October 24, 2024 • 30 mins
#120 - How do you find strength, confidence, and joy in your fitness journey? Join Kayla Cittadino, 2x American Ninja Warrior, DEKA World Championship contender, and Podcast Host, and me as she shares her inspiring transformation. From losing 75 pounds to becoming a top athlete, Kayla dives into how hybrid racing has helped her build resilience, both mentally and physically. As a coach, she empowers others to embrace challenges, focus on personal growth, and discover the joy in running and DEKA events. Join us for an uplifting conversation on unlocking your potential.
Topics Covered:
- How hybrid racing builds both mental resilience and physical strength.
- Discovering joy in running and DEKA through embracing new challenges.
- Kayla’s coaching philosophy: empowering athletes to focus on growth and confidence.
Today’s Guest
Kayla Cittadino
Kayla turned her life around in 2018 after making the decision to return to a healthier lifestyle. What started off as a 75lbs weight loss journey turned into becoming a 2x American Ninja Warrior, Spartan OCR Athlete, a DEKA World Championship Competitor, and Podcast Host of her mindset-based podcast Taco About It Tuesday.
Follow Kayla Cittadino:
- Instagram - @kaylacittadino
- Podcast - Taco About It Tuesday
- YouTube - @kaylacittadino6311
Resources:
- Inspire to Run on Instagram - @inspiretorunpodcast
- Free Guide - Kickstart your Fitness in 5 Steps
- 8 Week Fitness Coaching Program with Underdog Fitness
- Sign-up using code INSPIRE10 for 10% off
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
Hi, my friend, Do you feel like you lack confidence
or joy in your fitness journey?
Today we're going to talk aboutways that you can build your
confidence and find joy througha little bit of mindset and a
whole lot of hybrid racing withDECA.
Hope you enjoy.
Speaker 2 (00:17):
Welcome to Inspire to Run podcast.
Here you will find inspiration,whether you are looking to take
control of your health andfitness or you are a seasoned
runner looking for community andsome extra motivation.
You will hear inspiring storiesfrom amazing runners, along
with helpful tips from fitnessexperts.
Now here's your host, richardConner.
Speaker 1 (00:42):
Hi, my friend, Welcome to Inspire to Run
Podcast.
Today we have the privilege ofsitting down again with Kayla
Cittadino.
Kayla turned her life around in2018 after making the decision
to return to a healthierlifestyle.
What started off as a 75-poundweight loss journey turned into
becoming a two-time AmericanNinja Warrior, spartan OCR
(01:03):
athlete, a Deco WorldChampionship competitor and
podcast host of hermindset-based podcast, taco
About it Tuesday.
Welcome to the show, kayla.
Speaker 3 (01:15):
Hello, hello.
I'm so excited to be back.
Speaker 1 (01:18):
Well, it's exciting for me to get an update on
what's been going on since ourlast interview.
I know it's been only a fewmonths, but I'm sure you've made
tremendous progress in yourtraining and your fitness and
your races.
So love to hear about that andreally love to hear about all
the new things you're doing withUnderdog Fitness.
So, for our listeners, this ispart three of our series, as
(01:40):
Kayla has joined UnderdogFitness as a coach.
So we're going to talk aboutthat.
We're going to talk about herfocus on DECA and hybrid
training and her philosophy andjust a lot of cool things that
Kayla has to share with us.
So let's kind of get into theconversation and first, you know
, over the last few months,kayla, you know what's kind of
new in your life and in fitness.
Speaker 3 (01:59):
Yeah.
So it's funny.
The last time that we chattedit was the day before the deck
is strong deck a mile event atunderdog, and I was talking a
lot about just being superconfident and the training and
the work that I've put in anddoing my best race.
The next day and, lo and behold, I hit a new PR.
I went for 1303, got like thefourth place fastest female time
(02:23):
in the entire world, and Iactually hit my goal of
qualifying for Elite 15 in mysecond year of training for DECA
.
So it has been such a wild ride.
Since then I've qualified forseveral team races.
I know that Kevin Gregory and Iare doing the Elite teams for
DECA Mile.
I've got six races six raceslined up for world championships
(02:45):
, one of them that I'm superexcited about.
I got talked in.
The last time I was out inConnecticut.
I got talked into doing theruck division and so I put on
the ruck for the strong set thenew female world record there.
So it has just been like oneamazing thing after the other
and quite honestly, it doesn'teven feel real because I don't
know how to win.
(03:05):
I've never won this much beforeor just succeeded so much at
this level.
So this has been truly abreakout year, and so I'm just
trying to enjoy the process,enjoy the moments leading up to
world championships, knowingthat a lot of it is going to be
out of my control on the big dayin December, but I want to
enjoy these little moments rightnow of just the training and
(03:27):
the excitement to get there,because that's really where the
success is for me is thesemoments where you're doing the
hard, gritty workouts in the gymand, just like I said, be
present, enjoy those and, whenit's time, let it rip.
So lots of fun stuff going on.
Speaker 1 (03:41):
Yeah well, congratulations.
You know it's a privilege forme to witness some of that
success and see you perform, andand I'll be able to watch your
world championships, as Iqualified for one of the races
as well, with my teammate Mickey.
So I'm excited about that.
So I'll be there for some ofthose races.
And I love what you said aboutenjoying the process, because
you know, you don't reallyalways know what the end result
(04:03):
will be, or the outcome.
Of course you can visualize it,of course you know where you
want to go, but it just alldepends on how it comes together
on race day.
So I think it is important foryou to enjoy the process, and
especially on the days that youdon't want to get out of it and
do it, which happens to mesometimes and you know today's
an 18 mile run for me as I do abuild for a marathon and I'm
like, oh, yeah, right, so thesame face you made is the face
(04:26):
I've been making for the lastcouple of days, thinking about
it.
But I got to get out there andI got to do it and I got to make
the best of it.
So I really love what you saidabout and doing the process.
So, you know, let's talk alittle bit about DECA.
You know had this topic on theshow but I feel like you bring
kind of a unique perspective anda lot of energy to the sport,
(04:49):
especially given your mindsetand your success.
So, you know, let's first talkabout for the listeners who may
not be doing hybrid races todaymaybe they're running road races
they're thinking about doingsomething a little bit different
, like why DECA for someone whois just a not just a, but
someone who's a traditionalrunner like myself, who's
(05:10):
looking to do something a littledifferent?
Speaker 3 (05:12):
Yeah, so what I love about DECA is that it has so
many different disciplines, soof course it's considered a part
of hybrid racing, but at itscore, it bases itself off of 10
functional fitness zones, andthese zones are something that
anyone, for the most part thatthe general population, can do,
and I won't go through everysingle one of those 10 zones,
because we would be here forever.
(05:33):
But those 10 zones never change, but the disciplines do change,
and so, for example, they havesomething that's called a deck
of strong.
That's where I primarily spenda lot of my time, because I
didn't grow up being atraditional runner, so for me I
was like the less running thebetter, and it's just you go
from one station to the next asfast as you possibly can.
On the other side of that, youhave something that's called the
(05:55):
deck of fit, and this is wherethey actually founded their
races from is 500 meter runs inbetween each of those 10 zones.
Then they ended up bringing inthe deck a mile, which is the
in-between, and I actuallyreally enjoy that race style too
, because you get 160 meters ofrun.
It's not too long, it's justthe perfect amount for those of
us that aren't running, or atleast that skilled in running
(06:17):
yet and you do that in betweeneach of the stations.
So I love that you can dothings at the affiliate level
where you can go and traveleither within your state or
neighboring states.
Like I said, I traveled out toConnecticut to meet all of you
guys, which was super fun, andthen you can travel out to other
states for Decafits where theydo their really big events and
you get to meet people from allaround the world.
(06:37):
So they're really awesomeevents that are just so
well-rounded and testing thingsthat you know.
It kind of sniffs out theweaknesses that you have as an
athlete and I think that's whatI've come to.
Love is, like I said, I didn'tcome from the traditional
running background.
I actually played dance orplayed dance.
I was a dancer.
I played softball growing up.
(06:58):
So cardio like was somewhat mything growing up.
But then I really after againwent through the whole journey
of losing weight.
I picked up heavy weights and Ilove strength training.
So when I heard of the DECAstrong, I was like this is up my
alley and was completelyhumbled with how much cardio it
was.
I was like, oh my God, so whatit did, was it allowed for me to
(07:20):
focus on something that Iwasn't focusing on.
And you know how great is itthat I get this incredible
aerobic base now, paired withjust this ultimate strength that
I feel like I've never had.
I really do feel like I'm inthe best fitness in my life, and
it's because I said yes to DECA.
And saying yes to DECA for thoseof you guys that are looking to
do the same you're not justsaying yes to this one race,
(07:43):
you're also going to be trainingin a way that allows for you to
say yes to so many other things, and that's what I love about
movement in general is like, ifyou're training for one thing, I
got to pick up a couple ofother races Some of them were,
you know, very hybrid focus,where it was like you did Ninja
Warrior for one part of thecompetition, you did strength
for another endurance, endurance, speed and I won it, and I had
(08:08):
no way that I could have done ithad I not been training in this
way.
So you just get to broaden yourhorizons, and that is so cool
to me is being able to say yesto so many other things and show
yourself that you can do thingsthat maybe one time seemed
impossible.
Speaker 1 (08:24):
Yeah, I so agree with what you said and that you know
that's kind of what I'm lookingfor out of DECA, because I'm
really looking forward to havingthe training and the workouts
that I've been doing, for DECAreally helped me in my road
races and that's kind of howI've been approaching it all
there, although I had this loftygoal this year of making it to
world championships.
But you know, really, really myfocus has been on my road races
(08:46):
, right, my five Ks halfmarathons and, as I just
mentioned, my you know firstfull marathon, and you know it
was interesting.
But what you said about, yes,the DECA because I said yes the
DECA, kind of coming out ofCOVID, where it wasn't really I
wasn't really ready to go backto like large crowds and big
races, big races and what youmentioned about having the
affiliate gyms and it was asmaller crowd and more intimate
(09:08):
and you knew a lot of the folks.
So for me it was a way to kindof jumpstart or restart my
fitness after not being in a gymfor a year plus and all of that
.
So for me I was just like, wow,I really found something that I
enjoy doing most of the time,right, maybe during the race.
I don't know if I enjoy it asmuch right, but I really do
(09:29):
enjoy kind of the process and Ienjoy the accomplishments and
everything that comes out of it,but again, hoping that it
translates into betterperformance kind of in my road
races.
So similar to your story,although of OCR and hybrid.
So so let's you know.
(09:50):
So let's talk a little bitabout you know your mindset in
terms of DECA and hybridtraining.
So I know you talk a lot aboutthis on your show and I know a
lot of it is a mental game,right.
So when you talk about DECA, alot of it is is short bursts,
it's really you know you'rereally going hard after the
stations, especially if you'redoing teams and it's a different
(10:11):
kind of training.
So you know, let's talk alittle bit about you know
mindset going into DECA.
Speaker 3 (10:16):
Yeah.
So I will say this is,obviously, when you say yes to
DECA, there is a decent amountof physical strength, endurance,
stamina that you need to have,and I think that's what a lot of
people focus on is trying totrain for that.
But what I realized, steppingup to the starting line of my
very first world championshipsin 2023, is that in that moment,
(10:40):
I remember like shaking in myboots not just because you're
nervous, right Like it's a bigmoment.
It's the first time that I'm ona world championships stage
like this but you realize, like,huh, like you're doubting
yourself more than you want to,and that doubt comes from not
doing the mental work inside ofthose workouts.
(11:01):
Right, you're just sittingthere beating yourself up trying
to do these high intensityworkouts, and you're training
out of this scarcity and you'retraining out of this fear of
like, what if I'm not doing isenough?
And that's where burnout comesfrom, right?
And so for me, when I thinkabout Deca and I think about
training for Deca, yes, it'simportant to take the times to
go there.
Take the times to go, do thosehard workouts, get gritty with
(11:24):
it.
But, quite honestly, you guys,a lot of these workouts, a lot
of what you should be doingshould be building your
confidence.
It should be building thatmental perseverance and
resilience, because, again, Iwish that I had that when I
stepped up to the starting line,because all I was like I said
is I was doubting my abilitiesto do the thing that I needed to
do to go out there and execute.
(11:44):
I didn't know what my strategywas.
I didn't really know what I wasgoing to do.
I was just praying that I wasgoing to make it past the bike.
It was just focused on all ofthe wrong things.
So I knew that I had thecapabilities to go out there and
do great things, and that's whyI reached out to my coach now,
kevin Gregory.
He allowed for me to not onlyfocus on that physical piece but
(12:06):
put workouts in front of methat did just that.
That built the mental piece inme that helped me build the
confidence, helped me build thestrategy inside of my head what
it is that I needed to do to goout there.
And so, if you're looking to dowell within Decker, if you're
looking to approach deck in adifferent way, do it with
intention.
And that intention comes fromthinking about two things in my
(12:29):
mind.
The first thing is who is theathlete that you want to show up
as on the starting line,whether it's the starting line
of an affiliate gym or it's thestarting line of a world
championship or a big event likea deck of fit?
If you ask yourself thatquestion, ask about it not in
the way that, like what's theoutcome that happens, but who is
that person right?
Like, how do they show up, howdo they interact with people?
(12:49):
Like how do they act in therace when something doesn't go
their way?
Like think about all of thesedifferent things and that to me,
like that's what gives me theinspiration to do big things and
to be something great is Ithink about who that Kayla is,
and it's this joyful, sunshiny,full of energy, just loves to be
their person.
And so then I think about,secondary to that is, if I want
(13:11):
to show up as that person, howdoes that person need to
ultimately train right?
How do they show up in alldifferent facets of their life?
And that's how it builds mytraining right.
Granted, I know that I'm gettingtraining from Kevin Gregory,
but when I go to my gym and Iapproach that training, I'm
looking at it from a completelydifferent lens of you know, I
got to hit this hard and I gotto accomplish this outcome.
(13:31):
I go internal and I think aboutokay, what is it that I have to
give for this day?
One book that I've beenactually reading recently is A
Champion's Mind, and this bookhas talked a lot about never
settle for silver, always go forgold.
And when I first read that Istruggled a little bit with it
because I was thinking well, itfeels like for me I have to
(13:54):
always go for perfection, butthat's actually the opposite.
Once I started to really mullthat over and do some workouts
with that kind of thoughtprocess in my mind, I realized
that it's less about perfectionand it's more about giving a
hundred percent of what you havein the tank for that day.
So if I only have 30% in thetank because maybe I've spent a
(14:15):
lot of other stuff in my tankearlier in that week from other
things in life, some stressthat's going on, whatever it may
be Well, I'm going to give thata hundred percent of that 30%
that I have in the tank for thatday, and that, for me, is going
for gold.
But I also think of things,about not just the energy that
I'm exerting, but again, theperson that I'm showing up as in
the gym, am I taking the timeto impact and serve and lead
(14:36):
other people?
Yesterday I was hitting areally hard Deca workout and
there's a girl that's doing hersecond Deca ever.
That's coming up next weekendin our gym locally and I was
like I saw you doing some skierstuff and our gym locally and I
was like I saw you doing someskier stuff.
If you're open to it, can Ihelp you with something Right?
And so I took time out of myworkout to go and help her, and
(14:57):
that, for me, was not settlingfor silver, that was going for
gold, because I did more thanjust uh, you know showing up for
me as an athlete.
I also showed up for otherathletes and I led and served in
a way that felt good to me.
So again, the whole mentalpiece of deck I that felt good
to me.
So again, the whole mental pieceof DECA.
I know that this is really highlevel and it's different than
probably what most of you haveheard, but I think what this
does is this lens takes us outof this fear, this scarcity
training of am I doing enough tobeat the person next to me.
(15:19):
And now it's bringing ittotally internal to make it
about beating the you versus yourace.
Because that's what I loveabout DECA and I hope that's
what you too, richard, loveabout DECA is, yes, of course,
that when you're on a worldchampionship stage, there's
people racing next to you andyou'll want to do well, but when
it's just you out there on thecourse, it's always about how
well that you can do versus youfrom the last time and just
(15:42):
trying to get a little bitfaster, get a little bit better.
And so when I always approachthis of who do I want to show up
in this race as today and buildmy training off of that
specifically?
That's when I see the magichappen and that's when I
ultimately perform to myultimate best.
So I would say, like, from themental standpoint, that's where
I'd recommend for people tostart.
And another big realization thisis where I'll leave it for the
(16:04):
mindset piece is realizing thatyesterday, during my workout, I
was doing a deck a mile training.
So one of the things that Imagically qualified for I don't
know how I did it is I qualifiedfor the Elite 15 deck a mile
when I originally qualified forthis race out in June.
I was like you know what?
I just want to check this thingoff the list.
I already did the fit this year, hated the fit because, again,
(16:31):
the running was really intensefor me.
Love the strong.
Let's try something in betweenand say I did the trifecta this
year.
This will be awesome.
So I went in with it, just likeI'm just going to go see what I
can do, and I put up thisblazing fast time.
That was like seventh in theworld and I was like, oh, I
guess I'm good at this.
So I had this moment rightbefore um, I decided to sign up
for all my races of like well,I'm qualified.
Like should I go for it?
Like I don't think that I'llget the podium, but that's not
(16:53):
the point.
I loved this race because ofwho I got to show up as within
this race, and so I was like youknow what?
This would be my first racethat I would get to do, first
time in elite 15.
Why not just go and have fun?
Because that's what this wholeexperience is about.
So I ended up signing up for it.
So now, flash forward to now.
Here we are in this, in thisprep, and I'm like, okay, I
guess she's got to go a littlebit faster.
(17:14):
I have to improve my runningform.
And the first time that I hitthis workout, I was like, okay,
I'm going to go really, reallyfast and I'm trying to manage
the stations that hurt, thathurt a lot.
And then the second time I waslike I'm going to take a
different approach.
I'm going to run at what feelsmore of a genuine pace to me and
where I'm at in my journey, andthen I'm going to do the
(17:34):
stations in the way that I knowhow to crush them.
I got the same exact time bothtimes and what I realized that
was hmm, my strengths are morethan enough.
I don't need to go out thereand race Tara Jackson's race or
race all of these high levelrunners race.
Let them run, let them do theirthing.
I'm going to do my thing and dowhat I enjoy, which is crushing
(17:55):
the stations and showing upwith my best strategy.
And so I say that because a lotof us again, even though, by
asking ourselves those twoquestions at the very beginning,
like I mentioned, even thoughit gets us into that mindset,
when we're training forsomething this big, it's still
easy to dip into the well I wantto do, really well, how am I
going to fare against mycompetitors?
(18:15):
And we start to compareourselves.
We start to think about, well,I have to improve in all these
different things and it's likeno, let's think about how we can
maximize on our strengths andrealizing that our strengths as
an athlete is more than enough.
Let's stop trying to straightlike chase the strengths of
other people and just reallyhone in on what it is that we
can bring to the table, becausethat's what's gotten me my
(18:36):
success so far and I've had somuch more fun doing it rather
than comparing myself to everyother competitor out there.
So hopefully that's like adifferent lens of how to look at
not just even training for DECA, but training for other races
and hybrid and, honestly,training for life.
Speaker 1 (18:51):
Yeah, yeah, you know.
So you share a lot of greatinsights and you know some of
the things that you just sharedabout you know, not comparing
yourselves to others, and Ithink there is a saying about
you know that's the thief of joy, you know, if you're comparing
yourself to others, and I alwaystry to use sayings and I never
get them right, so it's, I'llkeep trying.
Thank you.
So.
(19:11):
So I agree with what you said.
And the first thing that you doafter you run the race, what do
you do?
You look at the leaderboard,right, and you say, well, how
did I do?
Versus others and preparing forworld championships?
They're like, all right, well,where do I got to be?
Again looking at thatleaderboard.
So I totally understand whatyou're saying.
I think that's a natural humantendency for us to go and do
that.
So I really love how you'reapproaching that.
So we're not getting allwrapped up in that.
(19:33):
It's like really understandingwhat are your strengths, what
are you really good at, what arethe areas you need to work on.
But just show up who you areand give you know, give that a
hundred percent, like you youhad talked about.
So so I really love how yousaid that.
And speaking of showing up whoyou are, it was funny how you
described yourself, how you're.
You know you're smiling andyou're full of energy.
Every photo, every video, everytime I see you in person,
(19:56):
that's who you are.
So that was a very accuratedescription of yourself and I
think you bring a lot of joy andenergy to others.
So keep being who you are.
So that's really cool, and youknow so, and I love some of the
other insights that you sharedaround building confidence, and
you know that's definitely beenmy journey, you know, in
particular, right, so I've beenin a place where I can't do this
(20:19):
, or I can't do that, or I'llnever do this, or I'll never do
that until I do it Right, andthat's obviously with the hope,
with the help, with the help ofothers, you know, like you and
coach Kevin and others withinthis community of helping me do
those things that you know,quite frankly, I grew up never
thinking I could do so.
I think that's a reallyimportant point, cause I think
there's probably a lot of otherfolks, um, thinking that same
(20:41):
way or way or not, thinking ofthemselves as on the podium or
as kind of one of these eliteathletes such as yourself.
So thank you for sharing allthose wonderful insights.
So let's talk about you for afew minutes here.
So, again, through all of yoursuccesses and your journey has
kind of led you to this pointwhere you're helping others, and
(21:03):
you shared an example of howyou took time out of your own
training to help somebody in thegym, and so I think you're
going to.
You are a great coach.
You know you're already doingthis and you know I'm happy to
see you join the underdog teamin this way.
So let's talk about.
You know your focus and yourphilosophy on training as a
coach, and you know even thetype of clients that you're
looking for.
Speaker 3 (21:29):
Yeah, totally.
So it was such an honor to beasked by Kevin to join the
underdog training system.
Like it's just crazy to think ayear ago in December, when I
saw him race for the first time,that I was so nervous to reach
out to him on Instagram and belike I wonder if he would train
someone like me.
And now we've become not onlyjust great like a relationship
between a coach and a mentor,but great friends and just being
able to take this relationshipfrom where it started to where
(21:50):
it is now, to be able to helphim grow underdog and the brand.
It's just, it's such a coolexperience.
So when we talked about what itis that I wanted to bring to
the team, I was all in on DECANothing against High Rocks,
nothing against anything else.
As you can see, I'm verypassionate about it and what it
can bring to people's lives, andI want to get more people that
(22:11):
are sitting on the sidelines oftheir life questioning if they
can do big things.
This is where I want them toplay because of how much it's
brought to so many of our lives.
So that's really where I focusright now.
I'm pretty thick and I have gotseven women seven.
It's a great lady gang y'all.
I've got seven women going toworld championships this year.
So I'm right now on the thickof preparing with them, keeping
(22:33):
the energy high, making surethat they're again building
their confidence as they get tostep on the national stage.
Some of them I think three ofthem for their very first time,
so it's exciting to get to watchthem do that.
But I also have a couple ofathletes, too, that are gearing
up for the 2025 season.
So the 2025 season just started, I believe, in like after the
(22:53):
September 15th, so it started atend of September, going into
October.
So, for people that are tryingto get started and build some
focus right away so that theycould hit the year running Since
, again, you know, these eventsare going all year round Um, I'm
helping them hit the groundrunning so that way they can
qualify early.
For some of them that have somebig goals to go to world
championships next year.
(23:14):
So, but as far as my overalltraining philosophy, um, it goes
back, honestly, to my overalljourney, because I have a really
interesting lens on this andwhat's really cool is I was
listening to Ricardo's episodeyesterday around him and I have
a very similar story with theweight loss journey and how he
got into DECA, so I don't wantto repeat too much there because
(23:34):
so much of it is so similar.
But when I first started myweight loss journey, a lot of it
was around aesthetics and whatit is that I wanted to look like
being able to fit back incertain clothes or see a certain
number on the scale, and thatstuff is just so not important
in relation to the biggerpicture in life.
And so when I started to switchfrom what it is that I looked
(23:55):
like to the things that I wantedto actually accomplish in life,
that's again where I started tofind joy and I really started
to live, and so I wanted to takethat same mindset into my
personal training, when Istarted to find joy and I really
started to live, and so Iwanted to take that same mindset
into my personal training.
Uh, when I started to do thatagain after I made the
transition from going tocorporate world to being an
online health coach and thenstarting to train people in
person, is I get a lot of weightloss population?
(24:17):
In fact, I train, so I also doNinja warrior and parkour
coaching, so I've I've trainedkids from the ages of five years
old and I train olderpopulation all the way into the
80s and 90s and everywhere inbetween.
So I've got a large facet ofpeople that I've worked with in
the last couple of years, but alot of it their focus has been
again on weight loss, trying tolook better, trying to see the
(24:37):
pound shut off, and as someonewho's been through it, I totally
understand.
But I really work to mentallyreshift their focus to thinking
about what is it that you wantto be able to do in your life?
What are the moments that youwant to create?
Because I said yes to myselffour to five years ago, now I
get to say yes to these bigworld championship stages.
(24:58):
Do you want to be able tocreate moments like that?
It's totally not out of reach.
It maybe isn't in reach rightnow, but these are the bigger
things that you get to lookforward to that are going to
create a life just full of joyand excitement, something worth
living.
So, as a personal trainer and asan online trainer for the UTS
team is I really want to bringthis into.
That is, keep that focus on onwhat it is that we want to be
(25:22):
capable of doing and then reallyworking on building the
confidence.
Again, I'm going to doeverything that I can to make
sure, from a physicalperspective, like I'm very
methodical in how I put trainingtogether, I'll spend a decent
amount of time putting togethertraining plans for people and
making sure that what they'redoing makes sense and that
they're not getting burnt out.
But that methodical approachalso comes from what are you
(25:43):
mentally gaining from each ofyour workouts?
I'm not going to give yousomething that's totally
unrealistic, but I'm going togive you something that's going
to push the envelope here andthere a little while, because I
know that when Kevin did thatfor me, I was like this looked
impossible, but holy crap, Ijust did it.
And now look at what I'mwalking away with Again building
(26:04):
that confidence and that mentaltenacity as an athlete.
So that's really what myphilosophy is all based around
is, again, we're going to getyou to where you need to be.
Just trust the process, but,more importantly, take the time
to really go through each of thetraining sessions that you're
doing, be mentally present andget something out of each of
them that are going to buildthose little pieces of character
that you can take to your startline with.
Speaker 1 (26:23):
That's awesome.
That's awesome.
So kind of kind of, as we winddown here, um, you know you
talked a lot about.
You know hybrid racing.
You talk about you know mindset.
You talked about yourphilosophy and training.
So I'm thinking about for thelisteners who are looking to
restart their training orthey're looking to do something
a little bit different than thewhat, what they've been doing
(26:48):
maybe hybrid racing, what wouldbe the one thing that you would
say to inspire them to take thatnext step.
Speaker 3 (26:51):
That's a really good question.
I really believe in the powerof the universe and I believe
that it always has your back.
I know right now I have somepeople that I absolutely love in
my life that are in somecrossroad moments, whether it be
athletically, thinking aboutwhat's their next big goal,
what's the thing that they wantto do and spend their energy and
effort on to career changes,right Like getting ready to look
at doing something completelydifferent with their life.
(27:13):
So the way that I wouldapproach that question is just
to trust that the universealways has your back.
So give it the opportunity tolet it speak to you and listen
to it.
I've always used that as, likemy guiding light of just knowing
, like, if I just let go and letin what the universe is trying
to tell me and look for thesigns, it's never going to lead
me the wrong way.
The worst case scenario is thatit's always going to teach me a
(27:35):
lesson.
So if there are certain thingsthat are knocking on your doors
right now, like listen to it, itdoesn't mean you have to go
jump into the pool all the way,but just dip your toe in it,
start to learn a little bitabout it, see how it makes you
feel and, at the same token, too, if you're trying to jiggle the
handle on a door that hasn'tbeen opening for quite some time
, maybe that's a sign that theuniverse is trying to protect
(27:56):
you from going a specific route.
So, again, a little bit of adifferent perspective there.
But really, you guys, this isall about for me.
I know I've said the word joyabout a million times, but
that's really what I live.
My life through is joy, andthis is honestly what I'm
looking to do at worldchampionships this year and, for
those of you that are attending, I'm so excited to hopefully
meet you.
But it's not about the momentson the podium.
(28:20):
I know those moments are supercool, but, let's be honest, they
last for two to three seconds.
That excitement does, and thenwe're always already thinking
about either the next race oryou know what next goal we're
going to go after.
We're always thinking aboutwhat's next.
Uh, I really this year mybiggest thing, my mantra as I go
into world championships, is tochase the moments of joy Like
(28:40):
every single moment that I'm outthere, even the moments up to
now, chasing those moments ofjoy because, again, all of all
of that is sitting right here infront of us every single day.
So you get the opportunity todo that.
So take the chance to do that.
Don't just focus on the outcome.
Let go of the outcomes and justget really ingrained in the
process.
Speaker 1 (28:59):
Love it.
Love it, kayla.
Thank you so much.
Thank you for coming on theshow and sharing your insights
again, this was so much fun.
I know we had a lot of funinterviewing a person and now
we're doing it remote, buteither way, you bring so much
insights and joy and energy tothe conversation, so I
appreciate that.
So how can our listeners findyou and follow you online and
(29:21):
also sign up with you as a coach?
Speaker 3 (29:24):
Yeah, so I'm very active on Instagram.
I love the Instagram as as mymain feed there, so you can
follow me at Kayla Citadino.
So my, it's just my first andlast name, so you can find it in
the podcast notes.
But just at Kayla Citadino, I'mvery active out there.
Uh, always throwing up either areally funny video of me and my
boyfriend or something relatedto Decker or something related
(29:45):
to mindset and tacos.
So if you're on with that brand, you're definitely going to
enjoy the follow, but that'sprimarily where I play.
You could also come listen to mypodcast again, taco About it
Tuesday.
I'm on all major streamingplatforms.
I talk a lot about stuff thereand I have some actual links to
you know, if you want to workwith me, you can work with me
through some of the links that Ishare in my podcast notes.
(30:06):
But, yeah, really just thosetwo.
If you want to reach out to mevia my email, it's just
citadinokayla at gmailcom.
But whatever way, one of thosethree is great and I'll be
really excited to hear fromthose of you that are looking to
do something different andagain chase those moments of joy
, you that are looking to dosomething different and and
again chase those moments of joy.
Speaker 1 (30:25):
Love it, love it Again.
Thank you so much, kayla.
I appreciate it and you knowwith that.
Speaker 2 (30:39):
I look forward to seeing your world championships
and and fitness and take it tothe next level.
Be sure to click the subscribebutton to join our community and
also please rate and review.
Thanks for listening.
Hi, my friend, Do you feel like you lack confidence
or joy in your fitness journey?
Today we're going to talk aboutways that you can build your
confidence and find joy througha little bit of mindset and a
whole lot of hybrid racing withDECA.
Hope you enjoy.
Speaker 2 (00:17):
Welcome to Inspire to Run podcast.
Here you will find inspiration,whether you are looking to take
control of your health andfitness or you are a seasoned
runner looking for community andsome extra motivation.
You will hear inspiring storiesfrom amazing runners, along
with helpful tips from fitnessexperts.
Now here's your host, richardConner.
Speaker 1 (00:42):
Hi, my friend, Welcome to Inspire to Run
Podcast.
Today we have the privilege ofsitting down again with Kayla
Cittadino.
Kayla turned her life around in2018 after making the decision
to return to a healthierlifestyle.
What started off as a 75-poundweight loss journey turned into
becoming a two-time AmericanNinja Warrior, spartan OCR
(01:03):
athlete, a Deco WorldChampionship competitor and
podcast host of hermindset-based podcast, taco
About it Tuesday.
Welcome to the show, kayla.
Speaker 3 (01:15):
Hello, hello.
I'm so excited to be back.
Speaker 1 (01:18):
Well, it's exciting for me to get an update on
what's been going on since ourlast interview.
I know it's been only a fewmonths, but I'm sure you've made
tremendous progress in yourtraining and your fitness and
your races.
So love to hear about that andreally love to hear about all
the new things you're doing withUnderdog Fitness.
So, for our listeners, this ispart three of our series, as
(01:40):
Kayla has joined UnderdogFitness as a coach.
So we're going to talk aboutthat.
We're going to talk about herfocus on DECA and hybrid
training and her philosophy andjust a lot of cool things that
Kayla has to share with us.
So let's kind of get into theconversation and first, you know
, over the last few months,kayla, you know what's kind of
new in your life and in fitness.
Speaker 3 (01:59):
Yeah.
So it's funny.
The last time that we chattedit was the day before the deck
is strong deck a mile event atunderdog, and I was talking a
lot about just being superconfident and the training and
the work that I've put in anddoing my best race.
The next day and, lo and behold, I hit a new PR.
I went for 1303, got like thefourth place fastest female time
(02:23):
in the entire world, and Iactually hit my goal of
qualifying for Elite 15 in mysecond year of training for DECA
.
So it has been such a wild ride.
Since then I've qualified forseveral team races.
I know that Kevin Gregory and Iare doing the Elite teams for
DECA Mile.
I've got six races six raceslined up for world championships
(02:45):
, one of them that I'm superexcited about.
I got talked in.
The last time I was out inConnecticut.
I got talked into doing theruck division and so I put on
the ruck for the strong set thenew female world record there.
So it has just been like oneamazing thing after the other
and quite honestly, it doesn'teven feel real because I don't
know how to win.
(03:05):
I've never won this much beforeor just succeeded so much at
this level.
So this has been truly abreakout year, and so I'm just
trying to enjoy the process,enjoy the moments leading up to
world championships, knowingthat a lot of it is going to be
out of my control on the big dayin December, but I want to
enjoy these little moments rightnow of just the training and
(03:27):
the excitement to get there,because that's really where the
success is for me is thesemoments where you're doing the
hard, gritty workouts in the gymand, just like I said, be
present, enjoy those and, whenit's time, let it rip.
So lots of fun stuff going on.
Speaker 1 (03:41):
Yeah well, congratulations.
You know it's a privilege forme to witness some of that
success and see you perform, andand I'll be able to watch your
world championships, as Iqualified for one of the races
as well, with my teammate Mickey.
So I'm excited about that.
So I'll be there for some ofthose races.
And I love what you said aboutenjoying the process, because
you know, you don't reallyalways know what the end result
(04:03):
will be, or the outcome.
Of course you can visualize it,of course you know where you
want to go, but it just alldepends on how it comes together
on race day.
So I think it is important foryou to enjoy the process, and
especially on the days that youdon't want to get out of it and
do it, which happens to mesometimes and you know today's
an 18 mile run for me as I do abuild for a marathon and I'm
like, oh, yeah, right, so thesame face you made is the face
(04:26):
I've been making for the lastcouple of days, thinking about
it.
But I got to get out there andI got to do it and I got to make
the best of it.
So I really love what you saidabout and doing the process.
So, you know, let's talk alittle bit about DECA.
You know had this topic on theshow but I feel like you bring
kind of a unique perspective anda lot of energy to the sport,
(04:49):
especially given your mindsetand your success.
So, you know, let's first talkabout for the listeners who may
not be doing hybrid races todaymaybe they're running road races
they're thinking about doingsomething a little bit different
, like why DECA for someone whois just a not just a, but
someone who's a traditionalrunner like myself, who's
(05:10):
looking to do something a littledifferent?
Speaker 3 (05:12):
Yeah, so what I love about DECA is that it has so
many different disciplines, soof course it's considered a part
of hybrid racing, but at itscore, it bases itself off of 10
functional fitness zones, andthese zones are something that
anyone, for the most part thatthe general population, can do,
and I won't go through everysingle one of those 10 zones,
because we would be here forever.
(05:33):
But those 10 zones never change, but the disciplines do change,
and so, for example, they havesomething that's called a deck
of strong.
That's where I primarily spenda lot of my time, because I
didn't grow up being atraditional runner, so for me I
was like the less running thebetter, and it's just you go
from one station to the next asfast as you possibly can.
On the other side of that, youhave something that's called the
(05:55):
deck of fit, and this is wherethey actually founded their
races from is 500 meter runs inbetween each of those 10 zones.
Then they ended up bringing inthe deck a mile, which is the
in-between, and I actuallyreally enjoy that race style too
, because you get 160 meters ofrun.
It's not too long, it's justthe perfect amount for those of
us that aren't running, or atleast that skilled in running
(06:17):
yet and you do that in betweeneach of the stations.
So I love that you can dothings at the affiliate level
where you can go and traveleither within your state or
neighboring states.
Like I said, I traveled out toConnecticut to meet all of you
guys, which was super fun, andthen you can travel out to other
states for Decafits where theydo their really big events and
you get to meet people from allaround the world.
(06:37):
So they're really awesomeevents that are just so
well-rounded and testing thingsthat you know.
It kind of sniffs out theweaknesses that you have as an
athlete and I think that's whatI've come to.
Love is, like I said, I didn'tcome from the traditional
running background.
I actually played dance orplayed dance.
I was a dancer.
I played softball growing up.
(06:58):
So cardio like was somewhat mything growing up.
But then I really after againwent through the whole journey
of losing weight.
I picked up heavy weights and Ilove strength training.
So when I heard of the DECAstrong, I was like this is up my
alley and was completelyhumbled with how much cardio it
was.
I was like, oh my God, so whatit did, was it allowed for me to
(07:20):
focus on something that Iwasn't focusing on.
And you know how great is itthat I get this incredible
aerobic base now, paired withjust this ultimate strength that
I feel like I've never had.
I really do feel like I'm inthe best fitness in my life, and
it's because I said yes to DECA.
And saying yes to DECA for thoseof you guys that are looking to
do the same you're not justsaying yes to this one race,
(07:43):
you're also going to be trainingin a way that allows for you to
say yes to so many other things, and that's what I love about
movement in general is like, ifyou're training for one thing, I
got to pick up a couple ofother races Some of them were,
you know, very hybrid focus,where it was like you did Ninja
Warrior for one part of thecompetition, you did strength
for another endurance, endurance, speed and I won it, and I had
(08:08):
no way that I could have done ithad I not been training in this
way.
So you just get to broaden yourhorizons, and that is so cool
to me is being able to say yesto so many other things and show
yourself that you can do thingsthat maybe one time seemed
impossible.
Speaker 1 (08:24):
Yeah, I so agree with what you said and that you know
that's kind of what I'm lookingfor out of DECA, because I'm
really looking forward to havingthe training and the workouts
that I've been doing, for DECAreally helped me in my road
races and that's kind of howI've been approaching it all
there, although I had this loftygoal this year of making it to
world championships.
But you know, really, really myfocus has been on my road races
(08:46):
, right, my five Ks halfmarathons and, as I just
mentioned, my you know firstfull marathon, and you know it
was interesting.
But what you said about, yes,the DECA because I said yes the
DECA, kind of coming out ofCOVID, where it wasn't really I
wasn't really ready to go backto like large crowds and big
races, big races and what youmentioned about having the
affiliate gyms and it was asmaller crowd and more intimate
(09:08):
and you knew a lot of the folks.
So for me it was a way to kindof jumpstart or restart my
fitness after not being in a gymfor a year plus and all of that
.
So for me I was just like, wow,I really found something that I
enjoy doing most of the time,right, maybe during the race.
I don't know if I enjoy it asmuch right, but I really do
(09:29):
enjoy kind of the process and Ienjoy the accomplishments and
everything that comes out of it,but again, hoping that it
translates into betterperformance kind of in my road
races.
So similar to your story,although of OCR and hybrid.
So so let's you know.
(09:50):
So let's talk a little bitabout you know your mindset in
terms of DECA and hybridtraining.
So I know you talk a lot aboutthis on your show and I know a
lot of it is a mental game,right.
So when you talk about DECA, alot of it is is short bursts,
it's really you know you'rereally going hard after the
stations, especially if you'redoing teams and it's a different
(10:11):
kind of training.
So you know, let's talk alittle bit about you know
mindset going into DECA.
Speaker 3 (10:16):
Yeah.
So I will say this is,obviously, when you say yes to
DECA, there is a decent amountof physical strength, endurance,
stamina that you need to have,and I think that's what a lot of
people focus on is trying totrain for that.
But what I realized, steppingup to the starting line of my
very first world championshipsin 2023, is that in that moment,
(10:40):
I remember like shaking in myboots not just because you're
nervous, right Like it's a bigmoment.
It's the first time that I'm ona world championships stage
like this but you realize, like,huh, like you're doubting
yourself more than you want to,and that doubt comes from not
doing the mental work inside ofthose workouts.
(11:01):
Right, you're just sittingthere beating yourself up trying
to do these high intensityworkouts, and you're training
out of this scarcity and you'retraining out of this fear of
like, what if I'm not doing isenough?
And that's where burnout comesfrom, right?
And so for me, when I thinkabout Deca and I think about
training for Deca, yes, it'simportant to take the times to
go there.
Take the times to go, do thosehard workouts, get gritty with
(11:24):
it.
But, quite honestly, you guys,a lot of these workouts, a lot
of what you should be doingshould be building your
confidence.
It should be building thatmental perseverance and
resilience, because, again, Iwish that I had that when I
stepped up to the starting line,because all I was like I said
is I was doubting my abilitiesto do the thing that I needed to
do to go out there and execute.
(11:44):
I didn't know what my strategywas.
I didn't really know what I wasgoing to do.
I was just praying that I wasgoing to make it past the bike.
It was just focused on all ofthe wrong things.
So I knew that I had thecapabilities to go out there and
do great things, and that's whyI reached out to my coach now,
kevin Gregory.
He allowed for me to not onlyfocus on that physical piece but
(12:06):
put workouts in front of methat did just that.
That built the mental piece inme that helped me build the
confidence, helped me build thestrategy inside of my head what
it is that I needed to do to goout there.
And so, if you're looking to dowell within Decker, if you're
looking to approach deck in adifferent way, do it with
intention.
And that intention comes fromthinking about two things in my
(12:29):
mind.
The first thing is who is theathlete that you want to show up
as on the starting line,whether it's the starting line
of an affiliate gym or it's thestarting line of a world
championship or a big event likea deck of fit?
If you ask yourself thatquestion, ask about it not in
the way that, like what's theoutcome that happens, but who is
that person right?
Like, how do they show up, howdo they interact with people?
(12:49):
Like how do they act in therace when something doesn't go
their way?
Like think about all of thesedifferent things and that to me,
like that's what gives me theinspiration to do big things and
to be something great is Ithink about who that Kayla is,
and it's this joyful, sunshiny,full of energy, just loves to be
their person.
And so then I think about,secondary to that is, if I want
(13:11):
to show up as that person, howdoes that person need to
ultimately train right?
How do they show up in alldifferent facets of their life?
And that's how it builds mytraining right.
Granted, I know that I'm gettingtraining from Kevin Gregory,
but when I go to my gym and Iapproach that training, I'm
looking at it from a completelydifferent lens of you know, I
got to hit this hard and I gotto accomplish this outcome.
(13:31):
I go internal and I think aboutokay, what is it that I have to
give for this day?
One book that I've beenactually reading recently is A
Champion's Mind, and this bookhas talked a lot about never
settle for silver, always go forgold.
And when I first read that Istruggled a little bit with it
because I was thinking well, itfeels like for me I have to
(13:54):
always go for perfection, butthat's actually the opposite.
Once I started to really mullthat over and do some workouts
with that kind of thoughtprocess in my mind, I realized
that it's less about perfectionand it's more about giving a
hundred percent of what you havein the tank for that day.
So if I only have 30% in thetank because maybe I've spent a
(14:15):
lot of other stuff in my tankearlier in that week from other
things in life, some stressthat's going on, whatever it may
be Well, I'm going to give thata hundred percent of that 30%
that I have in the tank for thatday, and that, for me, is going
for gold.
But I also think of things,about not just the energy that
I'm exerting, but again, theperson that I'm showing up as in
the gym, am I taking the timeto impact and serve and lead
(14:36):
other people?
Yesterday I was hitting areally hard Deca workout and
there's a girl that's doing hersecond Deca ever.
That's coming up next weekendin our gym locally and I was
like I saw you doing some skierstuff and our gym locally and I
was like I saw you doing someskier stuff.
If you're open to it, can Ihelp you with something Right?
And so I took time out of myworkout to go and help her, and
(14:57):
that, for me, was not settlingfor silver, that was going for
gold, because I did more thanjust uh, you know showing up for
me as an athlete.
I also showed up for otherathletes and I led and served in
a way that felt good to me.
So again, the whole mentalpiece of deck I that felt good
to me.
So again, the whole mental pieceof DECA.
I know that this is really highlevel and it's different than
probably what most of you haveheard, but I think what this
does is this lens takes us outof this fear, this scarcity
training of am I doing enough tobeat the person next to me.
(15:19):
And now it's bringing ittotally internal to make it
about beating the you versus yourace.
Because that's what I loveabout DECA and I hope that's
what you too, richard, loveabout DECA is, yes, of course,
that when you're on a worldchampionship stage, there's
people racing next to you andyou'll want to do well, but when
it's just you out there on thecourse, it's always about how
well that you can do versus youfrom the last time and just
(15:42):
trying to get a little bitfaster, get a little bit better.
And so when I always approachthis of who do I want to show up
in this race as today and buildmy training off of that
specifically?
That's when I see the magichappen and that's when I
ultimately perform to myultimate best.
So I would say, like, from themental standpoint, that's where
I'd recommend for people tostart.
And another big realization thisis where I'll leave it for the
(16:04):
mindset piece is realizing thatyesterday, during my workout, I
was doing a deck a mile training.
So one of the things that Imagically qualified for I don't
know how I did it is I qualifiedfor the Elite 15 deck a mile
when I originally qualified forthis race out in June.
I was like you know what?
I just want to check this thingoff the list.
I already did the fit this year, hated the fit because, again,
(16:31):
the running was really intensefor me.
Love the strong.
Let's try something in betweenand say I did the trifecta this
year.
This will be awesome.
So I went in with it, just likeI'm just going to go see what I
can do, and I put up thisblazing fast time.
That was like seventh in theworld and I was like, oh, I
guess I'm good at this.
So I had this moment rightbefore um, I decided to sign up
for all my races of like well,I'm qualified.
Like should I go for it?
Like I don't think that I'llget the podium, but that's not
(16:53):
the point.
I loved this race because ofwho I got to show up as within
this race, and so I was like youknow what?
This would be my first racethat I would get to do, first
time in elite 15.
Why not just go and have fun?
Because that's what this wholeexperience is about.
So I ended up signing up for it.
So now, flash forward to now.
Here we are in this, in thisprep, and I'm like, okay, I
guess she's got to go a littlebit faster.
(17:14):
I have to improve my runningform.
And the first time that I hitthis workout, I was like, okay,
I'm going to go really, reallyfast and I'm trying to manage
the stations that hurt, thathurt a lot.
And then the second time I waslike I'm going to take a
different approach.
I'm going to run at what feelsmore of a genuine pace to me and
where I'm at in my journey, andthen I'm going to do the
(17:34):
stations in the way that I knowhow to crush them.
I got the same exact time bothtimes and what I realized that
was hmm, my strengths are morethan enough.
I don't need to go out thereand race Tara Jackson's race or
race all of these high levelrunners race.
Let them run, let them do theirthing.
I'm going to do my thing and dowhat I enjoy, which is crushing
(17:55):
the stations and showing upwith my best strategy.
And so I say that because a lotof us again, even though, by
asking ourselves those twoquestions at the very beginning,
like I mentioned, even thoughit gets us into that mindset,
when we're training forsomething this big, it's still
easy to dip into the well I wantto do, really well, how am I
going to fare against mycompetitors?
(18:15):
And we start to compareourselves.
We start to think about, well,I have to improve in all these
different things and it's likeno, let's think about how we can
maximize on our strengths andrealizing that our strengths as
an athlete is more than enough.
Let's stop trying to straightlike chase the strengths of
other people and just reallyhone in on what it is that we
can bring to the table, becausethat's what's gotten me my
(18:36):
success so far and I've had somuch more fun doing it rather
than comparing myself to everyother competitor out there.
So hopefully that's like adifferent lens of how to look at
not just even training for DECA, but training for other races
and hybrid and, honestly,training for life.
Speaker 1 (18:51):
Yeah, yeah, you know.
So you share a lot of greatinsights and you know some of
the things that you just sharedabout you know, not comparing
yourselves to others, and Ithink there is a saying about
you know that's the thief of joy, you know, if you're comparing
yourself to others, and I alwaystry to use sayings and I never
get them right, so it's, I'llkeep trying.
Thank you.
So.
(19:11):
So I agree with what you said.
And the first thing that you doafter you run the race, what do
you do?
You look at the leaderboard,right, and you say, well, how
did I do?
Versus others and preparing forworld championships?
They're like, all right, well,where do I got to be?
Again looking at thatleaderboard.
So I totally understand whatyou're saying.
I think that's a natural humantendency for us to go and do
that.
So I really love how you'reapproaching that.
So we're not getting allwrapped up in that.
(19:33):
It's like really understandingwhat are your strengths, what
are you really good at, what arethe areas you need to work on.
But just show up who you areand give you know, give that a
hundred percent, like you youhad talked about.
So so I really love how yousaid that.
And speaking of showing up whoyou are, it was funny how you
described yourself, how you're.
You know you're smiling andyou're full of energy.
Every photo, every video, everytime I see you in person,
(19:56):
that's who you are.
So that was a very accuratedescription of yourself and I
think you bring a lot of joy andenergy to others.
So keep being who you are.
So that's really cool, and youknow so, and I love some of the
other insights that you sharedaround building confidence, and
you know that's definitely beenmy journey, you know, in
particular, right, so I've beenin a place where I can't do this
(20:19):
, or I can't do that, or I'llnever do this, or I'll never do
that until I do it Right, andthat's obviously with the hope,
with the help, with the help ofothers, you know, like you and
coach Kevin and others withinthis community of helping me do
those things that you know,quite frankly, I grew up never
thinking I could do so.
I think that's a reallyimportant point, cause I think
there's probably a lot of otherfolks, um, thinking that same
(20:41):
way or way or not, thinking ofthemselves as on the podium or
as kind of one of these eliteathletes such as yourself.
So thank you for sharing allthose wonderful insights.
So let's talk about you for afew minutes here.
So, again, through all of yoursuccesses and your journey has
kind of led you to this pointwhere you're helping others, and
(21:03):
you shared an example of howyou took time out of your own
training to help somebody in thegym, and so I think you're
going to.
You are a great coach.
You know you're already doingthis and you know I'm happy to
see you join the underdog teamin this way.
So let's talk about.
You know your focus and yourphilosophy on training as a
coach, and you know even thetype of clients that you're
looking for.
Speaker 3 (21:29):
Yeah, totally.
So it was such an honor to beasked by Kevin to join the
underdog training system.
Like it's just crazy to think ayear ago in December, when I
saw him race for the first time,that I was so nervous to reach
out to him on Instagram and belike I wonder if he would train
someone like me.
And now we've become not onlyjust great like a relationship
between a coach and a mentor,but great friends and just being
able to take this relationshipfrom where it started to where
(21:50):
it is now, to be able to helphim grow underdog and the brand.
It's just, it's such a coolexperience.
So when we talked about what itis that I wanted to bring to
the team, I was all in on DECANothing against High Rocks,
nothing against anything else.
As you can see, I'm verypassionate about it and what it
can bring to people's lives, andI want to get more people that
(22:11):
are sitting on the sidelines oftheir life questioning if they
can do big things.
This is where I want them toplay because of how much it's
brought to so many of our lives.
So that's really where I focusright now.
I'm pretty thick and I have gotseven women seven.
It's a great lady gang y'all.
I've got seven women going toworld championships this year.
So I'm right now on the thickof preparing with them, keeping
(22:33):
the energy high, making surethat they're again building
their confidence as they get tostep on the national stage.
Some of them I think three ofthem for their very first time,
so it's exciting to get to watchthem do that.
But I also have a couple ofathletes, too, that are gearing
up for the 2025 season.
So the 2025 season just started, I believe, in like after the
(22:53):
September 15th, so it started atend of September, going into
October.
So, for people that are tryingto get started and build some
focus right away so that theycould hit the year running Since
, again, you know, these eventsare going all year round Um, I'm
helping them hit the groundrunning so that way they can
qualify early.
For some of them that have somebig goals to go to world
championships next year.
(23:14):
So, but as far as my overalltraining philosophy, um, it goes
back, honestly, to my overalljourney, because I have a really
interesting lens on this andwhat's really cool is I was
listening to Ricardo's episodeyesterday around him and I have
a very similar story with theweight loss journey and how he
got into DECA, so I don't wantto repeat too much there because
(23:34):
so much of it is so similar.
But when I first started myweight loss journey, a lot of it
was around aesthetics and whatit is that I wanted to look like
being able to fit back incertain clothes or see a certain
number on the scale, and thatstuff is just so not important
in relation to the biggerpicture in life.
And so when I started to switchfrom what it is that I looked
(23:55):
like to the things that I wantedto actually accomplish in life,
that's again where I started tofind joy and I really started
to live, and so I wanted to takethat same mindset into my
personal training, when Istarted to find joy and I really
started to live, and so Iwanted to take that same mindset
into my personal training.
Uh, when I started to do thatagain after I made the
transition from going tocorporate world to being an
online health coach and thenstarting to train people in
person, is I get a lot of weightloss population?
(24:17):
In fact, I train, so I also doNinja warrior and parkour
coaching, so I've I've trainedkids from the ages of five years
old and I train olderpopulation all the way into the
80s and 90s and everywhere inbetween.
So I've got a large facet ofpeople that I've worked with in
the last couple of years, but alot of it their focus has been
again on weight loss, trying tolook better, trying to see the
(24:37):
pound shut off, and as someonewho's been through it, I totally
understand.
But I really work to mentallyreshift their focus to thinking
about what is it that you wantto be able to do in your life?
What are the moments that youwant to create?
Because I said yes to myselffour to five years ago, now I
get to say yes to these bigworld championship stages.
(24:58):
Do you want to be able tocreate moments like that?
It's totally not out of reach.
It maybe isn't in reach rightnow, but these are the bigger
things that you get to lookforward to that are going to
create a life just full of joyand excitement, something worth
living.
So, as a personal trainer and asan online trainer for the UTS
team is I really want to bringthis into.
That is, keep that focus on onwhat it is that we want to be
(25:22):
capable of doing and then reallyworking on building the
confidence.
Again, I'm going to doeverything that I can to make
sure, from a physicalperspective, like I'm very
methodical in how I put trainingtogether, I'll spend a decent
amount of time putting togethertraining plans for people and
making sure that what they'redoing makes sense and that
they're not getting burnt out.
But that methodical approachalso comes from what are you
(25:43):
mentally gaining from each ofyour workouts?
I'm not going to give yousomething that's totally
unrealistic, but I'm going togive you something that's going
to push the envelope here andthere a little while, because I
know that when Kevin did thatfor me, I was like this looked
impossible, but holy crap, Ijust did it.
And now look at what I'mwalking away with Again building
(26:04):
that confidence and that mentaltenacity as an athlete.
So that's really what myphilosophy is all based around
is, again, we're going to getyou to where you need to be.
Just trust the process, but,more importantly, take the time
to really go through each of thetraining sessions that you're
doing, be mentally present andget something out of each of
them that are going to buildthose little pieces of character
that you can take to your startline with.
Speaker 1 (26:23):
That's awesome.
That's awesome.
So kind of kind of, as we winddown here, um, you know you
talked a lot about.
You know hybrid racing.
You talk about you know mindset.
You talked about yourphilosophy and training.
So I'm thinking about for thelisteners who are looking to
restart their training orthey're looking to do something
a little bit different than thewhat, what they've been doing
(26:48):
maybe hybrid racing, what wouldbe the one thing that you would
say to inspire them to take thatnext step.
Speaker 3 (26:51):
That's a really good question.
I really believe in the powerof the universe and I believe
that it always has your back.
I know right now I have somepeople that I absolutely love in
my life that are in somecrossroad moments, whether it be
athletically, thinking aboutwhat's their next big goal,
what's the thing that they wantto do and spend their energy and
effort on to career changes,right Like getting ready to look
at doing something completelydifferent with their life.
(27:13):
So the way that I wouldapproach that question is just
to trust that the universealways has your back.
So give it the opportunity tolet it speak to you and listen
to it.
I've always used that as, likemy guiding light of just knowing
, like, if I just let go and letin what the universe is trying
to tell me and look for thesigns, it's never going to lead
me the wrong way.
The worst case scenario is thatit's always going to teach me a
(27:35):
lesson.
So if there are certain thingsthat are knocking on your doors
right now, like listen to it, itdoesn't mean you have to go
jump into the pool all the way,but just dip your toe in it,
start to learn a little bitabout it, see how it makes you
feel and, at the same token, too, if you're trying to jiggle the
handle on a door that hasn'tbeen opening for quite some time
, maybe that's a sign that theuniverse is trying to protect
(27:56):
you from going a specific route.
So, again, a little bit of adifferent perspective there.
But really, you guys, this isall about for me.
I know I've said the word joyabout a million times, but
that's really what I live.
My life through is joy, andthis is honestly what I'm
looking to do at worldchampionships this year and, for
those of you that are attending, I'm so excited to hopefully
meet you.
But it's not about the momentson the podium.
(28:20):
I know those moments are supercool, but, let's be honest, they
last for two to three seconds.
That excitement does, and thenwe're always already thinking
about either the next race oryou know what next goal we're
going to go after.
We're always thinking aboutwhat's next.
Uh, I really this year mybiggest thing, my mantra as I go
into world championships, is tochase the moments of joy Like
(28:40):
every single moment that I'm outthere, even the moments up to
now, chasing those moments ofjoy because, again, all of all
of that is sitting right here infront of us every single day.
So you get the opportunity todo that.
So take the chance to do that.
Don't just focus on the outcome.
Let go of the outcomes and justget really ingrained in the
process.
Speaker 1 (28:59):
Love it.
Love it, kayla.
Thank you so much.
Thank you for coming on theshow and sharing your insights
again, this was so much fun.
I know we had a lot of funinterviewing a person and now
we're doing it remote, buteither way, you bring so much
insights and joy and energy tothe conversation, so I
appreciate that.
So how can our listeners findyou and follow you online and
(29:21):
also sign up with you as a coach?
Speaker 3 (29:24):
Yeah, so I'm very active on Instagram.
I love the Instagram as as mymain feed there, so you can
follow me at Kayla Citadino.
So my, it's just my first andlast name, so you can find it in
the podcast notes.
But just at Kayla Citadino, I'mvery active out there.
Uh, always throwing up either areally funny video of me and my
boyfriend or something relatedto Decker or something related
(29:45):
to mindset and tacos.
So if you're on with that brand, you're definitely going to
enjoy the follow, but that'sprimarily where I play.
You could also come listen to mypodcast again, taco About it
Tuesday.
I'm on all major streamingplatforms.
I talk a lot about stuff thereand I have some actual links to
you know, if you want to workwith me, you can work with me
through some of the links that Ishare in my podcast notes.
(30:06):
But, yeah, really just thosetwo.
If you want to reach out to mevia my email, it's just
citadinokayla at gmailcom.
But whatever way, one of thosethree is great and I'll be
really excited to hear fromthose of you that are looking to
do something different andagain chase those moments of joy
, you that are looking to dosomething different and and
again chase those moments of joy.
Speaker 1 (30:25):
Love it, love it Again.
Thank you so much, kayla.
I appreciate it and you knowwith that.
Speaker 2 (30:39):
I look forward to seeing your world championships
and and fitness and take it tothe next level.
Be sure to click the subscribebutton to join our community and
also please rate and review.
Thanks for listening.
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