3 Things I Learned From Travis Mash

#1 Open mind always

I was on Travis’ podcast, The Barbell Life, and he was super inquisitive about my squat every day antics. As the interview went on, he became more and more interested in my results, along with my ideas behind mixing the Bulgarian and Soviet methods together. This is a man that has a resume a mile long in WPO powerlifting. During his peak years, he was battling and beating some of the best Westside Barbell lifters of all time. On top of this, he made a switch to Olympic weightlifting and still is competing at 43+ years old.

He was like, “I have never tried this before, but I’m going to try it this coming week, you have my word.” I know that this program bit him the same way it bit me, and to this day there are many squat every day followers challenging themselves on a daily basis. What is particularly amazing is that after all the years of being an elite level powerlifter, he still is humble enough to drop his ego to listen to a less great powerlifter, fitness model and bodybuilder.

With that being said, I did squat and deadlift 540 at 181 lbs., so that raised some eyebrows with what I was doing. Travis having an open mind with different training methodologies is awesome, and it clearly shows with his success in the coaching world.

#2 Willingness to help

Going into the podcast, I knew that Travis spoke about how the guys at Barbell Shrugged helped him with his online business. I had a few questions for Travis when I was getting ready to launch CoryGfitness.com, and he answered them with no issue. He wasn’t concerned at all about what my business would do, or even if it would compete with his. I knew that my business wouldn’t compete with his, but his willingness to help without hesitation was very generous.

Next, the last time I was on his podcast, he went on about my program and the value that it offered to its users, and even went to the extent of highlighting my Muscle Trifecta weekend. Competing in an Olympic meet, bodybuilding show, and a powerlifting meet all in one weekend was quite the challenge for me. What he didn’t know was that he, Charlie Zamora and CT all were massive inspirations for even attempting such a thing.

Travis did what is called a “Big 5” meet. This includes the snatch, clean & jerk, squat, strict press and finally deadlift. Charlie did an Olympic meet in the morning and then a Powerlifting meet in the evening. To complete this trio, CT did a power meet and a bodybuilding meet both on the same day. The great inspiration from these guys pushed me to my decision to take this feat on full force.

#3 Intensity

I can see it in his eyes from his old powerlifting pictures. I can see it in every video from the Mash Elite compound, with all of the Mash Mafia. It’s something about an environment like this that you can feel it even through something like Instagram. The love of the barbell is felt through those videos, so you could only imagine what it would be like to be in a gym of this caliber.

It’s the willingness to pass everything on to the young bucks, as they begin to dominate American weightlifting. This is not something that someone can fake, but something that a real weightlifter will purely have. This does not mean there has to be yelling and craziness all the time. Especially in the Olympic weightlifting world, much of the time there is quiet sense of calmness and precision that goes into every lift. A gym’s environment, coupled with a quality leader is vital to any great team, and Travis Mash has and continues to crush it at a high level.