Vagabond of the Month for July:
Mike Drahos
Month you were born in:
July
Where you are originally from and/or where you live now:
Originally from Worcester, now living in Norton.
What days/times you typically train at VBC:
7:15am
In addition to being a Vagabond, I am…
A husband of 5 years to my wife Cassie (soon to be a Vagabond this coming September!) and father to my 3 boys (4, 2, and 4 months).
A disciple of Jesus of Nazareth, working for the Archdiocese of Boston.
A drummer for a contemporary worship band in the Boston area, and former drummer for a number of bands in the Worcester hardcore and metal scenes.
A shameless homer for all the Boston sports teams (but especially the Pats).
Some training goals:
Shorter term: Show up consistently – Try to keep up with someone who is a little bit better/stronger/faster than me in every class – Focus on improving my weaknesses
Longer term: Compete in the RX division of the 2018 Internal Throwdown (did scaled in 2017) – Beat my Murph time again in 2019
What’s the best thing about Vagabond?
There are many good things about Vagabond. I love the culture of camaraderie, support, and friendly competition within the community. I love the coaches who all through their own style share their expertise, attention to detail, and genuine desire for us to improve; pushing us each day to more fully reach our potential. And I love the blend of new and familiar faces that I get to see and share the Vagabond experience with on a regular basis. But if I had to pick one, I personally think that the best thing about Vagabond is the programming. You can’t beat the simplicity of trusting someone enough to just show up, do what they tell you, and know that you will get results. After over a year I have yet to reach a plateau in a single lift or fail to beat a previous time in any workout. My favorite measuring stick for my overall fitness is the Murph. I was able to shave a full 6 minutes off my time from last year without any particular targeted training. Just showed up and did what was on the board. In particular, I find the precision and personalization that comes with using percentages of your 1RM in most of the strength training to be super effective. Especially with the help of SugarWOD, it’s so good to be able to track and see concrete progress, even when it’s small gains. In a word, there’s simply no other place I would rather train.