Kevin English: [00:00:00] Hello. My guest today is Laurie Meschishnick. Laurie is a 56 year old mindset coach teaching athletes, leaders, and teams, how amazing they are through world-class mentorship programs and presentations.

Laura is also an athlete. She has been to the CrossFit games seven times,winning four podium spots, including the gold medal in 2019. That same year she went on to set two world records at the world, masters weightlifting championship. Laurie, welcome to the show. Yeah.

Laurie Meschishnick: [00:00:25] Thanks, Kevin. Thank you. It's nice to hear those things. It makes me smile.

Kevin English: [00:00:30] Yeah. Right. Okay. So certainly want to talk to you about what you're doing today and definitely want to dig into your CrossFit story, but let's back up and start at the beginning. Tell us what were you like as a child? Were you an active girl?

Laurie Meschishnick: [00:00:42] So I'm from Canada. I grew up in rural. Saskatchewan on a farm, we went to a very small school and in the school, if you want it to have a team, everybody had to play the sport. So we were always very active, very, very lucky in that way that it was encouraged and we were given opportunities to do that.

So I grew up playing sports. Just having fun with being able to move and lots of outside activity. And, you know, we still had indoor gym, so we still played all the other sports inside, like basketball and volleyball.

And as I moved into high school, you know, did the same thing, played every sport that came along, you just. Wanting to be part of the team and that's how it always was for me. So that was always fun. When I left high school did some university, and at that point then I became, I guess, a more solitary athlete.

So I had took up running. Kept the running going, and then I found yoga. So for those years that was kind of what I did, everything that came along in the decades. I like to say I tried. Right. You know, there was aerobics came along and it was low impact aerobics. High impact aerobics. I was always doing it, something around that.

And then you got your home gym. Everybody had a home gym and you've got some programs that you were doing. So that was fun. I always did that. I think then I did settle in, like I say, to the running and the yoga, and it was very interesting. My running was never longer than 20 minutes. I would do like an interval run for 20 minutes.

And then I had some friends my coworkers who would run longer. So we would trade off. I would make them run my 20 minute interval run with me and I'd go for the long run around the bridges in the city. Do that once in awhile and then yoga. So in a sense, when I found CrossFit, my interval running had prepared me a bit for that energy system in CrossFit.

So it was, it was kind of cool. CrossFits my neighbor owned the gym. He was co-owner of the gym and I have three children. Two of them were college athletes. And my middle son, he was a basketball player. And so when he finished out his eligibility, he told me he was going to Ian's gym. And I didn't know anything about it.

I knew nothing about CrossFit, nothing, but what I did find out from talking to Ian, our neighbor, who was the co-owner was that it's an hour class and you, you go for this hour and you do your class, and then you're done. And I thought, well, what a great thing I could show up if I just know when my son is going, I could show up to the same class.

I could spend an hour with him at the gym. So I headed off and did my introduction to CrossFit at that time. And,

Kevin English: [00:03:30] and ha excuse me, but I, I hate to interrupt it. How old were you when you discovered CrossFit?

Laurie Meschishnick: [00:03:35] yeah. Yeah, 46.

Kevin English: [00:03:37] 46. Okay.

Laurie Meschishnick: [00:03:39] So 10 years. Yeah, yeah, 10 years. And you know, and it was like walking back into high school, gym class, which I loved, not everybody liked high school, gym class, but I loved it. And it was amazing. And then. It really didn't matter if I went to the same class with my son or not, because I just love going myself.

And then, and it's so ended up, he didn't continue. He moved away with his career. My daughter did start CrossFit herself. She coached, she still coaches cross it. But at one point, you know, after I started CrossFit, Kevin the coach said, Laurie, how many times have you been here this week? And I'm kind of going, I think I've been here every day, you know, and I got told to stay home.

You need to stay home and take a rest day. So I started learning about it and truly, I just loved it.

Kevin English: [00:04:26] So you obviously, you fell in love right away, right? You came in, just loved it. And what specifically about it? You had mentioned that you had done some interval running and the yoga, maybe just a couple other things. And I can see how the interval running, like you said, that energy system will transfer over nicely to CrossFit.

What was it specifically about CrossFit as you were a newbie? What part of that made you just fall in love?

Laurie Meschishnick: [00:04:51] It's a great question. Right? And I think there are several things around that. So one, it was the learning curve just went straight up for me. And that doesn't scare me, that like I thrive in that type of an environment when I'm being challenged to learn something and I'd never touched a barbell.

And I talk about like the gymnastics part. We didn't have monkey bars on our playground at school. I never, probably actually hung from anything ever in my life like that activity of hanging and swinging. Wasn't something that I was given the opportunity to do. So the whole gymnastics piece and the Olympic lifting piece was so new to me and just fascinated me about it and being able to move my body in different ways.

So, I have come to see that my, you know, the. The lineup I got in when gifts were being handed out, like I just stayed in the athletic line. I didn't go to the music line. I didn't go, or else I just stayed there because that's my body's meant to move. And so that part really attracted me.

And then it was this other piece about meeting these people that had the same. outlook on things and we actually worked out together and enjoyed ourselves so much. So it was finding this group of people that I had a lot in common with. I think were probably the, the, you know, the two big things that learning curve.

But then a comradery that was quite unique to me that I hadn't found in anything else in my life yet.

Kevin English: [00:06:22] That. Yeah. Thanks for sharing that. Now I have a very similar experience. I've only been, I've been at CrossFit for a couple of years now and it was my daughter similar to you. My daughter actually kind of dragged me and she was watching YouTube of Sarah Sigma's daughter said, Hey, look at this dad, we should do this.

And I kept saying, yeah, yeah, we should. And then one day she said, no, we really should. And so I kind of went, yeah. Thinking, Oh, this is not for me. And I'm an old guy, what am I, what am I going to do in there? And I'd seen the videos, you know, what they were doing. He was like, I don't know. But when I got in there, it was almost the same two things, right.

It was that the challenge, but even more so for me, I think it was just that community. I'd never had that before, especially in a physical setting like that, an exercise setting. And and I, that was one of the objections I had to go in. I didn't want to work out with it. It sounded to me like an insane.

Aerobics class I wasn't far off. But yeah, I can see how that's that can really draw you in. Certainly it has a unique community, right? Aspect. So knowing you're obviously addicted, your coach is telling you, Hey, maybe seven days a week, too much. At what point did you realize that you weren't just good at CrossFit, but you were really good.

Laurie Meschishnick: [00:07:30] well, but here's the thing, Kevin? Like I still say I wasn't really good. , I wasn't really good, like gymnastics. I couldn't. I couldn't do anything. And I'm still after 10 years, I've made it my mission this year through how I know to, to learn something now. And I'm better at knowing how to learn things, it is still my nemesis, right.

That I haven't made peace with the gymnastics. And when people say it is an easy thing to do, no, it is not an easy thing to do. And there's a lot of different parts, moving parts that are happening in gymnastics. And so I wasn't good, but what I was was I was committed and I knew I was committed because the first year, then these regionals happened and there were some of our athletes going to regionals and I'm saying, Why didn't I get to go to regionals and I didn't really want to ask him, buddy, why I didn't get to go to, but in my mind, I'm going, wow.

This is like, I haven't had this happen in a very long time in that that competitive fire had been ignited in me. And I haven't had, I didn't have that. Like until since playing high school sports. And loving that drive of competition. You know, I knew that, I'd put that down into a very low ember with running and yoga.

Like that's like peace out, man. Right. And knowing, this CrossFit thing really lit that up. And so when the regional thing happened, it was like, I'm going next year. I don't really know what this is all about, but next year I'm going to go and, you know, so when did I, yeah, when did I know I was really good.

I think I can answer that question and it's there's a long answer to it, but it was in 2015. So that was, I started in 2010. That was five years after I actually came to accept and acknowledge that I deserve to be on the world stage. It took me a very long time.

Kevin English: [00:09:25] Yeah, let's back up a little bit. Cause you had mentioned a couple things. you referenced the open and you've referenced regionals. Not all my listeners are going to know that vocabulary. Talk to us a little bit about the worldwide open and what used to be regional is now online qualifiers.

And the, the CrossFit games are, if you can just give us a summary of those that will help us. I think, as we go into the next part of our conversation,

Laurie Meschishnick: [00:09:47] Sure. So in the sport of CrossFit, there is a competitive season and the competitive season starts with several qualifying rounds where you need to advance into the next area. And as in any season, then it ends with some huge super bowl or the world series. And in CrossFit, it's called the CrossFit games where the people who have made it through the qualifications to that final cut meet on a world stage where.

The best CrossFit athletes from around the world who have qualified get to come and play. Like we get to go into this huge big playground with this really cool equipment and have a really great weekend. So that's the CrossFit games. The competitive season starts with the open and the open traditionally has been five weeks where CrossFit headquarters would announce a workout on Thursday and everybody.

Who wanted to do it around the world then could do that one workout you had until Monday to do it and submit a score into the CrossFit database. And then it would spit you out into this database, like in your, your age group or where you lived. And you could find out all these different ways of looking at how you were doing.

So we did, we would do those five workouts this year. Now, again, really exciting for us this year, because there are some new things happening for our sports. Since 2020 was a huge transition year and now 2021, the open is only three weeks and it starts March 11th. And so runs, runs three weeks in there.

So we only have three workouts to do after that. A number of the athletes will qualify to the next stage? So what I understand this year is very cool for individuals and teams, T E A M teams. They have like a, do you have a quarterfinal maybe is what they're calling it again?

Two weeks after where from Thursday to Monday, they'll get announced four or five workouts that they have to complete submit their scores. And a group of those athletes will then move on to the next round for them, which are this whole series of regionals around the world in different regions that CrossFit has set up very exciting to watch for the there's.

The athletes in CrossFit called the age group athletes, which are masters that started 35 years and then teens, T E E N S which are just phenomenal to watch these young athletes 14 up to 17 years old. So then we have it's called an age group online qualifier, which doesn't happen now until may.

So once we're finished in March, we're kind of then free. If we qualify, we don't do anything until may, but the teams and the individuals, they have all these qualifying things happening. And then once regionals are over once the age group on like qualifiers over for the masters in the teens, a group of athletes is selected that will head to Madison, Wisconsin.

Usually for the end of July, over the first weekend of August for what is called the CrossFit games, which is just one big, huge, you know, event of showing the world what our bodies are capable of, which is nothing short of stupendous.

Kevin English: [00:13:00] it absolutely is. It sure is. And give us a sense of the scope of this event. How many people typically participate in the CrossFit open?

Laurie Meschishnick: [00:13:09] Yeah. I know that because of the things that have been happening in CrossFit, I know the numbers have come down a little bit. We had less people, but at one point they had a half a million people participate.

Kevin English: [00:13:20] to be able to get a scope that there's close to a half a million people participating in this and really for, so for us older folks they're going to compete in the open, along with half a million other people and say like you know, in our age group, the 55 to 59, there might be 3,500, 4,000 people.

Something like that I think in our age group, just to kind of keep that perspective. And they're going to, to the games we're going to send the top 10 athletes, is that the top 10 men, top 10 women? Is that typically how that works?

Laurie Meschishnick: [00:13:49] When I first started going to the games, it was the top 20 in each age. They pared it down to the top 10 for the last, I don't know, I could I'd have to look back, but this year they just announced it will again be the top 20 Kevin going in each category. So they've increased that again, which is pretty cool.

Kevin English: [00:14:06] that's cool. Yeah. The more, the more people out there, the better. So all right, I think that's a good point for us to transition a little bit. So we've got you here. You've been at CrossFit for five years, and now you're starting to say, Hey, wait. I deserve to be on that world stage.

So we'd read out , in the intro that you had been to the CrossFit games, you qualified to go to the games. You were one of those top 20 or top 10 seven times. Is that right?

Laurie Meschishnick: [00:14:30] eight times if you count all 20, but then only got to go seven.

Kevin English: [00:14:34] Gotcha. Okay. And your podium four times.

Laurie Meschishnick: [00:14:39] Yep.

Kevin English: [00:14:39] And you were crowned the fittest woman on earth in your age division in 2019.

So talk to us about a, just the first time you went to the games. What was that like?

Laurie Meschishnick: [00:14:49] Like, gosh, so fun. So just to say, I remember that year We finished in our gym, the last open workout. And one of my friends who was a guy who just kept numbers all the time, we've just done a repeat. And I honestly, I think we were in the recovery position, which is lying on the floor, breathing very hard.

And he goes, Laurie, you qualify me to the CrossFit games. And I said, cool, what are the CrossFit games? And so, you know, that year I had like a group of coaches from the gym come along and I had my daughter came, you know, met me there when we went to the games and it was at the home Depot center.

But we, as the masters athletes competed in a parking lot, so they had set up. Our, our competition, our lanes and the, the competition arena on a parking lot. And they had tents and everything for us to sit in the back area. It was, it was great. It was amazing. And you know, I, I had a coach who knew how to coach and, so I was asked, well, what's, what are your goals? What are your goals going to the games? Right. And at that point it was, you know what, if there's an event in my wheelhouse, I'd like to win an event.

And then I would like to come in the top five. So that year I ended up winning the first event by four seconds. And then I ended up that year getting my first medal. It was a silver medal. So it was, you know, beyond exciting and yeah, we'll never forget that. It was great.

It was the first year I got my first muscle up in one of the workouts. If I wouldn't have got that muscle up. We were disqualified that year for not performing one rep of that movement. And then it started the whole process of me learning about myself as an athlete and going back and you know, figuring out.

The unnecessary pressures you put on yourself. And an interesting thing that I want people to know too, Kevin is I have rheumatoid arthritis and and I often have, I've had many people, not so much anymore because they're tired of asking me because I always have the same answer, but it's, you know, is it really good for you to be doing what you're doing?

Should you be doing that? And I'm going, Oh my gosh. You know, if I would not be doing what I'm doing, I would not be very well, I would not be well. And, and I only recognize that because taking time off and not being active is not good for my, my disease that I live with. And so please, , if you live with any kind of something that is affecting you in your joints, like I say, just you need to move like motion is lotion for our body.

But I will say I tried not to take a prescription drug once this got diagnosed for me. And I wanted to control it with diet and exercise. And I did pretty well until I got older until I approached 50. So in 2013 I ended up 21st. After the age group online qualifier just missed qualifying.

And it was the start of my arthritis taking over. I was becoming less able in some movements in 2014 I didn't even, I didn't even compete. I, I just decided I would take care of this and start to get it controlled. And I was very fortunate to have met a rheumatologist who wouldn't let me leave her office until I agreed to try a drug.

And I did, it was life-changing for me, things slowly turned around so that I could compete again in 2015. And I went back in 2015 after being out for those two years. And I got a third place. I stood on the podium in third place, which was when. I said, you know what? I am good enough to be here.

I am legitimate enough to be here with these other amazing women. And so that was great. You know, but a lesson that diet and exercise are so important, Kevin, they are the first line of defense against disease and aging. But you know, we all need to recognize that the medical profession does some amazing things and that we need to combine the two.

Okay. So that's right there.

Kevin English: [00:19:10] No. That's very well said. And thanks for, thanks for sharing that. And certainly anybody out there who, is suffering with something like RA or arthritis or some joint problems. I think you said, what'd you say motion is lotion for our body. Absolutely. To keep moving.

And I do agree strongly that certainly nutrition and activity is the first line of defense recovery. I would throw in there, but yeah, to ignore medical science would, it's probably not your best your best course of action there, so, okay. You've podium a couple of times. Now you realize that you're good enough to be there in 2019.

You win the open your first in the open and you're going into the games. Did you, did you feel strong? Did you feel like this was your year and what was your, because you had mentioned, , early on your goal was just to, Hey, I want to be here. If the, if there's a workout in my wheelhouse, I'd really like to do well in that.

And maybe be in the top five. But as you're coming into 2019, did you expect to win?

Laurie Meschishnick: [00:20:10] Yes, I did. I did. Yeah. It actually was so quickly, like 2015, I had that medal and, and that was great. And I, and again, that it made me realize that I was meant to be there, but 2016 and 2017, when I went back, I was off the podium and I was unhappy.

Kevin English: [00:20:30] Yeah. Okay. So that, there's that competitive fire again, right?

Laurie Meschishnick: [00:20:33] You know, and it was because I was still not reaching. I was not, I did not have it. Right. I didn't have the formula right. To actually use my gifts and reach that potential and actually break those, those ceilings of potential. Right. Because that's what they're there for. They're there to be broken. And so that started me on my path, actually in 2017, to understanding more about myself as an athlete and.

Realizing the whole power of our thinking and what I needed was it just a slight mental transformation to bring that in line with my physical fitness, I needed the two to be aligned and they weren't. And so when I went in 2018, I expected to win Kevin and that was a silver medal that year and that will, you know what it was great.

I accepted that silver medal. I loved it. I, I, I lost that. I lost the gold medal. On the last day, because all the gymnastics movements that were my challenge both came up on the last day. And so I just, you know, I lost it is what I, what I say, but I was very, I was so happy with the silver metal because I was a completely different athlete that you're performing in such a different way.

And so I was really happy, but I knew where the gaps were. And so I went back. From 2018 to 2019, and I still worked and close those gaps and just became that much more knowledgeable about myself. And then 2019 was like, things are good. I was, yeah, I was pretty, I was pretty ready to go and show myself that I had put the work in and it was great.

Yeah, it was great.

Kevin English: [00:22:09] Tell us about the emotional feeling of standing on that podium after working that hard for that many years and being crowned the fittest woman on earth in your age group, what was that like?

Laurie Meschishnick: [00:22:20] yeah, you're going to be surprised at my answer, Kevin, because I'd been standing in that place so long before I actually stood in that place. That when I went out there to get up there, I was ready to get off and get home and start being better. It's the amazing thing about us as goal achieving like human beings.

Like we have a goal achieving mechanism and it's not like you ever, you arrive and you're there and it's done. Like you don't sit down and stop and it's, it's like fantastic. I became who I needed to become. I nailed this goal. What is next?

You know, and yeah, it was cool. It really was cool. But again, I stood there in my mind long before it actually happened. So it was as great as it was as great as I imagined
Kevin English: [00:23:13] Yeah. Okay. And we're certainly going to come back to that. We'll put a pin in that right now. Cause I do want to talk to you about your mindset practice. And I have a feeling that's going to come to play right there. So. Okay, you achieved your goal and to your point we're goal oriented beings.

Right? So your thought isn't okay. I've arrived. I'm done. It's I've arrived. What's next? Wow. Okay. So I want to talk a little bit more about CrossFit and. So let's say there's somebody listening to this and she's a 60 year old woman who doesn't have an athletic background. Maybe she's slightly deconditioned, but is looking to get back in shape.

She hears this and she thinks, well, okay. Yeah, this woman's the fittest woman on earth. Of course she's good at CrossFit. That's a perfect modality for her. What would you say to somebody like that who is considering CrossFit? As a way of life, as a way of regaining their health.

Laurie Meschishnick: [00:24:08] Yeah. Yeah. Great question. Again, our bodies are meant to move. Our bodies are meant to perform work. Our bodies are meant to serve us. And there are so many pieces around that, like the mobility piece and range of motion. And when I talked to older athletes about coming back and getting into fitness and, and wanting to regain some health, you know, it's about range of motion.

Our joint health and keeping some muscle on our body. And I really don't care how fast you can run a 5k. You know, I watched my mom break her hip and again, it was around men. If she'd had some muscle on her, if we'd have maintained her health in a way that she had maintained some muscle on her body and she had kept her joints like a range of motion, she had a recovered.

Much more quickly, and this is the key for all of us. And you know, when CrossFit. Really like in all of the things that are encompassing CrossFit, it really is about our bodies moving in the way we need to move in life. I need to take something heavy down from a top shelf. My shoulders have to be able to get up there, grab that thing and bring it down.

And then like the next thing is my legs need to put that thing down onto the floor and I need to be able to get up off the toilet and off a chair so I can stay in my home longer. I need to keep myself moving in ways that allows me to be independent for my life CrossFit does that in so many ways, by the nature of the, the skills and the modalities that are used in CrossFit.

So I talk to people about like, go in interview the coaches or whoever you're going to be working with about how they approach it and what their goal is for somebody who hasn't been active, you know, so you know how they're going to teach you how to do this, but I it's, it is nothing but fun.

And you're looking at the quality of your movement. And so it's learning how to move again. And CrossFit can teach us that it can teach us how to move our body again, in, in ways it's meant to move like. Squatting sitting, standing. If I fall down, can I get myself up?

That's a burpee, right. We all need to fall down and get back up. And so CrossFit is for everybody. It is for everybody. And it can do some amazing things for everyone.

Kevin English: [00:26:33] Yeah. And I think another piece of that is a lot of people will watch say a YouTube video of the games and they might see it on ESPN or something. And an older deconditioned individual might think that's ridiculous. How could I ever do that? But all of the movements in CrossFit. And I mean, a hundred percent of them can be scaled to different available different skill levels and different abilities, right?

Different range of motion, different strengths, different, all kinds of things. So, you know, in our particular box, a workout comes up, we all do the same workout. But , you can scale the weight, you can scale the intensity, you can scale the reps, you can scale the movement, et cetera.

So and I think it's very key that you mentioned that we're going to keep, we're going to hang on to this functional fitness and functional strength into later life. You had mentioned , falling and breaking a hip is a very common scenario. That's often an end game for older people and had they had better mobility, better muscle mass, better bone density, which we get through intense exercise.

You're much more likely to survive that and be independent longer. So very, very well said. Alright, so let's finish up our CrossFit discussion with the CrossFit collective summit. Tell us what that is and what your involvement in it is and how people can participate and learn more.

Laurie Meschishnick: [00:27:51] Yeah. So I, I love my sport. I do love what I get to do. I love my sport and again, over the years with CrossFit as with any sport, and certainly, you know, the pandemic that we have lived through over this past year has affected so many things and it's, it's been, you know, a part of gyms closing and people not being able to be active.

We've had specific things happen in the sport. We've had a change of leadership in our sport, like right at the very top of it. You know, the sport actually being sold to a new owner and coming in with a philosophy then about the sport. And there has always been a philosophy behind the sport of CrossFit in that it was to, help people live their lives better and longer.

And at a higher quality at the essence of CrossFit is what it was. And so with the coming of a new season with the 2021 season, I really wanted to have people get excited about it again. Want to come in and participate in the open that's coming because the open is for everybody, it ends up being a qualifying process for athletes who are wanting to compete, but it's, but that's such a small percentage of the people who do the open.

And so the CrossFit collective summit was It's a collection of interviews. Number one of athletes. So I have athletes games, athletes individuals who have podiums and been to the sport. Patrick Vellner Brentford, Koski, Carolyn travel. And then I got some masters athletes will Powell Patty McGill.

And I brought in some teen athletes, which are outstanding interviews of these young people and talking to them about managing their life and being a competitive athlete. And some of these teens have been to the games already and some have qualified, didn't get to go in 2020 what a year, right. To get to qualify to the games, but nothing happens.

So I've interviewed these athletes and talk to them about you know, what they do. What do you do as an athlete and the question that encompassed everybody is what are the qualities of somebody who's a goal achiever? What are the qualities of somebody who achieves goals? Not just sets them because there's a difference.

I was a goal setter for many, many years, and I finally figured out how to become a goal achiever. And that was magic. That was a game changer. And so we have these group of athletes, but I also brought in a group of professionals then to talk about the sport and what they're what they bring to that sport.

So I have nutritionists, I have a natural path physician. I have experts in mobility and joint health. I have a very special mindset coach, like somebody who talks about the mental aspect of the game. I brought in some coaches to interview them. I'm really excited to be able to interview Eric Rosa, who has, you know, said, I'll tell you anything that.

You want to know about my role and what my goal and vision is for CrossFit. He is the owner and CEO of CrossFit, Adrian Bosman, and Rory McKernan, who in our world of CrossFit, people know them as Roe and bras, and they have these great competitions during the open. They both you know, have worked for CrossFit.

I got Paul Trombley, he's the new country manager for Canada and talk to him about some things. So CrossFit box owners would be very interested to hear him his interview. And I brought these altogether. A lot of them are they're prerecorded interviews, and they're going to be put out for you to listen to.

And honestly, I know that some of the information in there each person could take one thing could be said that affected you. That will be a game changer for you, just the way it is said. And it is said at the right time for you in the right way. And so these interviews are really fun. I had a blast doing them learn so much, so I know that people will enjoy them.

So , I will have two days where I'm gonna launch the athletes and then all the professionals and you can register and get a free ticket. Then to watch those interviews, you can also get Pay ticket, where you have a members access and then you actually get the, you get those interviews forever to watch them on your own time or you, you don't have to, you can get the free ticket and then just watch them as they're launched on the day.

But you know, truly any athlete will learn from this, it doesn't have to be that CrossFit is your sport. It really was amazing how the information that came out in the interviews that these people. They know their stuff and it was, it was great fun. So how you would do this is you would go to the website onpointwithlaurie.ca/2021ccs.

CCS is for CrossFit collective summit. Yeah. So onpointwithlaurie.ca/2021ccs, and that will put you into the registration page.

Kevin English: [00:32:37] And I'll drop that into the show notes so people can get that there. And so just to recap, this is, you've got all these great interviews and they're February 11th and 12th. And basically your timing is one month before the open, right?

So you'll have plenty of time to get over there. Check that out, register it's it's free. And if you want it to have access to those interviews, lifelong, there's a paid membership, but even if your CrossFit is not your main sport, you're going to get something out of this.

As people are going to be talking about just being an athlete . And you had mentioned goal setting and I loved the way you said that you said that you'd been a goal setter for a long time, but when you became a goal achiever, that was, you said magical, right? That's, that's kind of game changing and that's a fantastic segue into what I want to ask you next.

I read, I think it was on your website. You said through my experience as an athlete on the world stage I am witnessed that a healthy body needs a focused and disciplined mind to reach its potential. So obviously your athletic accomplishments have prepared you for a career as a mindset coach. We had talked about in the intro that you're now in a mindset coach, why is mindset so critical to achieving goals?

Laurie Meschishnick: [00:33:43] Yeah. So that's a great question, Kevin. You know what, at, at the essence of it, truly, our body is the paintbrush of our mind. And so when we actually notice what we're noticing, or we actually understand the thinking part of our thoughts and, and what's happening in our mind, we actually understand why we're getting the results we're getting, because it's simply has to follow that way.

Our body can't do anything else, but follow what our thoughts are. And it's like when I first got, I go, wow, like what a mess I made of things, because it was like, I created all this. I created it. And yet the flip side of that is, wow. I have so much control to change this and actually take in exactly what I want in my life.

And you know, so yeah, the thinking part of it is so powerful. And I tell people we're not born knowing how to think we're born with a capacity to think. And thinking as a skill thinking is like a good slapshot. It's like knowing how to do a good clean and jerk is like knowing how to do a good ring muscle up.

It's like, it's like having a good golf swing. And if you haven't actually took some time and got out there and looked into thinking and studied about thinking and understand why do we actually have the capacity to think what's its purpose? And I know because I lived it in that. Our thinking is probably leading us away from our goals, not to them, simply because of being human.

And once you understand a little bit about what happens to us in our human body. And so the importance of it just can't be stated enough. And you know, for me, when you talk about being qualified to be a mindset coach. Like that's interesting. What I am qualified to do, Kevin is I am qualified to teach you what happened to me.

I am qualified to teach you the path I took. What I learned and what is kind of cool is that it was so impactful to me that I put it into a program. I said, you know, what, if I look back and I think about this, I know exactly the steps that I did. I actually can see them and I can see where the transformation took place.

So I have been able to take them and put them into a program that I call performance on point. Now that's what I am qualified to do. And I love it. And it is specifically for athletes, but I like, I will tell you anybody who would take that program would, would be What it does is it raises your level of awareness.

And once your level of awareness is raised, you never go back to where you were. You just, you can't go back. And so there are pieces in it that anybody would learn about themselves that would change how they are living. It would change what they're doing actually in their life, it would change their relationships.

So I'm like, I am really proud of it. Because I just know how impactful it was on my life. Yeah. I'm quite passionate about

Kevin English: [00:36:56] Yeah, that's interesting. And I think that most of us know that negative self-talk is, is not good. Right. And most of us know that affirming thoughts are better, but that's, that's a little woo. Yeah. All fine and good, but really, to harness your mind in that, I hadn't really thought about thinking of what did you say, thinking as a skill, right?

And that can be honed and it's you know, it makes me think of when my kids were smaller. I used to tell them all the time and they would kind of roll their eyes when I'd say it. Whether you think you can or think you can't, you're probably right. Oh dad, you know? But there's something to that, right?

There's something to having that mindset, that winner's mindset, that aggressive if you will mindset you know, you're competent. And like you said, when long before you stood on that podium, being the fittest woman on earth, you had stood on that podium, right? That's that speaks volumes to mindset.

And now you've, you said you kind of made that into a program and packaged that, and you were working with other other athletes on that. So if people are interested in reaching out to you, there is that that's still the, the on point website, right? Yeah,

Laurie Meschishnick: [00:38:00] Yeah, absolutely. And I'm actually, so it was really cool. So I have done my performance on point program in person with groups of people, but I just put it into a self study course. So I have recorded all the lessons and it's actually being offered through the CrossFit collective summit.

I'm launching it there. So if you actually go on and want to walk through, you'll come to it. But you know what at any time, if please message me. I'm like on Instagram at OnPoint with Laurie and you'll find me there and please ask me questions about it. I would love to answer questions for you.

Kevin English: [00:38:31] Okay. So that's great. People can find out more at the CrossFit collective summit and they can obviously reach directly out to you. And it sounds like along with everybody else in the world, you're, you're figuring out how to get your programs online and, and work virtually. But okay, well, thank you for that.

And again, I'll drop all that into the show notes so people can figure out how to get in touch with you on your website or your Instagram, et cetera. Well, let's see as we're wrapping up here, you've accomplished a ton in your life and it sounds like you're always looking for new challenges.

So my question is what's next? Where, where are you going from here?

Laurie Meschishnick: [00:39:04] Yeah, that's great. You know my, it's, you know, it's something I like people to start to become aware of, you know, like, what is my purpose? Why am I here? What is this about? And one of the big things Kevin was for me to realize that. My me as an athlete is important because I used to ask myself, Oh my gosh, am I just wasting?

Like, this is not important. I am not changing the world by what I do. And it's wrong. I truly, the thing is that we are each given one gift. Nobody else can do it like you can do it. And if you don't recognize and acknowledge that gift and actually bring it to the world. It never comes to the world and the world is waiting for it because it is special.

Nobody else can do it. And I, I recognize that about myself. And so, you know, next for me is to actually help influence as many. Young or old or whatever age group of athlete out there to actually see that again, that perceived ceiling of potential is just there to be broken and to live more fully expanded.

That's, that's what our goal is as as people. And so, you know, as much as I love my competing, that's definitely my plan is to, can you to continue competing and no mine, I want to be the perennial CrossFit champ of my age division. But it's, it's, it's become bigger. Yeah. My, my goal now is to like, take as many people up there with me that I can and have them experience what I've experienced.

That's what's

Kevin English: [00:40:35] fantastic. And obviously your success in the games has given you a platform and probably an audience, frankly, to, to really, to use that, to reach out to folks. And I think that's fantastic. That's wonderful. Love to hear that that's what's on tap for you. Well, Laurie I want to thank you so much for taking the time to come on the show.

You are a fantastic ambassador for healthy aging. You just you're, you've accomplished so much and really appreciate you sharing your stories and your wisdom with us and wish you all the best in all your future endeavors.

Laurie Meschishnick: [00:41:07] Hmm, thanks, Kevin. Right back at you.