Shows
Todd Nief's ShowSpenser Mestel on Voting Rights, Election Reform, and Writing a Book with Mat FraserI first encountered Spenser's work through his writing for the Morning Chalk Up, and at some point I clicked on enough links to realize that the majority of his work is on voting rights and election reform. I've been a subscriber to Spenser's voting rights newsletter, so I wanted to get his take on how things went with New York City's experiment in ranked choice voting in their Democratic mayoral primary. While election fraud and voter suppression are hot-button culture war issues, there are also a lot of low-hanging fruit for bipartisan election reforms. Spenser's...
2021-07-231h 07Todd Nief's ShowDave Bland (Full of Hell | Jarhead Fertilizer)Dave Bland is one of the most creative drummers currently playing extreme music. While technical wherewithal with blindingly fast blast beats is always appreciated, the ability to adapt to the varied styles present on Full of Hell records as well as the more straightforward death metal of Jarhead Fertilizer requires much more perspicacity. I first met Dave over 10 years ago when he was a high school student who left to go on tour with Full of Hell without his parents' permission. Since then, Full of Hell has grown into one of the best bands in extreme music...
2021-06-1857 minTodd Nief's ShowMatthew O. Jackson, PhD on Human Networks and MicrofinanceHumans have an intuitive sense for who is important and well-connected. We like knowing "movers and shakers," and we regularly engage in complicated social machinations — conscious or otherwise — to position ourselves close to the seat of influence. But what about the formal study of the spread of information through human networks? Matthew O. Jackson is a professor of economics at Stanford, and his book "The Human Network" is a fantastic primer on the complex dynamics of human relationships. He's also done fascinating work on the spread of microfinance in southern India with Arun Chandrasekhar and Nobel Laureates Abhi...
2021-06-011h 11Todd Nief's ShowKayhan Vaziri (Yautja)Yautja plays lurching, uncomfortable music, so it is fitting that their new album is called "The Lurch." I first met Kayhan back in approximately 2010 when I was on tour with Weekend Nachos and we stayed at Kayhan's place in Birmingham, Alabama. At the time, Kayhan was in a band called Legion (funny enough), and since then has gone on to play in several excellent hardcore and metal projects like Coliseum, Die Young, and — of course — Yautja. Yautja's most recent record is fantastic, so I wanted to get Kayhan on the podcast to discuss how they write such weir...
2021-05-211h 22Todd Nief's ShowSimple Solutions to Complex Problems [Solocast]I've often spoken on the Legion Strength & Conditioning podcast about the desire for "simple solutions to complex problems." I figured I'd reframe and refine that discussion for a solocast based upon the cynefin decision-making framework, Julia Galef's great new book "The Scout Mindset," and some marketing intuition from years of running a small business. Over years of creating content for a fitness audience, I've learned that the things that resonate with people are often not the things that are actually correct. Understanding the difference between a "complicated" environment and a "complex" environment has helped me...
2021-05-0422 minTodd Nief's ShowBryan James, PhD on Alzheimer's and EpidemiologyAt some point in the last year or so, I started listening to the Epidemiology Counts podcast. I was thrilled to learn that the host, Bryan James, is a Chicago local at Rush University — and he's a CrossFitter at Goose Island CrossFit. Bryan and I recently collaborated on an article for BarBend about controlling the spread of Covid in gym, as well: COVID In Gyms: What The Research Says About Mitigating Spread. In his day job, Bryan's research focuses on the epidemiology of Alzheimer's disease, so I wanted to get his take on some common misconceptions about Al...
2021-04-191h 13Todd Nief's ShowJames Pligge (Harm's Way) Round IIJames Pligge is back by popular demand. This time, we talk about some of the many misconceptions that people have about James and Harm's Way — as well as James's ill-fated attempt to make a protein shake with Coca-Cola. To be honest, talking about making a protein shake from Coca-Cola probably doesn't do a lot to correct any of those popular misconceptions about James… Either way, this is a hilarious conversation. James explains why Harm's Way is more influenced by The Jesus Lizard than by Madball and also ridicules contemporary powerlifting culture. Learn more from Jame...
2021-04-051h 02Todd Nief's ShowJohn Caution (Weekend Nachos)I feel like I say this about a lot of my friends that I have on the podcast, but John Caution is one of the weirdest and funniest people I know. I'm happy to talk to John endlessly about funny things that people we both know did 15 years ago, but, in this interview, we talk about the legacy of Weekend Nachos. We talk about the trolling instinct, the impulse to create — either in riff form or otherwise, and being in a band that defined the identity of a lot of angry but funny social misfits. I...
2021-03-221h 18Todd Nief's ShowMatt Parlmer (General Fabrication)Speaking with Matt is like being blasted with a firehose of information. He is entwined in the worlds of politics, database engineering, and 3D printing, and he speaks in dense, reference-laden paragraphs. This is thrilling to me, since I love information. I also feel empathy for folks who have been subject to my own tendencies to speak in dense, reference-laden paragraphs, since it's not always easy to keep up. While infrastructure isn't exactly a sexy topic, we've seen a lot of institutional failings over the last few years, so I wanted to get Matt's take on why...
2021-03-111h 31Todd Nief's ShowAndy Nelson (Bricktop Recording | Like Rats | Sourmouth)Andy is one of the most talented musicians I know. Some people think of musical talent as a preternatural gift for shredding through neoclassical riffs on guitar or ripping through Chopin concertos as a pre-teen. In Andy's case, this talent manifests itself as incredible taste and intuition for songwriting and audio production. When you hear a song written by Andy — whether it's the, uh, powerviolence of Weekend Nachos or the alt rock throwback of Sourmouth — you know it's an Andy song. Fortunately, Andy gets to share his gift with others not just with his own music but thro...
2021-02-251h 11Todd Nief's ShowJeff KolarJeff edits many of these podcasts…and now it is time for him to speak! Jeff is a prolific musician and artist — creating in a variety of genres and formats. His works appear as stand-alone albums, as complements to performance art, and on pirate radio stations. I've long been a fan of Jeff's music, and, in 2020, he released two of my favorite albums of his: Ditch and Scale with Zeena Parkins. I wanted to talk to Jeff about the differences between creating for "the art world" vs creating as a musician, as well as t...
2021-02-121h 25Todd Nief's ShowPreston Weippert (Of Feather and Bone)Of Feather and Bone put out one of the best records of 2020 with Sulfuric Disintegration, so I was really excited to speak with drummer Preston Weippert. Like Rats played with Of Feather and Bone in Baltimore a few years back, and I was very impressed with them. Since then, they've released two albums and dropped any pretense of being anything other than a death metal band. Fascinatingly, they compose most of their music through improvisation and jamming, which is not typical for most death metal bands. Of course, I wanted to get into the weeds...
2021-01-291h 03Todd Nief's ShowThe Sloshing Social Information EcosystemLike many, I am deeply concerned with the impact social media has had on our brains, our attention, and our society. I have a slightly different take on what the root of the problem is, though. While those worried about distraction, polarization, algorithms, and censorship all have a right to be concerned, I think the real issue is deeper and more fundamental. By creating a hyperconnected network for information flow, we seem to have kicked off a negative ratchet that leans on several compounding forces to fundamentally change the identities of those who carelessly venture onto the modern internet.
2021-01-1540 minTodd Nief's ShowJames Pligge (Harm's Way) [Repost]This episode with James from Harm's Way is one of the most consistently downloaded episodes of the podcast, so figured this would be a good time to revisit it. If you haven't seen the Harm's Way Running Man memes that offered a much needed moment of levity this summer, then spend some time giggling right here. And, the original show that sparked the memes from hate5six's YouTube channel is absolutely fantastic as well. Check that out here. New shows will return in January 2021. If you're enjoying the show, the best...
2020-12-291h 30Todd Nief's ShowJuliet Starrett on Excellence in Operations at San Francisco CrossFit [Repost}This conversation is a repost from the From Coach to Business podcast that I did with my friend Brandon last year. With the recent announcement that San Francisco CrossFit is closing their doors, I wanted to revisit this conversation since there were several key takeaways on operational excellence. In the best of times, running a functional fitness gym in a major urban environment is already a grueling, low-margin business. When a global pandemic devastates the entire fitness industry while simultaneously causing huge swaths of the population to vacate major urban environments like New...
2020-12-141h 23Todd Nief's Show[Repost] Scott Young (Author of Ultralearning)This is a holiday repost, which pairs very nicely with the recent episode with Cedric Chin discussing tacit knowledge, expert intuition, and deliberate practice. If you enjoyed that episode, you will hopefully also find Scott Young's work fascinating—since he distills research-based best practices in learning and skill acquisition into highly actionable strategies and tactics. Here's the original episode post: I've long been a Scott Young fan from my early days of reading blogs (miss you, Google Reader), so I was thrilled to get the chance to interview him about his new book Ultralearning. As a...
2020-11-301h 16Todd Nief's ShowCedric Chin (Commoncog) on Tacit Knowledge and Learning from ExpertsCertain clusters of nerds on the internet can find it very frustrating when successful people say a lot of incorrect stuff ("Just focus on your passion and be yourself!") about how they found success in their field. To be clear, I am such a nerd. Cedric Chin has researched and written extensively about the academic literature on skill acquisition and expertise—and has made these concepts extremely practical for knowledge workers looking to improve their career skills at his Commonplace blog. Through Cedric's writing, we can build a better model of how experts bu...
2020-11-161h 27Todd Nief's ShowLeonard Suryajaya on Humor and Confrontation in Photography and Growing up in IndonesiaLeonard Suryajaya creates lush, harrowing, and hilarious images in his photography, and I was fortunate enough to be a part of his process for his recent work with The New York Times. While I initially wanted to talk to Leonard about his creative process, I couldn't help but indulge and take a detour into the history of Indonesia. Leonard's story of immigrating from a repressive culture in Indonesia to a theater department in California is fascinating, as are his insights about American and Indonesian society. He also has an enlightening perspective on how...
2020-11-041h 37Todd Nief's ShowJohn Nerst (Everything Studies) on Decoupling vs Contextualizing and the Tilted Political CompassJohn Nerst, in some sort of bizarre ascetic practice, enjoys studying people disagreeing online. While online discourse is a cesspool of bad intentions, bad faith, and, of course, bad arguments, John is able to divine some deep insights about the fundamental nature of human disagreement. In this interview, we discuss how the abstractions we use let us down when we are trying to be precise in moral arguments, how the "decoupling vs contextualizing" axis explains how smart people with good intentions can endlessly talk past each other, and why the "tilted political compass" gives many...
2020-10-191h 20Todd Nief's ShowAlbert Kao, PhD on the Wisdom of Crowds and Hyperconnected NetworksAlbert Kao of the Santa Fe Institute has been researching collective behavior in animals — including really crazy things like using their own bodies as a bridge to invade a wasp nest. As we mention in the podcast, this absolutely needs to be made into a horror movie if it hasn't already. In addition to animal behavior, Albert has also created some really insightful models that find that smaller groups do a better job of converging on accurate information in complex environments — contrary to the well-known "wisdom of crowds" model, where more information entering the system is better.
2020-10-061h 10Todd Nief's ShowTodd Talks: Productivity and Prioritization (2020 Edition)I'm often asked "how I handle it all," and — while I think the true answer may have something to do with several deep flaws in my fundamental personality, I do think I have a framework that helps me get a good amount of stuff done. I tend to manage too many projects at once pretty much all of the time — which is actually probably not very good for my mental health nor my overall effectiveness. Still, I've developed some systems that enable me to keep things moving along. The biggest update from my prev...
2020-09-2127 minTodd Nief's ShowEthan Lee McCarthy (Primitive Man | Many Blessings)It doesn't always work well to try to corner artists who you like and make them explain how they do the thing that you enjoy about their work. Sort of like getting a comedian to explain their jokes. Maybe not the best thing for your ongoing enjoyment of humor. Still, I will not be deterred, and I wanted to get Ethan from Primitive Man on the podcast to pressure him into explaining how he thinks about the dissonant soundscapes he creates not just for Primitive Man, but for all of the musical projects that he's...
2020-09-081h 11Todd Nief's ShowJohn Murphy (Young Horses Games) on influences and innovation in video game designAs I mention in the intro to this podcast, I know John Murphy as the pilot of a 90s era Pontiac Trans Sport — aka the "Egg Van." The world, however, knows John as co-founder and gameplay designer at Young Horses, the indie games collective responsible for the much beloved hit Octodad. As a lad, I was an obsessive and nerdy player of role-playing games for the Super Nintendo. Final Fantasy, Secret of Mana, Secret of Evermore, Chrono Trigger…as well as "also rans" like Breath of Fire and Illusion of Gaia. Since then, I ha...
2020-08-241h 22Todd Nief's ShowDirk Verbeuren (Megadeth)Dirk Verbeuren has played drums on more extreme metal releases than is reasonable or appropriate for any single human. He took over for Chris Adler as the drummer for Megadeth in 2016, but that hasn't stopped him from continuing to release underground release after underground release — including material with the recently revived Cadaver. Dirk not only has freakish technical skill, but he also has the ability to deploy that skill as an improvisational master, an incredible mimic, or a deliberate and exacting architect of complex drumming. Dirk is not just a musician, but is al...
2020-08-101h 26Todd Nief's ShowCourtney Kelly (Strength Ratio | Ethos Alchemy) on optimality theory, trade-offs in fitness, and copywritingFiguring out how to prioritize in any sort of complex system is really, really difficult. We see this all the time in working with athletes. A simple, linear mindset results in athletes trying to do more, more, more training — and expecting to get more, more, more results. In reality, there are trade-offs involved in any sort of training plan. These are not just the trade-offs between the zero sum competition between training time and ability to adapt, but fundamental trade-offs between constraints being imposed on the system. If only th...
2020-07-271h 21Todd Nief's ShowTodd Jones (Nails)In this episode of "Between Two Todds," Todd Jones discusses his songwriting process for Nails and why he thinks of himself more as a "music fan" than a "musician." Todd has a public perception that is often totally out of alignment with his actual personality. Some of this is likely a side effect of being the front man of one of the most aggressive bands currently playing in metal and hardcore. However, we get to see Todd as an introspective and curious fan of music on his new podcast called Unsilent Death. He interviews other...
2020-07-131h 05Todd Nief's ShowSarah Sentes (Manager Tools) on managing in industries that resist managementEvery small business that has any level of success hits a tipping point where the fact that business is going "kind of well" becomes the most stressful thing to the founders. I vividly remember hitting this point with South Loop Strength & Conditioning several years ago. The gnawing worry that we were missing something or doing something wrong with our business was replaced with a constant feeling of suffocating in emails, meetings, coaching, and duct taping together the cracks splitting apart in seemingly every area of the business. Every business book says that all you have to do is "systemize...
2020-06-291h 05Todd Nief's ShowWayne Banks (KIPP Academy) on remote learning, protests, and race in CrossFitWayne is the principal in residence at KIPP Team Academy in Newark, New Jersey. I've wanted to have Wayne on the show for awhile to talk about education since I'm endlessly fascinated with learning, learning about learning, teaching, teaching others to teach, and basically every other possible recursion and iteration of the words "teach" and "learn." Given the climate in the world right now, we discuss Wayne's expertise through the lens of suddenly transitioning into remote learning due to COVID-19. We also discuss the climate of race in 2020 and Wayne's experiences as a black, gay man. We also dig...
2020-06-151h 33Todd Nief's ShowJohn Wooley (Make WODs Great Again) on the essentialness of CrossFit gymsI recently wrote a controversial oped for the Morning Chalk Up on why my CrossFit gym isn't an essential business. John Wooley, from the regularly hysterical CrossFit satire account @makewodsgreatagain, wrote a thoughtful response disagreeing with my claim that CrossFit gyms are not essential. I figured it would be interesting to have a recorded conversation where we hash out where we agree and where we disagree. While John and I don't completely agree on everything, I think this is a complicated, nuanced issue, and working it out in public is hopefully helpful to some people. You can check out...
2020-05-291h 10Todd Nief's ShowJeff Wang (Modern Asian Kitchen | Yum Dum Truck) on COVID-19's impact on restaurantsWhen people think of the culture of a country or a city, food is one of the first things that comes to mind. But, with the economic disruption caused by COVID-19, a lot of folks - myself included - have serious concerns about the ability of restaurants to make it through to the other side of an extended shutdown. As a fan of regional ethnic cuisine, I'm concerned that a big chunk of my "to try" list is going to be wiped out - and for the implications on the families that run these restaurants. I think there's a...
2020-05-1858 min
Dreams of ConsciousnessBonus Episode: Quarantine Talk with Todd NiefIn this supplement to Episode 129, I spoke with Like Rats guitarist Todd Nief about our respective lockdown experiences and speculate on the future of live music and local music scenes, post-pandemic.
Note: This conversation took place April 17th, 2020, MYT.
TRACKLIST:
"Contagion"
"Pandemic Of Fear"
"River Dread"
Interviews, reviews and more at www.dreamsofconsciousness.com
2020-05-0700 minTodd Nief's ShowBrad Stulberg (The Growth Equation)Brad Stulberg has a list of accomplishments that would make most authors drip with envy. Hundreds of thousands of books sold. A regular column in Outside Magazine. Contributions to publications like The New York Times, Sports Illustrated and Wired. A blue checkmark on Twitter and tens of thousands of followers. A lot of Brad's message is about avoiding the trappings of chasing external validation - yet, he remains acutely aware of the necessity of playing the status game in order to create the opportunity to do the work that he loves and spread the message that he cares about...
2020-05-0454 minTodd Nief's ShowJon Callahan (The Great Unlearn)Cal spent a long time chasing money, social status, and all kinds of external validation. And he didn't just chase it. He was good at getting it. As an interest rate trader in Chicago, he had checked a lot of the boxes that people think will make them happy. (Including playing golf with Michael Jordan - crazy, right?) Cal was in the audience at the Route 91 Festival shooting in Las Vegas, and - since then - his priorities have changed. Through his podcast, The Great Unlearn, Cal hopes to share his message with other hard-charging, successful people. The happiness...
2020-04-201h 21Todd Nief's ShowIan Kaplan (Hybrid Performance Method)So, what's the deal with chiropractors? Are they all just full of it? Ian Kaplan is the COO of Hybrid Performance Method (Stefi Cohen's training company) and soon to be doctor of chiropractic, and he's also one of the most thoughtful and skeptical people in the fitness space. In this conversation, Ian breaks down how he thinks about uncertainty and providing treatment options when a lot of the research shows that most things that we talk about in the fitness and rehab space - well - don't actually work. He also lays into some of the most common issues...
2020-04-061h 11Todd Nief's ShowJason Collins, PhD on Loss Aversion and Ergodicity EconomicsPeople are predictably irrational, right? We have a poor intuitive understanding of statistics, we leap to drawing cause and effect relationships where none exist, we don't understand exponential growth very well, and we gorge ourselves on junk food and junk television. We're broken! While there are all kinds of quirks to our built-in reasoning hardware, some of those quirks might not be as irrational as they seem. Jason Collins has a PhD in economics and evolutionary biology, and he's long been writing about they ways in which our "cognitive biases" may - in some cases - actually be adaptive...
2020-03-231h 25Todd Nief's ShowJoshua Becker, PhD on Polarization, Collective Intelligence & Social Tipping PointsJoshua Becker studies computational social science - particularly collective intelligence and tipping points. Joshua has recently published some papers on polarization showing that the grim headlines about an increasingly fractured society unable to agree on basic facts about the world might not be quite right. Joshua also discusses the way that societies hit "tipping points" and how the networked relationships of human beings interact to create change. Check out the full episode to find out how polarization impacts our ability to learn from each other and why "be the change you wish to see in the world" isn't just...
2020-03-091h 17Todd Nief's ShowJason Crawford (The Roots of Progress)Jason Crawford studies the history of innovation on his blog The Roots of Progress with detailed case studies on things like the invention of the bicycle, the invention of steel, and how we decided between alternating and direct current. In this conversation, we discuss why my skeptical and argumentative 16-year-old self was misguided about the nature of progress and what Jason has learned through his studies of historical progress. We also discuss possible causes of stagnation in economic growth and scientific discovery, as well as the differences between studying history from a top down vs a bottom up approach.
2020-02-241h 14Todd Nief's ShowBrian Speronello (Accelerated Conversions)Brian Speronello is a copywriter who runs a boutique copywriting shop called Accelerated Conversions. He works closely with a handful of clients - including The Ready State (formerly MobilityWOD). Brian was recently involved in the rebranding of MobilityWOD to The Ready State, so he shares some of the copywriting lessons that he's learned over the years of writing high-converting sales pages - as well as how he applied those lessons to a tangible project like working with the Kelly and Juliet Starrett on changing the name of their company. Check out the full interview with Brian to learn how...
2020-02-101h 16Todd Nief's ShowJessica Danger (Morning Chalk Up | A Fresh Cup of Fitness)Jessica Danger is a creative writing professor, an editor at the Morning Chalk Up, and a co-host of the "A Fresh Cup of Fitness" podcast. I've been writing #content for well over a decade now - starting with a polemical high school zine - and I haven't put too much thought into my writing other than just vomiting ideas out. I was eager to get the perspective of an actual writer, editor and professor on how to improve writing, and I found many of her tips to be both super insightful and actionable. We also discuss balancing the incentives...
2020-01-271h 17Todd Nief's ShowWhat I've Learned About LearningI've put a lot of thought into learning over the last year or two - both in terms of learning things myself (like coding, improvisation on guitar, and assorted wide reading into too many different interests) and in terms of teaching coaches who I work with. Learning is a super power, since acquiring new skills allows you to quickly level up. In the case of an organization, if you can learn effectively and then teach effectively, you can compound your gains in skills. I don't feel great about my understanding of the "transfer problem" (the ability to apply learning...
2020-01-1332 minTodd Nief's Show[From Coach to Business] Will Hoekenga (Copygrad)This is a cross-post from the From Coach to Business podcast. My friend Brandon and I both often get questions about starting and growing a coaching business - either online or in the brick and mortar space - so we put together a season with answers to some of the most common questions we get as well as some insight on the mistakes that we made while we were starting out. This episode is with Will Hoekenga from Copygrad. A few years ago, Will was pumping out some great content on copywriting on his blog that I...
2019-12-301h 06Todd Nief's ShowGretchen Leslie (GrowthLab)Gretchen Leslie is the Director of Operations for GrowthLab and I Will Teach You To Be Rich. I recently attended a live event that Gretchen and the GrowthLab team put on in New York, and I wanted to talk with Gretchen about her management philosophy and how she manages an entirely remote team. Gretchen has an extensive background in Six Sigma and large organizations, so - between that and her work with GrowthLab - she has deep insights from a wide variety of organizational scenarios. Anyone who works with people will get some excellent takeaways from this episode, particularly...
2019-12-161h 06Todd Nief's ShowEvan Peikon (Training Think Tank)Anyone who has coached or competed in CrossFit for awhile sees things that kind of don't make sense. Athletes with 15+ unbroken ring muscle-ups and a 6:30 2k row who are surprisingly bad at "metcons." Athletes who can only do 5-10 unbroken strict handstand push-ups who are able to quickly chip away at a set of 50 and beat athletes who can do 20+ unbroken reps. Evan Peikon from Training Think Tank has done a lot of work with the Moxy unit on measuring muscle oxygen saturation and blood flow, and he's developed a model that is able to explain a lot of...
2019-12-021h 27Todd Nief's Show[From Coach to Business] Juliet Starrett (San Francisco CrossFit | The Ready State)This is a cross-post from the From Coach to Business podcast that we just launched. My friend Brandon and I both often get questions about starting and growing a coaching business - either online or in the brick and mortar space - so we put together a season with answers to some of the most common questions we get as well as some insight on the mistakes that we made while we were starting out. This episode is with Juliet Starrett, the co-founder of San Francisco CrossFit and The Ready State (formerly known as MobilityWOD). Juliet has...
2019-11-181h 22Todd Nief's Show[From Coach to Business] Tiago Forte (Forte Labs)This is a cross-post from the From Coach to Business podcast that we just launched. My friend Brandon and I both often get questions about starting and growing a coaching business - either online or in the brick and mortar space - so we put together a season with answers to some of the most common questions we get as well as some insight on the mistakes that we made while we were starting out. I think this episode with productivity and digital organization expert Tiago Forte is applicable to people outside of the fitness...
2019-11-111h 01Todd Nief's Show[Repost] Adrian Bozman (Head Judge of the CrossFit Games)We're going back in the archives this week to last year with a repost of an interview with Adrian Bozman - the Head Judge of the CrossFit Games. You can check out the full show notes from the episode here. I've been hard at work finishing up the first season of From Coach to Business, which will be released in the next week or two. I'll be releasing an episode on this feed when the podcast goes live, so stay tuned.
2019-11-041h 24Todd Nief's ShowChris Mills (Harm's Way)Chris Mills is the drummer for Harm's Way - and he's also a clinical social worker for an addiction and mental health residential program. Many folks who are touring most of the year piece together random part-time jobs or have their hands in a few different pieces of the music industry (management, booking, merchandise, etc.). Chris, however, is a highly trained professional in an extremely difficult field. We dig into music nerd stuff about how Harm's Way writes songs - and how they think about the roll of "heaviness" and "rhythm" in their songs. And Chris also explains...
2019-10-211h 00Todd Nief's ShowTodd and Friel on FundraisingFundraising for your business is often a stressful, opaque and time-consuming process. I've gone through it on a minor scale in order to take on a lease and build out a building for South Loop Strength & Conditioning - but my good friend John Friel is currently in the process of attempting to raise venture capital for his start-up Art in Res. Venture capital is a whole different animal, so we discussed the process of applying to Y Combinator, understanding the various incentives of different investors, the obstacles to the hypergrowth that the venture capital model demands and...
2019-10-071h 04Todd Nief's ShowJason Leydon (Conquer Athlete | CrossFit Milford)Jason Leydon is an elite-level CrossFit coach - and, much like myself, a continuing education junkie. I'd been looking forward to this conversation, since Jason is not just very successful in his ability to develop athletes, but also very self-aware about his process and how he's developed his knowledge and his methods. Jason is the real deal, and he can articulate exactly what he's doing and why he's doing it. In this conversation, we don't just hit the nitty gritty details of developing athletes (although there is some of that). We spend a lot of time on Jason's process...
2019-09-2354 minTodd Nief's ShowShelby Lermo (Vastum | Ulthar)Shelby Lermo plays guitar for Vasum and Ulthar, and used to oversee the tangled web of death metal, interviews and conspiracy theories that was Illogical Contraption. This conversation was a real pleasure for me, since I've known Shelby as an "online friend" for probably close to a decade, and have long admired his work from afar. For those concerned with the stagnation of the extreme metal underground, we discuss possible iterations on the form of death metal outside of the contemporary postmodern juxtaposition of seemingly disparate genres or the rehashing of the past through "old school death metal."...
2019-09-091h 12Todd Nief's ShowJake Rhodes (BearKomplex) & Jason Yule (Boxstar Apparel)We've got Jake Rhodes from BearKompleX and Jason Yule from Boxstar Apparel and Harbor Park CrossFit on the podcast. I met both of these fellows when they exhibited at the inaugural South Loop Games in 2016. This episode isn't just for CrossFit geeks, since we dig into the ways that Jake and Jason think about building a market for their businesses in a complicated and dynamic fitness landscape. The nuances of balancing promoting competitive CrossFit and whether that detracts from the mission of health and wellness is tricky to unpack, and Jason and Jake have some interesting perspectives from...
2019-08-261h 20Todd Nief's ShowScott Young (Author of Ultralearning)Scott Young is a prolific blogger and the author of Ultralearning. Scott first gained notoriety on the internet for his MIT Challenge - where he completed the entire MIT computer science curriculum in less than a year. He has also documented his projects in language learning (going a year without English and learning four languages), portrait sketching, and quantum mechanics. As someone who often attempts to learn things on my own (with varying degrees of success), and who also spends a lot of time trying to teach things to others (both clients and coaches) - I've found the...
2019-08-121h 17Todd Nief's ShowBen Dziwulski (WODprep)Ben Dziwulski is the founder of WODprep, where he and his team of coaches teach CrossFit athletes the fundamentals of advanced skills. Ben has helped thousands of people learn new skills and built an impressive online business in the process. This episode is not just about CrossFit, but about foundational principles of teaching, asking probing questions, and deeply understanding what people want in order to better serve them and help them reach their goals. Check out more from Ben and WODprep here: Website: www.wodprep.com Instagram: @wodprep YouTube: @wodprep ...
2019-07-291h 03Todd Nief's ShowTony Gentilcore (CORE Fitness)Tony Gentilcore is a strength coach, the owner of CORE Fitness, and a co-founder of Cressey Sports Performance. Tony has been creating strength & conditioning content on the internet for ages that is both deeply insightful from a movement and biomechanics perspective, as well as hilarious and full of nerd references. Tony is an expert on both movement assessment and designing long-term, progressive training programs for both sport specific athletes and every day folks looking to live long and prosper. Check out more from Tony here: Website: https://tonygentilcore.com/ Instagram: @tonygentilcore Strong Body, Strong...
2019-07-151h 11Todd Nief's ShowAustin O'Neal & Megan Benzik (Live ATOP Coaching)Austin O'Neal and Megan Benzik return for a round two on the podcast - although it's a round three for Megan. They moved into a van last summer, but they wouldn't consider themselves minimalists. Instead, their decision was based upon a desire for freedom and has given them perspective on the dangers of hyper-intention and outcome-dependence in competitive CrossFit. They have also recently launched their own coaching business, called Live ATOP coaching. Check out more from Austin & Megan here: Website: www.liveatopcoaching.com Instagram: @atoneal_liveatopcoach | @megbenz_liveatopcoach | @live_atop_coaching ...
2019-07-011h 05Todd Nief's ShowChelsea TroyChelsea Troy is a self-taught and informally educated software engineer and data scientist who also specializes in machine learning. Chelsea also blogs regularly at www.chelseatroy.com. In this conversation, we discuss the process of self-educating in a variety of software-related disciplines, the state of machine learning and whether or not its going to swallow our society, and how technology companies can improve diversity in their workforces - both in terms of tangible actions for employees and managers as well as higher-level organizational changes. Check out more from Chelsea here: Instagram: @misschelseatroy Website: www...
2019-06-171h 29Todd Nief's ShowSurvivorship Bias & Bad AdvicePeople enjoy listening to successful people explain how they were able to achieve the things that they've accomplished. (I should know, I often interview them). Unfortunately, a lot of advice from successful people is absolutely terrible. It fails to take into account the thousands and thousands of other people who "dedicated their life to their passion," "sacrificed everything to make themselves better," "did a great job and focused on their product," and "pushed themselves to work harder every day." When we only focus on those who made it, this is called "survivorship bias" and it leads to some...
2019-05-3140 minTodd Nief's ShowMarcus Filly (Revival Strength)Marcus Filly is the owner of Revival Strength and Revive-Rx, as well as a multiple time CrossFit Games athlete. Marcus has popularized the concept of Functional Bodybuilding and a more measured approach to intensity in fitness training - especially for people whose goal is to look good, feel good and move well (not necessarily compete at a high level). Marcus is a highly analytical individual, and we discuss finding the balance between being systematic and going with the flow, creating content for yourself and creating content for an audience, and many hilarious stories from training with Danny Nichols...
2019-05-171h 11Todd Nief's ShowOrion Melehan (LIFEAID)Orion Melehan is the co-founder and CEO of LIFEAID - known throughout the CrossFit community for the bubbly delights stored in gym fridges across the land. Orion and I discuss the trade-offs of rapidly scaling a growing business, how to understand proper sequencing in terms of when it's appropriate to take certain actions in business, and how LIFEAID plans to stay true to their mission as they expand outside of the fitness subculture into more mainstream markets in grocery stores. Orion also has a background as a house DJ, which allows for a bit of digging deep into...
2019-05-031h 10Todd Nief's ShowSocratic QuestioningAh yes, the delightful process of asking obnoxious leading questions. What could be more fulfilling? Well, it turns out that - in order to teach the complex reasoning necessary for something like coaching, simply receiving complicated, theoretical lectures is not enough. Nor is it enough to have a ton of real-life experience. The best bounce back and forth between abstraction and reality and build complicated models of how the world works. And, in order to teach others to do this (like, say, employees at a CrossFit gym), it's not enough to just lecture at them. Instead, you must engage...
2019-04-1933 minTodd Nief's ShowJames FitzGerald (OPEX)James FitzGerald is the founder and president of OPEX and an all around systematic thinker and pattern matcher who has developed some pretty impressive insights into what makes people successful in mixed modal fitness. He's applied this insight into winning the CrossFit Games himself in 2007, coaching multiple other CrossFit Games athletes through OPEX and Big Dawgs, and developing continuing education through the OPEX CCP and the more recent Mixed Modal course. In this conversation, I wanted to dig into how James systemizes his thoughts and updates his mental models based upon experiences and new information - and how...
2019-04-051h 31Todd Nief's ShowHeather Gabel & Seth Sher (HIDE)"I just want to make heavy brutal shit that makes people feel anything at all." My friends Heather and Seth play in a band called HIDE that - in addition to offering a disorienting and bludgeoning live experience - creates pulsing, lurching soundscapes that I think are some of the best sounds to come out of Chicago of late. Their 2018 debut full length is called "Castration Anxiety," and I think it's fantastic - so I got them on the podcast to talk about it - as well as the relationships in behavior between repeatedly watching funny YouTube...
2019-03-221h 25Todd Nief's ShowJim Crowell (OPEX)Jim Crowell is the CEO of OPEX. I first met Jim back in the OPT days at one the CCP certifications in Scottsdale - and now he's friggin' running the place. We talk about how to think about competition in the fitness industry (you're not just competing with other gyms offering similar services…), how to find the balance between creating systems and structure while still allowing for the creativity and craftsmanship of the coaching profession, and how to leverage tribalism in your target audience to create a marketing message that actually resonates. Check out more fr...
2019-03-081h 15Todd Nief's Show[Alpha Hippie Podcast #44] Mental Models & Death MetalI was recently a guest on my buddy Angelo's Alpha Hippie podcast. I got some good feedback on the interview, so I figured I'd share here with all of you as well since you seemingly have some interest in what I have to say. You can check out more from Angelo here: www.alphahippiepodcast.com iTunes @thealphahippie
2019-03-011h 21Todd Nief's ShowMichael Cazayoux (Working Against Gravity//Brute Strength)Michael Cazayoux – co-founder of Brute Strength and host of its eponymous podcast, president of Working Against Gravity, and 2012 and 2013 CrossFit Games Champion as part of Hack's Pack – joins the podcast to discuss his thoughts on developing a robust and resilient mindset. Mindset is a hot topic with a lot of fluffy content, but Michael explains both his personal experiences through rehab from addiction and therapy as well as the steps that he is taking to internally develop the Working Against Gravity staff. Check out more from Michael here:Instagram: @michaelcazayoux//@workingagainstgravity//@brute.strengthWebsite: www.brut...
2019-02-221h 07Todd Nief's ShowFriel + Todd on Healthy Longevity and Training for People who Don't Care About ExerciseWe're trying something different on the podcast this time - this time, I'm pseudo-interviewed by my childhood best friend John Friel. John is not the most fitness-inclined individual, so we thought it would be interesting to have a discussion on why someone like him (a self-taught programmer working on an art marketplace start-up called Art in Res) would care about training - and we engage in a bit of conversational sparring that we've honed over decades of arguing with each other about ideas. Check out more from John here:Instagram: @art_in_resWebsite...
2019-02-081h 31Todd Nief's ShowPhil Mansfield (RedPill Training)This is a cross-post from the Legion Strength & Conditioning podcast - where we get much more into the weeds with CrossFit coaching and competition. Figured this may be interesting to some of the folks here, so bringing this across the divide Phil Mansfield is a multi-disciplinary coach with a history competing and/or coaching in rugby, cycling, swimming, triathlon and more. In the CrossFit world, he is best known as the coach to multi-time CrossFit Games podium finisher Sara Sigmundsdottir. We got up early - well, early for me (Phil's internal clock was still on...
2019-02-0459 minTodd Nief's ShowJustin LoFranco (Morning Chalk Up)Justin LoFranco is the founder of the Morning Chalk Up - a daily CrossFit newsletter with many, many thousands of subscribers. Justin has an extensive background in political campaign work - and was able to use his insight and know-how to deliver long-form, text-based content to CrossFitters when everything else seems to be moving in the direction of short, controversial videos. Check out more from Justin and the Morning Chalk Up here:Instagram: @jaylowone//@morningchalkupWebsite: www.morningchalkup.comFacebook: @morningchalkupYouTube: @morningchalkup If you're enjoying the show, the best way to support it is...
2019-01-2558 minTodd Nief's ShowMike Hranica (The Devil Wears Prada//God Alone)Most musicians in the world toil in obscurity - hoping that anyone at all will find and resonate with their music. For those select few who do achieve some level of success via their music, they quickly become part of a machine focused on touring, album cycles, support acts, and management companies. So, for the established artist, they long to be creative without restrictions and baggage from expectations from their fans and the music business that sustains them. I discuss this dichotomy with Mike Hranica, the lead vocalist ("screamer" lol) from The Devil Wears...
2019-01-111h 48Todd Nief's ShowAsk Me Anything #1Here it is...at long last. My first ask me anything episode! I put out a call for some questions on the e-mail list, and got some pretty good responses.I picked three to discuss in detail...then I started recording without plugging my computer in or checking my battery so I only got through two before I started getting warnings about my dying battery.So, we get two questions in about 40 minutes. Hopefully that is in alignment with the level of detail you have come to expect from me.Here's...
2018-12-2843 minTodd Nief's ShowDanny Lopez-Calleja (CrossFit Soul//Wodapalooza)You know when you're walking through the airport wearing a CrossFit shirt and you see someone else in a CrossFit shirt? Or when you're going about your business at the grocery store wearing a Morbid Angel shirt, and someone down the aisle has an Incantation shirt on? Well, maybe you don't know that feeling of t-shirt related camaraderie and acknowledgement, but rest assured that I do. As we discuss in this interview, Danny and I are often the two guys at CrossFit related events wearing punk or metal apparel. When Danny told me that...
2018-12-141h 14Todd Nief's ShowJosh James (Stick to Your Guns//Eighteen Visions)Given that Josh has already told the tales of being kidnapped in Egypt and playing one of the first shows that an American hardcore band in Kenya has played, I was worried that he might not have any stories left for me when he agreed to do this interview. Never fear. Josh delivers the goods - and this is probably the hardest I've laughed during any podcast that I've recorded. Josh has been a full-time touring musician with bands like Evergreen Terrace, Casey Jones, Stick to Your Guns and Eighteen Visions for many, many...
2018-11-301h 04Todd Nief's ShowKristin Miller (CrossFit Mayhem)This is a cross-post from the Legion Strength & Conditioning podcast. If you want some more detailed information on training, make sure to subscribe to that pod as well on iTunes as the "Legion Strength & Conditioning" podcast. Now, for the standard show notes: Jon and I both worked with Kristin during the NPGL's amateur GRID tournament - remember GRID? We put together a team of misfits and went out to LA to compete, and we actually did pretty well. We took second overall, which meant that we got an automatic bid...
2018-11-1656 minTodd Nief's ShowBerkeley Dietvorst, PhD (University of Chicago)Even though we live in an era of "big data" and huge amounts of our internet usage and content consumption are governed by algorithms (Facebook's newsfeed, YouTube's related videos, Google's predictive search, the advertising we're served online, etc.), many people don't trust algorithms when they're presented with the opportunity to use them in their own decision-making. Berkeley Dietvorst thinks this results in people making a lot of very foolish decisions, and wasting a lot of time, money, and effort. So, he's been researching the concept of "algorithm aversion" for several years and he's published several highly...
2018-11-091h 17Todd Nief's ShowBrian Blake (Real Friends)Many people dream of achieving success - thinking that once they achieve at a certain level that they will be happy. Tara Brach calls this "If Only Mind." If only I got that promotion...If only we hadn't broken up...If only I made this much money...then I would be happy. My friend Brian Blake plays drums for a band called Real Friends that has achieved a level of success that most bands only dream of. Headlining tours across the country, prime billing at the Vans Warped Tour (RIP), and millions of streams on their...
2018-10-261h 44Todd Nief's ShowAdrian Bozman (Head Judge of the CrossFit Games)Anyone who obsessively consumed everything in the CrossFit Journal from 2008-2014 learned a lot from Boz. Here's Boz explaining what to say when a member is concerned about their knees when squatting below parallel. Here's Boz talking to Tony Budding. And here's an in-depth profile that introduced the CrossFit community to Acid Witch (I'm sure they sold a ton of records from this). Well, hopefully we can add to the Boz canon with this interview. Check out more from Adrian here: Instagram: @apbozman//@tuxedo_social_club
2018-10-121h 21Todd Nief's ShowMike McGoldrick (Training Think Tank)You certain wouldn't accuse Mike McGoldrick of having an over-bearing sense of bravado, but he has achieved a trifecta of fitness business success that few other folks can match.You certain wouldn't accuse Mike McGoldrick of having an over-bearing sense of bravado, but he has achieved a trifecta of fitness business success that few other folks can match. In 2013, he competed individually as a competitor at the CrossFit Games. In 2016, he hosted Barbell Shrugged (one of the most popular podcasts in the health and fitness space) for a year. And, he's also a coach at one of the...
2018-09-281h 13Todd Nief's ShowMegan Benzik on Testing PositiveEarlier this year, Megan Benzik was selected for a drug test at the South Regional. Weeks later - if not months - CrossFit HQ released a statement that she had tested positive for several banned substances. I immediately started getting texts since I had coached Megan for 2016 and 2017 season (so I can't imagine how many messages she was getting). Megan made an Instagram post explaining that she was taking both Vyvanse (a prescription ADD medication) as well as Anavar (a steroid) - and that the Anavar was likely contaminated with the other banned substances...
2018-09-181h 18Todd Nief's ShowShawn Knight (Child Bite//Berserker Fest)Some people seem to have an insatiable, irrepressible, uncontainable urge and desire to create.Some people seem to have an insatiable, irrepressible, uncontainable urge and desire to create. My friend Shawn fits into that category. We spend some time discussing where that urge comes from, but the reality is that neither of us really knows. But something is certainly driving Shawn, since he's on tour all the time with Child Bite, puts on an annual festival in Detroit, organizes Samhain tribute compilations, designs tour posters and album artwork, and works a graphic design job in corporate America.
2018-08-301h 14Todd Nief's ShowBrady Cable & Brandon Senn (Kabuki Strength)The folks at Kabuki Strength spend a lot of time getting people to roll around on the ground like babies. And I like that. I recently attended the Kabuki Movement Systems course, and I found it to be quite valuable - and I also really enjoy going to courses outside of my comfort zone (I am definitely not a powerlifter). I've done a lot of similar continuing education as the Kabuki folks in the physical therapy realm, so seeing how they apply their takeaways to their sport as illuminating. And, we of course got to discuss and jo...
2018-08-171h 12Todd Nief's ShowRon Petzke (Bongripper)My friend Ron has a long history of being in bands with ridiculous names that become popular.My friend Ron has a long history of being in bands with ridiculous names that become popular. We've got Weekend Nachos. We've got Bongripper. There's something to be said for the idea of making yourself laugh in your creative work - and sometimes that strikes a nerve with other people as well. In fact, when I was standing outside of the Metro for Bongripper's recent show, there was a Jimmy Buffett concert at Wrigley Field just down the street.
2018-07-301h 14Todd Nief's ShowMichele Fumagalli (2018 Individual CrossFit Games Athlete)Michele Fumagalli just missed the CrossFit Games in 2015, and decided that she would be back in 2016. But, life got in the way, and she discovered she was pregnant leading into the 2016 Open. When she didn't qualify for Regionals in 2017 after getting back into training, she thought that her CrossFit dream was over. However, she locked down a 4th place finish in one of the more competitive regionals out there securing her spot to the 2018 CrossFit Games as an individual athlete. How was Michele able to qualify for the Games after having nearly given up on her...
2018-07-121h 08Todd Nief's ShowLindsey Love Jenks (Macrostax)Lindsey Love Jenks used to coach over 100 individuals on their nutrition. But, she realized there was a much larger market for something in between the individualized nutrition coaching she was offering and impersonal, unadaptable templates. Lindsey spent a summer training at South Loop Strength & Conditioning in 2016 and - since then - has built and grown Macrostax in an impressive fashion. Macrostax offers customized macronutrient prescriptions, as well as a meal generator feature. But, I was mostly interested in learning how Lindsey handles the psychological foibles of the individuals who are using the app...
2018-06-2559 minTodd Nief's ShowDebra Giunta (Design Dance)I went to a party at Debra's dance studio to celebrate that it was full of toxic mold and that it was shutting down. That could have been the end of Design Dance, but - after getting fired from a call center that "a dog could work at" - Debra decided to start calling schools to see if they needed an after school dance instructor. 10 years later, Design Dance isn't the studio she originally envisioned. Instead, they run after school programs teaching dance all throughout the Chicagoland area. And Debra...
2018-06-071h 08Todd Nief's ShowMike Lee (OPEX)Mike Lee is the Director of Coaching at OPEX - and he's worked with some pretty big names in the competitive CrossFit community like Tennil Reed, Marcus Filly and Amanda Goodman. I met Mike at one of the OPEX CCP Level 2 courses a few years back, and - since then - he's gone on to take over the coaching of most of the competitive athletes in OPEX's system. This year, OPEX has also brought several sponsored athletes onsite to train at their HQ in Scottsdale, Arizona (which we discussed in this previous podcast with Megan...
2018-05-161h 15Todd Nief's ShowThe Micro-Skills of CoachingAny complicated, multi-layered skill is made up of potentially dozens of other "micro-skills" - and coaching is no different. It's not enough to have book knowledge of energy systems progressions. It's not enough to have an eagle eye for movement flaws and an over-flowing toolbox of ways to correct them. Nor is it enough to be charismatic and engaging with clients. The intersection of these skills - as well as plenty of others - are what defines a great coach. In this solo effort...
2018-04-2352 minTodd Nief's ShowDaniel Shea"Actually choosing to try to be an artist as a terrible idea. Nobody should do it. It's really fucking stupid. It's like one of the stupidest things you could do with your life. And it's really hard. And you're an idiot if you think it's a good idea, or that it's going to be easy." Well, I guess it's kind of sad that my friend Daniel decided to ruin his life through art. You've probably seen Daniel's photographs, although you may not realize it. He's done plenty of high profile journalistic and commercial work - most notably photographing Barack...
2018-04-121h 36Todd Nief's ShowCal Wysocki (Fulcrum Education Solutions)Cal Wysocki is the founder of Fulcrum Education Solutions, a company dedicated to improving the quality of instruction in our schools. In this discussion with Cal, we focus on the strategies and tactics that he uses to elevate the processes by which schools improve their own teachers. This is not a simple discussion of a few "quick tips." Instead, Cal is thinking in multi-year processes surrounding building trust with staff, getting quick wins for teachers in the classroom, building trust with students, developing consistency in order to change the dynamic of feedback in a school's c...
2018-03-221h 21Todd Nief's ShowCarleen Matthews (3x CrossFit Games Athlete) Carleen Matthews is a multiple time individual CrossFit Games competitor. It's always interesting to hear how people competing at the highest level in a sport think and operate on a daily basis - but Carleen's story has another layer. She has a history of addiction as well as eating disorder, and this gives her insight into the mental battles people fight underneath the surface that we don't always see. Carleen owns and operates CrossFit St. Helens in Oregon, and also runs a program out of her affiliate specifically for people who are on the...
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The Airborne Mind Show#78 - Universal Strategies For Business Success In Fitness w/ Todd NiefIn today’s episode, we have Todd Nief. He is the owner of South Loop SC and the coach of multiple CrossFit Games athletes. He has been featured by Men's Fitness, WGN Radio, and NBC Chicago among others.We dig into how to get the message out to more people to grow onsite membership and also grow the remote membership, manage struggles, and significantly more.Show Notes:(05:42): Background of Todd(10:45): Unexpected turns in building South Loop SC(19:18): Communicating with clients(26:28): Beginning of success(30:23): Managing different struggles(35:38): Social media misconceptions(54:00): Entering pod...
2018-03-021h 03Todd Nief's ShowJames Pligge (Harm's Way)You may think that James is an intimidating and frightening man. But, it turns out that he is one of the weirdest and funniest people I know. Check out this discussion to learn about James's long-standing fascination with Fear Factory, the process of stealing riffs for Harm's Way songs, and how he trains for powerlifting while injured and on tour. Check out more from James and Harm's way Instagram: @harmsway13 Facebook: @harmsxway Bandcamp: @harmswayband Website: www.harmsway13.com Video for "Become a Machine": Show Notes [2:15] Being recognized by students while substitute...
2018-02-201h 31Todd Nief's ShowAustin O'Neal & Megan Benzik (OPEX Athlete)Austin and Megan have both spent significant amounts of time at South Loop Strength & Conditioning as both athletes and coaches, and - last year after competing at the Central Regional - they've moved out to Scottsdale, Arizona to be part of OPEX's sponsored athlete program. The goal of this program is to allow athletes to train full-time - and not have to worry about coaching classes, working a day job, or running from gym to gym throughout the day. Getting better in training is all about maximizing your ability to respond and adapt to stressors - which...
2018-02-121h 02Todd Nief's ShowAngelo Sisco (O'Hare CrossFit)"An alpha hippie is a tree-hugger who can rip out the tree and smash you with it, too." Angelo has built O'Hare CrossFit into a thriving business, which is much, much harder than it seems in this market, and he was also head of coaching for Barbell Business/Barbell Logic - which means he was overseeing the coaching for 100s of gyms. Check out this conversation to learn what bizarre depths Angelo will sink to in order to keep learning, how he finds mentors, how he changed how he changed his on mindset...
2018-01-111h 03Todd Nief's ShowTask Management and Prioritization - A Soliloquy on Getting Things Done I recently re-read Getting Things Done as part of my obligations for a book club that includes my business partners at South Loop Strength & Conditioning, and I realized I had gotten sloppy with a few key areas and I had simply failed to implement others. Also, my life as a business owner has put me in a situation where I will always have a never-ending to-do list - which is a totally different psychological space than a person working a part-time job and spending a lot of time working on music (which was my life...
2017-12-3131 minTodd Nief's ShowMisbah Haque (The Airborne Mind)Misbah Haque runs a really great podcast called The Airborne Mind. We discuss being overly analytical and potentially socially awkward, the process of connecting with influencers even when you have "nothing to offer," and creating narrative and story through interviews and conversations. Check out Misbah and The Airborne Mind here: Website: The Airborne Mind Instagram: @airbornemind Facebook: @airbornemind iTunes: The Airborne Mind Show Recommended episodes of The Airborne Mind: #63 – Inside The Mind W/ James FitzGerald #60 – Functional Bodybuilding, Aerobic Development, And Individual Design W/ Marcus Filly #23 – Behind The Scenes: Pimpin Aint Easy W/ CTP Resour...
2017-12-131h 13Todd Nief's ShowStefanie Cohen (Hybrid Performance Method)Stefi used to be the weightlifting coach at South Loop Strength & Conditioning, and his since gone on to set world records in powerlifting while working towards a doctorate in physical therapy at the University of Miami. We discuss screaming at walls as a childhood Scientologist, autoregulation in training, and holding onto perceived slights to motivate yourself in training. Check out Stefi and Hybrid Performance Method here: Website: Hybrid Performance Method Instagram: @steficohen // @hybridperformancemethod // @hybridperformancemethodgym
2017-11-271h 06Todd Nief's ShowDylan Walker (Full of Hell)Dylan Walker from Full of Hell chats about spooky childhood stories, the in-group signaling of grindcore freaks, how to maintain a creative vision, and tells tales of the Cavaleras.
2017-11-101h 36Todd Nief's ShowRehab Principles in Performance-Based AthletesFlying solo this time to discuss how performance-based athletes and coaches can benefit from an understanding of rehab principles - without diving into a sketchy rabbit hole of telling people that you're going to fix their pain or being over-protective and telling athletes they can't ever do anything if their form is not 100% perfect.
2017-10-2614 minTodd Nief's ShowJason Phillips: Macros, Certifications, and MentorshipJason Phillips comes on to talk about how to manage stress and training in athletes relative to their nutrition prescription, what to do when someone doesn't want to count their macros, and how to grow your business to the point that you're personally overwhelmed with clients - and then how to replace yourself when you reach that point.
2017-09-271h 00Todd Nief's ShowStephan Guyenet, PhD – Author of The Hungry BrainThere's been a culture war raging for decades - high carbohydrate diets vs high fat diets, paleo diets vs vegan diets, people tracking all of their food in apps while others shout that "calories don't matter," and a bunch of people off in the corner sipping exogenous ketones. Stephan Guyenet is a neuroscientist and researcher who wrote "The Hungry Brain" on how our brain regulates are appetitie.
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