Mark Bell's Power Project - Power Project EP. 182 - Charity Witt

Episode Date: February 13, 2019

Charity Witt is an NBC Titan Games Athlete, Mutant Nation Athlete, Strongwoman, and elite powerlifter. She is also a med student studying to become a Naturopathic Doctor to be able to treat cancer with alternative medicine methods and offers online coaching thought Charity Strong Fitness, working with former and current NBA players, collegiate D1 athletes, competitive powerlifters, and physical therapists. ➢SHOP NOW: https://markbellslingshot.com/ Enter Discount code, "POWERPROJECT" at checkout and receive 15% off all Sling Shots Find the Podcast on all platforms: ➢Subscribe Rate & Review on iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/mark-bells-power-project/id1341346059?mt=2 ➢Listen on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/4YQE02jPOboQrltVoAD8bp ➢Listen on Stitcher: https://www.stitcher.com/podcast/mark-bells-power-project?refid=stpr ➢Listen on Google Play: https://play.google.com/music/m/Izf6a3gudzyn66kf364qx34cctq?t=Mark_Bells_Power_Project ➢Listen on SoundCloud: https://soundcloud.com/markbellspowerproject  FOLLOW Mark Bell ➢ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/marksmellybell ➢ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MarkBellSuperTraining ➢ Twitter: https://twitter.com/marksmellybell ➢ Snapchat: marksmellybell Follow The Power Project Podcast ➢ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/MarkBellsPowerProject Podcast Produced by Andrew Zaragoza ➢ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/iamandrewz

you a football fan at all charity so i like the cowboys i don't know if that's gonna be an issue or not did you uh you like watch the super bowl and stuff like that or you're not really that into professional sports well the super bowl was in atlanta so um i was actually avoiding everyone and everything because traffic was so bad yeah it was crazy huh yeah it was really bad and it's like when they have the super Super Bowl, it's like a week-long thing, right? Oh, yeah. There's concerts every night. But I got back that Wednesday before the weekend.

So when I got back, even getting out of the airport was crazy. I was like, all right, so this is how my weekend's going to be. Just going to stay home, hibernate. What are some things that you've been doing? Obviously, a lot of people that are watching this right now have seen you on the Titan games and stuff like that. What is a progression to get on a TV show like that? I'm sure it was different for each competitor. But for me, they had a scout that sought me out.

And he essentially harassed me until I gave him a response. So at first, it was just like, oh, this can't be for real. He slid into my DMs. And I was like, this isn't legit. And then he sent me an email. I was like, oh, maybe it is. But I didn't respond. And then he sent me another email to another email that I had that he found me on LinkedIn

and just continued to talk to me about it. And we went back and forth. And then honestly, it was the convincing of friends and family that I was like, you know what? I got nothing to lose. I'll give it a shot. We'll see. They're not going to choose me. And I ended up getting chosen. So you didn't need to send, like, did you? Because I know there was a process where a lot of people send in video. Right. You got scouted. people sent in video. Right. You got scouted. I got scouted, yeah.

Holy crap. Yeah, we did a Skype interview, and that was, like, my audition, essentially, where they just interviewed me live, and I got to talk to someone and go back and forth. And, yeah, it just, it just all, I guess the cards are in my favor you know it all played out yeah that's amazing you must have been on their radar just because of uh the stuff you've done you know the strongman stuff and things like that right and that's what they mentioned um they said they were looking for different strength athletes and competitors and i'd come up on their search so is this uh hurt you know you're doing you're you're doing this like mount olympus thing i believe it's called yeah and you're on these hard logs

and you're just jumping and landing on your shin. I mean, that looks like it hurts really bad. My knee was actually swollen for three weeks after that event because I had landed on it and I thought I had a bone spur and got it examined and everything. So I might have to go get it cleaned out actually in a little bit.

Yeah, it was crazy looking. Go ahead. When I was crazy looking good when I was watching this like this this event was crazy too because she got to the top before you and I remember when I first thought I was like oh shit is she gonna actually be able to get through what was like going through your head when you saw you were behind her um you know like as a competitor you just have to focus on yourself right so it's like I was trying my best have to focus on yourself, right? So it's like, I was trying my best not to focus on where she was or what she was doing. And I was just focused on like, you know what, this is what I have to do. This is what's in front of me. And just focus on each step by step to

figure out, okay, how am I going to get this to work? And of course, like when you fall on the barrels, what you don't realize is like, it takes so much energy to get out of those barrels that it's like I was totally gassed. I had a 102 fever. I had a medic in my room that morning with an IV in my arm. And then they were like, well, you still got to compete. And it's just you. The competitor takes over, and you're like, you know what? I got to get through this.

Whatever it takes, I got to get through this. Yeah, you gained a? I got to get through this. Whatever it takes, I got to get through this. Yeah. The, the, uh, you, you gained a lot of ground right there. I remember, you know, when I was watching this, I was like, uh, and this is the first show, right? This is the first show that they ever, ever aired. And I remember as I was watching it, I'm watching a couple of things. I'm kind of fearful for you.

Cause I'm like, these aren't some of her strengths. My face is like, I'm over it. So over this. But then as it went, as it progressed and it got into some of the stronger events, I was like, oh, she's going to, you know, she'll be able to gain ground on this. And as you're coming off these slides right here and stuff, it was really cool to watch what happens with this part of the event. It's beautiful. Why are you laughing so much? Is it funny to watch what happens with this part of the event. This is beautiful. Why are you laughing so much? Is it funny to watch yourself? I'm laughing at myself like the pure exhaustion.

And then I was like, oh, this is easy. Yeah, this part. Oh, my God. Watching this part on TV was like confusing. I was like, what's wrong with the other girl? What happened to that poor girl? I was like, oh, let me get my glasses here. Did you see the face of that caster, the white guy? I know.

He didn't know what to say. Literally, the crowd went silent for a split second when that happened. And then it's all uproar from there. Poor Nikki. She shattered her finger trying to drag that that ball yeah and that ball how much does that thing weigh 250 yeah yeah you dragged like it was nothing looks like you could have smoked a cigarette while you're doing that yeah yeah i think my best like comment that i got from that was like you look like me dragging my toddler

through the mall it's like yep yeah are you you forever ready for all of the old ball and chain jokes that are coming out your way after this? Yeah, when I was at the LA Fit Expo, I was just waiting. It was every single person. I saw you on Titan Games, and I was waiting for ball and chain. Did you have to do anything particular, or did you do anything in training leading up to this to like get your cardio ready coming from a strength background? Well, we weren't we had no idea what we were going up to. Right. And you don't find out the challenges are until you show up to do the challenge. Like you've got five minutes of preparation and pure exhaustion.

So there really was like no way. And even after the combine, like, we were scouted out. They sent us to a combine. We competed in teams. And then from our, just our, like, performance in the combine, they selected us, like, handpicked us out of teams. And so, you know, there was really nothing to gear us up to. Okay, like, I trained for a month before they sent me out there so really it was just like rest recovery like making sure that like I was okay but what I had been doing um is swimming again and I'm like I'm not like an avid runner or anything like that

clearly um but I had been swimming again and I had gotten actually my open water swim up to a mile before this competition. And that's like a lot of like long endurance and capacity. Right. And so it's like, you know, physically, a lot of the other competitors kind of like were looking at me like, oh, she's not going to last. Like she doesn't have any endurance. But what you don't realize about swimmers is like none of them really look, you know look like they've got a lot of endurance or anything like that. But they've got so much lung endurance. And I think that's honestly what helped me through this competition. Did you have a swimming background too, a little bit? Yeah.

So in college, I was a US Master Swimmer. And that's actually what got me into powerlifting. Oh, okay. Cool. Yeah. And then you did powerlifting for a while. And then what was the leap towards Strongman? You know, I had done a power lifting meet and then i was just like you know i want i want something more you know and like and just something in me like always wants to be challenged

right and it's like you know the three lifts were like they're the fundamental basics of every sport and it was like okay well i want something more like i'm like i was a great box jumper like great sprinter you know I was swimming background so I was like and I want to do something that like channels that athlete like that athlete in me and I got pushed towards strongman and then I just fell in love with it because it was so dynamic and then when I decided to like retire from strongman for you know my heart just because like with cardiac arrhythmia and everything else, it's not good. Push yourself like that apparently. And I was like, you know what? I just, I love the aspects that I took from Strongman, the training and the endurance and, you know,

just being able to carry really awkward objects for distances and time. And I love that. What's with this cardiac arrhythmia? What does this mean? What do you have going on? I love that. What's with this cardiac arrhythmia? What does this mean? What do you have going on? So I have atrial fibrillation, which essentially your atrium and your ventricles don't communicate well. And you can have like lapses in your heart rate.

So it's either too fast or too slow. So cardiac arrhythmia. And it makes you prone to blood clots and stroke. and it makes you prone to blood clots and stroke. So for me, I was training. I was actually prepared to go to World's Strongest Woman and I was gearing up for that and I was the strongest I'd ever been. And I was doing a log press and I passed out doing a log press and that's never happened to me before. And my blood pressure had just gotten so high that like my heart couldn't slow down again. And, um, I had to sit down and like completely like gear into that. Okay. Like breathing, making sure I slow this down and everything else. Cause I'm against taking beta blockers. I was against, you know, getting, you know, the heart surgery and everything else. So it's like, okay, I've got to learn how to control this better.

So I went to go see my cardiologist and he's like, you're essentially a ticking time bomb. I hope you realize this. And when he said that to me, like, it's like, oh my gosh, like, here I am in my mid-20s and you're telling me that I'm a ticking time bomb. And he was like, you're essentially playing with fire. Like, you're out here, you're pushing yourself to your limit, to your absolute capacity. He's like, and you have a heart that's defected. It's not going to work like somebody else's heart.

You're just born that way? Yeah. They said it's hereditary. For me, like, it makes sense because I remember as a kid, like, I always thought my cardio was just really bad. Like, I always thought that was just something that I struggled with. thought my cardio was just really bad. Like I always thought that that was just something that I struggle with. And even in swimming, like I had to work really hard to control my breathing and control my heart rate. And, um, it wasn't until like I had gotten that diagnosis when I was 17 that like things started to make sense. And it's like, that's why. Okay. Did you think you had

other things going on? Like, did you, did you have to go to the doctor a lot? Did you think you had other things going on? Like, did you, do you have to go to the doctor a lot? Did you think you had like asthma and things like that? Yeah. So it does feel like I actually do have like workout induced asthma from it. And because it does affect like your lung capacity and like how you're able to like. Workout induced asthma. No offense. It sounds like a fat guy problem, right? It sounds like a fat power lifter problem, right?

Yeah. It's like, of course, when you work out, you can't breathe well. You know, and I've had people like, I've actually had a lot of guys tell me, they're like, you know what that means? You're just out of shape. That's what it sounds like, right? Yeah. And I've had that comment all the time. And I'm like, all right.

Until you literally can't breathe. Right. And then you want to go into panic mode. And then, like, for me, that's super dangerous. So I always have my inhaler with me like you know just in case um during the Titan Games I literally hit that inhaler after every competition because your heart rate was spiked so high during every event and the medic team knew about my condition like we did a heart scan everything right before I went out there so they made sure

I was good before I went out there but they they made sure I was good before I went out there, but they also knew the risks. So they were there waiting on the sidelines just in case Charity passes out while she's out there. Wow. What other like precautionary measures do you need to like take before, you know, competing or doing certain like training sessions to just make sure that you like you can stay in the best state possible and it doesn't happen? I mean, just like anything, there's no way to guarantee that something's not going to happen? I mean, just like anything, there's no way to guarantee that something's not going to happen. I mean, just like with my hamstring this weekend. But what I've learned is like actually through yoga and swimming is learning to control my breathing and learning those breathing techniques and then to slow down your heart rate. You can literally slow down your

heart rate with your breathing and And learning those tactics has just saved me countless times because if you're in control of your body, then you have better control over how it's going to function, how it's going to treat you. And if you're not allowing a situation to freak you out or get you stressed or something like that, then it's not going to affect your heart as severely as someone who has zero control. Was it pretty nerve-wracking just because you're on TV as well? Like it's TV production, right? Yes, and it's nervous like before you go out there. But, I mean, when I compete, like I don't see anything else, you know.

Like I don't notice anybody. I don't see anything. I don't hear anything. Like I'm just so zeroed in on what my task is that nothing else distracts me so that didn't really affect me at all it was just gearing up to like I have no idea what I'm walking into like zero clue like I've never done this before I have no idea what it's gonna be like but I'll be okay how does it work competition wise like I saw you do like the one competition I don't know if I've seen you do more than that or if it just hasn't aired yet.

So there are several competitions that we did in that, you know, that you wanted each competitor to have to go through the same challenges. Obviously in finals, like there's a few that I have to go through just because like it's different people, different competitors, and they want you to experience the same level of competition that they have. That looks pretty challenging, carrying those chains. So this is like a throwback to Strongman back in the 80s. Yeah, so back when Kaz was doing all of it. And I had actually remembered seeing that and being like, wait a minute, like this was made for me.

And I just remember feeling that confidence in this one because I was like, you know what? Like if anybody can do this one, I can do this one. Yeah. How heavy is that one? Oh, it was so heavy, but it's just the fact that the chains are like pulling you back, right?

Like it's not like a yoke where everything's like stationary and attached like it's literally swinging behind you have to wait for it to catch up how did it feel like being in front of a because i'm guessing this is the biggest crowd you've ever competed in like right slightly how was that for you like you know when you first went out and you you did your first event in front of everybody, were you even thinking about that or were you zoned in? I was so zoned in. Even during this one, this was the first one, I didn't even really notice anybody.

But this was a great intro to the games for me because it was like this, honestly, after talking to everybody in the production, this is one of the hardest challenges that they had. And just because we're doing the same exact weight the men are doing and they're like no this is the hardest challenge that we have and even their stunts that they had perform on this like some of them couldn't even finish it so knowing that and knowing that like I was the I was the first woman to go out there and I was the first woman to complete it was so empowering for me. But it also like I knew how much of myself that it took to complete that. And it took a lot from me. So I was like, you know what?

Like, I'm going to have to give my all in these challenges. Like, this isn't just like some cheap game show where it's going to be easy. Like, I'm going to have to give my all to complete these challenges. Yeah, those weights are heavy, right? Oh, oh yeah that's what I was gonna ask was there anything outside of the the ball and chain thing that was like are you guys serious like you're like is this supposed to be hard no honestly like they were all super hard challenges and then when in the when you go into the finals like they actually make things even harder okay so they're like oh you're in the finals now so let's let's just amp everything up a few notches yeah because i had seen um i can't remember the

name it's a it's on netflix it's another like competitor show but they have like a trainer and a trainee and they're like one of the events was like okay you guys together gonna have to squat 225 and i was like well well i, yeah, I think they'll survive. So I was just curious because like some of the sets on this show are like really massive. So I'm like, okay, did you pick up like a, I don't know, like a hammer or something? It's like, oh, wait, this is fake. No, like everything, like, and I think that's the thing. Like we all expected it to be like that.

And it wasn't. We expected it to be a little showy yeah like we really like theatrical right you know things to be a little bit you know like oh this will be easy and then you get there and it's like oh my gosh this is so hard like even that wall um they let us push the wall just to show us that it was a heavy wall and i mean that wall was like 1500 pounds oh my god and you have like and so like when you, when you watch it and it's like, okay, I'm going to have to push it, let it come back and then ride it all the way up. And a lot of girls didn't have the power to just push it over that second

wind. And like, I started climbing as soon as it was going over. Like, and I just learned that from that first time going on Mount olympus i was like okay like the next time i get up to that wall like i'm gonna have to start climbing as soon as it's going down and you just like pick up on things like that to carry with you the rock ain't playing with this no how the hell does the rock do this like his uh his schedule seems insane so i mean is he is he there a lot when he was there like we were all there till like four in the morning like you know he put in the hours as well like it's crazy you know his schedule working on a million different things at once and then it humbles you because like you you at this point

like you start seeing people you know unravel and you start seeing like characters really their true care people are getting frustrated they're hungry they're tired yeah yeah and you know and you just see like the complainers you know coming out and my perspective was like none of us want to be here you know like none of us are happy to be here at three in the morning with one meal in our system and like three hours of sleep you know the production guys don't want to be here wardrobe doesnrobe doesn't want to be here. Hair and makeup's ready to go. You know, Dwayne Johnson's here and he's hungry. I'm like, none of us want to be here. So there's no reason to complain or like be a whiner or like make all the other people like miserable just because you are.

Yeah. You're already, you already don't feel like being, there's no reason to make everything. Exactly. Like you might as well just take it for what it is and just be a good sport. Um, what, like, you know, after doing a show like that like um you know what what has kind of happened like uh you know via like your social media and stuff like that i'm sure a lot of that has grown um and then also just being a female i mean have you had any like weird predicaments happen uh because of being on the show like just just stalkers or something crazy like that

it's funny you say that i'll get to that i think um the main thing that happened i was a little nervous especially with the show airing because like that was like as a female that was like the heaviest weight i had been in my competition career period oh your body weight yeah and um I knew that like, I wasn't shredded like the other female competitors, you know, I didn't have like that aesthetic. And I was really concerned how the public, cause you know, our public's pretty critical, how they would take me, how they would accept me. And the amount of women that reached out to me and said that I inspired them to get healthy and that showed them that they don't they because in their heads they're never going to be

skinny you know in their heads they're never going to look like a model you know so the fact that like I looked human inspired them because it was like you beat the model they're like you did that and you you were better than them they were like so that means I can be something and I think that like it was so overwhelming and then you know amount of people that have heart issues that reached out to me and they were like I thought I would never be able to go to the gym I thought I was like destined to just sit at home take beta blockers do this you, you know, get a pacemaker. And now I have an option. I can actually go lift weights. Like I don't have to just do low intensity cardio. Like I just have to wear a heart rate monitor. I just have to be more careful, but I can do things.

That was like the best thing for me. And Dwayne Johnson and I actually had a conversation about that. It was just like, I just thanked him because he was asking me how I was handling everything and you know the like my response like from people and it was just like dude like you've given me an outlet and a platform to be able to show my heart to this like this population where everyone's afraid to go to the gym everyone's afraid to like go out there and try something. And now they're not. Um, now of course, like there have been a few, like, I just want to interject on something you said. So, you know, you, you know, people saying that you beat the model, right? Yeah. That girl was gorgeous. Right. Wonderful, uh, physique. Right. But I think the, the way that you beat her, I think is like kind of the key, right? Like you never gave up. Obviously you were dying a couple of times in there. Right.

We could see it in your face. But you slowed yourself down a couple of times. You can even see in the video, like you did take a deep breath. You did. And you were like, you know what? Like I'm a competitor. I just got to dig deep. I'm not worried about the skinny girl that's ahead of me right now. I'm going to, I'm going to figure this out. And you hung in there long enough until something came along that was like more in your wheelhouse. Right. And then you were able to gain an advantage. And I think what you said about your body, I think is a beautiful thing too, because a lot of times, um, you know, my, my weaknesses over the years have ended up being strengths. They've ended up being things that have really led to a lot of success. You know, in school I was labeled as being slow.

Well, one of the things I share with people all the time is being slow and being patient has led to a lot of great things. Even just the development of the slingshot. It took, uh, took about three years for me to really push forward with the idea. It took four years to get the patent. It took two or three years to get it on bodybuilding.com. I mean, all these things, they just, they took a long time, but if I didn't have, if I didn't have that background of things always kind of working out very slowly for me, I probably wouldn't have had the patience. And so, um, you, uh, being in what you said, kind of your worst condition as an athlete, uh, ended up being a

strength in some sense, because look at how many people that reached and look at how many people, and now people can see you now too. And there's probably what a difference of 20 pounds or so. Yeah. So now people can see you now and say, look, yeah. Okay. First of all, it's okay to go up and down. Yeah. And first of all, and secondly, it's okay to be just up. It's okay to be like a little bit heavy. Like we can still make these changes.

We could still make these choices and there's no better time than to step foot in the gym than now. You don't need to, we hear it all the time here at super training. Like, oh, I want to be stronger. Like you guys and girls in there are pretty big and strong let me get in shape first before i come through the door it's like no no please come through the door now like start let's have you start going now because uh we just want you to take that first step with us agreed agreed i think i think that's it honestly it taught me a lot about myself being in that competition. And then afterwards, viewing it, of course, I'm my worst critic.

And then receiving that much love and support. And then also seeing how many women it impacted. It was like I've never had a large female following. And honestly, from the show, my female following grew. And that was something that I was really appreciative of. That's really cool. And then the amount of just young women, right? Like a man of like girls that little girls, like little girls that are like now I'm receiving

videos of like their little girls in the backyard, like wrapping ropes around stones and stuff like that. They got dad to do so that they can be like charity. And like to me that I'm just like, oh, my gosh, like I'm not only impacting like people who are afraid to go to the gym, but I'm impacting a whole new generation that is going to view fitness and health and strength in a completely different manner than they ever did before. I was showing my niece last night. I was showing a charity do a 210 pound stone lifts and stuff like that. Stone loading. And her jaw was just like hitting the table she was

like oh my god she's like how much weight is that I was like to put it in perspective like that's very difficult for a guy who's strong who hasn't really picked up stones before that's that's very difficult and a lot of guys forget about being able to even do it even once and you were just manhandling you did like eight my like, hey, is this on repeat? She's like, no, I did that eight times. Just the perfect boomerang on Instagram. Yeah, but like clockwork, she was picking it up with the same exact form

every single time. Yeah, you get into a rhythm. Those barbell Turkish get-ups, I think, are just insane. That's like my thing. Like, I don't know. Actually, I saw Brooke and Stuart for the first time like years ago. And thing. Like, I don't know. Like I saw, actually I saw Brooke and Stuart for the first time like years ago. And I was like, I want to try that. And I first, I started with a women's like weightlifting bar. And then I was just like, you know what? Like,

I'm going to, I'm going to try to see how much weight I can do. And now I can do about 115 with it and do like a couple of them. And it's just like, I love it. Like, that's my thing. Like, I love the stability. Like it's, it's a lot of like grip strength and core strength. There's a lot of mobility in there too. The ability to have the flexion through your hips to move forward like that. You know, I've actually seen Matt Vincent before do this with a person. You ever seen that before? I have not, yeah matt vincent i mean matt is just you know he's a freak athlete himself but um yeah i've seen him do that before with you know a girl that just probably didn't weigh a lot but he was still able to do it i was like holy shit

yeah he laid on the ground and like they figured out a way to like kind of hook around and then he picked her up like that i was like see that's where that functionality comes in, you know? Like just being able to move outside, you know, just the barbell. I think like it to me is so important, you know? Just being able to use your body and function and mobilize like stability, all of it's so important. Yeah, that's what I was gonna say. Like what I find super impressive

about that Turkish getup, like for me with my back the way it is, just getting up off the floor is kind of it's kind of a chore but to see you do it with weight and with ease too you know like you're right that functionality and functional strength it's something that you know i think powerlifters really overlook at times or bodybuilders they just want to get jacked where should someone start with like a movement like that like if you wanted to like if someone watches that and they're like hey i you know i'd love to try that is there some sort of progression you can work towards or how would

you start something like that so um especially with like my own athletes that want to get into like more functional training um i always start them out with a bar like just a dumbbell and it's like okay if you could master doing this with a dumbbell like just enough weight like sometimes it's only 10 pounds you know but just getting into the rhythm and like learning, because a lot of people don't understand like the mechanisms, like, you know, the whole like step-by-step process it is in this Turkish getup.

And, you know, it's like, it's a step-by-step process, you know, and they have to like think about it. And once they get into a rhythm, then we can go up and wait and then we can progress to kettlebells.

And then from kettlebells, like we can go into a barbell, but it's a slow progression and you have to have a lot of grip strength and a lot of stability. Yeah. It probably takes a lot of time to be able to build on something like that. Yeah. Now you're a strong, powerful girl, but like, you know, I mentioned there's probably some, you know, uh, some negative, uh, from being on a show like that.

Like just, um, you know, maybe there's some weirdos creeping on you and stuff like that. And then additionally, you know, you being in such a big city like Atlanta, like, you know, being a strong girl, do you feel strong or do you sometimes feel like that you get in these kind of compromised positions sometimes? Well, I think every every woman, you know, no matter how tough our exterior is, like, we're always going to have the situations where we're just like, we feel vulnerable. And that show actually has put me in a couple situations where I've had to think about my safety more, and even like how I leave my hotel room, and just certain things like being aware of my surroundings when I get out of the vehicle.

And there's just a couple instances, even at the LA Fit Expo, where I'm out walking the streets and someone's like, wait, I know you from somewhere. And I'm just like, oh my gosh, like where do you know me from? But it was like a weirdo, like not just like a normal person watching TV with their family, but it was like this guy was a few screws loose and then wouldn't stop following me. And I'm like, well, what hotel are you at? Blah, blah, blah. And I'm just like,

you don't need to know that. Period. But it just has made me hyper aware of my privacy. And to the point where I won't tag a location while i'm there i'll wait till i leave and it's just like just being more aware and like especially as a female living alone in atlanta you know like thank god i have my dog but there have been a couple situations where like

you know because i'm in a high rise like i have to take the elevator and if i didn't have my dog with me like there would be a couple instances where I feel completely exposed and vulnerable. Is your dog a service dog because of your heart? Or is it a separate thing? I actually got her service dog certified when I moved to Atlanta because I wanted to be able to take her everywhere with me

because I felt unsafe walking to the grocery store sometimes. And I wanted to have her with me because like I felt unsafe walking to the grocery store sometimes and I wanted to have her with me because like she she's so smart like she's a hunting dog right so like she's a working dog and she wants to be there with me and um you know she's awfully trained like super smart anyways like she's probably one of the easiest dogs I've had to train and so getting her service dog certified was like easy peasy. And just having her there with me and like being able to go to the grocery store with her, being able, yeah, being able to like just take her everywhere with me. I mean, she's so good and she reads people so well. So it's like, if she doesn't like you, I don't need to like you. I'm curious, Charity.

When I talk to a lot of women that start lifting and they're very new to it, I hear a lot of crazy stories that I wouldn't expect of people just being super negative towards that whole lifestyle. When you started getting into lifting and getting stronger and getting bigger, did you have any of that type of pushback in your own life? I did a little bit when I was still in the college gym, which is why I left my college gym. And I found the gym that I actually discovered powerlifting in. So, I mean, it was all like a catalyst. But I started trying to get into lifting weights. And I, like, researched everything on, like, bodybuilding.com and Google. And guys were really condescending towards me.

Like, you're a girl. Like, what are you doing in here like you're dumb like you don't know anything and like super negative towards me and what's so satisfactory now is that those same guys would be like hey i had class with you oh i went to school with you it's so great to see how you know much you've progressed blah blah and i'm like sit down like i'm like please like you know like you didn't even amount to half of what I did because you were in the gym bad-mouthing the little girl that was trying to lift weights and I think that's the message that like I want to be able to show other girl women it's just like don't let that skinny guy tell you like oh you can't be doing this because that's a representation of his insecurity. You know, like guys that are confident and want to help women and that want to like help coach you.

Because I did have those guys that helped coach me and help get me into powerlifting, you know, and they're the reasons I am here today. And the difference between a man and a boy that's insecure is huge. Yeah, they're going to be they're going to be intimidated. And then plus, I think, you know, luckily we're heading towards a better place where people are more accepting of, you know, females being a little thicker and females having strength. Like men are just getting over it, right? Right.

I mean, a lot of times you'll hear, you see it a lot on like Brooke Ence's thing or sometimes on somebody like yourself where, yeah, you do a heavy stone load or you do something and a vein pops out of your neck. So you're lifting something crazy. And, you know, all the comments are, you look like a dude. And you're just like, what? And not all the comments, obviously, but it's like, where is that one? It's like, where in the hell is this coming from? I think it's attractive. I think it's amazing when, male or female, when somebody has a skill that they like to,

that they enjoy, that they push to the limits, I think that's awesome. Like, I think that's a cool trait. I don't think there's anything, there's nothing negative I can think of from it. Even when I see the kind of the old school bodybuilding women, it's like not necessarily my cup of tea. It's not like that I think that that's super hot or anything, but I do think it's awesome. It's like not necessarily my cup of tea. It's not like that. I think that that's super hot or anything, but I think I do think it's awesome. It's respectful. Yeah, absolutely. And it's a it's definitely an attractive trait to hone in on something and to, you know, work towards

getting what you want. I think that's awesome. I think just being dedicated and goal driven in general is an attractive trait and you know if you admire someone for their wit and you know and their part in society and science and literature but you can't admire the same tenacity that it takes to lift or to hone a skill that's physical then it's like that's a little you know bias you know that's a little like you're being hypocritical um you know and like especially as a woman like i'm not going to be interested in someone who's not showing the same level of dedication that I am, you know. So it's like I look for the same traits in other people because it's like, OK, if you're driven and you're dedicated and you're, you know, goal orientated, then we're going to get along. Do you have a minimum requirement for this future husband?

Does he have to bench 405 or be able to log press, double your log press or something like that? Log press me, no. A couple guys are like, sign me up. Yeah, I have gotten some carry requests. But no, honestly, like I used to. Yeah, you get probably people sliding into the DM, want to wrestle? Yeah, I want to wrestle. You're like, not necessarily.

Not necessarily. Yeah, or they ask me to carry them. And that's always really uncomfortable for me. Like, not necessarily. Not necessarily. Yeah, or they ask me to carry them, and that's always really uncomfortable for me. And it's like, oh, I weave this. Could you carry me? And I'm like, in what scenario would I be wanting to carry you? I mean, probably somebody that you would be interested in would probably likely be interested in some form of fitness. But you probably don't really care if they lift weights or whatever. Right. Well,

I mean, yeah, they have to lift weights, but it's just, I think it's the mindset, right. You know, it's,

I'm not really concerned about the number, but it's like, you know, the person underneath, you know, cause like, this is something I do. This isn't,

but if they can't bench one 85, I mean, that's not, that's a little, yeah. We're starting to run into some, we're starting to run into some problems. I mean, we, I feel as, you know, as strong and dedicated as I am.

It's like, okay, they have to show some level of effort. But ultimately, it's just, you know, like, this is something I do. This isn't who I am. And, you know, I can't expect somebody else to, like, impress me with their numbers. Because, like, I know some of the strongest people in the world, right? You know, so so it's like it's hard at this point to be like, oh, impress me with your total. Impress me with your numbers. It's like that's so superficial. You know, it's like, OK, well, what kind of personal traits are you bringing to the table? Like what? Who are you underneath all of that?

Do you worry a lot about like a body image or are you more performance based where you're like, you know, just training for strength and are you pretty comfortable with like the body that you have now? I'd say I'm probably the most comfortable now than I've ever been. And then that it's not even because I think that I look better now than I ever have. I've definitely been more leaner, like when I'm powerlifting or as a swimmer and stuff like that. But I think confidence wise, like I know who I am and I know what I want in life. And I think that brings a level of security and comfortable in your own skin, like type of trait and like personality. So, you know, regardless of like what my body looks like for what I'm doing at that time, like I'm going to be comfortable. How do you manage

social media in terms of, you know, you kind of have a message of like, you know, one moment you might be lifting a stone and the next moment, uh, there might be a picture that is like more revealing, like how, for you, like, you know, where do you draw that line? And like, you know, what are you, what are you comfortable with? And like, what feels right to you? Um, well, you? Well, there's definitely a fine line between lifting and then soft porn, right? And I think for me, I always think about my audience. I am very aware of who my followers are and the audience that I'm targeting. And I think for me, it's just being able to connect the dots between femininity and being strong and showing that, yeah, there are so many different sides to being a woman.

Like, you know, being feminine is strong and it's not they're not separate. They're not two different sides of me. No, they're all connected. They're all the same. And like the girl that's wearing a dress is still just as strong as the person who's just wearing, you know, t-shirt and shorts, lifting a stone, you know? Right. That makes, that makes a lot of sense. I think, what are some things that you kind of have learned, you know, from social media because of, you know, you get a lot of the positive and you hear how you've changed some people's lives and

then you also get some of the negative. You know, I've been very fortunate that like my negative is probably like a 1%. And, you know, and I think I'm actually one of the few females that can say that. Like I really don't receive too many negative comments or messages or anything like that. That's really good to hear because that also means that you are looking at the positive. Right. Yeah. Yes. Yeah.

Like I don't, I don't really notice that. And it's not something I ever respond to either. Like I don't't because that's what they want right like a troll is on the internet to get some type of response from me and if i've learned anything in my life it's like not to let the trolls like get any kind of rise or reaction from me like i'm above that so i i just you know it is it is what it is you know they're probably very miserable with their lives and i'll just leave them be. Athletically right now. I mean, do you have anything that you're preparing for or anything that you're going to be doing? Rehabbing my hamstring? Yeah. Rehabbing your hamstring.

Were you like getting ready for anything? Um, you know, so I've got this personal vendetta where I want to go out back to Sedona mountain bike. And this is something that I've been doing every year. And I go around my birthday, which is like in May. So I go between like end of April, beginning of May. And I like to hike the Grand Canyon. I like to mountain bike. And that's like the life outside of the gym. I remember seeing pictures from that.

You did it like last year sometime? Yeah. Yeah. So I did it around Cinco de Mayo last year. And we did 24 miles in the Grand Canyon one day. In one day. And then we mountain biked. You're an animal.

We mountain biked. That's awesome. That's a lot. Yeah, we mountain biked 21 the following day in Sedona. And, you know, it's just, it was so great to have a friend there with me that was into the same things that I was doing. And she was just as athletic as I was. So being able to have that female companion and go out there. And it's just us living life detached from our phones.

We posted things when we got home. But it was just being out there and enjoying life outside of the gym. But being able to put in use what we did in the gym. I think that's, what's great. Yeah. Do you, uh, need to, uh, kind of decompress from social media a little bit here and there? Yeah. So I think everybody needs to like, I think it's good for everyone to detach a little bit and just realize it is what it is and it's there for what it is, but it's not real life. Right. You know, uh, those comments, those likes, it's not reality. And to be able to disengage and take a step back and be like, you know, I get to live my life and not be concerned about what's going on on this social site is really, I think, healthy.

Yeah, I love yesterday when we hung out like we, you know, we had our phones, but like no one was using them. Right, right. We hung out for a few hours and had you over my house and got to hang out with my family. And we were shooting the breeze with Matt Vincent. And that's something that I do often when I invite people to the areas. Like, you know, we go to my house, we enjoy some food, maybe have some wine, maybe have some cookies. Maybe a couple cookies got eaten. I don't really remember what happened.

But, you know, just enjoy some good times and just flat out, just enjoy each other. And there's really, I can't even think of an instance except for maybe, well, last year, um, I think we just ended up having, it was like a, an extravaganza of like, uh, of a who's who on social media. So we took one photo, uh, a kind of a group, a group picture. But other than that, out of the years that I've been doing this, it's really, really rare for someone to, and I wouldn't care if someone wanted

to take a picture, of course, but it's kind of nice. Yeah. That that's not part of the focus. That wasn't even like a forefront on your mind. Yeah, we're just hanging out. We're just talking, period. Good conversation.

Yeah, it's a lot more enjoyable that way sometimes yes what you got over there andrew just thinking about um like what about the girl that wants to get strong um maybe she either has a a dad or uncle or even a significant other that's like that that's whack like you know why why do you don't you want to look like a girl like don't you want to be feminine? You know, like, what can you tell that girl that wants to be strong? She wants to be like Charity Whip, but she has no support right now. I think for the female that doesn't have any support to get strong because there's that stigma of like, oh, you're going to look like a man or you're going to be unattractive.

You're not doing it for anybody else but yourself. And I think that's the beauty of it. You know, like who cares what like people think of you or what their opinion, like their opinion does not dictate who you are, your value. So being able to stand up for yourself and be like, no, this is what I want for myself. You're adding that value to yourself. And when you allow somebody else to dictate that, you're giving them control over you. And, you know, it's like it's taking that control back and being like, no, like I dictate who I am. I dictate my value and who I

want to be. And if that's someone who just wants to do endurance training, then great. And if that's someone who sees strong as a power lifter or as a strong woman or somebody in strength sports, then that's beautiful too. But it's like, don't let other people dictate how you value yourself or how you see yourself. And what do you think are some like healthy resources to find maybe even some just like a little bit of inspiration, like a little bump to really get going? to find maybe even some just like a little bit of inspiration like a little bump to really get going uh for me honestly like I never got inspiration from other people because you know every situation is different for each person and being such a loner growing up you know being on my own so much like I learned to rely on myself and honestly like even looking at other people no one's going to be able to tell you how to go about doing something, no one's going to be able to tell you how to go about doing something. And no one's going to tell you what the right way is. You

have to figure that out yourself. So the best resources, honestly, is just to be able to share your experience, you know, being able to start that conversation, you start that, you know, that dictation between other women and be like, okay, well, you know, what are you doing and how you, how do you feel? And just be able to the conversation. And, you know, and then you can go from there and decide for yourself how you want to go about reaching your goals. And what's a really clean, clear cut way to not go about finding inspiration? Comparing yourself to everybody on social media, you know, because you're looking at someone's highlight reel. And we say this all the time because, you know,

clearly I am not going to find the worst picture of myself and post it for 170 people on Instagram. I might do that to you. I mean, I've had other people tag me in things, and I'm like, can you not? Like, oh, my gosh. But it's like, you know, everybody wants to, like, show the best version of themselves.

Like, we're all very, very much like, okay, this is me. And then you get, like, the odd time where you're real. You know, like, nope, this is who I am 90% of the time. And I think that's what's great. But it's so dangerous to just go on your popular feed and scroll and scroll and scroll and be like, oh my God, but I'll never be like her or I'll never have that relationship or I'll never have that job or that money or that figure. And it's like, it's so toxic. And it's like, no, look at your life and then compare you now to who you used to be. And when you see that progression and it's so inspiring, like be

inspired by yourself and your own progress. What's the thing that like really drives you right now in terms of like working out and working with clients, all of that type of stuff. What's the thing that really pushes you in that direction? I think that's like a multiple, it's a multitude of things, you know, and it's, it's the girl that says that like I inspired her to go out and go to the gym when she was terrified to do that. It's the girl that writes me a like, I inspired her to go out and go to the gym when she was terrified to do that. It's the girl that writes me a message saying that she just got out of an abusive marriage. And she's now looking to take care of herself.

You know, it's the client that's never liked going to the gym. And now I train his whole family. You know, it's, you know, the professional athlete that's had seven knee surgeries. You know, it's, you know, the professional athlete that's had seven knee surgeries and now I'm training him and all of his professional athletic friends, you know, and it's like it's just creating like this ricochet in this movement that it's like being functional and being healthy as a mindset, just as much as it is being in the gym. And when you unite those two, that's when you like, you feel whole as a person. I really like what you said earlier about, you know, uh, not always looking to others for answers. You know, that is, that is a place, you know, where you can get answers. Um, you can ask other people for advice and things like that. But, uh, I think an important thing to always understand is that, uh, nobody has better advice and, uh, better interest in themselves than yourself. And

everything that you need is, is already in there somewhere. And it might, might take some searching and you, and you might need a little pep talk from somebody. You might need a friend or a parent or a loved one to kind of give you that little, little boost but you don't always have that and everything all the faculties that uh Dwayne Johnson has everyone else has all those things in there somewhere as well he has just developed them uh to a level which is you know hard to uh catch up with but it also takes a really long time and you got to eat a lot of shit for a really long time i call eating a shit sandwich without the bread yeah you got to eat a lot of shit sandwiches before you get to be somebody like him he's got seven bucks productions

because he had seven bucks in his pocket when he left the canadian football league and didn't know what he was going to do he was depressed he was sad he was upset he was going to be a pro football player and it didn't it didn't work he failed do. He was depressed. He was sad. He was upset. He was going to be a pro football player. And it didn't work. He failed, right? Then he was like, you know, tried his hand at wrestling and ended up becoming an amazing wrestler and refocused and worked on something else.

But these stories, they're all the same, right? It's all the same. It's the same stuff over and over again. People work really hard. And, you know, it's easy to get excited about something. It's easy for, you know, any one of us at this table can be successful in anything that we go and try to do. We could, all three of us could decide that we're going to start trying to build websites. And over the next month we can learn a lot. And you know, the websites that we build would all probably look

like shit. Uh, and, and one of us might be able to excel at it more than the next. But the one that's going to get ahead is going to be the one that sticks with it. Right. The one that gets, the one that does not stop the job until it's done. You don't stop until you get what you want. And so everything you need is already kind of within. It's already just, it's sitting there. And you just have to figure out ways of activating it.

And people like yourself that get the opportunity to get on tv that's amazing because then now it it's reaching a whole new audience and the titan games is kind of a great uh a great viewing of that because it is tapping more into what we love which is fitness right. And I think it's just even the saying, like the mantra that I adapted on the Titan Games, that now like Dwayne has like told me to patent, but like no quit and wit. And I think that applies to everybody. And it's just like, it's something that I said,

and I was like, you know, I don't quit when I'm tired, I quit when I'm done. And they were like, so you'd say there's no quit and wit. I'm like, there is no quit and wit. And it was something that my dad actually used to tell me all the time. And, you know, he and I have had like a rocky relationship, but, you know, we've come together again and we have, we have a relationship now. And, um, when I was doing this show and I was just like, you know, that's, that's what it is. It's the consistency of like constantly striving for that end goal and

not being concerned about your competition, what's around you, who's watching, who's taking videos and pictures, you know, but you're just focused on getting to that goal and not quitting in the process. Well, and because you have no quit, I had to force you to quit yesterday. Me and Matt Vincent, we had to actually like stop you from lifting because you were, you know, you're like, I really want the 500 pound deadlift. And I'm like, this is the whole reason I can't hear or not the whole reason but you know like a major part is just like I wanted it on a platform and it's like you know of course like pulling in the gym a few times it's like okay yeah I know I can do it and that's what was so frustrating about it because it's like I've done this before like it's not even like this number scares me and um I think that's

what was like so frustrating. And like, as a competitor, you have to learn that it seems like quitting, but it's not, it's just stopping and realizing that this is not going to benefit me in the longterm. So I need to stop. And then in that case, it's like, it's not quitting. It's, it's literally just like, you know what? I'm putting this to rest right now because it's going to negatively hurt me. It's, it's just a better decision. Like, uh, you know, what I was thinking of is like, you got a long flight home. You've got a lot of things that you have your mind on in addition to, you know, being able to lift heavy weight. And it's like, yeah, of course the crowd, everyone would love to see you hit 500 pounds. It would be a social media extravaganza. You'd pick up a few extra thousand followers and it would go down the history books.

Right. And it would be really cool. But at the same time, it's like, you know, I don't know. Like, what if you jack yourself up and you're hurt for three months? Or what if it's like you end up with like a bulge disc from it or something? A complete tear where i need reattachment surgery yeah can we not show the video so what what uh what happened on your uh first attempt here uh well you know warm-ups were great like great and that's always a horrible sign i know

right yeah and that was what was so crazy because like I was in the warm-up platform and I had just pulled 455 and it flew up. And everyone was like, oh, shit. Like, you're going to pull some big weight out there. They're like, that flew up, like, 315. I was like, this felt great. Like, I was so ready. And then I went out there and, like, I wasn't even concerned with the number. Like, I was like, oh, I've tripled this before.

Like, I'm fine. But right when I got to about my knee like I felt my body shutting down I was like what is going on right now and then I felt it pop and my whole body just started shaking and like it it was terrible like the the pain and your body goes into shock and then I sat down I was like well I'll just sit down and then I couldn't get back up like my body just wasn't gonna let me go back up and then I was like right about here I was like what's going on and I was like nope nope nope yep I was like walking off walking off you're like oh what was that something something popped or something huh yeah yeah I, I go behind that curtain.

I sit down, and I didn't get back up. I was like, I can't move anymore. And then I was like, well, maybe my body's just going into shock. Maybe something weird's going on, blah, blah, blah. And Matt's like, you've been complaining all morning about your hip and your hamstring. Maybe your adrenaline just kicked in, and you didn't feel it. But obviously, something was already going on. And then, like, when I tried to get up and I couldn't move my entire left leg, I was like, okay.

Like, I'm trying, like, to not be upset. Like, because I was so upset. And I'm sure you saw it on my face. But, like, I was so upset. And it was just like. Yeah, I mean, you were kind of in tears when I was talking to you. Yeah, because you feel like a failure. And I think a lot of people can relate to this. It's just you know you're doing something that you know you can do and it's not even like and I was so angry because it's like

that number doesn't even scare me and it was just like and I just got hurt and it was like how could I get hurt doing something that's like not even supposed to be hard for me and I was just so frustrated and so hurt and then like mentally and like you know physically and then it was just like big scheme big picture like I know that I can do that number that's not the issue the issue is that I'm offended by myself right now I'm offended with my performance and I'm offended by myself right now. I'm offended with my performance and I'm offended that my body just was dehydrated. And obviously, like, old injury flared up again and my

hamstring was just like, no, we're not going to completely tear. We just don't want to do that. And you might have been dehydrated from that magnesium citrate. Charity is quite the gambler. Yeah, that's what I was going to citrate. Charity is quite the gambler. That's what I was going to ask.

Her new nickname is the gambler because she was really rolling the dice. She took the magnesium citrate I think right before you went on your flight, right? Before and on the flight, yes. You can time this out to be better than that.

I mean, there are ways. It does take a few hours to hit you sometimes, but you don't always really know. And so magnesium citrate will just basically help you go to the bathroom or, as she put it,

pee out your butt. Repeatedly, kind of out of control. Repeatedly and out of control at any moment. But, yeah, the guy next to me really hated sitting next to me because I was up on that plane, like up and down. And I even warned him. I was like, look, I'm cutting for a competition.

I've taken it. This is a really awkward competition. I just want you to know, I might shit myself. Literally, I was like, look, I might have to sit on the aisle seat just so you're not constantly getting up and he was like and he was like kind of like at like like no I'm sitting here like I want this scene I was like all right you're gonna have to get up quite a few times and I made him get up like a few times on this flight and um I was just like hey you're the one who wanted to sit there. But yeah, definitely a gamble.

And it took like over 24 hours to get out of my system. See, that's the biggest problem with that kind of stuff. Any sort of diuretic or any sort of water manipulation you do for competition, you want to do the least amount

of suffering so that you can get that weight back on and all that stuff. And sometimes you can kind of mistime it and then you're still using the bathroom after you start eating your after you start eating foods that are kind of nutritious that you want to like stick to you they're not they're not sticking to you they're not staying in your system so you can get dehydrated very easily yeah you're gonna try that for jujitsu? Definitely not. It might be a good like offensive slash defensive move though.

Just mount them on their face and just like. Yeah. A little north south position. There's no balls and face in that sport. You don't really need any of that. There's enough of that going on as it is. Or not enough. I'm curious because like, so I went to Worlds this past year and I lost in the most just sad fashion, right? I learned a lot from it and I think it was necessary. Do you have like anything, it could be athletically, it could be like life, just like anything that like just sucked. It was an absolute failure, but you took this weekend, you took a lot away from it.

You just mean like in general like in life yeah that like you took something away from it that just changed your i don't know your outlook on specific things you do or you know where you're headed yeah i mean it wasn't it wasn't athletically um it was like i think a few life situations where I was at rock bottom and it was just like, I mean, one of them was not having my own place to live while I was in Canada and sleeping on a couch in the kitchen. And another one was hiding out in the closet when I was married in a bad relationship and locking myself in the closet because that's where it was safe. And another one was living paycheck to paycheck, coming out of that divorce, not knowing if, like, I'd have money to buy groceries because I had to buy dog food. And those are defining moments where you're just like, okay, like, I've been through worse.

I can get through this too. And you learn to just count on yourself that it's like, regardless of any situation that I am, physically, mentally, emotionally, spiritually, whatever it is, like, I'm going to pull myself out of this. And you learn to be comfortable with disparity and you learn to be comfortable with just absolute hopelessness

because it's like, you know what? No, like I've been in the dark before and I always find the light again. How does somebody, I mean, I know it must be extremely complicated. How does somebody get out of an abusive relationship? For me, I just didn't go home one day. And, you know, and that wasn't the only one. It was just like it was a recurring thing in my life. And honestly, it showed me that it's like, okay, why do I keep ending up in these situations?

You know, like, what is it about me? You've been in more than one relationship that was that way? Yeah. And I think that was like the wake up call for me. And it was just like, finally it was like, no. Was that like some, anything you saw as a kid or anything like that? Or just, no, like, you know, like my parents fought, but parents fought, but my dad would never lay a hand on my mom. It was just I didn't know my own value or my own worth.

And me being such a strong, independent person, I challenge someone who's not strong and independent. And I found myself constantly in relationships where they were trying to control me and I really I can't be controlled and um so what happens you know with a weaker individual you know they don't know how to show their strength except to beat somebody down and um you know like in high school being in like, I just can't imagine. I can't even,

I can't, I cannot imagine a scenario of, of, of feeling that way, you know, of being abused like that. I also can't even fathom, uh,

hitting a female. I can't fathom, uh, like child abuse or anything like that. So if I watch TV and that comes on, it would be great to like learn more about it, but I can't fathom uh like child abuse or anything like that so if i watch tv and that comes on it would be great to like learn more about it but i can't watch it i'm like this is just too it's too i have my own kids and stuff like that and it's just it's like it's just too much for me to even handle so the fact that you're able to pull yourself through some of that is awesome

because now you're on the other side of it and you can speak to people and you probably help thousands and thousands of people. I think it's awesome. You're able to have the strength to pull yourself out of it. How were you able to kind of pull through some of that? You just, you learn to just say no. And as easy and as simple as that is, it's the hardest thing in the world because you get to the point where you accept that that's just your life, you know. And, you know, the biggest criticism I hear from, you know, the ignorant public is that, oh, well, she waited too long to come out about it. So it must be made up. through rape has someone who has been through physical abuse um you don't feel comfortable or confident coming out with that because you hold so much shame that that happened to me and i it infuriates me when people are like oh she waited too long to come out and i'm like you

have no idea the mental battle and fortitude that she had to muster to even come out at all and it takes so much time. And eventually you just have to say enough is enough. Does it even register exactly what has happened? Or do you kind of like justify it? It takes time. And honestly, like it was just I acted on instinct. And it was just like, I have dogs with me.

And it was just like, I'm not going home. And I literally, it was a coworker and she was looking at me. And I guess like I'm not going home and I literally it was a co-worker and she was looking at me and I guess like I looked petrified and she was like I'm not gonna let you go home judging by your body language right now and I grabbed some overnight stuff called my parents I was like and that was like the biggest like ego like swall. It's like, I'm coming home. And it was the best thing for me. You know, like doing that, it was just like a breath of fresh air that I was like, oh my God, like I'm out. Like, I don't, I don't have to go back to that. And it was regaining that ground and regaining my life back. And it's like, oh my gosh, like I do have control over my life. Like,

I don't have to accept that as my reality. And I think that was the biggest lesson of just knowing that you have control over your life. You're giving them control by not doing anything, by not saying anything. And it's like, it's not always safe to stand up to them, but you can always walk away. And I think it's just knowing that you can. And regardless if you think you don't have anywhere to go, there are countless outlets that you can look up. There are countless people who will be willing to help you. And it's just learning to swallow that shame and swallow that ego and be like, you know what, for my betterment, for my longevity, I need to step out. Did you have any, like, friends or other friends other than this woman that you just mentioned that, like, ever did try this for you or like maybe I know encourage you to leave but maybe at the time you just weren't ready um I was very private so actually nobody knew about anything going on and even this

friend like she didn't know anything that was going on um I never spoke about it never told anybody even through like our whole separation process I never mentioned it and you never told your parents no never said anything to them like they had speculations but I think the best part was that they never pressured me either like they were they were like you'll tell us when you're ready and when I finally like felt comfortable to talk about things to be able like strong enough to even talk about things it was just able, like, strong enough to even talk about things. It was just, like, no, all of this happened. And even now, like, I'll start to remember things that, like, I had pushed back so far in my memory that, like, I forgot even happened. And I'm, like, oh, my gosh, like, I endured that. And, you know, it's crazy, like, to realize that it's, like,

almost like an out-of-body experience because you go into like that type of traumatic event like most of the time they're not going to talk about it most of the time they're not going to share that and they're just going to internalize it and you have to learn to study body language and study how they act around men and how they act around like other female companions like if they're a little bit like, oh, well, maybe she'll look too deep inside me. Like then it's like, OK, there's something going on with her. And I think I've I've become hypersensitive to other women and I can I can pinpoint as soon as she walks in the room. And it's really helped me. Like, I mean, I've had neighbors I've had to call the cops on because I knew something was going on. And I had to wait till I heard something to be able to call the cops.

And it was just like, because I knew it, like just seeing her every day, I was like, something's going on. And it's like, it makes you hyper aware. And I'm so thankful for that. Like, I'm so thankful that I have the ability now to reach out to those women and reach them on a level that they understand because I've been there. Have you had to get help for it? Um, yeah, like there it's been, it's taken years for me to be like, be able to, to be comfortable to talk about it and to even repair my relationship with men. So like when I first came out of that, like I was super bitter, like super, like I came across as like super, like I was super bitter, like super, like I came across

as like super tough, like the ice queen, you know, like don't get close to charity, like sharp your heart out. Like, you know, like, you know, nobody knew what had actually happened. You know, they just thought that I was just super like abrasive and, um, they didn't understand that I was just protecting myself because I was so tender and broken on the inside. And it took a lot of consoling, actually, from my physical therapist that I was studying under. And he mentored me and he used to do like Reiki and stuff like that. And he just like every day would just pour love and light into me. And then, you know, repairing my relationship with my dad and my mom, that helped a ton.

It was like, honestly, it wasn't me going to therapy, but it was therapy. And it was just learning to communicate and have relationships again that were healthy relationships. To somebody who hasn't had these experiences, they hear about someone in an abusive relationship, and they're just like, why do you keep going home? Like, just leave. How are you able to find strength to, you know, like you said, just not go home? Like, I'm sure you had your dogs with you, which was great, but I'm sure there was something at home that you were attached to that you were kind of afraid that you maybe might not ever see again. Or, you know, just because like you hear people say like, oh, I've put too much time into this relationship to leave now or I've done this or I've done that I've invested this and

that um what you know yeah basically how did you find the strength to just not go home I think it was just honestly it was an impulsive decision on my part I wish i i had a better explanation um or like an escape route for someone but maybe some maybe some just uh maybe some thought was developed in your head of like this just isn't this yeah this is not working for me anymore i can't i cannot live this way anymore i think i think that's honestly that's all it was It was just like I cannot go the rest of my life living like this. I'm either going to commit suicide or I'm just not

going to be myself anymore. It was like I either lose myself to this world or I lose myself completely. That thought scared me more than the uncertainty in my future. I would rather jump off this cliff right now than lose myself completely do you have any advice for like

because there are probably a lot of like people that are friends and they they know like maybe they're like uh their cousin or i don't know one of their friends is getting abused and they don't necessarily know what to do because they can't just... Do you think that they should just continuously talk to that individual or just be there for that individual? What do you think they should do? I think it's just being there and being consistent. It's like the friends that were there for me and that were just consistent. They were just stable. We're still friends. They never imposed. They were just stable. We're still friends, you know. They never imposed. They never forced my hand. They never made me feel like I didn't have an option. And

they were the ones that were there for me when I was moving, when I needed, you know, friends. And like one of my girlfriends, like she was there at my new place, like every night to make sure I was okay. And, you know, and it wasn't like she gave me an option. It was like, Hey, I'm coming by. It was like, great. You know? Um, and she invaded my space and I needed that because like, I'm so introverted anyways. And like, she forced me to open up myself and just learn to like live again and to be comfortable living in that space and um honestly like having her there for me through that like that time of just adjusting um was huge and it's like you know sometimes like they're not gonna want you to be there for them

and you just kind of have to be there for them and just be like no I'm here and we don't have to talk about anything but I'm just gonna be there and we're gonna eat or I'm gonna clean your house like I'd have friends come over and they'd clean my house for me and it was just like what are you doing and they're like I'll just you know sit down whatever and like they didn't give me an option they were just there for me and like having those types of friends, like it was just priceless. It was priceless. Yeah. So I usually recommend for people is to, you know, just if you, if you are a friend and

you see something like that going on, somebody's abusing drugs or they're being abused themselves or they're all you can really do you know and the drug abuse thing is a way different animal but all you can do is just really tell someone like i'm here for you like whenever you're whenever you're ready because when you kind of lend yourself out to somebody yeah i guess even in your situation it would be the same thing if i if i keep telling you like i'm here for, I'm ready to help you whenever, if you don't want the help, then there's, I can't really do, I can't really do much for you, but whenever you're ready. And I think that's the key is just to tell somebody, look, when, you know, I'm here for you. Uh, I got your back. However, however I can help. If I need to come

over and do your dishes, if I need to mow your lawn or walk your dog, or like, if I need to do something, I'll, I'll do'll do it um but then again not putting too much pressure on the person to maybe reveal all of what's going on and all that kind of stuff yeah I think just the company um is what builds that security for them and that trust because they don't feel like they have to reveal anything but at the same time you get so comfortable with that person and there's that trust established that it starts giving you hope. What was the worst of it? I mean, you said you like locked yourself in the closet.

That sounds fucking crazy. I can't I can't fathom that. I mean, this is this is physical abuse I'm imagining. Yeah, I mean, it was it was a lot of things you know and of course like towards the end of it I wasn't perfect either because you you become so bitter and traumatized that you start lashing out too and it just became just one toxic mess and um but yeah I think when you like you like, I mean, like. I mean, my jaw still unhinges to this day, you know, like I mean, like I've I've received my eventually escalated to, but it was really, it was verbal and it was emotional.

And the physical shocked me. And it was just like, I didn't expect that. And that's when I was like, I got to get out. Because I've been down this road before and there's no coming back from this there's once you cross that line there is no hope of return and it's like you know being in that something people should understand then yes absolutely and it's like you know once that line is crossed you know like you can go to therapy you can work through verbal and emotional abuse because you know like obviously there's something in that person's life that has made them that way you know and they've got demons that they need to work on and um and

I was so sympathetic and I was so empathic towards him and it's like you know he's had a hard life you know like I was so forgiving and then like once that line is crossed, it's like, oh, no, like I got to get out now, like ASAP. And, you know, and signs are like, if that happens and then the next day they act like it didn't happen. And then it's like, oh, no, you came at me or you attacked me and the total denial of it. And I was just like, oh, you're a psycho. Got it. And it was like and I started processing all of these things so it's like you know like it helps you know like I consider myself like smarter than average but it's like it helps being like okay like I've seen this before like

I've been down this route before like you're not acknowledging your actions, which means that, like, you weren't yourself in that instant, which means this is going to happen again. And, you know, someone that can't acknowledge that they're doing these things and they're in complete denial, it's a psychological mishap, you know, like, where they're really, like, they know it's there, but it's like they're not recognizing it in themselves because it's so bad and they don't want to recognize that it's there. And when you're in those types of relationships, you know, you see the other partner, it could be females like this too, you know, and they make excuses for them. Oh, she just, she had too much to drink or he just had too much to drink or he just wasn't like himself, you know, and they make excuses for them. And I think understanding that, no, once that line's crossed, it will be crossed again.

And you need to get out as soon as possible because that person doesn't even realize what they're doing because they're not willing to. People that are irrational, they have a different set of rules. You know, you can't apply rational thought to people that are irrational. It will not work. Right. I've had many, there's a lot of abuse and drug abuse and all kinds of stuff kind of throughout my family.

And that's something I had to learn kind of the hard way is like this. This is the way that things are. And yeah, they might be able to change a little bit. They can make some changes, but for the most part, sometimes these people are just irrational and there's not really a way to get them back to thinking rationally. They're,

they're just, I don't even know how to put it into words, but for whatever reason, they, they, uh, just react and do things differently than most of us. They have a different way of

coping with things that just doesn't add up in in the real world doesn't make any sense and doesn't make uh living a fulfilled life possible it makes it impossible and so you know i learned that with my oldest brother who he ended up dying of a drug overdose and i spent so much time and energy always trying to like kind of i guess make sure he was okay and make sure like he wouldn't fly off the handle and these different things and uh my wife is the one who told me she's like you know you need to just stop you know applying rational thought to someone who's irrational i was like just stop me dead in my tracks and i was like holy shit she's fucking right like i'm I'm wasting my time I'm

this is causing me a lot of heartache and if I just realize that he's just that way like that's the way that he is then I can live with that and I don't need to try to put him in any sort of box or he doesn't have to have any rules right so maybe for some reason for somebody it makes sense to abuse drugs or abuse another person but uh it's not going to fit well into somebody else's life. And that's where we run into problems. Right. That was amazing that you shared that with us. I really, that's, I know it's got to be, that's got to be really, really hard.

What are some things that, what are some things that you learned going through that process? what are some things that you learned going through that process? Because I think that I think therapy, it's unfortunate why you had to go to therapy, but I think therapy and even like meditation and some of these things and self-reflection, I think these are powerful things that I think everybody should kind of go through because of what they can kind of reveal. What are some things that you learned that you still utilize today that help you in your day to day? Just honestly, that self-reflection of just being honest with yourself. You know, I learned coming out of it, like being in that type of relationship developed

things in me that I wasn't proud of and characteristics in me that I had to forge in order to defend myself that I didn't need anymore and it didn't have to be that way anymore and being learning that you don't have to be bitter and you don't have to be marked by your past and treat people based on your past experiences is huge. And that was the biggest learning lesson is regaining that vulnerability and learning that there's strength in vulnerability and being able to be sensitive and open with people is it shows a huge amount of strength than being closed off and abrasive and cold. And, you know, that shows that you're truly healed and you're truly strong enough to be able to be that way with someone. And then, you know, it's just

that meditation. And I think just being completely honest with yourself that you're not perfect either. And you've got some things to work on. C.T. Fletcher told me a really amazing story. And he was abused as a kid, all growing up, all the way to the point when he heard his dad's keys. And when his dad would come home and open up the door, that he'd be terrified. He knew he was going to get beat. And he just couldn't do anything right. He couldn't talk right. He couldn't walk right.

If he was chewing food a certain way, he'd get hit. I mean, just, just, it was a nightmare. He got abused his whole, his whole life. And as he got older, you know, he thought, you know, his dad's getting older and his dad's, you know, ill. And he just thought, you know, at some point his dad's going to be like, hey man, you know, I'm fucking sorry. You know, like I, I shouldn't have done, I shouldn't have done those things, but I did them because of A, B and, Hey man, you know, I'm fucking sorry. You know, like I, I, I shouldn't

have done, I shouldn't have done those things, but I did them because of A, B and C or whatever, you know, it was really complicated story. Cause CT Fletcher's dad was put up on a pedestal because he was, uh, um, he was like a minister or a priest or a minister, I believe. And, uh, so in the community, he was so loved and people uh respected him so well and ct was always kind of confused it's like my dad's a fucking asshole like what are you why are you people worshiping this guy this guy's an animal and uh anyway as years went on and on you know his dad was like probably i don't know if his dad's passed yet or, or what the deal is, but his dad was like in his eighties and CT, uh, they did like a documentary on him.

And so they go and they see his dad and he he's, he's okay with his dad. He's got like a relationship with him, but it's not good. His dad doesn't talk much. And, uh, they did this, this documentary on CT and they kind of thought like the, the dad and CT would have like a heart to heart and, and the dad would say hey you know what yeah you know what son i am so i shouldn't have laid a hand on you and i i made a lot of mistakes in my life his dad never did it his dad never he never did it and he didn't ct was like left kind of confused and i don't know if he saw a therapist or if it was a friend or who it was but uh or maybe even uh i think maybe ct

even told me it just came to him one day that he needs to go to his dad and apologize and that that would and that that would sever the feelings that's because the feelings were from ct right feelings weren't from the dad the dad was like immune to it because his dad's fucking crazy or his dad's irrational right right and so ct's like oh well maybe if i try this maybe this would work so ct goes to him and says i'm sorry i was never the son that you wanted and he said boom cured like that he said just gone all the animosity all the stuff he ever felt he's like he said his dad had no reaction his dad's just stonewalled but he already knew that he knew his dad was going to be like that and i thought like holy shit man like you know the ct

fletcher telling me that story i already i already think ct fletcher is the greatest one of the greatest people i've ever met and uh you know right then and there i was like wow i was like this guy's this guy's made of something different than the rest of us. That's an unbelievable story to be able to do that. But it severed that feeling that he had. He just, whatever that weight was that's been on his back all those years, it finally lifted off his back. And it was because of just him kind of thinking a little differently about it. Him getting a different perspective into it.

You have to. It's crazy you say that because there was a point where um just you know if anyone's going through divorce you like you understand like there's a process you have to go through and um there was a point where it's like I just wanted to so badly just to be able to communicate and without the animosity and everything else like the finger pointing and the blaming game and like I never got an apology from him. And I was the one who apologized first. And it was just like, I'm sorry, I wasn't enough for you.

Like clearly, like I wasn't enough for you. And from that point forward, like it's unfortunate that like I was so disengaged that like there was no chance for us. Right. And he had so much repentance from that point and like I actually saw him like I'm sorry like I agree like I did this this this this and this but there was so much like because they are crazy people there was so much like he would do that and then expect me to take him back and then I think that's something that like people should be aware of too it's like there's gonna be like they're gonna be like oh no

I'm sorry like take me back do this do that and then you have to remain strong and be like no like I can't go back to somewhere and be happy where I lost that happiness like that's not going to happen. But, you know, I received so much healing by forgiving him. And it was like when I no longer had that hatred and animosity towards him, like I was able to change as a person and to grow and be who I needed to be and know myself. And had I not forgiven him, I still would probably be better and hurtful towards other people, but it brought me healing. It's such an easier way to communicate with people, even in just your day-to-day, and even if you're an employer or an employee, it's just so much easier to go to somebody and say, hey, man, I'm sorry.

I think I might have screwed that up a little bit, even if you don't even feel that way. It does a lot for you. And then, you know, we talked last night about that, you know, getting, gaining perspective into, uh, you know, how somebody else feels. I even talked about like, just trying to set up an appointment. If I text charity and say, um, Hey, what are you doing on Wednesday at noon? Well, now I just dumped a lot of anxiety on her. She's like, shit, man, Wednesday's, you know, pretty full. I got yoga, I got lifting, I got, right. She got all these, all these things going on. Right. And if I just came from a different perspective and, uh, said, Hey, there's probably no way you can squeeze me in a noon on Wednesday. Well, now from her side of it, she's

going to go out of her way to be like, Hey, you know what? Actually I can make time. I can meet you at like one. And so it solves the problem. And so sometimes just telling somebody you're sorry or gaining perspective into, because really all you're looking for is, is you're, you're trying to gain a result when you communicate, you're trying to get, you're trying to like get something, you know, as much as we don't want to say that we're always like selling something or selling ourselves or selling an idea or selling a concept and i want you to buy it and if i want you to buy it then i might have to come from your side of things and say hey you know what do you think about this and it might uh be a a more clear message it might be a little easier to communicate yeah hey charity you mentioned something um i think it was your PT did something like Reiki

or in there. Yeah. What is what is Reiki? So Reiki is like energy healing. And it essentially is you pick out like the negative energy in someone and you basically like absorb it and then put in good energy into them. And I think it's just the concept of it is just understanding that you bring an energy into every room that you walk into. Yeah. And when someone walks in and you can feel like you can feel the weight of their energy is just being sensitive to that. And it's like,

okay, how can I pull this out of them and bring some light into their life? And just understanding that concept. And like, he was such a light in my life of just pouring love and understanding and just understanding that concept. And like he was such a light in my life of just pouring love and understanding and just letting me talk and from a nonjudgmental or like biased place, just listening was so therapeutic for me. And it helped me understand a lot about myself and then also helped me understand a lot about other people and learned for me just to be a better friend um a better coach a better worker just like everything just

to be able to be in business situations and like when you walk into a room like you have to carry a certain air about you like you can't just walk into somewhere introduce yourself to people and like have this terrible attitude and this terrible energy because they're going to sense that whether they're sensitive to it or not like something in them is going to be repulsed by you and you have to be inviting you have to be light as a person to attract other people to you so that whole kind of practice is all about i guess adjusting or making sure that you're bringing a certain energy to every single situation you go through because you can't control the energy. Yeah. Literally letting go of negative energy. Okay. Like do you do any like other type of like, I guess, meditative practices along with that? Is that just, or how does that mix in with everything else? So like, yeah, I'm a little weird. Like I do the whole crystals and like

everything else. Like I'm, I'm all about it because I believe that like when you bring in a certain energy and like if I'm having a really terrible day, like if I just sit and I meditate and I really think about like, okay, what kind of like attitude and persona am I bringing into like the room right now? And like I need to clean this up. And I think it's just the ritual of cleaning up your attitude and cleaning up your perspective and your mindset and your energy. And when you are so like in tune with who you are and you call yourself out on your own bullshit, like I think that's so healthy and like you don't need crystals.

You don't need Reiki to do that, but it's just like, that's just something that like helps to remind me to be a certain way. It's putting you into that mindset. Right, right. It's just a reminder for me. Yeah, I'm into some of that weirdness as well.

I do think that, you know, it's part of the reason why Super Training Gym was created. It's like we need people to have like-minded thoughts to get the results that we're looking for. Even like today, for example, like as soon as we're done here, I'm getting out of here and I'm going to the beach and I'm just going to be by myself for a day. And I'm doing like a dopamine fast. No phone, no music, just me and a book. And like I've never done it before. So and no, no food, no, no nothing. So just, you know, I don't know.

I just like to try different things. Yeah. And, you know, maybe I'll learn something from it. Maybe I learn it was stupid self-reflecting yeah maybe i learned it's dumb and i didn't like it but whatever i'll still learn something or maybe i learned something useful from those crystals i don't know shit yeah i'll be like i bought the wrong crystals yeah don't do that don't let anybody touch them either oh and it gets all messed up yeah yeah you don't want somebody else's

energy in your stones messing up my chi oh snap damn then you have to go through a whole sage and moon cleansing ritual

we need sage we do need sage that's the second time today sage has come to without us influencing it at all it's the second time

it's a sign it's a sign you both do yoga like for you is that like a spiritual practice too or is it just for like you mean it's like recovery for me recovery for you honestly like it it just yeah yeah it's meditative and like i think just knowing your body so well and then like also knowing that like okay like that's tight need to work on that but like just knowing like how your body is functioning in a movement and like understanding like, okay, that shouldn't feel that way. This should move this way.

Yoga has taught me to be so in tune with my breathing and how my body feels that like when I'm lifting in the gym, like I feel more like that my muscle connection. In yoga, like they do simple practices. connection in yoga like they do simple practices like i think we can all agree that you know if like you had like a lot of stress in your neck that you're probably just stressed right and you internalize all of that through here yeah this all day long for whatever reason right and in yoga they'll just say you know they just want you to like breathe through it so they want you to think about like they might say think about relaxing your left trap. And it's like, you just never think about that or relax your left shoulder, decompress your left shoulder. And it's just, um, a way to kind of just lighten up a little bit. And you're like, then when you kind of check some of that and you go through your checklist of things that are going

on, you're like, why in the hell is that so tight? What the hell is wrong with me? Why am I, you're just like holding on like everything's just so balled up and you're like i need to really just try to relax and so it is it is a really good practice it's very similar to uh it's very similar to meditating i i didn't realize how similar it is to meditating until but there's a lot of different forms of yoga there you have particular ones that you like i like um in Vasa or like flow yoga. So just going into like one movement into there and learning to connect the dots. That's what I used to practice like before I got into powerlifting.

So that's kind of what I revert back to. Like they are the ones who like invented like the inversions and the headstands and stuff like that. Yeah, that stuff's hard. So how does somebody get going with some strongman stuff? You and I talked yesterday a little bit about how we just think it's a good idea. It's a good practice to implement like strongman and competing as a strongman athlete is like a separate thing. But even just in terms of fitness, even in terms of the girl that aspires to be built like yourself, have some good muscle mass. Like how should they incorporate some strongman movements?

Well, you know, it's really hard to even find strongman implements in like the average gym, right? And I think it's just having the concept of like a farmer carry is going to benefit everybody. We talked about this, right? everybody we talked about this right like we talked about this last night but it's like you know things like the farmer carry is like so basic and you can do with dumbbells you can do with barbells you can do with like easy curl bars you know like plates or plates just anything you know kettlebells um but it's learning to contract

your core stabilize your spine you know walk with your shoulders back and you know you fixes your gait but it develops so many good things, you know, walk with your shoulders back and, you know, it fixes your gait, but it develops so many good things about, you know, your body and your stabilization. You know, just the concept of like interval training and that high intensity of like going from implement to implement and not giving yourself that break. And you've got like a certain time period to complete things. And what it does is it pushes you to like 99 capacity, but you're doing it in such a speed where it's like, you're also getting like the cardiac benefit from it. And then you get rest afterwards.

Like, I think that type of training is so beneficial for type two fibers and just muscle development and power that a lot of people miss out on. Some stuff that we were doing here in the gym and we, it comes and goes, but like we were doing here in the gym and we, it comes and goes, but like we were doing like farmer's carries with some dumbbells. And then we would just do like a walking overhead press. And then it just kind of like almost making it up.

There was no like science to it. Just like, Hey, let's pull or drag or push or walk with, you know, three or four different movements. And we might like push a sled, but it's fun.

Yeah. It's a lot of fun. And the variety of the way that you can push yourself is crazy because you can do it for an extended period of time. You can say, hey, we're just going to go through this for as many rounds as we can for 10 minutes or 12 minutes. Or we're just going to, we're going to go as heavy as we can with this, which is a way different feel.

And I think that it would be really wise for people that want to get into some of this. Just implement like one strongman movement at the end of two or three workouts per week. Just pick something. You know, you could put a weight on your back and you can walk with it. Right. Which would be like a yoke walk or you can just hold some dumbbells and uh you know do a variation of every once in a while do it for a length and every once in a while do it for weight try to have some weight in your hands doesn't have to be complicated right right no

it's it could be so simple but what it does is it just maxes out you know your thresholds you know so building up that work capacity of like pushing past your barriers of like, oh, well, I can only do this many reps in a minute. It's like, no, you're capable of doing a lot more reps in a minute than you think you are when that timer starts going. And I think doing things like that teaches you to push past that wall. And I think as a competitor, it's so important to learn to work past that wall that you hit, you know, because we all hit it, you know, And it's like that exhaustion hits and you're like, oh man, how do I keep going?

And then it's almost like an out-of-body experience where you go into just overdrive. It's like, no, just keep moving. And when you learn to work past that, then it's like you get to the point where it's like, well, I've been there before. I can get through it. Has the strongman stuff helped your body composition?

I'd say it did. Like, obviously, it increased my muscle mass significantly. Just learning to move dynamically with so much weight on me, you know, and it developed muscles that, like, I didn't even know existed. And just, yeah, so just building up your bone mass, you know, your ligament, your tendons, everything. Like it just helps strengthen everything so much. And it's, yeah, like it's something

that I can always go back to. But just by having more muscle through your arms and your shoulders. Yeah. And your legs, your shoulders and your legs or hamstrings and things like that, I mean, it allows for you to not eat like a bird, right? I mean, you still want to follow some like nutritional protocols so that you stay healthy and so that you look the way that you want. But when you're getting after it and training like this, I'd

imagine you can eat a decent amount of calories and have a little slack in the system. Is that right for you? Or do you have to really, really hone in on your nutrition? For me specifically, like I can like have like maybe one day out of the month where I'm just like eat whatever I want. Or like, or, you know, just like if I'm traveling, it's like, okay, I'm not going to. Cheat day or a couple of cheat meals or something. Yeah, like that's fine. But for me specifically, just because like in high school and stuff, I had so many eating disorders.

I have to be super careful about what I put into my body. And I have to be super attentive of like the types of food that I'm putting in my body. So honestly, yes, with Strongman, it taught me that it's okay to eat more than 2000 calories. And that was fantastic. But I had to make sure that those 2000 calories were coming from things that were whole foods and not processed foods to be able to recover and perform the way that I needed to. And those things might be triggers too, right? If you have things that aren't, that't, that are processed foods, it might kind of lead you down the wrong path. Like, you know, we were saying this morning, like how I felt hung over from eating sugar and carbs because I've been so clean with my diet, you know, since coming off

the Titan Games that I haven't allowed myself to have pizza or have anything sugary like that. And I've stuffed my face with Oreos and I had pizza yesterday. And I woke up this morning and I was like, I feel swollen. Like my joints feel stiff. Like, and I'm like, oh my gosh, I feel hung over. And it's like, you don't realize how negatively that type of food can affect you until you go without it. And it's like, yeah, it's fine to have.

And obviously it's not going to negatively affect my body because like I'm so used to eating healthy foods. But it just shows me that it's like, OK, like I'm prepared that I'm not going to feel optimal after eating things that I'm not accustomed to. Do you have any like fitness information online that people can follow? Like how are you able to lose the 20 pounds, you know, coming off the Titan Games? And can someone look up some of that information of how you've been able to do things like that um i don't necessarily post like okay here is like my regimen like if they want one-on-one coaching um i do all of that through my site i am charity strong.com oh cool um and i also share

more about my story after the titan games you are fucking strong this is just this is just so this is so cool to watch like you just like oh it's 210 pound ball looks like it weighs four pounds one motion i think that was like my my biggest thing in like strongman it's like log and stones were like my favorite and it's those knee sleeves um for sure but with um stones it's such a tricky movement and honestly a lot of the female strong women aren't the best at it so i'm like that person that's like okay what are people not the best at and then i want to be good at that and you know being able to to lift a 315 stone was like my goal and to be able to do that and accomplish that and say that I did it was like the biggest thing for me because like that's that's like record, you know, weight.

And, you know, so it's just it's empowering to do things like that that are so awkward and so difficult and so technical that people don't realize how technical a stone load is. I saw Jill Mills do a 300 pound stone at the Arnold Classic. And it was the coolest thing that I've ever seen. It was, it was amazing. One of the coolest parts about it was that she got really stuck with the weight for a minute. And then she used her boobs to her advantage and got it up on her boobs and

then, and then chucked it. Yeah. I was like that. That's a good use. Yeah. Yeah. Talk about racking a weight.

Well, but really, like, for me, it's like, if I can just get it into my lap. Yeah. I've built so much posterior strength that it's like, I know I can triple extend and get it up. But it's in the initial, like, pull onto your lap. It feels like a million pounds. Oh, my gosh. You know, all the forearm. You ever tried that before?

I've never tried a stone before. I've always wanted to, to see how it feels. You have good mobility. You would, you would be pretty good. Cause you got to be able to bend really well from like the hips. And then like unhinge your, everybody's like, oh, you're going to hurt your back. And it's like, you have to unhinge your shoulders to even get your arms around the stone. I might be mistaken, but do you, I read somewhere.

Do you have scoliosis? I do. How does like, How does this work? So with scoliosis, it's actually so beneficial to train your back. Because if you don't, then you're going to constantly be in the chiropractor's office and you're going to need spinal surgery. Mine's not too severe. I've got a little bit of a C up towards my thoracic

spine. I thought you were walking a little weird. It's slight, but it's enough that when I was doing Strongman, it's painful. Especially doing things like yoke. It's very painful for me. I feel the scoliosis. It's a strange thing to say,

but I do feel it sometimes only with severe weight. But, you know, you train the muscles to keep your bones in line. And if you don't, then, you know, you're going to be in the doctor's office a lot. So build a strong back. Yeah. That's. Do you track your calories or anything like that? Or you just like have a particular way that you like to eat?

Or how does it work? I wish that I had just had a particular way I like to eat. No, I track everything. And it's so annoying for me. You weigh stuff and all that stuff? Yeah, yeah. Like I hate it. It's so tedious.

But it works for you. I do it, yeah. I do it, you know, like with every meal, I make sure I've got four ounces of meat. You know, I've like weighed my rice if I'm having rice that day. I even weigh my veggies, stuff like that. A lot of people don't track their veggies, but I do. Just because I want to know how many micro and macro nutrients that I'm putting in my system.

The biochemist in me is very anal about that. As tedious as it is, it's made a huge difference for me. Do you do that year-round, or do you have times where you like kind of like just don't want to pay attention to it? I think going forward, I'll probably do that for the rest of this year just because I'm going to have to be more careful because obviously my training is going to be about to change severely. And I want to make sure that I'm getting all of the vitamins and nutrients that I have

in my system to heal properly and come back. And also like if I'm going to be mountain biking and swimming and hiking this year, I need to make sure that my endurance is up. So, you know, getting the type of nutrition you need for that is different as well. Is this kind of just based off of your own knowledge, your own conclusions, or do you kind of follow something in particular from somebody else? So I had a really fantastic nutrition coach, Jasper Price, and he helped me get ready for the Titan Games and then even lose my weight coming off the Titan Games. What he did is he taught me about my body and learned that, okay, I have food sensitivities

because I did have eating disorders. And so there are certain things that I can't eat, I can't digest. And learning that about myself and learning like, why am I so inflamed? Oh, I can't have egg whites. What? Like stuff like that. Like you wouldn't even imagine like causing that type of inflammation in you. He has taught me so much about that. And just learning how to properly feel my body as unique as it is. And going from there, I've been able to adjust my macros. And, like, just because he's taught me so much about how to take care of myself. I heard you mention that, like, some days you had carbs and some days you don't.

Do you, like, is that something that you did all the time with athletic competition? In powerlifting, I actually carb cycled a lot. Like, especially cutting for competitions. Just, like, have like have like a refeed of like carbs and that was just jasmine rice but um carb cycling did well for a time and then i had to switch it up and you know just like jay cutler was talking about you constantly have to like change things up but for me right now consistency is key and um i my body does well with carbs, but I have to time them correctly. And I have to time them around my maximum energy source so that my body learns to use carbs as an energy source instead of using it to produce fat. And it's learning to coach your body like body like okay this is what this is for

and you're you're essentially teaching your body how to use food and um so i time things very specifically around when my energy is and like when i'm sleeping and stuff like that so you'll have like carbs like maybe two or three hours before you exercise or something like that yeah about two hours before i exercise and then right right afterwards, and then that's it. Oh, wow. Have you ever played around with any fasting? I have. So I actually am a fan of intermittent fasting for myself specifically just because I get up so early that I'm not hungry in the morning,

and force-feeding myself in the morning actually caused me to be hungrier throughout the day. It makes me really hungry too. Yeah, so I'll just get up like i'll do my thing um and i'll probably eat around 10 or 11 and that's like the perfect time for me because then by then it's like oh i'm actually got an appetite and then i'll have like my chicken and broccoli and people are like why are you having that for breakfast i'm like well this is what i like and i'll eat that for breakfast. And like doing that actually like

helped me regulate insulin levels. It helped me like regulate, you know, my metabolism and even the hour window of like when I was capable of eating so that, you know, at night when I have cravings, like, well, I'm not eating at this hour, so I can't. And it eliminates like that, that possible craving, like, oh, oh well i've got like 500 calories left that i can eat like no your window's closed like can't eat yeah i think uh having a time a night where you stop eating is really wise uh limiting uh and potentially even eliminating completely snacking you know like have your have a meal yeah have your food like mean something now if you're somebody who's just getting on a diet you need a couple things here and there to

help get you to the next meal like a cheese stick or an apple or something it's like that's pretty reasonable i can i could get on board with that and i even sometimes will advise somebody hey you know before you leave work have protein shake, because I know that when they go home, they're going to be so damn hungry. They're going to raid the cabinet and end up eating stuff that they're not supposed to eat. Um, but eliminating snacks can be really big, you know, paying more attention to the actual meals, a little bit of intermittent fasting, I think would serve everybody really well, whether it's a, just a 10 or 12 hour fast or whether you want to, you know, take it a little bit further than that. And then in terms of like having your body respond well to carbs or fat, it always just kind of comes down to if you if you're overdoing it.

You know, if you're over if you're overeating, if you're overeating fat, the fat will probably more likely become fat. If you're overeating the carbs and you're in excess calories, you're probably going to store fat. Yeah. Key is surplus. Yeah. And the same thing happens with health. And so somebody might say, look, a ketogenic diet, they did all these tests and they showed all these things it does for your health and what it does for your blood. And then they might say, well, they did a study with, uh, if it fits your macros and this, it looks like this and it's like, Hey, look, you guys are talking about the same thing. You're both talking about being somewhat in a caloric deficit or just even just having control over

your diet. And that's going to lead to a healthier lifestyle. So whatever diet you choose, uh, start to make some rules. And I think shutting it down at a certain hour is fantastic because that's probably the worst time of night for, that's the worst time of day for most people is, you know, probably between eight and 10 o'clock they're eating something that they shouldn't be eating. They should be trying to put a stop to it and maybe start their intermittent fasting. And their decision-making sucks at night. So that's when they start eating the worst foods too. Exactly. They want something that's like snack food, salty, sweet at night, so that's when they start eating the worst foods, too. Exactly. They want something that's snack food, salty, sweet. That's when the ice cream comes out.

Do you schedule your meals out? Because you mentioned you eat at 10 or 11, and then you eat before and after. Is everything scheduled out for you? It is now. So it was hard before when I was working for a corporate company, and my appointments were back-to-back. And there were some days where I wouldn't get some food about five hours in between meals. And that was really, really hard as far as like my training goes.

And now that I'm completely working for myself, I've been able to organize my appointments and my schedule in a way that I can eat every three to four hours. And that benefits me the best because I'm able to train at certain times. Like everything's got to be scheduled for me, for me to like get enough sleep, recover all of that. And if I don't have that organization in my life, like everything else just goes to shit.

Well, it's great that you're sharing all this nutrition information with us, but a favorite song around here is from Trinidad James. You know that song? Oh, God. And he says, you ain't a lady unless you're 180. So you got to stay at least within that range. At least within that.

Okay. Well. The 175 and up club. No promises there this year, but yeah. Where can people find it? Where can they find out more about you? You can look me up on Instagram, charity underscore wit, W-I-T-T, or you can look me up on noquitwit.com. That is sick.

That's awesome. Thank you so much for sharing all that. Some of that was pretty heavy, but I think it will help a lot of people. So thank you for the courage and the strength to share that information. Strength is never a weakness. Weakness is never strength. Catch you guys later.