How Agoge Performance was named.
Throughout the ages, people have named different teams and programs after the Spartans of ancient Greece. The Spartans have been known for their fierce mentality and military prowess but how did they develop a society that has been known throughout time? To develop a culture that would prevail beyond their life time, the Spartans created The Agoge.
Before starting my business, I worked for a private performance gym that was named after the owner. While working there I noticed there were a few problems that would potentially limit growth and involvement of the community. When a business is named after the owner, it will always be tied to the owner alone. There is nothing wrong with that, however I wanted my business to be beyond myself. I wanted it to be about building a community that is focused on self improvement of the individual and their peers. This is why I chose Agoge Performance. The Spartans created the Agoge to develop their youth Physically, Mentally, and embody the sense Community.
Being a Strength and Conditioning Coach/Business, it's obvious that we focus on building people physically. In the Agoge, boys endured many challenges that build their physical strength, endurance, and overall athleticism to develop the perfect soldier. Their soldiers started full service at the age of 20 and remained on active duty till the age of 60! The average career of a solider today is much shorter than that. I do work with many tactical athletes, but my mission is to build strong bodied individuals to improve their quality of life that is fitting of a Spartan Warrior.
One part of being a Strength Coach/Business that isn't obvious is working with people in different mindsets and how to develop them. The Spartans had many different cruel and grueling scenarios they made the students endure. In today's society, these tactics would be considered extremely inhumane and unforgivable. However, these tests forced students to think for themselves and create solutions to problems. After being a Strength Coach at the High School level for 10 years, I can tell you our youth's ability to create solutions to problems without being given information has been dwindling at an alarming rate. Agoge Performance is aimed at educating you along your performance journey to identify and address your physical needs. After all, we can't do the training for you.
The most overlooked and underappreciated aspect of physical fitness is community. The Spartans understood the only way they would be successful as society was to build a strong and unified community. The Spartan King Lycurgus even reformed the laws to emphasize equality among all Spartan citizens. Even though women were not allowed in the Agoe, they received the same physical regimen and formal education as the men. Anyone that has played a sport or done something physically hard with a group of people understands, this shared labor develops a type of bond and mutual respect amongst one another. Even athletes of the same sport that have never trained together have a mutual respect because of this hardship. This bond is not easily explained but it develops an understanding that helps people work together. In the Strength and Conditioning side of things, my groups develop a mutual understanding and respect for one another to accomplish great tasks. So great that it helped us run a Mock Powerlifting Competition of 30 competitors.
When starting off my business in the hopes of helping people achieve their physical fitness goals, I knew I had to create something that was bigger than myself. That led me to look up different teams and societies that have stood out from the rest. The one that stuck out the most were the Spartans. Many have admired the Spartans training from sports teams, video game characters, and military training programs. Personally, I couldn't help but wonder what developed them to be so dominate throughout time. The Agoge is how the Spartans developed their soldiers Physically and Mentally while having strong sense of Community that has been admired beyond their lifetime.
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