's through a lot of trial and error. And you made a really good point too, because I even like, I mean, I've over the past that, you know, been on the scale, like gone the InBody, you know, looked at myself in the mirror and been like, I should like probably lose some weight too. But, you know, why do I want to lose weight or gain weight? Like, what am I trying to objectify there? And again, like, I What, for me, that really turns into what my habits are like. And if I have shitty habits, I'll just automatically explore like, well, I need to lose some weight. And but my, but my habits won't disappear. So like I I told I 100% agree there that it's, it's a lot more than just write like that service layer strategy that you might have. Because it's not always 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, really ponder that and ask yourself, not only what my goal is that maybe that's the first step like what my goal is, but then ask yourself why that's my goal. And maybe that'll lead to the real goal, the real short term process transformation that you need to go through. Okay, so let's, let's talk about some kind of fun stuff here. In terms of the lifting side, you're an Olympic lifter, I haven't really gotten into that on the show at all, because I'm more focused on traditional lifts when I do talk about it. And I have a love hate relationship with lifting from my, from my history, because I learned about it through CrossFit, which, you know, pros and cons of that. And I remember you getting me to push myself on Grace, like so people listening grace is one of the words in CrossFit where you do 30 clean and jerks for 135 Now, today, that probably wouldn't feel so hard. But at the time, it wasn't as strong and you're like, you got this man, you got the the RX and you know, I could do it. It wasn't like I was going to injure myself. And I got it done. But tell me why somebody would want to learn the Olympic lifts the clean and jerk the snatch why they're valuable as part of somebody's programming.

 

Yosh Stoklosa  33:32

So I would I mean, I think, obviously, like if you want to, if you want to compete in the sport of Olympic weightlifting, like yes, of course, like, you are going to have to learn the snatch, you're going 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 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 get better at, you know, whether it's a snatch or a clean, things are so precise and get so technical, that when you even make when you succeed, a lift by a pound by two pounds by five pounds, even like that is taken a lot of freakin work to do. So I would I would say to some degree, people that if you're going to try something a little more challenging than your current trajectory offers, you know, one, it'll, it'll show you right off the bat how much discipline you have. Because the workouts that don't go as planned, the weeks that don't go as planned. Well, we'll see if you come back the next day and pick up train where you left off.

 

Philip Pape  34:54

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. I do believe that they're great exercises for certain athletes to, to learn, maybe not. And by that I mean, take a I only say this because I was watching a video on Instagram today an Olympic thrower, like like those guys are the most powerful athletes in the world on one of the variations of the Olympic lifts that they use as the hang power, snatch, hang power clean, because it'll start just by placing like little stars above the knee, you have very minimal length or distance of movement, but you have to be super explosive. And these are guys that are putting up several 100 pounds. And I mean, again, it's it's humbling for someone like myself to see who's been training them for like 10 years, and seeing like these college athletes come in and just do something. So again, in my eyes, so incredible from such a difficult position. So that's like being a more than being an athlete itself in certain sports. I think they're appropriate not not not all sports, like do I think that any that if you're a elite caliber or professional athlete, you could benefit from the use of them? 100%? Do I think that they're necessarily appropriate for every like program you might be following? Not not in every case like that, you know, you walk a very fine line there. But I guess to answer your question, it is always cool to take somebody out of say, like just doing CrossFit. And say and suggesting to them, Hey, how do you feel about like getting really, really strong over the next like three months? And yeah, of course, I wouldn't, I wouldn't do that. Cool, you're gonna stop doing all the shit that makes you hurt in line you're back after. And I'm gonna, I'm gonna teach you something a little more fun. And at the end of that, I'm going to put you in an actual competition to see how you do. So I guess like someone who is open enough to try something different to help their performance in said, area already. Like it's going to be it will be a lot of fun. And you're going to learn a lot about your, your level of tenacity as an as an athlete or as an individual.

 

Philip Pape  37:27

Yeah, that's a good way to put it. That would be me with a snatch constantly back in the day not wanting to do the snatch, shoulders, man. But it's funny because there's, I've always had interesting opinions on that over over the years, too, because the Olympic Lifts are kind of how I got into using barbells through CrossFit. It wasn't till years later that I just focused on pure, you know, strength movements, just to build strength. But there are some programs, I think, like starting strength, for example, that incorporate the power clean, early on, as the deadlift gets really heavy as an alternate pole movement in between just so you're not deadlifting, like every session. And yet, even though I've seen arguments about that, it's like, you still can only lift so much during a power clean. So why would you do other poles or rows or 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'm looking at that, and someone saying like, Hey, if you're stalling on your deadlift, do, do a power clean, do whatever, like number one? I don't? Again, in my opinion, I don't think that that truly necessary. I don't I'm not like what kind of adaptation? Am I going to get through that? That being said, if you asked me like, hey, is there a variation of a lip, that could help the performance of my deadlift? And I would teach someone how to do a poll, like just a basic clean full, either from risers or from like a rat, or having the injured individual put straps on and go from some position above the knee, right? For sure. Yeah, like that. And you've done before like we overload rack pulls that there are many reasons to do rack poles, but one of the, one of the larger benefits of a rack pole is to break past that sticking point of a either of a conventional deadlift, right when you're getting it towards your knee and people might look like they buy a taser. But again, like that, I think what you're what we're both saying really is, it's a very, you're going to have to know that athlete or that individual so well number one, to even suggest that number two, then if they're able, even able to perform it well enough to get the adaptation or benefit from that to then provide them a bigger deadlift. And but that's where like good coaching comes in. Right? Like a good a good coach is 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 your wrist can't take it but I can teach how to pull. Like you definitely have enough power like your back strong enough your your, your, your legs are strong enough to handle that kind of position. So we're just going to shave some weight off the star and we're going to teach you how to like produce some some speed tools. So it just that that to me definitely comes down to the the level headedness of, of a coach to even put that in their athletes program.

 

Philip Pape  40:28

Cool. Yeah, all good stuff. I mean people listening, they wonder about that. And I know folks that do and Olympic lifts mainly for the fun of it, and the skill of it and the athleticism side of it, which seems to be the dominant driver, especially if you want to compete. So pretty cool. Pretty cool stuff, man. Thanks for we haven't covered that on the show yet. So I'm glad we covered a little bit, you know. Now, last thing or one of the last things a little birdie told me that you're a foodie. But your favorite beer is Bud Light. Now, I think you're in good company. I think you're in good company on the food side with me. Okay, my wife could tell you, my wife makes most of our dinners these days, and they're delicious. But she's not a foodie. She just she she finds a good recipe throws it together, serves it to me. And I'm like commenting on the mouthfeel and the texture and the seasonings I taste and like all this stuff such a snob. So but is it true that you're a foodie and your favorite beer is not some barrel aged Imperial Stout, but it really is Bud Light.

 

Yosh Stoklosa  41:25

Yeah. 100% I am a foodie. And again, I think this lert like, enjoying food has come off of like a part of being in the fitness industry and and that most people that probably seems obvious because like if you're going to do the provide like your yourself with physicality, like the like the, the, the workouts and the training that you're going to do, like, Hey, why wouldn't they pair that with eating right? Like, I like to say that every every fitness. I'd like to say that every fitness professional does that. But I don't know, like, so the food piece came from wine teaching, I've taught myself how to do the Olympic lifts, I want to teach myself how to, to cook, I want to I just it's more of a point of creativity. And then when I learned when I learned how to cook, and I'm not like, my, I don't have this huge continuum of what I'm good at, like in the kitchen, but like, I want to be able to do that for myself. I feel like that is a necessary task. I get that, that all of us should at least try. Yeah, the foodie piece like is and now like knowing how to do that it has given me such a more just every time on restaurants or, or people suggesting that like, hey, like I know you enjoy like making this you should try it from here. It makes it like, I guess the whole experience much more 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 foodie ism in that, you know, you eat out all the time because you love food so much. But the positive side, like you said, is you learn to cook your own stuff, and you really get creative. Now you can now food can serve you you know, it's not like you're just shoveling it in for the calories. You know, you're actually trying to make it an experience as part of life. And hey, we're human. So just make it work with your macros 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 your plan, too. All right, so the the second, the last question I like to ask all guests is what one question Did you wish I had asked, 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 a weightlifting competition. And I, I guess I have, I'm trying to get better at just enjoying the train for the sake of being able to train and getting stronger and healthier, versus always needing a spot to prove what I'm doing. Right. So if I'm trained in the sport of Olympic weightlifting, yes, most people will find a meet to do and compete and I and I wholeheartedly agree with that. I think if you're doing that sport that has that result or outcome to it, like 100% You should challenge yourself and do that. But I right now, I just, I guess I don't have that goal in mind yet, and I'm learning how to 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, I know I throw you for a loop and you're like, you came up with a question. And then you realize the answer is you don't have a goal. But that was the money answer. Because some people need to learn to just just, like, suck it up and enjoy the process. I don't mean suck it up. I mean, enjoy the process, like live every day, each step along the way. It's not six months from now, every time Yeah. And I

 

Yosh Stoklosa  45:29

think this comes with this just comes with experiences that like, damn near all of us do not have the ability to just focus on that part of our health and wellness, like just the training, I see the other the other. If I'm booked morning to evening, and I don'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 a professional at it, or not a professional but like, be paid to do it. You're gonna have to prioritize other things like family, your your work. And I'm, I think over the last couple years, I've done a lot better at saying like, you know what, the business that I'm helping to run right now takes precedence over my training. And that doesn't mean that I never trained, it just means I'm not going to. I'm not going to like, set intentional blocks out in the afternoon for myself just so I can work out like I leave them. I want to fill them with as many people as I can. And then what I do every Thursday or Friday is go look into the next week and see like what can I do have available and then I will put kind of strategize and move my train around that and in most cases, I'm I get a good a good enough block of time every day to at least do something I've started doing 2025 minutes of like aerobic work now like in so at 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're awesome, man. Well, this has been a fun talk. I'm gonna Oh, the last the last question of course is where where can people learn about you?

 

Yosh Stoklosa  47:15

Yeah, so number one, if you are in the if you're a Connecticut based in your in the Enfield, Enfield summers Ellington Suffield even if you're over in Springfield Agawam like if you're in the surrounding area, myself and my other colleagues are located at Romeo athletics at seven moody road. Again in Enfield Connecticut, I do have a Facebook page that I don't really put much on. And it's really just my name you just Yoshi and my Instagram page where I put most of my clients training in my training on and my handle there is at the underscore, y o and then five in 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 show notes. So we got Romeo athletics we got Romeo athletics which has a website rolling athletics dot fitness for people just if you want to find address that you mentioned, Facebook Yoshi, and then Instagram at the Yogesh where the SS of five minutes an underscore I'm gonna put it in the show notes so you don't have to remember that. And man it was great talking to you talking about all this stuff. Appreciate you joining me and of course I'll be roaming athletics. Alright, man. Oh, yeah, man. Thanks, dude. Thanks for listening to the show. Before you go, I have a quick favor to ask. If you enjoy the podcast, let me know by leaving a five star review in Apple podcasts and telling others about the show. Thanks again for joining me Philip Pape in this episode of Wits & Weights. I'll see you next time and stay strong.