Anikah Woodrow is a Team Canada ITF Taekwondo athlete and University of Alberta kinesiology student. Our discussion will cover various aspects of her life, including her experiences and strategies in Taekwondo, particularly with weight cutting and competitive training, as well as her approaches to balancing school, work, training, and personal life. We will also delve into her passion for traveling and how it fits into her busy schedule.
Anikah Woodrow is a 23-year-old competitive athlete who is entering her final year of a kinesiology undergraduate program. With nearly 15 years of experience in Taekwondo, she has competed in two World Championships for Team Canada, earning a bronze medal in Team Patterns. Her ultimate goal is to become a World Champion in sparring. Besides her dedication to Taekwondo and her studies, Anikah enjoys new adventures like traveling and hiking, often taking her dog Benji along for mountain escapes.
Weight cutting for competitions is a significant challenge for Anikah, who has been refining her approach over the past seven years. She begins considering weight cuts about two months before a competition, with a more intensive focus starting one month out. Her strategy includes a gradual reduction of carbs and a focus on high-fiber and high-protein foods, coupled with a rigorous training schedule that includes weight training, Taekwondo practices, and additional cardio workouts. Maintaining health and performance during this period involves careful meal timing, hydration, and post-weigh-in refueling. Her training regimen typically includes weight and plyometric training, multiple Taekwondo sessions, and cardio workouts, with a tapering phase close to competition to manage injuries and ensure peak performance.
Balancing her academic responsibilities with training and competition requires meticulous scheduling. Anikah often studies between her teaching and training sessions and prioritizes her schedule around her commitments. She acknowledges the challenge of finding downtime but strives for active rest days when possible. Travel, particularly for competitions, has been a memorable and influential part of her life. Her first World Championships in Germany provided a unique experience in a quaint town, and despite the focus on competition, she cherishes moments of cultural immersion. Traveling has taught her to appreciate the present and has enhanced her organizational skills, both personally and professionally.
LONG TERM PODCAST #58
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(00:00):
Hello You Beautiful people. Welcome back to the Long Term
Podcast. I'm your host Advan Villa.
Today we have Team Canada International Taekwondo
Federation athlete and University of Alberta
kinesiology student Annika Woodrow.
(00:21):
We will discuss Taekwondo in regards to weight cutting and
being a competitive athlete, time management in regards to
school, work, training and life balance and going on vacation.
(00:42):
Annika Woodrow is a phenomenal person, very hard worker.
I think she will go far in life and she has really mastered the
craft of time management and shecontinues to prove to the world
that she is very much capable. It's it is an amazing
conversation and I'm excited forall of you to you're everyone
(01:04):
welcome. Wow.
I cannot believe every time somebody new comes on, I'm like,
I'm still so baffled and like, wow, like, why do I deserve
this? Like why we're at episode 58.
Which is insane. Congratulations.
And each one takes me 68 hours. For everything that's crazy.
(01:27):
But this is worth it. And yeah, thank you so much for
coming on the Long Term Podcast.Annika Woodrow, everyone.
Thank you for having me. So can you tell me a little bit
about yourself? Yeah, so I am 23 years old
recently. I started Taekwondo back when I
(01:48):
was eight years old. So I've been doing Taekwondo for
about 15 years now. I'm going into my fifth year of
university, 4th of kinesiology, so I will be graduating this
year. That's super exciting.
I've been on Team Canada twice for Taekwondo, ITF Taekwondo,
(02:09):
and I've gone to Finland and Germany for that.
Aside from competing and training and everything, aside
from my busy schedule outside, when I have free time, I like to
go to the mountains. I like hiking, taking my dog
out. Benji.
Benji. So the the five tenants really
(02:30):
fascinate me. You've got the you've got
courtesy, integrity, perseverance, self-control and
the indomitable spirit. Now, of those five, which one do
you think is the most important?To me or in general both OK.
(02:55):
I think in domino spirit is my personal one that's the most
important on like a Taekwondo scale.
I would say self-control probably is in domino spirit.
Just like being strong in mind, I think is just something that
you really need to take with youthroughout your entire life, not
(03:19):
just in Taekwondo. Like being able to tell yourself
that you can do these things andthen helping other people and
doing all of this. But then self, the self-control
aspect is just like being able to control your emotions but
also control your techniques. Like in a sparring sense, you
don't always want to go for likethe knockout, you know, get
(03:39):
disqualified. Yeah, I think being able to hold
off a little bit for the perfectopportunity to come up instead
of just go, giving it in your emotions and going through with
that move instead of just planning and that patience.
Certainly self-control is imperative if you want to win a
match or even extend that to life.
(04:02):
Maybe you should like you shouldn't eat that because later
on that's going to affect you and that indomitable spirit.
It's like things are going to happen in life and you really
need to have that mental grits in that soul from within to
really drive you to keep going. And you have to like, I'm
(04:24):
thinking of like those really tough days where you just have
to like clench your teeth and get through power through.
And that's it's, it's really beautiful when it all comes
together. So with Taekwondo, how do you
approach weight cutting in a waythat maintains your health and
(04:44):
performance? So I've been doing weight cuts
ever since I was 16 years old, so quite some time I've
developed a little bit of a curated program for myself.
That being said, it is an ongoing process as I develop my
athletic career and like I go tothe gym more so it's like
(05:07):
developing things that work for me.
And before I like get into like kind of what I do, weight
cutting is by no means healthy like at all.
That's just it's not sustainable.
It's not really good for your body 'cause you're really
putting in a place where it shouldn't be.
But it's part of my sport. It's what I do.
(05:27):
So what I do is 2 months out, I start thinking about cutting
weight. And this can entail just like
training a little bit more or just like getting onto the
trajectory of eating a lot healthier.
But then one month out, that's when I actually start my cut.
So the first week, the only amount of carbs that I really
(05:49):
allow myself is a little bit of rice.
The second week, the only carb that I'll have is like a plain
rice cake if I'm, you know, OK for weight at that point.
And then two weeks out, no more carbs.
So it's just like a very high fibers, so lots of veggies and a
protein diet. The two main things with cutting
(06:10):
weight is just like you're on a calorie deficit, but then you're
also increasing your training soyou want to lose that weight.
Another big thing with cutting weight is just like the mindset,
you have to like have the willpower to do it because it's
a very hard thing. For the performance aspect of
(06:32):
it. I think it's really important
like when you plan to have your meals.
So I when I go to the gym or I plan on doing weight training
that day, I'll have I'll do it in the morning and I'll do it
after a breakfast and then I'll do it in a way so that I can
have lunch after, so I can refuel properly.
(06:52):
That's somewhat after weight training and then before my
Taekwondo training, I will have like a little bit of a bigger
meal because I typically burn like at least 500 calories at
those training sessions. So you want to have more
sustenance because I typically don't eat after the Taekwondo
(07:13):
training session because you need to lose the weight, right?
So it's just like that balance of figuring out when you want to
eat your meals, so you can kind of have fuel for your workouts,
but also slightly refuel after. And then another big aspect of
it is just like consistently staying hydrated up until the
(07:37):
point where you might potentially have to do a water
cut, which is not fun at all. It's like like a condensed one.
It would be like 8 liters, 6 liters, 4 liters, 2 liters,
nothing. It's not super fun, but.
And you definitely need to access your indomitable spirit
for that endeavor. Hey, because you said a month or
(08:00):
two in advance, you plan it out.And you need to ensure that when
you do show up for the training regiment, you need to section
off this portion of the meal to be able to coincide with the
training. Because if you have it too
early, then you're going to be feeling hungry during the
training. If you have it too late, then
it's going to be too close to bedtime and you're going to have
(08:22):
absolutely no energy when it comes to the training.
Now, there is a lot of like mental fog when it when that
happens, Hey, and like as you said, it isn't the healthiest
thing. I think the like for the average
person, that's just for a personthat wants to lose weight,
definitely like and they're already healthy.
(08:46):
It's just unimaginable. But to be able to get the, the
weight to hit your weight class,you need to make some
sacrifices. And that's creating a plan, a
strategy to be able to get from point A to point B.
And that's just, there's so muchto that, Hey.
And I'm sure it's given you since what, 16 you've been,
(09:09):
you've been planning the OR you've been engaging in weight
cutting. But yeah, I, I think even in
bodybuilding, a lot of bodybuilders do it.
And while you see that, oh, thisis like the bygone kind of
premise of bodybuilding is to behealthy and you see all these
people that do look great. And then even with fighting with
(09:31):
Taekwondo and the different fighting classes, there is that
downside. Hey, where you have to to you
have to follow the rules. And I think that's, you know,
not everything is going to be perfect.
But yeah. What does a typical training
look like for you when preparingfor a competition?
(09:53):
When preparing for a competition, I like to train
weights at least two to three times a week.
And then I like to add in like aplyometric training as well.
So a lot of like bouncy, hoppy stuff cause Taekwondo is a
really big like leg power sport.So that's a really important
aspect. And that can be added into like
one of the weight training days that I do.
(10:14):
So if I hit legs, say I can do plyometrics that day as well or
add some into that as well. And then I'll do three to four
Taekwondo training sessions a week.
And then I like to also add a little bit more cardio on top of
that. That's not Taekwondo.
And my go to is running. So I'll either do like a long
distance run or sprints, 'cause you for sparring you do need
(10:39):
really good cardio. So that's like typically what I
do. And then coming run a marathon.
Do I want to? Absolutely, yeah.
Sign up It's August. I don't know if I'm prepared for
August. No, we'll go on with this thing.
Yeah, go on. Yeah.
(10:59):
And then like one to two weeks out from competition, I like to
pull back a little bit just so Ihave that a little bit of like
tapering period so I can recovermy body in like the peak for
competition. I also you also want to rest
your body a little bit prior to going into competition if you do
like such heavy training before that injuries come up, you know
(11:23):
so. You had mentioned that you are
aversive to rest days. Why?
I just like, really suck at giving them to myself honestly
is the real answer. You feel guilty, Sorry.
You feel guilty. Kind of, yeah.
(11:44):
I feel like I'm, I'm just like, I always want to be moving and
doing things. And so if I don't do something
it I just feel not fulfilled in some way.
I'm trying to be better with that.
And just like even like an active rest day.
So just like a walk out is fine.I'm starting to like make myself
(12:06):
think that that's OK, but whenever I like don't do
something like that burns a lot more calories than I'm just
like, you know. I feel that whenever I'm just
having a rest day and I typically I don't fuck with rest
days. I really I don't.
It's always something you can do, whether it be stretching,
(12:27):
whether it be like mindfulness, like there's something you can
do for the body, for the mind Now, like when people say rest
day, I just think like sitting around watching movies doing
nothing. But there's, I'm sure your rest
days are actually still getting you closer to the goal.
Hey, you're not just laying there.
Totally. And I think that's where I need
(12:47):
to like kind of switch. My mindset is like, this is
actually helping me more than it's like doing any harm.
But it's just like a hard thing to just like, stop for a second.
Well, that's kind of the pitfallwith high achievers such as
yourself, Hayes. You're so used to this high
demand, high chaotic kind of environment.
(13:12):
But as soon as you give yourselfsome time to relax, it's like
you're not in that hyper state and then your your body looks
for it. It's like, what's going on?
Am I supposed to just relax? And then I guess that's what in
even Taekwondo, that's what theyteach you too, that self-control
aspect, right? Which is something we all could
work on. But So what do you do to relax
(13:35):
yourself? Because you're a person that is
involved in weight cutting, which is just a long process.
And there's so many things that you need to be able to master, a
lot of self-control, a lot of strategy, a lot of different
techniques that works for you. And it has been evidence with
the achievements that you have accomplished.
(13:55):
Now, on the days where you need to rest and you need to be able
to kind of zoom out, what do youdo?
Great. Question I in the grand scheme
(14:19):
of things, let's say I have likeI don't have work that let's say
it's like a full, a full rest day.
I don't have any trainings that I have to attend.
I don't have work. I don't have school when I'm in
school, let's say. So like let's say a Sunday, I
would sleep in and make myself like a nice breakfast.
(14:44):
If it's summer, I'll eat it outside, take my dog for a walk.
And then because I'm just like always constantly going
sometimes like my, it feels likemy life just kind of gets messy
and I like set some other thingsto the side that I don't
necessarily have time for like at home.
(15:05):
So that could be like actually cleaning a little bit more and
then taking time to do those things instead.
And then although that might notreally seem like rest, it's
doing things that needed to get done that I didn't have as a
priority before. So I'm like, I'm still doing
things. And then the walk with my dog is
like the act of rest part of my physical activities like aspect.
(15:28):
That's great. That's a lovely response.
That's great. You're gonna need to give
yourself some some more grace. You know, you just and I I think
you'll go far. I just, I just, I just know it
and definitely I think the thingthat high achievers need to work
on is just giving yourself that rest day and not making sure
(15:49):
that progress isn't always the priority because that there is
progress and peace. Now you know, where do you draw
the line? Can you share some of the
biggest challenges you've faced as a competitive Taekwondo
athlete and how you overcame them?
I'd say there's three big ones. So injuries for sure is one of
(16:12):
them, time management and then just like overcoming losses.
So to touch on injuries, like a lot of my injuries are just
chronic ones. I've had a couple concussions in
my life and so most recently theconcussion that I had obviously
(16:32):
can't really train too much after that and I was training to
go to Finland after that one. So I had to take a step back for
like 2 weeks from my training just so I wasn't dizzy when I
would try and do a kick. So that is definitely a
challenge when you have to pull back and injuries like that.
(16:54):
But my most common injury is theone in my right hip.
It's pretty chronic. I'm convinced I have a labral
tear. Still have yet to check it out
'cause I don't know if I get that checked out.
I know, I really. I'm in kinesiology and I'm not
even seeing a physio. You know, I should really take
some advice that I'm learning. But yeah, it's just like it's
(17:19):
hard being a person. I like enjoy sparring so much.
And then when I go to do a high kick, let's say, it like feels
like my hip is ripping off, likeit just hurts so bad.
And then at that point, I just like, I really need to use
(17:40):
self-control and focus on maybe punching more or shifting my
focus to like boxing drills moreand take a rest from my legs and
give them that chance to like have that little bit of
recovery. And then also doing things such
as like strengthening in the hipfor the muscles and the tissues
and foam rolling and stuff like that, or switching more of like
(18:04):
a sparring focus to do more patterns.
So it's like not as taxing for my hips.
The time management is definitely like a balance
between my training schedule, work, school life, you know,
because I'd like to have a social life too.
(18:24):
So just like balancing all of those things and making sure I
prioritize where I want to spendmy time, which I think I've been
able to develop. But it definitely was hard to
find that program because quite honestly, like my parents are
like, we never see you anymore. So like out of seven days a
(18:46):
week, I'm probably home aside from sleeping like 24 hours.
So that's that. I feel that, yeah.
It's crazy. And then overcoming losses.
So the big thing with that is just like not stopping after
(19:08):
like the nobody likes losing nobody.
I'm sorry, nobody likes losing, right?
No one likes losing. Yeah.
So I think the big thing with that is like taking it as a
learning experience, which I think is really important.
And one of the things that you can do like if you compete on a
on a world level day, like live stream it so you can go back and
(19:29):
watch, which watching yourself is super painful sometimes, but
you watch it and you study it and you're like, why didn't I do
this here? But then you grow from it.
You're like, OK, I did that thistime.
That was OK, but I'm going to doAB and C next time.
I want to train like this, to dothis and just like not stopping
(19:50):
I think is the biggest thing. If you lose after a competition,
some people take that a little bit too much to heart.
And like, I get it, Like losing sucks, let's put it bluntly.
Like it's not enjoyable by any means.
But I think overcoming that and be able to bounce back and learn
from it and be a better athlete or person after it is just like
(20:14):
so important. I think losing is something we
all need to be able to absorb properly because if a person
loses and they just call themselves a piece of shit and
then they look in the mirror andthey go, I'll never amount to
anything for the next time. Of course you're going to lose.
(20:36):
I mean, you're going into the battle with a losing mentality,
but if you it's recorded, you goback into the replays and you
see what went wrong. OK, maybe that kick wasn't high
enough. Oh, my defense wasn't as good.
I didn't react in time. Maybe my reaction time isn't as
up to date with how I couldn't could have been.
(21:00):
Maybe that person was it becauseI was too anxious?
There's all these different variables that you could
improve. If you're just focused on the
loss itself. Sure.
Yeah. Like it sucks you lost, it's a
failure and people are very aversive to failures.
But if you come away from that match and you go, OK, I could
(21:22):
have maybe outside of the match,you could have had a better
diet, maybe you got 7 hours of sleep.
You could have gotten AIDS. Was it that talk?
Were you just having a fight with your boyfriend, girlfriend?
Was it was it that were you not calm with that technique?
Did you have enough self-controlto be able to maneuver that four
step combination that you were practicing for 24 hours, right?
(21:47):
There's always something that wecan improve on.
And if you take that loss and ifyou do not do anything about it,
if you don't take that as a learning lesson and you just
quit, you'll never see the full Annika Woodrow, right?
You'll never see that best version of yourself.
Because I think constantly you look at yourself back a year
(22:09):
ago, you just go, whoa, I was sonaive.
And then if you had quit that time, you lost that time, it's
like then you wouldn't be who you are today to see it through
the end. And that's why I tell people
like, OK, you got a bad grade. OK, You sure this shit life
happened? OK, It's happened to everyone.
(22:31):
There's somebody in that same situation as you, maybe
different name, different kind of environments, different
timeline maybe, but they're feeling the same, the same
emotions as you. Now, either they quit or they
didn't. But the person that didn't quit
saw it through the end, reveled in glory, right?
(22:58):
So with Taekwondo, how has it influenced your personal life?
Like what kind of values do you take away from it?
And you apply into, you know, a Monday morning and you're at
(23:18):
your job or, you know, if you'restudying for school or maybe you
get in a fight with a friend or family member or you know,
you're just doing some self work.
How does that how does Taekwondoinfluence that side?
I think just like everything I've learnt through Taekwondo
has just honestly helped me control myself more and be a
(23:42):
better person. Taekwondo is obviously a martial
art. Martial art is like a military
art. So you're taught discipline and
with that, I think you really learn how to control your
emotions and how to speak. I, I teach kids, right?
(24:02):
And so you learn how to also find different methods on like
how to talk to different people and like what works with them.
It also like really adds an element of confidence too.
So I think doing a martial art and like Taekwondo specifically,
(24:27):
and growing up with the people that I grew up with, like I've
had my coach since I was eight years old, like he is a huge
part of my life. And I am so thankful for that.
And I'm so thankful that I have a person like that in my life.
And just like all the other people that I have grown up with
(24:48):
in Taekwondo, just like I've grown with them.
And so you have all of these different things adding to your
confidence, which is like a hugepart of how you approach things
and life, I think. So being being able also to take
criticism, I think is a big thing too.
How it has like affected just who I am as a person.
(25:13):
Criticism in a way of like constructiveness on how to be
better in a sport. But then it all just like all
the life lessons as well. And then being able to move on,
like move forward and grow with it as well, like.
Yeah, yeah, you gain confidence because you have succeeded in
(25:33):
this facet. You've made a a great bonding
experience and you know this this role model of yours, you're
would it be called a coach? Yeah, coach.
OK, your coach since you were eight, you they've you've gone
through so much. You've experienced failure,
(25:53):
you've experienced doubt, guilt,shame, and you on the other
side, you've also experienced the triumph, the the victory,
that bliss, that cloud 9 of mastering that kick.
Now, is there a particular move that you have that you're proud
of, that you've put in so much effort in and you finally came
(26:17):
to fruition? Yeah, I definitely, if you ask
me like a year or two ago, I probably would have given it to
my higher kicks, but I definitely think I would say a
sidekick. So just like drilling someone
mid abdomen with your heel sidekick is probably one of my
(26:42):
go to moves that people are likeYep that was a good one.
If you hit an average human being with this move in the
head, would they die? I hope not.
No, No. Probably knock them out pretty
(27:03):
good though. Yeah, yeah.
What's that like knocking peopleout?
I actually never have knocked anyone out, but I've made people
throw up before. Oh, OK.
I think that's even better. I it's a little fun.
That's a little bit of spice. I've heard I've been listening
to a lot of like UFC fighters and just like the way they talk
(27:23):
about like fighting. It's, it's like an art form,
hey. Totally.
Because like you leading up to it, there's so much effort for
the weight cutting, for the countless nights and days you're
mastering the craft, you're looking at videos, you're
talking to people, you're makingsure that you're getting
(27:45):
adequate sleep. And it's then it all comes
together. And that's why the loss is so
heavy, because you've put in an enormous amount of effort.
And when it doesn't go through, it's like, OK, like I've
literally put in four months of my life for a year.
(28:06):
For a lot of people, maybe it took them three years to be able
to have the courage to join the competition and then you lose.
Yeah. But is there can you tell me
about kind of the the mindset going into a fight now?
Like I've seen some UFC fights and there's some guys that are
(28:29):
like looking like they want to fucking kill the other guy, like
looking like absolute just it's from a scene of out of a horror
movie. But then there are also guys
that are and girls that are thatgo in there in a fight with Zen
and they just are meticulous with their moves.
No, How does that work like withwith you?
(28:52):
How do you approach entering a fight?
I really think it depends on theperson, so me personally, if I
have the time I will put my headphones in and I'll play my
fight playlist to like really get in the zone and get focused
for that match. I don't particularly love
(29:17):
talking to a bunch of people before I before I fight because
I like to stay in the zone and focus on what I'm about to do.
That being said, the one person that I like like talking to
before my my fight is my coach. So he'll give me advice on,
like, what he thinks I should doin this next match and I'll try
(29:39):
it out or something along that line or he'll like, be calming
me down or something. But yeah, for me, it's just
like, I like to be in the momentand I kind of just like, turn
off everything outside of that. And then when I'm in the rain,
the only other voice that I can hear is my coach yelling at me,
(30:01):
like, or not yelling, but like telling me to do different
combos or try a different technique.
Everything else, like if there'speople cheering, if there's
anything like I don't hear it, Ihear my coach.
And that's it, because I'm just like in the moment, focusing on
the match. That's that's beautiful.
I'm like, and then all comes together and then that.
(30:24):
Can you describe the feeling of victory?
Because I've never I've never been in a fight.
Like I like to talk, like I liketo talk a lot of shit, but, and
I run my mouth but don't fight me, don't fight me.
I, I that's why I talk. I'm, I'm getting connections
right now, so hopefully somebodycan defend me because I'm a
pussy, you know. Can you tell me what the feeling
(30:49):
of victory is like? So I feel like everyone has like
a top three favorite feelings inthe world, right?
One of mine is when the match isover and the center ref grabs
the two people's gloves and theystep back and they raise your
arm. Best feeling ever because it's
(31:11):
just like it's for a black belt competition.
It's 22 minute rounds of sparring with A1 minute break in
between. So the first round you usually
like feel the person out a little bit more than you have
that break. And then the second round you do
a little bit more, you got a little bit more spice into it
and it's just like having your glove raised is just like you
(31:35):
did it, like you trained for this.
You put in all that hard work, you took that kick, but then you
got back your points. You fucked that guy up.
Yeah, you're like I, I, I did that.
I won. And so it's just rewarding, I
guess. I'm really, I've been really
(31:56):
pondering and like kind of the the struggle.
That's why I like to I like to suffer, you know, like it's just
because you suffer, suffer, suffer, struggle, struggle,
struggle, the longer it takes. And then as soon as it all comes
together, as soon as you land that move that just establishes
your triumph, just cloud nine. Hey, and you're in this like
(32:21):
there's this clip of, you know, Adesanya, the UFC guy, and after
a win, he's just super ecstatic.He takes the he asked the
interviewer or interview the person holding the mic if he
could take the mic and he goes people of earth, if you could
just experience what I'm feelingonce in your life, you know,
(32:42):
this is amazing. This is great.
And I see that with, like, I seethe videos of like, these UFC
fighters, these martial artists,these like Taekwondo fighters,
that victory, right? It's just somebody's holding
your hand, arm up, and you're just reveling in a glory because
everything came, came together. Nothing worth having comes easy.
(33:07):
And you just revel in that gloryand just soak it up.
And then it's down for the next one.
Yeah. Because it's so addicting.
It. Is yeah, yeah, it's, it's truly
remarkable kind of how that thathappens to be.
I wish people only knew what that feeling was like, Hey,
because I feel like a lot of people do not know like, like
(33:31):
the sacrifices that you've made,like not showing up to that
party, like not engaging in thatactivity where you want, you
want to. Don't get me wrong.
Like a lot of people ask me like, hey, you should come out
this time. You should do this.
But then it's like, no, no, no, I got to, I got to do this.
Yeah, I got to do this thing. That'll because I'm like
(33:53):
charging up for that moment of just euphoria.
Totally. Does that make sense?
Oh absolutely. When I was training for Finland,
so this like last year I didn't drink any alcohol from like
February up until competition. So the entire summer when people
usually like let loose a little bit more, I was my friends DD.
(34:15):
Like I would still go and do things, but I wasn't and you
don't need to drink to have fun.But it's just like it was so
much discipline and saying no toso many things.
Look at. That board day four, that's
awesome. No, it's you get judged.
I get really judged. I don't know why though.
(34:38):
Well, it's one of those things where people think you have a
problem if you don't engage in it like they think.
Like I've have never had a problem with alcohol.
I just think if I'm going to be great, I can't have that my
system. But yeah, go on with your.
No, I just like, I think it's more rewarding like after the
fact too, because the thing withWorld Championships too is like
(34:59):
you have all of these like multiworld championship athletes who
like train for years for that moment and then they get that
title and then at the after party that's when they finally
let loose. So it's just like all the
training and the hard work, likeit pays off so.
Like I'm always looking for how can I get that edge?
(35:22):
Like I'm, I don't know if this is just wishful thinking, but I
believe I can do it. I'm going to run 1000 kilometers
in a row. Like I just, I just know I can
do it in a row, Dad, just non-stop.
I guess I can stop meals here and there and then do it.
Maybe do it for charity, but just that I just I feel like I
could like, and how do we get that edge?
(35:45):
OK, it's not smoking weed, it's not vaping, it's not drinking
alcohol. It's making sure I get my sleep.
It's making sure I'm dialed in. And I want to be the greatest
podcaster this world's ever seen.
And you know, I used to experience like so much doubt,
like like Joe Rogan's already sofar up there.
Like you got this. This person's already making so
(36:06):
much money. And recently I just went, wait,
what the fuck? Like these guys started
somewhere and I'm still fairly young.
I could be them. What did they do?
And so every day I'm listening to four hours of podcasts every
day while I'm at the gym, while I'm driving to work, before bed,
(36:28):
just constant grind, crafting the, the, the script, making
sure, OK, what am I missing? And on top of that, even on
runs, I'm listening to podcasts,music sometimes, you know, as a
reward. But it's just how can I get that
edge right? Just chasing that because I want
to. I really want to leave my mark
on this world. And I'm sure you're the same.
You want to be the world champion for sparring.
(36:51):
Yeah. And that's just, yeah.
Like, how do it like with abstaining from alcohol, it's
like that's that edge right there.
Because a person like this is going back to kind of the the
fighting and like the losing taken in that loss.
OK, maybe you drank too much alcohol the the weekend before.
That's a factor. Maybe that fight with your
(37:11):
mother who you've been disrespecting for three weeks, I
got to solve that. Like if I had relationships,
friendships that were toxic, that I didn't resolve, that's a
factor. On to why I can't present myself
the best on to the spawn cast. There's always something.
Totally. Yeah, yeah, but did you get a
lot of judgement for not drinking alcohol?
(37:32):
No, I think more so it's just like the peer pressure of
anything. People are like oh like what's 1
drink? And I'm like no.
One drink is everything. Yeah, I'm like I'm, I'm good.
Like it's OK. Yeah, yeah.
That's. Would you say Taekwondo is your
life? Absolutely.
Yeah. Yeah.
What do you think life would be without it?
(37:54):
Really boring to be honest. I'm sure you'd probably find a
different arting or art style. I feel like I didn't get into
Taekwondo. I probably would have ended up
in some sort of martial art. But yeah, I'm just like so
grateful that I'm, I do Taekwondo and I'm at the club
that I'm at, like my club KodiakTaekwondo.
We just got named like the number one club in Edmonton
(38:17):
martial arts, which is awesome and crazy.
You're a part of that. Yeah, for sure.
And it's just like my, my coach,Mr. Homewood, he's always
working to do better things for our club and like make us grow.
And I just think that's so admirable as well.
(38:37):
And people like throughout Canada, they're like, why is
Kodiak always winning? And I'm like, well, it's because
we put in the work. You would get that edge.
We're doing something different.Like why?
There is a reason. Like there's no coincidence.
Like what? We just got lucky.
We we won that because we got lucky.
No, no, no sweat, Blood, tears, late nights, early mornings,
(39:01):
never stopping, always masteringthe craft.
Yeah. Yeah.
Is it OK if we take a little break?
Yeah, absolutely. What I always tell people is
like, try not, don't, don't namedrop people, OK?
Like, and also make sure that what you say on this podcast,
you're not going to regret 10 years later when you're trying
(39:23):
to get a job and there's clips of you.
That's what I always tell peoplebecause some people have like my
way to post this and they're like, yeah, sure, I'm like, you
sure you're like. You positive?
Yeah, OK. So, time management in regards
to school, work, training and life.
(39:43):
How do you balance the demands of your kinesiology studies with
your training and competition schedule?
Right. So I think I've curated a little
bit of a, a plan and the schedule and like how I go about
things probably since like 2021 is when I think I got like
better at it. So I teach kids Taekwondo, I
(40:09):
teach the four to seven-year olds, and that starts at 4:30.
Or I leave my house at 4:30. Class starts at 5:30.
Sorry I've. Got a that young?
Yeah. I've got a six year old brother
and he's like, I don't know. I think he's like a little bit
of a nerd. Like I, I need to.
I think he should join. Yeah, I think he.
Should go is it how much is it? 100 hundred bucks?
(40:34):
Yeah, like that's with the outfit and everything.
Wow. He got a.
Little bag and a water bottle. He got some stickers.
Yeah, might, might just Chuck them in there.
Yeah, You should know him a little bit of well, make sure
like whoop his ass. He talks a lot.
He talks a lot of shit. Like for for a six year old,
he's the only one that could talk shit like that to me.
(40:56):
Really got to put him in his place.
Yeah, put him in his place and tell, tell him like it's from
Advent. But yeah.
So you teach four to seven-year old like the different
techniques. Yeah, just like beginner intro
stuff. And so that's at about like 5:30
(41:17):
to 6:00 and then my black belt class starts at 7:30.
So between then when I'm in school is when I study.
And then that's every Tuesday, Thursday, Wednesdays I have
sparring class at in the evening.
So between when I get home from school, depending on how much
time I have or like eat, study, do everything I need to do, and
(41:40):
some weeks are heavier than other, it kind of just depends
on like where my assignments areat midterms, finals, stuff like
that. But for the competition schedule
itself, sometimes I just hope that the competition doesn't end
on like a weekend and where I have a midterm on Monday, which
(42:00):
sometimes it does and that's fine.
It's just on. If it's like a road trip, I'll
be studying in the car. I did that this past Westerns
travelling to Regina. I had two papers that I had to
work on. One of them was due on Monday
and then it was just like a group deadline to have a section
of the paper due on Monday. So in the car I'm like doing
research, typing out some papers, doing stuff like that,
(42:23):
just to make sure I can do all these things.
Ultimately it comes down to justlike prioritizing.
You're going to make time for what you want to do and where
you want to go. So this year specifically, I
think is going to be a new challenge for me.
I am going to take it head on and make everything work at the
(42:48):
way I want to. I'm going to Argentina for the
World Cup for Taekwondo at the end of October.
So I needed to take two weeks off of my practicum and they
allowed me to do that. I make sure everything was OK.
It's kind of going into the likethe slower season for the team
that I got. I'm with the varsity rugby team
with EU of A and then a couple weekends later it's like Western
(43:10):
championships and you need to gofor go to that one.
I'm pretty sure as well to get seating points to maybe get on
Team Canada for Croatia at the following year.
So it's just like balancing school and talking to your
professors and then making sure that in your time away you're
also just like making sure you can still consider doing some
(43:34):
school even though it's hard. When I was in Finland for World
Championships, that was like thebeginning of school time.
So I missed the first two weeks of classes.
Thankfully, I didn't miss like acrazy amount because it was just
like a bunch of review stuff. But I opened up my E Class when
I was in Finland thinking like, oh, like I'm going to look at
(43:56):
this. It was like the first week of
one of my classes was a like a review stats and I was like, no
thanks. So I just like kind of focused
on the competition more. But yeah, I was just like
prioritizing. If there is a will, there's a
way. Exactly.
(44:17):
I think a lot of people don't give enough credit to the amount
of work that they're capable of.Here you are.
You're going on these tournaments in in a different
country, still in university andstill accomplishing the showing
(44:42):
up to the tournament and giving your best.
And then on top of this, there'sthe studying aspect.
And I know this first hand to where I had gone on vacation and
missed 3 1/2 weeks of school like and still I wanted to
prepare our podcasts prior to that.
So the week before I did like 6 podcasts in a row and section
(45:05):
them off to be released at a particular date.
And on top of that, there's school, you know, still full
course load. It's heavy.
Absolutely. But hey, how are diamonds
formed, right? Yeah.
It just ultimately comes down tolike how much you're willing to
sacrifice and do so you can do these things right, So.
And at the end of the day, if you didn't make it, you took on
(45:28):
all these things and you gave ityour best.
Because then there there's also taking them all on and then
failing at every single one, right?
You need to be able to be realistic with what you can take
on totally. Like maybe you need to cut down
a little bit of the course load,maybe the training.
You need to ease up on it and focus on certain things.
(45:50):
There's different strategies foreveryone, because I know people
that are ultra like card focused, like they'd section
their days off to AT and just they're driven and they succeed
in every single endeavour. But then there's also people
that just focus on one aspect and there they got four point OS
and they're just on track to working for like Amazon, Google.
(46:13):
Shout out to David Purdell. That guy's, that guy's like,
really, I ran into. Him at the grocery store the
other day, yeah. I really want him on like he's
going to come on in this podcast.
I just wondered, make sure what makes him tick.
But yeah, it's yeah, computer science.
I I don't get it. But it's just What strategies do
(46:36):
you use to stay organized and manage your time effectively?
Honestly, just like knowing my schedule.
So with the job that I have right now, I'm a bartender, it's
a very like week by week schedule.
So week by week I figure out kind of like where I can put my
time and where I will do like certain things.
(46:59):
So when I'm in school, obviouslyI'm not working five days a
week, I'm working one to two. So when I'm in school, it's
usually the weekends that I havework and then school five days a
week, training Tuesday, Thursdayevenings, hopefully Wednesdays
and then weight training maybe like before school.
(47:21):
So I'll wake up that extra time earlier or like after work.
So in the summer I don't have school.
So it'll be I either work out before work or after work or I
don't have to worry about it because I have the day off.
But ultimately it's just like I get my schedule.
I look at the week at the start and I'm like, OK, I can do this,
(47:43):
this day, this, this day at thistime and kind of sort it out
that way. So actually like being able to
plan at the beginning of the week or whenever you got your
schedule really helps me with mytime management.
And I guess that's kind of just how I conquer that as a whole.
Yeah, you already know your schedule three days before, four
(48:03):
days a week in advance, say and you said it's two sectioned off
the bartending schedule and two weeks prior.
Yeah, it's like two to three weeks in advance we get our
schedule. And then you can just block that
off. And then the exams, you already
have that in place, the trainingand it all just falls into place
and it's like clockwork. But yeah, I think scheduling is
(48:23):
just so imperative if you want to be able to not feel lost
because organization, right? Ensuring that your values, your
actions align with your values. And OK, OK, what does this mean?
It means that, OK, I I need to make money.
I also need to train. I need to study.
OK, which time of the month is it?
(48:46):
January. OK, Feb, March.
There's school. But then what about when you're
off school? You need to fill that time.
You want to feel closer to your family, your friends.
OK, give more time with them. You want to get better at
Taekwondo. Master this move section off for
time for there every day. There's always something right
to get closer to the best possible version that you can
(49:09):
be. How do you ensure you have time
for rest and recovery? I missed your busy schedule.
I think it comes down to like, even if I don't have a full rest
day of like everything off, I still need to set aside like at
(49:30):
least an hour just to like, you know, an actual like rest and
recovery day. Like we kind of touched on
earlier. It's just like really hard for
me just because I like to alwaysbe busy.
And I with such a busy schedule,it seems rare that I even get
one sometimes. And my parents are always like,
(49:53):
are you ever going to be home? Like, can you take a rest day,
like just chill out for a littlebit?
And I'm like, like, I'm fine. But I think the hardest part
about it and it's just like it will continue to be a work in
progress for me because realistically with everything
that I, I do and I like to do it, I like to be busy.
I like to have all of these things, but I could hit burnout
(50:15):
at any point. And so I think penciling in that
time to actually have the rest and recovery that I need and
just like relax and take time for myself, rest my body, rest
my mind, I need to get better AT.
And so a day that I'm not necessarily training as heavy.
(50:38):
So usually like on a weekend, solike Sunday, Monday, I feel like
are the two days where I have like the least amount of things
going on. So those are the days where I
typically like take more time for myself.
You mentioned burnout, Mm Hmm. Do you have it?
Absolutely. Yeah.
(50:59):
Burnout is definitely a thing that I have struggled with and
it usually hits November ish forsure which is like midterm
season and then February as well.
I feel like those are two commonmonths for everyone where you're
(51:20):
just like peak stress, like getting cold.
It's not the greatest vibes out and it's just like, it's hard,
but I'm like continually going like 12 months out of the year.
And then when more things additionally get added onto my
play, which typically typically happen around those two months,
(51:42):
it's just like I hit a point andit's just like art, you know?
It's harder to be motivated. It's harder to do these things.
I will still continue to do themand find a way but it's just
like it drags more. What's kind of the antidote for
you? Rest and recovery.
(52:03):
Because I, for me, I think when I do hit the burnouts and I
actually just hit one recently, I woke up looking at the
ceiling. I'm depleted of energy.
I don't want to podcast, I don'twant to run.
I don't even want to go outside.But I just get up and I just do
it anyways. And I think that action aspect,
(52:27):
I don't know if it's helpful formany people, but for me
personally, that's kind of like putting my body and mind into
OverDrive. Totally.
Yeah, like what's what's given me because then I just forget
about it and go, OK, anytime I get a burnout, I'll just hit a
10K really like and that seems to do the job.
(52:50):
Then I'm like, OK, now I want todo the podcast.
Now I want to read a book. Now I want to get after it does
that. Yeah, you do like you hit
burnout, but then you distract yourself from burnout, from
doing things and like maybe you pull back a little bit from
certain things. So you don't like go into a
depressive state. But I do think just like keeping
(53:12):
busy does help with that, as like contradictory as that kind
of sounds, but I do think it helps.
I also just like an escape to the mountains or like going to
BC during like a little baby, a little baby trip.
Nature is super helpful with that, you know.
There's a lot of studies where nature actually grounds you,
(53:33):
reduces the cortisol levels in your body, helps you feel more
connected, reduces all depression, depressive symptoms.
And yeah, I think that's a little bit of like Full
disclosure, like for me, I do not recommend anyone do that
what I do because I don't, I certainly don't think that is
healthy because you need to. I think what I'd recommend to
(53:55):
people though is like mindfulness meditation, like
focusing on your breath and likereally talking to people like
socialization and then, yeah, going to the mountains.
And because we live in a very like that, a hustle culture,
that's the price we have to pay.You had mentioned going to the
(54:15):
mountains. Let's talk about travelling.
What has been your most memorable travel experience
related to your Taekwondo career?
I feel like there's so many to pull from and pick from, but my
first World Championships in Germany definitely was an
(54:37):
incredible experience. So we went to this little town
called Rupholdain, and I like tosay it's like the little Jasper
of Germany, except way less tourist.
What? Is the town called?
Rupholdain. Rup, Yeah, OK.
Yeah, no. Gorgeous little town.
That's where Team Canada stayed.It was great.
(54:58):
And then the actual competition itself was in Insel, which was
like a 45 minute bus ride away, but you were in the mountains.
It was so peaceful. It was a nice place to stay in
that wasn't like super busy and it was away.
So you kind of get like that relaxing aspect as well.
(55:21):
I can't, I really can't complainabout any of the places that
I've been to for Taekwondo. I'm so grateful and like that I
had that privilege to go. And so just like the experience
as a whole going, it was super incredible.
But the thing about travelling for Taekwondo as well is just
like it's strictly business until the competition is over,
right? So as much as like, yeah, you're
(55:43):
given like a little bit of time to go off and do your own thing.
And it's just like you're focusing on your training,
you're focusing on preparing forthe competition.
So you can be in the mindset andbe focused for the competition.
You, if you want to, you can take the time after and explore
once the competition is over. So there's that as well.
(56:06):
And I, I, I do like to take thatextra time after like going
you're, you're going to a different country, I'd like to
see a little bit of it. So taking that time after the
tournament is done and exploringa little bit is always super
special. You think you would have
developed this interest in traveling if it wasn't for
Taekwondo? Oh for sure, my family.
(56:27):
I have had the opportunity to goto a couple other places too
before traveling for Taekwondo. So before I went to Germany, I
was 17 for that one and before that, like me and my family, we
went to Sweden, Italy, Ireland, Mexico, couple places in the
States. So I wasn't new to travelling
before it, but it definitely hasbroadened the horizon and
(56:51):
opportunity to travel more for me, which is really incredible.
And that's, that's awesome that you, you guys established first
that, hey, would we go there? Different country.
The mind isn't to explore the country.
Well, that's something you want to do because even arriving
there, you drive into the place where you're staying at and
everything's so novel and everything's so special.
(57:11):
But then it's like, no, it's game time.
I need to be able to put my headdown and think about the fight.
Then after that's when you celebrate or grief because you
lost, right? But but still, how do you manage
to keep up with your training routine while travelling for
competitions? It depends on kind of like where
(57:34):
we're put at for an accommodation type thing.
So in Germany there's always forTeam Canada, there's always
scheduled training sessions. And so we do those.
Weight training is basically taken out of the equation when
you go. You don't really want to be
taxing your body that much, thatclose to competition anyway.
(57:54):
But in Germany, we did trainingson a field, which was super fun
and we trained as a team. Paddles and like Shields to hit
stuff with were brought and we would do that.
And then in Finland, both of theaccommodations that we stayed in
there were gyms. So that was super cool and we
got an opportunity to go there. But like me and my team, we
(58:19):
would run around the hotel, run stairs, practice patterns in a
field or parking lot, do do those types of things.
And then the Team Canada training in Finland, like they
set out this bunker for us and it was so cool.
It was just like this underground tunnel thing.
And then each country was allotted a time and there was
(58:43):
curtains and it was really hot and sweaty down there, but it
was so cool to train with your team and do all of that.
So there is time allotted to train, but it's just like you
also want to make sure you're not training on a super high
intense level because you don't want to get hurt or like
anything before you actually getonto the mats and compete.
(59:04):
That's fascinating in in the Bunker.
Hey, I can just picture how manyof you are there.
Oh gosh, I think this year therewas like 38 of us.
Oh, that's awesome. And it's like a whole party in
there. It's like, not only are you
getting better physically, but like you're getting connected
more and then you get to just, you know, just relax and then
(59:27):
just well, at the same time engage in good mental and
physical health recovery. I'm I'm sure you guys keep it
light because it's close to the competition.
And Oh yeah, and then Finland's a big sauna country.
So after the training you just hit the saunas asshole?
And relax, they love cold. They're cold showers there, too.
Yeah, yeah, yeah. I've been those, those Finland
(59:48):
guys, They they love just the cold and heat exposures.
They really do. Yeah.
Yeah. I always see those videos of Wim
Hof as well. He's a big, big guy into that.
I don't know how they can survive that long.
Yeah, I don't know. What are some lessons you've
learned from travelling that have influenced your personal
(01:00:09):
and professional life? I'd say organization and
independence for sure in regardsto like my professional life,
you really want to be organized when you travel.
Like you might not always have aplan on what you want to do next
(01:00:31):
when you travel, but you need toget from point A to point B
somehow. But whether that be like transit
or actually booking the flights,all of that stuff.
When we went to Finland, I booked our first hotel, I booked
an Airbnb, and then that Airbnb ended up being really not great.
(01:00:51):
And so we had to leave that Airbnb and go to a different
hotel at like 1:00 AM in the morning.
And so I had to deal with getting a refund and all of
that. And so like that builds on to
like just like talking to peopleand like standing your ground
and like making sure that you can still get all of these
things in a country that's not your own.
(01:01:15):
So I'd say that like more professionally and just being
able to deal with situations. But personally, and just like
aside from the Taekwondo traveling that I've done, just
being able to take a step back and take a moment and take
everything and is like somethingthat I have taken away from
traveling that I think is so important.
(01:01:37):
When me and my family went to Italy, my favorite place that we
went to was Sink Tear. And my favorite memories from
that was just like Cliff jumpingor sitting in the water or
sitting watching the sunset witha Gelato.
And just like taking in the culture, taking in the people,
the view, everything. Like Saint Terra I think was the
(01:01:58):
place where we actually took a step back and like relaxed a
little bit more because every other place we were like go, go,
go. And I like, I love that.
Like I will probably never stop doing that.
But I also just think it's really important to actually
take in what you're doing and like, relax, you don't always
have to be on the move. When we were in Rome, we were
always on the move and all I wanted to do at one point was
(01:02:22):
just in the cafe and like, look out onto the Roman Colosseum
because it's just like right there in the middle and you.
Need to bring that back. Yeah, that's what I'm.
Saying but I think with a lot, alot of people don't get about
travelling for people that don'tplan it out themselves, it's
(01:02:43):
very stressful and for. Sure, like.
Sure. You see the pictures, right?
It's all happy. A great deal of it is OK, is
this the right terminal? I'm at the wrong terminal.
I got I got 30 minutes. I'm going to miss it.
OK, which where is this You're Idon't know if you're for the
average person to save money, you can't be flying business
(01:03:04):
class. You can't be flying first class.
So the, the seats are cramped upon the way to the destination
and it's like you're it's a headache and like, you don't
know, is the food even right? Your circadian rhythms all
jumbled, like you need to stretch it.
What's that cramp right there? The people around you are in a
bad mood because they're also going through the wrong thing.
(01:03:26):
And the getting into fights is just increased because, yeah,
everybody's just really, really stressed out and not enough
sleep and they're sore. And but then it's taking that
moment once you're finally thereand they go, wow, look at that
(01:03:46):
Roman Colosseum. I wish they'd bring that back.
You know, like, like I've I've seen a bunch of movies on like
the the gladiators, one of my really good movie that I just
like wow. Like this is where Marcus
Aurelius, the 4th emperor of Rome, decided if the this
fighter would kill the other fighter fighter by either doing
(01:04:10):
this, this or that with their thumb.
It's like, and then you see thatthe why does it lean like that?
The Leaning Tower of Pisa. Yeah, yeah.
And it's just it all comes together.
Which is your favorite country just aside from all the
tournament to like to be in. If you could live in any
(01:04:30):
country, no money involved, justlive there.
Oh, I, I, honestly, I would put Italy pretty high on that list,
but I would probably say New Zealand.
I've never been, I really want to go a plane ticket there is
like $3000. So we'll not be going any time
(01:04:51):
soon. But it just looks so incredible.
I love the ocean. They have the mountains, they
have the volcanoes. It just like looks like such a
luscious, incredible place. They have a lot of, I hear a lot
of things about like skydiving and bungee jumping there, and
that's something that I really want to do as well.
And you also have to take into account if they have a Taekwondo
(01:05:12):
culture. Because that's what they do.
They do OK, there we go. I love the New Zealands.
So when we both in Germany and Finland, I met a bunch of New
Zealand athletes and they're they're just so awesome.
They're so cool. And they always come up and talk
to you too. They're so friendly.
It's just like, yeah, it's awesome.
(01:05:35):
That's, that's awesome. Well, it has been a pleasure
talking to you on the long term podcast, Annika Woodrow,
everyone. Is there any last words to the
listeners? Viewers who want to take up
Taekwondo or and are feeling lost, they want to give the art
(01:05:55):
a try. If you're feeling lost, keep
pushing. You got it.
If you want to try out Taekwondo, come to Kodiak.
We'd love to have you. I'd love to coach you #1 #1
Dojen and Edmonton or martial art club, actually.
Yeah, yeah. Yeah, and as always, to everyone
(01:06:19):
listening and watching, there isa place for you in this chaotic
world. Never lose hope, strengthen your
faith and keep it long term peace.
Hello You Beautiful people. Welcome back to the Long Term
Podcast. I'm your host Advan Villa.
Today we have Team Canada International Taekwondo
Federation athlete and University of Alberta
kinesiology student Annika Woodrow.
(00:21):
We will discuss Taekwondo in regards to weight cutting and
being a competitive athlete, time management in regards to
school, work, training and life balance and going on vacation.
(00:42):
Annika Woodrow is a phenomenal person, very hard worker.
I think she will go far in life and she has really mastered the
craft of time management and shecontinues to prove to the world
that she is very much capable. It's it is an amazing
conversation and I'm excited forall of you to you're everyone
(01:04):
welcome. Wow.
I cannot believe every time somebody new comes on, I'm like,
I'm still so baffled and like, wow, like, why do I deserve
this? Like why we're at episode 58.
Which is insane. Congratulations.
And each one takes me 68 hours. For everything that's crazy.
(01:27):
But this is worth it. And yeah, thank you so much for
coming on the Long Term Podcast.Annika Woodrow, everyone.
Thank you for having me. So can you tell me a little bit
about yourself? Yeah, so I am 23 years old
recently. I started Taekwondo back when I
(01:48):
was eight years old. So I've been doing Taekwondo for
about 15 years now. I'm going into my fifth year of
university, 4th of kinesiology, so I will be graduating this
year. That's super exciting.
I've been on Team Canada twice for Taekwondo, ITF Taekwondo,
(02:09):
and I've gone to Finland and Germany for that.
Aside from competing and training and everything, aside
from my busy schedule outside, when I have free time, I like to
go to the mountains. I like hiking, taking my dog
out. Benji.
Benji. So the the five tenants really
(02:30):
fascinate me. You've got the you've got
courtesy, integrity, perseverance, self-control and
the indomitable spirit. Now, of those five, which one do
you think is the most important?To me or in general both OK.
(02:55):
I think in domino spirit is my personal one that's the most
important on like a Taekwondo scale.
I would say self-control probably is in domino spirit.
Just like being strong in mind, I think is just something that
you really need to take with youthroughout your entire life, not
(03:19):
just in Taekwondo. Like being able to tell yourself
that you can do these things andthen helping other people and
doing all of this. But then self, the self-control
aspect is just like being able to control your emotions but
also control your techniques. Like in a sparring sense, you
don't always want to go for likethe knockout, you know, get
(03:39):
disqualified. Yeah, I think being able to hold
off a little bit for the perfectopportunity to come up instead
of just go, giving it in your emotions and going through with
that move instead of just planning and that patience.
Certainly self-control is imperative if you want to win a
match or even extend that to life.
(04:02):
Maybe you should like you shouldn't eat that because later
on that's going to affect you and that indomitable spirit.
It's like things are going to happen in life and you really
need to have that mental grits in that soul from within to
really drive you to keep going. And you have to like, I'm
(04:24):
thinking of like those really tough days where you just have
to like clench your teeth and get through power through.
And that's it's, it's really beautiful when it all comes
together. So with Taekwondo, how do you
approach weight cutting in a waythat maintains your health and
(04:44):
performance? So I've been doing weight cuts
ever since I was 16 years old, so quite some time I've
developed a little bit of a curated program for myself.
That being said, it is an ongoing process as I develop my
athletic career and like I go tothe gym more so it's like
(05:07):
developing things that work for me.
And before I like get into like kind of what I do, weight
cutting is by no means healthy like at all.
That's just it's not sustainable.
It's not really good for your body 'cause you're really
putting in a place where it shouldn't be.
But it's part of my sport. It's what I do.
(05:27):
So what I do is 2 months out, I start thinking about cutting
weight. And this can entail just like
training a little bit more or just like getting onto the
trajectory of eating a lot healthier.
But then one month out, that's when I actually start my cut.
So the first week, the only amount of carbs that I really
(05:49):
allow myself is a little bit of rice.
The second week, the only carb that I'll have is like a plain
rice cake if I'm, you know, OK for weight at that point.
And then two weeks out, no more carbs.
So it's just like a very high fibers, so lots of veggies and a
protein diet. The two main things with cutting
(06:10):
weight is just like you're on a calorie deficit, but then you're
also increasing your training soyou want to lose that weight.
Another big thing with cutting weight is just like the mindset,
you have to like have the willpower to do it because it's
a very hard thing. For the performance aspect of
(06:32):
it. I think it's really important
like when you plan to have your meals.
So I when I go to the gym or I plan on doing weight training
that day, I'll have I'll do it in the morning and I'll do it
after a breakfast and then I'll do it in a way so that I can
have lunch after, so I can refuel properly.
(06:52):
That's somewhat after weight training and then before my
Taekwondo training, I will have like a little bit of a bigger
meal because I typically burn like at least 500 calories at
those training sessions. So you want to have more
sustenance because I typically don't eat after the Taekwondo
(07:13):
training session because you need to lose the weight, right?
So it's just like that balance of figuring out when you want to
eat your meals, so you can kind of have fuel for your workouts,
but also slightly refuel after. And then another big aspect of
it is just like consistently staying hydrated up until the
(07:37):
point where you might potentially have to do a water
cut, which is not fun at all. It's like like a condensed one.
It would be like 8 liters, 6 liters, 4 liters, 2 liters,
nothing. It's not super fun, but.
And you definitely need to access your indomitable spirit
for that endeavor. Hey, because you said a month or
(08:00):
two in advance, you plan it out.And you need to ensure that when
you do show up for the training regiment, you need to section
off this portion of the meal to be able to coincide with the
training. Because if you have it too
early, then you're going to be feeling hungry during the
training. If you have it too late, then
it's going to be too close to bedtime and you're going to have
(08:22):
absolutely no energy when it comes to the training.
Now, there is a lot of like mental fog when it when that
happens, Hey, and like as you said, it isn't the healthiest
thing. I think the like for the average
person, that's just for a personthat wants to lose weight,
definitely like and they're already healthy.
(08:46):
It's just unimaginable. But to be able to get the, the
weight to hit your weight class,you need to make some
sacrifices. And that's creating a plan, a
strategy to be able to get from point A to point B.
And that's just, there's so muchto that, Hey.
And I'm sure it's given you since what, 16 you've been,
(09:09):
you've been planning the OR you've been engaging in weight
cutting. But yeah, I, I think even in
bodybuilding, a lot of bodybuilders do it.
And while you see that, oh, thisis like the bygone kind of
premise of bodybuilding is to behealthy and you see all these
people that do look great. And then even with fighting with
(09:31):
Taekwondo and the different fighting classes, there is that
downside. Hey, where you have to to you
have to follow the rules. And I think that's, you know,
not everything is going to be perfect.
But yeah. What does a typical training
look like for you when preparingfor a competition?
(09:53):
When preparing for a competition, I like to train
weights at least two to three times a week.
And then I like to add in like aplyometric training as well.
So a lot of like bouncy, hoppy stuff cause Taekwondo is a
really big like leg power sport.So that's a really important
aspect. And that can be added into like
one of the weight training days that I do.
(10:14):
So if I hit legs, say I can do plyometrics that day as well or
add some into that as well. And then I'll do three to four
Taekwondo training sessions a week.
And then I like to also add a little bit more cardio on top of
that. That's not Taekwondo.
And my go to is running. So I'll either do like a long
distance run or sprints, 'cause you for sparring you do need
(10:39):
really good cardio. So that's like typically what I
do. And then coming run a marathon.
Do I want to? Absolutely, yeah.
Sign up It's August. I don't know if I'm prepared for
August. No, we'll go on with this thing.
Yeah, go on. Yeah.
(10:59):
And then like one to two weeks out from competition, I like to
pull back a little bit just so Ihave that a little bit of like
tapering period so I can recovermy body in like the peak for
competition. I also you also want to rest
your body a little bit prior to going into competition if you do
like such heavy training before that injuries come up, you know
(11:23):
so. You had mentioned that you are
aversive to rest days. Why?
I just like, really suck at giving them to myself honestly
is the real answer. You feel guilty, Sorry.
You feel guilty. Kind of, yeah.
(11:44):
I feel like I'm, I'm just like, I always want to be moving and
doing things. And so if I don't do something
it I just feel not fulfilled in some way.
I'm trying to be better with that.
And just like even like an active rest day.
So just like a walk out is fine.I'm starting to like make myself
(12:06):
think that that's OK, but whenever I like don't do
something like that burns a lot more calories than I'm just
like, you know. I feel that whenever I'm just
having a rest day and I typically I don't fuck with rest
days. I really I don't.
It's always something you can do, whether it be stretching,
(12:27):
whether it be like mindfulness, like there's something you can
do for the body, for the mind Now, like when people say rest
day, I just think like sitting around watching movies doing
nothing. But there's, I'm sure your rest
days are actually still getting you closer to the goal.
Hey, you're not just laying there.
Totally. And I think that's where I need
(12:47):
to like kind of switch. My mindset is like, this is
actually helping me more than it's like doing any harm.
But it's just like a hard thing to just like, stop for a second.
Well, that's kind of the pitfallwith high achievers such as
yourself, Hayes. You're so used to this high
demand, high chaotic kind of environment.
(13:12):
But as soon as you give yourselfsome time to relax, it's like
you're not in that hyper state and then your your body looks
for it. It's like, what's going on?
Am I supposed to just relax? And then I guess that's what in
even Taekwondo, that's what theyteach you too, that self-control
aspect, right? Which is something we all could
work on. But So what do you do to relax
(13:35):
yourself? Because you're a person that is
involved in weight cutting, which is just a long process.
And there's so many things that you need to be able to master, a
lot of self-control, a lot of strategy, a lot of different
techniques that works for you. And it has been evidence with
the achievements that you have accomplished.
(13:55):
Now, on the days where you need to rest and you need to be able
to kind of zoom out, what do youdo?
Great. Question I in the grand scheme
(14:19):
of things, let's say I have likeI don't have work that let's say
it's like a full, a full rest day.
I don't have any trainings that I have to attend.
I don't have work. I don't have school when I'm in
school, let's say. So like let's say a Sunday, I
would sleep in and make myself like a nice breakfast.
(14:44):
If it's summer, I'll eat it outside, take my dog for a walk.
And then because I'm just like always constantly going
sometimes like my, it feels likemy life just kind of gets messy
and I like set some other thingsto the side that I don't
necessarily have time for like at home.
(15:05):
So that could be like actually cleaning a little bit more and
then taking time to do those things instead.
And then although that might notreally seem like rest, it's
doing things that needed to get done that I didn't have as a
priority before. So I'm like, I'm still doing
things. And then the walk with my dog is
like the act of rest part of my physical activities like aspect.
(15:28):
That's great. That's a lovely response.
That's great. You're gonna need to give
yourself some some more grace. You know, you just and I I think
you'll go far. I just, I just, I just know it
and definitely I think the thingthat high achievers need to work
on is just giving yourself that rest day and not making sure
(15:49):
that progress isn't always the priority because that there is
progress and peace. Now you know, where do you draw
the line? Can you share some of the
biggest challenges you've faced as a competitive Taekwondo
athlete and how you overcame them?
I'd say there's three big ones. So injuries for sure is one of
(16:12):
them, time management and then just like overcoming losses.
So to touch on injuries, like a lot of my injuries are just
chronic ones. I've had a couple concussions in
my life and so most recently theconcussion that I had obviously
(16:32):
can't really train too much after that and I was training to
go to Finland after that one. So I had to take a step back for
like 2 weeks from my training just so I wasn't dizzy when I
would try and do a kick. So that is definitely a
challenge when you have to pull back and injuries like that.
(16:54):
But my most common injury is theone in my right hip.
It's pretty chronic. I'm convinced I have a labral
tear. Still have yet to check it out
'cause I don't know if I get that checked out.
I know, I really. I'm in kinesiology and I'm not
even seeing a physio. You know, I should really take
some advice that I'm learning. But yeah, it's just like it's
(17:19):
hard being a person. I like enjoy sparring so much.
And then when I go to do a high kick, let's say, it like feels
like my hip is ripping off, likeit just hurts so bad.
And then at that point, I just like, I really need to use
(17:40):
self-control and focus on maybe punching more or shifting my
focus to like boxing drills moreand take a rest from my legs and
give them that chance to like have that little bit of
recovery. And then also doing things such
as like strengthening in the hipfor the muscles and the tissues
and foam rolling and stuff like that, or switching more of like
(18:04):
a sparring focus to do more patterns.
So it's like not as taxing for my hips.
The time management is definitely like a balance
between my training schedule, work, school life, you know,
because I'd like to have a social life too.
(18:24):
So just like balancing all of those things and making sure I
prioritize where I want to spendmy time, which I think I've been
able to develop. But it definitely was hard to
find that program because quite honestly, like my parents are
like, we never see you anymore. So like out of seven days a
(18:46):
week, I'm probably home aside from sleeping like 24 hours.
So that's that. I feel that, yeah.
It's crazy. And then overcoming losses.
So the big thing with that is just like not stopping after
(19:08):
like the nobody likes losing nobody.
I'm sorry, nobody likes losing, right?
No one likes losing. Yeah.
So I think the big thing with that is like taking it as a
learning experience, which I think is really important.
And one of the things that you can do like if you compete on a
on a world level day, like live stream it so you can go back and
(19:29):
watch, which watching yourself is super painful sometimes, but
you watch it and you study it and you're like, why didn't I do
this here? But then you grow from it.
You're like, OK, I did that thistime.
That was OK, but I'm going to doAB and C next time.
I want to train like this, to dothis and just like not stopping
(19:50):
I think is the biggest thing. If you lose after a competition,
some people take that a little bit too much to heart.
And like, I get it, Like losing sucks, let's put it bluntly.
Like it's not enjoyable by any means.
But I think overcoming that and be able to bounce back and learn
from it and be a better athlete or person after it is just like
(20:14):
so important. I think losing is something we
all need to be able to absorb properly because if a person
loses and they just call themselves a piece of shit and
then they look in the mirror andthey go, I'll never amount to
anything for the next time. Of course you're going to lose.
(20:36):
I mean, you're going into the battle with a losing mentality,
but if you it's recorded, you goback into the replays and you
see what went wrong. OK, maybe that kick wasn't high
enough. Oh, my defense wasn't as good.
I didn't react in time. Maybe my reaction time isn't as
up to date with how I couldn't could have been.
(21:00):
Maybe that person was it becauseI was too anxious?
There's all these different variables that you could
improve. If you're just focused on the
loss itself. Sure.
Yeah. Like it sucks you lost, it's a
failure and people are very aversive to failures.
But if you come away from that match and you go, OK, I could
(21:22):
have maybe outside of the match,you could have had a better
diet, maybe you got 7 hours of sleep.
You could have gotten AIDS. Was it that talk?
Were you just having a fight with your boyfriend, girlfriend?
Was it was it that were you not calm with that technique?
Did you have enough self-controlto be able to maneuver that four
step combination that you were practicing for 24 hours, right?
(21:47):
There's always something that wecan improve on.
And if you take that loss and ifyou do not do anything about it,
if you don't take that as a learning lesson and you just
quit, you'll never see the full Annika Woodrow, right?
You'll never see that best version of yourself.
Because I think constantly you look at yourself back a year
(22:09):
ago, you just go, whoa, I was sonaive.
And then if you had quit that time, you lost that time, it's
like then you wouldn't be who you are today to see it through
the end. And that's why I tell people
like, OK, you got a bad grade. OK, You sure this shit life
happened? OK, It's happened to everyone.
(22:31):
There's somebody in that same situation as you, maybe
different name, different kind of environments, different
timeline maybe, but they're feeling the same, the same
emotions as you. Now, either they quit or they
didn't. But the person that didn't quit
saw it through the end, reveled in glory, right?
(22:58):
So with Taekwondo, how has it influenced your personal life?
Like what kind of values do you take away from it?
And you apply into, you know, a Monday morning and you're at
(23:18):
your job or, you know, if you'restudying for school or maybe you
get in a fight with a friend or family member or you know,
you're just doing some self work.
How does that how does Taekwondoinfluence that side?
I think just like everything I've learnt through Taekwondo
has just honestly helped me control myself more and be a
(23:42):
better person. Taekwondo is obviously a martial
art. Martial art is like a military
art. So you're taught discipline and
with that, I think you really learn how to control your
emotions and how to speak. I, I teach kids, right?
(24:02):
And so you learn how to also find different methods on like
how to talk to different people and like what works with them.
It also like really adds an element of confidence too.
So I think doing a martial art and like Taekwondo specifically,
(24:27):
and growing up with the people that I grew up with, like I've
had my coach since I was eight years old, like he is a huge
part of my life. And I am so thankful for that.
And I'm so thankful that I have a person like that in my life.
And just like all the other people that I have grown up with
(24:48):
in Taekwondo, just like I've grown with them.
And so you have all of these different things adding to your
confidence, which is like a hugepart of how you approach things
and life, I think. So being being able also to take
criticism, I think is a big thing too.
How it has like affected just who I am as a person.
(25:13):
Criticism in a way of like constructiveness on how to be
better in a sport. But then it all just like all
the life lessons as well. And then being able to move on,
like move forward and grow with it as well, like.
Yeah, yeah, you gain confidence because you have succeeded in
(25:33):
this facet. You've made a a great bonding
experience and you know this this role model of yours, you're
would it be called a coach? Yeah, coach.
OK, your coach since you were eight, you they've you've gone
through so much. You've experienced failure,
(25:53):
you've experienced doubt, guilt,shame, and you on the other
side, you've also experienced the triumph, the the victory,
that bliss, that cloud 9 of mastering that kick.
Now, is there a particular move that you have that you're proud
of, that you've put in so much effort in and you finally came
(26:17):
to fruition? Yeah, I definitely, if you ask
me like a year or two ago, I probably would have given it to
my higher kicks, but I definitely think I would say a
sidekick. So just like drilling someone
mid abdomen with your heel sidekick is probably one of my
(26:42):
go to moves that people are likeYep that was a good one.
If you hit an average human being with this move in the
head, would they die? I hope not.
No, No. Probably knock them out pretty
(27:03):
good though. Yeah, yeah.
What's that like knocking peopleout?
I actually never have knocked anyone out, but I've made people
throw up before. Oh, OK.
I think that's even better. I it's a little fun.
That's a little bit of spice. I've heard I've been listening
to a lot of like UFC fighters and just like the way they talk
(27:23):
about like fighting. It's, it's like an art form,
hey. Totally.
Because like you leading up to it, there's so much effort for
the weight cutting, for the countless nights and days you're
mastering the craft, you're looking at videos, you're
talking to people, you're makingsure that you're getting
(27:45):
adequate sleep. And it's then it all comes
together. And that's why the loss is so
heavy, because you've put in an enormous amount of effort.
And when it doesn't go through, it's like, OK, like I've
literally put in four months of my life for a year.
(28:06):
For a lot of people, maybe it took them three years to be able
to have the courage to join the competition and then you lose.
Yeah. But is there can you tell me
about kind of the the mindset going into a fight now?
Like I've seen some UFC fights and there's some guys that are
(28:29):
like looking like they want to fucking kill the other guy, like
looking like absolute just it's from a scene of out of a horror
movie. But then there are also guys
that are and girls that are thatgo in there in a fight with Zen
and they just are meticulous with their moves.
No, How does that work like withwith you?
(28:52):
How do you approach entering a fight?
I really think it depends on theperson, so me personally, if I
have the time I will put my headphones in and I'll play my
fight playlist to like really get in the zone and get focused
for that match. I don't particularly love
(29:17):
talking to a bunch of people before I before I fight because
I like to stay in the zone and focus on what I'm about to do.
That being said, the one person that I like like talking to
before my my fight is my coach. So he'll give me advice on,
like, what he thinks I should doin this next match and I'll try
(29:39):
it out or something along that line or he'll like, be calming
me down or something. But yeah, for me, it's just
like, I like to be in the momentand I kind of just like, turn
off everything outside of that. And then when I'm in the rain,
the only other voice that I can hear is my coach yelling at me,
(30:01):
like, or not yelling, but like telling me to do different
combos or try a different technique.
Everything else, like if there'speople cheering, if there's
anything like I don't hear it, Ihear my coach.
And that's it, because I'm just like in the moment, focusing on
the match. That's that's beautiful.
I'm like, and then all comes together and then that.
(30:24):
Can you describe the feeling of victory?
Because I've never I've never been in a fight.
Like I like to talk, like I liketo talk a lot of shit, but, and
I run my mouth but don't fight me, don't fight me.
I, I that's why I talk. I'm, I'm getting connections
right now, so hopefully somebodycan defend me because I'm a
pussy, you know. Can you tell me what the feeling
(30:49):
of victory is like? So I feel like everyone has like
a top three favorite feelings inthe world, right?
One of mine is when the match isover and the center ref grabs
the two people's gloves and theystep back and they raise your
arm. Best feeling ever because it's
(31:11):
just like it's for a black belt competition.
It's 22 minute rounds of sparring with A1 minute break in
between. So the first round you usually
like feel the person out a little bit more than you have
that break. And then the second round you do
a little bit more, you got a little bit more spice into it
and it's just like having your glove raised is just like you
(31:35):
did it, like you trained for this.
You put in all that hard work, you took that kick, but then you
got back your points. You fucked that guy up.
Yeah, you're like I, I, I did that.
I won. And so it's just rewarding, I
guess. I'm really, I've been really
(31:56):
pondering and like kind of the the struggle.
That's why I like to I like to suffer, you know, like it's just
because you suffer, suffer, suffer, struggle, struggle,
struggle, the longer it takes. And then as soon as it all comes
together, as soon as you land that move that just establishes
your triumph, just cloud nine. Hey, and you're in this like
(32:21):
there's this clip of, you know, Adesanya, the UFC guy, and after
a win, he's just super ecstatic.He takes the he asked the
interviewer or interview the person holding the mic if he
could take the mic and he goes people of earth, if you could
just experience what I'm feelingonce in your life, you know,
(32:42):
this is amazing. This is great.
And I see that with, like, I seethe videos of like, these UFC
fighters, these martial artists,these like Taekwondo fighters,
that victory, right? It's just somebody's holding
your hand, arm up, and you're just reveling in a glory because
everything came, came together. Nothing worth having comes easy.
(33:07):
And you just revel in that gloryand just soak it up.
And then it's down for the next one.
Yeah. Because it's so addicting.
It. Is yeah, yeah, it's, it's truly
remarkable kind of how that thathappens to be.
I wish people only knew what that feeling was like, Hey,
because I feel like a lot of people do not know like, like
(33:31):
the sacrifices that you've made,like not showing up to that
party, like not engaging in thatactivity where you want, you
want to. Don't get me wrong.
Like a lot of people ask me like, hey, you should come out
this time. You should do this.
But then it's like, no, no, no, I got to, I got to do this.
Yeah, I got to do this thing. That'll because I'm like
(33:53):
charging up for that moment of just euphoria.
Totally. Does that make sense?
Oh absolutely. When I was training for Finland,
so this like last year I didn't drink any alcohol from like
February up until competition. So the entire summer when people
usually like let loose a little bit more, I was my friends DD.
(34:15):
Like I would still go and do things, but I wasn't and you
don't need to drink to have fun.But it's just like it was so
much discipline and saying no toso many things.
Look at. That board day four, that's
awesome. No, it's you get judged.
I get really judged. I don't know why though.
(34:38):
Well, it's one of those things where people think you have a
problem if you don't engage in it like they think.
Like I've have never had a problem with alcohol.
I just think if I'm going to be great, I can't have that my
system. But yeah, go on with your.
No, I just like, I think it's more rewarding like after the
fact too, because the thing withWorld Championships too is like
(34:59):
you have all of these like multiworld championship athletes who
like train for years for that moment and then they get that
title and then at the after party that's when they finally
let loose. So it's just like all the
training and the hard work, likeit pays off so.
Like I'm always looking for how can I get that edge?
(35:22):
Like I'm, I don't know if this is just wishful thinking, but I
believe I can do it. I'm going to run 1000 kilometers
in a row. Like I just, I just know I can
do it in a row, Dad, just non-stop.
I guess I can stop meals here and there and then do it.
Maybe do it for charity, but just that I just I feel like I
could like, and how do we get that edge?
(35:45):
OK, it's not smoking weed, it's not vaping, it's not drinking
alcohol. It's making sure I get my sleep.
It's making sure I'm dialed in. And I want to be the greatest
podcaster this world's ever seen.
And you know, I used to experience like so much doubt,
like like Joe Rogan's already sofar up there.
Like you got this. This person's already making so
(36:06):
much money. And recently I just went, wait,
what the fuck? Like these guys started
somewhere and I'm still fairly young.
I could be them. What did they do?
And so every day I'm listening to four hours of podcasts every
day while I'm at the gym, while I'm driving to work, before bed,
(36:28):
just constant grind, crafting the, the, the script, making
sure, OK, what am I missing? And on top of that, even on
runs, I'm listening to podcasts,music sometimes, you know, as a
reward. But it's just how can I get that
edge right? Just chasing that because I want
to. I really want to leave my mark
on this world. And I'm sure you're the same.
You want to be the world champion for sparring.
(36:51):
Yeah. And that's just, yeah.
Like, how do it like with abstaining from alcohol, it's
like that's that edge right there.
Because a person like this is going back to kind of the the
fighting and like the losing taken in that loss.
OK, maybe you drank too much alcohol the the weekend before.
That's a factor. Maybe that fight with your
(37:11):
mother who you've been disrespecting for three weeks, I
got to solve that. Like if I had relationships,
friendships that were toxic, that I didn't resolve, that's a
factor. On to why I can't present myself
the best on to the spawn cast. There's always something.
Totally. Yeah, yeah, but did you get a
lot of judgement for not drinking alcohol?
(37:32):
No, I think more so it's just like the peer pressure of
anything. People are like oh like what's 1
drink? And I'm like no.
One drink is everything. Yeah, I'm like I'm, I'm good.
Like it's OK. Yeah, yeah.
That's. Would you say Taekwondo is your
life? Absolutely.
Yeah. Yeah.
What do you think life would be without it?
(37:54):
Really boring to be honest. I'm sure you'd probably find a
different arting or art style. I feel like I didn't get into
Taekwondo. I probably would have ended up
in some sort of martial art. But yeah, I'm just like so
grateful that I'm, I do Taekwondo and I'm at the club
that I'm at, like my club KodiakTaekwondo.
We just got named like the number one club in Edmonton
(38:17):
martial arts, which is awesome and crazy.
You're a part of that. Yeah, for sure.
And it's just like my, my coach,Mr. Homewood, he's always
working to do better things for our club and like make us grow.
And I just think that's so admirable as well.
(38:37):
And people like throughout Canada, they're like, why is
Kodiak always winning? And I'm like, well, it's because
we put in the work. You would get that edge.
We're doing something different.Like why?
There is a reason. Like there's no coincidence.
Like what? We just got lucky.
We we won that because we got lucky.
No, no, no sweat, Blood, tears, late nights, early mornings,
(39:01):
never stopping, always masteringthe craft.
Yeah. Yeah.
Is it OK if we take a little break?
Yeah, absolutely. What I always tell people is
like, try not, don't, don't namedrop people, OK?
Like, and also make sure that what you say on this podcast,
you're not going to regret 10 years later when you're trying
(39:23):
to get a job and there's clips of you.
That's what I always tell peoplebecause some people have like my
way to post this and they're like, yeah, sure, I'm like, you
sure you're like. You positive?
Yeah, OK. So, time management in regards
to school, work, training and life.
(39:43):
How do you balance the demands of your kinesiology studies with
your training and competition schedule?
Right. So I think I've curated a little
bit of a, a plan and the schedule and like how I go about
things probably since like 2021 is when I think I got like
better at it. So I teach kids Taekwondo, I
(40:09):
teach the four to seven-year olds, and that starts at 4:30.
Or I leave my house at 4:30. Class starts at 5:30.
Sorry I've. Got a that young?
Yeah. I've got a six year old brother
and he's like, I don't know. I think he's like a little bit
of a nerd. Like I, I need to.
I think he should join. Yeah, I think he.
Should go is it how much is it? 100 hundred bucks?
(40:34):
Yeah, like that's with the outfit and everything.
Wow. He got a.
Little bag and a water bottle. He got some stickers.
Yeah, might, might just Chuck them in there.
Yeah, You should know him a little bit of well, make sure
like whoop his ass. He talks a lot.
He talks a lot of shit. Like for for a six year old,
he's the only one that could talk shit like that to me.
(40:56):
Really got to put him in his place.
Yeah, put him in his place and tell, tell him like it's from
Advent. But yeah.
So you teach four to seven-year old like the different
techniques. Yeah, just like beginner intro
stuff. And so that's at about like 5:30
(41:17):
to 6:00 and then my black belt class starts at 7:30.
So between then when I'm in school is when I study.
And then that's every Tuesday, Thursday, Wednesdays I have
sparring class at in the evening.
So between when I get home from school, depending on how much
time I have or like eat, study, do everything I need to do, and
(41:40):
some weeks are heavier than other, it kind of just depends
on like where my assignments areat midterms, finals, stuff like
that. But for the competition schedule
itself, sometimes I just hope that the competition doesn't end
on like a weekend and where I have a midterm on Monday, which
(42:00):
sometimes it does and that's fine.
It's just on. If it's like a road trip, I'll
be studying in the car. I did that this past Westerns
travelling to Regina. I had two papers that I had to
work on. One of them was due on Monday
and then it was just like a group deadline to have a section
of the paper due on Monday. So in the car I'm like doing
research, typing out some papers, doing stuff like that,
(42:23):
just to make sure I can do all these things.
Ultimately it comes down to justlike prioritizing.
You're going to make time for what you want to do and where
you want to go. So this year specifically, I
think is going to be a new challenge for me.
I am going to take it head on and make everything work at the
(42:48):
way I want to. I'm going to Argentina for the
World Cup for Taekwondo at the end of October.
So I needed to take two weeks off of my practicum and they
allowed me to do that. I make sure everything was OK.
It's kind of going into the likethe slower season for the team
that I got. I'm with the varsity rugby team
with EU of A and then a couple weekends later it's like Western
(43:10):
championships and you need to gofor go to that one.
I'm pretty sure as well to get seating points to maybe get on
Team Canada for Croatia at the following year.
So it's just like balancing school and talking to your
professors and then making sure that in your time away you're
also just like making sure you can still consider doing some
(43:34):
school even though it's hard. When I was in Finland for World
Championships, that was like thebeginning of school time.
So I missed the first two weeks of classes.
Thankfully, I didn't miss like acrazy amount because it was just
like a bunch of review stuff. But I opened up my E Class when
I was in Finland thinking like, oh, like I'm going to look at
(43:56):
this. It was like the first week of
one of my classes was a like a review stats and I was like, no
thanks. So I just like kind of focused
on the competition more. But yeah, I was just like
prioritizing. If there is a will, there's a
way. Exactly.
(44:17):
I think a lot of people don't give enough credit to the amount
of work that they're capable of.Here you are.
You're going on these tournaments in in a different
country, still in university andstill accomplishing the showing
(44:42):
up to the tournament and giving your best.
And then on top of this, there'sthe studying aspect.
And I know this first hand to where I had gone on vacation and
missed 3 1/2 weeks of school like and still I wanted to
prepare our podcasts prior to that.
So the week before I did like 6 podcasts in a row and section
(45:05):
them off to be released at a particular date.
And on top of that, there's school, you know, still full
course load. It's heavy.
Absolutely. But hey, how are diamonds
formed, right? Yeah.
It just ultimately comes down tolike how much you're willing to
sacrifice and do so you can do these things right, So.
And at the end of the day, if you didn't make it, you took on
(45:28):
all these things and you gave ityour best.
Because then there there's also taking them all on and then
failing at every single one, right?
You need to be able to be realistic with what you can take
on totally. Like maybe you need to cut down
a little bit of the course load,maybe the training.
You need to ease up on it and focus on certain things.
(45:50):
There's different strategies foreveryone, because I know people
that are ultra like card focused, like they'd section
their days off to AT and just they're driven and they succeed
in every single endeavour. But then there's also people
that just focus on one aspect and there they got four point OS
and they're just on track to working for like Amazon, Google.
(46:13):
Shout out to David Purdell. That guy's, that guy's like,
really, I ran into. Him at the grocery store the
other day, yeah. I really want him on like he's
going to come on in this podcast.
I just wondered, make sure what makes him tick.
But yeah, it's yeah, computer science.
I I don't get it. But it's just What strategies do
(46:36):
you use to stay organized and manage your time effectively?
Honestly, just like knowing my schedule.
So with the job that I have right now, I'm a bartender, it's
a very like week by week schedule.
So week by week I figure out kind of like where I can put my
time and where I will do like certain things.
(46:59):
So when I'm in school, obviouslyI'm not working five days a
week, I'm working one to two. So when I'm in school, it's
usually the weekends that I havework and then school five days a
week, training Tuesday, Thursdayevenings, hopefully Wednesdays
and then weight training maybe like before school.
(47:21):
So I'll wake up that extra time earlier or like after work.
So in the summer I don't have school.
So it'll be I either work out before work or after work or I
don't have to worry about it because I have the day off.
But ultimately it's just like I get my schedule.
I look at the week at the start and I'm like, OK, I can do this,
(47:43):
this day, this, this day at thistime and kind of sort it out
that way. So actually like being able to
plan at the beginning of the week or whenever you got your
schedule really helps me with mytime management.
And I guess that's kind of just how I conquer that as a whole.
Yeah, you already know your schedule three days before, four
(48:03):
days a week in advance, say and you said it's two sectioned off
the bartending schedule and two weeks prior.
Yeah, it's like two to three weeks in advance we get our
schedule. And then you can just block that
off. And then the exams, you already
have that in place, the trainingand it all just falls into place
and it's like clockwork. But yeah, I think scheduling is
(48:23):
just so imperative if you want to be able to not feel lost
because organization, right? Ensuring that your values, your
actions align with your values. And OK, OK, what does this mean?
It means that, OK, I I need to make money.
I also need to train. I need to study.
OK, which time of the month is it?
(48:46):
January. OK, Feb, March.
There's school. But then what about when you're
off school? You need to fill that time.
You want to feel closer to your family, your friends.
OK, give more time with them. You want to get better at
Taekwondo. Master this move section off for
time for there every day. There's always something right
to get closer to the best possible version that you can
(49:09):
be. How do you ensure you have time
for rest and recovery? I missed your busy schedule.
I think it comes down to like, even if I don't have a full rest
day of like everything off, I still need to set aside like at
(49:30):
least an hour just to like, you know, an actual like rest and
recovery day. Like we kind of touched on
earlier. It's just like really hard for
me just because I like to alwaysbe busy.
And I with such a busy schedule,it seems rare that I even get
one sometimes. And my parents are always like,
(49:53):
are you ever going to be home? Like, can you take a rest day,
like just chill out for a littlebit?
And I'm like, like, I'm fine. But I think the hardest part
about it and it's just like it will continue to be a work in
progress for me because realistically with everything
that I, I do and I like to do it, I like to be busy.
I like to have all of these things, but I could hit burnout
(50:15):
at any point. And so I think penciling in that
time to actually have the rest and recovery that I need and
just like relax and take time for myself, rest my body, rest
my mind, I need to get better AT.
And so a day that I'm not necessarily training as heavy.
(50:38):
So usually like on a weekend, solike Sunday, Monday, I feel like
are the two days where I have like the least amount of things
going on. So those are the days where I
typically like take more time for myself.
You mentioned burnout, Mm Hmm. Do you have it?
Absolutely. Yeah.
(50:59):
Burnout is definitely a thing that I have struggled with and
it usually hits November ish forsure which is like midterm
season and then February as well.
I feel like those are two commonmonths for everyone where you're
(51:20):
just like peak stress, like getting cold.
It's not the greatest vibes out and it's just like, it's hard,
but I'm like continually going like 12 months out of the year.
And then when more things additionally get added onto my
play, which typically typically happen around those two months,
(51:42):
it's just like I hit a point andit's just like art, you know?
It's harder to be motivated. It's harder to do these things.
I will still continue to do themand find a way but it's just
like it drags more. What's kind of the antidote for
you? Rest and recovery.
(52:03):
Because I, for me, I think when I do hit the burnouts and I
actually just hit one recently, I woke up looking at the
ceiling. I'm depleted of energy.
I don't want to podcast, I don'twant to run.
I don't even want to go outside.But I just get up and I just do
it anyways. And I think that action aspect,
(52:27):
I don't know if it's helpful formany people, but for me
personally, that's kind of like putting my body and mind into
OverDrive. Totally.
Yeah, like what's what's given me because then I just forget
about it and go, OK, anytime I get a burnout, I'll just hit a
10K really like and that seems to do the job.
(52:50):
Then I'm like, OK, now I want todo the podcast.
Now I want to read a book. Now I want to get after it does
that. Yeah, you do like you hit
burnout, but then you distract yourself from burnout, from
doing things and like maybe you pull back a little bit from
certain things. So you don't like go into a
depressive state. But I do think just like keeping
(53:12):
busy does help with that, as like contradictory as that kind
of sounds, but I do think it helps.
I also just like an escape to the mountains or like going to
BC during like a little baby, a little baby trip.
Nature is super helpful with that, you know.
There's a lot of studies where nature actually grounds you,
(53:33):
reduces the cortisol levels in your body, helps you feel more
connected, reduces all depression, depressive symptoms.
And yeah, I think that's a little bit of like Full
disclosure, like for me, I do not recommend anyone do that
what I do because I don't, I certainly don't think that is
healthy because you need to. I think what I'd recommend to
(53:55):
people though is like mindfulness meditation, like
focusing on your breath and likereally talking to people like
socialization and then, yeah, going to the mountains.
And because we live in a very like that, a hustle culture,
that's the price we have to pay.You had mentioned going to the
(54:15):
mountains. Let's talk about travelling.
What has been your most memorable travel experience
related to your Taekwondo career?
I feel like there's so many to pull from and pick from, but my
first World Championships in Germany definitely was an
(54:37):
incredible experience. So we went to this little town
called Rupholdain, and I like tosay it's like the little Jasper
of Germany, except way less tourist.
What? Is the town called?
Rupholdain. Rup, Yeah, OK.
Yeah, no. Gorgeous little town.
That's where Team Canada stayed.It was great.
(54:58):
And then the actual competition itself was in Insel, which was
like a 45 minute bus ride away, but you were in the mountains.
It was so peaceful. It was a nice place to stay in
that wasn't like super busy and it was away.
So you kind of get like that relaxing aspect as well.
(55:21):
I can't, I really can't complainabout any of the places that
I've been to for Taekwondo. I'm so grateful and like that I
had that privilege to go. And so just like the experience
as a whole going, it was super incredible.
But the thing about travelling for Taekwondo as well is just
like it's strictly business until the competition is over,
right? So as much as like, yeah, you're
(55:43):
given like a little bit of time to go off and do your own thing.
And it's just like you're focusing on your training,
you're focusing on preparing forthe competition.
So you can be in the mindset andbe focused for the competition.
You, if you want to, you can take the time after and explore
once the competition is over. So there's that as well.
(56:06):
And I, I, I do like to take thatextra time after like going
you're, you're going to a different country, I'd like to
see a little bit of it. So taking that time after the
tournament is done and exploringa little bit is always super
special. You think you would have
developed this interest in traveling if it wasn't for
Taekwondo? Oh for sure, my family.
(56:27):
I have had the opportunity to goto a couple other places too
before traveling for Taekwondo. So before I went to Germany, I
was 17 for that one and before that, like me and my family, we
went to Sweden, Italy, Ireland, Mexico, couple places in the
States. So I wasn't new to travelling
before it, but it definitely hasbroadened the horizon and
(56:51):
opportunity to travel more for me, which is really incredible.
And that's, that's awesome that you, you guys established first
that, hey, would we go there? Different country.
The mind isn't to explore the country.
Well, that's something you want to do because even arriving
there, you drive into the place where you're staying at and
everything's so novel and everything's so special.
(57:11):
But then it's like, no, it's game time.
I need to be able to put my headdown and think about the fight.
Then after that's when you celebrate or grief because you
lost, right? But but still, how do you manage
to keep up with your training routine while travelling for
competitions? It depends on kind of like where
(57:34):
we're put at for an accommodation type thing.
So in Germany there's always forTeam Canada, there's always
scheduled training sessions. And so we do those.
Weight training is basically taken out of the equation when
you go. You don't really want to be
taxing your body that much, thatclose to competition anyway.
(57:54):
But in Germany, we did trainingson a field, which was super fun
and we trained as a team. Paddles and like Shields to hit
stuff with were brought and we would do that.
And then in Finland, both of theaccommodations that we stayed in
there were gyms. So that was super cool and we
got an opportunity to go there. But like me and my team, we
(58:19):
would run around the hotel, run stairs, practice patterns in a
field or parking lot, do do those types of things.
And then the Team Canada training in Finland, like they
set out this bunker for us and it was so cool.
It was just like this underground tunnel thing.
And then each country was allotted a time and there was
(58:43):
curtains and it was really hot and sweaty down there, but it
was so cool to train with your team and do all of that.
So there is time allotted to train, but it's just like you
also want to make sure you're not training on a super high
intense level because you don't want to get hurt or like
anything before you actually getonto the mats and compete.
(59:04):
That's fascinating in in the Bunker.
Hey, I can just picture how manyof you are there.
Oh gosh, I think this year therewas like 38 of us.
Oh, that's awesome. And it's like a whole party in
there. It's like, not only are you
getting better physically, but like you're getting connected
more and then you get to just, you know, just relax and then
(59:27):
just well, at the same time engage in good mental and
physical health recovery. I'm I'm sure you guys keep it
light because it's close to the competition.
And Oh yeah, and then Finland's a big sauna country.
So after the training you just hit the saunas asshole?
And relax, they love cold. They're cold showers there, too.
Yeah, yeah, yeah. I've been those, those Finland
(59:48):
guys, They they love just the cold and heat exposures.
They really do. Yeah.
Yeah. I always see those videos of Wim
Hof as well. He's a big, big guy into that.
I don't know how they can survive that long.
Yeah, I don't know. What are some lessons you've
learned from travelling that have influenced your personal
(01:00:09):
and professional life? I'd say organization and
independence for sure in regardsto like my professional life,
you really want to be organized when you travel.
Like you might not always have aplan on what you want to do next
(01:00:31):
when you travel, but you need toget from point A to point B
somehow. But whether that be like transit
or actually booking the flights,all of that stuff.
When we went to Finland, I booked our first hotel, I booked
an Airbnb, and then that Airbnb ended up being really not great.
(01:00:51):
And so we had to leave that Airbnb and go to a different
hotel at like 1:00 AM in the morning.
And so I had to deal with getting a refund and all of
that. And so like that builds on to
like just like talking to peopleand like standing your ground
and like making sure that you can still get all of these
things in a country that's not your own.
(01:01:15):
So I'd say that like more professionally and just being
able to deal with situations. But personally, and just like
aside from the Taekwondo traveling that I've done, just
being able to take a step back and take a moment and take
everything and is like somethingthat I have taken away from
traveling that I think is so important.
(01:01:37):
When me and my family went to Italy, my favorite place that we
went to was Sink Tear. And my favorite memories from
that was just like Cliff jumpingor sitting in the water or
sitting watching the sunset witha Gelato.
And just like taking in the culture, taking in the people,
the view, everything. Like Saint Terra I think was the
(01:01:58):
place where we actually took a step back and like relaxed a
little bit more because every other place we were like go, go,
go. And I like, I love that.
Like I will probably never stop doing that.
But I also just think it's really important to actually
take in what you're doing and like, relax, you don't always
have to be on the move. When we were in Rome, we were
always on the move and all I wanted to do at one point was
(01:02:22):
just in the cafe and like, look out onto the Roman Colosseum
because it's just like right there in the middle and you.
Need to bring that back. Yeah, that's what I'm.
Saying but I think with a lot, alot of people don't get about
travelling for people that don'tplan it out themselves, it's
(01:02:43):
very stressful and for. Sure, like.
Sure. You see the pictures, right?
It's all happy. A great deal of it is OK, is
this the right terminal? I'm at the wrong terminal.
I got I got 30 minutes. I'm going to miss it.
OK, which where is this You're Idon't know if you're for the
average person to save money, you can't be flying business
(01:03:04):
class. You can't be flying first class.
So the, the seats are cramped upon the way to the destination
and it's like you're it's a headache and like, you don't
know, is the food even right? Your circadian rhythms all
jumbled, like you need to stretch it.
What's that cramp right there? The people around you are in a
bad mood because they're also going through the wrong thing.
(01:03:26):
And the getting into fights is just increased because, yeah,
everybody's just really, really stressed out and not enough
sleep and they're sore. And but then it's taking that
moment once you're finally thereand they go, wow, look at that
(01:03:46):
Roman Colosseum. I wish they'd bring that back.
You know, like, like I've I've seen a bunch of movies on like
the the gladiators, one of my really good movie that I just
like wow. Like this is where Marcus
Aurelius, the 4th emperor of Rome, decided if the this
fighter would kill the other fighter fighter by either doing
(01:04:10):
this, this or that with their thumb.
It's like, and then you see thatthe why does it lean like that?
The Leaning Tower of Pisa. Yeah, yeah.
And it's just it all comes together.
Which is your favorite country just aside from all the
tournament to like to be in. If you could live in any
(01:04:30):
country, no money involved, justlive there.
Oh, I, I, honestly, I would put Italy pretty high on that list,
but I would probably say New Zealand.
I've never been, I really want to go a plane ticket there is
like $3000. So we'll not be going any time
(01:04:51):
soon. But it just looks so incredible.
I love the ocean. They have the mountains, they
have the volcanoes. It just like looks like such a
luscious, incredible place. They have a lot of, I hear a lot
of things about like skydiving and bungee jumping there, and
that's something that I really want to do as well.
And you also have to take into account if they have a Taekwondo
(01:05:12):
culture. Because that's what they do.
They do OK, there we go. I love the New Zealands.
So when we both in Germany and Finland, I met a bunch of New
Zealand athletes and they're they're just so awesome.
They're so cool. And they always come up and talk
to you too. They're so friendly.
It's just like, yeah, it's awesome.
(01:05:35):
That's, that's awesome. Well, it has been a pleasure
talking to you on the long term podcast, Annika Woodrow,
everyone. Is there any last words to the
listeners? Viewers who want to take up
Taekwondo or and are feeling lost, they want to give the art
(01:05:55):
a try. If you're feeling lost, keep
pushing. You got it.
If you want to try out Taekwondo, come to Kodiak.
We'd love to have you. I'd love to coach you #1 #1
Dojen and Edmonton or martial art club, actually.
Yeah, yeah. Yeah, and as always, to everyone
(01:06:19):
listening and watching, there isa place for you in this chaotic
world. Never lose hope, strengthen your
faith and keep it long term peace.
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