From The Bluffs To An Auto Shop

I started to write this on a 6-hour flight and honestly didn't have a direction whatsoever. But whatever, here it is. I apologize if it doesn't flow at all.

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The Yard at DEUCE Gym
(via Instagram: @kaz_kaptures)

I knew this place was going to be special when it opened. What I didn’t know was how magical it was going to be. And not until in 2019, I didn’t really realize it...

I’ve been a long time attendee at DEUCE before it was DEUCE. 

Functional Fitness On The Bluffs, also know as FFOTB, also known as #FakeGym, which was a pop up tent located on the Palisades bluffs on Tuesday’s and Thursday’s. Some of you know me as the Silent Assassin, or The Godfather. Ok, maybe not anymore but only the few know.

(via Functional Fitness On The Bluffs)

We, as in maybe about 3-4 of us, would show up around 8:30 in the morning and grab the kettle bells, PVC pipes, the big tire, sledge hammer, medicine balls and yoga mats out of the back of two pickup trucks. As both coaches, Logan Gelbrich and Danny Leslie (aka Big Perm) would set up the EZ Up and then write the Workout Of the Day on a medium sized portable whiteboard, which still seems to be going strong til this day, in certain aspects.

I attended one of the first classes. I remember it clearly because driving there, the directions led me to an upward dirt slope that only a crane could take you up. Needless to say, I was 15 minutes late to class. 

No burpee penalty, thankfully.

The very first class I took at FFTOB back in May 2011
(via Functional Fitness On The Bluffs)

I say thankfully because the workout almost made me vomit (Note: I said I clearly remember the first class).

3 rounds of:
100m of Farmer's carry
20 Kettle Bell Cleans
200m Run
20 KB Swings
100m Farmer's Carry
20 KB Snatches

My total time: 18:55

Luckily, I had 2 other people in the class I didn't want to embarrass myself in front of, Nikki Pounds and Christy Desai, that made me hold in my vomit. And I also didn’t want to show any weakness to the coaches: Logan, Danny, and Annie Mello. 

Tyler Nilson and I after a workout at FFOTB
(via Functional Fitness On The Bluffs)

I’ve continued taking classes sporadically in 2011 until eventually, I had to leave for college to the middle of America. I would drive about an hour and fifteen minutes every Tuesday and Thursday from Torrance to the Palisades, take a 15 minute “tiger nap", go help set up for class and then take class.

Fast forward to 2020, FFOTB moved its location to Santa Monica for a year. Then to an auto shop garage in Venice, which is now known as DEUCE Gym.

The 9(:01) class back in 2015
(via Emily Stanwyck)

I was a member at DEUCE shortly after graduating college in 2013, but had to break away from it because I started traveling a lot for work.

I would be and still am a frequent attendee, whether if it's dropping in for a class, being a student for coach’s prep in the mornings, but more so lately taking photos, which has become a hobby of mine.

It’s one thing to see what’s going on with your own eyes, as a coach, as someone taking a class, or if you’re simply just kicking it. It’s another thing to see it through lens of a camera.

 

The story of the emotion a person shows when I look through pictures amazes me. Especially at DEUCE, where people make the trip across from all over the world to attend a class. Some move across the country to become part of what is called 

“Hold The Standard”.

(via Instagram: @ kaz_laptures)

Smiles. Agony. Learning. Teaching. Love. Hate. Joy. Pain. Independent. Community. Focus. Resiliency. Calm. Chaos. Dedication. Community. Standard.

It puts a smile on my face to be able to showcase the success a friend's business, especially being there from the start of it. Even if it's only a 100 people that follow me on my social media account.

I guess I wanted to say is, thank you Logan for everything. And also for getting me out to the Bluffs and guilting me by saying I have a good attitude and I want to train...and it would kill you if you couldn't (Conversation still saved on Facebook somewhere).

If you're into fitness and haven't gotten a chance to visit DEUCE Gym, you definitely should. it's a pretty magical place.

Jun