As ever, Doug Tucker attended the 9am class on a Saturday morning in March at the Hyde Park Shop. As often, Doug took a brunch break. For a very special occasion, Doug then hopped over to the Manor Road Shop to meet me after my morning Strength classes for a beer and a conversation. I’ve known Doug for a long time, so I did far less prep for this interview than usual, guessing that the conversation would steer itself into appropriate proportions of heart and humor. Was it the right call? Read on and judge for yourself dear reader!
Doug Tucker: Do you watch the basketballs?
Coach Chad Ramsey: I watched some games on Thursday while working from home, but I’m not really caught up on the tournament.
I don’t particularly care for basketball that much but we’re playing Texas tonight (we should mention Mr. Tucker has a thick Tennessee accent and is sporting a loud Volunteer’s shirt).
Shiiiiit!
I drove down the drag cranking “Rocky Top” and no one cared…
That is actually a good segue. I always like to get a bit of a biography when doing these interviews. Could you just give us the nickel version of who Doug Tucker is and how he came to be in Austin in general and at Dane’s Body Shop in particular?
Sure! It is kind of a sad story, but that is okay because I wouldn’t take any of it back. I graduated from college in May of 2011; born & raised in Tennessee all of my life. In June of 2011, I married my ex wife in Panama and then in July, we both moved a thousand miles away from both our homes to Austin. I came here because of a job with National Instruments. About a year in- well, spoiler alert- she’s my ex wife now.
Yeah, the spoiler was kind of already baked in there!
Yeah. When I first came to Dane’s, I was driven by fear. I was given an ultimatum by my ex wife- either you lose weight or I am going to divorce you. I lost the weight and she ended up divorcing me anyway. That’s okay.
That’s pretty fucked up.
It is. So I started at Dane’s with the motivation of needing to get in shape to save my marriage.
That is an unfortunate place to start a fitness journey.
So yeah, I knew a little bit about lifting and Dane’s had great reviews-
Wait, in 2012 he had great reviews? He only started it in 2010!
Yeah, there were 49 reviews-
Great job Dane! My guy was motivated.
I’ve been to other places and they just don’t scratch the same itch of being in a group. There have been plenty of times where I’m in a group and I am the last person, but just being in a group. Particularly during the divorce when I was isolated, it helped me to not feel alone.
Now can you pinpoint a moment or any landmark where coming to the gym became for you rather than something tied to this ultimatum?
It was a couple months before she ended up leaving. At that point I had seen some success; still wasn’t where I wanted to be and, arguably, still am not there. I had lost 20-30lbs by that point and was heading in the right direction- I was feeling better and my body was starting to change. At that point I realized that I wanted to keep doing this for myself; the dopamine kept me sane and it gave me an excuse to get out of the house and not be at home drinking whiskey alone. That plus a good amount of therapy.
I have to say that that speaks to your positive nature because I think a less positive person, myself possibly even, in that situation the whole experience of working out might be tainted by the fact that it was tied to this toxic relationship. It is very impressive that you were able to suss out that it was a good thing for you and stick with it.
And I don’t think I fully realized it at the time. There were times when I was running at the back of the pack or couldn’t do a full push up that there was some serious negative self talk. It took a while and growing up on my part to realize that it was stemming from a place of fear and I didn’t want that to be the case. I wanted it to stem from a place of love. Again, shout out to my therapist!
Are you still seeing the same one?
Sadly she is retired! As a side note though, after I had finished seeing her, Amanda mentioned that she needed to see a therapist and so I referred her. On the day of their last session I crashed it and we did a couple’s session!
That is great! I’ve done couple’s therapy before and I think it is wonderful. And by the way readers, the Amanda he is referring to is Amanda Tucker née Limas- Doug’s wife and, dare I say, potential future athlete of the season down the road.
Mmmhhmmm! I’m always telling her that consistency is key; one day she was like “wow, you can get really deep in your squat” and I was like “that’s cause I’ve been doing it for ten years!”.
Now she started after you right? What was that conversation about her starting like- did you tell her that she needed to lose weight or you’d break up with her?
*Gasping with laughter* Hell no! The weight she would have dropped would have been me. No, I just told her that it is an encouraging place and that (coaches) meet you where you are in your fitness level. That you will probably start out with just the bar and it probably will feel awkward at first, but you will get better, you will get stronger.
Amanda is obviously one member that you have a close relationship to, but I know you warm quickly to people and have a number of relationships, so I reached out to a couple members for interview questions. And Marc Sturdivant said that he didn’t know if it was going to be appropriate for the interview, but that I should ask why you were called “Shotgun Tucker” in high school.
God damn it! Okay, I’m going to hit the pause button on that one-
*and oh yes dear reader, I experienced an athlete interview first when Doug reached across the table and smashed the pause button on my phone! I was actually quite surprised that the story very much wasn’t appropriate for the interview transcription!*
*coughing and laughing*. Alright, we’re resuming the fucking interview! Not only did he tell me the origin story of Shotgun Tucker, but I told him the story of “squid” so he could have some leverage on me. We will be moving on from there! Readers, please do not let your minds fill in the blanks.
*still giggling* I didn’t know that was physically possible-
Yep! Okay so that was Sturdivant. Janelle Fondry wanted to know where the passion for the brisket came from.
Just like everything with me, it all started in Tennessee. I wasn’t super into grilling when I was young, but my dad was so it was just always a part of whenever we would have big celebrations. Thanksgiving or Christmas, we’d always have a barbecue. Now, given that it is Tennessee, this wasn’t brisket- mainly pork.
Right! I lived in the south briefly and know not to order brisket there.
Oh no, they’re big on the pig. When I got a house in Austin, I got a little vertical smoker but it was too small for a brisket. My dad in Tennessee of all people was browsing the Round Rock facebook marketplace and found a smoker that he told me was amazing and that I needed to check out. Next thing I know, I have this big beautiful smoker that is finally big enough for a brisket. Last year was the year of brisket- 2023. I got laid off on December 15th 2022 and went through roughly 13 months of unemployment.
So this is a big thing going on in Austin- the layoffs in the tech industry. I bet more than a few people reading this can relate.
Oh yeah. So I’m a software engineer by trade, I’ve been one all my life and still am. Yeah there has been a big hit to the tech industry and it was very difficult to find a job despite lots of searching. So to keep myself from going crazy, I decided I was going to really learn how to use this big smoker. It is stick burning- all manual. The most hi tech thing I have on there is a thermometer. I took most of last year trying to figure out how to burn wood a certain way; you get the fire right and then anything you put on the other end is going to come out beautifully. So then I tried a brisket and the rest is history.
Coach Monica actually wanted me to ask how was the first brisket?
The first brisket was great, the next ten were horrible. But yeah, it was basically my escape to sanity during the job hunt.
And I can vouch for your brisket because it has made appearances at The Shop! Your brisket has fed my family- actually I think your brisket is the first brisket that my baby has ever had!
I got something to show you! *pulls out his phone and shows me an adorable video of his baby cousin eating a bite of Doug’s brisket and then immediately busting out into a smile after tasting it*
That is fantastic! She knows what’s up.
Yep, baby’s don’t lie. That was a cool moment.
Okay, so bringing it back to the deep Barbara Walters stuff. I had a version of this question brewing and I think a lot of us did; Beth Reyburn wanted to know, aside from brisket, what did you do to keep your spirits up last year? I know I went through a similar unemployment thing when we moved to North Carolina briefly and it is one of the darker periods of my life.
I’m not saying this just because of the interview, but I went to Hybrid class. I found a support network at Dane’s; there were people reaching out and checking in on me including Dane himself. We have other members like Mark Cunningham who works in my sector and helped me find a contracting gig- getting that support from him and from other people, having that social network of people to get me out of the house was one of the biggest things keeping me sane. And again I’m not just saying that because we’re doing an interview focused around Dane’s. It helped keep the endorphins going because god knows I needed them! A couple times going to lunch and saying “Hey Doug, I got a beer for you.” I appreciate that and I look forward to paying it back now that I can.
That’s great. I’m going to ask a question and if it happens to be a dark answer, I’ll just leave it out of the transcript- was Amanda helpful through all this?
Man, what are you talking about?!?! She was my fucking rock dude! She believed in me when I didn’t believe in me. Up on the altar you talk the talk but this is where you walk the walk. She walked the walk. I wasn’t in a great mental health place to say the least and she was there to support me and to remind me that I am valuable- that I had a valuable skill set and was a good person and a husband. That should have come from within, but when it didn’t it was coming from her and that was fucking awesome.
Yeah! I feigned uncertainty when I asked the question, but I wasn’t really concerned about asking it. I don’t really know Amanda super well, but I would place good money on her being a woman of high character and empathy. You talk about what is said on the altar and from my own experience, I had been dating Becca for like four years when my dad died very unexpectedly and the way she stood up and supported me during that time went a long way toward convincing me she was the bitch I gotta ride with.
My ride or die!
I don’t want to go through hard stuff without this person. You have to have to have nicer stuff too- you have to think they’re a foxy babe and all that sort of stuff.
Oh yeah! Man, we’re coming up on three years this year- let’s go!
You’re getting a PR on marriage duration!
*laughing* Right? Plus 5lbs on the strict press and plus one day on the marriage.
You mentioned camaraderie being something you leaned on during the pandemic. You’ve been a part of certain social institutions in the Shop orbit and “Whiskey Wednesdays” was one that stood out- is that still going?
It kind of died off when Freedman’s closed in something like 2018. I remember it started right before my divorce and then right when it happened, it was well established enough that they were like, “Doug, come in, sit here, drink this” and started giving me unsolicited advice! *laughing*
*at this moment, dear reader, a very upset young man took a phone call sitting on the bench next to us and proceeded to start sobbing while speaking on his cell phone. So Dougie and I decided to relocate to the inside of the Fusion room for the rest of the interview. I hope all turned out well for my random sad fella!*
I’m always fascinated by the little fun sub-cultures at the Shop and events & traditions like Whiskey Wednesday. Are there any other examples of this you’ve come across?
I’ve been over to the Blaser’s house (Robert and Laura- both current members and former SAS recipients), I’ve been to Jose-Luis’s house (Guerra- contender for athlete of the century, Dane’s personal life coach, and Dane’s mortal enemy) and honestly, I’d love to get in the social groups even more… and all I have to do is just ask.
And you’re asking now! When this interview hits, the invitations will just roll in.
*the sad random man walks past the Fusion room door still composing himself as he appears to head back to work somewhere*
Good luck my man!
What do you think that was about?
It looks like he’s going back to work, so it isn’t that. I’m worried he got some bad news about a family member or something.
What if he just had something posted on eBay and just got really hurt by how low the bids were?
*guffawing* Hey, maybe he is an artist and the bid just made him feel devalued? Hell, that was me last year when I was interviewing- why don’t people see what I’ve got and why don’t they appreciate me?
Empathy- it is clear you’ve come away with even more empathy after that experience. So obviously I asked the management team if they had questions for you and Dane’s response was to the effect of he has had so many conversations with you that he doesn’t think there is anything left to discuss. My read is that it was a bullshit response and the subtext was “leave me alone, it is Saturday morning and I’m carting my kids around- I don’t have time to answer”. So I’ll just pose this to you- can you list up to three things about yourself that would surprise Dane?
I’ll start with something boring- I played Trombone in high school-
Did ya know that Dane?!?!?!
Maybe, I dunno! He does know quite a bit about me. Over the years, I forget how much shit I’ve told him. My family actually has a musical legacy in middle Tennessee- my grandfather on my dad’s side won the inaugural governor’s cup for our home town high school in like 1967. My uncle was a band director and my dad still plays trombone in some bands.
Before we transition into some random weirdo questions, do you have any goals in the gym or at life in general?
Starting at The Shop- I’ve been keeping track of my PRs in my notes app and even if I’m not at my best I’m still hitting those numbers. Even at my age of thirty six, I’m still striving to meet those numbers and maybe even surpass them. Maybe I’m misguided in thinking that because my body is falling apart… Everyone over 36 is going to laugh at me right now-
*pointedly* A-HA-HA-HA-HA!
Right. But I still believe my strongest self is ahead of me. It is a marathon, not a sprint. Outside of the gym, I’m in this new job and I’m growing into a leadership position. Things are going really well; I’m early in this journey, but I’m not struggling to keep my head above water. And on a larger level-
*Here, dear readers, Doug and I talked about some really cool personal goals of his that we decided to keep out of the interview transcript but, suffice it to say, this snippet of the conversation made me love the dude even more. Interviewer privilege? You bet your sweet ass!*
Well lets go ahead and transition from that mystery box in the interview to some random questions. Let’s pretend that every time someone walks into class at The Shop, a theme song plays so that even if people aren’t looking, they hear it and are like “Oh cool, Doug’s here!”. What is that song for you?
*sighs* It is the song “Big Poppa” by The Notorious B.I.G. Yeah, my email might include that song and the year in which I graduated high school. Back in 2012, I signed up at The Shop using an email I created in high school. So I still have coaches who will be like, oh wow, Big Poppa is here! *no, dear readers I pointedly did not tell Doug he can change his email address whenever he likes*
Do you love it when we call you Big Poppa?
Every time!
Does Amanda call you Big Poppa?
*laughing* No she doesn’t!
That is probably for the best- it speaks highly over your marriage. A question I always incorporate in election years is: we have a big sprawling community here- who would you want to run for President of the United States?
Easy, Beth Reyburn. She gets shit done.
She’s Canadian, so she is technically not eligible, but for the sake of the exercise I will allow it. Talk through the case.
I feel like she would be very connected with her constituents- I see how she goes out of the way in class to talk to people and at the end of the class asks them what they are doing today. She is empathetic and that is a good base in and of itself. She’s very productive and good at managing things.
Any members? Let’s say you nominate a member to be VP.
The first name that jumps to mind is Marc Sturdivant-
Oh!
Yes, I think they’d be a very dynamic duo. They would be a good balance-
You want your vice president to have a better whiskey tolerance than the president-
Yes! Any time shots come, Beth can pass it off to Marc and he’ll be able to take it and do it again.
I’d vote for that! What is your favorite swear word?
Ooooh! I like all of them even though I’m trying to curse less. Oh man… let’s go with the classic “fuck”. It is so versatile. It is the curse word I say the most at Dane’s just like “Ooooh fuck!” or “fuck me!”. Yeah, it is fuck.
Ok, a movie of your life is being made- what are some examples of songs we would hear on the soundtrack?
Let me look at my Spotify real quick… You would most likely hear some older funk like Tower of Power and maybe some big band. As time goes on, it would stay funky. N’Sync’s “Payday” and you have to have “Big Poppa”. Gotta have some Tennessee songs like “Wagon Wheel” or “Dixieland Delight”. Feel good songs with no bad undertones.
On the note of songs, I’m cribbing this from one of my favorite podcasts- what song do you want to hear as you die?
Woof! Actually that is super easy- Leon Bridges “Beyond”. It is the final song we had at our wedding and it takes me back to our wedding every time. Everyone was leaving and getting set up to make the arch outside with the sparklers and people were coming to clean up the tables. We wanted the song to be playing when it was just the two of us. My back was all sorts of sweaty because we had been dancing and she was sweaty and we didn’t care- we were just holding on to each other, knowing it was the perfect end to a perfect night. This was the beginning of the rest of my life, and so I guess that is what I’d want to hear as it ended.
That is an awesome answer- I don’t think I’ve heard a better answer even on the actual podcast.
Every time I hear that song- and even just here talking about it- I tear up a little bit.
That is beautiful- as someone who has had a beautiful wedding, I get where you are coming from. Wrapping things up, are there things you wanted to say that haven’t been said yet? As Athlete of the Season, are there words you’d like to impart to those who come after you?
Sure! When I first heard the news that I was Athlete of the Season, I laughed because I know that there are much more impressive athletes here- people with athletic backgrounds, who are running marathons, and doing other amazing things. I thought to myself, “why did they choose you?”. I think it is the same thing I tell myself and I say to Amanda- it is persistence. As long as you show up- whatever goals you have will come and it will take time. My first 3-5 years, I was the person in the back of the class and doing the workout the slowest. I want to remind everyone that that is where I started and not to say that I’m where I want to be right now but if you find yourself in the back of the class, don’t be discouraged. With perseverance, your goals can be met and that is something I’ve proven myself; since I first walked through the doors I have lost and kept off sixty pounds-
Damn, that is awesome!
I still have a goal of getting to one hundred pounds. 12 years later, I still haven’t reached that goal, but that is okay. It is all about persistence.
And I’ll add to that it isn’t just about showing up. It isn’t just that you have been persistent for over a decade- though that is a big part of it. The other part of it is that you haven’t just showed up to class, you’ve come with warmth and engagement. Dear reader’s Doug showed up a little early for this interview and I was giving a tour and he didn’t go sit in the corner- he came over and basically helped me give the tour. Like I felt I could have left and just let him show the potential member around himself! Beth and I were both curious about how you coped with that awful year looking for work because you still showed up and it wasn’t just that. We all kind of knew you were going through a tough time but it didn’t feel that way; you still engaged with people. You didn’t hide what you were going through, but you walked that graceful balance between being real and also letting people in. Hell, you should have been Athlete of the Season years ago, but what stood out this time was “This fucker isn’t just persistent, he can do this while dealing with extreme stress”.
Wow, yeah. Thank you. I’m glad that is how it came off and thanks to everyone for their grace; because it didn’t feel like I was coming off like that last year!
No one was ever sad to see Doug Tucker show up to the Shop- even in his darkest hours.
That’s good to hear because I needed it more than I realized. It was a really large source of support. You’re giving me credit, but I couldn’t have done it myself; I couldn’t have done it without Amanda, I couldn’t have done it without Dane, and I couldn’t have done it without the encouraging words from everyone else.
And with that dear readers, I’m calling this interview closed and I’m going to make Doug stand up and hug me!!!
