Happiness Archives · Agoge Fitness Systems

#Noshirtnoshoesnoshame

Agoge, Bodytribe, Chip Conrad, Empowerment, Happiness, Obesity, Personal Development

I’ve noticed this new thing in my Facebook feed lately. Friends of mine, specifically female friends of the yogic persuasion, have been posting pictures of themselves in various yoga poses wearing naught but a sports bra and yoga pants. It’s all part of an Instagram project started by two yogis, Thea Pueschel and Melissa Scott, set to run July 1st through the 10th. It’s entitled #noshirtnoshoesnoshame and its purpose is to combat the pervasive body shaming our culture indulges in. At first blush I was like, “Hooray!” I mean, who doesn’t want more female bodies adorning their Facebook feed? It’s … Read More »

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Tyler Welch

Agoge, Bodytribe, Chip Conrad, Happiness, Interviews, Mental Meat Heads, Perfect Imperfection

Meet Mental Meat Head Tyler Welch. Originally from the great state of Wisconsin, Tyler has traveled far and wide in pursuit of movement, strength and fitness. A renegade of the fitness industrial complex, Tyler works with a passion for excellence and embodies the Bodytribe mantra of “Better Before More.” Listen in as we discuss the usual topics of punk rock, fitness, strength and fatherhood. To catch our conversation GO HERE! To watch on YouTube, catch us click below. [leadplayer_vid id=”534703E2CB250″] Mental Meat Heads Interviews are conversations with cutting edge movers and thinkers within the fitness industry. For more on Tyler check … Read More »

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Cameron Conaway: Part 1

Agoge, Empowerment, Happiness, Interviews, Martial Arts, Motivation, Movement, Perfect Imperfection, Personal Development, Personal Training, Strength

Meet Cameron Conaway. Cameron is the Executive Editor for the Good Men Project. He’s a former pro MMA fighter, a poet, a world traveler and a writer. Listen in as we discuss martial arts, the Good Men Project, and the purpose of existence, you know “Why Are We Here?” type stuff. Hey, we’re big boys, we don’t play around. Unfortunately, our conversation was cut short due to technical difficulties. But fear not dear viewer as we pick up the conversation in Part 2. To listen in click HERE. To download, right click and “Save As.” To watch the video, click … Read More »

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Charles Abouzied

Agoge, Diet, Fitness, Happiness, Interviews, Mental Meat Heads, Motivation, Movement, Obesity, Perfect Imperfection, Personal Development, Personal Training, Strength, Strength Training

Happy New Year! This year I’m kicking off Mental Meat Heads 2014 with a revisit with a man who is easily one of my favorite people on Planet Earth. Charles Abouzied has the soul of a Buddha and the heart of lion. As the leader of an eager group of fitness enthusiasts Charles runs Crossfit House of Pain in central New Jersey. Listen in as we discuss Crossfit, the Biggest Loser, body image and overcoming limitations, both internally and externally imposed. To listen CLICK HERE. To download, right click and “Save As.” To watch on YouTube, click below. For more on … Read More »

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January’s Elimination Diet Challenge!

Agoge, Diet, Eric Hulse, Fitness, Happiness, Motivation, Movement, Paleo, Perfect Imperfection, Personal Development, Personal Training, Strength, Strength Training

If you’re local you’ve probably heard me mention at some point that we’re doing an Elimination Diet Challenge for the month of January. The purpose of such a diet is really quite simple. There are several foods within what we could term the Typical Western Diet that most of us actually have a hard time with. We don’t digest them as well as we might think and it’s possible that our bodies response to these irritants actually impairs our overall digestion and ability to assimilate nutrition. So why isn’t this obvious? Like the protagonist in a Dostoevsky novel, it turns … Read More »

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Kirsty Grosart

Agoge, Fitness, Happiness, Interviews, Mental Meat Heads, Motivation, Movement, Perfect Imperfection, Personal Development, Strength, Strength Training

Hey there. Meet Kirsty Grosart. Kirsty is a gymnast and strength enthusiast from Toronto, Canada. We first met at the 2nd Mental Meat Heads Symposium in Indianapolis, Indiana. Kirsty is originally from Scotland where she spent her childhood as a self described “sporty kid,” of which gymnastics was a major component. She now lives in Toronto and works as an actuarial programmer. She teaches gymnastics on the side and runs her own blog “Garage Gym Girl.” Listen in as we discuss gymnastics, teaching kids, blogging, astrophysics, actuarial programming and what it’s like to be able to do amazing stunts and … Read More »

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Kyle Winchell

Agoge, Bodytribe, Chip Conrad, Empowerment, Fitness, Fitness Business, Happiness, Interviews, Mental Meat Heads, Motivation, Movement, Personal Development, Personal Training, Strength, Strength Training

Meet Kyle Winchell. Kyle is one of the Merry Pranksters of Fitness from the Bodytribe in Sacramento, California. Kyle, in particular, is responsible for bringing his own flavor of play based training to Bodytribe with the addition of Hot Lava Tag. Originally, Hot Lava Tag was just a way for the trainers to blow off steam after work. Soon locals passing by would see them at play and ask to join the game. Now it’s a regular phenomenon drawing in new participants every week. Kyle’s even in the process of “formalizing” it into a league. Listen in as we … Read More »

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Josh Serrano

Agoge, Empowerment, Fitness, Fitness Business, Happiness, Interviews, Mental Meat Heads, Motivation, Movement, Perfect Imperfection, Personal Development, Personal Training, Recovery, Strength, Strength Training

Meet Josh Serrano. Josh is one of those young guys I love to interview. At 21 he has a clear sense of purpose and direction. At 21, I could have barely told you what I wanted to do today let alone with my life. Part of Josh’s sense of direction comes from having nearly lost it all at a young age. At 10 Josh suffered a stroke. It left him paralyzed on one side of his body. At 12 he was gifted with a set of weights by his grandfather and he’s been training ever since. Listen in as … Read More »

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Dewey Nielsen

Agoge, Empowerment, Fitness, Happiness, Interviews, Martial Arts, Mental Meat Heads, Motivation, Movement, Perfect Imperfection, Personal Development, Personal Training, Strength, Strength Training, Tai Chi Chuan

Meet Professor Dewey Nielsen. Dewey’s a black belt in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, hence the title professor, and a movement specialist. And by movement specialist I mean he specializes in movement, which actually makes him a generalist. Dewey feels that the human body was designed to move and in all kinds of ways. The better we move in all of these different ways the better we are. Body flow, power lifting, yoga, weight lifting, boxing, martial arts, you name it, regardless of your discipline Dewey can find something of value in it. Odds are he’s already doing it, too. Dewey lives … Read More »

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F. P. DeLeon

Agoge, Bodytribe, Empowerment, Fitness, Happiness, Interviews, Mental Meat Heads, Motivation, Movement, Perfect Imperfection, Personal Development, Personal Training, Strength, Strength Training

Meet Fred DeLeon. Fred is one of the trainers at Body Tribe Fitness in Sacramento, California. We met a little over a year ago and really just hit it off. You’ll be able to tell from the interview as it runs more like a conversation between two friends than a true interview. Which honestly, is how I like it best. Fred’s day job is as a life skills coach for developmentally challenged adults and he trains himself and a lucky cadre of clients in the perimeter hours. Listen is as we discuss parenting, comic book super heroes, Voltron, and how they relate … Read More »

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Mental Meat Heads 2

Agoge, Bodytribe, Chip Conrad, Fitness, Fitness Business, Happiness, Interviews, Jason C. Brown, Kettlebell, Mental Meat Heads, Motivation, Movement, Olympic Weightlifting, Personal Development, Personal Training, Powerlifting, Self Help, Strength, Strength Training, Weightlifting, Zen

Hoo boy. This just might be a mistake. This was supposed to be a joint interview with Jason C. Brown and Chip Conrad, a slick marketing ploy to help promote our upcoming workshop, Mental Meat Heads 2, September 21 and 22, in Indianapolis, Indiana. It would probably be better titled Laugh Track with Three Goobs. If we’re lucky there’s some intelligible material here, after all we are pros and really good at what we do. But the thing is whenever the three of us get together we just end up having so much fun. Which is exactly what you’ll be doing … Read More »

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Of Plans and Purpose

Agoge, Diet, Emerson's Acre, Empowerment, Eric Hulse, firewood, Fitness, Happiness, Movement, organic gardening, Perfect Imperfection, Personal Development, Self Help, self reliance, Strength, Strength Training, sustainability, urban farming, urban gardening

I love it when a plan comes together. That’s the catch phrase of one of my childhood heroes, John “Hannibal” Smith of the A-Team. Actually, my real hero was Mr. T., who played heavy muscle and mechanical genius B. A. Barracus of the aforementioned team, but “I pity the fool” doesn’t really play into today’s blog post. And truth be told I’m stretching Hannibal’s catch phrase because in all honesty I’m not much of a planner. I just sort of head off on a particular path and then revel afterwards about how everything seems to fall into place of it’s … Read More »

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