On today's episode of Vital Metabolic, hosts James Wheeler and John Parker speak with Anthony Roumell of the Center for Balanced Training. They discuss Anthony's background as a bodybuilder and what inspired him to train other aspects of his fitness. They also talk about mentors and coaches, different training tools, how COVID is impacting the fitness industry, and more.
Episode Highlights:
- 06:36 - Anthony Roumell is a corrective exercise specialist who loves to work with adaptive athletes and kids with disabilities.
- 07:08 - Anthony has explored bodybuilding, resilient jiu-jitsu, yoga, gymnastics, hand balancing, and slacklining.
- 09:35 - Anthony focuses on a specific skill for a while, then works it into a maintenance program, with the goal of creating a sustainable experience.
- 10:09 - He started out as a musician and didn't really focus on athletics until his 30s.
- 11:20 - He credits his discipline today to the skills he learned in music.
- 13:55 - The band split up at the end of high school, and Anthony filled that hole by going to the gym and starting to work with a trainer to become a bodybuilder.
- 19:06 - Anthony's first bodybuilding show was when he was 19.
- 19:55 - Bodybuilding is the exact opposite of what your body wants physiologically, so it takes a ton of discipline.
- 22:47 - Anthony loved the challenge of working towards a larger goal, but it can be a problem to build your entire identity around what you look like.
- 24:15 - A friend suggested jiu-jitsu to him because he was getting bored with bodybuilding.
- 25:49 - In his first jiu-jitsu session, he was choked out and defeated in one move by a small, skinny guy. Anthony decided not to run from it but soak in it, and it made him determined to make himself better.
- 29:00 - While training, Anthony realized he needed to improve his flexibility and started going to bikram yoga.
- 32:10 - Anthony had built a lot of strength, but didn't know how to use it and didn't have a good range of motion.
- 33:20 - After 7 years of training in bikram yoga, Anthony went from having limited range of motion to being hypermobile, which eventually caused injuries.
- 39:00 - Anthony didn't want to continue working in a busy training studio because he wanted to have a deeper connection with his students.
- 41:12 - The person Anthony was working with to open this gym had a lot of training tools that he was curious about learning, including the slackline, so Anthony tried it and quickly found it helped stabilize his previously injured leg, ankle, and pelvic floor.
- 45:27 - Anthony and his mentor had a dream of building a gym where you could serve the client with exactly what they need and train in a pure, focused way with all the equipment you could need.
- 49:37 - Anthony has continued to make things work with the business and stay afloat during the pandemic.
- 51:40 - He has been training about 40% virtually.
- 53:31 - They predict COVID-19 will shift the fitness industry from a volume-based business model to a quality-based business model.
- 54:55 - Anthony has been mostly self taught until this year when he started working with a coach on handstands; he's always had mentors, but he hasn't specifically hired a coach before.
- 57:00 - Having a coach helps you illuminate areas where you might otherwise get bogged down and feel discouraged.
- 57:55 - Anthony's favorite part of teaching is sharing his experience and knowing that there is no shortcut.
3 Key Points:
- Training in a balanced way helps alleviate boredom and over-training in any one area.
- Just building strength doesn't mean knowing how to use it in different contexts.
- The fitness industry is moving towards a model of building a relationship with a trainer or coach to train more deeply.
Tweetable Quotes:
- "You're doing the exact opposite of what your body wants to do naturally when you bodybuild. Your body does not want to get big and shredded. It wants you to get big and fat and hibernate, or get lean and shredded to survive." –Anthony Roumell
- "I just love intense environments because it really forces me to surrender, to let go, and to really check my ego." –Anthony Roumell
- "I do not play victim in my life. I am the creator. I live in choice. Things don't just happen to me. At the end of the day, things happen, but I still have a choice how to react to it." –Anthony Roumell
Resources Mentioned:
