“My name is Ronnie Teasdale and I am not Nice!”
-That was me introducing myself to a class full of new students a few weeks ago. One person laughed, I quickly adjusted that, and made him know that I am serious.
I have been trying to figure myself out. On a day to day level I am a pretty chill guy, I am really soft spoken and not mean to anyone. But the moment I get in front of a class I cannot calm my temper. I have a raging passion for having people do things my way.
The fact of the matter is that I care very much about my clients happiness, health, longevity, and athleticism. And because of that I will not be sugar coating my message. I have studied exercise, diet and fitness every single day since I graduated college (where I studied exercise science). I have given my life to this profession. I have given my life for the sake of my clients.
Nina says, “The computerized automated world has fed you with corn, made you soft, weak and complacent. You are used to being catered to so you enjoy devolving into a Jello-like diabetic entity.”
Most other people in your life, and certainly the ones you pay to attain services from are going to be nice to your face:
-”Thank you, have a nice day, here is your free bag of Frittos”
-”Would you like to supersize that order?”
-”Here child, afraid of the dark?,… here is a night light.”
-”It’s ok try again.”
But the truth is that none of that is going to help you. Just like Nina said, it will comfort you into being complacent. Being comfortable will not teach you anything. In fact I would argue that comforting things do the opposite of teaching. We are supposed to be comfortable, that is the norm. Normal does not equal change.
At CrossFit Mean Streets,… If you walk in here an unhealthy slob, comforting you is the last thing that is on our minds. We are going to be jerks, and make no excuses about it. The most valuable lessons in life come hard:
-It is the time you learned that opening your mouth will sometimes get your butt kicked.
-It is the time you learned that speeding will get you a traffic ticket
-It is the time you learned that falling and breaking a bone is not fun
-It is the time you learned that sometimes you have to strike first before they do
-It is the time you learned that love hurts
-It is the time you learned that some friends may take advantage of you
-It is the time you learned that taking out the broken lightbulb before it is unplugged will electrocute you
-It is the time you learned that the heart attack was caused by your 30 years of a crappy diet
-It is the time you learned to make sure your hand is out of the car door before you shut it
-It is the time you learned to do what your father asks no matter what or he will beat your ass
-It is the time you learned that getting awful grades gets you punished
-It is the time you learned that you treat your lover like shit they will break up with you
-It is the time you learned that the waves of the ocean will slam you to the ground
-It is the time you learned that a motorcycle accident can end you
All of the above will most likely have lasting impressions on you. And it is not pleasurable to go through these experiences but it is necessary to learn from most of them.
I set the rules and the tone of the gym. And the clients we have are wonderful at following and respecting them. I think they understand the reasoning I am trying to convey in the article. The funny thing is that I get a lot of flak from outsiders. People who walk by, walk in, meet me on the street,… people who have forgotten what it is to be treated real. People have sent emails, voicemails, suggestions etc… mentioning that the kid with the mohawk should be fired because of “his rudeness”. Well, if you haven’t done a workout here, you don’t deserve an opinion.
All of my yelling, screaming, stomping on your back if you don’t go low enough in the pushup, assigning burpees, and out right calling you out in front of everyone is for your own good. I am not doing it because I hate you. I am doing it because I care about you. Life isn’t going to be nice to you, and i am preparing you for life. You come here for an hour of your day, get your ass kicked, so hopefully you wont get your ass kicked in the real world. Most of the times in life you do not get second chances. Some of you reading this know this, for you others you have a lesson coming your way.
The thing about our country is that it is backwards. The more out of shape you are the more you have been coddled. The more you have been fed “pretty packaged” shitty foods, and catered to by people payed to be nice to you and not mention the fact that you are out of shape, weak, and just a plane waste of existence. People who were fat and out of shape never used to fit in. You would of died, if you couldn’t hunt! Now the world caters to you because now America is, what is it?, what is the figure now?,…. like 70% overweight. 70% of the country is overweight. That means that advertisers, businesses, products, have to cater to fat people, because most of this country is fat. You come here to change yourself for the better. And all of our clients we thank you, we know you struggle every day. We know you push yourself past your limits. I am here to tell you that it is all for good reason. That you need the pain, the agony, and the strict regimen that is CrossFit Mean Streets to reverse what the open armed obesity machine, America, has created from you.
You come here, you listen, you get fit, and we do not plan on being nice about it.
This gym is here positioned in the middle of Downtown LA to make winners. I am catering to the athletic person that I know is in everyone. I am not catering to the fat person who wants to remain fat, I am not catering to the 65 year old that thinks he is going to die soon, I am not going to cater to the little princess chick that is ok not being able to lift more than 15 pounds. Those people will be filtered out, hopefully with this article I am writing today. Those are people who belong at pilates plus, yoga and spin, curves, and 24 hour fitness. Because there they love fatties, they know they will sign up and never come, and that is better for their bottom line. I want people who are going to give me their all. So before any of you come walking through our doors: get your shit together, realize that you have strength and power, and that you are going to have a lot more soon…. I am going to give you the world, but you are going to have to trek through hell to get it.
My name is Ronnie Teasdale and I will Run you into the ground
10-6-10
Warm UP
Shoulder Mobility drills
Strength: Shoulder Press Tempo Training
5 X 50% 1 rep max
5 X 60% 1 rep max
5 X 70% 1 rep max
1 second on the concentric motion
3 second hold at top
5 seconds on the eccentric motion
WOD:
50 Front Squats with 165lbs/105lbs
You will start squatting.
Once 1 minute is up you will run 530m.
When you get done you will start squatting immediately and have one minute to do it.
Then you will run 530m again and get one 1 minute squat. This will go on untill you have finished the 50 total squats.
CrossFit Mean Streets
Downtown LA,….. where USC students can get triple the amount of housing for the same price as by campus
In regards to this blog, about one year ago I started my search for a fitness trainer. After years of having more then one gym membership at one time I realized that the gym was not for me, that it was time to get serious and needed to get in front of someone who was going to push me to my limits. When I came across Ronnie’s add I did a lil research on his site and gave him a call. What interested me in Ronnie’s add was the location, it was a lil different it wasn’t in a shopping center it wasn’t in a personal trading type location it was private. When I met with Ronnie I was pretty impressed on after researching him, how serious this kid was, I mean from the minute I waked in to his style of gym I knew that this was going to be the beginning of something new for me. I started trading with Ronnie for a few months and things were going great he introduced me to the “Paleo” way of life and after a few months the pounds and inches where coming down and I was not only happy but feeling great. Then Ronnie decided to invite me in to his new journey of crossfit, witch I was not sure of and fought with him over and over telling him I did not want to be part of an aerobics class, that I was happy with the private training sessions. Well I took his word and man was I in for it not only was I working out harder it was becoming more of a challenge with myself, “that’s where this blog comes in” I was starting to believe in myself even more but then thing changed when the class started getting bigger and bigger, I noticed that as the class got bigger I was not felling the personal attention that I was used to getting from Ronnie, I was not feeling the workouts and thought “fuck” why is my friend being such an Asshole… I was starting to resent going to the workouts and felling a lil negative about the whole thing, I realized that I started to confuse myself with Ronnie not only being my friend but my trainer also realizing what I really was here for and that was to Pay this guy to be an “asshole” and to get me and my body back to what it is supposed to be and that is healthy, strong. So with this I say thank you Ronnie for being the mean “Bitch” you are and for giving up you life in helping people like myself get motivated and live a stronger life, The world needs more people like you And for those people who think he is a Mr. Mean Guy he is and he is only doing it for our own good, so if he makes you cry and fell lil, this gym is not for you. Tank’s Ronnie” Gabriel Morones “1 Year On and Off Crossfit member for no Excuse”
HAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!
Hello everyone. Welcome to Mean Streets. I am Ronnie Teasdale and I’m a mother fucker!
Oh yeah, I’m also going to bury your sorry ass. Ok, now lets have some fun!!!
I like that you go straight to the point in your latest posts, appreciate!
Ronnie,
I admire your passion to want to change people’s lives, wanting to make them healthy, and giving it your ‘all’. But – I just want to point out one thing – you cannot blame people for being fatties in the United States simply because they are lazy. I am not saying that no one is lazy, and there is a large population who is lazy – but – you have to look deeper into this issue – institutionalized discrimination leading to the ill health of people.
When a fat person walks into the gym – it’s hard for them – especially walking in to a crossfit gym – your business model is a little weak – why do you want to chase these people who are trying to change their lives? You are then failing in your mission in wanting to help people – instead of writing harsh crap on your blog, perhaps you can focus on trying to attract people – make people want to change their lives and walk into your gym. I will be meeting you pretty soon – I have a feeling your barking isn’t that harsh in person.
So Ronnie – share a little love
Gabriel I just seen this. I am glad you understand…. I love all of you.
Rafiki,… I started leaving you a nice message explaining myself. I deleted all that nonsense.
All you have to do is refer to two things:
#1 to this sentence in the above article: “if you haven’t done a workout here, you don’t deserve an opinion.”
and
#2 read Gabriel’s comment. That is straight from the source.