Inspire to Run Podcast
Inspire to Run Podcast
Why Traditional Runners Should Embrace HYROX Competition with Alexander Golik
#118 - Are you looking to “spice things up” regarding your running? Alexander Golik, Underdog Fitness Coach and DEKA & HYROX champion, shares his perspective on why Hyrox is an excellent opportunity for runners and what to expect. AJ also shares his philosophy when coaching athletes.
AJ shares his inspiring journey, from earning victories in DEKA and HYROX to completing a master's degree in nutrition dietetics. As a coach at Underdog Fitness, he talks about his strategies for developing a supportive relationship between coach and athlete, emphasizing the importance of effective communication to prevent burnout. Take advantage of this opportunity to learn from one of the leading voices in the field!
Topics Covered:
- Hear about why Hyrox is an excellent opportunity for runners
- Listen to what to expect when running Hyrox and the different races
- Learn about AJ’s mindset and philosophy when coaching athletes
Today’s Guest
Alexander Golik
AJ is a hybrid/OCR athlete from Long Island, New York. He has his Masters of Science in Nutrition and Dietetics from Johnson & Wales University and is a Sales Manager at Under Armour. AJ grew up involved in and played team sports, which continued through college. He played Division III lacrosse at Purchase College (2x Captain) and graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Psychology.
AJ was introduced into racing through a Deka Strong in June 2022 and fell in love with the sport. Since then, he has competed in Spartan, Deka, and Hyrox. AJ has run both a marathon & half marathon as well. Highlights have been becoming a 3x Deka World Champion in the 18-24 age group (Strong & Mile) & ‘23 STRONG Teams World Champion and 2x Hyrox North American Championship in the U24 division.
Follow AJ:
- Instagram - @alexandergolikk
- Website - https://alexandergolikk.univer.se/
- Email - agolik.underdogfitness@gmail.com
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Hi, my friend, are you looking to break out of the monotony of running and spice things up with your races? Well, today we're talking to Alexander Golik, who shares with us why you should consider running high rocks in hybrid races, what it is and what to expect. We also talk about his new role as an underdog fitness trainer and even get into how mindset has helped him accomplish big things this past year. Hope you enjoy.
Speaker 2:Welcome to Inspired to Run podcast. Here you will find inspiration, whether you are looking to take control of your health and fitness or you are a seasoned runner looking for community and some extra motivation. You will hear inspiring stories from amazing runners, along with helpful tips from fitness experts. Now here's your host, richard Conner.
Speaker 1:Hi, my friend, Welcome to Inspire to Run Podcast. I'm really excited to be sitting down again with Alexander Golik, aka AJ. We had him on the show about a year ago, episode 74, unlock your Running Potential for Growth and Success running potential for growth and success. And speaking of growth and success, aj had so much of that just this past year. So, if you remember, he's a hybrid OCR athlete from Long Island, two-time Deco world champion in the 18 to 24 age group for the strong and mile. He won the high rocks North American championship in the under 24 division and he's just had tremendous success since we last spoke last year. So first of all, aj, I want to welcome you to the show and I'd love to hear kind of what's been going on this past year with you.
Speaker 3:Oh, thank you so much for having me on again. I'm very excited to be here. Last time was such a blast, so definitely grateful to be back on the show. So, as far as updates, everything's the same but a little bit different. So since we last spoke, deca Worlds came back around, so I was fortunate enough to win the DECA Mile for the 18-24 age group, which makes me a three-time age group Decker World Champion.
Speaker 3:The year continued and we circled back to the High Rocks North American Championship again, which was held in Washington DC, and I was lucky enough to win the under-24 category again. And then May came around and I finished my master's in nutrition dietetics from Johnson and Wales University and we progressed and I just recently completed my HIROX level one training certification. So it's been a whirlwind. A lot of good things, but day to day has been the same the usual work, life, balance, balance and then racing and traveling all over the place for those. So it's been the same, but some fun new things and some cool accomplishments. So definitely proud of the year so far.
Speaker 1:Well, we're proud of you, AJ, and yeah, you have nothing going on here just day-to-day stuff. No, the things you've been doing have been absolutely incredible and I love seeing the work that you're doing. You know running with the underdog team and all the things that you've been involved in, and you continue kind of learning and doing new things and that's kind of what we're here to talk about, right, some of the new things that you're doing to build on the success that you have and to also help others. So you know, new news you become an underdog fitness trainer. So you know, really love to hear kind of how that came about and what you're focusing on there, and you know, what kind of take it from there?
Speaker 3:Yeah, so underdog fitness obviously has been growing pretty rapidly over the last two years. I mean, the gym was opened in 2021, the podium chaser team started in 2022. And now we're in 2024. And we're reaching new heights as a team, obviously led by Kevin and Jess. We have a collective of athletes all over the country that just hold each other accountable and keep pushing each other and, as a result, we're seeing each other succeed but also kind of drawing in more attention, which I personally think is incredible. I think Kevin and Jess are two of the most deserving people for the attention and obviously they then push that on to us, so nobody really takes the spotlight. We kind of all try to bounce it off of each other and send it elsewhere, which I think is also so incredible. So, because of the growth and the demand for underdog fitness, the teams, the training and the underdog training system in order to keep, like to preserve the quality and the standard of what Kevin has set. So, for those who have worked with Kevin or who have met Kevin, he is extremely, extremely passionate about helping people succeed in life and fitness and all their endeavors and races, all of it. So that standard is something that requires a lot of time and effort. So he's taken on a huge amount of clients. I mean the podium chaser team for 2024, I think, had 27 athletes and that does not include some of the underdog pack that we've picked up along the way. So his plate is full and I mean he's a big dude so he can eat, but he is a little bit, a little bit overextended. And I know that his biggest concern is to keep the standard and keep the quality of what underdog has to offer. So he brought on myself, kayla and Ricardo as three additional coaches for the underdog training system in preparation for Deco World Championships, which is 10 weeks away as of today. So keep checking those email inboxes if you haven't gotten your qualification emails already. So that training program is going to lead people from today all the way through until race day of Deco Worlds. So we came on, the three of us got like onboarded and brought in for the underdog training system so that we can continue to extend and bring more people onto the team while also keeping the standard of the coaching and the services that Underdog provides.
Speaker 3:For me, my focus primarily is going to be Hyrox and DECA, like I previously mentioned, I just completed my Hyrox level one training certification, um, so that's going to be my primary area of focus would be like one-on-one hyrox training and programming for people leading into their bigger hyrox races for the year. For those who are a little bit more unfamiliar, hyrox kind of runs like a more traditional sports season in the sense that it doesn't start on January 1st and end on December 30th or 31st, however many days there are. It runs from June to May, so World Championships is usually either the last week of May or the first week of June and then after Worlds kicks off the next season. So it runs in opposition of DECA kind of. So even though DECA worlds is in December, those who are going to be preparing for high rocks still are in their season because they're a race.
Speaker 3:If they're able to get to, worlds would be June. So that's going to be my primary focus. Um, obviously we'll um train DECA as well, more endurance-based training, running and also strength training. But in terms of my primary focus, the athletes that I would love to help the most and feel that I can be the most beneficial to would be HIROX and DECA-specific athletes be the most beneficial to would be high rocks and deck of specific athletes, okay, okay, that's excellent.
Speaker 1:And you know I agree with everything that you said about the standard that Kevin has set and you can see that in the success of all the underdogs who are showing up on the podiums, right, and they're doing, performing so well in the races, and they're just good human beings, right, and you just see them promoting each other and supporting each other. So I totally agree with everything that you said and you know it's a privilege and a pleasure for me to be part of that. So you know, to have trained with Kevin for some time and to participate in these races with you guys is just incredible for me. So I see all of what you said there and, and I love how underdogs kind of taking everything to the next step to help, you know, this broader community. So so congrats, congrats on all that and I have a lot of questions for you.
Speaker 1:So, but you know, really would love to hear. You know I want to talk about high rock specifically. I want to talk about you and and kind of your you know, training philosophy. So you know, maybe we'll start with that, maybe we'll start a little bit with your training philosophy, like how do you approach coaching and training others, and you know more. More specifically, you know what are the types of athletes that you're looking for yeah.
Speaker 3:So wonderful question. Um, from my point of view as somebody looking to coach others, um, I feel like the three most important things, or like my training philosophy, would be like effective, efficient and enjoyable. It's, um, they all work hand in hand in some capacity to keep progressing and moving the needle, but at the end of the day, you want to enjoy training so that you can enjoy racing and keep the vibes high and always have like a more excited mindset going into races and throughout your year. You don't want to fall into those slumps or those lulls of training where you wake up and you're just not feeling it, so then you might not do it. So those are the three I guess like pillars that I feel for are important for my coaching philosophy. I really want to create an environment that is conducive for learning. So I'll coach people as long as they want to work with me, of course, but at some point in time I would like them to be able to go kind of go off on their own and be able to feel confident in training and knowing what they have to do and understanding heart rate zones and RPE and effort-based training and things along those lines. So creating a positive environment that allows the athletes to learn and also grow as an individual while they're also trying to progress their fitness. I want the training to be the training that I offer in the coaching that I offer to feel relaxed, which kind of doesn't sound the best, but I don't mean relaxed in terms of lazy, I mean relaxed in terms of, like, stress-free. So as a coach, I'm going to communicate a ton, probably over communicate, but I feel like that's the most beneficial to keep both of us on the same page and also keep instructions clear with training and programming and also give you an outlet that you feel you can reach out to me with any questions or comments or concerns and express those things to me without feeling apprehensive.
Speaker 3:I do want the athletes that I coach to be aware of the standards that I'd like to meet, which circles back to the previously mentioned underdog fitness standards, because as a coach, it is also my responsibility to meet those standards as an athlete myself, but also then as I'm coaching other people in the underdog training system. So open or clear transparency there in terms of like what we expect from the athletes, what you should expect from the coaches and how we can both work together to make sure that we are meeting those standards. I really want to give athletes the opportunity to like, take their skills that they have already and build off of them and progress those to the next level, while also improving their like foundational fitness so your strength, your aerobic base, your overall capacity, your muscular endurance but then also work on, like, the finer details so that on race day you feel super sharp and you feel super ready to get put out your best effort. Like you mentioned, our team, the underdog team, has had so much success in races over this last year and a lot of that is due to how programming is structured. A lot of it is good blocks that build specific areas and then also lead you into a race, sharpen your skills and really set you up for success on race day.
Speaker 3:Um, and then the other thing kind of doubles back to what I was saying before about like communicating and over communicating, like I want our relationship as athlete coach to feel much more like a friendship where, if you are highly motivated and you are committed to your goals that we've talked about and that you've expressed, I want you to also be able to provide me with feedback, provide me with your input, give me things that you might feel like you want to work on for the next training cycle.
Speaker 3:Be super transparent with me in terms of where you feel like you don't have enough work or where you feel like you're maybe doing too much of specific work, so that we can work together and make the training plan conducive for you and your goals.
Speaker 3:Also your lifestyle, and just keep it fun. I mean that's a huge aspect is making sure that the athletes that I'm coaching wake up every day and are like excited for training and like want to train, because, obviously, like we're going to talk about and we're going to set these goals at the beginning of the year or when you initially do your like intro consultation call. We're going to talk about what's important for you and your why and what you want to achieve within the next coming weeks, months, a year, and I want you to wake up in the morning or leave work to head to the gym and be excited to put the work in to work towards these goals and achieve these things. So that's for me that I think those are like the biggest aspects of what I would like to provide others as a coach and the biggest areas that I feel like I can help others is through those kind of three pillars, effective, efficient and enjoyable.
Speaker 1:I love it and I really appreciate you have such a holistic approach to this and I'm excited to see kind of where you take this and I can't emphasize enough kind of the enjoyable part. Just recently I dropped an episode where I talked about my own personal experience and how I kind of feel like I'm burning out, like I feel like I've had a lot of races, a lot of training and a lot of things kind of going on in my life in general, not just specific to fitness. And if you're not enjoying it, you know that's really hard to kind of get up in the morning and do your workout or show up to a race and perform your best. Um, if it's a little, you know, monotonous or you're just not kind of not into it. So I can't emphasize enough how important that is. To have that holistic view is not only the mechanics of the training but also kind of the you know the kind of the emotional side of it, right, and enjoying what you do. So I appreciate you sharing that and appreciate that's part of your philosophy there.
Speaker 1:So you know really would love to talk about, you know, high rock. So let's just spend a few minutes, you know, for the, for the folks who don't know what high rocks is. We can spend like 30 seconds on what it is but also love to know, kind of. You know, if, if I'm a road runner, right, I'm doing five Ks and half marathons and maybe I'm looking to do something a little different, or something to compliment that like, why would I choose high rocks? And then if I'm a hybrid athlete and I don't do high rocks today, why should I choose high rocks again? Or why should I run it? So if you could give me a little bit of your perspective on that, yeah, absolutely Okay.
Speaker 3:So quick spark notes on high rocks. High rocks is a functional fitness race. It is eight stations and eight one kilometer runs. So you start with a run and then you go into a station and you repeat that so on and so forth for eight runs and eight stations, similar in style to like a DECA fit. If you are a hybrid athlete you'll understand kind of more of the flow of that of run, station run, so on and so forth.
Speaker 3:If you're coming from more of a running background, I would say it's probably more comparable to a half marathon length or distance at like a 10k effort. The elite men and women. The elite men right now are sitting between 54 and 57 minutes and the elite women are sitting between 59 minutes and an hour and two minutes. And that's like the top of the shorter stuff, deca. Or if you're coming from a solely running background, your time will obviously be a little bit longer than that. So you have to think you're going to fall between that hour and 90 minute range if you have like a pre-established fitness base, or you'll kind of be between that hour and a half and two hour range if you're jumping in brand new. So for the road running community, the ones who are looking to kind of spice things up, do something a little bit more different. I would encourage High Rocks as a opportunity to try something new because it is primarily running. Like I said, it's going to be eight kilometers in total of running. So if you have a really strong running background and you really enjoy running, the race is going to be 50% running in terms of time but also in terms of total distance. So very running focused for athletes. More on the running background side, I would encourage and recommend starting to build more strength, functional strength, so that you're able to complete the station work.
Speaker 3:High Rocks also does offer divisions based on what you're looking for or where you feel like your fitness levels are, or your strengths and weaknesses. So you can do open or pro. The only difference with those categories is the weight standards. So the race format stays exactly the same. Pro category is just a little bit heavier. They also offer doubles. You can do male, female or mixed doubles. So same exact race, same exact format, but you are working in a team of two. You both have to run the full 8K, so that's not like an out on the running, but you can split the stations up however you want to.
Speaker 3:And then, lastly, they also offer a team relay, so it's a four person team relay that works a little bit differently. So you take the eight runs and the eight zones and you divide them amongst your teammates, so each teammate is responsible for two runs and two zones. So, for example, I would start, I would run, I would do the ski erg and then I would tag my partner. They would go out, they would run, they would do the sled push, they'd tag the next teammate. So you kind of work in more of a relay style. So there's many opportunities and many different divisions that you can tackle if you don't want to take it head on by yourself for your first one.
Speaker 3:And then the people who are coming from more of like a hybrid background or a CrossFit background, where the events that they're doing or their style of training is a little bit more shorter, more anaerobic power output. High rocks is definitely more of an endurance sport. Like I said, you're going to fall between that hour and two hour time domain and the effort is going to be high zone three, zone four pretty much the entire entire time. So if you're coming from a crossfit or functional fitness background, where you are working with shorter time domains, the biggest thing would be working on your aerobic base and increasing your aerobic capacity. That can be done through running, through rowing, skiing, biking, things that will help advance your aerobic capacity and build up your both both your endurance and your muscular endurance will help you in a like in a high rocks race. But if you're coming from the hybrid side of things, you already kind of like that structure, that flow, the demand of running but also functional fitness movements.
Speaker 3:So if you haven't given Hyrox a try yet, here's your invitation. Hyrox is still rolling out dates for the 2024-2025 season. They have events posted all the way through May of next year and they'll probably release a few more. Some dates or some venues that don't have dates yet are Atlanta, new York and um LA. The events that have been announced cover all parts of the country. There's Vegas, dc, houston, um. I'm in Toronto right now. I'm racing High Rocks tomorrow no-transcript.
Speaker 1:Oh, that's excellent, and we were just talking about how I'm trying to slim down the races.
Speaker 3:I it feels like a throwback to when you would run track in high school or even in middle school, and you're tagging a partner, you're seeing them go off, you're waiting in anticipation the whole time, you're on the edge of your seat. So it's fast, it's fun and it's also a little bit less demanding in terms of overall work. So as one person on the four person relay, you're doing the two runs in the two stations. So you're doing one fourth of the high rocks race. So if you're intimidated a little bit by the distance or the total demand of a full high rocks or doing doubles, which essentially requires you to do the full race as well, relay is a good option to like dip your toe in and see if it's going to be something that you want to try to do with a partner, with a doubles partner or as an individual, without the demand of the full race. Okay.
Speaker 1:Okay, well, you know, I know coach Kevin's listening, so I'm not making any commitments right now. So you know, don't hold me to this, but it does sound like a lot of fun, right?
Speaker 2:He's like yeah he's going to write this down but uh, but that's, that's cool.
Speaker 1:Well, you know, AJ, I really enjoyed this conversation and I know the last conversation we had, you know we talked a lot about mindset and you shared kind of your you know how you view, you know your races and your training and I think you just have a lot of wisdom to share and you and you have shared. So I appreciate that and I love you know kind of. As we wind down here, some of the questions I usually ask on the shows is you know what is the you know kind of the biggest challenge that you've had and how'd you overcome it? But maybe we'll just kind of limit it to this past year, right, since we last spoke what's the biggest challenge you ran into and how'd you overcome?
Speaker 3:that the biggest challenge that I ran into this year, I think, was finishing up my master's. I mean, for those who have gone through school of any level, senioritis is real and as you start getting closer to the finish line, your motivation slowly but surely works its way out of your body. With that, obviously, like we spoke about last time, like I was full-time with school but I was also working full time and trying to travel and race, so that last two months of my master's was incredibly challenging. I was working on, like my senior thesis and my nutrition capstone and the workload was heavy. And then you start to get a little bit too tied up into it where you want it to be super, kind of all hit me at once. So, like March and April was super, super tough for me. Um, I feel like it took a took a toll on my training. Um, some races that I had in March and April did not go as well as I would have hoped. I think just from fatigue physically, but also mentally, the stress not getting a lot of sleep. So I think that the March April chunk of the year so far has been my biggest obstacle.
Speaker 3:I think what helped me overcome it the most was my mindset, because on the days that it was tough to open up the computer and read through my thesis or my capstone again and try to get like finalized things, my thought was on the finish line Um, I am the first person in my family to graduate with a master's. My sister has a bachelor's and she was the first member of our family to graduate college. So I got my bachelor's and then decided I want to continue to get my master's, so I'm the first one in my family to do that. So I think that that sense of pride, but also knowing how close I was to being done after what seems like more school, more years of school than I've actually been alive outside of school, if you're thinking like all the way through high school, directly into a bachelor's and then directly into a master's, it was like 21 years of school masters.
Speaker 3:It was like 21 years of school. So it was like so nice to be done and I think that that's what helped me get to the finish line and then just keeping a positive mindset in terms of the dust will settle, like the chaos is now and we have to figure out how to work through it right now in order to continue moving forward. But once you do get over that hump or cross that finish line, the dust will settle and you'll feel so good about sticking to it and finishing whatever you were doing and really just kind of like putting the pedal to the metal and grinding through because the reward of, for me, graduating was awesome. So I think that, just like a positive mindset and keeping the determination like and the fire alive to like really just get this done, helped me overcome those two difficult months.
Speaker 1:Okay, okay, I love that. I love the positive mindset part and you know I've been thinking about this a lot lately where it's, you know, I've been thinking to myself focus on the mile that you're in, right, whether I'm running, you know, a long run, a race, or just if it's something else I'm. I've been saying that to myself a lot like just focus on the mile that you're in and then you just get to the next mile and the next one and then just kind of stay focused on that goal, but really kind of focus where you are in the moment. So I love the mindset. Congratulations on your degree, congratulations on your races, becoming a coach for underdog fitness. I'm excited to see where all this takes you. But again, I really appreciate you coming on the show. So, aj, for our listeners, how can they get in touch with you? How can they sign up to have you coach them? Where can they reach you?
Speaker 3:So you can find me primarily on Instagram at Alexander Golick, with two Ks In terms of training. If you're looking for one-on-one training for Decker or Hyrox, you can reach out to me directly through Instagram or you can shoot me an email. It's at agolickunderdogfitness at gmailcom. I'll send you a link. We can book a call, we'll hop on, we'll talk about what your goals are, what you're looking for in a coach, what's upcoming for you, and we can kind of hammer out those details and see if it's something that you want to pursue.
Speaker 3:If you're looking for training in general or more information about the underdog training system, you can visit the underdog fitness Instagram, which is at underdogfitnessgym. In the bio of that Instagram there are links for everything. There's links to book a consultation call, there's links for inquiries, there's links for training programs and you could also just shoot a DM over there. So any questions you have can, if you're looking to work with me specifically, you can send them right to me. If you want to just be a part of the underdog team, we have three other amazing coaches, including myself with Kevin, kayla and Ricardo, that would love to help you as well. So if you're looking to just join the underdog team and don't necessarily have a coach in mind. Reach out to the underdog fitness gym or shoot them a DM or an email and we will help you figure out who's the best fit for you and get you started with underdog fitness.
Speaker 1:Love it, love it. So I'm going to put all the information in the show notes, as usual, and if you reach out to AJ or underdog fitness, let them know. You heard them here on inspired to run podcast. So with that, thanks again, aj. So much, good luck tomorrow and have a great day.
Speaker 3:Thank you so much for having me again. I'll talk to you soon.
Speaker 2:That's it for this episode of inspired to you soon.
