WED: Lenny to Join P360 Ocean Beach Ownership Team

**P360 Ocean Beach First 50 Initiative — Enrollment Now Open**

Our movement is bigger than just fitness. It is bigger than ourselves, and any movement worth its salt cannot be advanced without the help of others. We’ve always believed that and said from day one in 2011 that we couldn’t do this thing alone.

Along the way, we’ve picked up some truly amazing members, incredible humans as coaches, and built what I sincerely believe to be the best fitness community in America. Sure, it’s a grandiose statement, but I honestly do not know of another gym that is so quietly accomplishing what we’re all doing together, here. I’m that deadly serious about the magic that I believe exists within these eight walls, and I would go to toe to toe with anyone over it.

The downside to having conviction that strong and possibly delusional is that my standards are unreasonably high. I know this. When we hire someone, when we transfer our work and the blood, sweat, and calluses we have created over to someone else’s hands, we ask them to take it as seriously as we do. It’s an incredibly tall and unreasonable order, and it’s not lost on me how unfair of an expectation that is for someone.

Yet, without it, we die. It’s that cut and dry. Without clearly aligned vision and coordination by all who paddle the boat, we’d eventually go in circles, or we’d let one bad apple poison the bunch.

Believe me. Our track record is not perfect. We have made mistakes over the years, been fooled by interview smooth talking, and each time better enhanced our sensory for what makes someone a great fit here. With that in mind, the decision to partner with Lenny as owner operator for this OB gym was a very lengthy process. I’m buds with Lenny. So is Pritz. I’ve gotten very close with him as a friend over the the past year and I enjoy the hell out of him as a person (who doesn’t). But there’s a lot of good friends I have who I wouldn’t dare get into business with because I am aware that my intensity is too much for most, so the reason for Lenny coming on board goes well beyond friendship.

For those who are not aware, Lenny joined here as a member a little over three years ago. He came up through the ranks, refining his craft first as a serious member. He was such a people magnet for every class that he took, and his passion for fitness so evident, that we decided to put Lenny through our coach’s program and hired him from a very deep applicant pool in 2016.

After coaching for a year or so, Lenny approached us about involvement for whenever our next step were to occur. When he did, he conveyed a natural, deep passion for what he has experienced with you all here that was impossible to miss. About how this place has changed his life. About how he has made life long best friends here. About how it’s given him stability and a place to call home. I can’t tell you the feeling it is to hear someone talk about what you’ve had a hand in creating, and while it may seem dramatic to most, the emotions it creates are very real.

As much as we both like Lenny, when someone approaches you with an idea of this magnitude, there is incredibly thorough vetting that needs to be done. He or she unknowingly places themselves under an enormous microscope where we look at everything.

And I mean…everything.

How he talks to members, how he acts in class, how he is with new members, old members, how he handles staff direction, responsibility, and obligation. I interviewed members about him. How is he when he’s having a bad day? Is he on time without question? Does he bring ideas just as good as he handle implementing someone else’s? Is he coachable? Does he respect his teammates? Does he care for his teammates? Is he judgmental of goals not his own? Does he naturally elevate people? Will there be an ego clash? How does he handle something he doesn’t know, is he honest or does he spit bullshit? If he walks by an empty cup, does he leave it on the ground or throw it away? Does he love coaching and being a part of this or it is an act of convenience for where he’s at in life right now?

I remember taking the 3:30 PSC with Lenny a few weeks ago. We were training on the same bar, talking about what’s to come as we’ve settled into the unofficial routine of doing. I remember seeing a woman in the gym who was new, within her first couple of weeks. She wasn’t intimidated, but she had that tense reservation in her shoulders of someone still finding their way. Lenny would frequently walk over to her in between his sets and see how she was doing, checking in with her, making her comfortable, taking time away from his own training to make someone else’s better. He wasn’t coaching. He wasn’t on the clock. He just genuinely cared as a fellow member of the community, an equal, and he showed it throughout the entire class.

I never said anything to him about that, but it’s left a lasting impression on me.

You see, fitness knowledge, that’s the easy part. That’s the stuff you learn first as a member in our culture, and refine it’s points and application in our coach’s program. That doesn’t impress me a lick. What does, and where the needle moves when it comes to human connection, is how you apply it.

At every step of his journey here, Lenny has been all in, far exceeding my own skill in a number of those initial questions raised and teaching me many lessons along the way.

That story is a microcosm of how engaged he is with every person who reciprocates it.  Lenny is as genuine as they come and someone I have been incredibly proud to call a good friend over the years, and now, a partner. He has never once hidden who is or been afraid to be himself. Lennisms, quirks, awkwardly long pauses, “fan-tastic”, “ab-solutely”, and all. His ability to make every member feel welcome and capable will be an instant hit with the people of the OB community, and we cannot wait to see the value he brings to how we run things.

The reality here is that Lenny has his much to lose if we aren’t successful together. Our commitment to him is just as strong as his to ours, and we need everyone’s help to ensure that his decision to put his trust in our hands and Performance360’s was the right one. There’s no one better for this challenge ahead and we couldn’t be more proud to stand alongside of him as a dear friend and as shared owner in the direction of P360 OB.

I am grateful to you all for allowing us this next step. Please make sure to wish Lenny congratulations for this endeavor, because he is so unbelievably deserving of it.

-Dave

Wednesday, 3.7.18 

First. For Strength.
5 Push Jerks @ 60-80%
3/s Eccentric Lateral Goblet Step Downs
Every 4′ for 16′
(x4)
—
Then. For Conditioning.
20-16-12-8-4
DB Snatches
Pendulum Swings
OH Plate Curtsy Lunges
Sprinter Crunches
60m Farmer’s Walk