Simple Daily Shifts: A Chat with an Olympic Champion: Interview with Joe Jacobi – Episode 019

Joe Jacobi is an Olympic gold medallist in slalom canoeing (Barcelona, 1992), a high performance coach, and the man behind the Sunday Morning Joe inspirational newsletter. When he was the CEO of US Canoe/Kayak, Joe realized that his health was starting to suffer and that he was putting everybody else’s needs before his own, reinforcing his belief that fitness is a constant practice and that even Olympic athletes can have their own ups and downs. Joe’s expertise lies in incremental actions, helping many people—Kelly included—bind together their comprehensive life and health routines to make them workable.

In this episode, Joe discusses his love of Spain, why he takes a small steps, incremental approach to fitness coaching, and how it’s what we do during the evening rather than during the day that impacts our fitness the most.

The Finer Details of This Episode:

– Kelly recounts the strangely “snowy” day she and Joe connected.

– Joe explains why he and his family moved to Spain and his personal history with the Andorra region.

– How paddling white water rivers forced Joe to think of improvement in incremental terms, and why he feels canoeing and kayaking symbolize life in general.

– Joe’s method for working with clients and why he has them focus on training in the here and now rather than for specific fitness goals.

– Why sleep habits are the very first things Joe focuses on in his Start Line e-course.

– Debunking the myth that Olympic athletes have always been in great shape, including Joe’s own health issues as a former CEO.

– Why evening can be the riskiest part of the day for those trying to stay in shape.

Quotes:

“I wanted to wake up like I belonged here.”

“I think when we’re on the river, we have choices, and we can either just sort of tuck and let the water kind of push us around at its will, or we can learn to navigate it.”

“It just doesn’t serve the very best athletes in the world any good at all to put any thought into what color medal they’re going to win.”

“Nobody needs to repeat to themselves that they wanna be world champion—it’s inside of them.”

Links:

Joe’s homepage – https://joejacobi.com/

Sunday Morning Joe newsletter – https://joejacobi.com/sign-up-for-sunday-morning-joe/

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