Grant and I settled on a scenic hill overlooking the Moody Amphitheater in Waterloo Park downtown and enjoyed a couple hazy IPA’s and a warm conversation on a beautiful Sunday in February. It wasn’t until the interview was almost over that I learned Grant’s incredible connection to that park!
Coach Chad: So you were doing our community workouts for a long time before becoming a member right?
Grant Dziuda: Yeah, it was probably about a year. A friend of mine, Renee, asked me to come with her and I really liked it, so I was a regular every Sunday community workout person.
Yeah, I got to know you quite a bit before you ever even became a member. Dane wanted to know if the only reason we got to have you as a regular member was because we stopped the community workouts when the pandemic hit.
No, no, I had joined before. I joined January 1st right before the pandemic and signed up for 6 months at that point.
Was there something that convinced you to sign up for the regular membership?
I really liked (workout out at The Shop), but I had never paid that much for a membership. I worked out at The Y for a long time and that is dirt cheap. But I figured if I was coming 5-6 days a week, the price was worth it.
And you really do come 5-6 days a week?
Yeah!
And you work out at 5:30 or 6am right? I consider that to be a very clear manifestation of discipline- how do you maintain that discipline? Any tricks to maintaining that regimen?
Not really- I’ve recently just realized that I’m naturally a very regimented and disciplined person. It can actually be a little bit of a friction point with (his girlfriend) Kiani. So I’ll sign up for all of my classes like a month out and cancel if I need to- it is just so rare that I cancel.
For those early morning classes, I’ll look at the roster the night before and try to figure out who is likely to sleep in and miss class and you’re one of those people that I never doubt is going to be there. Now I don’t know a lot about your history, can you tell us just a bit about where you came from and where you grew up?
My parents both grew up in Detroit- both grandfathers worked in the auto industry, one for Ford and one for GM. They had three kids in Detroit then they moved to St. Louis which is where I was born.
You’re like the midwestern version of a Kennedy!
Yeah I still follow all the St. Louis teams-
Did you follow the Rams to L.A.? Were you jazzed about the Super Bowl?
Yeah, yeah, I understood why the would move. Then we moved to the suburbs of Chicago. I grew up the youngest of four kids- we’re all pretty close in age and we are still pretty close to one another.
I’m fascinated by birth order and how that effects how people turn out. Do you feel like being the youngest affected you at all? I feel like there were times when my little sister felt like she was chasing me, trying to live up to what I did.
Maybe when I was really young, but I know who I am and am happy with that- so I don’t feel the need to keep up with anyone else. But going back to my parents, my dad hopped around to different sales time jobs and my mom worked as an aide in the local middle school- the same one I want to. Yeah, she was at the same elementary school and then moved to the middle school when I did. I had to cut her off from following me past that, “I know I’m your baby, but we’ve got to cut it off at some point!”.
Were they super disciplined? Is that maybe where you got that trait from?
Not really. I don’t know where that came from. Maybe one place is that I played soccer my whole life and senior year I recognized that that part of my life was going to be over but I wanted to stay in shape, so I picked up track & field. The coach we had for distance running was extremely disciplined; for that year he had a goal of running every single day- so like his “off” days would only be 3-4 miles. If it would snow a foot during the day, he’d be out there shoveling the track so we could run. So I think that might have had an impact on me.
How did that carry over to your time at (University of Wisconsin) Madison?
I just kept that same discipline. I got recruited as a walk on for the rowing team, so that meant intense workouts every day. Rowing on a rowing machine is very mentally draining.
So soccer, track, rowing, and obviously what you do at The Shop- was there ever a period in which you weren’t athletically engaged?
Hmm… not really. I should say that I studied abroad in Europe my Sophomore year in college-
And what were you studying again?
Civil Engineering. I studied in Hungary and I looked into getting a membership, but I think it was just too expensive. So for those 6 months I just didn’t really work out. And it was drinking like five nights a week. But you’re walking everywhere, so you’d think I’d come back with a beer belly but I actually came back weight less. I probably had way less muscle though. So yeah, without really even trying I was walking like 5-6 mile a day.
So beyond that illustration of the power of passive exercise, what else sticks with you about your time in Europe? That is something I deeply regret- not doing a semester abroad.
The pace of life over there is so much slower. Everything in the United States is just go, go, go. Over there the lifestyle is so much more relaxed.
Now earlier, you mentioned that Kiani is a little bit more laid back than you, do you think that is one of the things that attracted you to her- like reminding you of that slower pace to life?
It is less that she is laid back and more that she is a free spirit- more spontaneous than me. I can be spontaneous and she draws that out of me. Sometimes she’ll push me to do things that I don’t want to do initially and afterwards I have no clue why I didn’t want to do it.
Where did you two meet?
Oh we just met at a bar on the east side-
Wait? People meeting in real life? Not on an app? This sounds insane.
*laughing*. Yeah we met in 2019.
One way of looking at the pandemic through the lens of relationships is that it separated the wheat from the chafe; that the couples who needed to break up, that is what finally pushed them to it and the couples that were strong got stronger. You’re obviously in the second category right?
Yeah! There were only brief stints of time where we were truly trapped at home together. She is an ICU nurse, so there was no lapse where she had to stay home. With my job, there was only a few weeks when I was home and that was before we moved in together. So I guess to answer your question, it was different for us- we weren’t one of those couples who were locked in together for a long time.
Another question Dane had was when are we going to get Kiani at The Shop?
I don’t know- we’ve talked about it, but I think she just really likes the more cardio-based workouts. I’ve done them with her also, but I just don’t like it as much as I like working out at The Shop.
Ooo! This is a great opportunity for shameless self promotion. What do you like most about working out at The Shop?
It may sound kind of strange, but I really like the yoga/stretching at the end of class because I never really stretched. When I started learning new stretches, I’d feel better after the workout and I really liked that. But also, I really like strength-based workouts- it gives me a goal and something to push myself toward. I’m not trying to go to weightlifting competitions, it is just nice to have incremental progress.
That plays nicely into my next question. Now that we’re moving from pandemic to endemic or whatever the case may be, one of the things that I’m loving seeing again is seeing people lifting together more. Beyond using equipment in a more rational way, the socialization that happens when people lift together and the way they can give one another feedback and learn how to give feedback is really useful. I’ve noticed you and Johnny Sullivan workout together quite a bit- can you talk about that experience a bit? Maybe what you talk about between sets?
We lift similar weights on a lot of lifts, so it is just easier to move between sets. I always like to have someone spot me when we bench-
Yeah, it is always nice to not get crushed to death under a weight that is hovering over your chest. So even beyond just Johnny, have you observed any benefits of working around him but also the group more broadly as opposed to a conventional gym?
Oh yeah! That is one of the things I like most about Dane’s. I think I just need to get out of the house to workout, so having a place where the workout is what I’m focused on. Being told what to do for the workout is also really useful- just not having to think about what I’m going to do.
Oh absolutely! I think I’ve mentioned it, but I religiously follow the Strength program because I want to have someone else’s programming to keep me honest. I brought up Johnny, do you have any other folks you want to shout out?
I like my stock trading conversations with (coach) John and Doak (Embrey)-
John actually asked as one of his questions for you if you had any strategies for your stock portfolio that you’d like to offer?
*laughing* Oh, I don’t think I should be divulging that! When I strike it rich, I’ll share the strategy.
Well that is fun! Lets transition to some random questions. I’m a big NFL guy, but I don’t follow college at all, so I have no idea what John was getting at, but he wanted me to ask, now that the SEC has basically become NFL lite, do you worry about the future of The Big 10 and Wisconsin in particular?
Nope. The Big 10 has been very competitive the past couple years. I’m not worried- we have our brand.
If you were a professional wrestler or some other such person, what would your entrance music be?
Hmm… Is it the White Stripes- that seven nation something? When that one comes on I always feel pumped up.
Seven Nation Army? Yeah, that is a great choice. What is the most ridiculous pronunciation of your last name- Dziuda?
I get a lot of “diz-wee-duh”. I’ve gotten “dizzy-ooda”. Lots of mispronunciations. When I break down the correct phonetics for someone I say it as “da-zoo-da”.
You and Kiani just took a trip to Hawaii right? What was the highlight of that?
We did the Pali Ghost hike- about ten miles with a mile of elevation gain. At the end, it is just open beach with waterfalls and you’re just sitting in your tent staring out at the ocean. It was a really intense hike so we just spent the next day on the beach doing just nothing. No cell service at all.
That sounds incredible- that last part in particular.
Yeah, a couple did need to get airlifted out. We were like the last people to make it in that day and this couple was showering in the waterfall and a billy goat kicked a rock from like 300 feet up and it hit this girl square in the leg. So they had this emergency service plug in for the phone.
Well, goats are my spirit animal, so I feel really bad that happened. Do you have a spirit animal?
I was asked this question at work a couple years ago and I said a hawk.
I think Coach Mark is also a hawk. What about the hawk do you identify with?
Seeing the big picture and then when it wants something it swoops down and gets it.
What is your favorite swear word?
I don’t know. I try not to swear- I do sometimes, but I try not to.
You fucking prude. Goddamnit. Shit… Alright. You’re going to have dinner with any celebrity or figure from history, who do you pick?
That’s tough, I’m going to give you a couple. The first one that comes to mind is Warren Buffet- he’s lived an interesting life and has a lot of knowledge I could learn from. Whoever I sit down with, I’d want to learn from. Steve Jobs is another one-
Okay, so you just want to spend time with a lot of really poor people? Are you a cat or dog person?
Dogs! Kiani had a dog that passed away right before we moved in and we will probably try to get one this summer.
That’s fun! What is the coolest place you’ve traveled to?
I traveled to Thailand for a volunteer trip right after I graduated- it was a village two hours north of Bangkok. I thought I was just going to be doing construction, but it was a variety of things: touring temples, teaching english, going to an orphanage, a variety of volunteer projects. Almost no one spoke english- there was a day we went to the police station and they brought their entire staff in and they wanted us to teach them english. I don’t think they see english speaking people that often. I also did a two week road trip in South Africa. We flew into Cape Town, rented a car and did the entire south coast. We drove through these incredibly rural villages- there was one night we stayed at a hostel in one of them and some guy there invited us to a party. It was in this shanty town with metal huts people were living in and we were the only white people in this neighborhood party. They had a laptop they were playing music off of and there was a shipping container people were selling beer out of. They took us into the like “VIP section” that was inside with a pool table and drinks. It was pretty wild.
South African VIP! That is a special time in a young man’s life. Well, the way that I like to wrap up these interviews is- because you’ve been elevated to this pantheon of athletes of the season- to ask if you have any words of advice for the community or maybe the next Grant Dziuda who is thinking of joining but hasn’t yet?
Consistency is key.
I like it. Any other parting thoughts?
You didn’t ask me why I picked Waterloo Park!
I didn’t! Why did you?
So I am switching jobs, but I worked for DPR and… well, I built this park and ampitheatre.
No shit? You built this?
*bashfully* yeah. I was responsible for basically where that concrete wall starts and everything to the north.
Ladies and gentlemen, that is what is called burying the lead. We’re sitting in a park that Grant built. That’s crazy!
