[CFMS SERIES] Dave Durante on Life After the Olympics (EP. 053)

The CrossFit Podcast

CrossFit LLC

Health & Fitness

4.3 • 757 Ratings

🗓️ 17 November 2025

⏱️ 25 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

This marks the seventh episode of a special CrossFit Podcast collaboration with the CrossFit Medical Society.

Olympian and Power Monkey Fitness co-founder Dave Durante joins the CrossFit Podcast to talk about the transition from elite competition to lifelong fitness. After representing the U.S. in gymnastics at the 2008 Beijing Olympics, Dave discovered CrossFit, and it changed his life.

He shares how CrossFit helped him stay healthy and strong beyond his competitive years, the story behind Power Monkey Camp, and why gymnastics remains one of the best foundations for athleticism at any age.

TOPICS INCLUDED

Life after elite sport: finding purpose and health beyond competition
How CrossFit reignited Dave’s passion for training
The creation and evolution of Power Monkey Camp
Building bridges between gymnastics and CrossFit
The importance of play, curiosity, and community in adult fitness
Why gymnastics is the ultimate foundation for all sports

RESOURCES MENTIONED

Community Highlight

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The results speak for themselves: significant improvements in quality of life, body composition, sleep, and A1C, with cognitive function up next.

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When I look back at my career, this will be the most meaningful thing I’ve done.”

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Right after we got back from the Olympics in China and Beijing in 2008,
0:04.0	I came back and I had to have surgery and part of my recovery process,
0:08.0	I wanted to figure out what I wanted to do next in fitness.
0:11.0	And during that time, I started doing my own little fitness stuff,
0:13.0	waiting for the guys to come in.
0:15.0	What's that journey been like to go from, I mean,
0:17.0	elite, world-class elite at the highest level,
0:20.0	to a person that wants to maintain
0:21.6	fitness and functionality forever.
0:27.6	The game is rigged and not in your favor.
0:31.6	You've been sold the idea that health insurance has your back, but you're not a person to
0:35.6	them.
0:36.6	You're a number, a
0:38.4	stat. It was never about your health. It's about their profit margins. But there's another way.
0:44.8	It's community care. A health care system powered by the same values that may crossfit more
0:49.0	than just a workout. A community that helps each other, covers each other, and rises together
0:53.8	through sickness
0:55.0	and life's most unexpected challenges.
0:57.3	It's time to rethink healthcare to stop relying on the system that's failed us.
1:01.3	They sell sick care.
1:02.5	We power health.
1:04.2	Community care.
	...

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