I am sitting here with my daughter Bailey taking a little afternoon rest, and I am reflecting upon the summer that has flashed before my eyes. Mash Elite Performance has evolved from a local business in Advance, NC into a national and international company helping thousands of people reach their desired goals. It has long been my passion to help athletes and adults achieve their athletic and fitness goals, but earlier this year I wanted to find a way to help more than just the people in my area. I didn’t want to be limited on the amount of lives that I could affect. Several opportunities have presented themselves to me that have allowed me to reach my goal.
The first thing that happened was Muscle Driver USA moved to Ft. Mills, SC, and for you that don’t know they had Jon North and Donnie Shankle two of the most animated and talented weightlifters in the country. I like thousands of others watched their videos, and what impressed me the most was the charisma and fire that these two athletes presented on camera. I was from an era in the 90s that followed the bar to the floor, and at most we gave a little golf clap. I never fully understood why we were so anti-climactic during our Personal Record attempts, but I didn’t want to rock the boat. Well these two lifters turned the boat upside down Brother! For the first time these guys were bar slamming, saluting, and getting people psyched about the sport that I have loved for years. Their coach Glenn Pendlay is one of the best programmers that I have ever met, so between Glenn, Donnie, and Jon I had to meet them. I got in my car and drove to Muscle Drive, and the rest is history. Glenn and I are friends, and one of the best lifters that I have ever trained Rebecca Gerdon is now on his team. They are a professional weightlifting team with tons of exposure, so it was in her best interest. Jon and I became friends right away, and I was blessed that he invited me to be a co-host on his Podcast “Weightlifting Talk”. Now thanks to Jon I have been baptized into the Attitude Nation Family, so immediately I have thousands on friends that are starving for information on the iron game. Now weekly I get to train with Jon and Donnie at the Attitude Nation Gym, get words of advice from Donnie, and rock the mike with Jon and our other host Ryan Grady (the world’s best Crossfit Coach). Check out Jon’s website www.theattitudenation.com, and I recommend becoming one the Nation. It is a family that lives the “Black Sheep” and “I Do What I Want” code!
Coach Joe Kenn is the Head Strength and Conditioning Coach for The Carolina Panthers, and arguably the best strength coach in the business. We have been friends for several years, but now I am blessed to have him workout in my facility when he is at his home in Clemmons, NC. We also got a chance to do a seminar together earlier this year, and I got to see him bring the heat with a group of high school linemen. The guy is the most passionate coach in the business. I am living a dream! Everyone in the business that I respect or look up to is either my friend, workout partner, or business partner. I can’t imagine anything that I would rather be doing. Check out Coach Kenn’s website at: www.bighousepower.com!
I now get to write for two guys in my industry that are absolutely turning things upside down with progressive ideas and programs: Greg Everett and Chad Wesley Smith. These two are strength coaches on the West Coast, and both have websites that bleed information. Chad is the owner of Juggernaut Strength, and his website is its www.jtsstrength.com. Greg owns Catalyst Athletics, and his website is www.catalystathletics.com. Both are amazing coaches and athletes, so naturally I admire both for practicing what they preach.
Two of my own Mash Elite family members Lyndsey and Greg Nuckols (Lyndsey notice your name first) were home for the summer, and this year we really changed MashElite for the better. Greg and Lyndsey are a huge part of the future of MashElite, and this year they showed me how bright that future really is. Greg (check out his blog at http://www.masheliteperformance.com/#!greg-nuckols/cj4s ) is one of the most brilliant Exercise Scientists in the world, and he comes up with mind blowing concepts. I help fine tune them for the general population, and Lyndsey brings them to life. They have already changed my entire website to be more user friendly, and they have simply made it a rich source of information for our fans. We have added events like the one going on this weekend “The Mash Extravaganza”, and a whole list of others. The Mash Extravaganza is a weekend of Olympic weightlifting, powerlifting, and strongman competition. Greg, Lyndsey, Rebecca, and Caleb Tilson are family members of Mash Elite took it upon themselves to put this great event together. It models some of the older strength pic nics of the past like in York, PA, and our hope is to bring together the strength athletes of the world in fellowship and fun. One of my favorite additions has been the Learn 2 Lift Seminars that are taking place all around the nation (email me at Travis.Mash@MashElitePerformance.com to bring one to your facility). The seminars are comprised of Olympic weightlifting, powerlifting, and/or athletic performance. The host simply chooses, and I tailor it to their needs. The benefit that I have over others is that I have been a World Champion and World Record Holding Powerlifter, Olympic Hopeful in Weightlifting and Bobsled, and I played collegiate football at Appalachian State University. Not only have I done it, but I am a Professional Strength and Conditioning Coach that has produced hundreds of Division I Athletes over the last five years. My resume is unique, and now I get to share that knowledge with others. Thanks to Lyndsey and Greg I now provide online Programming and Consultations, so even more people can benefit from my knowledge (www.MashElitePerformance.com in the store section). As of today I now train people via Facetime and Skype which was simply awesome! Now I am not limited by geographic location as to the number of lives that I can affect. Greg and Lyndsey were also the designers of our new supplement line that includes two extremely affective supplements: Fat Burner and Athletic Support. The “Fat Burner” makes coffee look like water, so I use it as a pre-workout. Whether you are using it to shred pounds or earth shaking energy this supplement will do you right. The “Athletic Support” has everything that an athlete needs to get jacked and recover! When supplements are designed by athletes for athletes, the product produced is a whole new form of Awesome. You can find these supplements on www.MashElitePerformance.com/#!store/crf1 !
My wife Drew has settled into her piece of the fitness puzzle with adult groups and her brand new “Tush and Abs”. The “Tush and Abs” isn’t a fluff class. It’s just a class filled with mostly women that like metabolic conditioning without a lot of barbell work. She incorporates healthy nutrition, butt kicking, and abs ripping exercises to help these girls transform their bodies. Drew uses her life experiences of weight loss and her personal battle with cancer to motivate her clients into choosing a whole new lifestyle of health and fitness.
One of the most exciting changes this year has been the formation of “Smashed Crossfit”. I absolutely love the community that is crossfit. We partnered up with Pam Fox to run “Smashed Crossfit, and we also brought on Sal Scifo to teach the classes. Pam and Sal love helping people, and I love the fact that they won’t sacrifice form to advance their athletes. I want all of my crossfit athletes to have the best form at all of the competitions, and I want them to win. I am just not going to sacrifice one of my member’s health for a personal record or victory. I watched my team compete this weekend in Salisbury, NC, and I think that all the strength sports could learn from the way that everyone cheered for each other. The whole place was filled with energy and excitement. It was never quiet! Weightlifting and Powerlifting events can seem like golf matches way too often. I watched my athletes give it their absolute all yesterday, and if they weren’t competing, they were cheering for each other.
I am so excited for the future of Mash Elite Performance. We have the best staff on the planet, and I believe that our young staff will propel us into the future. Other strength coaches and owners of strength facilities should learn from my example, and when they have amazing talent on their staff, they should get over their pride and recognize these people young people. Greg and Lyndsey are planning on weekly Skype meeting with me, so that our momentum won’t skip a beat. Our goal as a staff is to revolutionize the strength and conditioning industry.
If you have any questions, email me at:
Travis.Mash@MashElitePerformance.com
Or check out our website at:
www.MashElitePerformance.com
Link for The Mash Elite Extravaganza:
Write more, thats all I have to say. Literally,
it seems as though you relied on the video to make your point.
You clearly know what youre talking about, why waste your intelligence on just posting
videos to your blog when you could be giving us something enlightening to read?