Hello athletes, welcome and thank you for tuning into the Coach Katie Danger Podcast recorded live from Omaha, Nebraska. I'm your host, Coach Katie Danger, U S army veteran, fitness coach and founder of Red H Nutrition. Here's a fact for you, 99% of us are not elite athletes. We're individuals from all backgrounds, juggling life priorities, including jobs, our families, their needs, and trying to find time to take care of ourselves every single week. When you tune in, I'll be discussing clear, concise and actionable strategies you can use to get the most from your fitness, nutrition, and mindset. So you can optimize your life without compromising your time. So athletes settle in and get comfortable. I'm here to educate, inspire, empower, and entertain you to help you enjoy the unique fitness journey that you are on.
(00:52): Hey athletes, welcome to episode number 47 of the coach, Katie danger podcast. I hope your week has been going really well so far. Thank you so much for joining me. I'm really personally looking forward to the weekend coming up because I'm decided to partake in another three day juice fast. Now, if you remember last February, if you've been around this long with the podcast last February, I did my first juice fast. I made a podcast episode around the whole ordeal when I put ordeal in quotes, because I laugh about it now, but at the time, like it was pretty stressful for me. I do like try new things and challenging myself. So when I decided to do the juice fast, I was like, well, not eating for three whole days. Seems like it would be a challenge. And it certainly was, but this time, this time I'm actually looking forward to it.
(01:38): I ordered all my juices again. So they're gonna be pre-made, I'm getting six juices a day. So there's going to be 18, total six times three. And it really, for me, it takes so much stress out of it, knowing that it's all prepared and I didn't have to gather any of the food. And you know, it's obviously gonna be a little bit more expensive, actually, a lot more expensive if you have to, if you get it prepared, but just the stress of it and not having to go through that work to me, it's totally worth it. Last year I used a brand called blueprint. They home deliver the juices. I did six juices per day, last time too. So I looked up them when I was deciding to do this and it looks like they've gone out of business. So I had to find another supplier and I found a brand called project juice, same kind of company.
(02:21): They deliver fresh juices to your door. They're already prepped. Now. I learned a lot of lessons last time. And the main one was that food is not an emergency. I don't get hangry anymore before my first juice fast. Like, I didn't know I was going to learn this. I mean, I, I knew I was a hangry person, but I didn't want, I didn't know it was gonna break me of that, but I just, I didn't really know how much I thought food had to be a part of my life. I talk about this a lot in previous episodes to other people, a lot of people will ask me what was the most significant things you've done for your health and your fitness and really doing the juice fast. It teaches you so much about your relationship with food. And I personally have never described myself as somebody who has a bad relationship with food. You know, I don't overeat. I'm not a binge eater. You know, I'm not addicted to sugar in the way that like I gotta have cakes and cookies and candies, but I did learn that I had a relationship with food that was unhealthy and that was the hanger. And then always thinking I needed to have a snack around. So anyway, I won't dive any to any much deeper into that, but you can I will be doing a podcast about this second experience that I'm going to compare it to my first experience. So
(03:28): Stay tuned for all that this week though,
(03:31): I want to extrapolate go in a little bit deeper on a prior podcast where I discussed what makes a good coach. And that episode was number 34. So if you want to go back for reference episode, number 34, go back and listen to that or relisten to it. Anyways, I haven't always had the best coaches. They were not skilled in bringing out my best. They just were not skilled interpersonal people in general,
(03:54): Though, I would classify
(03:57): Them as egomaniacs. They preach things like crushing the competition, you know, all those other Savage sayings that come with competitive mindsets, but these competitive mindsets that we're used to hearing about like crush your competition. If you're not first you're last or, you know, if you're not a winner, you're a loser. Like all that stuff is just a guise for insecurity anyways. So a bad coach can really poison the well for you and your fitness crews. If you have a crap coach, if you don't know, if you have a crap coach go and listen to episode number 34 and get some examples and then find another coach, if you need to. But I read quite a few books last year in 2020. And there was one that sticks out to me in particular, when it comes to what is a good coach and competition and how
(04:38): That mindset works. It has a deep and
(04:40): Long lasting lesson. The book is called the infinite game and the author is Simon Sinek. I read it because It was actually recommended to me as a business book, but I quickly realized that it definitely applies to the fitness world as well, really anywhere that there is a competitive feel or mindset, you know where somebody is on top and somebody is on bottom or there's a hierarchy. This book applies to an infinite game by Simon Sinek. Now we've all heard This before, especially in fitness, you shouldn't compare yourself to others. Don't compare where you're at, where somebody else has said, okay,
(05:12): Because no lie.
(05:14): That is a really quick way to get discouraged. And when you start comparing yourself to others and the progress you've either made,
(05:20): We're not made. I want to be clear. The only message Drink, stick you should ever use. No matter what, the context is, fitness business, other life endeavors, the only measuring stick you should use is you versus you. Where are you at? Where do you want to go? And if you have to gauge your progress every single day here is why here's two reasons why comparing yourself to others never works. Number one, if you find yourself ahead of them in terms of progress, you get big ego, you get puffy chest. Now our egos are all so fragile anyways. So if you beef it up, it's a superficial it's anyways, it always takes so much work to fluff up your ego. It always takes a lot of maintenance. He has got to find somebody else you're better than that takes work. Okay? And that takes work that comes away from the actual real work of making yourself better.
(06:09): For real number two reason why comparing yourself to others never works. If you find yourself behind the competition,
(06:18): In terms of progress, you get discouraged. You might want to quit. You wonder what's the point I'm so far behind and you might not even start either. If you think someone else is so far ahead, I hear this a lot. When it comes to somebody who's never done CrossFit, but they're like, no, I gotta get in shape before I go get in shape. And it's really just about starting. You sell yourself short in a lot of ways. When you compare yourself to others and where you're at
(06:40): Or not at it creates long lasting limiting beliefs, and they just don't do any good for you ever at all. So stop comparing yourself to others. When I found Simon, the infinite game, it was a breath of fresh air for me, but I want to preface though. I want to preface because I am a competitive person, but here's how I see competition. Here's how my view has changed
(07:01): Change. I see competition in a way that allows you,
(07:05): Me to be grateful for their presence, for the pressure that I am under to perform well, to take all of the things that I've done in training all of those skills and actually implement them into game day. I'm grateful for the examples that my competition gives me because they give me examples of what works, what doesn't work. And I'm grateful to know that there is no limit to how much better I can get you. And I both know if you're listening to this right now, there's always going to be somebody richer than you. Stronger, faster, better looking. I mean, you name whatever qualifier, whatever adjective you're looking for, somebody is probably always going to have more of it than you or better when we're talking about a scale, okay, I've got to put words on it, but instead of feeling angry at that person, jealous or angry at yourself, your own short perceived shortcomings, take it as a challenge to see what's possible and can be done.
(07:52): When we look at the greatest athletes of all time, Michael Jordan, I like LeBron James a lot. We think of Tom Brady, Patrick Mahoney, and the current golfers, Jack Nicholas, you know, I don't ever think of Michael Jordan and go, Oh my God, I freaking hate him so much. I hate that. He was such a good basketball player, no other basketball players. Look at that and go. That is what is possible. Like that's where humans can get to. It shows you that there's potential to push yourself to higher and higher levels. We got to use others and their greatness to push ourselves to higher levels too. That's how I view competition. This is a journey. This is a journey. That progress is linear, but it's also very dynamic as well. So I believe that competition is an advantage to us. It allows us to see what others are doing. Make changes to ourselves and see
(08:39): What is possible. Now Here on the flip side is how some of my past coaches have used competition. And some of this probably will sound Familiar to you. If you don't win you're loser. If you don't win, you're forgotten. If you don't win all the training was for nothing. It's so cutthroat, it's high Pressure. And may the times competition isn't even fun. Then it's like, what am I even doing this for? If it's not even fun. And it is so hard to perform when you're always comparing yourself to others. Most of these coaches that I'm talking about, the bad ones who are not there to support your goals and create better mindset for you, they have fragile egos themselves. So all they're doing is projecting and their athletes are certainly going to take on that persona in a way and likely suffer. So I really, really believe that having a coach who supports you as a person, rather than pits you against competition in some sort of, you know, Dick measuring contest. I just think that that's an ineffective way to reach your goals and fitness. So competition is healthy. Let me be clear. Competition is healthy. It's the mindset and the context in which you view that competition that can be detrimental to your overall goals and progress the infinite game, the book that I've been referencing, it's based on the idea that when we work together and we study our rivals, we study our competition.
(09:52): We respect our rivals for the level they're at. And then we put all of ourselves into an endeavor that we are fully equipped for the journey. And that journey is in this particular podcast. I'm usually always referencing a fitness journey. Hey, I know, and you know that I talk a lot about using supplements on your fitness journey and reaching your full potential, how I believe they're integral pieces of the puzzle to reaching your best self and best fitness results. But do you know how supplements fit into your plan? Do you know what to take for your goals and how much of a supplement you should take if you've ever had any of those questions and you want to know how supplements can work for you and your goals, go to your fitness supplements.com and take the free free, free three point personalized supplement assessment. And with just a few questions, you'll have a complete personalized supplement recommendation in less than 60 seconds. You'll know more about how supplements fit into your fitness goals. What's safe and what's effective and perfect for you. So type in your fitness supplements.com in your internet browser, take the free assessment and get on the fast track to your best fitness results.
(11:04): We are left likely to quit on ourselves when it gets tough. When we have this kind of mindset, we are forged from the confidence we have in our own abilities, and we don't base our worth on the abilities of others. We are only concerned about where we are at, where we're going and what work that we have to do to get there. The game, the game in this infinite game, the game he's referring to is the journey of life. The journey of fitness he's particularly referencing how many companies have risen to the top in their sectors only to find themselves at their peak. And then that's it. Where do you go from there? If there is a proverbial top, then what? Right? You just stand at the top and look down at everybody and laugh. But in order to have lasting and staying power, whether you're an athlete, you're a business or, or whatever endeavor you're entering into or involved in there is so much more to the equation than that.
(11:50): And that's where the collaboration comes in. Now you may not partake in a team sport, but you can build yourself a team around you that pushes you, encourage you and challenges you. One of those team members is going to be your coach. This is about being around for the long-term being invested in this wellness and fitness journey that you're on. I'm sure you've heard this old saying, and it's goes that nobody accomplishes anything alone. And I bet if you look back on some of your own personal accomplishments, whether it's in fitness or something else you'd agree that bigger, small, you did not accomplish it alone on us somewhere has had a role in your success. Someone out there has. So that's collaboration that is collaboration. It may only be one person you can think of, but it is still a collaboration. It is the same with fitness athletes.
(12:36): I remember training years ago and I had a really terrible mindset on what competition meant. I remember I actually hated, like I did in my gut. I hated the people that I was up against because I knew that it was really me or them in terms of who's going to be the winner, the loser. And I knew if I lost, this was my mindset. I knew if I lost, then I was the lesser person. That was my limiting belief. At the time, this really made competition suck for me. They were stressful. And I would certainly beat up on myself when I lost. Just wasn't fun. I guess you could summarize this as I am. So over that old saying, if you're not first, you're last, I'm over it. And I just don't buy into those gurus and concepts that promote that as their platform, I've been training for nearly 15 years now, and I've experienced many different types of coaches, athletes, training styles in different competitive formats and all of the bits of advice I can give you put all of it together.
(13:31): It's the, you should change your view on competition to a more healthy stance. If you haven't already, competition is about testing yourself, your training, it isn't about being a winner or a loser humans. We do these things. We put labels on these things because that's what we do. That's what we do. But if you want to play the game, sometimes you gotta operate within that framework, but you also do get to choose how you play this game, right? You can choose the mindset and context you want to take. I think it makes life easier. Sometimes when you have a personal guidepost for where you at the work you put in and how you can strategize for where you want to go next, if you're always looking at the leaderboard and that's the sign of failure, it is so superficial. It is just the tip of the iceberg.
(14:16): When it comes to you and who you are as a person, if you're in a healthy mindset, you won't see the sign that you won't look at a leaderboard and see a failure. You'll see it as an opportunity to improve where you're at. You'll see that the limits are endless, that you can keep going. And that's what this journey is all about. It's about getting to one point and then another point have a healthy mindset. You know, won't hold you back in anything. So to summarize, it is not about the ability level of the person who's across from you versus your ability level. So it's not you versus them. I want to call this a competitive collaboration, a competitive, and it's we're athletes have entered a test. You've agreed to give your personal best in order to gauge your training. And by each athlete, intrinsically giving their best and a green to give their best.
(15:03): You've essentially all collaborated to raise the bar for each other. And as a competitor, it should be your duty to give your best every single time you're out there in a competitive manner. Give your best because you wouldn't want to go against a competitor who was just going to fake it, or just, just doesn't try their hardest, right? Nobody wants to go out there. And none of the other competitors try, you want your competitor to give their best because you're giving your best. And then you want to gauge, where am I at? Where am I going? And what strategies can I use and employ? What did you learn from your other competitor? So the sky's the limit, right? If it's just about beating the other person to prove your superiority and fluff your ego, it's superficial, and you're leaving the bigger picture out of view here.
(15:45): What can the other athlete teach you? What changes to your trainer necessary? If you do not have a competitor challenging, you you'll never get answers to those questions. And those questions are essential for you being your best. Simply put athletes. If your goal is to be the best you can, and you really want to enjoy this fitness journey, like really deeply intrinsically enjoy it. When you wake up every morning, you know your why and you jump out of bed. Like I love to train. I love what I am doing. Then the competitive collaboration mindset is exactly what you want to forge in yourself. Do you be, you always give your best and be honest with your progress. Now, if you want a deeper dive of the concepts of competition, first collaboration, I really suggest you read Simon Sinek's book, the infinite game. You can choose how you play the game.
(16:28): I mentioned before, like, if you want to enter the game, the competitive world, you can choose how you view it. You choose how you play. It. Doesn't have to be in the way that tears you down and leaves you being called a loser. The only person who labels yourself a loser is yourself. Now it takes courage to put yourself out there in the competitive ring, but the rewards you're going to reap are dependent on having the competition there in the first place. If nobody shows up, there is no progress to be made. Always thank your competition. They're sharing their lessons with you and you don't even have to ask them. Thank you athletes. Thank you so much for joining me again this week for episode number 47. But before I go, I want to remind you that as a listener of this podcast, you're entitled to a special VIP discount on red H nutrition.com.
(17:12): I want you to go to Reddit, nutrition.com and use my personal code. Coach, Katie danger, all one word, use it at checkout on red H and you'll save 30% on your first order. And when it comes to being your best supplements are a part of the equation. Just like having that competitive collaborative mindset as part of the equation, supplements are integral to your best as well. Do not leave anything on the table. So red ACE nutrition.com save 30% with my code coach, Katie danger. All right. That is it for this week. Athletes. Thank you so much again for joining me. And until next time, this is coach Katie D over and out.
(17:50): This is ThePodcastFactory.com.
