Evo-Bound

Whittenburg immediately felt the shift in the environment when he moved to EVO. The gym made the entire system feel professional. When he arrived in Sarasota, he immediately saw the differences in training schedules. At his former gym, he mostly made his own schedule and strictly went to the gym to put his reps in on each apparatus. At EVO, they have a set plan of conditioning and pre strength training before they even train any events. The athletes put in an entire day full of work before exiting the gym. Whittenburg was slightly unsure of this plan during his first month at EVO. He jokes that he even considered leaving. 

“The first month, I was like, ‘I might leave,” he said with a laugh. “I don’t know, man, I’m in my 30s. Why am I training this hard? I don’t need all this. But I mean, obviously I think it was great for me, because it really kept me in shape throughout the whole year.”

The work paid off in every conceivable way. 

In a highly competitive rings final, and as the final competitor to go, Whittenburg steeled himself for the job ahead, embraced the pressure, and did exactly what he needed to do. His routine (14.700), a mastery of sheer strength, was complete with the triple pike dismount, aka “The Whittenburg”, and one of the finest of his entire career. His gold medal statement surpassed Adem Asil of Turkey in second (14.566) and Xingyu Lan of China in third (14.500). At age 31 and 61 days, Whittenburg became the oldest American man to win a world title, surpassing Kurt Thomas, who won two golds in 1979 at age 23 and 254 days.

Whittenburg has been able to improve mentally in just his first year at EVO—you have to be mentally strong to keep up with the difficult schedule. He credits this to the professionalism that the staff and gymnasts bring on a daily basis. Not only is the staff creating the greatest gymnasts in the world, but also professionals that carry themselves with pride outside of the gym. 

“We have a pretty solid standard for professionalism at EVO that we try to carry with us in the gym and most of all outside the gym,” Whittenburg said. “We want to make sure that we hold that standard for everyone and do the best that we can to make sure that we’re being the best faces for the sport that we can and also for our club gym.”

By taking one step into EVO it is evident how strong the level of gymnastics that occurs everyday in the gym. The gym is home to multiple Olympians and World Championships, including Brody Malone, Stephen Nedoroscik, and Shane Wiskus. These athletes motivate each other everyday in the gym. No matter the day, you are bound to see something outstanding and the most difficult skills in the Code of Points. 

“Having them there, I would say, it’s very uplifting,” Whittenburg said. “It’s always great to just be in a gym where you just see Olympic-level gymnastics, literally every single day. We probably see triple pikes every day at practice. So it doesn’t even matter who it is, we’re gonna see something crazy, something amazing, and I feel like that just goes to show that everybody’s watching everyone around the gym, and they’re trying to get to that level. Everybody’s trying to push themselves the best they can.”

EVO has captured magic within their program, heavily developing their gymnasts on each level. From young kids, to junior Elite gymnasts, to Olympians, the gym has helped elevate the entire U.S. men’s gymnastics program. Whittenburg compares the gym to the German Bundesliga system, a professional gymnastics league that encourages athletes to expand the longevity of their careers by allowing them to be paid. Being around his teammates on a daily basis leaves Whittenburg with a sense of comfort knowing that gymnastics within the U.S. will continue to flourish. 

 “Our country is in great hands with our program that’s coming up,” Whittenburg said. “I think having EVO as this entity within the gymnastics world is definitely going to bring more attention. I would say we have some really good college athletes that may want to take that route.”