COACHING A LEGEND

While starting and maintaining a brand and business comes with its share of stressful moments and sleepless nights, this past week I had the experience of a lifetime.  I was contacted by a loyal customer named Zac who wanted to set up a shoot introducing kettlebell training to his client, Tony Horton, the world famous godfather of the wildly successful home workout video series, P-90X and the Beachbody brand of health supplements.  In the age of social media and video streaming, Horton has since moved on from P-90X and Beachbody to create even more incredible workout programs as well as his very own line of super high quality nutritional supplements called Power Life.  

With this all in mind, arriving at his home in the Pacific Palisades this past Monday, I was unsure of what to expect.  While my brother back home has been a devout Tony Horton disciple over the past 15 years, doing every single program Tony has put out and having the before and after pictures to prove it, I have been a gym rat ever since the days when I used a fake ID to get a membership at the Gold's gym back home because I wasn't quite 18 yet.  Needless to say, I was somewhat familiar with the variable intensity, functional strength training system that P-90X and its sequels had to offer, but I didn't really know much about the man behind it all as I stood there in his home. That all changed as soon as he entered the room and I shook his hand.  The room lit up with his energy and he immediately wanted to get to know me and about my brand of KBs.  I was taken back by how excited he was to get moving and to learn something completely new. Like so many people out there, kettlebells have been an untapped tool for Tony.  My job that day was to explain the prerequisites for the kettlebell swing which are first and foremost, having adequate hip mobility and core stability.  Then from there, coach him through the execution of a traditional hardstyle kettlebell swing.  

As one could imagine, nerves were high at first as I stood next to this living legend in front of a camera and full crew, but once I got into the groove of guiding the movement of someone who was brand new to kettlebells, I was fully immersed in the moment and enjoyed that flow state of being as Tony's kettlebell swing technique got better and better, cue after cue, set after set.  Once that solid foundational layer of the swing was set, we went through a full body kettlebell circuit together.  This was absolutely surreal not only as a collaborative business owner in the fitness industry, but even more so as someone has been a functional strength coach for the past 24 years.  There I was coaching a man who has been a coach to literally millions of people all over the world, then working out and sweating with him side by side in his state-of-the-art, at home training facility.  The time flew by, I somehow managed to not stumble on my words, and before we knew it, it was a wrap.

The coolest part of the day was recording a quick video of Tony doing a shoutout to my brother, thanking him for his dedication to the system and to his own health for all those years.  Tony's endless well of passion, curiosity and enthusiasm for healthy living will forever leave an impression on me and has been a great reminder of why I do what I do.  My mission from a very young age has always been to touch as many lives as possible in as healthy a way as possible.  Who better to learn the art of doing that than from the man himself, Tony Horton?

Big thanks to Zac Stein for making this day happen, and to all the crew there that took the ride with us.  And thank you Tony for making my brother's year with that shout out.  Feeling incredibly grateful heading into this holiday season.