Habits and Hustle - Episode 311: Lindsey Vonn: Lessons Learned From Olympic Champion + Ski Legend
Episode Date: January 16, 2024For ski bums, it's powder dreams and adrenaline. For champions like Lindsey Vonn, it's a crucible of resilience, dedication, and grit. Learn her secrets to excel beyond the slopes. In this episode, I...’m joined by Lindsey Vonn, Olympic champion, NYT best selling author, entrepreneur, and investor who shares the significance of resilience and mental toughness in her skiing career and life, the role of planning and hard work in achieving success, and her transition from athletics to entrepreneurship and mentorship. We also dive into her experiences of overcoming injuries and setbacks, the intense training and sacrifices required to reach the Olympics, and her current endeavors in investing, advising a sports fund, and empowering the next generation of girls through her foundation. Lindsey Vonn is an American former World Cup alpine ski racer on the US Ski Team. She won four World Cup overall championships—third amongst female skiers to Annemarie Moser-Pröll and Mikaela Shiffrin—with three consecutive titles in 2008, 2009, and 2010, plus another in 2012. What we discuss: (0:05:48) The nature of talent and work ethic, including Lindsey’s family influence and athletic background (0:12:22) - The demanding training regimen and the mental resilience required to excel in competitive skiing from an early age (0:26:03) - Lindsey discusses her retirement decision due to injuries, the mental challenges athletes face, and finding new ways to maintain mental health post-competition (0:29:59) - The detailed daily training schedule of a top athlete, balancing endurance, strength, and recovery (0:39:31) - Lindsey shares her experiences with entrepreneurship, investing in sports teams, and the impact of social media on mental health (0:47:24) The benefits and limitations of red light therapy and other treatments for managing injuries and pain (0:53:45) Lindsey’s personal routines and lifestyle choices for maintaining health (1:02:09) The importance of resilience and empowerment for young girls and the work of Lindsey's foundation in supporting underserved communities. Thank you to our sponsors: OneSkin: Head over to oneskin.co and use code HUSTLE15 for 15% off. Find more from Jen: Website: https://www.jennifercohen.com/ Instagram: @therealjencohen Books: https://www.jennifercohen.com/books Speaking: https://www.jennifercohen.com/speaking-engagement Learn more from Lindsey Von: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lindseyvonn/ Books: https://lindseyvonn.komi.io/#548ccac3-a5f7-402b-8807-8cd3c33e8072
Transcript
Discussion (0)
Hi guys, it's Tony Robbins. You're listening to Habits and Hustle. Crush it!
Alright guys, so today we have Lindsay Vaughn on the podcast. And by the way, I was yapping
before, but I didn't even say how excited I am to have you here. Because, no, because
talk about like we do all sorts of people on the, like the best in the world, like in
the world come on this podcast, but you are legit like the best in the world at like downhill skiing. And I got to tell
you, I don't know any other person that does what you do, like in the sport, like you've
actually made it, I think, popular and famous. Like I, I don't know, am I the only one? Because
I don't know, like I really feel like, I know you, like you're such an icon in your sport, like an adrenaline junkie.
Have you always had that type of, like that adrenaline junkiness in it?
Tell me like how you started, how you became you really.
I mean, I started skiing because I loved skiing, you know.
I didn't get into racing because I was an adrenaline junkie.
I just, I think I always pushed the limits.
Like I was always climbing trees when I was a kid.
Like, you know, I was always forcing around and doing things that I was told not to do.
And, you know, I think as I progressed in my skiing career, you know, I, I,
there's different disciplines in skiing.
And as I grew older and started doing downhill, which was obviously the fastest in the sport,
I loved it.
Like the faster I went, the happier I was. And since then, you know, I'm especially now in retirement,
like I just do whatever adrenaline thing I can find, you know, whether it's wake surfing
or e foiling or like whatever, you know, jet skiing, I'm just like always trying to find
something that, you know, gives me that adrenaline.
But like nothing would ever come out.
You go down, what, 84 miles?
I heard your highest was 84 miles and out.
That's crazy.
It's fun.
I'd say it's really fun.
It's really, really fun.
How do you even work up to that?
I don't even know what can even compare.
If you are an adrenaline junkie, going jet skiing is not even close to that.
Like I can go jet skiing, I can't go downhill skiing.
I mean, it's kind of like driving a car, right?
If you're always on the highway,
you're used to driving fast, right?
And you see things coming and you can kind of anticipate
what their drivers are doing.
It's very similar to skiing.
If you're used to going fast, that's your natural speed.
And that's why training is important for downhill
because you need to go fast.
But that's just like, that's my natural habitat,
is going fast.
It really is like your natural habitat.
So, Kate, can you start by telling,
I mean, my audience, I mean, most people,
if you're not living under a rock,
but like, if they are,
how did you kind of begin this path?
Like, I think you were nine years old and you met like your role model.
And then what happened?
So I met Peekaboo Street, who she's won, she won the Olympics in 98.
And at that time, I think she'd won a silver medal from Lilahammer, the Olympics before,
but she was the only person that I really knew in skiing.
And skiing wasn't on TV.
So like we used to get the VHS tapes
of like all the winning runs, you know, of the season.
And so, you know, to actually see someone
from your sport live in person,
like this kind of mythical, you know, superhero,
it was amazing.
And seeing her made me want to be a skier.
You know, it made it cool.
It made it tangible.
Made it something for me to look up to.
And so after I met her, I came home and from the ski shop,
I was like an autograph signing.
And I said, dad, I wanna be in the Olympics.
And he, you know, straight face.
He didn't even like smirk or laugh.
He was like, okay, but you know,
it's gonna be really hard.
Are you ready? And I'm like, I'm ready, it's gonna be really hard. Are you ready?
And I'm like, I'm ready, let's do it.
So he literally sat down with me
and we made like a 10 year plan
of like how I was gonna make the Olympics.
And because the next Olympics I would be eligible for
would be Salt Lake City, 2002, I was 17 years old.
So my family moved heaven and earth
and we moved to Colorado so that I could, you know,
pursue this crazy dream and then I made it.
And then it worked out.
It worked out.
So before you were nine, were you already...
If this person was your role model, your idol, were you already skiing a lot?
Yeah.
At like three, four...
What age did you actually put the first pair of skis on?
It was like two and a half.
And then before that, I was actually in a backpack.
That's probably illegal now, but I was in a backpack while my dad was coaching.
So, because he was going to law school
and he was coaching on the side.
So I would be like in his backpack, you know,
he was skiing around.
Really?
Yeah, so I was like always on the mountain,
one way or the other.
And then I started racing when I was about seven,
started traveling to actual ski camps in the summer
when I was seven.
When I was nine, I went to summer camp by myself in Austria with my team.
Oh my gosh.
Yeah.
And that's when it kind of started to take off.
So did they know that you were kind of a prodigy already when you were six and seven, five?
Or you're just like kind of like every other kid?
No, it's like every other kid.
I loved it.
And I guess my dad tells a story that he came to one of my camps in Oregon and it was raining
and lightning and all the lifts had shut down because there was lightning.
And I was out there on the mountain hiking, hiking up the mountain, skiing down, hiking
up the mountain, skiing down, because no one was out there.
I was like, this is perfect.
I have a mountain to myself.
I can train all day long and no one's here.
And my dad says, it was that moment that I thought,
maybe you have something because I'm nine years old,
like out there.
I mean, I literally could wring like buckets of water
out of my clothes after I was done, but I was happy.
I was so happy being out there.
So that's always like the question I always wonder
and ask people, right?
Like, is it something that's innate in you already or is it something that you can work on?
Like you already had that work ethic and passion, right?
Like you did, because if you were doing that at six years old, I mean, everything else is kind of, it's easy to continue and be motivated when you have that.
What's your opinion? Do you think that someone could kind of create that type of drive or is it more innate in them?
I think it's a combination of you know, environment cultivation and
What you're innately given. You know, if you look at my family, I'm the oldest of five kids, right?
We all turned out very differently even though we had, you know, the same parents and relatively same upbringing, my sister and I who were
closest to each other were four years apart.
My dad jokes that we wake up eating raw meat, like we are hungry, we're ready to go.
We're tenacious.
And the triplets don't have the same drive.
They're very talented, they're very smart, but it's not that competitive drive.
My sister has it more in business than in like,
she's not as physical as I am.
I'm obviously more of an, I'm an athlete.
But, you know, so if you think about the environment,
we grew up the same, you know, the same opportunities.
And I'm the only one that really became a skier. Like my brother
loved it, but you know, he never really truly pursued it. So, you know, I think it was I was
innately talented. Right. I had a drive within me. I love doing it. And I was cultivated by my
parents, by my grandparents, like looking at my my grandparents and parents' role models, how hard they worked, and that there was so much available to me.
There's never a, my family doesn't quit.
We're very driven, driven people.
And I look at my grandfather and he would,
I would spend every summer with them, my grandparents.
And he was basically a construction worker
and he left the house before I woke up
and he got back right before we were going to bed
and he just smelled of grease and sweat
and he worked so hard.
My grandmother would wait up for him every night
and have a bowl of ice cream waiting for him,
which is like the cutest,
but just that type of work ethic.
You see that every day and my siblings saw it,
but it didn't really sink in the same
way that it did with me.
So I don't know, I think it's a combination of everything, but you can't push, you can
only lead someone to water, you know, you can't push someone into it.
My siblings were all very, very talented, but I'm the only one that became a skier.
So that's really, that's so interesting because I mean, by the way, side note, do you know
that you're, well, do you know, of course you know, you wrote a book called Strong is
the New Beautiful a year after I wrote a book called Strong is the New Skinny.
Oh, really?
Yes.
And they were both bestsellers.
But yeah, and that's funny.
And I never, I never got a chance to tell you that, but like, yeah, I'm about to miss
it when I saw you.
Yes.
Isn't that funny?
You'll have to like, trade books.
I know. I was gonna say like, and I keep on forgetting.
And then like, again, when I was reading your stuff, I'm like, Oh my god, I totally forgot
about that.
And so I thought that was very funny.
But and I know it's not kind of.
Yeah, it's really funny.
But what I was going to say, I digress, but I was gonna I was going to say that I'm a
big believer that talent is only a small piece.
Yeah, really is what you do with it.
There's a lot of people who are talented
that basically waste it.
There are a lot of people who are super smart,
but they're not gritty enough
and don't have the drive to go after it.
So like, it's the people that have,
you could have just a morsel of talent,
but if you have the ethic and work ethic,
you can go like to like crazy places like you did.
Like you said, your family, like your sister,
what do your brothers and sisters do now?
Are they in business then or what do they do?
My sister that's closest to me
has her own social media branding company.
Oh, okay.
My other brother is an architect.
My other brother is a paralegal
and my sister is a consultant for philanthropies.
Oh, wow. Yeah.
So then your dad, you said was also a downhill skier.
Yeah. And what happened to him? Did he never make it to as far as you obviously? Yeah,
he blew his knee out when he was 18. Yeah, he was junior national champion. He was on
an amazing trajectory and he blew his knee out. And at that time, you know, that was
that was it. He went to the best guy at the time who was doing like all the Green Bay Packer surgeries. He was, you know, from Wisconsin. And, and yeah, that's, you know, that's a career ender
at that point. So he became a lawyer, a litigator, one of the best in the country. And really? Yeah,
he's, he's, he's very driven, very driven. Definitely get that from him. Wow. So you
definitely take after your dad. Is your mom like that then? My mom's very driven.
I mean, she's incredibly smart.
She actually was the reason my dad made it
through law school.
She's incredibly smart.
She's also very talented as well physically.
She was great at squash and tennis,
and she was just an amazing athlete.
But yeah, I think I get my mom's positivity more so
than anything else.
Like, how did you like Okay, so what was the training like back then? Like, what
was your day like when you were 1011 going to before going to salt like, like,
walk me through a day in the life of a view?
Well, I mean, I didn't leave a normal life. So I know. Well, when I when I'm so
12, you know, my mom and I moved to Colorado, we had an apartment,
like we just went out for the winter so I could train train and veil. I went to an academy
kind of part time. And the rest of my siblings were at home with my dad. And it was a really
challenging time. And then eventually the next year we moved out, like all of us moved
out there together, except my dad was still working in Minnesota.
So he was commuting almost every week back and forth from Minnesota to Colorado.
I mean, I can't tell you how many, it's about 17 and a half hours from Minnesota to Colorado
driving.
We did that many, many times.
My mom like raced back one night so I could make my middle school end of year party at
the Six Flags.
Are you serious?
Yeah, she drove through the night, like straight through the night and we literally rolled up the Six Flags. Are you serious? Yeah, she drove through the night,
like straight through the night and we literally rolled up to Six Flags. Oh my God, that is so
cute though. And I got out of the car like, with all our like candy, you know, like keeping us awake
and I rolled in and that was, my mom was the best. That's so, I always hear these stories about people
like yourself who had a really supportive family that if it wasn't for the family unit being strong like that and do they sacrifice you like it
sounds like your family did for you.
Like then you then of course, thankfully it paid off for you.
So what would happen?
So you would move there?
Like what time would you have to wake up?
How many hours are you skiing?
Like what how many hours are you spending on technique?
Like what is the tactical I want to know tactile. Like what is the things that you're practically doing daily to give people that
idea like how much hard work went into it? Well when I was a teenager, I mean it was all still
very strategic from like my dad's 10-year plan. Right. It was about kind of building up to the
right races at the right time. So you know my preparation period was, you know, summer, we would go to, you
know, Mount Hood in Oregon, I would train for like six, seven weeks, I would ski, I
would, we would literally be up before six o'clock every day, be on the mountain, like
seven, seven thirty, and train until the snow is too soft to ski. Then we'd have lunch,
I'd take a nap, we'd do dry land training, so working out,
and we'd watch video. That's, I'm like, you know.
Wow.
That's already what I was at nine years old.
And that, so that's how many hours before the snow you said would go down? Like five hours? Four
hours?
Yeah, probably five hours. Yeah.
So five hours of skiing, and then how long dry land workouts? Two?
Yep, an hour, an hour to two hours it depended.
I mean, in summer camp, like when I was a kid,
we would go on hikes, you know,
and like there's this really long hike
that takes you up to a lake and, you know,
we would do games and things like that.
It wasn't, you know, incredibly difficult when I was a kid,
but you know, obviously as I progressed and got older,
the physical training got quite a bit harder
You know that the on snow stuff was pretty similar. You're always working on technique doing drills doing training
That's that's all the same but the physicality, you know off the mountain got a lot harder and one when I was 15
I had to make the US ski team and there's a physical test you have to pass
So my dad, you know, I had me doing 100 pushups and 100 sit-ups every day mandatory.
And then on the weekends, I would go on the track, the high school next to the house,
and I would run a mile.
There's like different tests.
I would do sprints, 440, you know, all those things.
No, no, say what they are.
I think this is like-
It's like four yard dash, like the 100, the 400, you know, like-
The speed stuff.
Yeah.
It's like there was a- and they don't have it anymore, but it was kind of a, in some ways rudimentary, you know,
test, it was like, how many pushups can you do in 60 seconds?
You know, like, it's kind of silly, but at that time,
you know, I didn't have any structured training.
So, you know, it was a hard thing for me to do.
And at that point, you know, I realized I needed
to shift gears and do a lot more than I was to really make it to the next level.
And then when I made the team, that's when it drastically changed because, changed because
they gave me a program that was the same as like a 27 year old.
And I was like, I don't know what I'm doing.
I'm doing like power cleans and I don't know how to do it.
You were doing power cleans at 15?
Yeah.
Get out.
Yeah. And I, I, I and I gained a lot of weight.
I didn't know.
You know, there was a lot of new things that were going on.
Totally, yeah.
And they also made me live in Park City, Utah,
because it was right before the 2002 Olympics.
And they kind of had everyone mandatory living out there.
So there was a lot going on and a lot of sacrifice
and a lot of me being away.
And also, without your parents,
so if you think about it,
I've been traveling away from my parents
since I was nine years old
with a lot of unsupervised time.
So I kind of had to figure my way out through life
on my own to a large degree.
Yeah, you were independent by yourself. So then you had to like, legit, like give
up everything in your life, like social life.
I had no friends. I never went to any proms or dances or like I never I maybe had like
three sleepovers my whole life. Like I never as a kid, like I didn't have those same experiences.
But I also was traveling the world at nine years old. I had my little wallet of all the different currencies
and I was so proud of myself.
The Italian lira and the German mark,
and Austrian Schilling.
And I was very independent and I was proud of that
even though I missed a lot.
I still learned a lot.
I wouldn't trade it.
I think I get sad more so sometimes that
I missed on the educational part of school. Not so much as socializing because you know,
you can do that anytime.
You really can't. I think life is about choices though, right? Like you make choices and you
and sacrifice for it. Even like, you know, that's like, you know, that's a microcosm
of everything in life, right? Like if you want to have this, you have to sacrifice that.
Like nothing in life is just like free for all.
Especially at this level of what you were talking about.
What was the one quality that you think is why you were able to make it to the level
that you did, besides the work ethic and the drive and the grit?
I mean, it was a lot to do with grit.
I think I also, my dad would say I was mentally tough.
You know, and he would say,
he said that to me so many times as a kid,
like you have to be mentally tough.
And you know, as a kid,
you don't really know exactly what he's talking about.
I'm like, yeah, okay, I'll do the pushups,
you know, I'll do the running, you know,
and that's tough, you know,
but you don't really know what that is
until later in life when things really get tough. And then, you know, but you don't really know what that is until later in life when things really get tough and then, you know, you that's a quick way to separate yourself or not. Right,
or not, you know, so it's sink or swim. And so, you know, I had to figure my way through it. And,
and I think that mental component, like being being mentally very strong was something that
separated me from the pack. And also like that all the injuries that you endured and still had the resilience to come back and go.
That's what I think makes you say, like forget about distance skiing in general.
Like I don't know anybody. Like that's how I know you.
Like no of you seriously, like I don't know about skiing people like as much as I would other sports.
Yeah.
But like the fact like how do you even like train for that type of your of that stuff?
Like, how do you teach people how to have that ability to fall and then have the confidence
to get right back up again and try again and not let that deter you from from keep on trying and
trying? I mean, listen, life is about falling and getting back up. That's what life is.
And I think that's what sports teaches kids very well.
It teaches them how to fail.
It's not about the winning or being the best at something.
It's about, I failed at something, but that's okay.
We're just going to pick ourselves back up and keep going, keep trying.
And I felt a million times in skiing, you know, some of them were
very bad, some of them were not that bad. But you know, it's about that
process of, you know, don't let it hold you back, you know, otherwise you're never
gonna do anything in life. You know, if you're always afraid of falling, then
you're not actually living, you're not skiing, you're just living in
the past. So I'm very quick to forget about
mistakes. I learn from them and I move on.
Like was there ever a time when, like in all of that time that you fell and you were injured
that you had any self-doubt or that you were like, you know what, like I can't do this
again. It's too much. It's too hard. This injuries. Like you had those knee, like
you have some crazy shit happen to you.
Some gnarly stuff, yeah.
And like it didn't, but you're still up there doing it and then you win again. I mean, like
it's like, it's legit crazy.
I never thought that I couldn't do it. I was worried that my injuries, when I blew out
my knee for the second time, I was worried that my
meniscus was too damaged and I wouldn't be able to ski the way I wanted to again.
I never thought, I'm not capable of coming back.
And once I'm on the snow, that's my happy place.
And that's why I work hard.
I'm passionate about what I do.
I love what I did. I work hard. I'm passionate about what I do. I love what I did.
I loved racing.
There was no part about it that I didn't love,
even the hard work.
It was not just about the winning, but the journey.
And it shaped me into who I am.
And it's why I fought so hard to keep what I love.
I would do anything, work as hard as humanly possible
to come back from injuries
because I was being taken away from something I love doing. And like you just said, you just like
said something that was I think very true and I can very it's it's for anybody like that's who
you are right? Like how do you even separate like your Lindsay like regular Lindsay this normal
person from like this like crazy legendary skier like that is your identity,
right? So if you're not doing it, and now you're not even doing it because you retire,
like I can't imagine on a like, like just on like a mental like level, how are you like,
how do you cope with that? Or how do you kind of transition from that to now?
It's been really hard. Yeah, it's been really hard. I mean, you know, I always knew that
my career would end at some point, you know, I always knew that my career
would end at some point, you know,
every athlete, their career comes to an end,
but you know, to not have something
that you love doing so much,
not having that there anymore is really hard.
And I had to figure out what is my identity
outside of doing what I love.
You know, for me, I had the analogy of skiing was my son and everything else revolved around it.
What time I woke up, what I ate, how many business deals I did or interviews I did or
how many hours I spent in the gym, that all revolved around skiing.
So every decision was actually really easy to make because skiing was always my number one priority.
And so when that, when I literally went to bed
and woke up and the next day it was gone.
And I'm like, whoa, okay, well I have all these things.
I have all these amazing opportunities.
How do I, what do I do?
How do I organize it?
How do, you know, what's the priority?
What's my passion?
Who am I?
You know, it was a lot to take in. It took me like a year and a half to really get like my feet
underneath me.
Really? That's it? I thought it'd take way longer than that. Like that's...
Well, that was a long time for me. I move at a fast pace.
Exactly. I was gonna say, like, I forgot who I was talking to. Right? Like it's like dog
years. Like a year and a half for you is like 12 and a half for most people. Literally.
I mean literally, yeah. So like, what did you, what did you figure out? Like who are you? Like what is your identity without having that?
Well, you know, a lot of people said I need to slow down. You know, it's, it's not good to lead such a fast paced life.
And I realized, why is it bad?
Yeah.
Why can't I work really hard and go after things that I want to achieve?
And so I've really leaned into that. I felt like I was being pushed to stop doing things
that I loved. And now I realize that, again, that's who I am. That's my personality.
And I also, through therapy, I'm like, what is it about skiing? What is the feeling that I get from skiing
that makes me so happy?
And I came to realize that it's the feeling
that anything is possible.
So when I stand on the starting gate,
I look at it as this opportunity.
You know, I can do anything I set my mind to.
And you know, when you work hard at something,
like you can do it, and that's what I miss.
So I try to find that in things that I'm doing.
And it's not my identity, but it's what drives me.
And I'm always the same person that I always have been.
Like I'm just a girl from Minnesota who likes skiing fast.
You know, like, and skiing is not my identity,
but it's also like part of me.
And I don't, I don't think that's a bad thing.
You know, it's so interesting because like when people would talk about you to
me, like Brad or whoever, everyone said the same thing. Like, she's so nice.
She's so down to earth. She's a girl from Minnesota, like a normal person, you know,
and like, I wonder like, how do you keep your feet like on the ground?
So it's authentic and it's real. I can vouch for it, right? Because when you've,
when you've reached such highs like that,
and you've become like the best, literally in the world
at doing something, and you know,
you don't know any different, right?
Because like you said, since you were nine years old,
you were like doing all of this.
Like you've never had like a regular life
like most people in the world, right?
Like how were you able to kind of be that way?
Is it just because you had great parents?
I mean, it has to be more than that.
I think, you know, it's my family.
Like, my siblings definitely are like, I don't care how many times you've won.
Like I will always kick your ass, you know?
Like, it's that type of, you know, love that we have.
And I think, you know, I go back to Wisconsin with my family and
my cousins and, you know, my aunts and uncles, and it's just, it's all the same. Like we're
all just, you know, roasting marshmallows on the fire pit and, you know, talking about
life and it's all the same. Nothing changes. Like I'm not any more special than anyone
else just because I won a ski race. Like we're all the same.
And again, I think skiing, I ski because I'm passionate
about it, because I love it, not because I'm searching
for fame or my priorities I think have always been
in the right place.
And so I've never deviated from my morals and values
and who I am.
And I don't know, all those things I think together alleviated from like my morals and values and who I am and
You know, I I don't know all those things. I think together has have helped just just maintain who I am
Did you have to retire because of your injuries? Yeah, because I would have kept going Yeah, like that was basically like you would have kept on going for sure. Right? Oh, yeah the year I retired
I retired in February of 2019 and that was my last race at the World Championships.
I'd had three surgeries that summer,
and I crashed in November, and I tore my LCL,
and I had three fractures in my tibia.
So I was skiing on nothing,
and it took me a month of rehab just to get back
to where I could ski like
moderately okay and then I had to train just to get back like that last race and
so it was I was I felt like I was being held together by duct tape like I was
you know I was hanging on by a thread literally literally so I I knew when I
crashed that last time in November I was like was like, I can't do this anymore.
And that was in my documentary.
That was kind of that moment when I'm in the hospital crying and I realized then, this
is it.
I can't do this anymore.
So Lindsay has a great documentary, by the way, in HBO.
It's great.
And your last book was called Rise.
And the first book was called Strong as the Dew Beautiful,
which is, I think, hilarious.
I just wanted to say that I guess you can still,
technically, you can still ski leisurely, right?
Like, you're able to do all that.
But you talk a lot about your mental health
and depression and anxiety.
And I would imagine skiing was a really amazing outlet
for that, right?
And also it's a great distraction.
You have something to do.
I'm great at distracting myself.
Yeah, well, yes, I would imagine.
What do you distract yourself with now then?
Just fitness stuff?
Yeah.
Because you're a hardcore fitness person now too, right?
Mainly, I mean, I still work out as hard as I do because I need that kind
of physical outlet mm-hmm and
You know again like deep dive when I'm thinking about it when you're racing
You're also very present like there's no room for
Social media or you know what people are saying about you or what I have to do tomorrow or like what business deal
I have you are so present, there is no room for anything
else. Otherwise, you literally could die. So for me, you know, I miss that as well,
just being able to block out all the noise. And when I'm in the gym, I have that same
feeling like I am just focused on me working really hard. And it's nice to shut it's like
my meditation almost, you know, everyone likes to do that Zen stuff
and my Zen not like kicking my own ass, you know.
That's, and people, you know, again, it's like,
I don't know, some people criticize me for it,
but I really don't care.
This is what I need to do.
I mean, to me, this whole, it's such nonsense.
What, because you're, because I always say also,
my meditation is like running because it Zens me out
and I get my best ideas and I think
really well. A lot of people say that. Right? Yeah. And they're like, no, you have to sit there on a
pillow and do this whole, I'm like, everyone's different. Everyone's different. Yeah. I think
it's so ridiculous to think that every that should be working for everyone across the board. Correct.
Are you able to run with the knees that you have? Absolutely not. No, you can't run. I haven't run.
I've run once since 2013 and it was a horrible, horrible idea. Oh, I can't run. I haven't run. I've run once since 2013, and it was a horrible, horrible idea.
Oh, I can only imagine.
I made it eight minutes, and then I was dragging my leg behind me.
I can't even imagine.
So what do you do for cardio then now?
Biking, elliptical.
And how much would you do a day?
I mean, I minimum do 30 minutes biking, elliptical minimum 20.
And then I'll usually go an hour if I have the time.
But I would rather do like 30 minutes
and then do like a hot cold contrast.
Right, I was gonna ask you about that.
Than like an hour and no contrast.
I think for me and like the inflammation that I get
in my knees and my body, it's important for me to do that.
So it's a time management.
Like I do as much as I can with the time I have.
I was gonna say, so like how much time are you dedicating to? I want to know all of that
stuff. I want to know exactly what you're how your workout because this is like now
this is what I like to do. Right? So do you like how much you're working out? Like what
is your daily regimen now? And then but before you tell me your daily regimen now, I want
to work chronologically. You said what you were doing when you were 12. Okay. Then when you were like hardcore,
like in the midst of like really in it, what was the day in the life? Like how much were
you training? What were you doing? Were you working on balance? Were you working on like
hand-eye coordination? Like I love all this. Have you watched Formula One? The, you know,
these
I know those guys so well. I don't want to watch. You don't want to.
It's like going to ruin me.
Yeah.
I'm like, I'm the only person in the United States
that's like watched Formula One since forever.
But I, you know, I've watched like what's good
for people to understand the drivers
and like why it's so difficult.
Yes.
You know, the complexities with the team
and it's very, it's very interesting.
But yeah, if you're talking about like me in my prime,
I was doing three workout sessions a day.
I would work out before breakfast.
Which is what time?
I need the details.
Okay, details.
So I would work out usually eight to nine cardio,
and then I would have breakfast.
What kind of cardio at that, what would you do?
Usually biking, usually interval biking
so that I could get my metabolism going as more
of like a, like a HIIT, you know, workout.
HIIT training for an hour?
Yeah.
Okay.
But not, you know, I was, all of my cardio workouts were very controlled by heart rates.
So you know, I did like steady state.
So you know, you're going five minute intervals at 150 to 155 beats per minute, or, you know,
I was doing threshold workouts where it's
a shorter time, like two to three minutes at 170 to 180.
It was very specific and very specific reasons.
In ski racing, you're only actually skiing for about two minutes, but you have to also
sustain that type of endurance for the whole winter.
So we obviously, you train for three to four minutes
at that same pace so you can maintain
that endurance throughout the season.
So yeah, cardio in the morning for an hour usually,
breakfast, you know.
What would you eat for breakfast?
Usually eggs, some sort of vegetables,
omelet, whatever, and fat,
like an almond butter and a banana as well
Something like that. Now I do a lot of protein shakes after I work out
I still love working out in the morning, but protein shake right after. Then I would take a little break
I would do weightlifting usually two hours of weightlifting at least or
else athletic training so I'd be on the track doing
agilities sprints, hill
sprints, sled pushes, like kind of all that. Like functional stuff. Yeah, all that
functional fitness. So again, it would rotate between strength and functional
fitness. And then I would have another snack break, a nap, and then I would do
another afternoon cardio session. And then after dinner, either I have a protein shake
and massage, or I would have dinner and then a massage.
And what would you have for dinner?
Protein.
I tried not to have carbs at night,
so I would always have carbs in the afternoon.
In the morning, sometimes I had oatmeal as well.
Wow, OK, so how about fruit?
Were you a fruit person though?
Not really.
That was never your thing?
No, no, I like the bananas and almond butter thing.
But it's not really my thing.
So then how would you like-
Fruits and vegetables.
I know, well, now do you eat the-
But look, I mean, listen, you're still like in amazing shape.
I mean, it's like, you're probably not doing the three-
I'm definitely not as regimented.
I mean, why would you be, right? But wait a second, so I'm definitely not as regimented. I mean, why would you be right?
But, but wait a second.
So I'm like so fascinated with this.
So then you do these three, like three workouts a day, then you're eating very
precisely so that even then, like you can't go out for dinners, you can't do
anything because it has to be in the prime.
So like, yeah, but okay, seven days, there's seven days a week, obviously.
So I would do those three sessions probably Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, half day, Thursday,
Friday, Saturday, half day, Sunday off.
Did you ever get tired?
Like, was your body tired?
No, I had built up, like you work out your whole life and you build into that.
Like you don't just wake up one day and say, I'm going to do three sessions today.
No, of course not. But like you get that there's a physical, you know,
in endurance level, you're able to sustain
that type of, you know, working out.
I think there was a point in which
I was working out too much.
Yeah.
But I was just winning all the time.
So I was like, why am I changing my routine
if it's working? Right.
But then, you know, obviously I got injured then
and I had to change everything I did.
So when you get injured, are you not able, when you broke your ankle, like, you know, obviously I got injured then and I had to change everything I did. So when you get injured, are you not able, like when you broke your ankle, like, I mean,
that's a massive injury.
Like, how long does that take you out for like months, right?
Like,
It's like six weeks.
That's it?
I mean, I'm in a ski boot, so it's kind of like a cast.
It's kind of.
Yeah, you're right.
So you can get away with it a little bit more.
I like the push limits.
It's always negotiations.
This is amazing.
This is like the part that I find fascinating.
I go into a doctor's office and like,
okay, you tell me eight weeks, I tell you six weeks.
We go back and forth and every doctor knows
that I'm gonna push the limits,
but I always know, I know my body well enough
and I also know medicine well enough.
I can read, if you ever get hurt, I'll read your MRI.
Really?
I know what I'm talking about.
I don't just blindly say, I don't care what you say, I'm going to come back faster.
I know exactly what I'm doing and I will read the MRIs and I'll know.
I've made mistakes in my life and I will not make that mistake again.
Because you know what's interesting?
God, you're very lucky because you did, as much as you've gotten hurt, nothing that was catastrophic, like going
that fast.
Yeah, I mean, people have been paralyzed.
I've lost their legs.
I've seen it many times.
And like nothing like nothing like that, thankfully, has ever happened to you.
That's my perspective.
It could always be worse.
That's a great that's a great mindset.
No matter how bad of a day you're having, it can always be worse. That's a great mindset. No matter how bad of a day you're having, it can always be worse.
That's a great mindset to have.
Like that, and you really think this way all the time?
Yeah, I mean, I got that perspective from my mother.
She had a stroke when she gave birth to me and she was disabled with her ankle,
so she couldn't, her balance was really bad, so she couldn't run.
She never skied with me.
Like she really struggled physically and, you know, she never skied with me, like she really struggled physically. And, you know, she was
brilliant, she's a lawyer, but, you know, because she couldn't do those physical things with us,
you know, that didn't stop her from trying. And it also didn't stop her from being positive. She
was always positive. And so, you know, when I get injured, I'm like, well, if I have surgery,
if I work hard, I can come back. My mom doesn't have that luxury.
So I owe my mother and myself to push myself to get back.
See, I love that.
I love your attitude and your mindset.
And it's also like it's because it's real, right?
Like this is like, no, you're like a living proof of it.
Like you actually live it.
You're not just saying these words.
Like a lot of people, like motivational people,
like, oh yeah, just a lot.
They've never done a damn thing in their life, right?
But you actually have.
I mean, where did the depression and anxiety
kind of start coming in?
At what age and like, and it doesn't sound to me,
I mean, I don't know you that well,
but it sounds like you're ready to train your brain
to be very positive and to look at the glass, you know, half full.
Yeah.
So like what was kind of happening that that was?
It was when I was a teenager, you know, I was living in Park City by myself when I was
16 years old.
And you know, it was really hard.
I had no support really.
And I was really depressed and I was just pretty lost. And you know, my
depression like ebbed and flowed in my career. There are times when no matter
how successful I was, I felt extremely alone. And you know, also after so many
injuries, you know, sitting at home in your bed by yourself in pain, it's
not a great place to be. So I think I've, again, learned different coping mechanisms.
And when I skied, skiing was an outlet for me.
Like I find so much joy in skiing also,
because eventually when I was older, I used it as a crutch.
That was like my, that was me dealing with everything
that I had going on.
Like any personal, the reason why I always still was successful despite all the shit
that was happening around me is because I internalized it.
I used it as fuel.
And then when I skied, I let it all out.
Right.
So that was my therapy.
Totally.
And then what is, and now is the therapy, then do you feel like the anxiety has subsided
because it sounds more circumstantial based
on where you were in your life?
I think it was pretty circumstantial.
But again, like it ebbs and flows.
And I think it's always for me, I try to just have a balance.
Yeah, you know, I've been I've journaled since I was nine.
And it's just a wave.
I didn't have anyone really, you know, especially when I was on the road.
So, yeah, it's like that was how I balanced everything,
and I still do it.
And so I think it's everyone finds their, you know,
their way of managing themselves.
And so I've had different escapes in my life,
but now I feel like I'm in a good place
where I really, I'm very, I'm pretty balanced,
you know, even though, like if I, if my mother had died and I'm in a good place where I really, I'm pretty balanced, you know,
even though, like if my mother had died
and I wasn't in the place that I was,
I don't know if I'd be functioning.
You know, so I'm happy with, you know,
what I've learned in my life to get me to this place
where I'm okay.
And what is, like, where are you now?
Like, I mean, I don't mean physically, I mean, you know, you you know, you wrote you write the books. You started a production company your
Invest in businesses. You're very entrepreneurial with the goggles and what else do you have the goggles? I have my ski line
Yeah, I I'm now an advisor to a
Sports fund actually
with Avenue Capital.
So there's like a lot of things that investment side.
That's amazing.
Yeah, I'm really excited about it.
Like Michael Strahan and Candice Parker and stuff.
That's great, that's great.
Yeah, really excited.
Are you gonna be doing like the sports vertical,
I guess of just-
We're solely sports.
So Avenue is like, you know, such a successful group
and we're just specifically on the sports fund.
Wow, so does that mean all investments that you do will go throughout Avenue or?
Well, at least for the sports side. Yeah, for the sports side.
I still will have my individual, you know, investments,
like I invested in LAFC and Real Salt Lake.
I saw that. That's so cool. I love that.
I love investing in women.
I love that. You're also a great, I mean,
like legitimately a great role model for women, right? Cause like I said, like there's so especially like here and with social media
and there's so many people who are posers or like they say these they they talk a lot.
They give a lot of advice, but they've never lived it, worked it, done it.
I think it's hard for kids is also decipher, you know, what the aliens and there's so much
disinformation and Instagram is not reality.
And most people, even like the last couple days, I mean like, oh, you're everywhere.
You're doing everything.
You're so, you live such a great life.
I'm like, I'm fucking tired.
Exactly.
I'm so tired.
I've been traveling nonstop and I love it, but it's also not glamorous. You know, it's, I'm trying to get from point A to point B
as fast as I can to get to something else.
And I love that, I love that hustle,
but it is not glamorous and Instagram is not real.
And so I don't envy kids these days
because it is a very hard world.
It's terrible.
And especially even just talk about mental health, right?
Like the mental health has gone
like...
It's hard for me as an adult to like mentally be okay reading the comments that come on my feet and especially
terrible for kids that's come those bullies are coming from their inner circle. I at least can pretend that's some, you know,
somebody living in their mother's basement, you know,
100%
You know, that's easy for me to pretend,
but for kids, like, no, these are,
that's actually my classmate that I thought
I was friends with that's bullying me.
100%, it's really, really awful, and it's horrible.
I, do you spend, do you spend a lot of time
on social media though, or not really?
I try not to.
I mean, I can't say that I'm immune to it.
I definitely have a lot thicker skin that I used to.
I have to, but you know but I try to use my platform in a positive way.
I try to show people how hard I'm working
and what you can do.
And with my injuries, I get so many messages from,
especially from teenagers who are in high school
or college sports and they've blown their knee out
and they're asking me for advice or help,
and even professional athletes that are asking me for help.
And that's what I love.
I think social media can connect you in amazing ways.
It's not all about people hating you,
but sometimes those are the only comments that you see.
And it's hard to shut that out of your mind as well.
I agree.
It's always that way.
You could have a million positive. You just see the one. You just see that one negative, and that can just shut that out of your mind as well. I agree. It's always that way. You could have a million positive.
You just see the one.
You just see that one negative and that can just spiral you out of control.
I try to, I have like a filter on like things that if people say, I don't see it.
How do you filter out just negative comments?
It's just keywords. You have like a keyword filter.
Really?
Yeah.
I didn't know you're able to do that.
Oh my gosh. Get? Yeah. I didn't know you're able to do that. Oh my god. Get into that. Yeah. I know. I had no idea. I should really kind of... Can you tell me afterwards how to do that?
Show me. I had no idea. Yeah. That would be so helpful. So people swear, they say like,
I hope you die. Like that's... But also some of this is just nonsense. Like these are people,
most of the time. There's some pretty fucked, there's pretty messed up people out there.
It's actually dangerous more than anything.
I find you have to be super, super careful because now people are so much more, you're
easier, it's easier to get.
That's why I have a tenet defense dog.
You what?
I have a defense dog.
You do?
Yeah.
I feel safer.
Because with social media and everyone knows where you are Yeah, I just, I feel safer. Cause like with social media and like everyone knows
where you are and like, it's just, I feel safer.
That's amazing.
Yeah.
I love that.
Yeah.
I didn't know this.
So wait, so she's not here.
I don't feel threatened.
You don't feel?
I'm glad.
I don't, I don't, I don't think that,
I think that you could probably.
She would probably cuddle with you.
Okay, I was gonna say, but I feel like faith
that you could probably like, like demolish me or something. So it's like, I, but okay, but what's okay. What's your routine now that you could probably cuddle with you. Okay, I feel like faith that you could probably like, like demolish me yourself.
It's like, I mean, but okay, but what's okay, what's your routine now that you said, like,
you, you don't, you're not as obviously as vigorous as you were, but you work out every
morning for how much every morning, but I mean, it's like, depends on travel.
Like, for example, this morning, how long are you away now this time? This, in this location, I'm here for two and a half days.
Like another location for two days,
another location for two days, and then I'm home.
God, Christmas, I'm so excited.
Oh my gosh, that's crazy.
So excited, yeah.
But it's good, I mean, like I'm gonna see my dad
on the weekend, so that'll be nice,
or on Monday, forget what day of the week it is.
Get to see some kids, I'm gonna stop by the ski school
and say hi to some kids, it'll be good.
But like for example, this morning, so I woke up at 7.30,
I was on the bike by eight, I did 40 minutes of cardio,
I did 10 minutes of sauna, I jumped in the pool,
which is not heated, it's really, really cold.
Like a cold plunge then basically.
Basically. Yeah.
And then I took a shower and was on a board call at nine o'clock.
I had hair and makeup come at 10, 15.
I was on the board call while I was finishing hair and makeup.
I left at 11 o'clock, went to my first TV show,
and then I had another podcast and then I had you.
What podcast did you do before me?
Dwyane Wade.
Oh, okay.
Not like it makes a difference.
I just wanted to ask.
I was like, oh, okay.
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["The Red Light"]
Do you do the red light? Do you believe in the red light for like a-
What red light?
Like infrared?
Like infrared, no, just like red light therapy.
Like would you ever, you know, I have a bad, whatever.
Like ultraviolet?
No, just like a red light.
Like infrared, I guess you would call it
Well, I have like an infrared light set like sauna that those, you know, yeah, that's infrared
Yeah, but I'm talking about a red light for your face. Like you ever do any red light for injuries for inflammation
Listen, I think there are some strong enough lasers or red lights
However, you want to call them that can stimulate healing. Yeah. Is it going to fix you? Absolutely not.
No, they're not going to fix you.
No, is it going to make it feel slightly better?
Maybe.
Is it worth it?
Probably not.
Probably not, right?
Like if, normally if you have a problem,
like if you have pain somewhere,
it's usually coming from somewhere else.
So, and normally I would say most people
can't figure out what, where that is,
where it's coming from.
So you need to go to...
That's a hard thing.
I can't even recommend somebody or something because most people won't be able to figure
it out.
But chiropractors are pretty good at figuring it out.
Like when my rib goes out, it's because my right hip is too tight.
It's pulling me forward.
Yes.
So, you know...
But that to me is...
I agree with you. But you have to
go to someone who's really good. I know. And knowledgeable. That's a really hard part.
So sometimes I just say, you know, manage it the best you can because your body will
adapt unless you can really dig in and do the therapy to get it back. You're better
off just kind of adapting to the way it is, unless it's pain, it's super painful.
But like when my ribs go out, it's really painful.
So I have to figure it out.
That's really painful.
Did you ever get sciatica?
No.
You ever get that?
Do you prefer sauna or the cold plunge?
What do you think is a better,
I guess like a more, like a better modality
if you had to pick one or the other?
Well, so you're not supposed to do cold plunges
after you weight lift.
Right, right, because it doesn't, it doesn't.
It stops, so when you, you're actually tearing your muscle.
Yeah, I thought it also.
So it stops your bleeding.
So it restricts your, your veins.
So like you're not, you're not able to recover.
You're not able to repair.
So it's like you're not building anymore.
It stops.
Okay, wait, wait, wait.
Say that again, because that's interesting, because I want to make that into a clip for people.
I'm not a doctor, so... No, you're playing no more than most doctors, by the way.
But say that again. So, if you... This is what my trainer told me, and I believe
everything he says. But if you go into a cold plunge after you weight lift,
when you weight lift, your muscles are being torn apart, you're actually tearing your
muscle, and then it rebuilds on top of itself to make it even
stronger. So if you jump into a cold plunge right after you're
stopping not only the like the tearing, it's bleeding, your
muscles bleeding, it's not going to be able to repair itself.
Like it's not going to be better than what it was, right, right,
right, okay, it's going to stop the healing. So normally, you
should get in a cold plunge, you know, like after a cardio. Cardio's fine. You're not building
anything besides cardiovascular strength. Totally fine to jump in the cold plunge. The sauna is good,
but sometimes like for me, if I jump into the sauna without the cold plunge, I'll get too inflamed.
Really? Yeah. If you jump into the sauna without the cold plunge, I'll get too inflamed. Really? Yeah.
If you jump into the sauna without the cold plunge?
Yeah.
So I'm a little bit odd in that with all my surgeries, when I go into a hot tub, when
I go into a sauna, my circulation gets going and then my knee starts to blow up.
Wow.
So I have to be really conscious of how long I'm in there and make sure I get into the cold plunge after
And like I my body is a constant like it's a job
I have to work really hard just to maintain it and part of the reason not only for my mental sanding
Do I go into the gym?
But I also have to to not hurt if I stop working out. I will literally fall apart
I mean, I totally understand what you're saying.
I feel you on that.
But at the same time, you have to be so careful with all that.
You got to work around so many of these injuries.
I know how to do that.
So you can be super conscious.
Yeah, so like, so I know what I have to do, what's, you know,
if something's hurting, you know, where it's coming from,
you know, when I am not able to work out enough,
my back starts to hurt
because I'm not doing the posterior chain work.
It's all correlated and every cause has an effect.
And when you understand your body better
and through working out, through therapy,
you can self-heal yourself in a lot of ways.
You can figure out how to make things better on your own without therapy.
And I have to do that because I,
I don't have access all the time to therapists anymore. Right.
But it's something that you learn. You know, it's not, I didn't just wake up and,
you know, I'm a professional athlete, so I must know, you know,
what I'm dealing with. A lot of professionalities don't know, right.
They couldn't tell you why something hurts or I have back pain and they have no idea
that it's coming from their hip flexors.
There's a lot of athletes that don't know.
So it's something that you can learn.
It's not just professional athletes.
Everyone can learn more about their body
and being more in tune with it
and feel better because you understand it better.
Is there anything that you can tell us, me,
that you found that works really
well that maybe is not so mainstream like a sauna or a cold plunge that it's a different
modality that yeah like another type of.
Honestly like because when you sit all like I sit a lot I'm in planes a lot you know most
people sit a lot in the office. Any type of like chest stretching, like open your thoracic,
is that changed my life.
Because I'm always, and I'm hunched,
I'm, you know, my hip flexors.
So if I can do like, you know, lunge stretching
with like my arms, like getting like my, my,
I don't know, my lats, my lats, my chest,
like my stretching my chest helps me so much.
Really?
Which is, I honestly never would have thought of that,
but I have this amazing therapist, Lorenzo,
and he's like a chiropractor, he's a fricking magician.
But anyways, most of my problems come
because my chest and hip flexors are too tight.
So like stretching, it's not like muscular stretching.
It's like your mobility mobility.
Yeah, mobility stretching.
Do you believe in supplements?
I do take anything like collagen or, you know, omega threes or I feel like I'm so broken
that like that's just not gonna help me.
Like, I'm just like that like that shit's not gonna help me. Duct tape kind of. You did the duct tape.
I'm just like duct tape my knee together.
I mean I do still take like collagen and protein powder and I do B12 and like vitamin D3 just
because in the winter I don't see the sun enough.
But nothing like nothing more than that.
I could get more into it but I honestly and a lot of people, a lot of studies, a lot of
doctors tell me that it does help but I honestly just don lot of people a lot of studies a lot of doctors tell me that it does help
but I honestly just don't think it does. Yeah. You know it's so interesting I find because I find
that the biohacking group of people I speak to so many of these people and they'll tell you 97
things that they do in their morning routine where it's such a long list where it's practically
dinner time by the time they finish their morning routine.
Most people don't have that kind of time.
I mean, that's what I'm saying. It's so unrealistic.
Yeah.
But the people who are actually like you, let's say, it's like they don't buy into this.
They don't believe in that. Like a lot of it's like a moneymaker really.
You know what I mean? Like it's the basics that really work.
Well, everyone wants to be young.
Everyone wants to be young. Exactly.
There's a lot of money to be made.
You know, people want to profit and use you for that.
And honestly, it's like, you got to live your life.
There's a balance.
Take care of yourself, yes.
Eat right and do the things you can do, but also have some ice cream.
Do you eat ice cream?
Yeah.
You do?
Yeah.
How often are you eating ice cream? Like my friends for my birthday, they instacarted me like eight cans, containers of Ben and Jerry's.
Did you eat them all?
Not all of them.
But like, I would sit down, you know, and I'm like, I have a really bad day and I'll
watch Law and Order and I'll just like go to town.
Yeah.
So then like my, like my family always did together.
It was like my, both my parents were lawyers
and the only thing we ever did was law and order,
Saturday Night Live.
And for some reason, it makes me feel better.
Like, Olivia Benson, Marishka, now that we're friends,
it literally makes me extremely happy
that she makes me feel better.
That is amazing.
My family would watch, me and my sister,
my mom, my dad never watched them, Golden Girls.
And it's because of that, it's so nostalgic.
If I see it on TV, that I still,
it makes me feel so much better.
Yes, exactly.
So you're not someone who's like,
I'm a vegan, I won't eat this.
I'm like intermittent faster.
It's like balance.
Are you an intermittent faster?
No.
OK, good.
No.
The only thing I.
On this podcast isn't.
The only thing I do, I would highly recommend, like I did the
the glucose testing.
I did a couple months of that just to like see, you know, what my what my body was reacting to.
One thing that I recommend not doing is eating any food on a plane ever.
Because of the high sodium.
Or is it?
I don't know what they're putting in it, but it is.
It did not sit well with me.
My that is like I could eat three gallons of ice cream and it wouldn't spike my
insulin as much as like anything I ate on an airplane.
Really? Like any?
Anything. So I don't know what they're putting in it.
I don't know any airline that I'm not naming any like it was anything that I touched.
And I don't know,
some people say it's because it's high altitude, which I think is totally BS. I think it's
mainly just there's preservatives and sugars and because they want it to taste good, all
these extra things and my insulin just spiked so high. So I do not eat on planes. I always
pack my own food that I carry with me, even if it's a short flight, I'll just have some almonds,
but I never eat on planes.
That's a great tip, actually.
That's a really great tip.
Lots of water.
Yeah, and also, cause you can feel it, right?
Like you feel when you eat that food.
Oh, I feel so bad.
Like if something happens and I don't have my food
and I'm starving and I have to eat something,
I feel horrible.
Yeah, no, I totally agree.
And it's like, you feel horrible for like days after too.
Yeah. It's not just like for for like days after too. Yeah.
It's not just like for like an hour.
And my knee, like my knee swells, you know.
My knee is like, it's kind of like a little like health meter.
I was gonna say, it must be, right?
Like that's crazy.
Are you-
Travel too much, like any of the things.
Drink too much wine.
It's just, it's like.
Do you drink alcohol often? Not often?
Only tequila.
Oh yeah. Okay. Right. Only tequila. That's right. What's it called?
Lobos. Yeah. And I'm an investor.
You are. Okay. Is it a premium tequila?
It's premium. Yeah. Yeah. There's, I mean, they have, you know,
mezcal and a Nejo extra Nejo, Hoven, rapasado.
See after if I, I'm not a drinker, but if I do drink, that's the only thing I'll do.
It doesn't make me swell.
I checked my insulin.
Like it's the only thing that doesn't spike me.
I used to be a really heavy gin and tonic or gin and ginger ale.
And gin, I love gin, but it's a pretty big depressant.
More than like vodka?
Yeah.
Really?
Vodka is just alcohol and water.
And so what is gin?
Like what's, isn't that the same? I mean, I don't know. There's,
it's a longer fermentation and there's also more sugar in it. So that,
that's why it becomes more of a depressant. I think so. I'm pretty sure.
Really? To my knowledge. I didn't know that. How about whiskey?
I know nothing about that. Don't quote me on this podcast, but I might have to.
I don't know about whiskey, but I, I'm 99% sure that's accurate.
Really? Okay.
So you eat every meal. So you eat your breakfast, your lunch, your dinner.
You eat meat. You eat chicken. You eat everything.
I eat meat. I eat vegan. Like I have beyond meat. I have just eggs.
I have a balance. Like I'm not...
You're not crazy about the food.
No.
Were you ever when you were in your prime, prime training?
Like did you ever get body issues or body image issues?
Yeah, for sure.
Because I would feel like...
When I won the Olympics, I started
to be on red carpets for things.
And I look around me, and I'm like,
I don't look like anyone else here.
And I would go do fittings, and they're like,
yeah, this sample size doesn't fit you.
And I'm like, OK, well, what do I do?
Can I wear something? It know, it was definitely apparent that
I wasn't the norm. And I definitely had some body images, body image issues after that.
But those were like two year stint and I just was like, F it, I'm good.
How did you get over it though? That's like one thing that I would think.
I lost the World Cup title by three points and I got over it real quick.
Really? Yeah. So do you think that was a, do you think that affected your
really? I didn't eat as much as I should have
and I just, I was more conscious of the way I looked instead of just working as
hard as I could and I definitely think it had an effect
especially on the beginning half of my season and I lost by three points and
and it was a tough pill to swallow,
but I got over it pretty quick.
And then ever since then, you're like, I'm not doing that anymore.
I'm not, you know, my body has a purpose and I want to win.
And, you know, if I don't look the same, that's fine.
You know, it's so interesting to hear you say that because I remember,
like the things that, you know, you kind of hear in the back is like you were
known to be like the hottest like girl athlete. You don't you're looking at me like I'm crazy.
You were like don't you you must know you must have heard this you're like sports illustrated
swimsuit you did a math illustrated yeah but like a MAPSUM stuff. I'm also like I don't know I'm not
I don't have like a-
You've never heard this before? This could be the first time you're hearing this.
No, I don't view myself in that way. But I'm happy to be like, I'm happy that, you know,
a strong athlete is in like swimsuit issue because I think that's important.
100% agree with you. But I don't look at myself as like, ooh.
But you don't remember, like,
maybe it just goes in the zeitgeist, you know, you hear these things and it's because it's
you, you don't realize it's you. You know what I mean? It's like that was you. That's
you. Yeah. But that's how it's interesting when you hear girls like yourself who had
a bot like who had that body image or you had that like a little bit of that stint of
insecurity with you how you looked when you're obviously so beautiful. I mean, you
really are. And that's all in the eye of the beholder. It's not obvious. Yeah, but that
but I'm telling you like that's like that was like the you were like the hot like super
hot girl athlete. You don't remember this? No, but like, am I?
This is also the problem. And am I like, do you know me more for that or do you know me for winning?
I know I personally I remember I remember you for being like the like a badass.
Like if there's going to be a real female badass, it would be you.
Like, that's what I remember.
This girl was like fear.
Like, that's how I remember. Cause this girl was like, fear, like that's how I remember you.
I can accept that.
Fearless, resilient.
Cause I remember you just kept on coming back
for more, more, more, like you would get hurt.
Like I thought, well, this,
if talk about a role model for women
and for girls and for young girls,
this is like, there's no one better.
Because like you would show, like, you know,
it doesn't matter.
Like if you, this, if you had had if you got knocked down got injured you got
hurt you got right back up and not only did you get back up you proved that you
can still be you can still win you can still do all these things like to me
that's what makes you legendary in my mind because no it's the truth and so
like I have a little girl and funn enough, I think that you're on,
there's this app called,
actually, you have to get involved in this app.
It's called Legend.
And it's, you should be, I'm not even joking,
you're perfect.
The app is basically a confidence app for kids.
And you do five minutes of these very specific training sessions
and it helps build children's confidence at a young age
because it starts when you're young.
Yeah, of course.
And they have all the best,
like the people from Scholastic
and all these people who helped put it together.
And they start them by giving people these
like very powerful stories of people like role models, like they did a Michael Jordan
one. I really believe that you are one of them.
Well, I want to say I want to like get in touch with them. I have my foundation, like
our purpose is to help underserved girls and like empower them. Yeah.
Through scholarships and programs.
So I've been trying to find a way to build a community of girls and empower them.
And I want to get it.
I want this app.
I'm telling you, like you would be a perfect person to be partnered with them because with
your foundation especially, because you are like, like, like you are the legend
that they are talking about.
But like, I will tell you,
because like my little girl, she's eight years old
and it gives her like, she wants to be a dancer.
Like, you know, she's eight years old
and she hears these stories from women and girls
who've gone after their dreams
and like actually like accomplish them.
And it changes their, their mindset, it changes their brains
and she believes now that she can be a dancer or she perspective it's all perspective.
Yeah, I want to get you in touch with them.
Okay, I really want to do that.
No, I'm not to be on it.
But like I want to give that to my girls.
You should have me help.
So it's could just tell me I know it's probably like I'm going to wrap this right after this.
But I want to hear about your foundation because I think it's a really beautiful
thing that you're doing. Thanks well we have scholarships and empowerment
programs for underserved girls and we've given over a million dollars in
scholarships. Wow. I'm in every camp so we have these like weekend camps where we
have a curriculum our own curriculum we just developed our own curriculum and we
just basically teach them about grit and like how to be confident and build
good friendships. And we'll also talk a little bit about like financial literacy and cyber
bullying, like just giving them the tools to be able to navigate life and tell them
that they can. You wouldn't believe how many kids that I've spoken to where actually their
parents told them they'll never be good at something
and they quit.
You know, they'll quit soccer because one person told them an offhanded comment, like
they're not good at it.
Totally.
You know, and they're so sensitive and especially in this world with social media, like one
little comment and they're done.
And so I'm trying to get them the tools to be able to reframe that negativity and, you
know, allow themselves to believe in what they're doing and who they are.
So I don't know, it's more than just scholarships.
It's really about empowerment.
What would be the one tip you would tell young girls, young people who have self-doubt, that
they didn't have a dad like yours who said, you know what, let's do this.
Let's write out a 10 year plan.
When my dad wasn't always there and there are a lot of people that told me that
I couldn't do it. And the, if you don't believe in yourself, no one else will.
So you have to believe in what you're doing and it's easier said than done.
But if you truly want something,
then you have to believe in it and you have to go after it,
which means working hard. A lot of kids, especially kids expect that when they,
they say they wanna be something,
it's gonna be manifested and magically appear.
Nothing in life is easy.
We just have to work hard to get to where we wanna go.
And if we follow and we get back up, then that's it.
I love that.
Thank you.
My god, Lindsay, I'm so happy that you came
with us podcast.
No, seriously. I'm so glad that we got introduced to each other.
I really am.
Like, I love, I think you're so inspirational in a, like, really, I really do.
For old women, too.
I think it's amazing because you are, like, you're just such a great role model for someone
who says they're gonna do something, follows through, does it, shows people that they can.
I really think, like, you're just, you should be very proud of yourself.
I'm serious.
It's amazing.
I'm thankful that I had a good family teaching me.
Yeah, but you know what, like true, but you really like you really are.
It's super inspirational.
And I've never really, I wouldn't say that if I didn't believe, I'm not just saying that
because you're sitting on this podcast.
I don't think you're the kind of person that would say that.
I wouldn't, I wouldn't at all, at all. So I I'm not just saying that because you're sitting on this podcast. I don't think you're the kind of person that would say that. I wouldn't.
I wouldn't at all.
So I appreciate it.
Thank you.
No, it's amazing.
Guys, you have to watch the HBO.
I love all those kind of documentaries, but like yours is really great.
And her book is Rise.
Of course, the other one Strong is the New Beautiful and the Strong is New City.
New skinny.
We have them in Tana.
We should do like a buy them, buy them in bulk.
Buy them together.
Who's your publisher? HarperCollins. Okay. Mine was Random House, but that do like a By The Moon Bowl. We should do like, who's your publisher?
HarperCollins.
Okay, mine was Random House, but that is hilarious.
That's really funny.
And you know what I would always tell people, sorry,
okay guys, go get her books and we'll check you out.
Oh, also on social media, what is your handle?
It's just my name, Lindsey Vonn.
Or Lindsey Vonn Foundation.
Oh yes, the Foundation, which is amazing.
Thank you. With an E.
Oh, with E, that's true, because I always would, I spelled it with an A and amazing. Thank you. With an E.
Oh, with E. That's true, because I always would, I spelled it with an A and I couldn't,
I got screwed up.
It's a thing.
It's with an E.
It's an E, I love.
And two Ns, right?
Yes, V-O-N-N.
Good.
Thank you.
Thank you.