He Did His Homework!
Every Athlete Spotlight interview that I have the pleasure of conducting shares one common trait- I am always surprised by something that is said or transpires. Mr. Cole Hubbard dropped a major surprise on me when he took a half-joking homework assignment I gave him ahead of the interview seriously. His diligence has added a brand new segment to these interviews going forward, but his regular presence at the 11:45am time slot is changing Dane’s Body Shop for the better every freaking day!
So what do you think of the beer (Karbach’s holiday offering, “Yule Shoot Your Eye Out”)?
Hmm… I was about to ask what “yule shoot your I UT” is but then I realized that the bullseye is the O in out.
Womp womp!
Yeah, it isn’t overly Christmassy which is really nice.
So how do you feel about being Athlete of the Season, or I guess because we keep changing the name, the Athlete Spotlight?
It feels good!
You like being in the spotlight?
*laughter* I don’t know that I like being in the spotlight, but the recognition is nice I guess- not that I feel like I’ve done anything noteworthy, but it feels nice!
How long have you been a member?
I joined in 2018 I think, so it has been two years-
Coming up on three!
Wow! Yeah. The other day I was in Dane’s class and he asked me if I’d been here for like six months-
That sonofabitch!
*laughing* He sees a lot of people (in classes). In my head it feels like six months.
You were advising Dane on some particulars with regards to some work he is doing on his house right?
Yeah, it was some development permit issues. I’ve helped a few people around the Shop out with that-
Don’t worry, I won’t let people blow you up with advice requests-
No, it is fine! That is my job, to help people in the permit process.
So what exactly is your job?
I work for the state of Austin in development services and we help homeowners and business owners through the development process.
That is cool, so are you a longtime Texan?
Yeah, I grew up in west Texas- in Coleman Texas. Cole from Coleman, easy to remember.
Are your family like legends of Coleman?
I asked (my parents) about that. I was born in San Angelo and I think my Dad thought he would never be moving back to Coleman. He swears I wasn’t named after the town- they just said they liked the name.
So I grew up in Coleman and went to A&M for undergrad in Community Development and stayed on and got my master’s in Tourism as well! Tourism was also the job I had before my current one. I worked for the state of Texas and promoted it as a place to visit for other states and other countries.. I had a job briefly in Boston and then Florida for a short time, but I like being close to family, so I moved back to the area and picked Austin.
Knowing what you know about tourism, can you give us a hidden gem to visit in Texas?
Okay, so Canadian Texas is up near Amarillo- maybe an hour (from Amarillo)- but it is super cute. Really good downtown with brick roads- just really charming.
There is a city in Texas called Canadian?
Yes! Very cute town. There have been a lot of little towns that have surprised me. Blanco is near Austin and they have really neat breweries and whiskey distilleries and a river that runs right by downtown- super pretty. An area that surprises me every time is east Texas because it has the piney forests with lakes and rivers and so many outdoor opportunities- a bunch of bald eagles.
Bald eagles in Texas?
I know! A lot of unexpected stuff in east Texas and it isn’t too far. Probably a bit of a different culture than Austin *amused laugh*.
I haven’t yet interviewed our Hyde Park athletes, Juan Sequeda and Fabiola Londoño, but I’m going to ask them some questions about working out together as they are a couple. And your fiance, Chase, works out at The Shop as well, so I just wanted to ask if you workout together often and what that dynamic is like?
I am super structured in my schedule and so I really like taking the (11:45am) class every week day and Chase’s schedule is a lot more fluid than mine. So we take classes together sometimes but it is kind of rare because he is more of a fan of the evening classes. I wondered how it would be before we started, but it is fine. I let him do his thing and then let the coach do whatever they are going to do. I think maybe once I’ve said to a coach quietly, “he needs to work on blah blah blah…” but he doesn’t want to hear it from me.
Totally! I see that dynamic all the time with couples. Juan and Fabiola are the opposite- she will just yell out when she thinks he isn’t doing something right and he will yell out something like, “shouldn’t she be going heavier?”. I love it either way.
I love that. It is nice though because we can share weights, which is really useful these days with cleaning and everything. I kind of miss that about working out before the pandemic. Maybe it is kind of gross in retrospect, but I liked sharing bars and stuff with people.
It is a good energy- when you’re sharing you end up having to wait and then you observe more. I would actually have partners watch one another to see if they could pick out any tips to give one another. Did either you or Chase push more toward the fitness thing or did you come to it together?
So I joined Dane’s and was super shaky at first and didn’t really know how to do any of the moves at all. I didn’t grow up doing any weightlifting stuff, so when I joined I was very intent on wanting to learn about form. That was my thing for a while- like I would forego weight on the bar in order to figure out if I was doing the movement precisely-
And that is awesome by the way! For our listeners, that is the right way to do that!
And I think the coaches are all super good at correcting form, so it got me to stay for sure. At first you’re intimidated because everyone is lifting this crazy weight and you have a tendency to be like, oh god, I don’t know what I’m doing! So anyway, over time Chase was noticing more of a change in me fitness wise and I think his exact words were along the lines of, ” I can’t let you be getting all fit with me left behind- I don’t want to be one of those mismatched couples, so I have to join!” *laughs*, so he has really liked it too.
Did he really say “I don’t want you to get all fit” or was it something more explicit? Maybe something like, “I don’t want that ass to get too fine?”
*big laughter* No, that isn’t a problem- his just has to be just as fine.
That is very positive! I like that dynamic. You hear that about couples and then you also hear it about children of members taking an interest in fitness. It is the kind of infection that I think we should be spreading!
That is really cool, when people bring their kids to the Shop.
So what do you enjoy most at The Shop?
Movements? Okay, so the lift I think I am best at is deadlift, but I’m learning that it is affecting my other movements like back squat and front squats. Those are a little harder for me and Keith has corrected my form a bit on both of those. So now that I am doing them correctly, it is a little harder, but I like seeing them on the board more (than deadlifts) because I think, “Oh good, I get to work on those today.”
You like addressing the things you have trouble with?
Yes.
That speaks highly of your character. Not everyone, myself included, always feels that way.
Well, there are certainly things I dread.
What are the things you dread?
Strict press is hard and I think I have a tendency to think, “oh god, I’m still not lifting as heavy as other people”. I’m trying not to focus on that and just focus on myself. I don’t dread a bunch of stuff.
That’s cool! Another gym related question I like to ask, and you might have a really solid answer here because your schedule is so regular- do you have any relationships you’ve developed with people at The Shop inside or outside of class?
Oh yeah, for sure. I love seeing the same people in class when I come. Rachel McGuire is always a super big motivator; she is always going hard on her workout which is motivating and inspiring. I could list a whole bunch of members- Hannah um…
Elferink?
Yes… I love seeing her- always super friendly and nice, Matt (Rutledge) is always great to see, just a whole bunch of people. I used to be intimidated by the Manor members because they seemed so quiet but then I went to Hyde Park and everyone was so chatty-
A little too much?
No I loved it!
*laughing* Some of the 11:45am people there can be a bit much- Talking to you Jose Luis!
No, no, he’s really nice too.
I love that guy.
Yeah, so as you come more consistently, conversations happen and someone who you thought was very quiet and reserved and were intimidated by is super friendly. I really love that- getting to know everybody. Getting to know the newer members too!
It has been cool to see new people come to the gym- I think a lot of that is because we are being pretty safe with Covid compared to other gyms- but new blood is always important for keeping the vibe. It is also nice to see people who have been here a couple years- people who started in a place of insecurity- and all of a sudden the student has become the master! You’re teaching people.
Oof! I don’t know about teaching people, but it is nice to feel comfortable in the movements.
Well even if you don’t realize that you are teaching, you might be. When coaching I can’t spend all of my time with one person, so I will leverage my more experienced members and tell newer people to keep an eye on someone as a good model in case they get stuck. So you’re being used by us regardless. You’re welcome.
I feel so used!
You should. Terribly used! You mentioned earlier that you take classes from a bunch of coaches, do you have any observations or favorite aspects of the different coaching styles?
John and Dane are probably the ones who push the most- who will be most likely to be encouraging people to keep working hard, which is nice to have. Keith is really good with correcting form- I probably ask him too many questions-
I guarantee asking him questions is making his job either. I’m sure he loves it! The more questions members give us, the fewer guesses we have to make.
Yeah and he has that background in something with str-
Stripping. He worked for Chippendales for many years.
*big laughter*
He has pole burns, it is remarkable. You have a mental image now don’t you?
I do! I keep laughing about it- in all the best ways. Sheer jealousy! So Keith is awesome, Mitch had some great music and so does Stormie- I really like her positive energy. I feel like you and Bean focus on the new people, which I really like. I really liked it when I first started, just feeling like the coach was right there. Probably the person I’ve had the fewest classes is Beth Reyburn-
That’s good because she sucks- no one likes her!
No! I really like going to her classes, the times she teaches just down work for me-
Damn it Cole! She gets shouted out in almost every interview, I was hoping this was going to be the one where you were just going to tell me you avoid her like the plague-
No, no, no.
Well she will know this by the time this is published, but the coaches did a Secret Santa and I was thrilled to get her name because she is fabulous. Well I think this is a nice segue into some random questions- so if you were to have a theme song play every time you enter the room, what would it be?
Ugh, I should have been prepared for this because I actually read all the interviews. I love a lot of different music, so I’ll say a song only because it has been on my mind lately, but there is a song called Heavy California by the band Jungle- it is just fun and they are such an interesting different band. They have like five singers and they all sing at once, but they don’t do harmony, they sing the same note, which is kind of weird. But I don’t even know what the song is about!
I think that is perfect- vibe is the way to go. Next up, you have a biopic being made about you, do you have any idea of genre, director, or who would play you in the film?
I’ve been told I look like Scott Foley, but I think it is just the eyebrows because I really don’t see it. I love comedies- I really like Wes Anderson. I love all the details and the themes that recur in his films, so I would feel super honored to have him direct!
I love it. This question sucks on its own, but the answers are always revelatory: if you could be a superhero, what superpower would you pick to have?
Wow… Hmm… I think I’d choose the power of flight- I’ll just say that. It would have to be supersonic flight because I like traveling- driving is such a drag.
I feel like flight and invisibility are the two big ones. Flight feels so aspirational and invisibility is just a little sneaky isn’t it?
I literally was thinking about flight or invisibility!
That is good! And the logical follow up to your answer is once all of this Covid bullshit is over with do you have any targeted trips?
Oof, I’ve missed travel so much. Chase and I have talked about maybe for a honeymoon thing doing an adventure trip in New Zealand; kayaking in the rivers and hiking in the mountains. It is super scenic and they have so much in that tiny little country-
Awww… you’d be like Frodo and Sam!
Oh my gosh, you have to go to The Shire! I’ve traveled more than Chase, so there are a lot of places I’d like to go back to but with him.
Very cool! That is a positive note to wrap things up on- the idea of being able to travel and go places. I always like to put a button on things by asking if you have any words of wisdom or reflections as Athlete of the Season.
Um… Just to ask a bunch of questions. My approach has just been to ask the coach to watch me if I don’t feel sure about something. There is nothing embarrassing about not knowing what you are doing- we all start that way with something that is new. Asking for help is never something that is (frowned on). The community in general is very supportive and helpful.
Stormie! Any questions for Cole before you leave for the holiday?
Coach Stormie: Oh, you’re recording! Okay, what was a time at The Shop where you were shocked by something you had accomplished?
That is a good one!
You know, Turkish Get ups are really hard and they are so complicated when you have never done them. So whenever you actually figure those out- I think that was an accomplishment. There are so many moving parts.
Stormie: Particularly for someone who has never done one… it is also very entertaining as a coach! *laughing*
Like, you’re going to need a shot of whiskey first! Cole, anything else on your end?
Well… you asked me to come up with three questions.
Wow! I wasn’t going to put you on the spot, but let’s have them!
Okay, so I have two for coaches and one for a former athlete:
For Bean, if you were a potato what way would you like to be cooked?
Coach Bean’s answer: “Definitely a French fried potato; it is just the most delicious type of potato”
For Dane, if you were a fish what type would you be?
Dane responded with a dad-joke: ” Q: Why did the fish blush? A: Because he saw the ocean’s bottom”
And for Meredith (Lovelace), if you could eliminate one food so no one could ever eat it again, what would you destroy? She likes to cook, so we’ve talked about this before.
Answer from Meredith Lovelace: “Oh good question! I think my answer would be black pudding.”
Those are fantastic questions! I think I was being semi-sarcastic when I asked for you to come up with those, but I think the fact that you’ve done it means it will be a regular feature in the interviews!
Oh, I thought about it!
Stormie: He did his homework!
You’ve left a serious fucking legacy Cole!
