Interview with Brett Woldanski

Camille Ronesi: Welcome to the Richmond Spotlight. Uh this is our very first episode. This is very exciting. This is where we sit down with local health and wellness professionals who are doing meaningful work not only with their craft but building a community around them. So we are excited to kick it off. By the way, I am Dr. Dr. Camille Reni, owner of Ascent Physical Therapy. And we are kicking off our very first episode with a very dear friend of mine that I think you’re going to love and respect, and that is coach Brett Waldansky of XFactor Athletic Performance. He has been serving this community for a very long time in multiple spaces, most significantly with XFactor, which has been celebrating 10 years now. Do I have that right?

Brett Woldanski: Uh, we’re just 11 now.

Camille Ronesi: 11 now. Congratulations. Uh, I had got to know you guys a couple of years ago. Uh, and I was blown away not just with your expertise and how good everybody’s squat looks, which is a very big compliment coming from me, but also the community is the most chill, kind, thoughtful community I have been around in a long time. Your people show up for each other on a regular basis. You guys have fun together. You guys call each other best friends, which is kind of crazy in a gym. uh and that comes with purpose like that doesn’t come by accident that become comes because the person who owns the company who is there all the time sets the culture and I’m really excited to share Brett with the greater community. I think all of you listening to this are going to find that he is not only a delightful conversationalist and an expert in his craft, but just has really fabulous perspectives that are fun to listen to. So Brett, are you ready to kick this thing off?

Brett Woldanski: I don’t know. That’s a pretty high bar. Let’s see if I can limbo under it.

Camille Ronesi: I bet you can. You’ve I think you’ve leveraged a lot of high bars in your life. So or at least heavy ones. So I think you can manage this one. So I just wanted to start with the most obvious question in the world and that is really I I want people to understand your arc. So, if you really wanted someone to to understand the arc of Coach Brett and how it got to where you’re at 11 years of XFactor, what do you want what do you want people to know? What’s that story?

Brett Woldanski: Uh, well, we’ll try to give you the expedited version.

Camille Ronesi: We got time.

Brett Woldanski: I I I took a chiology course in college and said, “Wait a minute. You could get paid to do this?” Not understanding the concept of money. Like, you can. It’s not much. And again, it’s a losing battle, but you know, whatever. I I I like the fight, I guess. Um, so I delve deep into that and then I ended up going to VCU for a master’s degree because, you know, at the time I was going on the strength and conditioning route and I was like, well, you have to have a master’s degree for an unpaid internship. That’s just the way it is. So, that’s what you’re going to do and so that’s what I’m going to do and I’m going to spend a lot of money to do that. But luckily I was able to um I was able to have some good influences at James Madison and then getting my masters at BCU. I was able to work with the strength and conditioning staff for a year there while I was uh completing the graduate work. Um you know really loved coaching and I and I had worked at a couple of private places here and there um beforehand and then after um I stepped away from the collegiate and the university level. Um, there were just certain things that I didn’t like and I realized that it wasn’t quite the environment for me. Um, fast forward a little bit, I worked as a personal trainer, then got a call one day that said, “Hey, would you like to work for the US Army?” And I said, “Sure.” He said, “There’s a catch.” I said, “What?” He goes, “You have to start on Monday.” You mean a week from now? Yes. All right, cool. You have to do all these things somehow. Um, all these checks and different like physicals and all all kinds of stuff. Um but anyway, long story short, I did it. I worked both jobs for um American Family Fitness training there and working full-time um for the Army on base. And that was an interesting job because a lot of what we did was very clinical um as myself and the other strength coach Aaron. We worked alongside a physical therapy tech, physical therapist, and an athletic trainer for our whole muscularkeeletal action team.

Camille Ronesi: Sounds cool, doesn’t it?

Brett Woldanski: It does. It does. It’s great to have that kind of forward thinking with that.

Camille Ronesi: Yeah.

Brett Woldanski: And conceptually, it was very cool. Um, a lot of our job turned into more education and injury prevention. Um, because as strength coaches, you know, that’s not really, you know what I mean? We’re not really the clinical guys. That’s not that’s not the scenario in which you want Aaron and myself. You you kind of want us in the field. We’re better out there.

Camille Ronesi: Um, you’re probably not as happy in a clinical setting. like it’s probably a little harder for you to function.

Brett Woldanski: Yeah, it’s not Yeah, it’s not really our thing. Um, you know, but teaching people how to squat, how to lunge, how to hinge, and all that stuff and giving them really good information and being able to level with the guys and girls in the military. I think that was a good thing. And and maybe that’s just um Aaron and I both being good communicators or kind of letting them know like we’re not stuffy. We’re not like your usual contractors. I was like, “No, no, no. We we really do want you to get better. Um, and we want good things for you.” Um, but eventually that contract ran out um after almost 3 years and I was still working at American Family Fitness and and I think you get this too um from your time personal training. Like if you’re doing one-on-one, 4 to 8 is your sweet spot. And if you’ve booked up your four, your five, your six o’clock, your 7 o’clock, you’re you’re busy for four hours.

Camille Ronesi: Yeah. And you kind of tap out.

Brett Woldanski: Yeah. And then you add the 6 ams, then you’re doing six to eight in the morning and you’re doing 4 to 8 in the evening.

Camille Ronesi: Yeah.

Brett Woldanski: Which I which I you know every day I don’t I don’t want to do that. It’s it’s just not and I could kind of see the math like you’re going to top out and you’re going to chase your tail. Um especially when there’s uh when there’s sales goals. Not that that’s a bad thing to have goals, but it’s like you know you got management like, “Hey Brad, can you uh make sure you do these things?” And I’m like, I hit my quarterly goal in a month and I’m a part-timer, right? I don’t I’m I I you know, um

Camille Ronesi: well, I think there’s something I think there’s something about being in those those bigger box gyms which have a lot of benefits both as an employee and as a member, um that are really really great. But I think when you start becoming a master of your craft, which you certainly are, you are not a complacent trainer like you are very much invested in mastering that craft, you kind of start feeling boxed in. Yeah, you know, like just like you know, you have potential to do better work and get compensated better, but the gym structure doesn’t lend itself to reimbursing the personal trainer to be the best, right?

Brett Woldanski: That’s exactly it. And so the math just the math will give you a hard cap, which is why in um September of 2014, I started XFactor athletic performance. And um so there’s pretty much that. Um I spend a lot of time at a lot of different places. I’ve worked the equivalent of two or three jobs for the last 15 years or so at this point. Um so I’ve got two careers worth of experience already, right? If you uh if you take a standard 40hour week, I guess. But um yeah, you know, and alongside of that, of course, there was the the personal side of things competing in strength sports for a while. Um and now it’s all coaching for me. Who knows if I’ll make it back to the platform. Um, but I’m very content to see others get to the platform um, and do great things. So, yeah, there’s the tried to be but not actually expedited version of the lore.

Camille Ronesi: Yeah, absolutely. Why do you think the US Army found you?

Brett Woldanski: No idea.

Camille Ronesi: So, so the way that I thought it was just a Google search. I mean, this was long enough ago that you really kind of couldn’t do that. So the way it worked was um we were contractors under a contracting company and the contracting company their whole job is to just find people to put in positions and so they’ll just search on I I don’t know LinkedIn or uh what’s some of the other job stuff like Monster uh I guess Indeed.

Camille Ronesi: Yeah.

Brett Woldanski: Yeah. And I I think they just search and they just they they just and they just call and say, “Hey, would you like this job or um

Camille Ronesi: Yeah, that masters. That’s where the masters probably got you, right?”

Brett Woldanski: And I think I was also like masters and CSCs. So, it’s like these are the qualifications that we’re looking for. Let’s I guess they have access to whatever databases um to be able to find people. And they found me and a bunch of other strength coaches.

Camille Ronesi: That’s great.

Brett Woldanski: Yeah. Yeah.

Camille Ronesi: So when you branched out and said, “I’m going to start XFactor,” which is a terrifying adventure, right? It’s also it’s like the like, “This is a great idea. This is the worst idea I’ve ever had in my life.” Any entrepreneur will probably agree with that. Um, you had a lot of choice about what to do, right? Like even what to name it and what what it’s going to be and what what it’s its tone is going to be. And I’m curious about like where you started with that and like did you know what it was that you were trying to do or did you really have to kind of flesh that out over the couple years?

Brett Woldanski: I I think I think in some aspects I I I knew what I wanted to do. Um I thought business-wise um I thought that I was going to work with a lot of teams like I was going to be the privatized version of a strength and conditioning coach.

Camille Ronesi: Sure.

Brett Woldanski: Um cuz I I I kind of saw the area and was like, I don’t think anybody else is really quite doing this. At least there wasn’t as much at the time. I think there’s a lot of it now, but you know, the nature of this business, it es and flows. A lot of businesses come and go in this space. So, I thought I was going to open this warehouse gym and work with a bunch of teams and it would be great. Um the problem was that I moved into a business park, a business neighborhood, um or industrial space actually. There was tons of sports places there, but a lot of them were actually pretty openly hostile towards the idea. Not because of my services being a competitor. They’re actually complimentary as you would know, right?

Camille Ronesi: Right?

Brett Woldanski: But I was competing for the parents’ dollar. Um because a lot of the parents it was like you’re going to do your skills training be it soccer, basketball, baseball, whatever or the strength and conditioning aspect and not and and that’s something that that I didn’t factor in because I I I didn’t know and I had I had no idea that that was going to be a thing and I just didn’t think of it. Um and a lot of these places they would try to package it and like they would have their own guy. Um, I I’m sure you’ve heard my story about walking into one place. It was all dark and creepy, like what is what is happening over here? And I’m looking around just trying to meet somebody.

Camille Ronesi: Yeah.

Brett Woldanski: You know, and I’m going down this dark hallway thinking like, I’ve seen this horror movie and I really don’t want to be in it right now. And then and then a voice towards the door.

Camille Ronesi: Yeah.

Brett Woldanski: And then a voice from out of nowhere is like, hi Mike, can I help you? And it’s like I didn’t expect an accent or a dude.

Camille Ronesi: Right. Right. Totally.

Brett Woldanski: Oh, hey man. Yeah, I was, you know, hey, my name’s Brad. I just opened a gym right up the road. It’s within walking distance, and I wanted to learn more about your business. I see you guys do soccer and baseball. Like, I’m a strength and conditioning coach by trade. I would love to help you guys out. And he, well, you know, actually, that’s what I do. You know, I I do that. I do all strength work. And it was like you but you’re they had a cafe and it was like you’re you’re getting set up to start serving beer and nachos and I’m not saying you can’t do both of those things but like are you also the beer and nacho guy right? This didn’t work.

Camille Ronesi: Yeah. Yeah. I’ve worn a lot of hats too but like are you sure you don’t want me to to help? Um do is that place still around?

Brett Woldanski: Oh yeah yeah yeah. They’re um they’re very they’re very popular. They got a lot of stuff going on there and you know the parents get to have beer and nachos while their kids play soccer.

Camille Ronesi: Yeah, they love it. You know, I didn’t think I didn’t think of these things and so I I’m having a hard time picturing you working with like gads of teenagers. I know that you you have a couple of teenagers on your on your books, but they’re really kind of they’re a little bit closer in your circles. They’re not Yeah, they’re they’re not um your market these days that I’ve seen. Is that was that something you were actually going for back then?

Brett Woldanski: I was back then because I just thought that was the natural progression. Um, teenagers are fine. I work well with them. I don’t do well with younger kids. I don’t I don’t know what to do. I don’t uh

Camille Ronesi: I totally get it.

Brett Woldanski: Um, but teenagers tend to respond well to me. Um, yeah. I mean, you definitely you you have a teenager who is breaking records left. You have two teenagers who are breaking records left and right and getting national records are at national record level now.

Camille Ronesi: Uh yeah.

Brett Woldanski: Um Ari was he was uncontested uh in the is it 11 to 12 10 to 12 the juniors category. Um and he set every record recently. Somebody has beat him by like a pound or two mad. Well he’s aged out of the class anyway.

Camille Ronesi: Um cuz now he’s 13.

Brett Woldanski: Um, and Abby has set multiple records in multiple weight classes at this point. Um, and I’ve had to have the talk with her that, hey, somebody’s going to beat you someday. Like, you’re going to age out of this class anyway. You only got two years to put up these national record numbers um, within the USPC. So, like, yeah, just go for it and enjoy it because some somebody’s going to come along someday. Um, I mean, hey, I was a state champion at one point like, you know.

Camille Ronesi: Right. Right. Do you think that with coaching, especially the kids, like what is it that gets you more hyped? Is it the Is it the like getting them to throw the weights or watching them go through all of that emotional stuff? I’ve seen I’ve seen those kids at meets. Like I’ve seen what Abby has gone through emotionally and she’s she has matured so much in meets and I know that’s a lot because of you. So, I’m curious as a coach like which one is

Brett Woldanski: Yeah, she

Camille Ronesi: Yeah, she’s I mean, we love you, Abby. You’re amazing. And I I I think that it’s I have a lot of respect for the hard work she puts in. And I just I as a coach like where do you get the high? Is it the like her throwing the weights or is it watching your athletes develop into competitive athletes?

Brett Woldanski: It’s it’s the developmental stuff because I I and I think I know that now more than I would have maybe 10 years ago because 10 years ago I was still competing. Um and for me it was about the number and it’s like you would sacrifice anything to do that. Um not to say that I wasn’t concerned with longevity. I wasn’t concerned with it for myself, but I was for other people, you know, because not everybody wants to be a competitive strength athlete. Like, and I did recognize that this is finite. You’re not going to do that forever. Um, you’re going to have a limited window. Um, but I was lucky enough to have um, life lessons and learn a lot from the gym and learn about those those X factors, if you will, those intangibles about work, discipline, camaraderie, community, and and I got very lucky because I got to train at a place called CVA Barbell that I always um, credit. And Carlos, the guy that um owns and operates CBA Barbell, is like he’s definitely the biggest influence on me like personally and professionally because his approach was, you know, he wasn’t like all rah rah and hand clapping and he and it was just like, hey, this is what you’ve got to do. You’ve got to do these things to get better. And it there was no like it wasn’t like a hardcore gym mentality or something like do you want to do it or not? and and and that’s something that um you know I’ve tried to push forward and working with Abby in particular. It’s about like it’s about knowing that you have to work for something and you get to be the best in the world for a moment. Um and just respecting the process that it’s going to take to be there. Um, and I and I think too that the resilience is probably important. Um, to be able to push for something and to learn how to fail and to learn how to do so gracefully. And I think you get that too from being a business owner is like you’re going to lose a lot. I think being an athlete and a business owner.

Camille Ronesi: Yeah. I think I think anything especially in the in the coaching world um you know people joke with me all the time and here we’ve talked about this and I do it to you and I come in and work out with you when it happens is like it just is a therapy session like you kind of need the coach is there for you to just dump on you know and that coach is if a good coach is able to convert that into something productive and I think that’s the power of a really good coach coach. And that’s certainly the vibe you’ve created at XFactor where there is that like chill like are you going to do it or not? Like we can talk about all your stuff. Are you going to work out? Like do you want this? Do you not want this? It doesn’t matter to me. Like you’ve got to do it.

Brett Woldanski: Yeah.

Camille Ronesi: I think you hit a tone in your coaching method that I think is actually not uncommon in the really good strength and conditioning coaches like the guys who live in the basement of the athletic hall, you know, like I’m thinking of the coach that I have, you know, the strength coaches at William and Mary. I’m thinking of Charlie Weing. I’m thinking of like like all these like the guys are like the big bald guys, right? who are just as mellow as can be and are just like, “Let’s lift, pick it up, put it down, you know, do this a little bit, do that a little bit, repeat as necessary.”

Brett Woldanski: Yeah. Repeat as necessary.

Camille Ronesi: Repeat as necessary, which is a very different vibe than I set with my kind of high, like I’m the high energy, like you might as well give me a microphone in a group X class, you know? It’s a very different like I come into y’all’s room. I think you I’m I’m the agent of chaos, right? I believe that was the title I earned.

Brett Woldanski: Yes. Yes. You you you’re you’re right. You’re a force of chaos. It’s okay. Or we need each other. It’s a yin-yang sort of thing.

Camille Ronesi: Correct. So, I’m curious if you see that vibe a lot in strength and condition, like in like serious strength and conditioning, and why? Like, what do you think that is?

Brett Woldanski: Um, I think I think especially if you’ve ever competed in in strength sports in particular, um, some people need to get real amped up for things. I I don’t react well to that. That’s when things get a little too chaotic. Um, it’s not to say that I can’t amp myself up, but that’s that needs to be like a laser-like focus. You need to bring everything in um, and be hyper aware of everything that you’re doing, everything that you’re feeling. And you kind of need to internalize that rather than just kind of spaz out. Like that’s not it’s not that helpful. Plus, if you make a big production of things and then you miss your lift, that’s not a good look.

Camille Ronesi: Yeah. Yeah.

Brett Woldanski: Um, I don’t know. part part of it is also like this uh um this kind of like warrior monk aesthetic of like I will do this but I will be at peace you like and that’s what I will present to you but I also understand as a a leader um and the one that is responsible for kind of getting everybody over the finish line metaphorically whatever that may be sometimes literally um like no you you need to calm yourself down and you need to be on point because when there’s chaos going on around you you need to be the calm in that storm because if you’re chaotic, you’re then presenting a chaotic feeling and environment. Um, and I I’ll bring Abby up again like you really think a teenage girl needs more chaos? No. Is it is that what she needs? It probably is. And um and so that’s what I’ve tried to be for everybody is some sort of stability. I I want to be I want to be a universal constant like gravity because I also want to lead by example of bad things are going to happen to you. Um you will have failures and you will be able to pick yourself back up and be fine. Um kind of like you know I I’ve had a couple of back injuries, one recently, but I think it’s good for people to know that yep, back under the bar squatting. Yep, I’ve done what I needed to do. Yes, it sucks that everybody else is stronger than me right now, more or less. Um, but you know what? I’m coming after you, but I’m going to do exactly what I need to do and I’m going to make smooth, simple progress week after week and it’s going to suck and I’m going to have to be focused because I can’t get away with things anymore. Um, and it’s also a good example of um, when somebody ages out. Maybe that’s not a good way to phrase it because I have people older than me winning me and stuff now. Um, but when they’re hurting, you know, you know, we all do, but it’s like, how do you deal with that? How do you deal with setbacks, pain, um, whether that be physical or not, like how do you deal with these things? How are you going to move forward? Um, because you’re still going to have it one way or another. So, how do I how do I lead by example to get you to a place where you’re okay with that and you can still make forward progress and in the end like yeah, you look back and say, “Oh, I’m a much better human being than I otherwise would have been physically, spiritually, emotionally, intellectually, whatever.” So, so I guess that all kind of ties in with I just want to lead by example and I just need to be your calm because there’s a lot of chaos out there. Sometimes more so in here, but you know.

Camille Ronesi: Yeah. Well, I think I mean it kind of speaks to I always love that idea of like that that sport is the ultimate metaphor, right? Like it doesn’t matter what your sport is, it there’s there are metaphors there that carry over into like how one should live their life. And what I hear from you is that like sense of stability, that sense of constancy, that sense of patience. Like it’s a lot of patience. And I’m curious. I mean, I don’t I think it would be redundant to say obviously that is the perfect metaphor for powerlifting. Um, and I’m curious, was that always what called to you or did you have to find it? Like did it was it natural for you to find that groove?

Brett Woldanski: Yeah. So, I um even back when I took my first kinesiology course, like the the the science of the of of the exercise science stuff, the chinesiology, like that stuff was oddly easy for me, which I hear it’s not a hard it’s not an easy major, but I was like, what are you talking about? This is great, you know, being a 17-year-old in college taking the easy way out. Shocker. Um like I’m just going to do this because I’ll get paid and this is an easy major for me. Like, and I get to work out.

Camille Ronesi: Yeah, I’ll get work I’ll work out because I like that. That’s neat.

Brett Woldanski: Um, completely not understanding the way that the world works sometimes. Um, but I I found it was uh I found it was my way to be able to help people out. Um, I don’t know if I ever told you this, my uh major going into college was as a psychology major.

Camille Ronesi: Um, that tracks.

Brett Woldanski: But yeah, but I don’t really fit that whole vibe. A lot of turtlenecks and coffee and I don’t do that.

Camille Ronesi: Lab work, too. Yeah, I got I got styied at I was minoring in psychology and I got styied when they were like you need to go do labs and I was like I’m good.

Brett Woldanski: Don’t make me do research.

Camille Ronesi: Yeah.

Brett Woldanski: The wait room is my lab. That’s where I do my experiments. I don’t get to tell people what to do in a lab. Not fun, you know. And I and and I also just think that um I mean you know from working in this industry and in different facets of it like this is therapeutic and I think this is a more maybe not more effective um but I think it’s a very effective way to be therapeutic and be very helpful because you can mentally and physically engage and the combination of those um seems to be quite useful for everybody and I think it was my desire to be useful and helpful um that led me into that. But then it dovetailed with um I just have an eye for things and I just have a feel for like that’s going to be about right. Um and I’m not and I’m not afraid to admit that like some of that’s more art than science and just kind of knowing what I’m looking at and saying they got about five more pounds in them.

Camille Ronesi: What about 10?

Brett Woldanski: Nope. Um you know and and and that’s just I’ve always had an eye for that and um I liked the environment. I liked doing it and you know to this day um somebody will be doing some push downs at the end of the workout and I’m like oh there’s a little tricep you know grow in there that’s cool and you know and I and I guess that speaks to um the idea that I I’m pretty sure I’ve picked the right career because even this far along I’m like oh fun like I know what happens I know how it’s gonna going to be I have a system it’s been working forever and I’m like oh ne they did it.

Camille Ronesi: What is your system?

Brett Woldanski: Um, I I just stole everything from way better coaches that were around before me. I I just picked and choose from um systems like 531, like starting strength, like Westside barbell. Um, yeah, Dave Tate talks about it a lot on um his table talk podcast. uh some of the concepts of Westside of um how they would do their main movements and how they would do their assistance work and how they would just basically here’s our template. Um I just modified a few things to be a little bit more useful, a little bit more easily digestible. Um so I just I don’t know I stole a lot of stuff and I and I can kind of you know I can kind of do a spiel. Maybe we should do a second episode about the methodology. Um, but I can make it simple and easy to understand and sustainable for life. And then I can just plug and play with, hey, I need a posterior chain movement here. Okay, here’s the progression that I generally follow. Uh, here’s something that you’re really bad at. You fall forward in the squat. So, we’re going to go good mornings cuz you’re going to practice falling forward and getting back up cuz that’s going to be ultra specific. And we’ll put it closer to where you’re going to have a meet because you’ll have a bar. It’ll be on your back and it’s an emergency squat procedure. That seems correct. Um, and when you’re done with the meat, we’ll do low back raises because that’s a hip hinge. That’ll, you know, develop your posterior chain. And I can get away with doing a ton of volume there if I really want to versus a good morning. Um, and I can stay away from axial loading or do less axial loading after the meet. So, and I and I understand for um, you know, for a regular person that might get really complicated and I talk through it kind of fast. Um, and I guess that’s part of my calling to this profession is like, oh, that just makes sense to me. It’s like, oh, okay. Like, why does that make sense to you? That’s a lot of concepts that are interwoven there that you’re just like, oh, we’ll just do that.

Camille Ronesi: I do find that the most effective strategies are at the end of the day the ones that it just took someone saying it where you and you go, well, yeah, duh. Yeah. Like any of the ones that are really complicated, like if you go to a sports symposium or you read an article and it’s like this really complicated, you know, input output D, like it kind of works, but you really have to like dictate every single micro step and it gets very tedious versus when you go and you just you hear somebody talk about movement or the squat or the hinge and you just kind of go, well, yeah, obviously. Yeah. And those are the and I feel like that’s what happens in your gym. Like you don’t have fancy moves. You have very few fancy. It is very There are bars. There are some bells, but like there are no stations and people are doing, you know, a squat jump into a lunge. Like it’s a very

Brett Woldanski: Yeah. Very traditional lifting.

Camille Ronesi: Well, yeah. Because if you go back to like anything within physical culture would be a good terminology. Go back to the 70s where Arnold popularized bodybuilding.

Brett Woldanski: You watch pumping iron. What are they doing? Squatting, pressing, rowing. Oh, cool. So, that works all the time for everybody.

Camille Ronesi: Sure does.

Brett Woldanski: You go back to the turn of the century when strongman powerlifting, all sorts of circus stuff and bodybuilding was kind of one big thing. What are they doing? Clean and press, deadlift, you know, odd lifts, weird stuff like, you know, but it is all very basic. Uh, and and I and I kind of love turn of the century stuff of

Camille Ronesi: Yeah.

Brett Woldanski: You know, so and so um you know, like Eugene Sandow and uh and Charles Atlas would have uh they would have light day, moderate day, difficult day, and you’re like, “Oh, so you’re just kind of undulating periodization.” Undulating periodization sounds fancy, but it’s a good way of saying, “Well, just do it frequently, but make sure you’re not heavy all the time.”

Camille Ronesi: I love it. It’s out there with the advice of like you should walk every day and every now and then move like someone’s trying to kill you.

Brett Woldanski: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Doesn’t always have to be hard, but just every now and then pretend like something is trying to eat you. Yeah. And that’s and that’s um and that’s and it’s funny you bring that up like Yeah. That’s um I like some of the old Soviet system stuff because it’s like they viewed strength as a skill more.

Camille Ronesi: Look, their stuff is legit.

Brett Woldanski: Yeah. which is where, you know, Louisie Simmons took a lot of the translations from a lot of these texts. Um, you know, and and applied some of these concepts. And but I but I like that system of well, if you’re going to do stuff, you can just do it frequently throughout the day. And like I say all the time, you don’t need to redline the engine. If you can do 10 pull-ups, how about we do four to six and do multiple sets and get really good at them. And then all of a sudden, you can do 10 to 12 pull-ups, you know, when we do need to push it. Um, but how about you do some light activity because you don’t have to go hard all the time. You could you could train hard and you could lift hard, but then you could go for a walk later. That’d be pretty good. And then you’re right, you could go for a hard hike and then you could do some light swimming or something later if you want to train all the time. You know, but you this variation um this again undulation of things like you can’t be here all the time. You’re going to burn out pretty quickly and you’re going to get broken. Um, so yeah, that’s uh I find it interesting. I I find um I find different methodologies interesting, but look at where the similarities are. Basic compound movements, you know, relatively high frequency and don’t burn yourself out. Do this for longevity. Cool. I think that’s Oh, okay. Conceptually, I get this. How do I put it all together? That’s, you know, that’s get kind of why I get paid. But um yeah, but yeah.

Camille Ronesi: Yeah. So for the uninitiated, like for the person who has an idea of what they think big and heavy is and lifting strong and they finally work up the nerve to consider like maybe I should maybe I should get stronger. Espec like you know women right now are being battered left and right with like get freaking strong like it will save your life. So hopefully people are starting to call you and say, “I want to learn more, but I am I am I know nothing. I’m not strong enough to work out in your gym.” Like how do you kind of bring them into the fold and help them feel like that’s a space they belong and that is a sport that they can participate in?

Brett Woldanski: I think uh I I think first of all talking about the community and I know that’s very um that’s an X factor. Oh, once again, it’s an intangible and I think having some people around you that are going to support you, that are really excited for your progress, that are really into what you’re doing. Um, that’s something that comes from the strength world, like powerlifting me, like total strangers cheer for each other to move an iron object up and down. Like, that’s kind of funny. Um, I think if I can get people to to buy into the concept of like, no, no, it is really a community here and it’s really cool and nobody cares what your number is as long as it’s, you know, going upwards of over time. Um, and I also think that as long as I can as long as I can get the concept across that I I don’t really care where you start because everybody starts at zero. I say that pretty frequently. It’s like I don’t really care where you’re at. We’re going to go up. We’re going to make progress. Um, but it’s not like there’s some sort of requirement. They’re like, “No, I we can’t have you here until you meet these standards.” Like, “No, no, that’s okay.” Um, and some of those things are actually my most exciting um things to watch is when somebody can’t bench the bar, right? Um, thinking of Maggie’s client Jessica, she just started benching the barbell fairly recently and now she’s got some weights on it. Well, she couldn’t do that. I mean, she was struggling to handle a pair of 10 lb dumbbells. Uh, and now she can. So, it’s like, well, we we find a way to adapt. We find a way to, and she was literally at zero. Um, but now she looks amazing. Um, and it’s like, well, here’s this kid that’s following the system and Maggie’s been doing a great job of coaching her and this is somebody that you wouldn’t think would would be able to succeed, but she’s had family members that have trained with us and she thought, I think I might like to try that and now she loves it.

Camille Ronesi: That’s great. now she’s addicted.

Brett Woldanski: So, and and I think too that if if I can ever express or get the message across that um you know seeing whatever your number is, it is just a number, but it is a sign of progress. Like getting Jessica to the point where she could box squat with a bar and bench with a bar is equally as exciting to me as uh Robert squatting. Um, I think 474 was his best at the meet and and pulling 571 technically got red lighted for letting it go.

Camille Ronesi: It was a good lift. I saw that lift, but it’s on the board and I and I approved it.

Brett Woldanski: Um, yeah, but it’s like technically pulled it.

Camille Ronesi: Yeah.

Brett Woldanski: And here’s a guy that, you know, essentially needed a new knee um in his mid to late 40s. And here’s this guy that um you know, he’s outpulled me competitively uh on the deadlift. And he’s going to squat 500 lb this year. And it’s going to be just as exciting to watch him squat 500, to watch Doug squat 500, um to watch Michelle pull 400, um to watch all these people do all these things. That’s equally as exciting to me. and the national records and all these things. It’s that is so cool. But I also love when Jessica learns to squat a barbell for the first time. Um when Wendy, all four feet tall of her, uh pulls over 200 and and then I tell her it’s actually 200 and it blows her mind that yeah, you’re you’re perfectly capable of doing literally anything now. Um or her brother who needs to show up more often, but whatever. um when all of a sudden he was so unsure about doing something and it’s not even a number. It’s for the first time I don’t have back pain and I can go about my day regularly without worrying about my spine breaking and I don’t hurt. That is a huge PR for me but more so for for him. Um, and I those things I I think that if I could um if I have a good way to convey those like I don’t really care about the number um it’s going to go up. I know that. But I want you to feel good. I want you to be empowered and I want you to realize that you can take these systems and a systematic approach and you can make progress on other fronts in life if you, you know, care to delve a little deeper. And if you don’t, just get good at bench pressing and that’ll that’s fine, too. I’m okay with that.

Camille Ronesi: Yeah. I think of people like I know your dad works out there regularly and he’s really come a long ways and it’s I the impression I get and correct me if I’m wrong is like he doesn’t really care about powerlifting or a strong man, you know, and certainly it’s his son’s gym, so he’s happy to go, but I think he actually really enjoys going. And I’m I’m curious. I think him being your dad aside, like adapting your approach for someone who like doesn’t give a damn about the powerlifting, you know? So, how do you take how do you deal with that?

Brett Woldanski: So, um I think dad’s an interesting case because he he also just takes he’s like me. He takes that responsibility of um hey, you know, I’m getting older and and I need to be physically capable cuz I don’t want to rely on anybody else. I don’t want anybody else to take take care of me. Um, I also think he has the mentality of like, well, what if there’s a war that breaks out? I’m going to need to soldier up and do stuff. You know, you got to be capable. Like, my god, I don’t want to get soft. Um, which is great cuz he’s 64 now. I don’t know how old anybody is, but I’m I’m pretty sure I’m guessing he’s been 36 in my brain for all of my life. So, no. Um, it’s weird to be older than your dad.

Camille Ronesi: So, yeah, it’s very strange, but you know, it’s weird for the both of us.

Brett Woldanski: Um but it’s a good example of hey here’s what can happen and like he’s doing a hell of a lot better than most 64 year olds.

Camille Ronesi: Yeah.

Brett Woldanski: Um same thing with Linda who um yeah this will be news and shocking to you. Um she’s out of the gym for a little bit. Um she was in here when she had a small stroke actually. Um but she’s back at home now a lot quicker than she would have been and her rehab process sped

Camille Ronesi: Oh great I bet.

Brett Woldanski: And it’s like it’s it’s like just strength training and doing stuff built her so much armor that she’s yeah she’s regaining cognitive and speech function and she’s back home and she’s fine. Um and I tell you what, I saw her in the hospital uh about a week or so ago and way better than you would expect from somebody that had not a massive but still a stroke. Like yeah, that’s unbelievably good at 74. Um I also think

Camille Ronesi: Yeah.

Brett Woldanski: And it I think too that it’s hard to convey to anybody how good you’re going to feel when you’re physically capable um and how wonderful it is. Uh the bag of dog food test is always a fun one, especially for my female clients of like they’ll be walking down the aisle with it in their cart when it dawns on them. I did that myself and I just loaded this 40 or 50 pound dog bag of dog food that’s all floppy and you can’t apply force to it properly. I did that on my own and everything was fine and I didn’t get hurt. I didn’t die and oh my god, look at that.

Camille Ronesi: Yeah, that’s huge, right?

Brett Woldanski: You know, so I think um I think the messaging and and usually I’m decent with words, but even I struggle to find the way in which to convey this accurately to everybody on an individual level just how great you’re going to feel, just how empowered you’re going to feel. And it’s so hard to think long term and extrapolate the numbers of like I know I cost money, but I’m way cheaper than anything you’re going to pay for in terms of surgeries, uh, medications, whatever else. Like, you might want to make the investment in yourself now because it’ll be cheaper in the long run and you’ll probably look a hell of a lot better, too. So, I don’t know. Aesthetics count, you know, like we always say, right? It’s like you’re going to pay for your health.

Camille Ronesi: Yeah. Like, you will pay for your health. It’s just a matter of when and how much fun you’re going to have doing it, right? Like, do you want one is a lot more fun. Do you want to pay a lot later and not look as cool and not have sweet bench numbers or do you want to pay a little bit now, hang out with people, have a movie night every now and again and like again, your bench is going to go through the roof. It’s going to be awesome, you know?

Brett Woldanski: Yeah. People are going to admire you. Not Not anybody outside of the gym, but in the gym, people will think you’re cool.

Camille Ronesi: And and from that super cool crowd, that’s a high compliment. Definitely the coolest people in town with, you know, they’re I like I wish people understood like understand that they are posting like they’re your people’s Facebook posts are like, “Hey, like I just got a national record in the deadlift and now I just got third place in the puzzle competition.” You know?

Brett Woldanski: Yeah.

Camille Ronesi: That could be a weekend. Like these are my two cats. like they are a bunch of nerds. Like had a brutal meet this weekend, you know, managed to squat, missed my bench attempt, was really going for it, took third in puzzles.

Brett Woldanski: That’s right. At the local library.

Camille Ronesi: Yeah. And it’s like And it’s funny because that’s how we all are. Like that’s exactly what it’s like. And it’s um

Brett Woldanski: And it’s funny because we all come from that. So I think that’s why we’re naturally pretty accepting of like, “No, that’s cool. Whatever your thing is, it sounds awesome.”

Camille Ronesi: Yeah, it is the most like I you know for if there’s any women that listen to this, I know that a big one of the big thing is is the like that walking into that space, right? Like being in those spaces and I have been walking into gyms since high school and I have been lifting in gyms since high school and I have worked in them and there are gyms that I have gone into I’ve gone into a gold and I have just been like like right over here and I’ve walked in there and I’ve been like nope.

Brett Woldanski: Yeah.

Camille Ronesi: like just nope. Like they don’t want me here. I don’t want to be here. I didn’t have the right clothes on. I didn’t have the right headphones on. I didn’t have the right I wasn’t I do now. I didn’t have the fanny pack. Like I just I didn’t and I was just a girl. And like it just it was very intimidating even though I was a very experienced personal trainer. And yeah, your gym doesn’t do that. Everyone like everyone’s in baggie t-shirts. Like everyone’s chill. There are lots of sizes in your gym. Lots of sizes. It is not like going into a CrossFit or like it’s not where everybody’s in booty shorts and super ripped and super trim and kind of patronizing to the women. It is quite the opposite.

Brett Woldanski: Yeah. And I I think that’s really cool. I think some of that just comes from a lot of us like I don’t think a lot of us have ever been the popular kid in school to a certain degree and I think it’s just like oh cool you’re into my thing I’m just so happy that you’re here just D with me yeah exactly like do you want to do this other thing that I’m also into like oh my god and it’s you know and I’ve and I’ve said for years now like your best friends are gonna going to be gym friends. And it’s true because they they naturally like you’re responsible for making sure she doesn’t die. Okay. Like guess what? You’re going to bond pretty well when you’re regularly spotting and loading and doing stuff for each other. It’s that shared um it’s shared tasks and camaraderie. I don’t know. Maybe there’s some trauma bonding in there too, but you know, whatever it works. You’re never gonna you’re never going to have a better trust of somebody than somebody that you went through physical challenges with. I like you’re just not like and some of that there’s some interesting psychology. See, I told you we’re always going to talk deep. Like some of it there’s some interesting psychology particularly for men but definitely for women. Um definitely for men is the like sidealong conversations like when you’re not facing each other, right? Like there’s there’s a big difference between like us sitting down and talking and then um people who cycle they know people who go for runs they know like the person they’re running next to they start talking about stuff that they did not expect to be talking about you know and I think I think that is part of your community is you like yeah you do your reps and you kick some butt and you get stronger and you’re like I don’t know you want to try five more pounds next time no but okay and then and in between you like you chatter about something you chatter about how much your spouse is driving you crazy or how much whatever and then somebody, you know, makes fun of you for doing something and you laugh about it and then you go do another rep and it’s it’s it’s a really beautiful chill experience. It does take a lot of time though. So, how do you help people manage their time?

Brett Woldanski: Uh, I don’t know, yell at them and belittle them for taking too long. I try to It’s better when we’re busier to just cycle through because like you have to be in motion. So, it’s like if you’re done squatting, you should be over there, you know, spotting and loading. We need the bar.

Camille Ronesi: Yeah, exactly. And the fourth or fifth person in the rotation, guess what? It’s back to you. So, um I guess I’m always there when it’s quiet.

Brett Woldanski: Yeah, cuz middle of the day, which is when us in the industry would train. Um so, you know, that that that’s pretty good. Um, I have a knack for logistics and just kind of seeing like how does this instrument stay on beat, you know, do they come in on the fours or they every other note or you know, I guess that’s music.

Camille Ronesi: I don’t know how you do it. Like I like I’ve watched you weave people, right?

Brett Woldanski: Like I’ve watched that weave and it’s like, you know, that that, you know, that the number four rack needs to be at 10, you know, needs to be set at this height because so and so just walked in, but so and so needs to finish up their set. Like like you you don’t have a piece of paper. You know everybody’s numbers. You know everybody’s expectations for that day. You know everybody’s setting more I mean you’ve got a general flow where you keep it rolling and there is no clipboard in your hand.

Camille Ronesi: It’s just it’s just the way my brain works, too.

Brett Woldanski: Um, and I’m and I’m fascinated with it’s like it’s kind of like a military mechanization sort of system. Um, it’s just the way my brain works. I just remember that sort of stuff for people. Uh, and it’s also, very interestingly enough, kind of how American artillery worked in World War II. And it’s why we were really dominant and like, yay, we’re good at stuff. Um, just all right, I know this thing takes this long to get here, so it’s got to fire at this time. This thing doesn’t, so fire it earlier. That way, everything happens at once. Um, and maybe that’s like part of me playing music. Maybe that’s part of me just kind of being mechanically inclined to see how things kind of work. Um, and just having a sense of time on like, well, that’ll take a minute. That’ll take three minutes. So, I need you to do that, that, that that we’re back to you. That that that we’re back to you. Um, and then you just kind of build parts to your orchestra, I guess. Um, but that’s really all it is is like, and for me too, you know, to to be fair, um, those are my talents and I’m working within my skill set and I just created a system and an environment in which I could be successful. Um, I’m just a creature in my niche habitat that’s like, I’m really good at this.

Camille Ronesi: Um, agree with me.

Brett Woldanski: Yeah. But if you take a polar bear and put him on a tropical island, he’s not he’s not happy about that. I mean, he might survive, but he’s not good at it, you know. So, yeah, I just I created an environment in which the system works for me. Um, and hopefully I can teach people to to work within that system. And as long as you’re giving people clear directions and orders um about what to do and you kind of explain to them like, “Hey, I need you to go ahead and spot because once you’re done, you’re going to hop under there. they’re going to cycle out and then I need you spotting this person on the bench so that I can keep a visual on everything, you know, and just as long as you’re always moving, try not to get bogged down. Um, is is really that’s that’s all I’m trying to do. And then it’s just managing chaos, which sometimes it gets derailed, sometimes it is going to be what it’s going to be. Um, but whatever the the advantage is everybody likes each other and they keep showing up for each other. It’s not for me. I’m I’m I’m good at writing stuff down and programming, but they don’t, you know, they don’t care. As long as their numbers go up and they’re having fun and they look a little better, like they like each other, you know. Plus, I host I host movie nights regularly.

Camille Ronesi: Yeah, you do. You curate those. Well, so let’s ask one make sure we at least get one good coaching question is is the controversy of the back squat. Why the back squat? Um, and why the deadlifts? We’ll do back squat and deadlift or all three.

Brett Woldanski: So, for me, it’s easier to teach. Um, and I think there’s less mobility concerns. I will start with the box because it gives everybody a chance to pause and if you screw that up, you just end up sitting down, which that’s fine. Um, I think the front squat is harder to teach, even though I do start with a goblet position if somebody’s not strong enough to handle the barbell yet. Um, so I think the front squat is a great tool. I’m certainly not opposed to it, especially if somebody’s doing something where more front loading is necessary. Um, I just find it easier to teach for me and I find it an easy way to make progress. Um, same thing with the deadlift. Uh, I will teach I usually teach the conventional deadlift first. I don’t mind pulling sumo um or conventional or if I need to make the trap bar deadlift a primary movement. Um, but most of the time I can teach these things relatively easily. Um, and are also big movements where I can add weight to the bar pretty easily. and you can see pretty um pretty significant progress especially early on. So I mean I do still have to sell it at the end of the day like see see how good you’re doing like technically you can see that you can feel that you know um so yeah that’s they’re easy for me to teach um and then I can modify as needed.

Camille Ronesi: So does is there is there a purposeful gain or a benefit from it besides being able to do it? So yeah, from being able to move the most amount of weight, you’re going to engage the musculature um more than anything else you would do isolationwise. Um you’re going to get a lot of bang for your buck because it’s going to load the whole system. It’s going to coordinate the whole system because you’re going to have to have all the parts working in conjunction with each other. And you know, I like a good orchestra. Um and if you could do one thing, cuz let’s be real, sometimes life is going to allow you to do one thing. Do I want you to do a leg extension or a squat? Like I’m I’m going to choose the squat. It’s going to engage more muscle. It’s going to engage the system. You’re going to handle heavier loads. And because of that, you’re going to be able to drive progress forward. Whereas the isolation work or some of the assistance work, it’s going to top out after about five or 6 weeks. And you’re going to notice those diminishing returns where it just kind of crests. whereas at least for the squat, the deadlift, the bench press, yes, there’s going to be some variation in here, but your line of best fit for the first several years, we can get that to be pretty linear, you know. Um, which is great because yes, we’ll have our little cycles where we go up and down, but eventually it’s trending this way. Um, but yeah, I can I can move you in a more linear fashion. Again, zoomed out.

Brett Woldanski: Renee likes when I say that. Um, and when I get a zoomed out view, um, I can just overload the whole system and it’s easier. Plus, it also reveals to me where your weaknesses are. Um, right. Whereas something in isolation, I may not be seeing the whole system. And then I can use those movements of like, okay, well, you fall fall forward in the squat, so you’re not bracing well and or your lower back is weak. Cool. Let’s do both and address the problem and see if it fixes your squat. um or you know you can’t sit back worth uh you know worth anything. So all right your hamstrings can’t support you in that position and your posterior chain’s weak. Good thing is that’s true for 99% of people and we’ll just do that you know.

Camille Ronesi: Yeah definitely. Yeah. You can’t hide in a back squat. Like you really can’t hide.

Brett Woldanski: Yeah. You’ll know.

Camille Ronesi: Yeah. That’s awesome. Uh well I think we should probably wrap it up. I could talk with you for hours.

Brett Woldanski: I know. Perfect timing because now it’s on to uh train a couple of teenagers and make them successful.

Camille Ronesi: Oh, look, they don’t have to go to school, so they can go to a real school.

Brett Woldanski: That’s awesome. Exactly.

Camille Ronesi: Is there anything else you would like for the general Richmond population to know about you, about XFactor, about powerlifting? What is the message you want to make sure people know?

Brett Woldanski: It’s the per capita strongest gym in the Richmond area. And I’m not always talking about the physical stuff. M seriously, it’s it’s it’s the best community that I’ve ever been privileged to be a part of. And um I’m unbelievably thankful that I have these people around me. And I think they’re thankful to have each other. And uh this place is amazing. I um I always say I put some weights in a warehouse and I built a whole community somehow. Um I’m not sure where that transition piece was, but man, I’m sure happy that it that it turned out like that. Um, yeah. I I I think I think I’ve made the best friends that I’ve ever had in my life or or a lot of the best friends I’ve ever had in my life here. Um, and I think people that go here can say the same and that’s incredible. So, um, and we’re pretty talented, you know, we’re pretty good at stuff and we have cool events. So, um, so yeah, if you if you want a high performance but not high pressure environment where you’re probably going to fit in, unless there’s something really weird about you, you’d really have to try to outweird us. I think that’s it. I think I think if you want a place where you can belong, yeah, we’re we’re here for you.

Camille Ronesi: That’s really beautifully said. I think you you described what it is we like about you and why you and I partner together so often on your athletes. Um, we do like the weird. We do we do tend to we do tend to go for the people who prefer to be seen, valued, heard, respected, curious, engaged. They don’t it’s it’s a lot less about some kind of number and it’s a lot more like feeling like this is this is a place where you are welcome. Uh, and I think that’s great and I’m really excited to continue to work with you. I’m excited to talk with other providers and learn the same things about them. Um, we love the weird in Richmond, that’s for sure. I want to let you go, but I want to thank everybody for listening. And if you have any questions about about XFactor or Coach Brett Waldansky, I encourage you to reach out, check him out on Instagram. He’s got a pretty active thing there. Uh, and in the meantime, stay safe out there in that icy weather. Look out for the blizzard. And off we go. Have fun with those teenagers, Brett. It was great to talk to you today.

Brett Woldanski: Thanks. and take care.

Camille Ronesi: Till next time. Bye.