If you are not familiar with the performance and health benefits of Sauna's, then you will want to give this episode a listen. Sisu Sauna Co-Founder, Peter Nelson not only has a wealth of knowledge to share on the subject, but he is also an excellent case study for the Sauna's ability to assist in recovery and performance enhancement. Peter just wo…

If you weren't a gymnast growing up, then you might feel like getting a pull-up as an adult is impossible. We have proof that is a lie! Listen in as we discuss the tools and mindset necessary to get yourself above that bar. And WHY being able to do a pull-up is important for everyone, not just competitive athletes. Most importantly, we talk about h…

Is the healthcare system doing its best to keep people healthy, or is it more about taking reactionary measures once you are already sick? Dr. Matt Dawson is the founder of Wild Health, a precision medicine company that provides medical services and lifestyle coaching aimed at preventing sickness from taking hold. Working with patients to understan…

Sean has done it all. He was a professional snowboarder, was the Director of Sports Marketing at DC Shoes, started his own supplement company, and has made it his life's mission to carry on the memory and legacy of his best friend Glen "Bub" Doherty, who the CrossFit Hero workout "Glen" is named in honor of. Sean is an incredible guy with an awesom…

Everyone seems to have a differing opinion when it comes to the squat stance and what is optimal. Not surprisingly, you will find that our opinion is that...it depends. With that in mind, we do have some guiding principles and rationale that support what we coach our athletes to do, depending on their goals and application. Listen in as Head Weight…

We just returned from our 21st Power Monkey Camp in the beautiful woods of Tennessee with a whole new crop of campers, and as expected...it was amazing! We have two of our coaches from camp, Emily Bridgers and Darnell Hardy, on the podcast to chat about some of the new things that we have incorporated into the week. Some of them include hypertrophy…

How often should you be Training vs Competing? It seems that most of the time when we are in the gym, we see people competing with the person in the lane next to them. But is this the best way to grow and improve as an athlete? Of course the element of competition is important, and can lead to incredible moments, but how often should you be doing i…

This is a somewhat polarizing topic within the functional fitness space. We posted about it recently on our social media and got a large response from both sides of the aisle. So we figured it would be a worthwhile topic to spend a little more time on. Where do you come in on this matter, and what are your reasons? We would love to hear from you. •…

Our guest is Dr. Craig Heller, a professor of Biological Sciences and Human Biology at Stanford University. Dr. Heller made an incredible discovery several years ago surrounding the mechanism that drives fatigue and limits physical performance. Since then he has developed a tool that has allowed professional athletes, special operation soldiers, an…

Alethea Boon has one of the most impressive athletic careers of any guest on the show. She is a 5-time CrossFit Games athlete, she competed at the Commonwealth Games for her native country of New Zealand 3 times, both in the spot of gymnastics as well as the sport of weightlifting. She competed in gymnastics for Bringham Young University, and now s…

Jason Khalipa has done it all. He has been a CrossFit Games Champion, he operates an international fitness company, he competes in the Tactical Games, and Jiu Jitsu tournaments, he is a father, and he has faced no shortage of personal adversity. The list goes on, but you get the point. He is experienced, and he is successful. But how? Listen in as …

In this episode we ask the question: "Should You Be Kipping Your Pull-Up?". We posted about this recently on our social media and had some great discussions with many of our followers. This has been a long-debated topic within the world of CrossFit and Functional Fitness. We feel strongly about the points made throughout this discussion, some of wh…

On today's episode, we have a return guest, Dr. Andy Galpin. Andy is a tenured professor at Cal State Fullerton. He is the co-director of the Center of Sport Performance and the founder and director of the Biochemistry and Molecular Exercise Physiology Lab. He is a human performance scientist with a Ph.D. in human bioenergetics and has written over…

Our guest today is coach to the Fittest Man on Earth! Her name is Caroline Lambray, and she is here to discuss strategies going into the final week of the CrossFit Open. Not only does Caroline coach the Fittest on Earth, but she owns and coaches at CrossFit Wonderland. And today she is going to help give some tips for the everyday CrossFitter, taki…

Our guest today is the always impressive, multi-time CrossFit Games athlete and legend, Annie Sakamoto. Last week, Annie was on the live stream for CrossFit going over strategy and tips for those watching the announcement of 24.1. Today, we have the privilege of discussing insight, strategy and tips with Annie on how you, the everyday athlete shoul…

The 2024 CrossFit Open is here and with that we would like to discuss the very first workout and give actionable tips and strategy to the everyday athlete. What we all watched on TV with the Games Athletes performing this workout is most likely NOT what it will look like for the majority of us. To help us break down the workout and develop a game p…

It's commonplace to say that someone is kind and has a great energy about them...but in the case of our guest today Fee Saghafi, that can't be overstated enough. Fee is truly a source of joy and light wherever she goes, and we are certain that point will come across over the course of this episode. Fee is a multi-time CrossFit Games athlete. She th…

Our guest today is CrossFit athlete Alison Scudds. Alison's ultimate goal within the sport of CrossFit is to qualify for and compete as an individual at the CrossFit Games. This pursuit has led her to shift gears and her approach to some of her training. Specifically that of olympic weightlifting, which she has generally excelled, however now she h…

In another addition of a movement focused podcast, we welcome our good friend Chris Gatti to the show. Chris is a former collegiate gymnast who went on become an incredible circus performer with Cirque Du Soleil and eventually one of the best hand balancers in the world. Today, when not focused on his own training, Chris is a highly sought after ha…

Our guest today is Steph Mireles, who you may be more familiar with as Steph Chung. Steph was a CrossFit Games athlete who has recently made the shift into the medical world beginning a career in Boston as a Physicians Assistant. We discuss what that change in lifestyle and training has been like as well what she believes can change in the healthca…

We figured that after more than 200 episodes of the podcast that it was time to give a bit more insight into the founder and leader of Power Monkey Fitness. Today we chat with Dave Durante. Starting with his earliest exposure to gymnastics in Garwood New Jersey, all the way up through his time competing at Stanford and onto the 2008 Olympic Games. …

On today's movement focused episode, we welcome 3 time US Olympian, Olympic Bronze medalist, and World Record Holder: Cheryl Haworth to debate the benefits and limitations of the Split Jerk vs Squat Jerk with our very own weightlifting head coach and National Team Member Mike Cerbus. We hope that you enjoy this episode format, as we intend to bring…

Our guest today is Evan Slaughter, more commonly know by his social media handle on Instagram and TikTok as: Fit2Serve1. Evan has an interesting story, having formerly been quite fit and competitive, but after being injured on a tour in Iraq and developing an opiate addition he slid into a pretty dark place. After getting clean, Evan has reignited …

Today's "movement focused" episode revolves around the skill of spotting. We believe that this truly is a skill that is all too often discredited or overlooked outright. As a coach, having the ability to spot someone correctly serves many purposes. Obviously creating a safe environment is primary, but even at higher levels, the ability to spot an a…

Bo has an incredible resume. Dave originally met Bo when he was a Strength Coach for a huge variety of sports at the US Olympic Training Center. Since then, Bo has been the Director of Strength and Conditioning at the UFC, the Assistant Director of Strength and Conditioning at the University of Michigan, and he is Currently the Assistant Athletic D…

For our 200th episode, we brought on one of the OG's of CrossFit. Dave Lipson was a multi-time Games Athlete, a professional baseball player, and a long time member of the prestigious CrossFit Seminar Staff. Dave is an absolute wealth of knowledge when it comes to fitness and performance. Most recently, Dave has taken his years of experience and di…

Today we welcome Pat Vellner back to the show for his second time. Pat had an incredible season this year, winning WZA on a team, being crowned the Second Fittest Man on Earth at the Games, and most recently winning the Rogue Invitational. We love having Pat on the show, he is fun to chat with and always speaks with passion and excitement about wha…

As we prepare for the launch of our newest program in the Power Monkey Training App, Handstand Walking - Advanced, we decided to take an episode and pick the brain of our Captain and the creator of the plan, Dave Durante. Dave goes into depth regarding what the new plan entails, and what you will get out of it. Specifically, this plan will take an …

We welcome back today one of our favorite people, and wealth of knowledge when it comes to the nutritional sciences: Dr. Mike Molloy, owner and founder of M2 Performance Nutrition. Today we had a very specific topic that we wanted to discuss with Dr. Mike. Training for Performance vs. Longevity. Recently we have become more and more interested in w…

Megan was a world class athlete in maybe one of the most insane sports there is. Imagine flying head first down a sheet of ice at speeds of up to 80 MPH, on essentially a baking tray. That is the sport of Skelton, and Megan was one of the best in the world at it. There is no surprise that it takes a special mindset to subject yourself to such risk,…

We are excited to welcome our friend, Dr. Julie Foucher onto the show. Julie, as many of you may know, had an incredible career as a CrossFit Games Athlete before she retired from the competition world and continued to pursue her medical career. Today she is a practicing physician of functional medicine within a direct primary care model at Wild He…

We recently had the pleasure of working with both Emma and Jack at a Power Monkey Course in their home town up in Canada. We already knew that both were incredible athletes, Emma having just been crowned the 2nd Fittest Woman on Earth at the 2023 CrossFit Games as an 18 year old, and Jack having put on a show winning the Olympic Total event, also a…

We enjoyed having Brian on the podcast so much last time, that we invited him to come out and spend a week with us at our Power Monkey Camp this past September. And surprise! We loved having him there as well! Brian specifically requested to come back on the podcast because he wanted to talk with us further about his experience at Camp just a few s…

Mark is the creator and head coach of "Enlifted", which gives coaches practical mindset tools to use with their clients. Mark focuses largely on how his clients use language to create the story that they want to live, and to attain their goals. Mark outlines a number of tools within this episode that you can start using right away to work towards r…

If you are like us, we are big fans of Cody Anderson. Not only is he an excellent person, but being on the smaller side when it comes to CrossFit Games Athletes, Cody is capable of simply incredible lifts. When he was competing at the Games, he was at a bodyweight of 150-160 and could Clean and Jerk 320lbs on top of being known as the "King of the …

We are lucky enough to welcome onto the podcast for a second time; Jeff Adler and Caroline Lambray. Except this time they join us as the Fittest Man on Earth, and Coach of the Fittest Man on Earth. Jeff and Caroline are long time friends who have become a part of our family after having attending Power Monkey Camp. Getting to speak with them again …

Today's guest is future US Olympic hopeful Sunny Choi. Sunny is looking to compete in the first ever appearance of Break Dancing in the Olympics next year in Paris. Having a background in gymnastics has helped Sunny to succeed in her new found sport, where she is the number one ranked female in the US, as well as a World Medalist. Sunny is an accom…

Today we welcome back on the show, Brent Fikowski. Brent is fresh off of his most recent appearance at the CrossFit Games, where he improved his previous years performance at the Games by 12 spots, finishing 4th this year. We talk about what changes Brent implemented over the past year in his training to result in such a large improvement at the Ga…

Last week, a team of 12 Monkeys (Great movie by the way), descended upon Portland Oregon to tackle a legendary 200-mile relay race from Mt. Hood to the beautiful Oregon coast. They ran straight through the night. There were laughs, there were tears, there were...moments of delirium. But all in all, what transpired was an incredible 36 hours of over…

Miguel is a fascinating athlete. His background was initially in gymnastics, where he was dominating. Eventually he grew tired of the rigid nature of the sport. Growing up in Brooklyn, Miquel found himself exposed to the world of Break-Dancing. With his foundation of gymnastics, he took to it and excelled immediately, earning him the nickname "Grav…

Michele is a good friend who we have been following within the CrossFit space since her days out on the competition floor as an athlete. Michele is a 6x CrossFit Games Athlete who has made the transition into the world of coaching, founding the programming company: Deka Comp. She was the first female CrossFit Games coach to break into the space, an…

In this special pop-up episode, we are intentionally limiting the discussion to 10 minutes. We are doing so to celebrate Dave's accomplishment of finally chasing down his 8 year goal of holding a 10 minute long freestanding handstand! And we couldn't be more proud of him. This comes after Dave finally decided to put a structured plan in place to ge…

Fresh off the 2023 CrossFit Games, we have John Singleton. Who not only had 3 individual athletes compete at the Games, but is also the head coach and founder of The Progrm. It was a pleasure getting to discuss all things "programming" and CrossFit competition with John, as he truly is one of the best minds in the space, and is clearly passionate a…

Fresh off the week of the 2023 CrossFit Games, we have Dave, Mike, and our good friend Jason Leydon, owner of CF Milford and Conquer Athlete, here to chat about how the event went down. Specifically we get into conversations around what we did and did not like about the programming, as well as breaking down some of the technical aspects of the new …

The 2023 CrossFit Games begins THIS week, and we are excited to have the man behind all of the event programming on to chat. Adrian Bozman is one of our favorites, and not just because he is incredibly talented at what he does, but he is also one of the best humans that we know. We are grateful that he took the time just before flying to Madison to…

Rika Geyser has been a part of Power Monkey and our Camps from very early on. Her list of accomplishments is vast within the rowing and fitness world. She is an Olympian, having competed in Beijing in 2008, she is a CrossFit Games Athlete, and after having rowed at the University of Washington, she was named as part of the "All-Century Team" for wo…

Justin is the head coach and founder of, Underdog Athletics. He is one of the most successful coaches in the competitive functional fitness world. In addition to coaching multiple teams and individuals to the CrossFit Games, including 3rd place finished Kari Pearce, Justin has won 2 championships in the GRID League, and is the Coach for the Nationa…

Today, we have the pleasure of sitting down with one of our favorites, Kari Pearce. Kari is a former CrossFit Games athlete, finishing as high as 3rd at the Games. Kari recently retired from competition, join us as we dive into Kari's post-competition journey, how she's adapting to a new chapter in her life, and her valuable insights for younger at…

Eric Hinman is a serial entrepreneur, fitness enthusiast, motivational speaker, and multi-time Kona Ironman. As an advocate for holistic well-being, Eric discusses the importance of maintaining a balanced lifestyle that encompasses physical, mental, and emotional well-being. As passionate as Eric is about his fitness endeavors, he is even more pass…

Today we welcome CrossFit Games multi time Masters Athlete Bruce Young on the podcast. Not only is Bruce and impressive athlete, but he is also an accomplished mental performance coach who definitely practices what he preaches. We have been lucky enough to have spent time with Bruce at our Power Monkey Camp and his attitude and approach to life and…