SEALgrinderPT Interviews Steve Shobert

SGPT: Tell us about yourself.

SS: Name is Steve Shobert. Hail from Los Angeles, CA. Currently an infantryman in the Army stationed at Ft Bragg, NC.

SGPT: Did you have any athletic background growing up?

SS: Played every sport since I was a kid. Only thing that I stuck with was weightlifting and general fitness, which I originally picked up from football.

SGPT: tell us about your training in the military to date.

SS: not much yet; only airborne school. waiting for my unit to return to start some pre-deployment training for february.

SGPT: what types of fitness training have you done in the past years and what are you doing now.

SS: started out bodybuilding like most meat heads, cause thats how we’re brainwashed. I was always fascinated with learning and applying methods to myself in order to become bigger, stronger, fitter, etc. like most people, I always saw a distinction between lifting and cardio. I competed in 3 or 4 bodybuilding contests and didnt place too well, cause although i could get ungodly shredded, I simply didnt have the genetic structure. then from bodybuilding I went to more powerbuilding- basic compound heavy lifts, with added cardio. it wasnt until spring of 2008 that I was introduced to crossfit by a marine buddy of mine. I started considering joining the military and I had heard that crossfit was best for military type training. frankly, I thought it was crap at first, for skinny fitness sissy’s…until I tried my first Fran which took me 4 1/2 minutes and I thought i was gonna die! at that moment I fell in love with crossfit-esque type training; that is, functional, high intensity, broad time and modal domain. the pain suffered thru workouts not only built me up physically, but mentally it made me stronger than ever before. the pain became a sort of addiction, because I knew the more I suffered, the more powerful I would feel afterwards. so i stayed with traditional crossfit for a little over a year, then discovered SEALFit. i became addicted to it cause it built in me extraordinary resolve–the likes of which i had never experienced– and a helluva fit body! LOL. I enjoyed inspiring people thru my daily performances, which were well documented on my blog- http://projectmythology.blogspot.com. shameless plug, I know! haha! from SEALFit I got extremely interested in not just general physical preparedness, but as crossfit as an actual legitimate sport. I wanted to pursue that avenue to the MAX! and I had known that James OPT Fitzgerald was world renown for preparing athletes for competing in crossfit. so I started following his Big Dawg’s Blog in early 2011. Ive been dong that ever since and never turned back.

SGPT: What type of diet are you in?
paleo + whey and cottage cheese. high protein/high fat/low to moderate carbohydrate

SGPT: how did you get the name “Myth”? Tell us about your online blog.

SS: my friends named me that in 11th grade I think. we were just idiots picking random names, lol. but it turns out the name fit me perfect cause i started to do things that many people did not or could not believe, which promoted me to “mythical” status. plus I already knew a guy named Legend so I couldn’t jack that from him lol. 

my blog documents my training and diet since i was powerbuilding in late 2008 to present. essentially it documents the evolution of the Myth.

SGPT: Your known for doing many hardcore workouts. Do you do anything to prepare your mind?

SS: yeah. first I try to relax as much as possible before the workout. i strategize workouts too. i try to exist only in the present. there’s no point in being scared of future pain. just deal with it when it happens. and usually you’ll find that the pain is a LOT less severe than you imagined beforehand! when the pain comes, I concentrate on the actual sensation of the pain and soon realize that it’s truly not that bad. if it WAS that bad then I’d probably pass out anyway, so might as wellg give it my all! so the goal is to train just before the point of passing out and to be confident that you WONT die, and that you’ll feel invigorated afterward! the trade-off is a no-brainer: temporary suffering in exchange for permanent health, fitness, mental toughness, and an amazing feeling of well-being and confidence, especially when the post-workout endorfins kick in! total ecstasy! plus its kinda cool knowing that you’re doing stuff day in and day out that 99.9999% of the population couldn’t even do, much less comprehend.

SGPT: What are you reading now?

SS: Myth doesn’t do books! kidding…I’m reading Gates of Fire by Steven Pressfield. It’s about the battle of Thermopylae with the 300 spartans…awesome book!

SGPT: What are your future plans for training and the military?

SS: Wanna compete in the CF Games one of these years when deployments dont interfere. CF is just an amazing thing. It transcends sports. As for the military, the plan as of now is to just do my time and serve my country. After I get out, I plan to own my gym when I move back to LA.

SGPT: Thanks for the interview, Myth.

SS: No prob, Brad! Any time brother!