Latest / Hurdle with Emily Abbate / Episode 52: Tia-Clair Toomey, 'Fittest Woman On Earth'

Transcript

Episode 52: Tia-Clair Toomey, 'Fittest Woman On Earth' · Hurdle with Emily Abbate

• 0:01
  Speaker 1: Hey, hardlers, you are listening to episode fifty two of Hurdle,
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: a podcast that talks to everyone from top CEOs to
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: entrepreneurs and athletes about how they got through tough times
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: hurdles of sorts by leaning into wellness. My name's Emia Body,
• 0:16
  Speaker 1: and this week I'm chatting with the one the only
• 0:19
  Speaker 1: crossfits fittest woman on Earth, Tia Claire. To me, before
• 0:24
  Speaker 1: I get to that, quick shout out to my sponsor,
• 0:27
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• 0:30
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• 0:33
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• 0:36
  Speaker 1: New York City was a go for a quick run
• 0:39
  Speaker 1: and b shake up some Athletic Greens. And that's because
• 0:43
  Speaker 1: with twelve servings of fruits and vegetables, it's like insurance.
• 0:47
  Speaker 2: For my body.
• 0:48
  Speaker 1: It makes me feel like I'm taking a step in
• 0:50
  Speaker 1: the right direction after taking a quick detour off track. Anyway,
• 0:55
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• 1:02
  Speaker 1: Just head on over to Athleticgreens dot com slash Hurdle
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• 1:11
  Speaker 1: dot Com slash hurdle. All right, now, let's shout about
• 1:15
  Speaker 1: tiaclaire to me. I chatted with Tia in the Bahamas.
• 1:19
  Speaker 1: We actually recorded in a studio that has been graced
• 1:21
  Speaker 1: by the likes of Justin Timberlake and Alicia Keys and
• 1:26
  Speaker 1: Mariah Carey. And it was surreal, to say the least.
• 1:30
  Speaker 1: I was down there for the Rebok CrossFit Athletes Summit.
• 1:33
  Speaker 1: I had a really awesome opportunity to interview and hang
• 1:35
  Speaker 1: out with some really.
• 1:36
  Speaker 2: Stellar CrossFit athletes.
• 1:38
  Speaker 1: My relationship with CrossFit was super into it a few
• 1:41
  Speaker 1: years ago, probably going about four or five times a
• 1:43
  Speaker 1: week to the CrossFit gym shout out to brick Grand
• 1:47
  Speaker 1: Central here in New York. And I really love the
• 1:49
  Speaker 1: sport and I have such an admiration for, you know,
• 1:51
  Speaker 1: the people that do it in the caliber of an
• 1:53
  Speaker 1: athlete that it takes to really be able to do
• 1:56
  Speaker 1: a variety of constantly varied movements really really well.
• 2:00
  Speaker 2: Tia grew up in Australia.
• 2:02
  Speaker 1: She won the CrossFit Games the last two years, in
• 2:05
  Speaker 1: twenty eighteen twenty seventeen. And the craziest part about this
• 2:09
  Speaker 1: is that it's not too long ago that she wasn't
• 2:11
  Speaker 1: really working out at all. So today we talk about
• 2:14
  Speaker 1: TIA's journey to becoming the fittest woman on Earth. It's
• 2:17
  Speaker 1: a title that makes me chuggle every single time, and
• 2:20
  Speaker 1: the Hurdle moment where she felt pretty lost and pretty
• 2:22
  Speaker 1: unsure about what she was going to do with her life,
• 2:24
  Speaker 1: and how arguably Crosswig kind of changed the game for
• 2:28
  Speaker 1: her in so many ways. Tia is so genuine, she's
• 2:32
  Speaker 1: so nice, she's so honest, and I think she really
• 2:35
  Speaker 1: brings a lot of compassion and just overall this reminder
• 2:40
  Speaker 1: that really, if there's anything that you want in life,
• 2:43
  Speaker 1: it's yours for the taking, if you're willing to put
• 2:45
  Speaker 1: in the work. As always at Hurdle Podcast on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook,
• 2:50
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• 2:52
  Speaker 1: over to Hurdle dot us. You'll get a pop up
• 2:54
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• 2:57
  Speaker 1: email in there.
• 2:58
  Speaker 2: That way we can stay connected on the regular. Also,
• 3:00
  Speaker 2: if you like what you're hearing here, make.
• 3:02
  Speaker 1: Sure to rate and review Hurdle and share your favorite
• 3:04
  Speaker 1: takeaways on social media On Instagram, it's really fun for
• 3:07
  Speaker 1: me to interact with you guys over there.
• 3:09
  Speaker 2: That's the way that this podcast gains traction.
• 3:11
  Speaker 1: It's by you telling your friends, telling your mom, telling
• 3:15
  Speaker 1: your mentor whoever.
• 3:16
  Speaker 2: Hey, I'm listening to this cool.
• 3:18
  Speaker 1: Thing and I think you'd like it too. And that's
• 3:20
  Speaker 1: it for now. Let's get to hurdling.
• 3:31
  Speaker 2: Today.
• 3:31
  Speaker 1: I'm sitting here with Tia Claire. To me, she is
• 3:35
  Speaker 1: the fittest woman on Earth? Does that ever get old?
• 3:40
  Speaker 2: No? No, it's every time someone says that, it's still
• 3:46
  Speaker 2: something that's like, oh wow, that's really cool.
• 3:50
  Speaker 1: It's kind of crazy that CrossFit came up with that
• 3:52
  Speaker 1: for like the title of the person that wins the
• 3:54
  Speaker 1: CrossFit Games. Okay, so I feel like there's a little
• 3:56
  Speaker 1: background to provide here for my listener. Tia is an
• 3:59
  Speaker 1: excellent cross fitter, and in CrossFit every year there are
• 4:04
  Speaker 1: the CrossFit Games and they take place over the summer months,
• 4:08
  Speaker 1: and when you come in first place, you win this
• 4:11
  Speaker 1: superstellar title.
• 4:13
  Speaker 2: Yeah, the fittest woman on Earth. It's pretty cool. Hey, yeah,
• 4:16
  Speaker 2: it's rad.
• 4:17
  Speaker 1: There's also the fittest man on Earth. But I today
• 4:20
  Speaker 1: am lucky enough to be sitting with this lady. So
• 4:22
  Speaker 1: before we get going here, I want to like do
• 4:26
  Speaker 1: like some baseball card stats.
• 4:29
  Speaker 2: So yeah, okay, let's do some max lift stats. Deadlift
• 4:34
  Speaker 2: four point fifteen I believe, which was at the games
• 4:37
  Speaker 2: heaviest squat. You would think that I actually would know
• 4:40
  Speaker 2: these like off by heart, but the amount of times
• 4:43
  Speaker 2: I actually try and work up to like a one
• 4:46
  Speaker 2: RM is very rarely RM. In CrossFit speaker's rep max yes,
• 4:51
  Speaker 2: rep max pebe sorry, personal best. I think it was
• 4:55
  Speaker 2: around the one sixty kilograms, so I don't know what
• 4:59
  Speaker 2: that is.
• 5:00
  Speaker 1: I should probably just have opened up a conversion chart. Yes, yeah, okay,
• 5:05
  Speaker 1: what about snatch?
• 5:07
  Speaker 2: We got a squad snatch, but or a pal snatch
• 5:11
  Speaker 2: just to be precise. No, I've been to this, so
• 5:15
  Speaker 2: my snatch would be two or five I think in pounds. Okay, okay,
• 5:21
  Speaker 2: I'm like randomly pulling out these numbers, but I'm not
• 5:24
  Speaker 2: even sure if they're the right one.
• 5:26
  Speaker 3: You're doing excellent max pull ups.
• 5:30
  Speaker 2: Sixty five.
• 5:31
  Speaker 1: They need to update the CrossFit website. Oh really, says
• 5:34
  Speaker 1: fifty wow? And okay, last thing, how fast can you
• 5:41
  Speaker 1: spread four hundred meters?
• 5:42
  Speaker 2: I think I'd like to say around the one minute.
• 5:45
  Speaker 1: Wow, And that's a quarter of a mile. For you
• 5:47
  Speaker 1: guys at home. That's that's pretty incredible. Okay, So those
• 5:51
  Speaker 1: are just some benchmarks.
• 5:52
  Speaker 2: For being this fit. Yeah, I mean I try. So.
• 5:57
  Speaker 1: You won the CrossFit Games this past year. You've been
• 6:00
  Speaker 1: competing as a CrossFit athlete now for four years.
• 6:04
  Speaker 2: Yeah, how's that been. It's been a whirlwind. It was
• 6:07
  Speaker 2: something that I never even expected or anticipated. I got
• 6:13
  Speaker 2: into CrossFit purely just to build my fitness for a
• 6:17
  Speaker 2: different sport, and at the time, that was track and field.
• 6:22
  Speaker 2: And when I started cross fit, you know, I really
• 6:26
  Speaker 2: enjoyed the challenges it provided every training session, and the
• 6:30
  Speaker 2: community and camaraderie that it provided. But I never thought
• 6:37
  Speaker 2: that I would be competing on a world stage and
• 6:40
  Speaker 2: also being the best in the world, which is just
• 6:43
  Speaker 2: mind blowing. Yeah.
• 6:45
  Speaker 1: I mean every time we say this, I kind of
• 6:47
  Speaker 1: like get chills talking about it. I feel like saying, okay,
• 6:51
  Speaker 1: so let's rewind it back. So you said track and field.
• 6:55
  Speaker 1: Did you grow up being really athletic back at home?
• 6:58
  Speaker 2: Yeah, so every day I would be doing a different sport.
• 7:02
  Speaker 2: Mom and Dad they were very encouraging in, you know,
• 7:07
  Speaker 2: taking me after school to different types of training sessions.
• 7:12
  Speaker 2: So I would do tennis. I would play netball, which
• 7:15
  Speaker 2: is a more of the Commonwealth countries know what netball is.
• 7:21
  Speaker 2: I would play football nippers there was a nippers is
• 7:25
  Speaker 2: like a surf life saving kind of sport that we
• 7:29
  Speaker 2: have back home in Australia, which is a lot of fun.
• 7:33
  Speaker 2: What else did I do? I did swimming cross country? Wow,
• 7:38
  Speaker 2: everyday I did so much, like if there was a
• 7:42
  Speaker 2: sport that I could get involved in, Like mom and
• 7:45
  Speaker 2: Dad were very supportive and you know, had me there
• 7:49
  Speaker 2: every day. So like that was something that I think
• 7:54
  Speaker 2: made me who I am today, and that's why I'm
• 7:57
  Speaker 2: so sporty and very competitive.
• 8:00
  Speaker 1: Yeah, totally, I mean, and growing up with this much
• 8:03
  Speaker 1: love for athleticism. You know, when I was younger, I
• 8:07
  Speaker 1: dreamed of being a journalist, which man might talk about
• 8:10
  Speaker 1: some like I could have dreamed to be so many things,
• 8:13
  Speaker 1: but I dreamed of moving to New York and writing
• 8:15
  Speaker 1: articles like I do.
• 8:16
  Speaker 3: Now, were you dreaming of becoming this stellar athlete?
• 8:20
  Speaker 2: I do? Remember when when you grow up, all you
• 8:25
  Speaker 2: think is like the pinnacle of our you know, the
• 8:29
  Speaker 2: sporting careers is going to the Olympics, or you know,
• 8:34
  Speaker 2: in certain sports it may be like the world championships
• 8:39
  Speaker 2: in specific sports. I know that the Olympics isn't the
• 8:41
  Speaker 2: pinnacle for every single sport, but for me, like, I
• 8:45
  Speaker 2: was really focused on running and I was good at it,
• 8:49
  Speaker 2: and my dad helped train me and take my training
• 8:52
  Speaker 2: to another level, which was also very special because it was,
• 8:56
  Speaker 2: you know, something that we could do together. And I
• 8:59
  Speaker 2: was like, well, the pinnacle of that would be going
• 9:02
  Speaker 2: to the Olympics. So I want to go to the
• 9:04
  Speaker 2: Olympics for eight or four hundred meter hurdles. So that
• 9:08
  Speaker 2: was something that I grew up dreaming about, and it like,
• 9:15
  Speaker 2: I mean, I look back and think, well, it's not
• 9:17
  Speaker 2: crazy to have these dreams, Like, it's actually pretty incredible.
• 9:21
  Speaker 1: I think what's even more crazy about this now in
• 9:24
  Speaker 1: retrospect is that you have been to the Olympics, but
• 9:27
  Speaker 1: not for track and field.
• 9:28
  Speaker 3: So talk to tell me just a little bit about that.
• 9:31
  Speaker 2: As I got older and school became a little more important,
• 9:36
  Speaker 2: I had to make sure that, you know, I was
• 9:38
  Speaker 2: getting the right grades because I needed to focus on that,
• 9:42
  Speaker 2: you know, building that career and getting the right op
• 9:45
  Speaker 2: which is you know, you need a specific score in
• 9:48
  Speaker 2: order to get into a university degree. Back home in Australia,
• 9:53
  Speaker 2: and so for me that was definitely a high priority
• 9:55
  Speaker 2: because my mum and dad put a lot of money
• 9:56
  Speaker 2: into my secondary school and through that, I kind of
• 10:05
  Speaker 2: put my sporting interests on a hold. I still did them,
• 10:10
  Speaker 2: but I wasn't fully involved because I wanted to really
• 10:13
  Speaker 2: focus on, you know, getting the right grades in secondary school.
• 10:18
  Speaker 2: And so that dream of going to the Olympics, as
• 10:21
  Speaker 2: much as I still wanted to do that, I kind
• 10:24
  Speaker 2: of felt like it just wasn't going to happen because
• 10:27
  Speaker 2: I knew how much work you needed to do in
• 10:29
  Speaker 2: order to go there. But I also was being thinking
• 10:33
  Speaker 2: and kind of hearing from other people like, no, you know,
• 10:37
  Speaker 2: you need to go out and get a good career
• 10:39
  Speaker 2: and create an income for yourself so you can support yourself.
• 10:44
  Speaker 2: And this is the right way of going and getting
• 10:47
  Speaker 2: a university degree. And so that's what I thought was
• 10:51
  Speaker 2: probably the best decision to take. And that's no one's fault,
• 10:55
  Speaker 2: it's just that that's in my eyes, I was like,
• 10:58
  Speaker 2: that's probably the better option, whereas my passion for the
• 11:02
  Speaker 2: Olympics is probably I just didn't see it, you know,
• 11:06
  Speaker 2: earning me the income that I needed to live a
• 11:09
  Speaker 2: long and successful life, and so I just left that
• 11:14
  Speaker 2: on the back burner and went to UNI and kind
• 11:18
  Speaker 2: of fell into a bit of a rut and didn't
• 11:20
  Speaker 2: really exercise, didn't do anything.
• 11:23
  Speaker 3: To be honest, when you say a little bit of
• 11:25
  Speaker 3: a rut, like what did that entail.
• 11:28
  Speaker 2: Well, I actually was at boarding school and when I
• 11:30
  Speaker 2: went to university, I moved away from my family to
• 11:33
  Speaker 2: go to this university in Brisbane, which it was like
• 11:36
  Speaker 2: one of the major universities, and I had to obviously
• 11:41
  Speaker 2: really focus on studying and everything, but I just didn't
• 11:46
  Speaker 2: pick the right degree for me. So my interest and
• 11:49
  Speaker 2: passion just wasn't there. And I think that when your
• 11:54
  Speaker 2: heart isn't fully in something, you kind of do it
• 11:58
  Speaker 2: half hearted and then you find all these excuses on
• 12:03
  Speaker 2: why you don't want to study for that exam or
• 12:05
  Speaker 2: you don't want to put in the hard work and
• 12:09
  Speaker 2: you get that a plus on your assignment. And for me,
• 12:14
  Speaker 2: I actually just started eating rubbish food. I wasn't healthy.
• 12:21
  Speaker 2: I mean I wasn't exercising, so I wasn't stimulating the
• 12:24
  Speaker 2: brain as well, and I was just watching TV. So
• 12:29
  Speaker 2: really I was just getting into the slump of just
• 12:31
  Speaker 2: being such a homebody and not really socializing with the
• 12:36
  Speaker 2: people that I loved being around and also doing the
• 12:39
  Speaker 2: things that I really enjoyed and made me the person
• 12:42
  Speaker 2: I am. So I definitely change and I kind of
• 12:46
  Speaker 2: felt like I was just wasting life. And I don't
• 12:50
  Speaker 2: ever want to have a go at other people because
• 12:53
  Speaker 2: that may be certain things that they want to do
• 12:56
  Speaker 2: in their life, but for me personally, that's just not
• 12:59
  Speaker 2: who I was. I was always someone that was outdoors,
• 13:02
  Speaker 2: very active, and very social with my friends and family,
• 13:07
  Speaker 2: and I just wasn't being like that. So that was
• 13:10
  Speaker 2: something that I looked back at and think, oh, wow,
• 13:13
  Speaker 2: like that was interesting. I didn't realize it at the time,
• 13:16
  Speaker 2: but now I can see just how much that affected me.
• 13:21
  Speaker 2: Where I wasn't following what I wanted to do and
• 13:24
  Speaker 2: I was doing what I thought was the right decision.
• 13:26
  Speaker 1: How did you even go about pulling yourself out of
• 13:29
  Speaker 1: that rut? Because I'm assuming you had to spend a
• 13:31
  Speaker 1: certain amount of time or you were supposed to anyway,
• 13:33
  Speaker 1: I spend a certain amount of time going through the
• 13:36
  Speaker 1: motions of taking all these courses.
• 13:38
  Speaker 2: Yeah, so I definitely didn't want to waste the money
• 13:41
  Speaker 2: that we were spending and when I say we, my
• 13:44
  Speaker 2: parents were helping me support that, so I didn't want
• 13:47
  Speaker 2: to waste their money. But when it came to the
• 13:50
  Speaker 2: sixth month mark, every month like you would, you know,
• 13:53
  Speaker 2: put on a certain take on another subject or whatever,
• 13:58
  Speaker 2: and I was like, no, no, no, like when it
• 14:02
  Speaker 2: gets hard, like don't.
• 14:03
  Speaker 3: Just give up.
• 14:05
  Speaker 2: So I wrote it out for another like six months,
• 14:10
  Speaker 2: and then I still felt like I just wasn't enjoying
• 14:13
  Speaker 2: it and I was wasting my parents' money, really, and
• 14:17
  Speaker 2: so I put it on hold so that, you know,
• 14:21
  Speaker 2: maybe in five years time, when I've kind of grown
• 14:23
  Speaker 2: up a little bit and i know what I want
• 14:25
  Speaker 2: to do and I'm maybe more motivated and I'm in
• 14:27
  Speaker 2: a better head space, I can come back and revisit that,
• 14:30
  Speaker 2: and that wasn't that six months wasn't a waste. But
• 14:35
  Speaker 2: you know, I can just put that on hold and
• 14:37
  Speaker 2: go on, just try and figure out, you know, who
• 14:39
  Speaker 2: I am as a person as well, because I just
• 14:42
  Speaker 2: graduated from school. I'm, you know, a young adult that
• 14:46
  Speaker 2: had no idea what she wanted to do with her life.
• 14:49
  Speaker 2: And you know, I'm also trying to figure out who
• 14:52
  Speaker 2: I was as a person as well.
• 14:54
  Speaker 1: I think it's tough because even you know in America
• 14:57
  Speaker 1: when you get to college at eighteen and they say
• 14:59
  Speaker 1: to you, all right, right now, you have to pick
• 15:01
  Speaker 1: what you think you're going to do for the rest
• 15:02
  Speaker 1: of your life. And there's so much pressure on that,
• 15:05
  Speaker 1: so much pressure, and what pleases any eighteen year old
• 15:09
  Speaker 1: in to be like, I know exactly what I want
• 15:11
  Speaker 1: to do when I'm thirty seven, but.
• 15:13
  Speaker 2: Like some kids do, which is amazing, Yeah, but the
• 15:17
  Speaker 2: people that don't. I mean for me, I didn't know
• 15:20
  Speaker 2: what I wanted to do, and so I was like, man,
• 15:24
  Speaker 2: am I Am I not doing it right? Like is
• 15:28
  Speaker 2: there something wrong with me? Because personally I was like,
• 15:32
  Speaker 2: everyone has everything together and they know what they want
• 15:38
  Speaker 2: to do, but like, I just don't want to make
• 15:40
  Speaker 2: the bad choice. But you have to kind of live
• 15:43
  Speaker 2: and learn, and obviously as life goes on, you kind
• 15:46
  Speaker 2: of learn that and you realize that, hey, this may
• 15:49
  Speaker 2: not go as planned, but what if it actually does,
• 15:55
  Speaker 2: Like what if it goes, you know, above and beyond
• 15:58
  Speaker 2: your expectations and takes you to a whole nother world.
• 16:03
  Speaker 2: And that I guess that's what happened with CrossFit.
• 16:05
  Speaker 3: Right, Okay, So you do you move back home.
• 16:09
  Speaker 2: I never moved back home, So I actually I moved
• 16:13
  Speaker 2: out of home in grade ten and I went to
• 16:17
  Speaker 2: boarding school for my last two years, just because where
• 16:21
  Speaker 2: we lived it was a lot more rural, so, you know,
• 16:24
  Speaker 2: to make sure that I was getting that good education,
• 16:27
  Speaker 2: Mom and dad sent me to a boarding school and
• 16:29
  Speaker 2: then from there I went to UNI, but I stayed
• 16:32
  Speaker 2: in Brisbane for the university degrees and from there. That's
• 16:39
  Speaker 2: Shane and I, who's my husband at the time. He
• 16:42
  Speaker 2: was my boyfriend. We'd been dating since high school and
• 16:46
  Speaker 2: he was working on the other side of the country
• 16:50
  Speaker 2: in Western Australia. So he decided to leave his job
• 16:55
  Speaker 2: and actually get relocated to a different place on the
• 16:59
  Speaker 2: east coast of Australia, in a town called Gladstone, and
• 17:04
  Speaker 2: so we moved. I deferred university in Brisbane and we
• 17:10
  Speaker 2: both moved our house up to Gladstone. And then it
• 17:16
  Speaker 2: wasn't that's pretty much like I don't look at it
• 17:21
  Speaker 2: as like I was running away from my problems, but
• 17:25
  Speaker 2: it was a different opportunity and I looked at that
• 17:28
  Speaker 2: as like, Okay, like this is going to be a
• 17:30
  Speaker 2: fresh start. I can just try and figure out who
• 17:34
  Speaker 2: I am and what I want to do, and as well,
• 17:38
  Speaker 2: you know, Shane and I we get to actually live
• 17:40
  Speaker 2: together and stop doing long distance, which is obviously really nice.
• 17:44
  Speaker 2: At the time, I actually got a job as a
• 17:46
  Speaker 2: dental assistant. I did that for about eighteen months, and
• 17:49
  Speaker 2: I really enjoyed that because I do enjoy the health industry,
• 17:54
  Speaker 2: so that was very different. What a random I know,
• 17:57
  Speaker 2: it was so so random, so you know, I know
• 18:01
  Speaker 2: about so many people's teeth. But then like that just
• 18:06
  Speaker 2: still wasn't fulfilling. But in that time, I actually started
• 18:10
  Speaker 2: running and I started being a lot more energetic, and
• 18:14
  Speaker 2: I kind of starting to get my mojo back a
• 18:16
  Speaker 2: little bit. But then I decided that hey, you know,
• 18:21
  Speaker 2: like I'm I really want to make some money so
• 18:23
  Speaker 2: that Shane and I can go traveling more regularly. And
• 18:27
  Speaker 2: he was working for a mining company called Rio Tinto
• 18:30
  Speaker 2: and there was a job coming up in the lab
• 18:33
  Speaker 2: and so I actually applied for that, and due to
• 18:36
  Speaker 2: my personality, I got that job, which was just I
• 18:40
  Speaker 2: couldn't believe it actually, because there was a lot of
• 18:43
  Speaker 2: people with so much experience in the lab that was
• 18:48
  Speaker 2: going for that job, and for me, for someone that's
• 18:51
  Speaker 2: never had any experience in the laboratory in a major company.
• 18:56
  Speaker 2: I was like, wow, like, man, I must have had
• 18:59
  Speaker 2: done a good interview, you know, so that was interesting.
• 19:04
  Speaker 2: I was like, all right, well, you know, like I'm
• 19:06
  Speaker 2: starting to build something here and I'm starting to kind
• 19:09
  Speaker 2: of get out of my right a little bit. I'm
• 19:12
  Speaker 2: eventually going to be earning a decent amount of money.
• 19:15
  Speaker 2: I'm in a secure job, and Shane and I we
• 19:19
  Speaker 2: can save up and maybe go traveling a little bit more.
• 19:23
  Speaker 2: And who knows where this you know, laboratory job is
• 19:28
  Speaker 2: going to take me. And so in that time, I
• 19:34
  Speaker 2: started realizing that I wanted to take up track a
• 19:36
  Speaker 2: little bit more as well. So I needed to build
• 19:39
  Speaker 2: my fitness because that was like two years off the track,
• 19:42
  Speaker 2: and you know, I'd put on a little bit of
• 19:44
  Speaker 2: weight and I definitely wasn't as fit as what I was.
• 19:47
  Speaker 2: So I was like, I need to build my fitness.
• 19:50
  Speaker 2: And Shane at the time was playing football and he
• 19:55
  Speaker 2: was going to this CrossFit gym in the preseason and
• 19:58
  Speaker 2: it was like, Hey, I think T would like this,
• 20:01
  Speaker 2: and was like, hey, like you should really come to
• 20:04
  Speaker 2: one of the classes here because I think that this
• 20:06
  Speaker 2: training at this gym would really help and benefit your
• 20:11
  Speaker 2: track training. So I was like, all right, I don't
• 20:13
  Speaker 2: give it a go.
• 20:14
  Speaker 1: I was going to ask, were you at all resistant
• 20:16
  Speaker 1: to that? I feel like sometimes, especially when you're a runner,
• 20:19
  Speaker 1: you just love running, yeah, and someone's like, let's go
• 20:22
  Speaker 1: lift these weights, and you're like, do we have to?
• 20:26
  Speaker 2: I've always appreciated the variety of what swimming can do
• 20:31
  Speaker 2: to my fitness to benefit my running, what a bit
• 20:35
  Speaker 2: of weight training can do to build that power to
• 20:39
  Speaker 2: help with my speed and running. So I wasn't I
• 20:44
  Speaker 2: wasn't opposed to the idea, but I definitely was How
• 20:49
  Speaker 2: did that little bit of an ego like Hey, I'm
• 20:52
  Speaker 2: already fit and you know, like whatever you guys are
• 20:57
  Speaker 2: doing there, like I can do that?
• 20:59
  Speaker 1: What about lifting heavyweats? And I think that's just another thing.
• 21:02
  Speaker 1: I mean, talk about things that as you're the fittest
• 21:05
  Speaker 1: woman on earth, like things that a lot of women
• 21:07
  Speaker 1: stand back from are like going anywhere near wheat plates
• 21:11
  Speaker 1: or even like thinking that they should be in that arena.
• 21:15
  Speaker 2: Well, I'm a person that if someone says I can't
• 21:18
  Speaker 2: do it, like I'm going to prove to them that
• 21:21
  Speaker 2: I can. It was an interesting thing because the day
• 21:24
  Speaker 2: that I went there and did my first class, I
• 21:27
  Speaker 2: did not like the coach and I walked out of
• 21:30
  Speaker 2: the class like, nuh, this is just not for me.
• 21:34
  Speaker 2: I enjoyed it, but I just didn't like how the
• 21:38
  Speaker 2: coach directed and didn't allow me. It was actually handstand
• 21:42
  Speaker 2: push ups, and I was like, I will go upside
• 21:45
  Speaker 2: down and try that because I've never ever seen that before,
• 21:48
  Speaker 2: but he wouldn't allow that. And obviously, now after understanding
• 21:54
  Speaker 2: you know, the skill and everything that's required for that,
• 21:57
  Speaker 2: I appreciate what he was trying to do. But no,
• 22:01
  Speaker 2: I had an ego back then where I thought that
• 22:04
  Speaker 2: because I run track, I was fit enough and I
• 22:08
  Speaker 2: was very capable of it that yeah, I just had
• 22:12
  Speaker 2: that nah, like I don't need this.
• 22:14
  Speaker 3: So why do you go back?
• 22:16
  Speaker 2: Well? I kind of felt obligated because the owner of
• 22:20
  Speaker 2: the gym he was a very nice person, and we
• 22:23
  Speaker 2: would bump into him at this local grocery store and
• 22:28
  Speaker 2: he'd be like, oh, hey, Tea, you know, when are
• 22:30
  Speaker 2: you coming back to the gym? And I was always like,
• 22:33
  Speaker 2: ah soon, mate, you know, it was awkward. So it
• 22:37
  Speaker 2: was like the third time we bumped into him, I
• 22:39
  Speaker 2: was like man, I keep telling him that I'm going
• 22:41
  Speaker 2: to come back and I just have to bite the
• 22:44
  Speaker 2: bullet and do it. And I'd already used up my
• 22:47
  Speaker 2: like one free trial, so I had to sign up
• 22:49
  Speaker 2: for like a month, and so I obviously, like I
• 22:53
  Speaker 2: put money into that and I wasn't going to waste that.
• 22:57
  Speaker 2: So I would go twice a day. Oh wow, yeah,
• 23:00
  Speaker 2: I know because of my job. It was a shift work,
• 23:04
  Speaker 2: so I had five days of work and then five
• 23:07
  Speaker 2: days off. So on those five days off, like I
• 23:10
  Speaker 2: would just train all the time. It was just because
• 23:13
  Speaker 2: it was so enjoyable, you know, Like I mean I
• 23:17
  Speaker 2: could run with my dogs as well, Like there was
• 23:20
  Speaker 2: I could just do so much and yeah, I was
• 23:24
  Speaker 2: really utilizing that whole month. And by the end of it,
• 23:27
  Speaker 2: I was like wow, like this is so much fun,
• 23:29
  Speaker 2: and like I've created so many friends through this. So
• 23:33
  Speaker 2: that was definitely something that I was like, wow, like
• 23:36
  Speaker 2: I'm so pleased that I came back to this. But
• 23:39
  Speaker 2: I never had any intention to compete and CrossFit. I
• 23:43
  Speaker 2: didn't even know there was a thing called CrossFit games.
• 23:47
  Speaker 2: And I mean I was light, I could do the
• 23:50
  Speaker 2: body weight movements well, but it was always like very strict,
• 23:53
  Speaker 2: so you know, the burpies, they're a little more there's
• 23:57
  Speaker 2: a motion to the burpies. Mine would always very strict.
• 24:01
  Speaker 2: The pull ups they had this kipping style. Mine were
• 24:04
  Speaker 2: always strict. And I found it very hard to, I guess,
• 24:09
  Speaker 2: pick up on the momentum or using momentum throughout these
• 24:14
  Speaker 2: movements through CrossFit, because in my head I was like, no,
• 24:18
  Speaker 2: that's cheating, Like you have to do it strict because
• 24:22
  Speaker 2: that's just the way it goes, and these people are cheating.
• 24:26
  Speaker 2: But by the end of it, I realized we'll hang on.
• 24:28
  Speaker 2: Like these guys are doing workouts with like a hundred
• 24:31
  Speaker 2: pull ups like they have to create momentum, and you know,
• 24:35
  Speaker 2: like it was just all like all these things were
• 24:37
  Speaker 2: going in my head that like I was kind of
• 24:40
  Speaker 2: fighting how much I loved it, but like still not
• 24:45
  Speaker 2: allowing it to break through and be like, no tear,
• 24:47
  Speaker 2: just embrace it and just go with the flow.
• 24:49
  Speaker 1: And I think what's so great that you pointed out
• 24:51
  Speaker 1: about CrossFit is obviously that amount of camaraderie. Yeah, it's
• 24:56
  Speaker 1: something that keeps everyone from newbies to you know, be
• 25:00
  Speaker 1: of your caliber walking into the box, which is what
• 25:02
  Speaker 1: crossfitters call the gym day in and day out. I mean,
• 25:06
  Speaker 1: obviously you're still doing it. What is this six years later?
• 25:09
  Speaker 3: Now?
• 25:09
  Speaker 2: Yeah, it will be. It will be six years, which
• 25:12
  Speaker 2: is crazy because a few months had passed and as
• 25:17
  Speaker 2: I was getting into CrossFit, like weightlifting was a huge
• 25:21
  Speaker 2: weakness of mine, like I could never wrap my head
• 25:24
  Speaker 2: around a snatch and a clean and jerk, and that
• 25:27
  Speaker 2: was something that Shane and I we wanted to improve
• 25:31
  Speaker 2: on and kind of just understand the movement more. And
• 25:37
  Speaker 2: once we started getting along that journey and realizing that
• 25:41
  Speaker 2: the Olympics was a potential opportunity, like I just thought, Okay,
• 25:45
  Speaker 2: I'm just going to be in it for a year
• 25:47
  Speaker 2: or two and then that's it. But it's like opened
• 25:50
  Speaker 2: up a whole other world.
• 25:57
  Speaker 1: Taking a break from today's episode to give a shout
• 25:59
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• 26:51
  Speaker 3: Let's get back to it.
• 27:00
  Speaker 1: I think what's so insane and I know we like
• 27:02
  Speaker 1: hinted at this before, but we haven't really dove into
• 27:04
  Speaker 1: the fact that you went to the Olympics is that
• 27:07
  Speaker 1: you had a point where that wasn't even something that
• 27:11
  Speaker 1: was on your radar, and you had a point where
• 27:12
  Speaker 1: you were a total beginner. And so many people every
• 27:16
  Speaker 1: day don't even start something because they're like, well, I've
• 27:19
  Speaker 1: never done it before.
• 27:20
  Speaker 2: Yeah. Like so there's been commentators that have said, oh,
• 27:25
  Speaker 2: she's a weightlifter doing CrossFit. You know, she's gone to
• 27:28
  Speaker 2: the Olympics and done all this. I was like, no,
• 27:32
  Speaker 2: I'm actually a CrossFit crossfitter doing weightlifting, And because if
• 27:38
  Speaker 2: it wasn't for CrossFit, I would never have picked up weightlifting.
• 27:41
  Speaker 2: And I know this sounds a little corny, but I
• 27:44
  Speaker 2: kind of felt like weightlifting chose or picked me, and then,
• 27:49
  Speaker 2: you know, my dream of going to the Olympics was fulfilled. Yes,
• 27:53
  Speaker 2: it wasn't fulfilled through the track that I thought it
• 27:55
  Speaker 2: was going to be, but I wasn't going to pass
• 27:58
  Speaker 2: up an opportunity to go to the Olympics, So of
• 28:00
  Speaker 2: course I was going to dive in and put all
• 28:01
  Speaker 2: my like work into weightlifting.
• 28:05
  Speaker 1: What year did you go to the Olympics sixteen twenty
• 28:08
  Speaker 1: sixteen and you would come in second place that year
• 28:11
  Speaker 1: in the cross for Games. Yes, wow, Yeah, it's a
• 28:15
  Speaker 1: lot of work.
• 28:15
  Speaker 2: It was. It was two weeks apart from each other.
• 28:18
  Speaker 2: That was pretty full long. Yeah.
• 28:20
  Speaker 1: Did you feel like the Games were good prep for
• 28:24
  Speaker 1: the Olympics.
• 28:26
  Speaker 2: I did. I don't think that they there was any
• 28:29
  Speaker 2: jeopardization or whatever between the two. The hard part was
• 28:35
  Speaker 2: actually getting into the Olympics and being the one, like
• 28:39
  Speaker 2: the only one from Australia to represent you know, Australia
• 28:44
  Speaker 2: at the Olympics for weightlifting. There was myself and then
• 28:48
  Speaker 2: a male from Australia because we only had one spot
• 28:53
  Speaker 2: you know for males and for females. And just getting
• 28:59
  Speaker 2: to that that was what was so rewarding. And being
• 29:03
  Speaker 2: at the Olympics was it was just fun and it
• 29:06
  Speaker 2: was just like wow, like this is incredible. But the
• 29:10
  Speaker 2: CrossFit Games it was so different. Like I was going
• 29:13
  Speaker 2: into see if I could, you know, back up my
• 29:17
  Speaker 2: performance from the year before, because that was it was
• 29:19
  Speaker 2: just so shocking. Like I know, it surprised the world,
• 29:23
  Speaker 2: but it surprised me too because I had no intention
• 29:27
  Speaker 2: of podiuming at the CrossFit Games. I was just so
• 29:30
  Speaker 2: happy to be there.
• 29:32
  Speaker 1: What was it like the first time that you competed
• 29:35
  Speaker 1: in the CrossFit Open and made it to the Games?
• 29:37
  Speaker 1: And when I ask you that, I'd love it if
• 29:39
  Speaker 1: you could just touch briefly on how that whole process
• 29:41
  Speaker 1: works for someone who doesn't.
• 29:42
  Speaker 2: Know so currently it's actually a little different. But a
• 29:47
  Speaker 2: few years ago, well actually last year and prior to that,
• 29:52
  Speaker 2: there is a procedure to make it to the CrossFit Games,
• 29:55
  Speaker 2: so you have to go through at the start of
• 29:56
  Speaker 2: the year, from the last week of February through to
• 30:00
  Speaker 2: the end of March, you go through a five week
• 30:04
  Speaker 2: online qualifier called the CrossFit Open and anyone in the
• 30:09
  Speaker 2: world can sign up online and do it. Every week
• 30:12
  Speaker 2: there is a different workout and you have all weekend
• 30:16
  Speaker 2: to do the workout as many times as you want,
• 30:18
  Speaker 2: and then on Monday you get to upload it and
• 30:22
  Speaker 2: you get put on a leaderboard depending on which region
• 30:26
  Speaker 2: you are. So at the time, I was in the
• 30:28
  Speaker 2: Pacific Region, which was Australia, New Zealand and Asia. You
• 30:33
  Speaker 2: had to make the top thirty in that region to
• 30:35
  Speaker 2: go to Regionals, which was held in May, and there
• 30:40
  Speaker 2: was a number of regions all over the world, so
• 30:42
  Speaker 2: there was one in Europe and there was a handful
• 30:45
  Speaker 2: in the US and you would go to this regionals
• 30:50
  Speaker 2: and try and get into the top five in order
• 30:54
  Speaker 2: to make it to the CrossFit Games. And then there
• 30:55
  Speaker 2: was forty men and forty females that competed the cross
• 30:59
  Speaker 2: For Games in August, so there was like, you know,
• 31:02
  Speaker 2: a few procedures that you had to go through in
• 31:04
  Speaker 2: order to qualify. But that's what created the journey.
• 31:09
  Speaker 1: I guess, yeah, so like you're qualified. I qualified.
• 31:14
  Speaker 2: So when I started the Open in twenty fifteen, the
• 31:19
  Speaker 2: year prior, I went to regionals and I did not
• 31:22
  Speaker 2: enjoy my experience. I enjoyed competing, but I just wasn't
• 31:27
  Speaker 2: happy when I was there. I didn't enjoy the camaraderie
• 31:32
  Speaker 2: between the competitors. And I know that sounds a bit crazy,
• 31:37
  Speaker 2: you know, and a lot of people they don't go
• 31:39
  Speaker 2: to compete and create friends, but this was different. I
• 31:43
  Speaker 2: just didn't enjoy it as much as what I thought
• 31:46
  Speaker 2: I had because CrossFit for me was just it was
• 31:49
  Speaker 2: so much about being behind each other and you know,
• 31:54
  Speaker 2: just trying to be a better version of yourself. And
• 31:56
  Speaker 2: I just didn't feel that. So I had no intention
• 31:59
  Speaker 2: of suing a CrossFit competitive career.
• 32:03
  Speaker 1: It still blows my mind because like just to go
• 32:05
  Speaker 1: back to this idea, like I never thought I would
• 32:07
  Speaker 1: be a professional weightlifter, Like I never thought I was
• 32:09
  Speaker 1: going to like CrossFit. I didn't like CrossFit for this
• 32:12
  Speaker 1: time and this time in this time, and like to
• 32:14
  Speaker 1: still be at this point to stick with something like
• 32:17
  Speaker 1: it shows so much compassion for how you treat yourself,
• 32:21
  Speaker 1: like being willing to give it so many tries.
• 32:24
  Speaker 2: But I think it's also got a lot to do
• 32:27
  Speaker 2: with the people that I surround myself with. Yeah, so
• 32:30
  Speaker 2: the team that I have, my friends, my family, my
• 32:34
  Speaker 2: husband Shane, who's my coach, and we literally do this
• 32:38
  Speaker 2: as our profession now that if it wasn't for them,
• 32:42
  Speaker 2: like I wouldn't be where I am today, and having
• 32:46
  Speaker 2: their support has obviously made that journey so much more enjoyable.
• 32:50
  Speaker 2: So we owned the gym. We actually ended up buying
• 32:55
  Speaker 2: the gym that I started CrossFit in. I left my
• 33:01
  Speaker 2: laboratory job and it was halfway through the twenty fifteen
• 33:06
  Speaker 2: open that I was I was in the middle of
• 33:09
  Speaker 2: fifteen point three, that's what it was called, middle of
• 33:13
  Speaker 2: that workout, and I finished that workout and I walked
• 33:15
  Speaker 2: out to Shane and I was like, Shane, we're going
• 33:18
  Speaker 2: to the games. It was like this flick of a
• 33:21
  Speaker 2: switch that happened. I don't even know what it was,
• 33:25
  Speaker 2: but it was like this hunger that I was like, Nah,
• 33:29
  Speaker 2: I'm not going to give up yet, Like I'm actually
• 33:31
  Speaker 2: gonna go and give it a go. And I, you know,
• 33:34
  Speaker 2: went to Regionals, came third, secured my spot, to the Games,
• 33:39
  Speaker 2: and I was just like I done it, Like this
• 33:41
  Speaker 2: is awesome, Like it was. I just had a different
• 33:45
  Speaker 2: approach to it, and I didn't worry about what other
• 33:48
  Speaker 2: people were doing. I was just solely focused on myself
• 33:51
  Speaker 2: and giving my absolute best to that. And then getting
• 33:54
  Speaker 2: to the Games was like, man, this is amazing, Like
• 33:58
  Speaker 2: I just want to be a part of this experience.
• 34:00
  Speaker 2: And yeah, that's the same thing that happened with the
• 34:03
  Speaker 2: the Olympics for sure. Yeah, and I think, also, what
• 34:06
  Speaker 2: is so great here?
• 34:08
  Speaker 1: Not to spoil anything, it's public knowledge, but you show
• 34:10
  Speaker 1: up in twenty fifteen.
• 34:12
  Speaker 2: And you come in second.
• 34:13
  Speaker 3: I know, I know, I did tell me.
• 34:18
  Speaker 2: We actually, the girls and I were talking about this
• 34:20
  Speaker 2: earlier today and were laughing about certain things, like there
• 34:24
  Speaker 2: was this workout that we kind of all got a
• 34:26
  Speaker 2: little dehydrated in, and you know, it was just one
• 34:30
  Speaker 2: of those things that like obviously at the time you
• 34:34
  Speaker 2: just kind of like whoah, Like that was really hard,
• 34:37
  Speaker 2: that was very brutal. But now we're laughing about it,
• 34:40
  Speaker 2: you know, and I'm hanging around my competitors, you know,
• 34:43
  Speaker 2: just reminiscing, But we actually were laughing, Like I remember
• 34:49
  Speaker 2: during that workout I was like, who is this lady?
• 34:52
  Speaker 2: Like tear clear to me? What I've never heard her before.
• 34:56
  Speaker 2: I was like, I know, I was amazed too.
• 35:00
  Speaker 1: I remember I was at the Games that year and
• 35:02
  Speaker 1: just like watching everyone run through that sheet.
• 35:05
  Speaker 2: Yeah, it was pretty hard. It's pretty hard. Yeah. I
• 35:08
  Speaker 2: enjoyed it. I mean not at the time, definitely not.
• 35:12
  Speaker 2: But I look back and I'm like, well, that that's
• 35:14
  Speaker 2: what it was about, you know, the unknown and unknowable.
• 35:18
  Speaker 2: That's we signed up for this. So yeah, I enjoyed
• 35:23
  Speaker 2: every moment of it.
• 35:25
  Speaker 1: And then you came back in twenty sixteen, you came
• 35:27
  Speaker 1: back in twenty seventeen. Yeah, and everything changes in twenty seventeen.
• 35:31
  Speaker 2: It did. It was something about the twenty sixteen Games
• 35:34
  Speaker 2: that throughout, like throughout my whole journey, even when I
• 35:40
  Speaker 2: was younger, like competing at in CrossFit and all my
• 35:44
  Speaker 2: you know, sporting events back back in school. I just
• 35:50
  Speaker 2: was so happy to be involved in a very competitive environment.
• 35:55
  Speaker 2: So like winning was not a priority for me, and
• 35:59
  Speaker 2: I never looked at it. I never looked at, you know,
• 36:04
  Speaker 2: wanting to compete for a particular placing. It was to
• 36:07
  Speaker 2: be a part of that and just to push myself
• 36:10
  Speaker 2: as best as what I could, and the same. I
• 36:14
  Speaker 2: went in with the same mentality for the twenty fifteen
• 36:17
  Speaker 2: twenty sixteen games because it was so new. I was
• 36:21
  Speaker 2: just so happy to be there. And then when I
• 36:26
  Speaker 2: came second again, it just felt different to the first time,
• 36:31
  Speaker 2: like there was tears in both years. Twenty fifteen I
• 36:36
  Speaker 2: was so ecstatic. I was like, oh my gosh, like
• 36:39
  Speaker 2: did this happen or am I like dreaming right now?
• 36:42
  Speaker 2: Like what happened? Like surely they've stuffed something up with
• 36:47
  Speaker 2: the scoring because I was not meant to be second.
• 36:51
  Speaker 2: And then twenty sixteen I came second again, and I mean,
• 36:54
  Speaker 2: that's that's no easy fee Like it was very I'm
• 36:58
  Speaker 2: very proud of it, but it was just something like
• 37:01
  Speaker 2: it just didn't sit right, and I was actually really broken,
• 37:05
  Speaker 2: Like I felt like I hadn't done my absolute best.
• 37:10
  Speaker 2: If I if I could, like I could stand on
• 37:13
  Speaker 2: that podium in second place knowing I'd done my absolute best,
• 37:17
  Speaker 2: I would have been so proud of it. But knowing
• 37:20
  Speaker 2: if I look back throughout like my events on that weekend,
• 37:24
  Speaker 2: and I knew that there was certain places that I
• 37:27
  Speaker 2: just gave points away or I'd just given up or
• 37:30
  Speaker 2: you know, I stopped at one particular moment to have
• 37:33
  Speaker 2: a rest when I should have just kept going. I
• 37:36
  Speaker 2: knew deep down that it wasn't my absolute best, so
• 37:39
  Speaker 2: I wasn't happy, and then that stuck with me for
• 37:42
  Speaker 2: the rest of the season, and I just I just
• 37:46
  Speaker 2: went for in twenty seventeen and then came first, and
• 37:50
  Speaker 2: I mean that win was just It's something that like
• 37:55
  Speaker 2: Shane and I hold really deeply and true to our hearts,
• 37:58
  Speaker 2: so it it was It's pretty cool to look back
• 38:02
  Speaker 2: and kind of see that because at the time you
• 38:06
  Speaker 2: don't realize it right when you're in the thick of it.
• 38:08
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I also think it's just the most remarkable thing
• 38:12
  Speaker 1: to be able to go to the Games and place
• 38:16
  Speaker 1: like you have so many times in a row. Like
• 38:18
  Speaker 1: you said, you broke it down how it has been
• 38:21
  Speaker 1: in years past that anyone in the world can sign
• 38:25
  Speaker 1: up for the CrossFit Open and then they go through
• 38:27
  Speaker 1: the Open and they qualify for Regionals, and then you
• 38:30
  Speaker 1: go for Regionals and you go to the Games, and.
• 38:32
  Speaker 3: Four years in a row you were.
• 38:36
  Speaker 2: In the top two spots. I know, it's been pretty incredible.
• 38:40
  Speaker 1: Yeah, when you think about what goes hand in hand
• 38:43
  Speaker 1: with this title. I mean, obviously great sponsors like Rebok.
• 38:48
  Speaker 1: Do you still pinch yourself sometimes that this is all happening?
• 38:51
  Speaker 2: Oh? Yeah. In twenty fifteen, I approached who is now
• 38:56
  Speaker 2: a very dear friend of mine, Andreas. He works for
• 39:00
  Speaker 2: Rebok in Australia, and I approached him through an email.
• 39:03
  Speaker 2: I was like, Hi, Andreas, my name's TiO. You know,
• 39:06
  Speaker 2: I just I'm starting to do CrossFit and going and
• 39:10
  Speaker 2: representing the Australia at the CrossFit Games for my very
• 39:13
  Speaker 2: first year. I was wondering if you know, I could
• 39:16
  Speaker 2: get a few few shoes and clothes from Reebok, And
• 39:21
  Speaker 2: you know, he He's like, oh, like, I just love
• 39:23
  Speaker 2: how she just kind of emailed me and he all
• 39:27
  Speaker 2: of a sudden I was sponsored by Rebok and I
• 39:30
  Speaker 2: was like, oh, oh my gosh, so you're telling me
• 39:33
  Speaker 2: I get free clothing. Now. I was just over the moon.
• 39:40
  Speaker 2: But the fact that Rebok had no idea who I was.
• 39:44
  Speaker 2: This is before I even came second. So I wasn't
• 39:47
  Speaker 2: like no one they didn't care about that. It was
• 39:52
  Speaker 2: more the fact that hey, like I really I see
• 39:54
  Speaker 2: something in this girl. You know, she's gone out of
• 39:57
  Speaker 2: her way put herself out there and I love that
• 40:02
  Speaker 2: and like they they took a chance on me, and
• 40:05
  Speaker 2: I haven't looked back. Haven't looked back.
• 40:07
  Speaker 1: Okay, So right now on Instagram Live Update, you have
• 40:12
  Speaker 1: eight hundred and eighty seven thousand people that follow you,
• 40:17
  Speaker 1: and they obviously, you know, they have their opinions of
• 40:20
  Speaker 1: what they see every day. But when you look in
• 40:23
  Speaker 1: the mirror, like what is it that you see every day?
• 40:28
  Speaker 2: That's actually a really good question. I've never really thought
• 40:32
  Speaker 2: of that, to be honest, but I mean, I guess
• 40:38
  Speaker 2: the way I look at it is, you know, when
• 40:40
  Speaker 2: I'm done or you know, out of this space, or
• 40:45
  Speaker 2: it's it's kind of like it's my time to retire.
• 40:49
  Speaker 2: How do I want people to remember me by? And
• 40:54
  Speaker 2: for me, it's it's actually about people remembering, I guess,
• 41:01
  Speaker 2: my legacy and reminding themselves that, Hey, you know, if
• 41:07
  Speaker 2: you just take a chance and believe in yourself and
• 41:13
  Speaker 2: get that fire in your belly, that determination deep down inside,
• 41:20
  Speaker 2: if you believe in yourself, like anything is possible, so
• 41:24
  Speaker 2: just go after it. And I think like if people
• 41:29
  Speaker 2: can kind of look back on my journey and remember
• 41:32
  Speaker 2: that and remind themselves that, hey, like, it doesn't matter
• 41:37
  Speaker 2: what you do. If you're someone that wants to be
• 41:40
  Speaker 2: a journalist, right, if you're someone that wants to be
• 41:43
  Speaker 2: a musician, like, go for it. Like, if you really
• 41:47
  Speaker 2: want it, you will get it. You will be super
• 41:50
  Speaker 2: successful at it too. It doesn't take someone special to
• 41:54
  Speaker 2: make that happen or be very successful. All it takes
• 41:57
  Speaker 2: is that determination inside. And you know, I hope that
• 42:02
  Speaker 2: people can kind of look back on my journey and
• 42:06
  Speaker 2: feed off that energy and motivation and realize that, hey,
• 42:10
  Speaker 2: like if TA can do it, so can I. Yeah, totally.
• 42:14
  Speaker 1: And I mean it sounds like when you look at
• 42:16
  Speaker 1: the mirror, you see someone that's being authentic to what
• 42:18
  Speaker 1: they want. Yeah, whereas maybe, yeah, you know after grade twelve, no, like.
• 42:24
  Speaker 2: I was so unsure, I was afraid to take a chance. Totally. Yeah.
• 42:29
  Speaker 1: I have to ask, you've obviously been on the podium
• 42:32
  Speaker 1: for four years in a row, you've won for the
• 42:34
  Speaker 1: past two what's on your radar?
• 42:38
  Speaker 2: I mean going to the CrossFit Games. I've secured my spot.
• 42:42
  Speaker 2: I've done my job for now. Now it's literally training hard.
• 42:47
  Speaker 2: I mean I was training before this. I'm going to
• 42:50
  Speaker 2: go back and do some more training, like I just
• 42:54
  Speaker 2: want to go back to the CrossFit Games and you know,
• 42:58
  Speaker 2: do do my absolute best, and I hope my absolute
• 43:01
  Speaker 2: best is enough to be on top of that podium
• 43:05
  Speaker 2: because it's something that I know is very possible. But
• 43:10
  Speaker 2: there's just so many incredible athletes out there, and I'm
• 43:13
  Speaker 2: just so wanted to actually be a part of that. Like,
• 43:17
  Speaker 2: I just can't wait to push myself and see how
• 43:19
  Speaker 2: good we've really become since last year as well, and
• 43:24
  Speaker 2: that's something that I'm really looking forward to. So the
• 43:27
  Speaker 2: CrossFit Games is definitely on my radar for this year,
• 43:30
  Speaker 2: and I try not to look too far ahead because
• 43:33
  Speaker 2: you know, I just need to stick to my one
• 43:36
  Speaker 2: priorities and enjoy the ride. We are winding down here.
• 43:39
  Speaker 1: But I do want to note that you have finally
• 43:42
  Speaker 1: made the pilgrimage to Tennessee.
• 43:45
  Speaker 3: Yeah, which is very different than Australia.
• 43:48
  Speaker 2: Moved to the South.
• 43:49
  Speaker 3: Yeah, how's that going?
• 43:51
  Speaker 2: For real? It's amazing.
• 43:53
  Speaker 3: I've actually been to Cookvell, I've been to Rich's house.
• 43:57
  Speaker 1: I went there on assignment for Men's Health last year
• 44:00
  Speaker 1: and I hung out with the team and Rich for
• 44:02
  Speaker 1: forty eight hours.
• 44:03
  Speaker 2: Amazing people. Hey, so much fun.
• 44:05
  Speaker 1: Yeah, Rich Frowning, who was at one time the fittest
• 44:08
  Speaker 1: man on earth.
• 44:09
  Speaker 3: He is a legend in the CrossFit world, and Cookville
• 44:13
  Speaker 3: was something special.
• 44:15
  Speaker 1: Yeah, so, I mean I've seen a snippet of the
• 44:17
  Speaker 1: day in the life of him.
• 44:18
  Speaker 3: Are you training? How many hours a day are you training?
• 44:22
  Speaker 2: I guess it depends on the season. I right now,
• 44:25
  Speaker 2: I'd probably be training between forty six hours a day,
• 44:30
  Speaker 2: probably resting every sixth to seventh day, and then that's
• 44:35
  Speaker 2: just going to increase obviously as I get closer to competition,
• 44:39
  Speaker 2: and I'm in May. There's a competition coming up called
• 44:43
  Speaker 2: the Rogue Invitational. It's the first one, and it's actually
• 44:47
  Speaker 2: going to be a pretty incredible event because they also
• 44:50
  Speaker 2: have a category for CrossFit Legends, which is like all
• 44:55
  Speaker 2: the veterans from like back in the day, like before
• 44:58
  Speaker 2: I even knew what CrossFit was. They're going to come
• 45:01
  Speaker 2: back from retirement and do some competing and I'm really
• 45:06
  Speaker 2: looking forward to that. But I also am competing in
• 45:09
  Speaker 2: a different category, so that's gonna be a lot of fun.
• 45:13
  Speaker 2: It's a lot of training every day. It is a
• 45:15
  Speaker 2: lot of training, but it's a good thing. I enjoy it.
• 45:18
  Speaker 1: Right I feel like there's like all these last minute
• 45:20
  Speaker 1: things I'm trying to squeeze because I'm so curious, like
• 45:22
  Speaker 1: I've got to No, No, it's cool, like staples in
• 45:24
  Speaker 1: your pantry.
• 45:26
  Speaker 2: Oh god, yeah, I know. Well, I mean we're in
• 45:30
  Speaker 2: America now, so there's peanut butter and we're really enjoying
• 45:35
  Speaker 2: the like the popcorn, the caramelized popcorn, like, I mean,
• 45:40
  Speaker 2: it's in Australia as well, but it's not as popular
• 45:43
  Speaker 2: over there than it is here.
• 45:45
  Speaker 3: Are you super strict with what you eat?
• 45:48
  Speaker 2: I like to have a balance. Yeah. I think that's
• 45:50
  Speaker 2: probably the most simple way of explaining. I definitely like
• 45:53
  Speaker 2: to eat clean foods. I work with a specific nutrition
• 45:57
  Speaker 2: coach called the Method Now and they help me out
• 46:01
  Speaker 2: with counting my macros and making sure I'm fueling the
• 46:04
  Speaker 2: body with what it needs and how much it needs,
• 46:08
  Speaker 2: just so that I'm built, like improving my recovery and
• 46:11
  Speaker 2: I'm not feeling fatigued, and you know, I'm getting the
• 46:14
  Speaker 2: best out of my body.
• 46:17
  Speaker 1: Sweets, but I yeah, I love it, like I love chocolate.
• 46:21
  Speaker 2: I love going to the movies or the theaters or
• 46:24
  Speaker 2: cinemas like whatever you call it, and just munching out
• 46:30
  Speaker 2: on like your popcorn, your peanut m and ms. You know,
• 46:34
  Speaker 2: I love Tim Tams. So whenever someone comes over to
• 46:37
  Speaker 2: from Australia and visits, they always bring Tim Tams.
• 46:41
  Speaker 3: And yeah, like you know, I love to live balance.
• 46:45
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I think balance is key. All right, final question.
• 46:50
  Speaker 1: You have an opportunity right now to offer the tea
• 46:55
  Speaker 1: who is going through it after grade twelve, really feeling
• 46:58
  Speaker 1: stuck at her hurdle moment, one piece of advice looking
• 47:02
  Speaker 1: back on it right now?
• 47:04
  Speaker 3: What do you tell her?
• 47:11
  Speaker 2: I think, you know, there's so many things that obviously
• 47:15
  Speaker 2: looking back now that I could be like, you know,
• 47:19
  Speaker 2: there's so many things that you weren't doing right to you.
• 47:22
  Speaker 2: But I mean if I'd never experienced that, I probably
• 47:27
  Speaker 2: wouldn't be sitting here today. So if I was to
• 47:30
  Speaker 2: tell myself, you know, back in the day, it'd probably be,
• 47:35
  Speaker 2: you know, like, what is it that you want out
• 47:40
  Speaker 2: of your life? And what type of person do you
• 47:42
  Speaker 2: want to be? Because I think that that would have
• 47:47
  Speaker 2: kind of gotten rid of me filtering all the recommendations
• 47:53
  Speaker 2: and thinking, oh that's what I should do from outsiders,
• 47:58
  Speaker 2: and I wouldn't probably been so confused, and I probably
• 48:02
  Speaker 2: wouldn't have gone and pursued a degree that I didn't
• 48:05
  Speaker 2: really enjoy or wasn't passionate about. But I mean if
• 48:11
  Speaker 2: I never experienced that, you know, who knows where I
• 48:14
  Speaker 2: would have been. So I'm you know, I've lived and
• 48:18
  Speaker 2: I've learned, and I don't actually have any regrets. Amazing.
• 48:25
  Speaker 1: Yeah, thank you so much for sitting down with me.
• 48:27
  Speaker 1: Please take a moment to leave a quick review by
• 48:30
  Speaker 1: clicking the link or the description to this episode. We
• 48:33
  Speaker 1: all face multiple hurdles in life. I want to hear
• 48:35
  Speaker 1: about yours. Reach Out to me at Emily at Hurdle
• 48:38
  Speaker 1: dot us. Connect with the podcast on Instagram and Twitter
• 48:41
  Speaker 1: at Hurdle Podcast.
• 48:43
  Speaker 3: Tia. Where do they find you? How do they keep
• 48:45
  Speaker 3: up with you? Give me the dates?
• 48:48
  Speaker 2: Well, I mean I have an Instagram account, Tia Claire one.
• 48:53
  Speaker 2: They can always you know, see my journey on that.
• 48:57
  Speaker 2: I actually have a book, How I Became the Fittest
• 48:59
  Speaker 2: Woman on Earth.
• 49:00
  Speaker 3: So casual, casual book, Tatle.
• 49:03
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean it's a pretty good book. It's a
• 49:07
  Speaker 2: very easy book, and I've had some fantastic feedback, so
• 49:10
  Speaker 2: you know, if you enjoy reading, definitely look that up.
• 49:14
  Speaker 2: And I mean I'm on Facebook I'm on all social media,
• 49:19
  Speaker 2: so yeah, they can. They can reach me on anything.
• 49:22
  Speaker 1: I am at Emily Abbadi. Another hurdle conquered. Catch you
• 49:27
  Speaker 1: guys next time.