S03E102 FROM PINK NAILS AND CIGARETTES TO SUPERSTAR CROSSFIT COACH LIZ TANZOLA

Special guest Liz Tanzola, superstar coach @crossfitbison talks with Dave and Sam about her start in CrossFit, her journey from smoking cigarettes and unable to finish the warmup 200m run to becoming a 2023 Age Group Quarterfinalist and possibly the best, and certainly the most beloved, coach @crossfitbison.

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S03E102 FROM PINK NAILS AND CIGARETTES TO CROSSFIT QUARTERFINALIST COACH LIZ TANZOLA

[00:00:00] David Syvertsen: Welcome back to the Herd Fit Podcast. I am coach David Syvertsen here with my co-host, Dr. And coach Sam Rhee. And we have a very special guest, someone I've been trying to get on the podcast for about a year. And I, I got her intoxicated and made her sign a legal document that she, she would come on. Is that legal? We have Coach Superstar, coach Liz Tanzola.

[00:00:23] Liz Tanzola: Hi guys. Thank you for having

[00:00:24] David Syvertsen: me. She is strapped down to the chair and you can't see that right now, so that you can't escape.

Um, but Liz is gonna be on with a couple episodes. The next one will be Aaron next week, and that will be our next herd fit q and a. We have three or four questions that we'll go over, uh, but today, The episode of today's, uh, podcast is from pink Outfits and cigarettes to Superstar Coach. So we're, we're gonna dive into two different things here.

We're gonna dive into Liz as a person, as a coach, and just some of her journey. And there are a lot of takeaways from her journey, journey that a lot of you can learn from. And many people that listened to the podcast were not a part of Bison in 2014, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19 even. Right? And if you weren't, you didn't really see where Liz started.

You kind of just see this like majestic, unbelievable athlete, personable, fun coach that is passionate about, passionate about what she does. And she does it at a very high level. And she's been a staple at bison, really, almost from the beginning and. I, I believe that if you get to know some of her backstory, you might view her in a different light in a good way.

And for some of you out there that were maybe Liz 10 years ago, kind of unsure where you're gonna go and maybe looking for something to grab onto, you might get a lot of inspiration from her story. And I hope you do, because it still inspires me to this day, kind of like where she came from and where she is now.

And it can make you appreciate things at a much deeper level. So, Liz, I know you're a little nervous about coming on, um, but uh, we're, we're big and I know you got this and, and we're all so big on always, Hey, let's do some things that make us a little uncomfortable. Um, but before we get into your backstory, just some opening thoughts on what you really wanna share today, what you want this, what direction you want this to go in, and what you hope others can get out of it.

[00:02:22] Liz Tanzola: Um, so I had absolutely never been in a gym before. Right. And that was very, uh, just like nerve wracking for me. But, um, I think you can learn anything that you wanna learn. You can do anything that you wanna do, um, but you just, you have to take the first step. Mm-hmm. And that was the hardest part. So I just want that to be an encouragement for anyone, no matter what background you have.

Um, you can do this is for anyone, literally anyone. Yeah.

[00:02:50] David Syvertsen: Awesome. Now, Sam, opening thoughts on Liz from your perspective, because, you know, you know Liz on a pretty deep level because you've been here a long time. You've been on the staff with her for a few years. Um, you guys were both on the second place team from the CrossFit open from the bison Jamir.

Whoa, whoa. We'll save that for new podcast. We won't bring that up. Um, but really you've seen Liz throughout her entire process. Yeah, and it's been a maturation process in, in a lot of different ways, and I still think she's on the way up. You know, when I said I want to have her on and really kind of give her backstory, what were some of your thoughts from your perspective?

And then we'll get some thoughts from her.

[00:03:29] Sam Rhee: I got two things. First that I gotta say Uhoh first is I'm still getting over the fact you called her Majestic. You've never called

[00:03:35] David Syvertsen: anyone Majestic in my

[00:03:38] Sam Rhee: entire podcasting career with you.

[00:03:39] David Syvertsen: I was like, holy crap. She has a presence about it. She, I

[00:03:43] Sam Rhee: agree. And I was like, that's a great description.

[00:03:45] David Syvertsen: The second thing is, I love, dude, are you sure you're not

[00:03:48] Sam Rhee: in the army because you're such a sniper? You just like bring uh, topics up and

[00:03:52] David Syvertsen: you're like, oh, we're not gonna talk about that. Like, team black. Excuse me. Okay. We're not talking about that one.

[00:03:58] Sam Rhee: So two, kudos to you for that little, uh, quick sniper singer, the third, and you know, Liz and I know who the winning team really is.

So that's okay. And then the third thing is, is Liz and I started about the same time like you did maybe a month or maybe two or three months. I can't remember a little bit before me. Yeah. And so I have very, very early memories of Liz. And, um, honestly, for as much as you've changed, There's so much about you that has not changed.

Like, that's the thing that is so interesting about seeing someone over the net, you know, like in the gym that you've known for 10 years is how much they've changed, but how much of their core has not changed. And that, that to me is where, uh, I think most of us can take lessons from. Mm-hmm. Because we should change, we should change a lot

[00:04:44] David Syvertsen: and evolve.

We should evolve. We

[00:04:45] Sam Rhee: have changed a lot. Yeah. But there are certain parts of us that are core to us that I think are integral to our success and our growth. And those are the things that I think make up like Liz Panola.

[00:04:57] David Syvertsen: Awesome. Cool. So Liz, background a little, just athletically, sports, you know, what, what did you do growing up?

Because for those that don't know, You know when we started off, we talked about this pod on this podcast once before, when the first time we saw Liz Sprint, she was very, she was not in good shape when we first saw it, but when we first saw her sprint, we were like, whoa. There's just something like naturally gifted there and I want others to kind of hear what, what is the sport background training background of Liz Go eat all the way back to high

[00:05:28] Liz Tanzola: school.

So I did, um, there you go. I did run track. Okay. Um, that was always a discussion with me and my coach. I thought I should be throwing weights. And he's like, Nope, you are a sprinter. So he, we compromised, we did a little bit of both. Um, and I will say I did love, I love to sprint. Um, and then I also played soccer.

Okay. And that was always a discussion as well. I wanted to be a defender. Um, I thought it was less work. And he is like, no, you're a midfielder. And that's a lot of running. So I did, believe it or not, I did run a decent amount, but those were my two, uh, two sports in high school

[00:06:03] David Syvertsen: growing up. That female background of soccer to CrossFit, you love that.

It's so common. That's your

[00:06:09] Sam Rhee: pet theory. You believe that, don't you?

[00:06:10] David Syvertsen: It just works. So for anyone that has a daughter out there, get 'em on the soccer field because look, because they'll be a good CrossFitter someday. Um, gymnastics wouldn't hurt either, so just let's consider this right. Soccer, I always think, uh, lower body development, aerobic system capabilities are there.

Um, and torque. The ability to use your hips and create power, that's a lot of what cross it is. Throw in the track, quick twitch, fast twitch, muscle fibers, explosion. When you watch Liz lift, when you watch her run, when you watch her jump, when you watch her muscle up, all this stuff, right? That's what those fast twitch fibers do for her.

She's explosive. So that, that kind of helps. It always helps to look at someone's background and that can tie them to an athlete. Um, now training, let's say high school was over and you said you had never been inside a gym before, and this is years after you graduated high school. What was your outlook just on, was there an outlook, a perspective on working out, eating clean, being healthy?

Where, where did your mind shift post high school in relation to your body and your health?

[00:07:12] Liz Tanzola: Um, I guess I didn't really have, I mean, as sad as that is an outlook on healthy eating, healthy lifestyle, I just thought after high school it was over, like it was sports, it was fun, it was team effort. And then, You know, you go into life and you work and you do full-time things.

Yeah. And I just didn't have a perspective on that. I've always been curious about the gym. I know we had a weight room, um, in high school. Mm-hmm. And I'd always walk in it, I'd look around and I'd walk right out. And, uh, that was pretty much the same thing with a gym. Mm-hmm. I had, I didn't know what to do there.

I didn't know what machines to be on or how long to meet, like what to do. So I just didn't go Right.

[00:07:50] David Syvertsen: I think that's a really important thing to know about her is that no matter if you are someone that wants to get into coaching someday, um, or even something deeper than that, the, that background, it's important, but it's definitely not vital.

You, it's not a make or break. And in some cases, the people that have Liz's approach are actually easier to teach. Then someone that read, you know, fitness magazines and really came into this situation thinking that they knew everything right? When you come in, humbled by the fact that, Hey, I don't know what to do.

I don't know where to go. I don't know how long to do. Those are easier people to make an impression on, and that's kind of where Liz has started off. CrossFit. What made you though start CrossFit? You know, we're, we're talking 2014, so you're talking about 8, 9, 10 years after you graduated high school.

That's when you kind of decided to take the first step towards something like this. What caused that decision?

[00:08:47] Liz Tanzola: So, I don't know how far back, uh, we wanna go here, but I did, I did know Dave, um, previously, right? He was a, he worked at Fridays and I worked at New York Company in Ramsey. So I would always go there, you know, after work with my girls and just, you know, the end of a day, just kind of wind down a little bit.

And then Fridays closed, you know, um, I stopped, we were working at your company, et cetera, and. His Facebook, we were still linked on Facebook as friends, and it came up that he opened a CrossFit in Midland Park. So I still lived in Midland Park. So I remember sending him a message and I was like, what is CrossFit?

[00:09:23] Sam Rhee: How did you know Dave then? Like what was he like, what were your like, um, interactions with him at Fridays? Like what did, what did you do

[00:09:30] David Syvertsen: at Fridays? He was a bartender. I was a bar, I was a bartender. Like she was, she was a, she was a bar guest. I want, I don't wanna pump myself up, say she was one of my bar ringers.

She was, She was there a lot. Yeah. I mean, whether I was working there. Yeah. Whether I was leaving my shift, going to my shift, whether I was hanging out there, she was there a lot. Were you the Tom Cruise cocktail bartender guy? Um, without the good looks.

[00:09:53] Liz Tanzola: He did bar competitions. We did. I just wanna say that we did.

[00:09:57] David Syvertsen: He's intense, so we're not gonna go that far back. He, uh, but no, that is where Liz and I met was in, in that bar scene. Mm-hmm. I was working, she was a, do you call it a patron? A patron, yeah. Patron. Patron. Okay. Um, and that's kind of like where our kind of friendship began and then I moved to Hoboken. Mm-hmm.

Kind of left the scene. That restaurant actually closed in time. And then, you know, a few years later, after I was done working in finance, you know, we've talked about that story a million times. Mm-hmm. Right. You come up open the gym and you're blasting it all over Facebook, you know, just to hopefully get a couple people to come in and she obviously saw it.

Mm-hmm. Messaged me. Was there a reason why? Even though you were not really into the fitness scene back then, was it just the personal relationship that you're like, Hey, let me come check this out. Or was it, Hey, I think I need to start getting some

[00:10:47] Liz Tanzola: shit together? I honestly did. I had never heard the word CrossFit before.

Yeah. So that was the first time that came up. Um, just knowing that I trusted you as a friend. Yeah. I figured if I was gonna try something new. Somebody would have my back just in case. Right. So I think that helped me feel comfortable coming in, just knowing that I knew you. Were you

[00:11:04] David Syvertsen: exercising at that time?

No, no,

[00:11:08] Liz Tanzola: no. That's a hard No.

[00:11:10] David Syvertsen: Sam, I'm gonna, you know, I don't know if we should do this. I, I, we have the picture from Liz's first day at the gym. Oh, it's somewhere. It's somewhere. I'll find it. And so she came in back then, when we first started, we used to do these things called free trial Saturdays. It's kind of what we do on Wednesdays now.

Yeah. Let anyone come in. Yeah. But it was a very designated, we had two or three classes in the morning for members, which at the time we had like six people. So, um, you know, there were weren't really classes. And then the last class of the morning was free trial day, where we would try to get, I got some people from like my church growing up, some of my friends and Liz and Brian both.

Um, Brian is Liz's husband. They came to one of the classes, and there there's a picture. It's like the most infamous outfit ever in the history of bison. Was it Gucci or guests? No, no guests. Let's get this

[00:11:58] Liz Tanzola: on record. This was from Cole's,

[00:12:02] David Syvertsen: bright Pink. The brightness that would hurt your eyes, kind of pink.

Um, shoes, shoes, shirt, black pants, completely done up like she's going to prom. And the workout had, um, it had burpees sit-ups, box jumps, which I think she did step ups. And I do think we had running, I, I, I think one of your first workouts had a run, or it was a warmup run and it was 200 meters and she couldn't make it.

It was bad. She, she made it halfway counting that to walk back, grabbing the top of her abdomen, which, you know, I'm 10 years into the business now. Like that's the one of the first things I, I look for. If someone's like, all right, I'm not sure about this person yet. Um, if they can physically hang onto a workout.

And I look for two things. One is the chest grab, the heart grab. I always get nervous about that. Kidding aside. And the other one is, I hope this person doesn't throw up when I see them grab the top of the stomach. You know, we've all been there before. Right. You get nauseous whether you're hungover or you just feel like you're about to throw up.

Yeah. My two year old just still does this. He grabs the top of his stomach and you're like, oh crap, something's coming. And I've cleaned up puke in the gym multiple times. It's one of my least favorite things to do. And I remember saying, and this is a warmup run, and she comes in grabbing the top of her stomach.

I'm like, oh crap. Um, so, you know, fast forward a little bit, she joins the gym and shocked that she would join the gym. And I think, were you smoking cigarettes back then? Yep. Yep. I think the first time Tafaro met her, she was smoking a cigarette in the parking lot. That's,

[00:13:29] Liz Tanzola: I would light up on the way in and light up on the way out.

[00:13:32] David Syvertsen: So that sounds awful. That experience. Why did, but

[00:13:35] Liz Tanzola: I didn't understand like the relation, I didn't understand that that was gonna slow me down or affect me because I did not understand like a healthy eating. Like I would just house a piece Domino's pie and then go to the gym. Like, I don't even, it just never, I never put it together that would hurt me.

I thought if anything, I was doing something good for myself, like working out and like getting into the gym. I just, Did not put the two together.

[00:13:56] Sam Rhee: Why did you decide to go to the gym? It sounded like an awful first experience and

[00:14:00] David Syvertsen: not anything you would wanna do. I don't know why

[00:14:02] Liz Tanzola: I kept going back.

[00:14:04] David Syvertsen: I know why I, I'll tell you why.

Okay. This is my, this is my opinion. Okay. Uh, but can tell me if I'm wrong, but as, as physically hard as it was. And I think for early on it was pretty miserable. It was never like demeaning. It was never like, no, you're not good enough. Like we would just easily scale things and change things up and pursue stimulus as much as we're a sophisticated gym in program now.

Mm-hmm. It's still the foundation of the CrossFit work. Like no matter what condition you're in, we'll fi we'll meet you where you're at. Right. And we'll change things up. So you didn't,

[00:14:33] Sam Rhee: you didn't put her down because she could not run 200. You didn't Absolutely not make fun of her

[00:14:37] Liz Tanzola: outfit. They made me feel like a rockstar.

I felt like I was so good.

[00:14:41] David Syvertsen: I will say there, there is, there were some things she could do initially that most people couldn't do. Just like moving a barbell fast. Mm-hmm. Just again, the fast twitch muscle fibers that are developed when she was in high school and track and soccer, all this stuff, it was already there.

Mm-hmm. And then, and then you would occasionally see her jump and like, okay, that looks pretty good, like, looks like an athlete that can, can do things. Um, and she was, and she dropped a lot of weight in, in a hurry. And so did Brian. And I just think 2, 3, 4 weeks in, you start to see things click. She was like a fast learner with a lot of these things.

And then you see the physical progress with her body and Brian's body. Mm-hmm. And I know that the two of them were dating at the time and they, I think they pretty much always came together at that time. Right? Yeah. I started first and then he came. Okay. And so, Uh, I believe that just having like that kind of buddy to come with.

And then she had a few friends that tried out. Remember Alex, right? Mm-hmm. Yeah. Kim. Oh yeah, yeah. Kim, yeah. Before she moved to Baltimore. Yeah. I think there was like a bond with a few people at that gym that made it more of a welcoming environment. Mm-hmm. Than just a place to go work out and lose weight.

Well, I think

[00:15:44] Sam Rhee: that's the other thing for owners to know is you should always be welcoming regardless of the person's capability or what you think of them or how awful or not good you think they are. Like that's what bison did do back in the beginning. Yeah. We never demeaned anyone. We still don't like you.

We have people who just come in and they are so, they've never even thought about exercise before. Right. And we never make them feel anything other than just

[00:16:09] David Syvertsen: do your thing, we'll help you. And like even just comparing old to new, what Liz does at a really high level as a coach, there's a lot of things she does at high level, but one of them is I think, better than me.

Myself. Absolutely. And most, if not all of our coaches. Yeah. When someone new comes in. Yeah. They feel like a star. Absolutely. I think that's one of her greatest traits. Yeah. That's why when someone's news come to the gym, and I know she's coaching, not that I have any fear with anyone else, but I'll put myself out there first.

I don't do as good as job at that as Liz does. Neither do I. Gra she, they gravitate towards Liz, but, and that might have been partially her experience when she started is a few people took her under her wing. Right. And just made sure that you were comfortable. But I also think Liz knows where she came from.

Mm-hmm. That she was in those shoes before. Mm-hmm. And especially in this gym now, there's just freak athletes everywhere. Mm-hmm. It is, it's a very intimidating, back then, it was not as intimidating. Mm-hmm. We had three people that could do kip pull-ups. You walk into a Saturday class, now there's 19 people doing ring muscle up.

You're like, what? What is happening? Right. Mm-hmm. Liz, let's talk about some of the. Early kind of struggles, two successes that you had as an athlete, right? We can go down the injury train, we can go down the, just the la you know, how long it takes to really, truly progress and get consistent. How long it takes to change your lifestyle.

What were some of the roadblocks, speed bumps that you experienced as an athlete early days of bison to even now?

[00:17:31] Liz Tanzola: Honestly, I feel like everything when I started was a struggle. Mm-hmm. Like, but you just have to kind of break it down. Like, back then I was so overwhelmed with trying to learn everything.

Mm-hmm. But like we said, there's always a scale. There's always something you can change up. Um, there's just always a way to get through the workout and I think that's what I love about it. It's just kind of finding where people are at and that's what they did for me. Mm-hmm. And then trying to figure out how you're gonna get through this workout and what to change.

And that helped so much. And I think it made me, um, made my goals, which I wanted to be able to do every single thing in the gym. That was always my goal. Once I kind of got hooked on

[00:18:05] David Syvertsen: this. Yeah, I remember some of your early days. Like I wanna be able to RX everything. Yeah, I do. And I love the goal. I really do.

And even in this gym now where RX is harder than it used to be. Yes. You know, I mean, you know that. Yeah. Both you guys know that more than anyone because you've been here pretty much from the beginning. Um, and we always wanna make sure people know that RX isn't necessarily better than scaled, but it is a goal.

But one of the hard things to hear from is you can't always put a timeline on it. Right. And I think that's one thing Liz also did well because she did make a lot of progress, but then she had to go backwards a few steps. Let's talk about some of the physical issues that you had early on, just so that people, again, they know where you're coming from.

You've had knee, you've had low back, you know, you've had a couple things even recently, you know, that really caused you to have to take a step back. And I want to use the strict pull up story, but I'm gonna want you to kind of talk about your p uh, piece first. Um, with just some of those early day injuries that made you take a step back.

How did you approach it? How'd you bounce back? So,

[00:19:05] Liz Tanzola: I do remember I broke my toe. Oh my god. I was in a boot.

[00:19:10] David Syvertsen: Oh, I remember that. Tell the people how you broke your toe. I forgot about this.

[00:19:14] Liz Tanzola: Oh my God. So I actually, this happened actually twice. So the first time I was, I was doing a kip pull up, not proud of this.

Um, and there was a 45 pound plate on the ground and I was using it as a step stool. And, uh,

[00:19:26] David Syvertsen: I kicked it. I kicked

[00:19:27] Liz Tanzola: it, I kicked right into it, and I kicked so hard and I thought it was fine. Then I went out that night and it was like throbbing, like to the point I could barely walk. And then I went and got checked out and yeah, sure enough in a boot.

So, and then I had another stress fracture in my foot, uh, from sprinting. And I was in like barefoot shoes that just have no support, but, um, Yeah.

[00:19:49] David Syvertsen: Yes. And then remember, do you remember your low back injury? Yep. I think that was first. That was the first time. That was the first time that like you were really like crying in, that was a serious one for

[00:19:58] Sam Rhee: the first serious one.

I remember.

[00:20:00] Liz Tanzola: I think it was out for almost, I wanna say almost a year. Yeah. It was probably like maybe nine months to a year.

[00:20:05] David Syvertsen: Yeah. And that was, you know, your introduction of Hartman. Yep. That was your introduction to like real PT work, chiropractor. Yeah. Yep. And there was one thing that you did. So like a lot of us associate low back width.

You can't lift heavy, you can't deadlift, you weren't even allowed to kip nothing. You know, like that hyperextension on the spine without a high level of core strength because of, I think part of the reason why this is an like an opinion I'm not a doctor is because you have so much power and torque and your, and the core was a little underdeveloped that every time she kicked back was just so much force.

I mean, how many people would kick. A a 45 pound plate, your legs are moving a few inches. But because she's so powerful, it just created so much impact and broke a bone. Same thing on the back with the herniated disc, that because she would bend back so hard and everything overhead, she would put up, I remember there's videos of her putting up, you know, 180 pounds above her head, you know, a month or a year after learning how to do a split jerk.

But all that force that would go above it would just kind of put a lot of pressure on that spine. So what did you do for a year? Straight on the rig? Every single time we did pull-ups, muscles, strict pull-ups, strict pull-ups, nonstop. I think the girl probably averaged, I would say 75 strict pull-ups a week for a year.

Yeah. And Liz's greatest movement right now, a movement that like it's in a workout. I know she's gonna be able to do them, is Muslims. And we talked about this, we have a lot of people in the gym that want muscle ups. They want that first one. They wanna be able to do 'em in the workouts they wanna be able to do in the open next year.

Strict pullups. Ah, I don't wanna do more Strict pullups. Strict pullups. I mean, you wa and you look at Liz's back, her lats, like they're unbelievably strong and she can wide grip it. She can short grip it. I think that's a lesson that I want everyone to learn, that you can never do too many of those. Um, if you start, if you start to hurt your back a little bit, your shoulder a little bit, or you just want to get better at gymnastics, you can never do too many strict pull-ups.

Let's reflect on that a little bit because how old did that get? Did you get sick of

[00:22:08] Liz Tanzola: it? Oh, it is so boring. Yeah. And everyone's going fast around you and you have to slow down and it's hard. It's really, really hard, but it's, it gets you, I just remember having bar muscle ups and then when we finished the strict pull up thing, after eight, nine months of that, I was actually able to catch 'em locked out and I didn't even know what that was.

Mm-hmm. But that was all, because that's all I did was strict pull-ups. Yep. Vfs before VFS was even a thing. Mm-hmm. Oh, that's it. Just those two things all the time. Same.

[00:22:36] David Syvertsen: Do you remember when, when she was banged up back then? Yeah.

[00:22:39] Sam Rhee: And I was just thinking about it because both of you back then had high level competitive aspirations.

Mm-hmm. And both of you were training unbelievably hard. Mm-hmm. Both of you guys were just like on that heavy volume training. Like you guys were cons, you know, you Dallas, you, you know Liz, all of you guys. And then I remember, um, What did you think about that period of time when you were, you know, both you guys actually were like, we're gonna make it to regionals, we're gonna do whatever it takes.

And you know, you guys were in all the local comps. I remember a couple partner comps, you guys did the 2 0 1. Yep. Everything. When you look back at those times, what do you think about

[00:23:20] Liz Tanzola: 2 0 1 is probably the best memory. Cuz that was the comp right after that was like our first one. Yeah. Yeah. And we came back and we, we won that.

Yeah, we did. Yeah. So that felt amazing after just sitting on the sidelines for so long. Yeah. Like I remember sitting out and open as well and then coming back and like having that was, mm-hmm. That was fun. Yeah.

[00:23:39] Sam Rhee: Do you feel like you, what did you get out of all of those years of competitive training and like really gunning for it?

Like what do you think about

[00:23:47] Liz Tanzola: that? A lot. I like that's a huge, that was a huge part of my CrossFit journey. Like that was amazing training for that. I love, I could work out for hours on a Sunday hours. Yeah. Like I just love the process of that. Mm-hmm. Um, And just having someone to push you to another level.

Yeah. I remember I was always trying to be Dave. Yep. Always. It happens once, remember once Yep. Have

[00:24:07] David Syvertsen: that box over. Yes, I do. WS box one time. Yep. Yeah, we, we did a, uh, a conditioning piece. It was like, it's, it's still one of my go-tos to this day. If I have 20 minutes and I don't wanna warm up, I just wanna get some heavy breathing in.

It's every two minutes for 10 sets. You rode 250 meters for guys, 200 for girls. And you do it at like 90, 95% effort every time. So that takes me about 45 seconds. And um, we did it probably once or twice a week, I want to say for. A year. It was just like, and, but what would we do is we'd start taking the intervals down.

So instead of every two minutes, we'd go every minute, 55, minute 50. And we made a rule that like, hey, whatever your first time is, like she was, she was doing 200, I was doing two 50, I'd be around 45 seconds. If you ever got worth two seconds slower, you, you basically, you're done. Yeah. But if, and we would always get there.

And you did it because the other one was doing it. Um, I think our fast, the best we ever got was we got down to every minute 30. So, and it was brutal. And it's still, I don't know if I could do that right now. That's when I got so fun. That's when I got good at rowing though. And it's not a fun workout to do by herself, but it's great.

And we would always race on the last one. Oh yeah. So like the 10th set and she would always beat me. I could never beat her on the last set. Like she would get the 200 meters done in like 38 seconds. You guys are both

[00:25:25] Sam Rhee: masters now. Yeah. How does that feel when you look back at what you guys were doing and now what you guys could do now?

What are, how has that

[00:25:32] David Syvertsen: changed you? Well, I mean, Liz just made quarter finals. Yeah. You know, and I think that was like a good, uh, because Liz loves team competing and I think it's part of her personality. I think it's part of her skillset too. Um, and also I think just like she has more fun. I've always said team competing is always more fun.

Yeah. It's a different animal. Yeah. Um, I actually think it's more pressure too. You don't wanna let other people down, which in some ways can help, some ways can hurt. But the fact that she just made the individual quarter finals and she just competed individually and that's kind of like her next step.

Right. And then we go from there and see what else you can do. Um, that was a really cool thing to see. Just knowing that where she came from, you know, the, the first part of this podcast is, and it's to finish and, you know, it's top 10% in the world. Like it's nothing to slouch at. And in 35 to 39, which

[00:26:18] Sam Rhee: is like a brutal, brutal division, like I cannot

[00:26:21] David Syvertsen: believe how hard it is to make that.

And she made it by a very easy margin. You know, she had to work hard, but she, she, it wasn't like a, she barely got there and she did really well. Um, in, and she's the kind of athlete, like some of athletes that we talk about in quarter finals probably will do better than the open because the shit's heavier and the skill's a little bit higher.

Like, she can handstand walk, she can ring muscle up, like all that stuff that doesn't always show up in the open it did this year. Um, but so it, it, it's a fun thing to kind of reflect on. Liz, what do you think about, because I wanna get into the, some of the coaching stuff now, but closing thoughts on you as a, as an athlete and all the training that you went through.

What is something and don't, you know, don't worry about humility here. Like what's one thing like you're really proud about? That from day one, that pink outfit with a cigarette and Domino's pizza to top 10% in the world, in the hardest master's division. What's something you're really proud about there?

Again, don't, don't be afraid of, of putting yourself, uh, putting yourself outta the pizza. I want other people to hear it and pursue it. You know, look at it from that

[00:27:24] Liz Tanzola: lens. I feel like it was something that, um, was new to me that I couldn't do. Um, didn't even know like what a push press was, none of that.

And then trying to learn it and then now looking back on it. Years later, like, what, eight, nine years? I don't even know. Mm-hmm. And I can do all of it. Mm-hmm. And I just always wanna do it better and better and better, but I love that I have mastered a at the skill of CrossFit. Mm-hmm. How I feel. Yes. Um, you can always get better, you can always do more reps, you can all dive into all that, but I just feel like it was something that I never thought I could do.

Yeah. Especially how heavy I was back then. Mm-hmm. Um, to

[00:28:00] David Syvertsen: now and just outta shape too. Yeah. Wasn't just a weight thing. You just, just was, we're outta shape and you really, you know, you took the hard path or the long path. It took the long game there. And, and here you are. And I think this is where we can blend in the coaching and kind of go all in on some of that talk.

But your experience as an athlete, do you think it helps you as a coach? Yes. Yeah. A hundred percent. Did you come

[00:28:21] Liz Tanzola: relate to people? Yeah, because conditioning was the biggest thing that I never, ever thought I'd be able to do. Um, I know that's with extra help from you over here, but I do feel like. I can relate to somebody that throws up after workout and says this isn't for them.

Because I was like, uh, it is cuz it happens me times.

[00:28:39] David Syvertsen: It's always still does sometimes.

[00:28:41] Sam Rhee: And your path hasn't been a straight line. It's been very zigzaggy. Not a only with injuries, but just like, I feel like you guys are very brother and sister. Like you guys tangle a lot. Like it's, it's not perfect. It's not like you always eat perfectly.

Like I remember back in the day, like you'd come in and be like, I just ate like a ginormous bag of chips or something last night. Or, or ice creams. And so it's not like you're some perfect person who just like shot to the top based on genetic potential and like a lot of roadblocks. Yeah. Like, listen, we, we just kind of, and it's not like everyone is harmonious and perfectly in sync with each other as we go along.

Like, I mean, there's so many times I remember. You know, conflict or, or people disagreeing or mm-hmm. Or, you know, setbacks or, you know, disappointments and all of those things. You know, when you look back at it though, was just kind of part of that process of maturing and becoming like a better person and

[00:29:37] 2023_0423_0938: athlete

[00:29:37] David Syvertsen: overall.

Yes. Yeah. You know? No, definitely. Those are, those are good words too, because we're, we're not machines. And sometimes it's hard to relate to these people that are like, whether fitness influencers or coaches where they're just like, eat kale every day. They never go off their macros. Yeah. They never have a drink.

They sleep nine hours a night. They never go out socially. And like, I admire it, I respect it. It really, because it's hard to do, but sometimes it's like, all right, well I don't wanna do that. Like, that's not how I wanna look back on my life. Dude, you just ate

[00:30:04] Sam Rhee: Easter.

[00:30:05] David Syvertsen: Leftover Easter candy with jelly beans.

See, that was last week. Sam, why are you thinking about that? Gosh, we're deleting that on the podcast, by the way. And let's press the edit button there. Um, so the coaching, did you have any sort of, like, what was your direction? Kind of like early twenties in terms of what you might want to do with your life.

Did you not know, I mean a lot of us, myself included, changed your mind seven times during that time. Mm-hmm. And I know some people here right now are doing the same exact thing. At that age group, did you have a kind of like a goal mid twenties, early twenties in terms of what you wanted to do?

[00:30:38] Liz Tanzola: Not really.

I was a manager in retail. Um, and even though I wasn't big on retail, as you can tell, like I just wear my sweats all the time, I loved helping people. Like I loved the lady that came in a absolute mess and she was like, I had to go out tonight and I don't know what to wear. Like, I loved just pulling millions ofs, fur and helping her.

That's cool. And that was always something that I just loved doing about my job. So I thought I was gonna be in that forever. Um, and then, you know, as time went on, things started to change a little bit. Mm-hmm. And then you guys dropped the question. I think we were at Laura Tier's house. I wanna say it was her birthday party in Hoboken.

Yeah. Yeah. And I was not expecting that. And they were like, do you want a co-chair? And I was like, what? Like, you don't want that. And I remember you said something to me like, you know, we're looking for people, you know, with the character that we want, and we will teach you how to coach. You don't need to know how to coach.

Mm-hmm. Um, and that like, kind of hit home with me, and I went home and thought about it a little bit. Just, just think about it, you know, and then get back to us. And that's what I did. Yeah. And that was the statement that I was like, you know what, I, I can learn how to do this. I

[00:31:39] David Syvertsen: can learn how to coach. Yeah.

And I think that this was the first time we've ever looked at someone and said like, I think we were probably a year and a half in, at this time, maybe two years. I don't want to get that. It's right around that time. So give or take. And we were at the point where like, all right, membership is growing. We don't have enough money yet to start.

Like we were still making almost no money, Chris and I. Right. But we, we knew that we were on the way up and. We had to say, we, we can't just, I couldn't be coaching 40, 45 classes a week as anymore. Right. Early morning, late night Saturdays. It was, you know, you get to a point, you, you know, you, that's not sustainable.

You have to do that at the start and. So we were looking for someone that would be a full-time coach eventually. And that was, we said that's our scariest thing ever for a gym because it can ruin it in, in a week. Like, like that it could snap your finger. And we got to know Liz pretty well. And I do think knowing Liz much further, like years before the gym even opened, did help a little.

How long had you known

[00:32:34] Sam Rhee: her before you asked her to

[00:32:35] David Syvertsen: become a coach? I mean, I really first met Liz I think had to have been 2008. Okay. You know, 2009, right around then. Um, so, you know, you're talking seven, eight years of knowing someone and then really getting to know them in that late year or two when she was a member at the gym.

And we remember I talked to Chris, I was like, this is the person that we want to coach. A for a lot of reasons, the personality's, number one, you just, you know, like judge, you can judge character at some point. Especially, I think you really get to know someone across its space. It's hard to be a fake there.

Mm-hmm. Forever. You can fake it for a while. Mm-hmm. But you see the good and bad of everyone. Absolutely. And. You know, you're drawn to her on both sides there. And then the second side is like, where is she in her life right now? Mm-hmm. Right. Does she have six kids? And like, does she, does she have um, a desire for a change like this?

Like there's some people that I know right now that could probably make a good full-time cross at Coach, but there are no different area of, like, they don't want to make that, they're not that kind of risky personality. Mm-hmm. Where I think Liz is someone, even now is someone that would be like, Hey, if I'm gonna do something, I'm going to do it.

And I think she proved with how she approached her training with CrossFit and I, you know, it had nothing to do with her ability. She still wasn't a very good athlete when we first asked her to coach, she was good enough. We just, I'm like, what a dick thing to say though. It was, and I disagree, but go ahead.

But like compared to what she is now? Yeah. Okay. She just saw a long ways to go, but we, we saw what the progress she was making and we saw how it was happening and it was just showing up every day with a smile on your face and. You know, be the energy in the room, like blah, blah, blah, blah. Right. So that was why we asked her to coach.

And we still weren't sure if she was gonna do it. And yeah, I give her a lot of credit and maybe some of it was her being naive that we didn't really have like a long term future plan locked in. We were hoping it would work out, but we were still so early that it could have been something that, hey, this might not work.

You know, in a year or two you might have to go back and try to find another job. Did you have any inkling of that being the case back then? No. Yeah. And what was the biggest hesitation of possibly not doing it? Or were you just all

[00:34:43] Liz Tanzola: in right away? I think just being in front of people, like having to lead a class and be in charge of it, get it done on time.

The logistics, the clock, like talking in front of people. Um, there was a

[00:34:54] David Syvertsen: lot. I mean, I will say,

[00:34:57] Sam Rhee: uh, Liz, you are probably the best. Pick that Dave has ever made for a coach that didn't even know that they wanted to become coaches. Like you kind of are always looking around. I know, cuz I talked to you Dave, about people who might be good coaches, even if they don't know they wanna be a coach.

Mm-hmm And you know, cuz a lot of the coaches we have here were coaches. Adam Storms was a coach before he, he came here like natural teachers, DiCarlo. They were, they all were CrossFit coaches or most

[00:35:24] David Syvertsen: many of them were or teachers like Liz or, right. Yeah. Liz

[00:35:29] Sam Rhee: kind of crosses all the, the three, a's we talked about in coaching, the availability, affability ability.

But when you said I don't pick people because of how they look or how they move, absolutely. I think Liz was picked because of how she looked and how she moved. She looked amazing moving. Was it a little raw? Yeah. But I do remember like literally the first month, I think I was in a wad. Or not a wa Yeah, wa We were back squatting and I remember she was like, you know, in the old days it was just one rig on two sides, right?

Yeah. Right. And so I, I'm squatting on one side and I see you and, and Liz is squatting back, squatting on the other side. And you're like looking ahead her, her like, you're looking at like

[00:36:11] David Syvertsen: Majestic. Yeah. Like, I don't know, like

[00:36:13] Sam Rhee: why'd you Michael Jordan dunk or something? You were just like,

[00:36:16] David Syvertsen: oh my God. Like she had it, like just the way she was moving, she had more, but like that kind of like, wow.

Impression is ability, not necessarily the skill or like, it wasn't always looking good, but you just saw things occasionally, but like Right. That's not normal.

[00:36:32] Sam Rhee: I, I, I knew you were always looking for potential, potential potential. Right, right. And, and back then, especially because there were way more men who were interested in competing in CrossFit.

Right. And there weren't as many women who had that potential in of competing. Yeah. And you saw that right away. Um, it was interesting that you also saw the coaching ability. In you, Liz, because honestly, like your coach, you as a coach, even though you were so not familiar with any of it, like you were probably the smoothest coach in terms of a class that I see at bison.

Like you run through it, like you stepped out of the womb born to coach. Like it

[00:37:13] David Syvertsen: just not in the beginning,

[00:37:15] Sam Rhee: but it, but that's, but that's what it takes to become a great coach, is to be able to do that. And that's what I aspire to too every day. Like I'm just like, I gotta get my reps in because that's where I want to

[00:37:26] David Syvertsen: be.

Yeah. Yeah. I mean, let's talk about some of those early days, Liz. I mean, your fears were logistics. The clock. Yeah, the warmups, right? I mean, she still puts a lot into thought and stress into the warmups. Right. Um, which is hard to do when you have a class of four versus a class of 26. Right? It's just hard to do.

Um, let's talk about some of those early days at the old gym. That, you know, I think from my perspective, one of your issues early on was you're just very quiet. You didn't want to be, you didn't want to be loud. Mm-hmm. You didn't wanna have to yell over people. You didn't want to have to come across as like, Hey, this is my class.

Like you, occasionally you have to do it. Some, you don't wanna be power hungry, but sometimes you do have to act in that manner. What were some things early on, looking back as a coach now that you know, you struggled with and you overcame?

[00:38:12] Liz Tanzola: I think just the organization of a class. Mm-hmm. Um, timing. Timing was huge.

Um, just like what to do. Mm-hmm. Um, sometimes there's like 10 different ways you can warm something up, but not everybody can do it. Mm-hmm. There's people that are more flexible than other people. Um, they get more outta things than other people. Um, I remember back in the day, we used to write every little thing down that they did on the whiteboard, like two ad mats, one green band.

Mm-hmm. Uh, they rode instead of ran like it was their weights on the barbell. It was a lot. It was like a story. Yeah. Yeah. And there's like a line of people waiting for me to write their stuff down and the next class is coming in. I'm like stressed out. Like I still got 10 more people to go. But yeah. Um, I think I've gotten better with that.

And I think a lot of that is just planning. And I know you do that as well, like just a lot of planning and a, a backup plan. Yeah. Plan a, plan

[00:39:00] David Syvertsen: B. Good. Now, do you think it's best to learn that way? Like you were thrown into the fire a little bit experience, or do you think there's a better way to learn?

[00:39:10] Liz Tanzola: Um, I think there is a, like, part of it is you just have to get out there.

Yeah. You can't just have everything planned out. And that's hard for me. Um, so I do like to plan every little thing out and sometimes, I mean, that's life. It doesn't work out the way you want to and like sometimes you're gonna make a mistake. And I think that was the hardest part for me is being able to just own, like, I ran the clock down instead of up, and it makes absolutely no sense for this workout, but we're just, we're gonna finish the workout.

Like those kind of things. Like you just have to own that you, you know, did that. Mm-hmm. And now I understand it a little bit better. I understand when the clock has to be up, when it has to be down mm-hmm. When it has to be on select. Yep. Um, yep. All that stuff. So that's a, it's a lot to take on, but I think just kind of being thrown in.

And then I know you came to a lot of my early classes, you know, just making sure you were in those classes Right. In case something went wrong. And I know he did that for you and all the coaches actually. And I think that's huge. Just to know you have like a safety blanket in class while you're starting.

It goes a long way.

[00:40:00] David Syvertsen: Yeah. Just in case something happens. Yeah. It's like, all right, the worst case scenario, like I still have that fear every time I go to bed. When I'm coaching early next morning, I always look to see if like a coach is there, whether it's Liz or Mike or even Nicole DeCarlo who has Brian's keys.

Like if I oversleep, can I call them real quick and tell 'em to open up the gym? And like again, that's a similar concept, that security blanket. Yeah. That it kind of just eases your mind. And when you're, when you have your mind to ease like that, I actually think it brings out a higher level of performance.

So I think that's really important for an early coach to have some of that security blanket. So for anyone out there that does have new coaches coaching at your gym, um, you know, either yourself or put it on someone to be there just in case something goes wrong, but more so just for the coach to have that peace of mind so that they can really apply the best versions of themselves.

Now, kind of fast forwarding, not necessarily, oh, it could be to now or even just the past few years, right? The blend of your job goes so much deeper than planning your warmups, warming. I'm a class up. Setting the clock up, 3, 2, 1, go right scores down. If that was the only part of your job, it'd be a pretty easy job.

And that probably gets perception from the outside. That's all, that's all you do. But the people that really pay attention or even half pay attention, know that there's a huge social component to your job. Um, there are a lot of off hours, technical off hours, out of coaching hours that are a huge part of your job.

Um, the, the sounding board organizing things in this gym for the next class, I mean, Liz is probably puts the most effort of every coach on our staff to setting up the gym for the next day. So like when she leaves here Friday night, she sets up the entire gym Saturday morning. So if you ever come to the Saturday at 7:00 AM and say, wow, the gym set up wasn't us, wasn't me, it was Liz, the Friday night coach.

Thank you. I just coached on Saturday. It was perfect. I had hope so. So there's a lot, there's a lot of things to her and her job that makes her really very deserving of. Getting a, a title of a big time coach, and it goes so much deeper than the what you guys see in classes. You know, Liz's just spent, you know, hours in Percie yesterday watching Alice compete, taking videos, put 'em on social media for us to see.

So for those that can't go, you can still feel like you're being there and support 'em. Right. Um, you know, those are some things about her job. Let's, and then the social, I mean, she is our social director, our party planner for the gym. Let's talk about some of the things here that you do for the community, for bison and just how do you balance all of that?

You know, where do you cut things off? Because if you don't cut things off, you know, you'll be, you know, getting text messages 11 o'clock every single night. So how do you blend all things together to, hey, serve the community, but also keep yourself sane?

[00:42:39] Liz Tanzola: I think at the beginning, like I love the social part of it.

Um, and that just leads to, I think everyone is here for a different reason, and you have to, you can. Kind of find out everybody's reason for being here and you can help them so much better. Like there's the competitive athlete that wants to go out there and compete solo. There's the team athlete, there's, I just want daily life healthy.

There's, I wanna learn a pull up, I wanna pull up for, you know, my first time. Um, there's so many different reasons for why people are in this building, like why they come here. And if you know their reasons, I feel like it is a lot easier to help them in that direction and everyone needs something different.

So I feel like I kind of, in the beginning I did kind of reach out a lot and um, recently I do think it kind of bit me in the butt a little bit, like just how many people I was trying to help at one time. And I think, you know, just realizing it is a team effort and it's not always just, you know, me and we all do it.

And I think I just had to slow down a little bit and. You know, put some boundaries on things. Like, I can't be sent, like I Matty said to me, he was like, you sent me a video at like two in the morning. I was like, yeah, I did. I sent it to social media. Um, so that, you know, it wasn't going off on his phone or anything, but I wanted him to have that video of him lifting.

Right. Um, per what we were talking about in class. So I do think there are boundaries. Like I can't be, you know, going home from working and then on my phone messaging people about their CrossFit journey, you know, from seven o'clock to 11 or midnight. Mm-hmm. Um, so I've gotten better with that. Um, but it is hard.

It's hard cause you wanna get back to everyone and you genuinely want to get back to everyone and talk to them and not just give them like, you know, the one word you know, answers here and that you really wanna connect with them and you know, they care and you care. And I think that's part of like being a good coach is genuinely caring.

About each member and what they're asking or why they're asking, or the help that they want, you wanna get that to them. I think that's big. That's big, but it can be overwhelming, which I know you, you know, all about. Yep. It absolutely can be overwhelming. It's, it's

[00:44:36] David Syvertsen: one of the struggles of a grown gym. Yeah.

Now, when you start a gym from scratch, you want, like, you dream of the days of what we have right now. You're like, oh my God, I hope someday we, and honestly back then, it's so I can pay my bills and make a career out of this and make money. Right. Um, but also a big part of it is you have more impact.

You're helping more lives, but one thing you don't think about back then is how overwhelming it was. Right. I mean, When you have a hundred members and you're helping 20% of them a little bit extra because they, you know, a little bit more needy with attention and or they just have things that need to talk about, multiply that by, you know, up to 300 members, you now have 60 people and you're still one person.

So yes, it's a team effort that all the coaches really put their, uh, best effort in and when they can, but you still need to draw those lines, and I think that's a huge maturation that Liz has come across in the past, I would say six to nine months. Yeah, I think

[00:45:32] Sam Rhee: it's, it was really hard for you, Dave, at first, because you were the point person for everything.

Yeah.

[00:45:39] David Syvertsen: Liz,

[00:45:40] Sam Rhee: I honestly became like the heart and soul of this gym in the sense like, you got so intertwined with everyone in the community. I mean, your wedding for God's

[00:45:49] David Syvertsen: sakes. Yeah. That was a bison party. It was amazing.

[00:45:54] Sam Rhee: Like Yeah. Other than your family. I was like, I knew I'd never been to, and everyone said this, never been to a wedding where I knew 95% of the people because it was everyone at the gym.

Yeah.

[00:46:03] David Syvertsen: And it was hit a sweating party over and it was amazing.

[00:46:06] Sam Rhee: But it, as things have continued

[00:46:09] David Syvertsen: to grow,

[00:46:09] Sam Rhee: it's just. It's just too much. Mm-hmm. And I, and I know Dave has handled it in the sense that you had to, you had a kid, you had like hard limits that you couldn't bump up against. Right. And Liz,

[00:46:23] David Syvertsen: just

[00:46:24] Sam Rhee: without that, you just keep doing it until you're suddenly like stretched to the point where you're like, oh my God, my brain is going to explode.

And then you start figuring out like, how do I keep myself sane with it? Yeah. Right. But that's, but that's part of growing as a community. Like we are a community. It's a gem. Yes. That's a community. And when you have people that are so integral, that are so beloved, that are so much a part of relating to people and, and that, that becomes a challenge.

Um,

[00:46:54] David Syvertsen: burnout

[00:46:55] Sam Rhee: is, is probably a real issue for some coaches in, in CrossFit, I would say, just from a personal perspective, absolutely. There's, there's no doubt I could see a lot of coaches

[00:47:03] David Syvertsen: sort of encountering that. This is one thing that I, I don't even know if this is right or wrong, but I'll just say it.

It's like when I listen Topa and some of these other, you know, big business CrossFitters mm-hmm. Corporate cost riders. Yeah. They're saying like, minimum of 18 to 21 classes per week and then another 20 hours of sitting at the desk per week. That's what a full-time coach's job is. They get this much money for that.

And, you know, we, we could al we've always played around with our schedule a little bit, but one thing I've always tried to dom with myself, Mike and Liz, but especially Mike and Liz, because, you know, they're not owners, and owners should always be doing more, in my opinion, right. Is not to give them just more classes.

Trust me, we would save us money if we did it. But I think the second you start just giving them too much and not letting them have some separation or the ability to separate or give them time to go do some of these things, videos reaching out, go to a comp. Mm-hmm. Right. Um, it makes the product better and it because it keeps them in better, better place.

Mm-hmm. You could easily just tell them, Hey, you guys are doing 20 classes a week, starting next week. Oh, it's brutal and early morning Saturdays, and we still expect you to reach out. Mm-hmm. You, you'll get burned out. Mm. Because, because of how involved they are Now, if they were just like, Hey dude, I'm clocking clock out.

Mm-hmm. I ain't going to a single comp and watching anyone do this. Mm-hmm. Because I got this going on. I got that going on. Mm-hmm. I'm never reaching out to people outside the gym. Mm-hmm. Then honestly, that person probably could coach a little bit more. Mm-hmm. Um, but I think it's really important as an owner from.

You know, that tries to take care of Liz as much as I can. I try to take care of Mike as much as I can. All of our part-time coaches that it's important to know that if you do overwork across a coach in a community like this, that is pretty, I would say needy. They, they are. Well, I think

[00:48:45] Sam Rhee: we all are, we're all looking for connection.

Yes. And for help and,

[00:48:49] David Syvertsen: and guidance. But part of the neediness is not, I'm not, I hope no one took offense to that. It's more like we are very involved with each other. Yes. And we want, and I get a lot of help from the community. Like I'll put my, I'll say that in a heartbeat. Like I've had some issues in the past few months that I've had some help.

With people. So like we all have those episodes, so if you add that onto top of coaching mm-hmm. You know, classes with 25 people, high variety of athletes, it can easily lead to a burnout. And I think that's something that a coach that is full-time, you need to do your best to avoid and try to find the balance of like, hey, sometimes you do have to suck it up part of your job, but other times we gotta make sure we're taking care of you.

How do you deal

[00:49:27] Sam Rhee: with complicated social situations? For example, at the gym, like, these are all interpersonal relationships and not everyone gets along with each other. People have issues, sometimes other things. What, what has been your experience in terms of now navigating that because these are your friends in addition to athletes in addition to, you know, people that you work with basically.

[00:49:48] David Syvertsen: I mean, like what

[00:49:48] Liz Tanzola: do you mean by complicated?

[00:49:50] Sam Rhee: I don't know. Conflict either people, you know, having conflicts or having issues with each other or you having issues

[00:49:56] Liz Tanzola: with them. Okay. Um, I think just trying to keep it outta the gym, like the gym is, should be a safe space for everybody to come to. Mm-hmm. And sometimes there are things that go on outside of it.

Mm-hmm. Um, but I think when it comes down to being in the gym, it's gotta stay separate. So you do, sometimes you have to give advice to help somebody, you know, through that. And I think bison has been that space for so many people. It's made a huge difference. I mean, we've talked about this many times. Um, it's changed so many lives here, like so, so, so many like stories that are not even out there that people don't even know.

Um, and that's all because they kept it separate. Like they wanted to be at bison. It was a relief, you know, for whatever is going on in their lives. Mm-hmm. And sometimes they come to you, but you have to keep it, you know, on the side quiet. You know, it can't all be out there and not everyone can know.

Everything about everyone. Sometimes it's really personal. Mm-hmm. And they think they trust us to keep that to ourselves, but help them through things that, you know, they're going through. And sometimes they do need a little bit more attention, um, just mentally. Yeah. I think that's part of knowing what's going on with them.

I love

[00:51:01] David Syvertsen: that. Just keep it outta the gym, you know? Yeah. And it's very po it is very possible. You know, like it could be something like petty like, don't put me in the zone next to that person. Like, keep that stuff out. Um, but even just being respectful to the people, you know, like even if you have a conflict with someone in these walls, we do.

It's a responsibility of everyone to be respectful to everyone in that room, even if there is a conflict going on. Yeah. And it's, it is hard, trust me. We're not saying it's easy. We're, no one's perfect with it, but I think those are great. If you wanna keep that simple, what Liz has said, keep it outta the gym because of what this gym is doing for people and what it's done for us personally.

Um, that's a great answer. Now getting to some of your workouts now, Liz, cuz we're almost gonna wrap this up, but I, I want a coach or future coach to understand this. Is it possible? And what, do you have some thoughts on pursuing your own fitness goals while you're also trying to be a professional here?

Do you find it's hard to be a professional at a, at a gym and everything that comes here? Because I'm, you're probably like me, right? Every time you come here, you wanna fix something or someone's gotta talk to you, or you gotta go organize something, or something's outta place and it's bothering you, but you're also here to train and work out.

Is there a struggle or you have you mastered this that, hey, I can separate the two and it's not an issue for me anymore?

[00:52:20] Liz Tanzola: I do feel like I, I wouldn't say mastered, but I do feel like I can separate the two. Like when I'm here to work out, I'm here to work out. But I also, that goes back to planning. Like when I do warmups and stuff, I'm also sitting there doing my percentages that you put for the workouts.

Like I'm writing everything out. I know exactly what I'm doing when I get here. So it does kind of relieve my mind a little to say hello to somebody or like, You know, if they come up to me, like, have a conversation because I know exactly what I need to do in the workout. So it's 3, 2, 1, go. I can just kind of go, yeah.

So that does help me. But I didn't do that in the beginning. So I would be here trying to figure out my weights, my percentages. Then someone would talk to me and then it's like, oh my gosh, like we're starting in five minutes, just one go. But if I have a plan, I come in and I just know exactly what I'm doing.

It helps a lot. Mm-hmm. Like it really does. So I do feel like I've, I've separated that, but my why, like my training has train has changed a lot. I feel like, um, just getting smarter about how I train and that it's not always, you know, Mac stuff like you guys have talked about. Mm-hmm. I do feel like. I'm working in my percentages and I'm happy to change things up when I need to.

Like, happy to throw in strict pullups instead of tipping. Like I feel like all that kind of ties in.

[00:53:26] Sam Rhee: Yeah. Who's doing your training programming for you right now? This guy. Okay. I don't

[00:53:30] David Syvertsen: know. I thought that was like a plug. No, well, yeah, that

[00:53:33] Sam Rhee: too. But I, I, I really don't know, like, uh,

[00:53:35] David Syvertsen: like with, one thing with that's different about Liz that, um, we've changed a little bit is that she does basically one or two less days CrossFit per week.

Mm-hmm. Yeah. Like she's really doing probably three bison wads per week. Mm-hmm. She's still training pretty high volume like five, six times a week, and some of 'em are really long. Mm-hmm. Um, and she does, you know, she pretty much does it all. She's one of the few that almost does 'em all, that whatever's program for her.

She'll do it unless there's an issue going on. Uh, but she has gotten away from just having to feeling, feeling the need. Or the addiction Really. Yeah. To come in and crush a wad six days a week. Mm-hmm. And then, you know, wonder why A, not making progress. B always banged up.

[00:54:13] Sam Rhee: What kind of, uh, focus are you having in your programming right now?

I know you have some local comps you're doing in the, like coming up and all that sort of stuff.

[00:54:21] Liz Tanzola: Yeah, I think my eyes are very set on the open every year now. Yeah. Um, that was probably one of the best experiences I've ever had, just training with those girls. I don't train with a lot of them often. A lot of them are nine, 30 years and yeah.

I don't, I'm just not around them a lot. Right. So that was pretty amazing to me. So I would love to go about that

[00:54:37] David Syvertsen: again next year. But those girls, are you talking the quarter finals? Yeah. Yeah. Oh, okay. Okay. Okay. Sorry. Yes. The quarter final. Yeah. And that, and that starts with the open. Yeah, yeah, yeah. You only get there the open.

Yeah.

[00:54:46] Liz Tanzola: So the open is like my big picture. Yeah. I guess you could say. And then we just talked about maybe legends being like an in between. Mm-hmm. Um, so comps, I guess I view them a little bit more on the fun side mm-hmm. Than just picking a comp to go try and like crush my best, you know, my best time. Um,

[00:55:01] David Syvertsen: train.

Yeah. Like train for it and all that stuff. It's more like, Hey, let's go have some fun. Maybe test a few

[00:55:06] Liz Tanzola: things. Yes. Like somebody I've done a comp with maybe. But, um, I guess going back to the training in the gym mm-hmm. Just not getting hurt. Mm-hmm. Like being healthy all the time. Like, you know, sometimes when I'm going from the ground a lot or like snatches from the ground a lot beat me up.

Mm-hmm. Like testing the waters. Mm-hmm. Knowing what I can push, what I can't, but not getting hurt. Mm-hmm. Because I need. To say, I need to work out for the year to be ready. So yeah. How

[00:55:26] Sam Rhee: about outside the gym? That's always a struggle for you, but for everyone, for me too. Like you're eating your sleep, your stress levels, all that.

Managing Sam, we could do a

[00:55:34] Liz Tanzola: whole podcast on eating. Um, like Dave actually brought me to the grocery store one time like this. No, this, yes. Like it was that bad. Like, I, I don't even know what my issue. I have like an addiction of food. You put it in front of me, I can eat it. Whole box of cheese. It's like hands down, 13 seconds.

I can eat that. Mm-hmm. Like, you would be baffled by what I could put into my body energy. It's insane. Um, but I'm trying to like, get better at like portion control. Like instead of being the whole box, maybe, you know, and that does help. And then I, you know, I, I go through my ups and downs just like everybody else.

Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. I've been at my heaviest and then like two months later, you know, I can thin out a little bit. Like, do I ever think I'm gonna see an ad? Probably not, but I'm, I'm okay with that. Like, you know, like, overrated, overrated. We'll go back into genetics and stuff like that. But yes. Um, I do feel like I need a lot of work there, so,

[00:56:25] David Syvertsen: yeah.

And, and Liz, everyone's, yeah, everyone's different with that. Yeah. And, um, you know, the, the ups and downs with some of Liz Liz's nutrition that others can learn from, is that she she does listen. She does, she's coachable. Like if you really tell her to do, she will try, you know, and she will struggle, but she'll at least be honest with it.

You know, like I've, I've worked with some people a little bit on with food on the side, and it's just not my jam. It's not something I really want to do. I will do like some surface level things. But you can tell some people aren't not honest about it. You know, they're embarrassed and she's not. She's like, dude, cheese, it's 13 seconds.

Say 'em all. And like, those are the people you need to work with. That's the only way to do it, to be honest. Be honest, you know, like if you're gonna crush some Easter candy that's still written tonight, you have to be able to say that. And yeah. So I think that's one thing that she does. And, you know, does it separate her from her next level?

I mean, we could all say that. Yes. No, it probably could. Uh, it could prob but it's at the same time, you don't wanna get, go down the path of telling her not to eat, because she works out a lot. She does a lot of volume. Mm-hmm. And it won't be sustainable and she will not do a good job in the workouts that she's not putting a lot of food into her body.

Mm-hmm. So I, I don't think that the issue there is as big as, you know, she might make it out to be or some others might make it be. Mm-hmm. Um, but like everyone, it could definitely be better. Sure. Um, Liz, let last question here. Okay. To you, Liz Tan, it's a two-parter. What is an ideal coach and then what is an ideal staff?

So if someone out there wants to be a coach, What is an ideal coach? And then I also think it helps that person to know what is an ideal staff, because do you fit into that kind of position within a staff that you're seeking to get onto?

[00:58:05] Liz Tanzola: I think a coach, um, somebody that is genuinely invested. And I know like time, it's different with a full-time coach, a part-time coach, like what they can give.

But it just has to like genuinely be there. Like you genuinely have to care about somebody's success in the gym. I don't think you can fake it. Like you said, you, you might be able to for a little bit, but I think over time they know the difference. Mm-hmm. Like you care about getting them better or you don't.

[00:58:32] David Syvertsen: So that would be my answer. Yeah. No, I love that. That's, that's, that's a perfect coach. Now what is an ideal staff? So can you remove yourself a little bit from just like the individual and from a group? What, what is an ideal staff? Um,

[00:58:46] Liz Tanzola: I just think a staff that works, that works for each other. I think there's little things you can do to help each other.

Like we were just talking about with Saturdays and stuff. Mm-hmm. And I think it makes the big picture just flow just so much

[00:59:01] David Syvertsen: better. Mm-hmm. I like that. Just so, just kind of like making sure that you're not just working for the gym, but you're actually working for each other. Yeah. Like there's things you can

[00:59:07] Liz Tanzola: do for yourself to make your job easier.

You're a couple hours there easier each day. Mm-hmm. But there are little things that you can do to make everybody's life easier. Right. And if everyone's doing that Yeah. And it just, it flows and then people see that and they thrive off that. Like, when you're working as a team, I mean, you're, you're on, you're literally unstoppable.

That's

[00:59:28] David Syvertsen: how I feel. Yeah.

[00:59:29] Sam Rhee: I've never, every time I've coached 5:00 AM ever had to write a whiteboard workout out. Mm-hmm. Or have like move a ton of crap around in. I don't know, probably years at this point. Yeah. Like it's, it's almost automatic. Yeah. Like I think when I ver, maybe when I first started, like that was sort of a thing.

Sometimes I would have to do it, but I've never for years had to do that anymore and it's like, and I just assumed that

[00:59:56] David Syvertsen: someone's going to do that for me. Yeah. Never on

[00:59:58] Liz Tanzola: that end. Like I know, I just, in my head I'm like, if I had coach 5:00 AM I'm half asleep. Yeah. There's 30 people in here and I gotta set this up and make this look organized.

Yeah. I just, I can't even imagine. So, and I'm so

[01:00:09] Sam Rhee: grateful because it's those little things cuz when you're done at like, at the end of the day, the last thing you wanna do Very true. Is not like, yeah, you just wanna get outta here and yet you spend these coaches at the end of the day are spending that time to get that stuff set up for the next coach in the

[01:00:23] David Syvertsen: morning.

Yeah. Yeah. So something is, it's good that even that you're saying that Sam, because you don't ever wanna lose track of it. Never. Sometimes, sometimes you do. Not. You particular No, I say

[01:00:31] Sam Rhee: sometimes I, that's why I wanna say it. I wanna remind myself how grateful

[01:00:34] David Syvertsen: I am for that. That's awesome. Yeah. All right.

Well thanks so much, Liz. You did awesome. Um, we'll probably even have you gone next week. This won't be a little bit more fun with the hurt fit q and a, but that was, um, you did a great job. Thank you. And I hope everyone that listening, uh, got a lot out of that. All right. See you guys next week.