I’d prefer to think my way through things. Maybe you can relate. The trouble is that in times of difficulty 1) it doesn’t always help me to live from the neck up, and 2) research continues to emerge that our physiology is likely the optimal entryway to our psychology.  Think about it (no pun intended), our physical bodies and the somatic power of the senses are much older from an evolutionary perspective than our cognition and rational mind. This is why you cannot think your way out of primal reactions like fear.  As much as you might want to analyze your feelings (like me), it’s lik ..read more

One of our most popular specialty courses, Weightlifting 101, is open for enrollment again. The course focuses on mindset and technical proficiency in the craft of Olympic Weightlifting.   The course is built on four principles. These are important because even the most technically proficient program is useless without the right training approach. WORK ETHIC: You can’t be great at anything if you aren’t willing to do the work. There are no shortcuts in this life, just years of crushing hard work. Any attempts to cut corners will make the process longer.  CONSISTENCY: Consistency ..read more

I find it funny we almost always talk about the things we could never connect on and rarely share the only thing we really all have in common. Let me explain.  Much of what humans love to show the world is their accomplishments and unique enjoyments in life. Sure, you might share a common link with a small group of others who have also accomplished what you have, but most don’t share those accomplishments or even the desire for those accomplishments with you.  But, they do know the struggle.  It could be the only thing men and women have in common from the coast of California to ..read more

It’s easy to lose the plot. You love training in the gym and soon you forget why you do it. Here’s your reminder that the point of training at the gym is to make your life outside of the gym better.  Life is our sport.  DEUCE Apparel has made leaps in the last two years on the quality of our products. We’re committed to not having folks wash their cars with our shirts and taking bags of our products to Goodwill every year.  The Lifestyle Games drop includes a unisex tee and unisex hoodie that will last for years with a message that we’re proud of. Every four years, the summer O ..read more

If you’re going to do something 22,000 times a day, you might want to be in on the joke. Yes, the numbers show that you’ll likely take more than 20,000 breaths today. Crazy, right? It doesn’t pay to be ignorant about your breath.  The rabbit hole of breathwork goes as deep as you’d like to chase it, so let’s start with the basics. The inhale and exhale are a beautifully balanced cycle (like most things in nature). Here’s how the cycle work: Your inhale generally increases heart rate. Your exhale generally decreases your hear rate.  Think about a stereotypical high heart rate moment l ..read more

Do you know the history of Kingsford Charcoal? You’d be floored. The 104 year old company owns 80% of the market and does billions of dollars each year, but it began in quite a peculiar way. You see, Henry Ford purchases a tract of timberland from Edward G. Kingsford on Ford’s way to being the country’s largest producer of wood burning waste: charcoal.  Light bulb moment! Naturally, Henry Ford found opportunity in what seemed like only a cost center. Soon they used the sawdust from the factories to press the waste into briquettes. The product name was later changed to Kingsford as a way t ..read more

A sign hangs on a rusty gate at 110 Lincoln Blvd in Venice, California. The text carved into the wood reads, “motivated people only.” For a long time, that sign represented an ideal that we held, but it did not reflect reality. It should have instead read, “motivated people with an extra $200-$300 a month in disposable income only.” The sign now accurately represents what it takes to be a student at DEUCE. The only requirement is that you show up with willingness.  This change came from a realization that some of the the hungriest, most motivated people were being denied access and opport ..read more

Skill development tends to follow a certain progression. This was first brought to our attention from our friend, Carl Paoli, whose career in coaching is unmatched. In his, Simple-Complex-Simple progression we can see the process of skill-based mastery unfold.  If things feel complex right now, you’re in the messy middle.  Let’s think about weightlifting, for example. The desire may start with a simple premise. “I want to clean and jerk 200lbs,” one might say. Simple enough, right? Things, then, start to get complex. Once you begin to understand how to put a 200-pound barbell over yo ..read more

If you front squat regularly, wear a fitness tracker, and know what your macros are, listen up. I’ve got something to confront you with.. You don’t need advice from the fitness community. If you want to shave thirty seconds off of your mile time, great. Go for it. Want to edge out a few kilos on your clean and jerk, we’d love to help you.  The truth is that if you’ve walked yourself into a strength and conditioning gym over a period of a few years to work your ass off, you might be in a silo. In that silo, you’re told about optimization, facing adversity, doing the hard thing, and all the ..read more

This is adolescence for DEUCE Gym. We’ve got plenty of life in us, but the past thirteen years have been nothing short of remarkable. It’s impossible to not reflect on our humble beginnings in the park, where we’d lug equipment and a whiteboard out to the grass twice a day for years before moving to 110 Lincoln.  The bathroom was 800m away round trip.  Today, we stand on the shoulders of giants who came before us. While some of our students are still here from our original days, most have moved on to new cities and new lives. DEUCE wouldn’t be here without them.  Some highlights ..read more