I like to believe that i’m a pretty realistic guy. I feel as if I have a pretty clear view on my goals and I try my best to take action on accomplishing those goals. This is what also led me to realize that my goal of making it to the CrossFit Games was not realistic and that I needed to go all in on the one thing that I wanted most out of life. So I did…
But first, let’s rewind. I grew up my whole life playing sports. Baseball, soccer, football, basketball, track, cross country, powerlifting, and then CrossFit. I had a pretty good strength base when I came into CrossFit, but my gymnastics was terrible. I missed regionals by 4 spots my 1st year competing in 2014. The next year, I worked my butt off and qualified. That same year, I was in school full time getting my degree in nutrition, and working 30-40 hours per week coaching CrossFit, personal training, etc. Let’s just say, I was running my body into the ground. Oh ya, I also got married that year to my beautiful wife. God, she’s a blessing. I literally wouldn’t be where I am today without her!
That year, I placed 21st at my very first regionals. I was happy, I was proud, but my body was wrecked. There were several nights throughout the week that year where I would only get 5-6 hours of sleep. Honestly, I don’t know how I did it. That next year, I decided I really wanted to make the games. I wanted to grab one of those 5 spots. I hired a new coach from one of the best programs in the world and I fell into the trap of thinking that by me paying someone to coach me each month then I was automatically going to get better. As I learned, that was not the case. By removing myself from my home gym’s programming, it forced me to train alone the majority of the time. That sucks. That year, I barely qualified for regionals and then took 31st. Looking back, I wish I would have listened to my home gym coach and stuck with the program.
However, I don’t think that was my big mistake. I believe that the root of the cause of me not reaching my full potential in the sport of CrossFit is simply because I was trying to do too much. I was finishing up my degree in nutrition, I was trying to qualify for the games, and I was trying to be successful in my career as well. In my opinion, it is extremely hard to reach your full potential when you lack a singular focus. I simply couldn’t reach my full potential in the sport of CrossFit because I wasn’t willing to make the necessary sacrifices. I had to weigh the risks and rewards, for me the cards just didn’t play out. So, I had to make a big boy decision. I decided that it was time to truly carry out my life mission.
I decided it was time to go all in on helping as many people in this world as possible learn how to truly live their best life through nutrition & lifestyle coaching.
I made a promise to God back in that jail cell years ago that I would dedicate my life to helping people. I didn’t know what my platform was at that time and I think that’s one of the beautiful parts of the story. To think that someone can go from so bad to so good is absolutely inspiring to me. I believe that’s one thing we must all remind ourselves of. Your past does not define you. Everyone has a future and at any moment you can change your life around, you just have to take major action.
Although I had been living out my mission on a small scale, I hadn’t fully gone all in. I was holding back. After the 2016 CrossFit Regionals, that all changed. I stopped competing and shifted all of my focus into nutrition. I had got my formal education, but I knew that there was so much more that I needed to learn. So that’s what I did. My workouts went from 5 days per week, 2-3 hours per day to 3-5 strength or CrossFit class workouts per week, 1 hour per day. My calories intake shifted from about 5000-6000 calories per day to about 3000 per day over time. All of my time that was spent working out and being at school was now shifted into personal development and building my career. Podcast, audio books, certifications, seminars, blogs, and anything and everything else that I could get my hands on. I wanted to make sure that I was doing everything possible to establish a growth mindset. This is a principle that I plan to keep for my whole life. I never want to stop learning. In the nutrition & fitness field, the information is always changing. This is why we must not become set in our ways.
I’m not gonna lie, the shift has been hard both mentally and physically.
There have been countless times that I have thought about competing again. Thoughts going through my head like “what if?” But that’s expected, I loved competing. But now, I get to compete for my best life. All of my time and energy has now shifted into building an amazing team of individuals that share my mission. It’s only been 3 months since I started my own company, but I am enjoying every minute of it. I have been blessed with amazing people in my life life that want to see me succeed. I have been blessed with a mission that inspires others. When you have this many people supporting you, the hard work, the long hours, it’s all secondary to the mission. My mission is so much bigger than me, my mission could truly help millions of people in this world. To me, that’s creating impact!
Competing in sports my whole life has taught me so much about setting goals and relentlessly pursuing them. The athletes that make it to the CrossFit Games are nothing short of amazing. The CrossFit community is amazing. People are amazing. Helping people discover how to live their best life is my oxygen. The testimonials, the “ah ha” moments, the life changing transformations, it’s all so rewarding.
So that’s it…
That’s the transition.
Sure, i’m not as ripped as I was before.
But, I am carrying out my mission and truly living my best life!
I’m extremely thankful for my second chance at life.
Stay humble, Stay hungry!
Justin Murphy