The Behavior of Fitness

One of the best parts of doing DVRT Ultimate Sandbag Training is the incredible people we get to meet! Having been fortunate enough to be apart of top fitness facilities in over 13 countries, we get to work with people that doing some pretty cool things in fitness. We thought to ourselves, “how come we aren’t sharing this information with you guys?!” So, we wanted to share with you the great coaches that are doing cool things not just with DVRT Ultimate Sandbag Training, but the fitness industry as well. 

A little over a year and a half ago we got to work with the very cool staff of Next Level and Fit In 42. We were so inspired with the work they were doing with clients that we wanted to share with you some of the great work they are doing and why we are excited to be a part of people changing fitness. Today is an interview with one of the founders, Casey Washack. 

Q: Casey, what made you guys develop the Fit In 42 Program?

CW: Great question. We all got in this industry to change lives. I felt like there were a couple things, a couple factors, that we couldn’t ignore anymore. The first one was that there were people in my gym who weren’t changing. I don’t think I’m alone in this, but I have a habit of focusing on not my successes, not the people who do great, but the people I couldn’t help. The people who, for whatever reason, didn’t change while under our roof. That lead us to start looking at what else did they need? Most of the time it’s more mindset and accountability, it had nothing to do with more exercise, but instead creating habits. The second factor was there’s a whole market that didn’t see us as an option. I know it happens to us a lot, but you’re out somewhere, and somebody knows you own a gym, and they’re like, “Oh I got to get in shape before I come see you guys.” That drives me nuts! 

For some reason they feel like we’re too advanced, and I think a lot of times that’s our own fault, because, especially with social media, we end up posting some really cool things that our clients do, without giving the back story. We’ll post a picture of a 65 year old woman dead lifting her body weight, or more, right? We fail to mention that 6 months earlier she couldn’t touch her toes, she always had chronic back pain, and now that’s all gone. In a way, we’re our own worst enemy. It was our thought process, “What if we created a program for people to get their mind right, create those habits, and so that they feel like they can work out at our gym afterwards?” Give them all the tools necessary they needed to be successful long term.

Q: Many people are skeptical of fitness quick fixes, how would you say Fit in 42 is different?

CW: We modeled Fit in 42 after the Betty Ford Center. If you’re not familiar with the Betty Ford Center, it’s a famous drug rehabilitation program. The thought process is not, let’s just beat you up, and do these unsustainable things to you for six weeks. The thought process instead is, how can I get you to change your lifestyle, and create new habits, so that this is a new lifestyle, and this lasts long term. We’re just taking 42 days to get you rolling, to get you immersed in this environment, with other people in very similar situations, all of them have decided, and committed, to changing. You’re in like a 12 step type program, with very similar people. They’ve all made the decision that they wanted a different life. Now it’s our job to deliver on that, and we have to first attack how they perceive things, how they look at fitness, how they look at nutrition, and what’s held them back in the past. Once we can overcome these obstacles, and they start seeing physical results, then want to do more. Our motto is, give us 42 days, and we’ll change your life. We didn’t say anything about losing fat,  but that’s a byproduct of creating these new habits.

Q: Is this something only extreme people can do, or does this fit anyone?

CW: We meet our clients where they’re at. We’ve had an NHL hockey player go through this program with his grandparents who were 77. We’ve had a 83 year old man working out right next to a top 10 collegiate tennis player. This is not an extreme program. It seems extreme because we put a 42 day time limit on it, but that’s because we want people to focus. We need to give them a deadline. You could do anything for 42 days, 6 weeks, a month and a half, however you look at it, but that’s not the goal. The goal is to create these habits that are going to last long term. It seems extreme because we want you to exercise, and do physical activity every day, but that’s what we recommend anyways. The thought process is, I would rather them get them into the habit of coming to my facility everyday.

You guys know, it’s not just hop in the car and drive. You have to mentally prepare for your workouts. You’re waking up, you’re getting ready, you’re thinking about other things you have to do for that day, but all while you’re mentally preparing to go do some sort of physical activity. Then when they show up at our facility, we meet them where they’re at, but they’re in a room together, all doing things at their own levels. Slowly and surely we progress them, until they’re doing things on week 6 that they never thought they can do.

Q: Have you been able to incorporate DVRT Ultimate Sandbag Training into Fit in 42?

CW: Absolutely. The DVRT system has really streamlined how we run Fit in 42. I know I’m preaching to the choir here, but it’s not just about sandbags. It’s about how you use an implement, and it’s how you position the implement on the body, that creates different progressions, and regression, and it really opens up your ability to coach a group of people on one simple exercise.

In the past, I would say that our main way of progressing an exercise was to increase the load. DVRT Ultimate Sandbag Training has changed that. There are so many variations I can use, and different positions on the body I can put the load, that it completely changes the exercise, and the intensity of the exercise, from individual to individual. 

Q: What type of results are you seeing from your clients?

CW: This is the awesome part of Fit in 42. We named it “Fit” because we all have a different perception on what “fit” is. We didn’t want to put ourselves in a “box” as far as what sort of person would sign up.  If you had to nail me down to an answer we average 15-18lbs of body fat loss in the 42 days. But to me that’s just the byproduct of creating habits. Since 2010 we have lost over 7 tons of fat running Fit in 42 in our town.  

I’m more proud of the fact that many of these people who graduate, go on to do some amazing things.  We’ve had people go on to compete in triathlons despite us never swimming in Fit in 42. We’ve had a ton of people join Spartan Races and other obstacle course races.  We’ve even had women go on to compete in bikini competitions. These women were once over 200 lbs and wouldn’t wear shorts because of how their legs looked. Now they are confident enough to stand on a stage in a bikini! I am extremely proud of these feats. Especially when you take into consideration that these same people have never worked out before or could never commit to exercise before. 

Q: How can people learn more about Fit In 42?

CW: We have a system on how we introduce Fit in 42 into new facilities. They can go to Fitin42.com, and fill out a form that will tell me a little more about their business. I then love to get on the phone with them, answer any questions they may have and if it is a good fit we have specific times of year we introduce Fit in 42 into new facilities.  Just like Fit in 42 for clients, we like to have groups of  new gyms run the program at the same time so they are all learning the system together.  

I would also suggest that they seek out, especially in DVRT community, some of the master trainers who are using this program in their facilities. Steve Di Tomaso and Kari  Negraiff,  Danny Twoguns, Chad and Anna Skrederstu are all using Fit in 42 in their facilities right now. Talk to them, and hear first hand how they’re incorporating it, and how they’re doing with it. Otherwise, please, go onto Fitin42.com, fill out a form, tell me a little more about your business, and then I’ll get on the phone with you, and find out more about your facility, and if this would be a right fit for you.