The School of Greatness - 5 Graham Holmberg: World's Fittest Man on CrossFit and Turning Your Life Around

Episode Date: February 11, 2013

I've never seen someone turn their life around as much as Graham Holmberg. I've known Graham for nearly 10 years, and he had a completely different attitude and mindset on life back then. One of the best athletes I know, I'd watch him chew tobacco and drink his way through college as we'd play Dave […]

Hello everyone and welcome to the School of Greatness. My name is Lewis Howes. I'm an author, lifestyle entrepreneur, former pro athlete, and world record holder in football. My goal with the School of Greatness is to share with you stories from the most inspiring business minds, world-class athletes, and influential celebrities on the planet to help you find out what makes great people great. So please leave us a review over on iTunes and join us on the web at schoolofgreatness.com

to be notified of each episode when it comes out. Now let's get after it. Hey everybody, today I have the world's fittest man on to talk about what it takes to win what I would say is the most challenging physical contest known to man, the CrossFit World Championships. Now our guest, Graham Holmberg, is a personal friend of mine. I've known Graham since college. We were football teammates. We were both wide receivers at Capital University in Columbus, Ohio. I taught him how to play the guitar. We had many, many late nights playing poker in the college dorm and all sorts of amazing stories I could share with you at another time. But Graham is really the guy who got me back into shape. After I got injured playing professional football, after I was recovering, I went to Graham to figure out how I could lose the weight and really get back into peak performance.

I could lose the weight and really get back into peak performance. He told me about this new thing he was doing called CrossFit. And he introduced me to this workout that's really transformed the way that I run my life and my fitness levels. And Graham won the CrossFit World Championships in 2010. And has since then been to two other games, done extremely well, and continues to be one of the leaders in the CrossFit community. So I hope you guys enjoyed this interview as much as I enjoyed doing the interview with Graham. How are you doing, my man? Good, Luke.

Doing good? Yeah. So tell me, why are you so passionate about CrossFit? It's a pretty tough question to kind of nail in one easy sentence. It's almost the same kind of approach when somebody asks you, what is CrossFit? It's like, well, how much time do you got for me to explain it all? But I think my original start into CrossFit was just almost a pride thing. And an athlete and being competitive, it was like, there's a competition.

I want to go win it. And so my training was all designed just to be the best and go win. And as I kind of learned more about the sport, learned more about running an affiliate, being a personal trainer, and then just being involved with a great community of people, it's awesome to be a part of so many people's lives, to impact, to inspire, and just to be able to coach people on a day-to-day basis and just help people reach their goals just like I originally was able to reach my goal. Right. So tell me about, let's get back into kind of your youth. Tell me about your story as a kid.

Were you always an athlete or was this something you became an athlete later in life? Always an athlete. As far as I can remember, my dad always had me in sports. I had three older sisters, all were in sports. And my dad was my coach and probably the most competitive person I've ever met. And so I think that competitive streak obviously transferred into me. And just growing up, it was always, you've got to train harder than everybody that you're going against. Everybody's going to catch up. And I don't know if it was necessarily that, you know, I was born with just great athleticism or if it was just my dad just pushed me

to my, you know, my limitations and then beyond what I thought I could ever do. So as I grew up, it was just always instilled in me, give everything you got. You're at the field longer than everybody else until it got dark, always doing one more extra round one more extra set um doing the extra mile so that was just kind of growing up until until i kind of started reaching in high school and kind of almost started getting my own kind of a mentality of what i wanted with life and um obviously girls started coming to the equation uh the party scene everything started coming into play.

So views and my mentality and focus started kind of steering in a different direction. Right. So now we play college football together, obviously. And tell me about your experience in college because it's much different now from when college. You used to chew tobacco, drink a lot of alcohol. There was the girl thing all the time. Tell me about your experience in college, and did you feel like you were on your right path in college? I probably wouldn't have admitted it at the time,

but obviously looking back, I can definitely say I remember getting recruited by Division I schools for football and baseball in high school, offered scholarships. Because you were all state, right, in both football and baseball? I was all league in our school. But, again, kind of going back, just always remembering, hey, you need to keep training hard, training hard.

I was always one of the best athletes in our city growing up. And you kind of thought, oh, what he's saying isn't going to really ever apply. Everyone will catch up. And so that kind of started happening. Everyone started catching up. And at that point, I kind of lost some of that work ethic that I originally was instilled with. So, yeah, so almost going to a smaller Division III where I ended up playing football and baseball at probably was just shy of really the end result of what I probably could have got myself to if I had kept pushing hard. Now, did you end up becoming an All-American in baseball or All-Conference?

All-Conference. All-Conference? Yeah, All-Conference in baseball. Football, I had to end up changing positions because I was behind an All-American quarterback. Right. So I switched positions to receiver, but ended up starting half of our junior year and then all my senior year. Right.

So, yeah, it was just some adversities that happened and I had to change and had to start working hard to try to catch up. But almost at that point, it was almost too late for the sporting career that I originally kind of hoped and dreamed of. Baseball or football, right? Right. So now why do you think you partied so much in college? Because you partied pretty hard from what I remember.

Yeah, I don't know. I mean, it's funny to think of as I grow up. You know, you go to these, you hear these health classes and stuff of like peer pressure and this and that. And you're like, oh, no way, I'm above that. And it happens. I mean, it just, it flat out happens. And I think it was my sophomore year in high school, got introduced to dip and tried it, chewing tobacco. And I was like, oh, I actually kind of liked it.

So I started doing that on a regular basis, started partying, had older sisters. So I could get alcohol or if I wanted to smoke some weed or something, you knew the right people or could get connections. So, yeah, I mean, and then at the same time you're thinking, oh, I can still do this and I can still play sports and still be successful in my sports. It's not really slowing me down. It's not really going to, it's not going to hinder what I'm doing. Yeah. So once I started dipping, drinking, smoking weed, it wasn't, it really didn't seem to affect. Because you can still compete at a high level. Sure. You're a good enough athlete to compete in high school and in college. Yeah. And then obviously girls, I mean, it's just another distraction.

Right. Dating girls, in and out of relationships, and it's like, oh, that's not going to deter me from training or screw me up on the court or on the field. Yeah. And I really didn't see much problems with it because I was still successful and still had good performances and good games. But yeah, there was definitely, I could tell that there was a lack or there was a piece missing from my work ethic and just didn't excel or didn't perform to, I think, what

I always perceived that I was capable of. Right. Now, you don't do dip, you don't drink, you don't smoke anymore, right? Right. So what was the thing either during college or after college that made you decide that you wanted to give it all up? Yeah. Yeah, so obviously high school, still doing that. That carried right over through college.

Maybe got amplified a little bit more. Now you're living on your own. You didn't really have to hide anything from your parents as much because they weren't around. So it was just you doing your own thing and kind of experiencing life as your own young adult and trying new stuff um and it just like i said just kind of got amplified a little bit more but i was still able to you know get good grades and still compete still do well and uh it honestly lasted all the way through all the way through all my sports yep all the way through my senior year it wasn't until after I graduated from school or getting ready to finish graduating and had kind of a tragic accident happen with our family

with my cousin passing away in a car accident and it was a pretty pretty horrendous moment just just it kind of shocked me kind of shocked obviously our family and it just kind of resorted back to me always thinking oh I'm invincible. Had a fast car in high school, had a fast car through college and just making dumb decisions and thinking that it's not going to happen to me. That happens to other people, that it won't ever happen to me. And so when that moment kind of hit and kind of saw the kind of the broken family in the hospital, that started kind of tearing into my heart a little bit. I was raised and grown up in a Christian family, church going. Even a couple times through college, found myself in church a few times on Sunday mornings

just kind of knowing that there was something that I was getting tugged, knowing that there was something missing. Were you bringing the tobacco into church? No, I was not bringing it. So once that kind of started resettling in again, it was kind of the end of December of 2007, right after I'd finished school and graduated, that I decided to kind of get my life back on track with the Lord

and just kind of reaccepted Jesus Christ in my life and asked Him to be my Savior again and just lead me and direct me because, obviously, I was trying it on my own and it wasn't working and just didn't want to be kind of left by myself. I just, like I said, felt empty. How close were you with your cousin? Did you guys grow up together? Was he your age? No, I was 21.

He was 17, so he was a junior in high school. But he had just started maturing, started, kind of just reminded me of myself a little bit. He played different sports, played football, lacrosse, and wrestled. But he was starting to become a young man, starting to lift weights. And it was just cool to kind of see him. It always seemed like he was so young, and now he finally was growing up, and then to just get that kind of ripped from him. And it just hurt me because it was like that could have easily been me and he didn't get

experience the same stuff i could have and it just i almost saw in him some of the work ethic and stuff that i potentially wanted and uh yeah that just really just kind of tore into me so you think he had more of a better work ethic than you like coming into high school or coming and going into college i guess you think he was more focused. Was he kind of going off the path that you were or was he more straight focused? You know, I'm not real sure. You know, obviously I was always around him

multiple times throughout the year, definitely holidays. We lived just right next to the same cities, his mother, my mother, sisters. So it was, I never knew him as to be like a party kind of kid. He was always super quiet, really humble. I mean, he'd always just kind of have this little smile, kind of smirk, just always a happy kid.

And definitely I saw parts of me kind of in him with, you know, just kind of that happy, always kind of go lucky kind of personality. But I was definitely more, way more outgoing, a lot more pride, very cocky, and definitely was not going to be missed out at the party scene. And so I didn't know if that really is anything that he was connected with, but if it was, it was never anything obvious. So after you graduated college, where was your life headed at that point? You're chewing tobacco, you're smoking, you graduated college, where was your life headed at that point? You were chewing tobacco, you were smoking, you were drinking, you were doing the girl thing, the party scene.

Where was your life headed, and where do you think it was going to go if you didn't have this tragic accident in your family? Honestly, I thank the Lord that I don't know where it was going to end up going because, honestly, I didn't have a clue. I basically picked a very easy major through college. You were going to be a teacher, right? I was going to end up going because, honestly, I didn't have a clue. I basically picked a very easy major through college. You were going to be a teacher, right? I was going to be an art teacher because I kind of wanted to be a teacher and a coach, being involved with sports. And, yeah, I just didn't know, and I really didn't have a passion for that. But it was like this was an easy major.

I could do my art classes and stuff when I needed to on the side. And so, like I said, it was just empty. I just knew it was like, I'll end up figuring something else out. That was always kind of like my mentality. It was definitely a procrastinator and like, I'll figure it out when it comes up or when it's, when the pressure situation comes, I'll make a decision and it'll, it'll work. And, um, yeah, so I just didn't want to live like that anymore. So started to get a little bit more organized, started, uh, I think I picked up like three or four jobs right there in the beginning of January, uh, 2008 after the accident. Right. Um, I, uh, picked up a coaching job. So

the high school that my cousin went to, I became the freshman baseball coach there. And so that definitely just further helped me. It was like, I don't want to be a hypocrite to these kids and, and inspire them and coach them up and teach them the right habits. Um, if I'm doing bad stuff as well. So that kind of just, again, just furthered, um, really it was kind of all build up and help, you know, through my faith as well. And, uh, once, uh, once that started rolling, you know, things, good things started happening. I started working out a lot more, started finding myself back in the weight room again. And I was like, maybe I'm going to try to pursue going back after baseball again. And I'm just going to get in the best shape I possibly can and just be Mr. Hustle and just be the guy that just does all the dirt.

Scrappy. Everything that you have to do, the coach needs you to do, I'll do. And I always kind of used to despise that kind of player. Like, whatever, I'll just hit the home runs and strike people out and steal bases and just, you know, I'll be the star and make the stats work versus, uh, you know, being Johnny Hustle, I guess. So as conditioning and everything started rolling, I was like, well, maybe I'll be a personal trainer and help share this experience to people. And, uh, and that's about when we started training, right? Yeah. Yeah. So you had kind of left the capital for a while.

You were a year ahead of me and came back in. You were like, geez, you're going nuts in the workout room. And just, I got to do this with you. I remember you doing the 300 workouts, right? I was doing it like every day. I thought like that's what they did in the movie 300. They were doing that 300 workout every single day. So, yeah, I got pretty good at that workout.

And that was kind of like the first CrossFit type really workout that I was doing. But, you know, running, jumping, being an athlete is involved with CrossFit. Right. So when I started getting into CrossFit workouts more in detail, it wasn't a huge adjustment because it was like I've already been doing this stuff my whole life. Right. So when did you stop? When did you cut off all the bad stuff in your life? Was it right after the accident?

Was it progressive? It was cold turkey. It was cold turkey right there on that spot. No smoking, no drinking, no dip. You didn't have another pack of dip in your mouth, right? Right. Yeah, it's been, let's see, almost six years now. Wow.

So it was cold that day when you found out you stopped. Yeah, I made a decision to just completely wipe that stuff out of my life and not really let it control me anymore. Interesting. And do you feel like if you'd still be living that lifestyle, having the substances in your body, do you feel like you would have the opportunity to be a CrossFit world champion? I definitely can't say that that would be the same case. Right.

I definitely can't say that that would be the same case. Right. There's definitely a scripture that talks about water coming out of a spout being salt water or fresh water. And it can't be both. And so for me, I can't be this kind of party animal and live in my own lifestyle. And then also trying to pursue this dream that requires a different lifestyle. It's just not going to work. Right.

So I have made mistakes. I have drank, you know, since then. I've had, you know, a cigar with my, you know, with my, my father-in-law and, you know, out on a golf course or something. You get married. Yeah. I've gotten married. But as far as, you know, it's the drug consumption and, you know, drinking and partying multiple times throughout the week and weekend. It's not a part of your life. It can't be. So what was the, so you started training more, you started cutting the bad stuff out of your life.

What inspired you to get into CrossFit? How'd you find out about it? What really got you going? When I heard about CrossFit, I was still in school, and it was just one of my friends that I played football with. And he said, I see you working out at the Cap Center all the time. You should look into CrossFit. They kind of do the same stuff.

And I thought, no, what I'm doing is way harder than what anybody else is ever doing and i and i was kind of like almost yeah i still had a little cocky attitude with me and it was like i was challenged i would just flat out put the challenge to people i'm like i almost want to put a video out and just say anybody in the world wants to come try to beat me in these workouts you were a freak i remember it was insane so, um, it was kind of a fun kind of cockiness with it all, but at the same time, it was still kind of a learning experience and still developing the skills as I became a personal trainer and got more and more indelved with back with Olympic weightlifting and power lifting and introducing tires and, um, more and

more pull-ups, sandbags, just more awkward objects. Kettlebells. So I was really doing a lot of CrossFit movements that you incorporate in the games and every day in CrossFit gyms. I just didn't know that there was CrossFit affiliates that were doing that like we were doing at the facility I was training at. So my partner, or he was just another trainer at the same facility, he had kind of heard about CrossFit before I did and really didn't say too much because he wanted to go get certified and go learn more about it just for his own expertise. But the more he started looking into it and searching on YouTube and seeing these guys, he's like, you've got to do this, man. He's like, I think these guys can beat you in these workouts. And I'm like, no way. So we started looking into it, and I think that was when I saw, like, Jason Kalipa had just won the 2009 games. So that was the end of.

2008 games because you competed in the. Sorry, yeah, 2008 games. He had just won the games in 2008. So the end of 2008 and then the beginning of 2009, that was right when I first heard about it and started searching it. And so what happened next? You started training for it? You started. What happened?

Well, found CrossFit. Obviously got onto CrossFit.com and started looking at. And so what happened next? You started training for it. You started, what happened? Well, found cross, obviously got onto crossfit.com and started looking at what the workouts were. Right. And they didn't, they weren't that much different from what I was doing. They were just a little more organized. I was just kind of a,

uh, I was just crazy. I would just, I was almost like, just take as much movements as you can throw a bunch of reps with it and just kill it as fast as you can. Right. And,

um, and if you weren't dying on the ground, exhausted, you didn't go hard enough kind of idea so the uh so more kind of structure with my training also started happening as that structure training came around brandon my my friend and you know training partner at the time goes there's a regional coming up they they now have to have you have to qualify to make it to the games crossfit regional in 2009 and uh it was in may and i had about three months to prepare for it wow so he just started going nuts training really hard and i was super confident going into it telling my parents yeah best shape my life tell my parents i'm gonna win this thing come out watch me crush this

like this is what i do i'm beating these guys times i'm beating the previous champs times on the workouts that he's posting right so i was definitely ready for it uh 2009 regional rolls out and i get smashed on the first workout like it kicked my butt way better worse than like any workout ever did what was the first workout it was 21 15 9 275-pound deadlift and chest-to-bar pull-ups. Okay. So it just ripped my hands open like my back was fried, like my technique on kipping pull-ups wasn't as good as it needed to be at the time. This was regionals. This is at the regional level.

So I'd still really just learned how to do kipping pull-ups better, and that workout just smashed me. And then we had to come back later in the day and do a double kettlebell thruster and burpee workout was rough. And then we ended with like a long row, a 2000 meter row to finish the day. And, uh, the first workout was humbling. It was like, I was like 25th right after the first WOD. In regionals? In regionals. Wow. And I'm thinking, I'm going to win this. I'm just going to top. Top Top two go? Top. At this time, the setup to make it to the games was different. Okay.

So this region allowed the top six to make it. Okay. You're in 25th, and you've got to be in top six. Right. To go to the world championships. Yep. So I just kept clawing, scratching, fighting back. And last workout going into it, I think I was in seventh place.

So I was one place out to make it to the games. And ended up getting third on the final workout. Like third fastest time. By like two seconds, I was only right there, almost tied the first and second place. And jumped from seventh and got fourth place and qualified for the games. Wow. So kind of your make or break moment. You made it so you could at least qualify to see if you could compete at the games.

Right. Okay. So what happened next? You compete at the Games. Right. Okay. So what happened next? You go to the World Championship. 2009 Games. And honestly, just all the buildup and all the hype getting into that Regional, I felt like it just wasted my – I lost so much energy and so much focus and so much – Because you didn't win the Regional. Yeah.

So it was really, really exhausting mentally and physically, just all the hype building up for that Regional. Yeah. So it was tough for me to kind of refine that spark in my training. Right. I was almost burnt out. It was really, really exhausting mentally and physically, just all the hype building up for that regional. So it was tough for me to kind of refine that spark in my training. I was almost burnt out as the games kind of came up. But I was still in awesome shape. I was trying to get a little bit stronger. And I think I gained about five more pounds in the next couple of months to try to be stronger for the competition. And 2009 games, kind of the events start rolling out, and yeah, it just didn't do as well as I wanted.

Did you think you'd win in 2009? I was very high expectations. I felt, okay, I'm stronger, I'm still in great shape. I was confident that I was going to do very, very well. I didn't necessarily, I had the, you know, you wouldn't go out there and compete if you didn't think you were going to win. You weren't sure what to expect. Right. I had no clue what to expect.

I knew this was my first exposure to this whole event. First time ever going to California. So there's just a whole new experience involved with it. And, yeah, the event started kind of coming out. What were the results? Well, I ended up 19th out of, I think there was 74 guys. The first event was a 7K mountain run. Wow.

So there's no mountains in Ohio. So I really hadn't done any long distance, any kind of hill running. Yeah. So I got 56th on the first workout. Wow. So I just had to keep clawing and fighting back. And they made cuts after day one. And I think they took the top 16 to day two,

and I was 19th place. So I was three spots off of making it to day two. Wow. So tell me about how you felt after you got 19th in 2009. Well, I had my whole family basically saying, oh, you did so great, and everybody was so proud, so happy, and I was so disappointed because that was not what I had set out to do. And just watching the competition the next day, I should still be down there.

I should still be competing. I just messed up. It was like I didn't train right, and I was very, very upset and just almost upset. The people still competing, it was their fault that I wasn't down there with them still. But on the flight home, I turned to my parents. I'm like, I'm coming back. I'm going to win it next year. Because I knew that was my first exposure to this.

I know I can do this stuff. I know I can be better than these guys. And I just got to keep redirecting my focus and make sure that I'm training a little bit smarter not necessarily not training hard but training smarter versus just trying to just kill myself every day so then that whole next year was more just focused training a little bit more detailed structure of kind of what I was doing each day and then obviously started really focusing more on my technique and understanding the lifts better because there was a lot of kind of holes in my game and right and just my training approach stuff that i thought i knew or i could just kind of be athletic and muscle my way through it but it was it's not just a sport of just who's got the most capacity but it's technique and skill and uh you know mindset as well interesting

so you had a full year to think about getting 19th and losing basically when you worked on your technique, you worked on, you know, structure of the workouts as opposed to just doing whatever you could do. Yeah. What did you think about, I guess, every day? Were you thinking about winning the whole time? Were you thinking about just getting faster, stronger and having a more balanced life? Or what was the main thing you were focusing on of your thought? Um, you know, I guess the thought of winning, you know, stronger, and having a more balanced life? Or what was the main thing you were focusing on of your thought? You know, I guess the thought of winning, you know, maybe here and there it would kind of pop in.

You know, there's definitely like a kind of a gap, I guess. I feel like it was just back to the drawing board, just back to training again. And, yeah, because the games, it just kind of comes around once a year. Sure. So, yeah, it was just like you said just i'm just gonna get stronger i'm just gonna get faster i'm just gonna get better gonna work on some weaknesses run a little bit more because you know the run destroyed me

and yeah i just thought okay well i'm just gonna try to up my whole game and come back at it strong next year and and just have a better approach. Right. So tell me what it was like. The whole experience was pretty interesting at CrossFit 2010 World Games. You went in there feeling confident. You went in there feeling strong, ready, healthy, right? Yeah. But you almost didn't win. Weren't you down in, like, 10th place leading up to the last couple events?

Or tell me how that worked out. The 2010 Games moved from Aromas, California, 10th place leading up to the last couple events or tell me how that worked out the uh the 2010 games moved from aromas california which was out on like this ranch to this the new new facility in los angeles the home depot center i'm not sure how new it was but it was definitely new from where we were out on like dirt and mountainside like it's down to you know it's in the city you have stadiums you're down in this um you know there know, there's a track. It was, it was like, this was a legit competition now, cameras and stuff every, everywhere, like real designated warmup areas, locker rooms. It was like, okay, this is, this is a real deal now. So it was just kind of, I think maybe some guys maybe just got caught up in

the whole, now this whole new scene. And, um, yeah, I just, just it's like i'm just going to stay focused and just just go out there and just do it run my run my pace run my race and uh you know just hopefully you can see how it works out i think after the first event i was in 11th place so i did well on the first event not bad out of 50 guys and the second event i really didn't think it was my event it was a lot of running and i was like oh there's other guys that'll win this workout and ended up winning that workout get first on it and then there was a heavy heavy lift that followed immediately after that workout and i think their whole idea was whoever wins this workout's not going to get the

big heavy lift and i am getting first on the long workout and then third on the heaviest lift. Out of 50. Yeah, so I almost won the workout back-to-back, which was kind of not what they thought was going to happen. They thought the fast, lighter guys would win the workout and the heavier guys would win the strength, and so it would kind of even everybody out. So that kind of separated me from the field pretty quick. So I was in first place pretty much the whole first day or really it would have been day two leading into the final day day three um had kind of a bad event the end of day two so i got bumped to second place so i stayed in second place all the final day the

third day right okay and just had to keep calling back keep fighting keep fighting it's like i'm sitting right here i can win this still just a few points behind the person who's in first. And, uh, yeah, the last events, they, they ended up kind of hiding us. So we couldn't see the events. Didn't have any idea what it was going to be. They brought us out, they explained the workout and it was ghost. Like you didn't have any time to think about it. And I liked that because I felt like in my training, I, as I got closer to the games prep, I started just, if I walked in the class and liked the class workout, I would just do it. I didn't have time to think about it. Like, just jump in and just go.

So I didn't give myself a chance to overthink things and just trust on my speed technique and just my conditioning to just go and not have to try to figure out the workout and what my pace is going to be in my head. And I ended up doing really, really well through the kind of the final three pieces of the last day, last workout. And I ended up coming back right there at the end. The guy who wasn't first had kind of a mess up on the last piece. And, you know, that's just kind of how sports go. You come out, everybody's prepared, everybody's training. Sometimes you mess up. Sometimes you call the wrong play.

Sometimes somebody makes a mistake, and the other team, you know, capitalizes on it and wins. And that was just kind of what ended up happening. So the game was basically on the line, the last minute. What do you think separated you from the rest of the field? What do you think separated you from the rest of the field? It's funny that, you know, it was just I could hear, I could just hear kind of like everyone's like voices, like my family and friends were like right there, right on the edge.

I could just hear them just yelling, just go, go, you know, just finish this. Finish this. You finish this workout, you're going to win the whole thing. So it was just that mindset. It felt like the first couple times i ever got into those workouts where you just were dying and you're just like i'm almost at the end i'm so close just keep going just get the next rep just keep moving and you're going to finish and uh so it was just all that training that led up to the last couple years of conditioning working out it's like i just could feel it like right there just finish this everything you got right so it's

really a pretty uh pretty exhausting mentally and physically moment, but it was definitely worth it. Wow. So kind of another thing that was really tough at the finish there is it's kind of the unofficial result. So everybody that did those final events, you didn't know who scored on what before, so the points still had to be kind of finalized and figured out. So they just kind of took us back. We were in this kind of waiting room we had to get drug tested so it's kind of like

this almost anticlimactic finish we were like i don't even know if i won where did i end up finishing and just in a room of like five guys so we're all sitting there basically knowing one of us won we're all sitting here we just didn't know who i thought uh you know i was second place going into the last event thought i did really well in the last three parts. So I thought I have to, you know, I gotta be first or second. So I was happy regardless, but I knew it was just so close and just wanted that, that, that victory. So we go out, they bring us out and, um, we're standing there and, and finally they're, you know, they're announcing third place, second place. And obviously after they announced second place, it's like, wow, it was, this is me, you know, they're announcing third place, second place. And obviously after they announced second place, it's like, wow, it was, this is me, you know, I want it. So just kind of standing up on

that podium and just, you know, standing there and looking out at the crowd and seeing my, my parents crying and seeing my wife. Well, at the time, just my girlfriend just crying and just, uh, and I didn't cry. And it was funny that she was like, it didn't seem like you were, you know, so super happy. And it was, it was so much of just the journey and the path leading up to that, that moment, like all that energy, all that sweat and tears and pain and stuff that you experienced going into it. It was almost just like this, this moment, just at the top standing there, like I won this, I did it. Like I achieved, achieved what I was going for, you know, two years ago. And, uh, it was just an awesome moment. Wow. that's really inspiring.

So what is it that motivates you to work so hard? I mean, you said you spent two years to get to that moment of being a champion. What motivates you every day? I think of just for my own kind of self, looking at it, relying back even on what I was in high school and college. It was a lot of my own self-reliance, self-reliance. And, you know, when I chose that path, there was times of success and there was definitely times of failure. And then sometimes you're just really, really hard on yourself because you're just expecting so much out of yourself. As I kind of grew my relationship with the Lord and started relying that what I'm doing and what I'm trying to train for is a bigger purpose than just myself.

It's not just inspiring my own self and inspiring my wife and inspiring my family. There's a community of people out there that need to be inspired about what we're doing in this movement of CrossFit. So definitely being able to kind of focus and pray on it and know that it's not just about me. It's not Graham Hol me it's not graham holmberg story and you know if you really sit back in the timeline of existence of people we're really just going to be a small kind of piff of what what actually is existing so i just knew the moment was this moment and as i continue to train is much bigger than me so having knowing that it's it just allows me to kind of just be free and not too much stress on myself

and just be able to just have fun with what I'm doing. Sure, sure. So how much of being a champion and winning, getting first place, is physical, and how much of it is mental? Oh, that's tough. Because you're a strong guy. I'm a strong guy, and if you look at, like, the stats and, you know, the conditioning stats and the running stats and the weightlifting stats

and all the different benchmarks and times that you can roll into CrossFit, kind of, you know, graphing, in any way you want to look at it, I'm not the guy who you would say is like, that guy's going to win it every year. I was just kind of good across the board and didn't really have anything that was like how did this guy win he wasn't any better than everybody else he just kind of was good at everything and i guess that was kind of what crossfit wants is they want they didn't want somebody to be specialized in one area and then be okay at everything else because if that event rolls out for him he's going to definitely do

awesome at it but he's going to be okay at everything else. So to really, you know, hammer it out, if it's physical or mental, I still can't, I still couldn't even say if it, you definitely have to be able to do the stuff. You know, it's not, it's not like you can just have like this awesome mindset and go out there and lift 300 pounds or whatever the event asks you to do. If you can't physically do it, you can't do it. Um, but I, I think that there's a reason there's obviously some people win and some people don't. And I think out of the 50 guys that are out there, obviously everybody got there. Everybody qualified. Everybody's good enough to be there. But why do some people always

find themselves in the top 10 or top 5 or top 20 or why do some people always just kind of finish in the middle or just really bomb out? What's the difference between first and second place? If the guy in second place was just as strong, just as talented as you, probably more physically ripped, everything, right? What's the difference between you winning and him getting second? Definitely, you would have to say mindset. Mindset and mental approach. Mental approach, cool.

So do you think being a champion is something that only a few people are born with, or can anyone learn how to become a champion? Very tough. You know, I think we're all put on this earth for a certain reason, and obviously kind of that whole nature versus nurture and how you're raised and how you're grown up definitely plays into that.

Some people are, you know, God-gifted and can jump through the ceiling, or they're 6'7", or they can run a 4'3", 40. Some of that is just God-given ability. And to a certain extent, I think there is definitely some pieces you have to be born with to have some of that. In the same right, I don't think that, you know, I'm not 6'7". I'm not the biggest guy. I'm not the fastest guy. I wasn't the strongest guy. But it was definitely something that I felt like I could train and push myself to become with kind of the right teamwork, with the right network of people, with the right support group, with the right mindset.

And then obviously just putting myself in the right positions to succeed. So what's your definition of success, Graham? In the CrossFit world, if you're looking to be a top elite CrossFitter, winning a regional or qualifying at a regional level to make it to the Games would be one category of success. Being at the Games level and winning the whole competition, you could obviously say is success. I think it can be deeper than that. If you're happy at the end of the day, if you're proud of what you've accomplished,

if you can put a smile on your face and walk away knowing that you gave it everything you had, I think at the end of the day you're successful. And it kind of comes back to what we talked about, the mindset. I think some people are so down on themselves or don't believe that they can even achieve something. And it doesn't mean that they can't be successful, maybe not, but it might be very, very difficult for them to, in their own mind, to think that they're having success. Right, right.

So, Graham, for any young athlete or any professional business owner out there on their own journey, what type of inspiring advice could you give them to kind of take it over the edge and help them become their own champion? I think it's definitely going to have to start, I think, within. It's got to be something that you want. It's got to be something that you're willing to sacrifice and make some serious adjustments to get yourself in the right position. You've got to be able to look at where you came from, your past, what you've done, what you've learned from, what didn't work, what has worked.

And start being able to kind of mesh that all together with your goals and know where you're going. Because it's funny, I used it in the class the other day. We were just talking about positions and doing a movement, right? I'm like, if we can't even start or be in the position that we need to finish in, or if we don't know where we're going, how are we going to get there? It's just going to be this kind of zigzagged, lost journey, and we're going to make mistakes along the way. And I mean, that's going to happen with everybody, but having a good mindset, knowing where you're

going, starting to be able to take sacrifices because you're going to have to cut some things out and you're going to have to make some adjustments. Having an awesome support team, network of people, because you're not going to be able to do it on your own. You just can't do it on your own. It's impossible. Awesome. So Graham, thanks so much for coming out, my man.

I'll tell you what, guys. This is some extremely powerful stuff. I think it's really valuable to hear that even the best in the world have lost their focus time and time again. The biggest difference is that champions get back out there and keep on going. So if you guys want to learn more about Graham, make sure to check him out on Twitter at Graham Holmberg or check him out on his Facebook page, facebook.com forward slash Graham Holmberg. As always, feel free to head over to school of greatness.com to sign up for free, to be notified of our next episodes. And if you appreciate the show, then we would appreciate it. If you leave us a five-star review over on iTunes because we would love to get the positive message out to the world.

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