When he’s not shredding guitar, he’s shredding through our workouts; and if you’ve busted butt in Hybrid, you’ve met one of this month’s Fusion Athletes, Chris Primeau. Chris has been a dedicated member of the DBS community for a couple years, and his drive, discipline, and hustle has remained unwavering throughout the time we’ve known him. And if, as he says below, he spends more time on guitar than he does on his fitness, we can only imagine how sick his licks are!

Take a moment and get to know Chris, one of our January Fusion Athletes!

You are a musician, but a damn good athlete, too. Which came first?

I think technically athletics came first. I was a wrestler in middle school and a boxer in high school. I bought my first guitar when I was thirteen and it quickly became my passion. Both require the same kind of daily discipline and routine to improve. Music is my full-time job now, so athletics and training are my escape from work.

How have you transformed since you joined DBS?

The first thing I noticed was within a few weeks all the mobility work made it a lot easier to turn my head around when backing my car out. There was a time when I couldn’t stick my arms straight above my head, but after a few weeks at DBS my posture and mobility really improved. Now I’m way more confident in my body and athleticism. Sometimes, when I’m walking around town, I like to challenge myself to jump on top of things box jump style. The only thing that kept me from attempting to jump from my porch to the hood of my car this morning was the fact that I was wearing sandals.

You teach people of all ages how to play music. What have you learned through fitness?

That a really good question. There are a lot of similarities between learning music and fitness. There’s a brick in the strength room that reads something to the effect of “Don’t be upset with the results you didn’t get from the work you didn’t do.” That’s really the undying lesson of life. Genetics, circumstance, and luck will always play a factor in your level of success, but those are things which we cannot control. However, we can control our effort, discipline, and focus; and, ultimately, if you keep doing something enough, you will improve.

By the way, shout out to my guitar student Greg. I convinced him to join DBS a few months ago after showing him the promo video and talking it up. Greg, stop reading this, and go practice your guitar!

You recently participated in the DBS Weightlifting Meet. How did that go? Do you plan on competing more in the future?

The powerlifting meet was awesome. There was a lot more drama and entertainment than I anticipated. Everyone was really amped and nervous. Plus, I got to meet a lot of people who I otherwise wouldn’t because we attend class at different times.

My goal was to finish at the top of my weight class, though I did not expect to win best overall lifter. I’ll probably do a couple more of these in-house meets, and if I keep doing well, I’ll step out into more local competitions. I really hope we keep doing meets as, much like a recital, it gives us something for which to train. Perhaps after the Olympic lifting meet, we could hold a spelling bee. That’d be high comedy.

You attend morning strength and Hybrid fusion—both in the same day. How do you maintain this regimen, making sure you aren’t overdoing it, while still gaining the benefits from both programs?

First, I try get as much sleep as possible and eat plenty. I have 4-plus hours in between the two classes, so I make sure to go home and eat. I actually find the two programs complement each other very well. We do more low-rep power movements in strength and more high-rep muscle endurance work in hybrid, so as long as you do strength class first, you’ll have enough left in the tank. I only do that two days

a week and never plan to go more than 3 days at the Shop without a day of rest.

What are 3 life or fitness goals you have for 2014?

My primary goal for 2014 is to apply for grad school in guitar. So my rule is that I am not allowed to spend more time on fitness than I am on guitar. Fitness wise, however, I want to squat 400 pounds and deadlift 500 pounds by the end of the year. And I’d like to be able to handstand walk across the fusion room. Maybe I’ll learn a backflip just to keep things interesting.

Describe in two sentences what DBS has done for you.

DBS has made me stronger, faster, more flexible and more mobile than I ever thought possible. It also forced me to buy a bunch of new shirts.

  Read more about our previous Fusion Athletes here.