About

grit.

When I first began this journey I found myself in place in my life that desperately needed to be turned around. I had gone through what I had thought was rock bottom, personally, professionally, and mentally. Instead of giving into ongoing disappointment, I took a chance. It’s easy to give into the pity party, and I did, for a short bit, but then realized only I could be the one to find my own fire to rise. I started GRIT, a fitness business dedicated to pushing young aspiring athletes past uncomfortable. It was risky, especially at the start of a pandemic, and it seemed like a piped dream to everyone else. I learned to fight against a lot of obstacles in a very polar community. I learned to be my own biggest hype girl and I truly found what it means to have grit. I have always been athletic, a college athlete, and now runner. But I have also excessively reflected on what pushes me to want to succeed and to constantly work to improve the best version of myself. I want to be contagious, I want to motivate and empower others, specifically adolescents that are still finding their own character. GRIT, isn’t about how many push-ups someone can do in a minute or how fast someone can run. It’s about principle. GRIT is having perfect form and the discipline to get one more perfect push-up. It’s about touching every line during sprints without cutting corners, all while cheering on the competitor next to them. Grit, in my opinion, is incredibly personal, because it’s different for every single person. Grit is both a mental and a physical decision to be made when faced with a challenge. I want to push every athlete in training to a point physically and mentally
where they must decide. My hope is that they grow, that they are confident in their decisions, proud of their work ethic, and impressed with their abilities. I want them to earn it. GRIT makes athletes uncomfortable, it’s not meant to be easy and it’s meant to leave athletes questioning why they showed up, just in the interim; because at the finish line, every athlete will then know. GRIT is not an individual training session. It’s a team sport and it encourages willingness, open mindedness, confidence, and responsibility. My hope is that every GRIT athlete walks into every sports season with excitement as if it’s their first, and a fire as if it’s their last. I hope the GRIT athlete embraces some of the core beliefs I hope to reveal:
1. Only you know how badly you want it. Don’t let anyone decide it for you.

2. Dedication and Discipline earn stripes

3. The hardest worker trains despite convenience

4. If it isn’t harder than you’ve ever experienced, then you can never grow past where you’ve ever been.

and…

5. You don’t always win.

Angela Leed Duckworth, is an American Pediatric Psychologist who published the incredible book, GRIT (2016), that puts grit into perspective and I encourage everyone to read it. She leads the reader to reflect and define their own grit…and I hope to help athletes chase it.