Barbell Shrugged - 861 - From Paralympian to 10-Time CrossFit Games Champion w/ Thomas Miazga

Episode Date: August 26, 2026

In this episode, 10-time CrossFit Games champion Thomas Miazga joins Doug Larson, Coach Travis Mash, and Dr. Mike Lane to share the extraordinary path that took him from a childhood shaped by cerebral palsy to the Paralympic Games, elite adaptive CrossFit competition, and beyond. Tom reflects on discovering freedom and athletic identity in the water, qualifying for the 2008 Beijing Paralympics just 18 months after returning to competitive swimming, and how a devastatingly close miss for the London Games eventually led him toward coaching, CrossFit, and a new definition of what was possible. The crew also digs into the practical side of training an adaptive athlete: building strength around the individual, managing high upper-body training volume, using stable equipment to create safe loading opportunities, and prioritizing training economy over unnecessary technical complexity. Tom explains how CrossFit transformed his independence in daily life, helped him become a 10-time Games champion, and continues to fuel his pursuit of HYROX, Ironman racing, and long-term health. Most importantly, this is a conversation about refusing to let a diagnosis, a scoreboard, or someone else's expectations define your potential.

Shrug family, Doug Larson here, and this week on Barb Lestrug, we're joined by adaptive athlete Thomas Mayosga. Tom was born with cerebral palsy and has had incredible success in multiple sports. Get this, he is a 10-time CrossFit Games champion, a Paralympic gold medalist in swimming and a high rocks world champion. And he's even currently now training for his first triathlon, which he no doubt will do amazing at as well. And in this episode, he digs into his philosophy and mindset around training, as well as the actual mechanics. of how he trains and how he has been able to have such overwhelming success as an athlete. So if you want to learn how to reach your goals at the highest level, no matter of the obstacle, this episode is for you. Enjoy the show.

Welcome to Barbell Strug. I'm Doug Larson here with coach Travis Mash, Dr. Mike Lane, and Tom, and I actually didn't even ask you how to pronounce your last name correctly. Is it Mizaga? Close. Miyazga. Miasga. Excuse me. That's all right. That's all right. You've done some work with Mike Lane in the past. You guys have worked together years past. You are the most decorated CrossFit Games champion of all the time.

You won the games 10 times in a row? Yes, sir. Yeah, we just finished up our 10th title back in July. So it's been quite a decade, if you would. Did you deal with team or like, what's your category here? That was all individual. So I've won the seated with hip function adaptive division for the last 10 years. So started in 2017 and what does that mean?

What does that mean? Seat function with hip? What does that mean? Yeah. So I was born with cerebral palsy, specifically spastic diplasia. I do have the ability to get up and walk around. So I do have the ability to use my hips to some extent, not as fully as I would like to, of course. But with that, it's always safer for me to do a lot of my barbell lifting and a lot of my strength work in a seated position. So if I were to snatch from a standing position, anybody within a 20 foot radius is probably in more danger than I am. So I do everything seated, but I'm also with hip function, meaning that we do have a lot of exercises and movements in the CrossFit sphere that have us out of our chair at the same time. So we generally have a larger range of motion than those that are without hip function.

And it just kind of allows us to carry heavier loads, take on larger demands, and just kind of move at a more aggressive rate. Wow. So give me your whole background. Like how did you get into athletics? Like how did you get in a crosswood specifically? Did you lift weights when you're younger and then transition into it? Or do you see CrossFit?

And you're like, that's fucking cool. I want to do that. Like tell me the whole story. Yeah, it's quite the ride. So strap in. I'm actually the youngest of four siblings. I have an older brother and two older sisters, all extremely athletic. So they were all multi-sport athletes.

And for, you know, the first six or seven years of my life, I was the carpool king going to every single one of those sporting events and just watching them compete, you know? And of course, I wanted it. I was like, well, these are, this is so fun. I'm seeing them succeed. I'm seeing them, you know, enjoy what they're doing. And I always have just been a sports fanatic.

And I've probably just always had a competitive bone in my body since day one. And for me, it was really about trying to find the right facet to execute on it. Right. And so I was always active with my brother in the backyard, playing football, baseball, all that kind of stuff. But I really never had a niche out in the public scene. where, you know, it was recess time at school and I was the only kid in a wheelchair. So getting out on the football field with, you know, 100 dudes from the third grade is kind

of difficult and trying to manage around that as was always tough. And I was very fortunate that my second grade teacher at the time, we'll call him, well, his name is Steve. Steve, even though he's Mr. Keller back then, was just starting our local swim program in the area. And I'd always had a love for the water, just, you know, jumping in the outdoor pool, going to vacations and lakes and oceans. The water was always unique in that I felt like I was immortal to my disability. I kind of felt like a superhero in that I could do anything because of the weightlessness of the water, right?

And you asked me to stand on one foot in gym class and I do it for two seconds and fall over, but you asked me to stand on one foot in the bottom of a pool, I could do it for days. It was just like having this empowerment where I was like, all right, this is my home. This is where I can be myself and be the athlete I want to. and Steve was so incredible about just fostering that opportunity for me and helping cultivate this idea that my potential was so much greater than what I knew. You know, I was very limited in my scope, just trying to fit in with my classmates and just do what they were doing. But it was people like him and my family and my friends who just kind of helped me see that like it's okay to do things differently. You don't have to follow what all your friends are doing.

And, you know, even if it means you're getting, you're having to go a different route to get to the same. you're still getting there, right? So let's be proud of that. And so when I found the pool and I realized that it could be a competitive sport to that point, which I was like completely unaware of, I just fell in love with it. And it was just one of those things where my upper body strength from my wheelchair was actually a great advantage in the water. And even when I wasn't using my legs that much, especially at that young age, they were not really a

a limiter in my success. Like I was able just to muscle through swims well enough at the age of nine and 10 that I was able to keep up and really found great success in it, which was awesome. So that love for swimming was really, really close to my heart from a young age. I had my last surgery then, though, in fourth grade, and for the third time, had to relearn how to walk. So with my disability, my muscles are so tight all the time. There's so much hypertonia within my cerebral palsy that as a kid my muscles were not growing at the rate of my skeletal system like my muscles were being pulled from the bone because they were so tight and there was no way from my cns to like there was a lack of gabapentin and stuff and all the sciencey stuff behind it that um you know

there's really figure it out you know and try and bypass the spinal cord um so they had to go in and like hand lengthen my muscles um during one of those last growth spurts in fourth grade um And from that, I gained a great range of motion in my gate. So I was able to actually get my heels on the floor for the first time. To that point, I'd been walking much more of my tiptoes. I was falling all the time. And before I knew it, I was not having a heel toe gate, but I was getting my full foot planted on the floor. And it gave me a lot more control.

I was starting to actually feel activation in my glutes and my hamstrings and like, okay, my legs do function, you know. So it was cool. And that took me to the baseball field. So that's kind of been to my passion. I always love baseball. I'm a junkie like that. And my brother played and my dad was kind of running our local rec league. So it was like inevitable that at some point I would find my way out there.

Did that through middle school, but then back in high school got back in the water. I knew I was never going to make a high school baseball team. But I wanted to have a community. I wanted to be around, you know, a group of guys that I knew I could trust. And they were the easy route. The fun story about all that is that Steve then was my, had just retired from coaching high school the year I was a freshman, but he was still coaching the club that I started with.

And one night he was watching Remember the Titans. And spoiler alert, there's a part in the movie at the end where the quarterback gets T-boned and it gets paralyzed ways down. Not the quarterback, the linebacker. The linebacker, excuse me, the linebacker, my bad, yep. And he gets seen. I love that movie.

It's so good, right? But he gets paralyzed waist down. Team wins the championship. They come visit him in his hotel or hospital room. And he goes on and talks about how there's sports for people in wheelchairs. And Steve's watching this at home being like, is this real? And like starts Googling it and finds the Paralympic organization. Comes back the next day with a stack of papers this high and says,

I have been to every level of swim meet possible except the Olympic level. And if I'm going to get anybody there, I'm going to get you there. And I'm like, okay, I'm bought. He's like, that's so cool. Like, let's go. Let's do this. And like, I finished my first high school season. And within two months, we're in Yipslani, Michigan at my first national

Paralympic meet. And the coaches are talking about, like, is he going to be ready for worlds this summer? Like, can we take him to South Africa? And I'm like, I'm not even know all four strokes anymore. Like, it's been so long. Like, what are we talking about? But it developed really quickly.

And it was the first time in my life, finally, at the age of 14 that I found, like, that was probably the first. time I actually saw somebody else walk like me. So I was just like, holy cow, you know, going to a Paralympic swimming and seeing all this, the myriad of disabilities on deck and just seeing how these people are able to navigate their bodies through the water and just, you know, be okay with the idea of adaptation. You know, it was just like such a revelation for me and a breath of like fresh air because I was like, I've been so long in my own head trying to figure all this stuff out.

And now it's, yeah. And now it's like, okay, here's your 13 years of experience. experience, go use it. Like, here's your chance. And that was all in 2007. And a year later, we're qualified for the 2008 Beijing Paralympic Games. And I got to. No way. Yeah. I mean, I took it back, actually, in 2007, within six months of that national meet, I went down to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil for the para Pan Pacific, or Pan American championships and won six medals in my first international swim meet. And it was set some Pan American record. And it was set some Pan American and records and like from there on I'm like oh I'm like a certified athlete like this is

incredible like I've I've made it and that was just the that just tore the chains and shackles off of any idea of potential like it was like no we're just going to go and it turned away from this idea of like what am I able to accomplish to like what is out there for me to do you know and it was one of those things where I'm like this knows no bounds and I just completely gave my life to swimming. I just committed my whole life around it. I think one, because I saw what I could do. I was somebody that had spent so long trying to figure out how am I going to navigate this world and be functional within society. And now I'm talking about trying to qualify at the highest level of sport. You know, I'm at the pinnacle of success in this

possible in this field of swimming. And just to have that mind shift. And just to have that mind shift. that become the reality was like how could I not give everything to this right um so I just committed like all but though it all get up I was swimming 13 14 times a week I was in the weight room four to five times I was just doing everything for swimming and like kids in my class in high school were like are you swimming during lunch like we don't see you and I'm like no but I'm not going out and hanging out with friends I'm not going out and um you know I'm just committing to everything I can like are out. There you know.

It makes you get a step. Yeah. So we, at the age of 17, qualified for the 2008 Bidgining Paralympic Games, you know, and that was never really the goal. The goal was always 2012. The goal was London and the goal was to try when I was a junior in college, let alone high school, to make the team and maybe do some damage. But we qualified. You made the very first one. What? So you made the very first one. Yeah, right away. I mean, I had been back in the water. for like 18 months.

I mean, it was crazy. Did you ever go to the, I know that right now I have an athlete at the Cholabit Train Center at Colorado Springs. Love it. Yeah. A quick break in the action here to let you know that I've just recently chosen to get back into coaching. And I specifically am looking to coach Masters jujitsu athletes just like myself.

I've been doing jujitsu for 22 years and strength and conditioning for 30 years. I'm a black belt, of course. And I live that life. I understand exactly what goes into it. I understand what's like to run a family. family do jiu-jitsu try to tie strength and conditioning into it all and all of the ups and downs that come with it from from joint pain to busy schedules to travel and all the things so if you are a master's jiu-jitsu athlete and you're looking for some support i'm happy to give it you can

dm me on instagram at douglas e larsen or you can email me doug at barbell shrug dot com happy to help back to the show and the majority of our three of the majority of athletes are Paralympics, Paralympians. Yeah. And they're just amazing at what they can do. And so did you go to one of those? I mean, it's not just Colorado Springs, of course. Yeah, I know.

I've been to Springs a ton. Yeah, we've had a ton of training camps out there in my day. Never anything more than maybe like 10 days at most. But yeah, the training center is, you know, second to none. It's always. I love it. Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah. I remember getting the email the first time I was invited to like in the development camp out there and being like, okay. I like we're we're going places which is I agree I remember the first time when I was invited I was an athlete there a long time ago though but I remember the first time walking up there I mean I start crying yeah it's everything you're getting picked up by a shuttle that's got the rings on the side of it you're like whoa that's pretty cool you know exactly yeah um yeah and so then after

qualifying um I was like I I need to do everything I can to make 2012 happen. So I finished eighth in the 400 meter freestyle in Beijing, which for me, even the fact that I finaled was like a huge icing on the cake. Like I just wasn't even expecting to make it, let alone final was incredible. And to have a moment with Steve and say, like,

we got here, we did it, like you made it. Like that was really, really cool for us. And to have him there, my whole family there was incredible. But I knew I needed to up my game if I wanted to get to the next level, get to that podium. And I was very fortunate to have swam at St. Louis University where Mike was the strength and conditioning coach at the time. Oh, here we go. Full circle now.

Yeah, yeah, there it is. And so, yeah, the head coach of the swim team, Jim Halliburton, was gracious enough to let me walk on to the team, or roll on, if you will. But it was just so cool for me in that moment, too, was to, one, have the opportunity to compete as a D1 athlete, but also, like, work with people like, Mike in I, you know, I've been doing PT my whole life and just, you know, working through stretching and trying to keep my lower half as mobile as possible, but to like think about actually getting strength and training, conditioning that was geared towards swimming, but also could be specified to really help me hone in on what I needed. Like, it was the first time working with Mike that I worked with a head that, like, knew how to navigate swimming and

potentially cerebral palsy at the same time. Like, how can we mash these two and make the most out of this. And so that was really cool. And it involved a lot of, I guess, apparently a lot of parking lot sled dregs in Arizona while everyone else is running mountains. So, you know, screw you, Mike, but it worked. So, you know what? At the same time, he did one of the most impressive things I've ever seen on a pair of neutral grips that were rotating. He did a strict muscle up through the sound. No, no kipping, no nothing, just from the bottom of the top. I'm like, Well, that's not right. Yeah, but it was just so great to have that opportunity to just really hone in on my craft.

And I remember getting bigger, fitter, faster, stronger, and really progressing through the sport, which was really exciting. The hardest part really came in the off season when we were done with conference in February, and I'm looking at trial meets in, like, April and May, where I'm just having to commit by myself and train on my own, still taking classes. finishing the semester up. So like that balance of just like having the mental fortitude to push hard by yourself. And I had some really good classmates and teammates that came in sign with me once in a while. But for the most part, it was like if I, and as it was like if you want this, like a lot of times it's a lonely road. Like people aren't going to understand you. You just need them to respect it. Right. And that's what it is. And that taught me a lot. And I think I'm fortunate that I was able to do that because my CP has always kind of made me a stubborn, independent person.

like I hate asking for help. It's probably the hardest thing I do. Because I'm always in a situation like, well, if I'm alone and I have to figure this out, like I need to know how to navigate that. So like everything about me is about just trying to figure it out and adapt to it and just make it work. So that mental fortitude pushed me so well. And then I, you know, had a good good opportunity that slew. It was great.

And then the fall of 2012 or I should say fall of 2011, I actually, left San Luis University. I took a leave of absence. And I went home to try and qualify for 2012 with my head coach, Steve, back home. I'm like, Steve, nobody knows you mean better. Nobody knows how I work and operate like you do. Like, you got me to Beijing. Like, let's get on the podium now. Like, you got to the games, but there's more to be done. At that time, I was about fifth in the world and 100 backstrokes. So I'm in striking distance. Like, I'm right there. went home in the fall of the spring of 2012 and trained my living lights out until June for trials went to trials I won a best time by almost a whole second and a hundred back I won the event by two and a half seconds

and the Paralympic world is quite different than the Olympic world in qualifying where everything is based on world rankings for us and we were only taking 12 men to the London Games and if you were top three in the world in any event at trials, you automatically qualified. And that was nine of the 12 slots right away for the guys. After that, it became a percentage point from how far away you were from the third place time in the world, from the bronze medal, based on ranking. So they went to see if anybody's in fourth place. And there were two guys in fourth place in the world. So they were the next two selected. So that's 11 of 12 slots. It was me and one other guy in fifth in the world. And I was three one hundredths of a percent slower away from the third place time. I would, and it literally

equated to one one hundredth of a second in my personal swim in the hundred back. So when I had a fair chance, like an easy chance to qualify for finals, I'm like in it fighting for medals. I got to watch on my coach in August in London. So it was the most demoralizing feeling. It was a kind of, unfortunately put an asterisk in my mind for a while on if like Beijing was authentic, like did I really earn that? Like am I a fraud? Like the shoulda coulda wood us were so abundant, right? And it was just so hard to kind of process all that because I just had given up so much

of my life to try and make this happen. And for it to not work was never an option, right? Like I'm that kind of guy that I hate losing a lot more than I like winning. Like that's just very true. I totally understand that. Yeah. And so yeah, that was a really hard time. And I got very fortunate that I got pulled out of my rut by coaching. I just was able to find a local high school that was full of kids that I had been training with actually on our club team and help out as an assistant coach. And that actually

kind of refueled the whole light, the whole fire for me. Because I kind of realized, like, if I can't achieve this for myself, maybe I can definitely help somebody else get there. Like, I can do this whole full circle with Steve, and I can be the Steve for somebody else, right? And that just fueled this whole love for coaching that inevitably I changed my life to revolve around it. I transferred to Marquette University because I wanted to keep coaching. I got my elementary education degree so I could teach in the morning and coach at night and live that life. But I was able to get back in the water for a couple years, and I swam through 2015 while I was finishing up college, made a couple more international meets on a couple medals. It was great.

But I was ever tried 2016? Yeah. So then I was going to go for 16. It was full on like this is my redemption story. This is going to happen. This is, you know, let's go do it. I was finishing my student teaching semester in the winter of 2015. It was like December 2015. And I had just gone off to nationals.

And ironically, nationals were at the same pool I was at in 2012 for trials. This is like the best story of my life. I woke up on the third morning of nationals, and I don't know what came over me or what told me that this was going to happen, but some message from somebody just I woke up and I was like, I'm done. This is it. Like, I don't need to go on.

Like, I woke up with finally in my head this levelheadedness of content of like, you've done a lot. Like, you've qualified for the games. You've set eight American records. and different events. You've won 13 international medals. Like, you've, you've built a story around this. And I think it was the pragmatics of, like, I'm about to finish my student teaching degree, or semester, and I'm trying to go get a full-time job in the fall. Well, who's going to hire a full-time teacher that needs to miss the first month while they're gone at the Paralympic games,

you know? It was like nobody. Nobody. And I didn't want to sacrifice a year of work and just sub in that meantime. So I woke up and I remember calling my parents and being like, Hey guys, this is the last one. They're like, yeah, day three, go get it. I'm like, no, this is the last one. They're like, no, like we're not there. You can't do this. This is not okay.

And I'm like, I don't know, but I know. Like, this is what I need to do. And my very last swim was a 400 medley relay with Team USA. And I was a Jack Stoker and that was my event. And so I got to go in first. So my best race for the last time ever, right behind me was Rudy Garcia-Tolson, who's a bilateral above-kne amputee, and he was the first guy that I met ever when I first joined that Yips landing me way back in 2007.

And he was my closest comrade. We swam in the same division. And so to have him going after me was like a great little send-off. But then we also had two brand-new guys to the national team that were anchoring our relay for us. They're like 15 years old, like the same raw position I was in, literally in 2017. seven and we had two teams next to us and the i'm like i do i do a fair shake at my swim it wasn't the best time but it wasn't bad either rudy holds his own the third guy jimps in and rips a huge

best time in his hundred fly leg and we are literally neck and neck with the two teams next to us and at this point rudy and i are just razzing the heck out of our last guy being like you better not fail your country right now like you've got everything you need right here No pressure. No pressure. He's like, just ready to just rip. And he dives in and he goes a best time by like two and a half seconds. Yeah.

Brashes into the wall. You can't tell the finish. And I kid you not, in the same pool that four years prior, I was destroyed by a hundredth of a second. I look up and our relay team wins the event by one one hundredth of a second. Wow. What's great to me. That was good. I'm like, I don't know who sent me this message today.

Like, I just got goosebumps again. I've told this story thousands of times. And it's still, it's like, I don't know who sent me that message. But like to have that moment of like, you made it. Like, you've proven that this does not need to define you. And you're ready to take on the world in a new perspective and from a new lens. And it was just like the most serene moment ever. It was, it's wild.

Perfect. That's it. And that was it. Right. That was it. Yeah. And so then I went from swimming like 40 hours a week to nothing. I quickly found that I need to keep my body moving.

And that's when I found my local CrossFit affiliate. I just knew a couple buddies that were going there, much like everybody else. I had my skepticism at first. I saw the YouTube fail videos and the dolphin pull-ups and all this stuff. And I'm like, okay, whatever. But I'm like, I can work out. I can be around people. I can build a community.

And I've navigated myself with Mike enough around the fitness world. So know that I can probably make this happen. I don't know how much barbell Mike and I did. I don't think we did a lot of clean or snatch work in the gym. It was dumbbell. And let's just say there was only so much liability I was willing to have as a collegiate athlete. Yeah. Don't break them.

Don't break them. No break. Right. Yeah. And plus we often shared the weight room with the basketball team at the same time. And I was there where they made their dream elite eight run for SLU, like beat Michigan State is the number one seed. So it's like, all right, you guys get priority.

We'll hang out in the corner over here. But there was a lot of new for me in the CrossFit world. But it very quickly became this whole same situation with swimming where it was like, I'm finding potential. I didn't know a way that existed. I'm learning a lot about what I can do. And now, especially in the CrossFit scene, I'm seeing it transfer into my daily life a lot more.

Like, I'm seeing my accessibility around the house get a lot easier. I spent maybe six months in the gym before all of a sudden I realized, like, I'm carrying my laundry basket with two hands up the stairs from the basement without hesitation, which for me before that was like never a reality. And like, I didn't even realize I was doing it. It just started happening. I'm like, whoa, this is amazing. And of course, with all my experience, then I'm Steve and I'm Googling, like, is there

CrossFit for people in wheelchairs? Like, is there a competitive scene for this? And that's when I found wheelwatch. which was basically the grassroots organization for all things adaptive CrossFit. I never heard that. It's cool. Yeah. No, it's phenomenal.

So have you, do you know Kevin Ogar at all? Oh, yeah. Yes. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. He's competing with me. Yeah.

But Kevin is now in charge of all things adaptive CrossFit and Wheelwod and runs the CrossFit for the Adaptive Divisions. That was a chaotic. Very cool. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So I.

Wait, real quick, before we start digging into CrossFit. this stuff. Can we rewind just for a second? Mike, um, breaking out the conversation here. Mike, what was your, your thought process while training him? Like, um, training someone with, with cerebral palsy is distinctly different for many reasons. Like as a strength coach, what, what's going through your mind with how to, how to give him a good training effect? But again, as you said, you're trying to make sure that you, uh, you keep him healthy. You don't, you don't, you don't break him by doing something quote unquote stupid, you know, in college, college swimmer cerebral palsy, like, you now and you're doing snatches. Everyone's looking at you like,

Mike, are you serious? And so obviously you weren't doing that. But what was the thought process behind kind of the needs analysis and the programming? Yeah. So, you know, first and foremost, he's a swimmer. So, you know, what's the major form of propulsion, his upper body? And Tom is one of those guys that if you see him walking from a distance, you're like, somebody needs to take that guy home because he's had too many.

100%. But, you know, you put a bar in his hands or you have him on a pole apart. You're like, okay, this guy already has great work capacity and he's got a solid amount of muscle mass for his age. So it's like at that point, what was the thing that hadn't really been touched? Because he had obviously had good coaching. Like the guy was developed for what he could develop, but he hadn't really had his max force essentially pushed. So we put on a solid diet of weighted pull-ups and also kind of quasi-what-you-would-say

would be almost dynamic effort. Or it's like, okay, we're going to hook some chains or hook some bands to his waist and have rip some fast pull-ups, you know, doing dips, doing a lot of calisthenics, but obviously the dumbbell work because, you know, once he was locked in, meaning on a bench, once he was in a fixed position, he was very strong. And then that's where you can also talk about. We spend some quality. Well, I wouldn't know if he defined his quality time on things like a glute ham raise.

We're having to just do what he could for both the mobility and those hips and hamstrings for the extension and the same thing for adding in some weighted sit-ups. So it's, you know, at that point, I was a strength coach for an athlete with the idea of not going to do anything dumb enough that could make things worse. But at the same point, he'd been living with his entire life. He wasn't like an athlete that had just had an injury that had limited his joints. It's like, he's been figuring out how to work this for 18 years of his life before we met. And obviously navigated it well.

So now it's like, okay, the kicking, he can get a little bit there, but most of it is going to be that upper body propulsion and making sure again, we push the aspects he hasn't pushed yet. And the thing about Tom, that you guys, we've all worked with enough athletes here that he was a guy that you would have to be like maybe you should do less today not like have you thought about working out a lot of those people yeah yeah so i mean actually on that note like your your main form of propulsion is using your arms if you're you're in a wheelchair the majority of the time plus you're doing lots of swimming plus you're doing lots of strength training which is mostly upper body yeah that's just a lot of upper body volume in general like how do you how do you manage that volume uh while still making progress but not of course like just overdoing it Yeah. I don't know. You want to take that, Mike? Yeah, go for it.

Kind of a both-ended question. You know, so it's two interesting aspects of you're correct. And that's a lot of volume on the upper body. But just due to the nature of his physiology, he doesn't have a massive drain to his lower body. So it's one of those things that he's kind of like a built-in bro at the wreck where like, no wonder they can bench press three days a week because they never squat once. And that's not a dig. That's just what we're working with. And again, with the recoupative capacity, he's got the twofold. One, he's been training like this his entire life.

So he's one of those folks. If you kind of work with a male gymnast, their upper body is used to so much volume that you can start them off with like a lot more work sets than you would do for some of that's never trained upper body before. And then second, that's what's saying, you know, following like the prolipin chart and otherwise and just basic conversations like, how you feeling? Because I mean, with the Pilipant's chart even like relate to him, I feel like, you know, it's so opposite. Like, do you guys do any lower body? like what lower and if you do what do what lower body movements would you do go ahead i mean back in our day um right now like i'm doing a lot now like i've learned a lot through the crossfit sphere but like what i'm capable of and i'm i'm back squatting on a regular basis which is great um but with mike it was

uh i know we did a lot of glue bridging a lot of just trying to find ways because for me i was so we were so focused on yes propulsion through the upper body but for me it was also like how much can I get my lower half to be buoyant to keep propulsion as the focus. Like I'm never going to get propulsion out of my legs, but I need to stay in that nice streamlined position. So it's how much can I rely on my core? Also, how much, like, can you help me find my glutes and hamstrings to activate so that my core is not taking the brunt of that stress and I can kind of distribute

it a little bit better? And so that was kind of like the whole navigation there, God, it's been so long. I'm trying to think about our whole, I can still see our spread chart and our spreadsheet and all the, all the progression. Like, were you able to do like plan metrics, you know, like, you know, you think of swimmers, like the,

you think the star, you think of, you know, off the wall when you change directions. So were you all able to do like, you know, I don't know, prison squad jumps or did you stay away from jumps? We didn't jump a lot. I've never had great trust in my knees. for that more because of landing with my CET. I like when I jump up, my legs tend to stiffen and straighten. Oh, yeah.

Landing straight. You should be horrible. We didn't do our fair share of walsits. I'm aware of that. I remember that for sure. That was always ugly. But it was always that. And then yeah, a lot of GHD work with just back extensions and just trying to get some

glute ham activation. Yeah. And the weighted sit-ups where I really felt that when I when I had my feet locked in, at that time. Like, I didn't know much better than having someone help me there, whether it was tucking my feet underneath, like, the dumbbell rack to help keep them down, because my legs would always want to rise up as I'd try and sit up. And so if I got my feet locked in somewhere, I always felt like I was able to activate my hamstrings really well. And it wasn't until I got into a Smith machine, actually, that I found squatting was like in, like a whole revolution for me,

because I didn't realize how well I could isolate my glutes and my hamstrings, especially by not having to worry about the support. And I knew I could just drive through it, which was nothing I could ever do free-loaded, right? I just want to have the balance to do that. And when I had something that was sturdy to kind of posture myself and maintain that without any concern, that like changed everything for me. Yeah, that was really cool. And you have the other complication, which is at that point,

And the swim team would train with us twice a week. We get them for about an hour each time. So if we're going to spend half an hour of just trying to figure out how to make a squat work for him, we're losing so much a training economy. So part of it was just the like, how do we get them? It's the same problem with Olympic lifting and collegiate athletes. You're going to have to spend an entire block teaching it to them. And, you know, for a swimmer's like, their go in December.

And, you know, you miss the first week because the first week of classes. then you're into it. You know, you have a Thanksgiving. You have all these other things. And it's like, okay, like, we only got effectively 24 training hours. Do I want to spend 10 of them on just technique instruction? Nope. Or do I want to go?

It's like, the guy can pull. Like, let's load up the exercise. We won't adaptation in the form. Yeah. Yeah. Not technical instruction. Yeah, since he's obviously had the long arc, like, oh, yeah, I think we did some dumbbell snatching. Yeah.

I'm like, you know what? If it gets weird, just throw it somewhere and we'll make sure. one's nearby. Like, you know, there's a thing. But like that barbell, like in my mind, I see him in his chair going like, nope, nope, not going to that way. Not worth it. Or just go, like you said, do the Smith machine squats. Just go light and go fast. Yeah. That's still power. And I think we actually had a power sled that we tried once or twice. If you, one of those old school resistance fans like in the shuttle position and going. Yeah. And we experimented with that. But it's still one of those things of exactly like we didn't have a Smith rack in that weight room no so you know we had to

use what we had available at the time and right and there lies another big piece of the puzzle you're gonna have to i'm gonna have to look up you're gonna have to send me a video of you squatting tom with that yeah that's hey we've hit three bills it's coming so yeah it's there see that's the thing that i kind of secretly hate about tom yeah right you know you'd be like kind of sore like man do i feel like working and then you see this guy just can throwing his soul into the bar it's like the scene in Dodgeball, where it's like, I'm sure whatever you're going through

is really hard here, but you know, you know, coming back from testicular cancer to compete again in the tour to France, like, you know, but I'm sure whatever you're doing

with is really difficult. Yeah. Well, I thought so now, are you focusing more on coaching other people or are you still focusing on coaching yourself? Like, is it 50-50 or like where are you at now in life? Yeah, no, that's a good question.

So it's definitely much more 50-50. 50, and I'd probably say more 70, 30 others versus me. I am no longer teaching at this point. I taught for a couple years, but I actually was able to open up a branch of our swim club, the same one I swam for, in the district that I was teaching in. And that took off so well that I was able to leave teaching and just coach full time. So that was really exciting for me. And very quickly after that, I got my L1 through CrossFit,

because I was just totally engrossed at that point. This is 2019. And yeah, like I started it in August of 2016. I did my first open in 2017. I found the adaptive, the Wheelwad CrossFit Open, which was great because it gave me adaptations to all the open workouts that I could do right along with my community on Friday Night Lights. And that turned into winning the Open and being like,

oh, where are the games? Let's go do that. And that was the first time I found my first world title. And they're like got that wonderful redemption moment almost for me that I never gotten swimming. Like, hey, I proved it to myself more than anything that I could do it. And that just kind of took off. And that was for me for a very long time, a lot about coaching myself and just trying to figure out a lot about CrossFit and just navigating the best ways to, you know, move in a wheelchair and how to lift properly in a wheelchair, like learning mechanics in a way that made sense for me. And ironically, I did a lot of it.

You're not going to love this. but I did a lot of it out of my chair in a folding chair at first, because I just wanted to know that, like, I could put that against a block against the wall and know I had that support because I'm my, like, I guess now two chairs ago, I didn't have any anti-tip wheels. Like I was, if I fall back,

where everything's going with me. So I needed something secure. So, yeah, I was literally learning how to snatch on a folding chair and just, you know, just cleaning, and jerking on a folding chair. But, you know, it works. It happened.

and it was awesome. Wait, why not like a workout bench, you know? Well, there's no back. Some little stronger. I know. I know. It was, uh, we learned our lesson. I only broke through like two chairs total in my time. So it's not bad. Yeah. Wait, so. That's not you know I was in PR because I broke a chair. I'm like, all right, we're ready. Yeah. Wait, so, so you got to go to the CrossFit games 10 times, one at 10 times. Yes, sir. What, what does those events look like? Like, what does it, how does it compare to the type of movement you're doing and the structure and the setup of the workouts compared to like regular games workouts.

Yeah, I would say it's very synonymous, honestly. We are spending three or four days being tested on things that either we're completely prepared for or things that we had no idea were coming. We're tested all modalities. I've done one rep snatches. I've done one rep maxes of all sorts. I've done, we had a legitimate triathlon one year as a full event. We've done everything in between, all the gymnastics, the cardio, you know, all three modalities are tested all the time. We've had years where we've had 13 events in three days. We've had years where we had five events in one day.

I mean, it's a... Did you say 13 events in one day? No, in three days, but like we've had days of five events in one day. I mean, it's been, yeah, it's aggressive. And honestly, yeah. it's evolved so much since I first started. Like our first year of the games was literally, the seated division was five dudes that qualified of any hip ability.

Like we didn't have specific divisions based on your seated capacity. It was just like, if you're in a chair, you're going against each other. And we're out in the middle of a field in Collingwood, Ontario, like just throwing dumbbells around to now where I was competing at the same venue. was all the elite able-bodied athletes last, you know, a month ago throwing down for the 10th time.

I was just crazy. Hannah Black, my chance. I love Hannah Black. Yeah. I actually follow Training and Think Tank as well. I'm one of their athletes, too. I was her original coach from Weightlifting. She was in a living group first.

Yeah. I had her at the gym and she made team as day. She's being. Yeah. Ironically, she's the best stature of all time. Yeah. Yeah, she won that event. Weird how that works.

I know where the credit goes, right? Yeah. But yeah, no, but it's been awesome. And just even for me, just to see the personal progression, I think, is what was most intoxicating about all of it and addicting. Like, every year, there was some new element to my perspective on my abilities that made me be like, oh, we got to keep going. Like, this is just, we're just scratching the surface right now.

Like, we're learning so much. And that was crazy. like going from just simply learning how to, you know, do a three-rep clean and cycle a barbell at 75 pounds to now hitting complexes at 180 at the games. And, you know, just like doing things like that. And in the chair, like, you know, you're sitting in a chair with 180 pounds. Yeah, I've, I've, I've clean and jerk 180 and snatched 170. Sitting in a chair. And it's just, it's, it's from the left.

It's literally a seated muscle snatch. Oh my God. I'm going to go watch this. Yeah, you need to look at the videos I'm doing it. Yeah. But at the same time, like, I always just found myself finding, like, learning more about what I could do and just realizing that limits just did not exist. I had gone to an event called Watapalooza in, like, 2019 for the first time. And just, we were introduced some new movements and all this stuff.

And I had won that for the first time. That was really exciting and just kind of got to be around a lot of people that were interested in my story and interested in my CrossFit journey. And that helped really vault me into believing, like, what if I could make a life out of this? Like, what if I could turn this into something that I want, like, really could strive for? And at that time, I was still teaching. I was still running a club. I was coaching a high school team. I was coaching at my gym.

I was just starting to follow, like, actual aggressive, competitive CrossFit training to, too. And I was like, I was training from like 930 to 1130 at night, going to bed at midnight and getting up at 4 to coach again the next day. Like I didn't sleep. It was horrible. So recovery wasn't really big part of the plan. Like, yeah, right. I know. Recovery was just not existent for a bit. But I learned that I couldn't handle that capacity and I made some life changes. But like I learned how to handstand walk. I have absolutely no business doing handsand push-ups let alone walking on my hands and now I walk better on my hands on my own feet you know and it's just crazy to know that I can string string 20 and broken ring muscle ups today I could do you know I can

there's I've deadlifted 500 pounds from a seated position it's like the just the the the what the hell I know right that's why I'm going to watch all this stuff that's crazy yeah and it's just every year those things came about and new opportunities came with it to where you know I was broadcasting at CrossFit. I'm now an adaptive training academy seminar teacher. So I travel the country and on weekends we teach adaptive seminars about how to work with adaptive athletes in your fitness realm. And like again, another full circle moment for me to be able to give back what was given to me. It's all just been so, so incredible. And I've always been driven by the U versus you mentality. Like the competing is fun. I enjoy it. For sure, I'm competitive.

But if I ever started worrying about what my competitors were doing, then I know I wasn't doing it for the right thing. Like, I know at 35 years old now, Tom at 55 still needs to be as active as he is today. Because the last thing I need to do is start to atrophy and not use my body and make life difficult for me. I want to have kids. I want to be present for them. I want to be mobile for them. I want to make sure that my health is never a liability for theirs. And that can be tough when my health is so physically apparent, right?

And so I need to be, it's in my ownness and my responsibility to make sure that I'm as healthy as I can be. And that's why I love CrossFit. Because every time I was learning something new and I was learning about my capacity, I was just building a better life for me down the road. And that was what made me so motivated by it. And I just freaking love it. And it's been awesome. So, and it's been cool that it's allowed my fitness in general has allowed me to just challenge myself more. I don't settle.

Mike probably knows that. and it's never been good for me. I'd never been like, want to be super proud of all of my accomplishments. It's just like, that was great, but I could, I've done this better.

Or like, what if I do with this next time, you know? And that's where I went on to try high rocks. I won worlds in Sweden back in June. That was great. And then it was just kind of like, if I can be in high rock,

let's go do an iron man. Let's push all of this fitness in front of me and say, is it possible? And that's literally what I'm doing right now. I'm just trying to figure out what is my, my limit, you know, and I haven't found it yet. And that's pretty freaking awesome. Doug, is he like the biggest beast of that we've ever had on our show? Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah. Olympics, CrossFit games, high rocks. I'm like, I feel like the biggest bitch I've ever right now. Like we're going to get on a show a year from now. He's going to be like, I set a world record in the triathlon. You guys, you guys believe that. We're going to be like, of course we can believe it. Isn't their world record everywhere else?

The next thing you know, I drown myself. It's like, you know. Yeah. Yeah. Seriously, that is amazing. Thanks. I appreciate it. Yeah.

Like, so many people could, you know, have, you know, disability. They're just, like, sit around. They're sad. And, like, you've totally taken it and inspired the world. So, yeah. And, you know, it's, I think what the most gratifying thing is, like, the accomplishments are great and the achievements are fun.

And, you know, I kind of feel bad at that point. where I'm just like, I've got all my metals just like in a box in my closet. But like that's not what's important. I don't know where that stuff is. Yeah. To think that like 10 years ago, I saw a passion in something and it was like I couldn't ignore it. And I'm like, I need to make this my life. And to now live a life where literally all I'm doing is coaching.

I'm traveling the country as an athlete. I'm getting to travel as a coach and just spread something that I love so much. like to see myself believe that I could do that and follow that passion without reserve and just make a life of it and to say I've done that is definitely the biggest reward of all of it. I do have you have children yet?

No. No, I hope you have a big game. Because your children will be able, they'll have no ability to say anything about why they can't do something. Sure. Tell me why you can't do something. Yeah, right?

You know, like that's always been my goal for my children. It's for them to see that there's this thing you can't do. You might not want to do it, but don't tell me you can't. Yeah, and that's the hardest part with my coaching. So to this day, I'm still coaching swimming. I'm at 35. I'm already almost 20 years deep into it. But I'm the age group director for our swim program.

So I oversee our 12 and under program. And the hardest part for me is still, like, wanting it more for them than they do themselves. Like trying to navigate that because my brain like especially now like when I was so gung-ho on trying to win number 10 and you know all this summer that I had it planned for myself I was so knee-deep in commitment and dedication and just like no excuses make the sacrifices like it was such a mindset for me to be like you really need to go to the bathroom right now like in the middle of the set like come on you know but then I got to remember they're 10 they're 9 they're 11 young kids but it's exciting to know that like um i've seen i have the equation right like i know what it takes to get to where you want to be and i understand what's necessary and just to have an opportunity to give that back to these little guys and um even our older kids and the high school athletes and just see them succeed and um ask questions about nutrition and recovery and just know that like

i have all that experience and knowledge to pull on now is is really cool so Oh, yeah. I can't believe your coach is like 12 and under. That's like, I mean, they're like, honestly me neither sometimes. It's kind of wild. They're wanting a peanut butter and jelly sandwich you're talking about the limit. Yeah, the nutrition talks are very different for the 10-year-olds and they are my 18-year-olds.

I mean, but you know, they just got to hear. My kids are all, you know, 11 and under. And like, we've had some amazing talks this past summer. They've grown up a lot. But, like, you know, you got to have. talks down and things click a little clicks and a little clicks and a little clicks yeah yeah it's a patient game but it's a really rewarding one for sure it is it is when they do get it when they just get anything when they when they get training consistently will equal x you know yeah yeah

yeah yeah and let's face it there's the reality of unfortunately a lot of kids don't get good coaching until they make it to high school or college and so you need good people that are actually working with little kids. Yeah. They're building the foundation and, you know, see what is possible. Sure. You know, I wish we had more people that was like, you know, Avery Spaginbaum, who I'd love to get on this show.

I like, I wish more parents could hear from him and like, you know that like, if you can't get your kid with someone who's qualified, like doing this travel ball at 10 years old is just so easy. Because like you're getting some dad who was probably not very good of a athlete who then he's probably a terrible coach who's like trying to tell you that he's going to get your athlete you know recruited and nobody is recruiting your 10 year old so like if they can't teach that kid some like basics and just the start of what it takes to get to become a good athlete then don't do it so well you know one we obviously have genetics always in the background

but two is just building the right behaviors yeah like if you build that amount of desire you build that type of compliance, not compliance, but consistency, adherence, and effort. And I love for it. Yeah. Like, you're 5'8. You're never going to be in the NBA. I'm sure they need a towel guy. You're right.

Yeah. And if you go to Spudwebush. You're going to go to Spudweb. And you're right. If you can literally jump over anyways, just to build the behaviors. Because those same behaviors are going to make you be successful in life. And to make sure they love fitness. that's the thing we missed.

I think a lot of people are missing that when they're working with young kids. If they leave you hating it, you really did them a disservice. And their parents should whip your tail because that just messed them up for a long time. Yeah. I have a poster on my wall at the pool

that I say the scoreboard's only half the story. Because like swimming especially, like these parents look at times. They look at states. qualifying times and national qualifying times and they just see these numbers and they don't and they watch their kids swim and they compare the number every time and they're just like so weird of them qualifying for things and I'm like did you not see how well they did underwater is compared to their last swim did you not see how much better they approached their turn did you not see how much more

relaxed they were before that swim because they mentally thought about the right things like scoreboard never tells anything in our sport and yeah and it's like I'm not trying to make you a great swimmer at the age of 12. Like, that is not my goal. I want you to love the hell out of the sport so that when you go to 15 and you start actually training volume and you get ready for high school and beyond, like, you want to do that. Like, that is my goal.

Like, you know, that is, and I tell it to my parents all the time. Like, you can be upset about a swim, but if you don't parent and you don't just give them the support they need, you're never going to watch them swim again because they're never going to treat you with the same lens, a lens of respect. Because if your love for them is determined by the scoreboard, I don't even know how to explain that. And nine times out of 10, the people dominating at 10 and 11 are not the ones dominating at 16 and 17.

It just never happens. The Little League World Series is the exact same athletes. We've seen the actual World Series. Actually, that's not true. It's like very small percent, matter of back. Yeah. Drops to that girl, though, that's dicing those boys up right now. She is insane.

I don't have you seen her out there. Kinsey, I think it is. Yeah. Yeah, that's awesome. But will she be dicing them up in the majors? Yeah. Yeah. All right.

Phyllis, we got to shut it down here. All right. Tom, dude, I appreciate it. Come on the show and do it. Guys, an incredibly impressive, inspiring individual. Very impressive what you've done with, what, multiple different sports now,

but from the Paralympics through the CrossFit Games. High Rocks. You're doing triathlete. Yeah, the triathlon's coming next. You did swimming for some. so long. So, dude, I appreciate you coming on the show. Where can people find more about you and what you're up to? Adaptive athletes, maybe in particular might want to reach out and connect with you. Where can they learn more? Totally. Yeah. Everything's on my social. So if you

head to my Instagram, it's just my name, Tom Miyazga, all no spaces. And then head over to ata. Dot, Adaptive Training Academy.com. That is our website for our traveling seminar team where we just go and educate the world and enrich with what possibilities there. are you know there is there is so much out there and i think the problem is that people just don't know it exists and that's really what it is if you can find an avenue to an opportunity that opportunity can be whatever you make of it so that's the trade in academy is the best yeah ata dot fit yeah and we have an online cohort too so if you need to do it virtual and get your seminar um even as an adaptive athlete when i took it my first time before i even became a seminar leader um i learned so much more than

i ever could have thought possible i thought i knew it all and i knew none of it. So it's a very enriching opportunity and hopefully just makes them, you know, a coach that much more adaptable and that much more inclusive and welcoming. So see it. That's all right. Yeah. Cool. Dr. Mike Lane, PhD. Well, I think also one word on Instagram. So feel free to come on by and say hi. Beautiful. Coach Travis Mash. Macpleet.com. I'm just looking at the ata.fit. It's awesome. Yeah.

That was a great show. It really was. I'm Doug Larson on Instagram at Douglas E. Larson. We are Barbbell Strugged on Instagram at Barbell underscore Strug. If you want to work with Dr. Michael Lane, Coach Travis Mash and Dr. Andy Galpin and the whole team at Biomolecular Athlete. You can go to Biomolecularathlete.com. Friends, we'll see you guys next week.