Barbell Shrugged - Building a Badass — Activating My Dreams Into Reality — 4

Episode Date: September 21, 2018

I was never a competitor, ever, or so I believed. “I just didn’t have it in me” because someone else told me so.   In this episode, I walk you through how I stopped listening and believing other peoples limitations of myself, and ventured into something I knew I wasn’t, a competitive athlete, a business owner, and a Level 1 CrossFit Seminar Trainer.   In this single year, I reached three lifetime dreams, not goals. Not because I was ambitious and knew it could happen, but because I stopped believing other peoples limitations of me, and started taking a chance to fail. 2010 was the year I decided to start believing in my dreams, even if I was the only one who did.   Stay Relentless, - Christmas Abbott ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Show notes: http://www.shruggedcollective.com/bab_activatingmydreams ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Please Support Our Sponsor @vuori- www.vuoriclothing.com - Use coupon code BADASS25   ► Subscribe to Shrugged Collective's Channel Here http://bit.ly/BarbellShruggedSubscribe 📲 🎧 Listen to the audio version on the Apple Podcast App or Stitcher for Android Here- http://bit.ly/BarbellShruggedApple http://bit.ly/BarbellShruggedStitcher Shrugged Collective is a network of fitness, health and performance shows that help people achieve their physical and mental health goals.  Usually in the gym, but outside as well. In 2012 they posted their first Barbell Shrugged podcast and have been putting out weekly free videos and podcasts ever since. Along the way we've created successful online coaching programs including The Shrugged Strength Challenge, The Muscle Gain Challenge, FLIGHT, Barbell Shredded, and Barbell Bikini. We're also dedicated to helping affiliate gym owners grow their businesses and better serve their members by providing owners tools and resources like the Barbell Business Podcast. Find Shrugged Collective and their flagship show Barbell Shrugged here: SUBSCRIBE ON ITUNES ► http://bit.ly/ShruggedCollectiveiTunes WEBSITE ► https://www.ShruggedCollective.com INSTAGRAM ► https://instagram.com/shruggedcollective FACEBOOK ► https://facebook.com/barbellshruggedpodcast TWITTER ► http://twitter.com/barbellshrugged

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BADASS25 is going to save you 25% on your order. So make sure you get in there. viore-clothing.com. Use BADASS25 at checkout to save 25%. Hi, everybody. This is Christmas Abbott, and you are listening to my personal journey on building a badass. Last time, I told you about my experience in Iraq and how I discovered who I was and really found some core fundamentals in my life that I uphold to today. And this story is a bit different. This is about finding my inner monster. And what you probably know me as more so today, the competitor that I am. But also really, this one is all about finding your full potential.

And my experiences on how I was able to tap into and stop believing what other people's limitations were of me and started believing in myself and not even know what my potential was, but be willing to put myself out there to try and see where I could go with it. And I surprised myself. I surprised myself multiple times again and again. And this year, which was 2010 that I'm going to take you through, I had three major life changes that altered my perspective of myself, what I was capable of, and what I really wanted out of life, and what I expected from myself, and chasing excellence and being relentless with my dreams,

even if I was the only one that believed in them. And often, I was the only one. 2010, a lot of my friends, all of my family, and I had zero fans. Everybody that knew me in that time thought I was kind of crazy, thought I was a maniac, because I was working relentlessly towards these goals that really, if you had looked at my history, which they did, it was unattainable. And those goals, those three goals that I'm going to share with you, one was to go to the CrossFit Games. Two was to become a CrossFit level one seminar staff trainer. And the third was to open my own CrossFit. And each of them in itself was a journey that, or even a workload that people didn't think that I was capable of. And each and one of themselves was a lifelong dream, much less less. Three. Three in one year. So I want to share with you first how I became an athlete, and second, how I became a CrossFit level one seminar staff trainer,

and then third, how I became an entrepreneur. We'll start with the games. Everybody that is listening to this probably knows about the CrossFit Games. And if you don't, then I'm not sure what you're doing. It is rampant. And the CrossFit Games originated as just a get-together with Dave Castro and Greg Glassman at Dave's Ranch. It was like the CrossFit Woodstock. It was just a good time getting together and throwing down with a whole bunch of other rebels that were doing CrossFit at the time.

And of course, being a main site junkie, I found out about this and quickly became obsessed. I became obsessed with just knowing who was competing and wanting to be part of it. Because at that time, CrossFit was still pretty much an underground sport. And if you saw somebody in the airport that had a CrossFit shirt on, you high-fived them because they were probably the only one in the airport that did CrossFit. And so you just had this amazing connection to anybody and everybody that did CrossFit. So I'm watching the games or following them online on the main site. And I really didn't think that I would have the potential to win, but I really just wanted to be part of the experience.

I wanted to go there and whether I was watching or competing, I wanted to be in that energy. And I remember telling the guy that I was dating at the time that I wanted to go and I didn't identify in what capacity. And I remember he looked at me and just said, you'll never be able to make it to the games. You'll never be able to make it to the games. And it broke my heart in a way that I wasn't prepared for because I didn't even know that it was something that I really wanted to strive for. And with that statement, I looked up to him so much because he had always been in athletics and he was in the military and in the military of special forces and really just taught me a lot that I knew about athletics, but then was sitting

here telling me that I absolutely would never be able to do something that I didn't even know if I wanted to do yet, but I kind of really did. And it broke my heart and I believed him. And that was my biggest mistake was that I believed him. Not how I felt about the experience or what I wanted out of it, but what he thought I was capable of. So I sat the next year out. I went to Spain instead, I think maybe just to mask my sadness. But I also didn't believe that I was that capable of competing at the games. I was barely 100 pounds. I had only been doing CrossFit for a couple of years. And even with a couple of years under my belt, I didn't think that I was an exceptional athlete.

Now, to give you a little bit of information about my athletic history that allowed me to confirm that what he was saying was true was that other than my baseball and cheerleading stint for a few years in middle school, I had no athletic background, meaning that in high school, I didn't play sports. You guys know know that story about I was drinking and using drugs left and right, college athletics. I was not an athlete in college at all. And in Iraq, I discovered fitness, but that didn't mean I discovered sport. And the first sport that I ever really played was CrossFit. And so he looked at me and just knew with certainty that my 115-pound frame would never be able to be a real professional athlete, specifically at CrossFit. And I believed him. I believed him because of my history, not because of my potential or my future.

So needless to say, me and this guy eventually broke up. I moved to Raleigh, North Carolina in February of 2009. Now, 2009 was the year of just kind of getting to know the city, trying to get myself together. And it was a little bit of a rough transition year. I ended up working three jobs. And through that, I was bartending while really waiting tables. I was coaching and then doing whatever I could. Eventually, I had a third job of being a boot camp instructor, which we'll get to in a little while. So through this process, I had a third job of being a bootcamp instructor, which we'll get to in a little while. So through this process, I had started to train at the one and only CrossFit in the area that was 30 minutes away from me, but it was the gym, the CrossFit gym. And I would go about three times a

week, not even super regularly, not every day. I wouldn't spend hours there, but I would go pretty regularly and get my fix. I loved CrossFit. I loved playing. And I was finally in a place where there were others to CrossFit with instead of by myself or in a garage. And I really loved it. And there were a couple of people that I would CrossFit with on the regular, and they became my training partners. Well, the next year rolls around, 2010. And that was the first year that they did sectionals. And CrossFit was actually recruiting for games athletes. And I thought, oh my gosh, how amazing is it that we get to go watch these people compete? And I remember my friend, Brandon, he looked at me, he was like, you should compete. And I looked at him like he had a third eye. One, I had no history of competing. Two, I had no history of athletic career whatsoever or experience.

And three, that voice in the back of my head, which echoed with my acts of, I would never be able to be an athlete, resonated with me. So I looked at him and I was like, I'm not a competitor. And this is coming from a guy that was pro MMA fighter. And so I'm looking at him like he's crazy. And he's like, no, you're the best here in the gym. You should compete. And I looked at him and said, I'm not a competitor. It's that simple. No. And over time, a few other people suggested it, but he really pressed and he said, listen, Christmas, this is what you should do. And I'm going to help. I'm going to sign you

up. I'm going to drive you there. You're going to go and do the workouts and just have a good time. And that's it. Just go and have a good time. Don't go try and win. Don't go and try and compete with anybody else. Don't go try and have expectations from yourself. Just have a good time. Do what you do here in the gym and we'll go from there. And I agreed. So I was like, fine, I'll go and have a good time. And I mean, I was so broke. I mean, I didn't have a pot to piss in. He was going to drive me to this, I think it was in Charlottesville, oh, Charlotte, and pay for my registration and compete. Now, I didn't have double unders at the time. So I knew that I needed to pull myself together. And his advice was to me to prepare as much as possible, meaning that every day do what you can for that day. And then when the actual competition comes and you have to compete, no matter what happens, you know that you've done everything

in your power and capability to prepare you for that moment. Now, this is a teachable lesson right now, is that I apply that to everything else in my life as much as I possibly can. And so when I do approach something, whatever project it is or challenge it is, I don't get nervous from not being able to perform because I didn't do enough. I get nervous with excitement to be able to go and see what I can actually do because I have prepared for that moment. Now, I knew I didn't have double unders. My first double under attempt was two years prior and I rolled my ankle and I couldn't walk for three days. So at that time I was like, fuck double unders. I don't need them. I don't want them. They are just vicious and cruel. And so I didn't do them. And now I knew that that was going to be the one thing that came

up. We didn't know what the workouts were, but I knew that it was going to be the one thing that came up. We didn't know what the workouts were, but I knew that it was going to come up because it was the one thing that I could not do, and I didn't want that to be the case. I wanted any failure or any shortcoming of mine to be because I just gave it my all, and there was nothing that I couldn't do because I had muscle-ups of the time, rope climbs, snatches, all the good fun stuff except for double-unders. So every day I would go out into my driveway for 10 minutes and I would just try. I would double-under attempt, murder by double unders. My calves, my toes, my thighs just got lashed and whooped and tortured. And I had a few, like at the time, I would be able to string three or four together. Um, but you'd be surprised at how much 10 minutes a day will improve whatever skill you're working on.

Because within a few short weeks, I was able to string 20 together and then 30. And after that, I just kept going. So I wanted to prepare as much as possible. And so I was eating right instead of drinking, which was the first time ever that I was like, okay, I'm going to work out to prepare for this competition and not just so I can drink whatever I want. It was definitely a huge shift. So I've prepared as much as I possibly can. And it's the day of sectionals, North Carolina, South Carolina. I'm like, all the bad bitches are going to be here. I roll up and just kind of go through it the way that I had talked to Brandon about it. And

I literally was in the mindset of have the best time possible Christmas. And so in the first workout, we had a sandbag carry with squats and everything and you're running across the gym. And I'm literally like a little kid waving to my friends as I'm running with the sandbags. There was no monster. There was no focus and get it done. Be the fastest. I just was having a good freaking time. And as the day unrolled, I went through the workouts. I got a little bit more into them. And by the end of the day, which I PR'd my clean and jerk, which was 130 pounds, yes. By the end of the day, they started to announce the winners, and I placed fifth overall in the two states. I looked around. I was like, what in the world? Because I hadn't really even given it my all, and I just kind of fucked around.

And so I looked around, and the top eight girls went to regionals, which included me. So I went to – I qualified for regionals. Fast forward at regionals, I'm there. Now I've prepared seriously in a way that like, I just want to go and have a good time because I feel like this is the top of what I can do. And now I'm going to be in the whole, in a state where like all the badasses from all the states are there. And then who am I? So I had that mindset going into it of I'm here to have a good time, but I don't necessarily deserve to be here even though I earned it. And this is where my baby monster is born. And I remember getting ready to go to one of the workouts. It was the second workout of the day, and Johnny Mac announced my name, and I was like, I'm Christmas. And he's like, Christmas? I'm like, yeah, I'm Christmas. And he was like,

all right, get out there. And it was muscle ups and kettlebell swings. And it was my jam. Something happened. And I'm doing this workout. And I'm just so laser focused. I'm in tune with my body. And it's like meditative state where there's people cheering. And there's other girls going crazy. People are failing on the muscle ups left and right.

And I'm just in sync with myself and this workout. And I remember feeling that feeling in Iraq of, look, you just have to get through this. This is your moment. And you will not allow that workout to win. You thrive. You stand up and you finish this. And so I just unleashed on this workout. And my baby monster was born where I wanted to just eat its soul. I wanted to crush that workout. And with everything that I had, and I did, and I was one of the top place for that workout and with everything that I had and I did. And I was one of the top place for that workout. But ultimately, I was just in a completely out of body experience, but so connected with

myself. And afterwards, I looked around and I didn't even look around when I was in the workout. I don't ever do that. I never have. And I never will because I'm not competing with anybody else. I'm competing with myself in that workout. How hard can I push myself? How smart can I train this workout? And when I'm done, I'm going to stand up and walk it off because I won. And it was amazing. And that's when I fell in love with competition. That's when I fell in

love with the games, and that's also kind of strangely enough is when the CrossFit fan world took notice of me, and it was this picture that made CrossFit HQ main page of me and the top of the muscle up. And I'm like, shirts off, I'm at extension, and I'm making this weird quirky face. It's like, huh? It's really funny. And that's where I kind of got the start of my stardom with CrossFit competing because they couldn't believe this tiny little girl, 115 pounds at most, was dominating these workouts with these girls that were in the same range. So I didn't place as well as I did at regionals as I did at sectionals, but I had a friend that was doing team. She was injured. Her team qualified for the games, and she asked me to go in place of her. So the first trip to the games was not on my own back entirely, but I do feel like I did earn it. And I count that. I did the work. I count that. The next year, I was ready. I wanted it. I was hungry for it. I knew what I was capable of, and I knew what I had to do to amplify that as

much as possible. And I wanted it all. I wanted to qualify for regionals. I wanted to go to regionals and I wanted to go to the games. And I did. I sacrificed a ton to make that happen, but I did and I did it with my team and I love team competition. There's just a piece about it that I enjoy tremendously over individual competition. And so 2010, I went with another team. 2011, I went with my gym. And 2012, I went to regionals and we just had a really great team and we still have a great team. We're a couple of spots away from going to regionals again. But this experience spawned my desire and passion for more competition. And when I say competition, like I was saying earlier, it's not with somebody else. It isn't even really with myself, but the competition is a platform to be able to give my full potential and know that I've worked for that moment. And I fell in love with CrossFit competitions. I fell

in love with weightlifting competitions. I started weightlifting that same year. And ultimately, those two passions opened the door for me to discover NASCAR. Now, I'm not going to jump into NASCAR this one. That's the next episode. But without this experience, there's no way that I would have been able to conduct myself the way that I did and do as well as I did in NASCAR. So now I want to kind of introduce to you how I was able to open my gym. And this is in the same year, 2010. Rewind a little bit. 2009, I was working at a bar and all of the girls would ask me, what do you do for your workout? And you guys know the story. And I would tell them, just come to the gym. Stop asking me. And I'd give them advice. And you

guys know how you do this as a coach. You want to help them, but then they just keep coming back. And so I said, listen, if we meet three times a week for a month and I show you what to do, will you leave me alone? And that was my goal, was to give them enough information and experience for them to team up together so they could go work out in the park without me. I was like, here's the information, go live your life. And so my very first boot camp was eight girls and they were all from Raleigh Times, the place that I was working at. And we had a great time. I charged them just enough for me to be able to cover my rent for that month, which I thought was awesome. I was making it big and we had such a good time. Now, I didn't continue the bootcamp because it was fall, we were outside and bad weather was coming. But also I was trying to go

back overseas to work. I was trying to get my job as a contractor back and I had already gone through training. I was just waiting for the state department to get my papers for my orders on where I was going to be deployed and when. Well, they dragged their feet and come springtime, I was working and I mentioned to one of the girls that I was thinking about doing another boot camp because, let's face it, if I got to teach people something that I loved and I got to pay my rent while doing it, I wanted to do it again. And I didn't expect this response when I mentioned it. And her name was Kelly, Kelly Reed. And she just blew up. She glowed. And she was like, yes. And it took me aback. I was like, what?

I was like, you enjoyed it? She's like, yes. We need to do that again. Please, please, please let me know. Let me know how much, when, and where. And her visceral reaction just kind of told me something. It told me that I had something to give them. And even though I thought I was still a rookie in this fitness world, I was actually well experienced. I just didn't give myself enough credit.

And so I decided to do a bootcamp, 30 days of Christmas. And the bootcamp would be one month. We would meet three times a week and I would take them on these non-weighted bootcamp style workouts. And we would have such a great time. My first bootcamp was maybe 10, maybe 12 people, I think around 10. And I would have this boom box. I mean, it was like real grassroots. All right. And we met in this park and that was the first month I had 10 and one class. The second month I had 20. And by the third month, I had two classes. I had one in the morning, one in the evening, and then around 15 people each. And then by the fourth month, I had four classes. I had two in the morning and two at night. And they were filled.

They were around 20 people each class. I couldn't believe it. I could not believe it. And people were raving about this. I was just kind of starting my business not knowing what I was doing. I literally would go on Facebook, advertise it. I recruited people from my clients at work where I was waiting tables and we would meet. I would collect either a check, cash, or PayPal, and we would have a great time. Now, this allowed me to, one, create a following in Raleigh where they were fitness enthusiasts now.

Also, it allowed me to be able to save enough money and some social currency with opening my own facility. while training for the games and trying to really put myself together, I was game planning and really leveraging some social currency, my current currency, and just working my ass off to try and figure out how to put this gym together and open a gym for myself. So you can say one fed into the other, but they definitely fed each other, meaning my experience with going into competition and my drive for opening this facility were hand in hand. And yes, I took on a lot that year, but it was amazing. I was sleep deprived. I was cranky and I was having the best year of my life. And in December, 2010, I opened my gym with zero debt, with members and the potential of growing out of the space within months was there, which we did. And I'm just, I'm still like really, really just blown away that it happened all in one year. I'm also really proud of the people that were onboarded during

that time. And still, my gym is still open, CrossFit Invoke, downtown Raleigh. So if you're in the area, come check us out. And some of my original boot campers are still there. And one of the, well, actually a handful of coaches were the coaches that were either in my boot camp or signed up day one for foundations when I opened my doors. And that I think is a testament to the community that has been created through this process. And 2010, we're coming up on, you know, we've been open eight and a half years, nine years will be December, and just one more year will be a decade. It's hard for me to wrap my head around that. And I'm just really fortunate that I had the vision, but also the capability at that time to see this through,

because I can't imagine my life without it. So, let's talk about being a level one trainer. Same year, I'm telling you, this was like the year of the dreams coming true. And what's funny is that during the fascination birthing of the games, and I got my level one trainer certificate at 2007, December 2007. And so that was when I kind of discovered the games too shortly after. And I was dating the same guy. And I said, man, at the seminar, I was like, man, wouldn't it be amazing to be one of these trainers?

And again, he just looked at me. He said, you'll never be a level one trainer. Now, that was when Coach Glassman still taught the seminars. Nicole was there. I think Dave was there. It was the real deal. Like all the OGs were there and I just couldn't believe it. And it was magical.

It was still one of the best weekends of my life and will always be one of the best weekends of my life. And I just thought that what they brought to the table was so incredible. The way that they taught what they taught you, but how passionate they were about it. They were using words that I didn't know. I was really just kind of writing down a whole list of words that I had to go back and look up because I had no idea what was going on, and somehow I still passed. So this was one of my dreams. And I had earlier in the year, I had gotten my level two because I had been coaching CrossFit for a couple of years now, just out of experience, just helping each other out. And then I had also gotten my level one in

2007. And so come 2009, early 2010, I had my level two, and I loved the way they did it. If you are thinking about it, go do it. It's an amazing experience, and it's real tangible coaching versus philosophy. And I came back, and I just thought, man, it would just be the most incredible thing. But I didn't have that belief. And this was early 2010. Same situation where a friend from the gym was like, Christmas, you would be a great level one trainer. And I just stopped. It was like somebody hit me with a truck and I looked at him and Ashley Denton said it to me. And I said, what? She was like, yeah, you would be really great at being a level one trainer. And I just

thought it was really sweet of her. But it got me thinking. It sparked an interest. And I was like, maybe I could do this. And so that's when I went and took my level two and I applied. I applied for an internship with truly the expectation that I was going to get a thanks but no thanks because of my experience. And come to find out, I actually did have the experience that I needed to go and that qualified me for having an internship. So I remember reading the email that was like, congratulations, you've been chosen for an internship. Pick a date and location. And I was like, what? I read it. I ran around the house. I came back and I read it again. I was like, what the fuck? I can't believe this is happening.

And it was happening because I had been doing my passion for so long and then just took opportunities when it presented themselves. And so I'm looking in there and I remember I went up to Charlottesville, Virginia. It was about a six or seven hour drive for me from Raleigh. And Chuck Carswell was my flow master. And he sat me down and he said, you're just going to observe. And I just remember reading my manual, just not panicking, but just in a frenzy to make sure that I was focused and I did everything. And I was so eager to do everything. I don't care if they

had me just wash the floors or the toilets. That's what I was there to do. And I just was just so grateful for that moment and that opportunity. And Chuck was just so amazing to me. And during your first internship, you observe, and at least during this time for me, you observe and you don't actually teach. So I would just, I sat there and I took notes and I asked questions and I helped wherever I could without asking, just took the initiative. You know, I wanted to be there and I wanted them to see that I wanted to be there. So fast forward, I got asked back through another internship. I actually got to coach this time. And instead of doubting myself, I was like, this is what you're going to do Christmas.

This is yours to take. And I didn't go in too cocky. I went in confident but humble. And I did my thing. I just let me be me. And they asked me back. And I remember when I got the email that said, congratulations, you have successfully completed the internship and you are now a level one seminar staff, head trainer. We're going to send you a red shirt. And I screamed, screamed. And I ran around the house. Nobody was home at the time. My roommate wasn't there. And I just, I lost my freaking mind. I could not believe it. Because for some reason, this was a little bit

different for me than going to the games because I'm using my body for my goals, right? And my mental tenacity, right? And then it was different. I hadn't quite opened the gym yet. So I hadn't gotten there in business success. But for me, this was such a personal, intimate achievement that nobody could ever take away from me. And nobody could say that, oh, the workout just was in her favor, or oh, she got a really great deal on a rent schedule. This was mine, and nobody could ever take it away from me. And out of the three of these accomplishments during this year, this was by far the most rewarding. And it still is. I miss it tremendously. And I often think about going back. So, hey guys, I might start coaching again. It was truly a result of me preparing, pushing, and just my pure tenacity of what I wanted and yielding the results of what I wanted and not believing other people's limitations of myself.

So in one year, I had all of these dreams come true that I wouldn't have without me facilitating them. They were all 100% spearheaded by me. And I'm not saying that others didn't help because I had a lot of help. Thank you, everybody, for sure. However, none of them would have gotten started or been completed without me doing the work and without me believing that I'm capable of something and my curiosity to live to my full potential being there. And ultimately, this was the year that I shed all of that belief that everybody else had for me, specifically for limitations, and really just started to believe in myself and to believe that they were lying about what I was capable of. Because they had

no idea the fire that burned in me and the things that I wanted to do and what I was willing to sacrifice to do it. Because God knows, 2010 was the year of reward, but it was also the year of sacrifice. And I've had many more since then. This was a big lesson for me. And one of my favorite quotes, even growing up before I started to really embrace my own power, was one of this quote is, she didn't know it couldn't be done, so she went ahead and did it. And this is how I live my life now. I don't care if it's not normal. I don't care if somebody's done it and failed. I don't care what has done before me because the difference is me and my effort and my passion and my tenacity. And this is what makes me excel and makes me different. It makes me ruthless with getting in and making my dreams come into reality. This isn't just true for me. these already set up expectations and allow magic to happen and to believe in themselves

and to live to their full potential. Because my life isn't about business or athletics. It's to be able to live to my full potential. And that is why I've done the wild things that I have and have been successful in people's definition of success, but have lived this unique life. It's because I want to live to my fullest potential. And that is up to me. And it's really liberating to know that you can do that and it's all in your own hands. So I want to leave you

with my quote that I started this with. And hopefully you guys have found some inspiration to live to your full potential, but be relentless with your dreams, even if you are the only one that believes in them.