Beyond the Leaderboard: Shifting Your Gym Culture to Focus on Strength and Quality Movement

Are you constantly motivated by the next race, the max lift, or beating yesterday's time? What happens when the competition ends?

On this episode of Strong Principles, Rob, Larry, and Zach dive into the crucial difference between building a gym culture around competition and exhaustion versus one centered on strength and movement quality. The hosts discuss the "dark side" of constantly chasing numbers, including why competition-driven fitness leads to inconsistency, rushed form, injury, and a reliance on fleeting motivation.

They explore the mental shift required to embrace a long-game approach, emphasizing that while competition has its place, it should be the least important part of your weekly training hierarchy.

Tune in to understand why tying your self-worth to a workout time is detrimental, and learn how shifting your focus to quality movement and the "why" of your training is the ultimate principle for a lifetime of fitness.

Rob (00:00)
All right, guys. Welcome to Strong Principles. I am Rob Dela Cruz.

Larry (00:03)
I'm Larry Medina.

Zach (00:04)
And I'm Zach Bragg.

Rob (00:06)
And on today's episode, we're going to cover building our culture around strength and movement quality and not around competition or exhaustion. Okay. And we're going to try to take a pretty deep dive into that. What I mean by that is when you want to build, it's a culture and community that you're building. But when you build it, like CrossFit did a really good job with that, and they taught everyone else and now there's other people players that are out in there. But the thing that I've seen was negative with a lot of theirs is all their workouts are for time. All of it is a competition all the time. So what that does is it breathes a lot of behaviors. One of them is if you're not doing something for time and you're not going for some competition or you're not challenge yourself like, Oh, I got to do a 5K, and I got to work my way into that. What happens? There's no consistency after because the motivation starts Just leave it. That's a little bit of the dark side with that. Now, I think doing things, competition, workouts for time, here and there, intermittently, is important because it's a lot of sports to do that, but not building your whole culture around that.

Rob (01:15)
Because if you want to play the long game, and this is for longevity, and this is for health, then it's not going to be competition-driven. You need to do it for yourself. Because I have run into many, many times, I'm sure you have, too, is when you watch the athlete athletes or people that are real competition driven, when they're not going for something, they lose their motivation and their drive to do things, including working out and taking care of their self.

Larry (01:40)
Yeah, I can see that. I can see that even being true of people that If you have something to train for, even for losing weight, right? If I have something to train for a 5K or a triathlon or something along those lines, I do see that a lot. I know some people personally that will be like, yeah, if I don't have something to train for, I'm not doing it. So then they start setting up for races. They start doing all this stuff.

Zach (02:04)
And that's the way a lot of the boot camp and a lot of the models are set up is they're set up around their product becomes what can you achieve or How fast can you go? And I think that's the problem is whatever product you start off with, that's the culture that's going to be bred. But then what a lot of gyms fall into is then they're stuck with the product that they're selling even when they try to transition because the culture has been built up so much that way. And so I was actually having a conversation I was with someone about that this morning. But if you take a CrossFit gym and they're doing their program and it's like everything's for time, everything's for maxes, and everything is always a competition day in, day out, you're going to have some members who start to like that, but then you're going to start to also see all the other injuries that come from it, some of the things that reciprocate from that type of product. But then what happens is, like Rob said, is maybe it does sell some memberships, maybe it does. But then that culture begins to breed the product that you try to sell.

Zach (02:59)
And then you're to sell that over and over again. And it becomes a hard transition. Just starting off with a good product is basically how you get to a good culture. And that good product needs to be a product that's built around a good strength program and built around moving really well and built around these small achievements that you get, not the one workout where you killed yourself and maybe had a quick time.

Rob (03:21)
And I don't want to say that we don't do those workouts, and they're not a piece of the puzzle. But when that's the majority of what you're focused on, that's almost like the worship, I call it, then you're going to have a bunch of issues down the line. And also what it is, is showing people that's not what taking care of yourself and actual fitness and health and longevity is all about. That can be partitioned out from time to time. It's good to work on things and challenge yourself, but that is not what it is, and that's not the long game.

Larry (03:57)
Yeah, no, that makes sense. That makes sense.

Rob (04:00)
That's coming from an individual that played really hard in CrossFit and all that and learned a lesson as time was going on and had a culture of that. I'm like, Oh, this is not what taking care of yourself and being healthy and being really fit is all about.

Larry (04:15)
Yeah. How do you build that culture then? Because if you have people... Because to your point about CrossFit, people want to be motivated to always beat their frant time. Yeah. Or their Cindy rounds or whatever workout it was. So how do you get people to get their arms around? Hey, well, yeah, it's fun to beat your own time consistently or maybe not consistently and have something to measure against. What is the shift, the mental shift.

Rob (04:51)
Deemphasize those workouts, and you're not doing as many of them. And what you do is you... Because we went over this in programming, But you show the hierarchy of what's most important or what's least important in the workouts. And when you do that, you share the hierarchy of what really gets you better is, Hey, when we work on this strength, there's a lot of practice and skill work that are in there, and it's a lot of intent to the movement. And then actual intent conditioning work. And then we put it together, and then we play with it sometimes. And then we do a workout like Fran or something for time. But in the hierarchy of the week, that's the least important. Might be one of the most fun, but it's the most least important.

Zach (05:30)
There's definitely a transition phase. I mean, we went through it. We were at CrossFit gym, and then we had the transition. We saw the writing on the wall that it wouldn't work for the general population for longevity in the type of culture that it was breeding. But I think the first step is, to Rob's point, is A, it has to be communicated really, really well. And more than likely, I mean, it's pretty common, you might lose some members who like that style. You might lose some, but hopefully you can communicate it well enough to where they see how How much better it is if you don't have a culture around that, and then how much better the product gets and how much better they feel. They're not coming into the gym with that attitude because you come into the gym, you're like, I want to beat everybody here. I want to lift the most amount of weight. Your attitude changes too, versus coming in. And the type of community that builds is a lot better. And we definitely see it with our gym because when we made that transition, we started taking on a lot more personal training 101.

Zach (06:25)
We had small group training, too. And then we also had the classes. But the type of community we have now, everybody's really just focused on getting stronger. Everybody's focused on moving better, feeling good. And it's just a much better community to be involved in, not more so where you're trying to beat everybody in the workout. So the product has to change first. Your program has to change. And then your coaches all have to be on board with what they care about. So if you have a coach that's in the gym or the owners are in the gym and they're in there trying to just beat themselves up every day or go as hard as they can in the workout, then it's a reflection. And it's like, all right, well, you don't really care about getting stronger either. So the coaches, everybody has to be on board. You know what I mean?

Rob (07:07)
Yeah. And not that I'm going to keep on picking across because I'm going to jump into other stuff on competition part. But when you Let me emphasize it a little bit. First of all, a lot of it has got to do what are your goals? And a lot of general population goals are not to be cross or games athlete or even compete in it. So okay, then it's a tool. Might be an appropriate tool that we use once in a while, but that's not an appropriate tool to get us to the goals of like, Hey, I just want to move better. I want to get stronger. I want to be able to do this for a really long time. And so then they start to understand like, Okay, maybe I shouldn't do this all the time. And not that I'm trying to get anyone not to look into that type of training, because we do do that. That is a part of it, but it's a small part of it. But I also want to jump into the cultures of just, Hey, someone wanting to run a 5K, or some cultures in gyms that, Hey, we're going to You should sign up for a figure show or some deceit, because then that creates a whole another problem.

Rob (08:05)
And when you'd go to do that, and you're at a certain level at a small point in time, and you're almost never going to get back to that level. So then that creates a whole psychological issue with people. So there's a lot of different competitions, not just the physical.

Larry (08:21)
Yeah, because I feel like outsider looking in, right? I do feel like the biggest shift would be mentally, or So then anything else because you want that endorphin, right? That endorphin high that kicks in is so addictive. And people chase that dragon, if you will, consistently.

Rob (08:42)
Yeah, and going hard and having an intensity is not a bad thing at all. And they talk about relative intensity, but it's a part of the picture. And then when that's the only part of the picture you use, and then we're going to run into a lot of problems.

Larry (08:58)
Yeah, that makes sense.

Zach (09:00)
I think, too, what we were touching on when we were wanting to talk about this subject is, so, again, why would you want to make this transition then? Why would you want to create a culture that's not so competition-based? Well, if you just look at the cultures that are competition-based, what begins to happen? Some of the notes we made, people began to rush form. All they're focused on is chasing numbers. How good is their time? How much can they lift? And this is a really good one. They start to tie their self-worth with how fast they can finish. And so when you start making that where your self-worth is based off how good you did in that workout that day versus, all right, maybe I wasn't feeling as good today, but I still came in. I still did my strength work. I still moved well. I got a good workout, and I followed the training protocol. Like you said, mentally is a big part of it. And so when you start tying that self-worth with how well you did in the workout, the culture begins to shift, and it becomes harder to communicate with clients and harder to...

Zach (09:54)
Even though you weren't the best today, you still got your workout, and you still agree. That versus a time where they did bad and they're all down on themselves, and then trying to communicate that to them in that instance is much harder.

Larry (10:05)
Yeah, in the sense of Michael Jordan, Tom braided had a bad game every now and then, right?

Rob (10:11)
Yeah. But when you're not doing those workouts all the time, there's less of that that can happen.

Zach (10:19)
That goes away.

Rob (10:20)
It starts to go away. And so then you're focused on other things. It's quality of movement, just a community in there being around people, learning things, moving better. Consistency, too. It's like getting stronger. Consistency. They build up over time. And it doesn't apply the pressure of having to do those workouts and do them all the time.

Larry (10:37)
Yeah, it's a good point, right? Now, as I'm thinking through what you're saying, even myself, I could tell you right now, I've talked about my knee issue, whatever, blah, blah. And honestly, because I was stuck in the mindset of, if I can't go all the way down on the squat, you lose sight of, well-I'm just not going to do squat.

Rob (11:00)
Right. Yes. Which is completely the wrong way to look at it. 100%. But I get it. What happens, too, in those workouts, and there's like with the time workouts, infinitely scale. But like, yes, we understand. I know that's been around forever, way before they were ever around. But it still doesn't change the way people feel when they can't do something. Yeah.

Larry (11:21)
Yeah, 100%, because then it's like, well, then if I can't do it, I can't do it. But you keep trying and you keep running into the same injury. And it's just a terrible cycle. Then I feel like that's when long term injuries happen.

Rob (11:37)
It could be very defeated. And that's the dark side. Instead of like, a lot of times people promote it, and a lot of people can get enthusiastic with them. And it's super inviting, they believe. But it can be very defeating for a lot of people, for general population, for health. Yeah.

Zach (11:54)
So what happens is they become so results driven and so short term driven, workout to workout, and then that culture builds. But in the opposite then, so what happens when you build a culture around strength? And we can talk about how we do it of your strength. But then what happens then is you start building a culture around consistency, culture around showing up, a culture around getting better over time. Time. Praising good movement. Good movement patterns, not so focused on time. So you start to see these really good changes, and it's much better. And we can talk about how we do it at Bureau strength. But then what happens then is you start building a culture around consistency, culture around showing up, a culture around getting better over time. Praising good movement. Good movement patterns, not so focused on time. So you start to see these really good changes, and it's much better. And we can talk about how we do it at Bureau strength.

Rob (12:27)
Yeah. And a lot of times it's all education and intent. And we never say that that stuff is not a part of the picture. And it can be important from time to time, and we do use those. But these other things are even more important. And these other things will actually make this more effective. Yeah. Yeah. No, it's a good point.

Larry (12:49)
It's a good point. Yeah. Because even, let's just say, any of the workouts with bad form, it's not... I don't know.

Rob (12:57)
It just becomes less effective. It becomes less effective. The movements become way less less effective. Now, there's a little bit of deviation with fatigue sets in, and you got to be really careful about doing things under fatigue. There's a whole art form for that. But this form starts to break down, so then the exercise become less effective. So then you end up causing... It can cause overuse issues, or you have to do more of it to be the same place that if it looked better, you could work on it. It would be much more effective if you do less.

Zach (13:21)
Yeah. So we're teaching the why. And that's what happens a lot, too. And we noticed it with Arjan big time is once you start creating that culture more around strength and not around competition, people start to understand the why a lot better, why they're doing something, versus if they're so focused on the time and the numbers, the why goes out the window. They're just there to get as fast as a number as possible, which is punishment. I like that quote that you had written down is that you're creating a culture around progress, not a culture around punishment. A culture around punishment, your only focused on numbers. How fast can you go? How hard can I go? How much can I beat myself up?

Rob (13:57)
How bad does it hurt? How bad does it hurt? When people talk about the workout, you want to hear them. It's like, You want to hear him? He was like, Oh, it's a great workout. I feel really good.

Zach (14:03)
I feel great after. I went home and I felt good.

Rob (14:06)
Instead of like, Oh, my God, that hurts so bad. I'm not saying don't ever do that, but I'm saying-It has its place.

Larry (14:12)
At the end of the day, we were talking about earlier, whether it's a 5K run or whatever, you're always competing against yourself, doing the time, seeing progress or not seeing progress. And that's still true of whether or not you're doing that workout or not. Because a bench is still a bench, right? And a squat is still a squat. And you still know what you did last week versus this week. And was it easier? Was it harder? So there's still nuances there where you can-Yeah, it's like consistency and progress that you see.

Rob (14:44)
And I'm not trying to say, when someone comes to us and they say they want to do something, we want to get them prepared before they go and do it. And so then whatever challenge it is, high rocks, whatever that thing. But if I see them when they come to you and they always want to do a a challenge, and then when they're not getting ready for a challenge, they're very inconsistent, I'm going to push back on that a little bit. And that's just to them to understand, Hey, you're using these for motivation, which is great. And life is a challenge, but we got to figure out a way to stay consistent for the long period of time. And their motivation is going to go up and down from those challenges.

Larry (15:21)
Yes. So what do you mean? What's Dekca?

Rob (15:25)
So Dekca, it's like a slash Spartan indoor race. High Rocks is almost like a CrossFit race it looks like. Crossfit workouts in general or exercise racing, basically for time. So all these things, they're all competition or even doing a figure show or 5K. They're all competitions. And there's some people that can handle that and real healthy with it. And then they stay very consistent after. It's just a part they wanted to shoot for. They had a goal for years, and they did it. And there's some people that use it just to keep Keep them active. And what happens with that is that that motivation just keeps on going up and down, up and down, and they get less consistent. And then eventually, they go for stuff. And sooner or later, you see them either break down or you see them leave. And for us, it's trying to convince them how I'll, one, to stay away from it a little bit, and let's just get consistent on the gym before we go ahead and sign up for these things and use that for our motivation.

Zach (16:24)
Yeah. You brought up a good point one time, and it's like, there's a lot of highs and lows when you're culture is based on competition. And listen, like Rob said, if somebody has specific goals, that's one thing that's different. You got to train for that or whatever your goal is. But with all those highs and lows, you're so motivation-based again. And then versus the other culture, where you're not so focused on competition, you're just focused on creating a good community, getting stronger, longevity. It also becomes more of a habit. Working out becomes more of a habit rather than just so motivation-based. In the spirit of competition, a lot of people think, Oh, well, I'm not training for anything right now. So then they start to either slack off or their motivation goes down versus this other culture, it becomes much more habitual. They're focused on progression. They're thriving. They're not just surviving each and every single workout. They just begin to thrive in the training, which is cool.

Rob (17:15)
Yeah. It's just deemphasizing that. And we're not saying it's not a part of the picture. Yeah. That's not your only. That's not your only tool. It's not your only tool.

Zach (17:23)
Communication is huge, though. Communication is really big. So if you are in a gym that is in this scenario where You want to change over from being such a competitive-based or only time-based workout or numbers-based workout. Communication is big. You got to change the product first. Your program has to change, obviously. But then what a lot of members will begin... I mean, they'll see it. They'll say, we're not doing a workout for time today or Why not? And then they leave and then like, oh, this workout was too easy. I didn't beat myself up. I wasn't crawling out of here. But then you have to be able to communicate again the why, which is what we see a lot of members then understand the why, they begin to see progression. But that communication is huge, and all your coaches have to be on the same page.

Rob (17:59)
Yeah, and you got to remember, they're getting bombarded by information from the fitness industry, from certain methods that are very dogmatic because they want you to believe that's all you need to do, and they don't want you to venture out. So there's just so many other things that they're getting hit by and trying to understand. And so it's just you reinforcing them with education the whole time and giving them knowledge to understand. It's like, Hey, first of all, is the workout for time, we really can't spend any time on getting any better or really any stronger because we're worried about going fast, we're getting exhausted, and we're under fatigue. So So these workouts, we can get better and get stronger and really focus on the movement quality. And then we could use that in that workout. Yes.

Zach (18:36)
And that's the communication piece, right? Yeah, 100%.

Larry (18:39)
All that makes sense to me. And to your point, it's just about longevity, making sure you don't get injured. You still get the intensity. You still see progress. But really, it's just a mind shift.

Rob (18:51)
Yeah, 100%, because I'll run into once in a while, someone says, We're not a competition-driven gym, but yet all your workouts are for time. So your program shows me something different. You might not understand that right now, but you're showing me something different.

Zach (19:06)
Your product saying something different. Yeah, exactly.

Larry (19:08)
It's like Eastbound and down when you said, I'm not trying to be the best at exercising, right? I'm an athlete. But yeah.

Zach (19:19)
All right. All right. Awesome, guys. Thanks, everybody. This has been Strong Principles.