Luke's Barbell Club, Austin, Texas
On our recent road trip to Texas for a family wedding, I thought, "Wouldn't it be great to get some in-person coaching?" Tried for San Antonio since that's where the family is, but no SSC coach there. When I mentioned this in forum, I got a PM from Rip saying I should make the short trip up to Austin and work with Joyce at Luke's Barbell Club.
So the wife and I made plans to get there, and we spent an hour there getting trained this morning. Some thoughts below.
1) The club is clean, organized, and manifestly created for serious work. No unnecessary items or clutter, and the equipment is in excellent condition.
2) Joyce Luke and Jarrod Schaefer are amiable and business-like all at once, in what seemed to me to be ideal balance.
3) Jarrod was excellent. Jarrod worked with me while Joyce worked with my wife. I got my squat fixed, and then got solid, specific, practical programming advice on how far to deload and re-progress to solidify the changes. On my press, I went into Luke's doing a strict press, and walked out knowing what the SS press feels like when done right, inside of 20 minutes of work. As awkward as I usually feel with new movements, this kind of quick coaching breakthrough probably deserves an award.
4) My wife is a highly competent raiser of children, crafter of fabric goods, and possessor of many talents both mentionable and unmentionable, but most athletic endeavors intimidate her, and the prospect of being trained in person by a professional athlete positively terrified her. The amount of convincing I had to do to get her to come with me to Luke's was considerable. But Joyce's sunny disposition and encouraging manner soon had my wife well outside her old comfort zone, into a new comfort zone. The quality of work Joyce was able to facilitate was truly remarkable.
As a general summary: Joyce and Jarrod are my first in-person experience with the SS brand, and they do it great credit.
Our thanks;
Geoff and Julie
