Habits and Hustle

Episode 528: My Thoughts on Lindsey Vonn’s Crash and Having an Olympian Mindset

19 min
Feb 13, 20262 months ago
Listen to Episode
Summary

The hosts discuss Lindsey Vonn's remarkable resilience after competing in the Olympics with a torn ACL and subsequently breaking her leg just 12 seconds into her final run at age 41. The episode explores what defines an Olympian mindset, the role of modern training and recovery technology in extending athletic careers, and how people can discover untapped reserves of strength when facing extreme circumstances.

Insights
  • Olympian-level resilience is partly innate but can be developed through exposure to extreme circumstances that reveal hidden capacity for endurance
  • Modern advances in training methodology, recovery technology, and nutritional science are enabling athletes to compete at elite levels at older ages
  • Age-based limitations in sports are being challenged by individuals who refuse to accept societal expectations about when athletic careers should end
  • The ability to compete despite injury requires a mindset shift that separates elite performers from others—commitment overrides physical limitations
  • People often underestimate their capacity to endure pain and suffering until forced into situations that demand it
Trends
Aging athletes competing at elite levels challenging traditional retirement age expectationsGrowing investment in recovery and longevity technology for athletic performance optimizationShift in sports culture toward inclusive age ranges, moving away from age-based gatekeepingIncreased focus on mental resilience and mindset training as performance differentiatorsTechnology-enabled career longevity becoming competitive advantage in professional sportsFemale athletes gaining visibility and inspiration as role models for perseveranceWinter Olympics gaining broader mainstream viewership and cultural relevance
Topics
Olympian mindset and mental resilienceAthletic injury recovery and comeback narrativesAge and athletic performance longevitySports training methodology and technologyRecovery science and injury preventionFemale athletes in elite sportsWinter Olympics coverage and viewershipMindset development for peak performanceACL injuries and rehabilitationNutrition and supplementation for athletesBody mechanics and sports scienceAging and athletic capabilityPerseverance and grit in competitive sportsWinter Olympic sports (skiing, ice skating, curling)Celebrity athlete narratives
Companies
NSF (National Sanitation Foundation)
Certification body for supplement testing and quality assurance mentioned in Momentus sponsorship
NFL (National Football League)
Referenced as client of Momentus supplements, trusted by all 32 NFL teams
USC Long Longevity Institute
Research institution that developed ProLon's patented fasting mimicking diet program
People
Lindsey Vonn
Former Olympic skier competing at age 41 with titanium knee, tore ACL 10 days before Olympics, broke leg 12 seconds i...
Shawnee
Regular co-host and friend of main host, participates in discussion about resilience and Olympic sports
Quotes
"People don't know what kind of pain and suffering they can actually take until they put into insane circumstances. And you find a level of strength you didn't even know what's possible."
Co-host
"I think that people can endure way more than they even give themselves credit for. I think you don't know what you don't know until you're in that situation."
Host
"If you really want something, if you have your mind on right, if you have a mindset that you want to do something, if you're committed to a certain thing, nothing, like nothing can stop you."
Host
"I think she's in the top two or three in terms of like people that are inspirational in terms of resilience and their story."
Host
"Curling is the most accidentally popular Olympic sport. Because people mock it, then sit down, then don't change the channel because they're too lazy. And then they fall in love with it."
Co-host
Full Transcript
I got this Tony Robbins you're listening to Habits in Hustle, Crush It. Before we dive into today's episode, I want to thank our sponsor Momentus. When your goal is health span, living better and longer, there are very few non-negotiables. One of them? Quality. And when it comes to supplements designed for high performers, nobody does it better than Momentus. This goes all in on NSF certification, which means every single batch is tested for heavy metals, harmful additives, and label accuracy. And that's why they're trusted by all 32 NFL teams and top collegiate sports dietitians across the country. Here's the thing, they don't sell every supplement under the sun because they believe in nailing the basics with rock solid consistency and those basics are protein and creatine. Momentus sources creopure, the purest form of creatine monohydrate available and absolute must for both men and women who want peak physical and cognitive performance. So if you're serious about leveling up, go to livemomentus.com and use code Gen for 20% off. Last act now, start today. Gen for 20% off. Livemomentus.com. Welcome to Habits and Hustle. We're doing another solo episode and today we're joined by one of my dearest and most dearest. My dearest, one of my dearest closest of friends, her name is Shawnee. We may have seen her around because she used to do slow solos with me all the time and she always plays the best foil. So thank you for being here. Today I want to talk about a topic that I want to talk about resilience in its greatest form and I'm going to tell you why. Why I think this is I'm so passionate about this topic today. Did you watch the Olympics over the weekend? I've been catching bits and bobs but I love the winter Olympics. It's a fun time. I have to give a shout out to Lindsay Vaughn. She was on this podcast maybe a year or two ago. Was she? Yes, I love her. Cool, is that? She's great. I want to tell you why I wanted to talk about resilience because I have never in my life, in my life. I mean people overuse the word badass and all these buzz words. This girl, this woman is so inspirational and aspirational. But she accomplished what she did on the weekend. I mean it left my jaw was literally open. She tore her ace, for those of you who don't know, this girl tore her ace, she's 41 years old. She has like a titanium knee. Okay. That she got, I don't know how many years ago. I don't remember. Okay. And she was out for the count. Like she was arrayed like all to be in the Olympics even five, six, seven years ago, eight years ago. She got herself back up, like up and running, so to speak. She won all these new championships or new whatever you win in skiing, what qualified for the Olympics at 41 years old. Okay. Crazy. 10 days before she goes, she tore her ACL. Okay. So she's got one knee. That's titanium. And the other knee is a torn and she tore her ACL in front of 10 days before the Olympics. But 10 days before she goes out to do the Olympics at 41. Okay. She decides, you know, screw that. I'm still going. And she decided to still compete. So she then goes and competes like with this torn ACL and it's like unbelievable. And like 10 or 12 or 15 seconds into it, she has this terrible accident. And like basically goes, like, you know, basically topples over herself twice and breaks her leg. And the accident that she has, yes. I'm not following the full story. She broke her leg 10 seconds or 12 seconds or whatever it was into her competing for her final Olympics at 41 years old after all the things that she went through her whole career. She's had so many injuries and so much stuff happened to her and still still was such like a badass fighter and talk about resilience and got herself back up on the like, like, competing for the Olympics and then breaks her leg 10 seconds into it. And this is the kicker. Oh, I thought you meant she'd go back up after breaking the leg and continued. No, no, no, she broke her leg. And they had to like airlift her like out of the, out of the place. But this is what I find to be even more crazy is that she a decided to even compete when she had this, you know, torn ACL. But this is the part that seemed more insane. Her injury, the how she got the broken leg and how she like had that accident, we had nothing to do with her knee. She hit something on the way down. You know that flag? Was it the flag that she hit? The poles. The pole. Yeah, the poles. She hit the pole that made her top pole over and over. So that's how she broke her. It wasn't because of the ACL injury. How crazy is that? That is just honestly that such an insane story. But also such a badass story. I only followed the Trump comment part. Did you see that? No. Trump made a comment about her ACL and then all of the things. I didn't see that. All these other athletes started coming out and defensive her. No, what did he say? I don't know. That's nothing stupid on treats social. Oh, I have no idea what he said. I don't follow what he says. I was more about the fact that she to me is such an inspiration to it. Not just to girls, young girls. I think to anybody and everybody, if you want to do something, if you have your mind on right, if you're if you have, if you are like, if you have a mindset that you want to do something, if you're committed to a certain thing, nothing, like nothing can stop you. How do you even teach that level of resilience, that level of drive? I just think that she was, she's made differently. I think there's some people. This is my ball. I think that some people are just made differently than others. When I heard stories, even from her when she was sitting here, talking about her, her whole evolution of being like a champion and Olympic champion and her whole career, I mean, things that she says and things that she pushed through. I don't know almost, I don't know anybody who would be able to like go through that pain and that suffering. You do. You've had so many of them on your podcast. I'm telling you she's in the top two. Okay. Like I'm talking to you in top two or three in terms of like people that are inspirational. Okay. Yes. I agree with that. People don't know what kind of pain and suffering they can actually take until they put into insane circumstances. Okay. I agree with you. And you find a level of strength. You didn't even know what's possible. You're right. I do agree with that. I think that people can endure way more than they even give themselves credit for. I think you don't know what you don't know until you're in that situation. I do agree. 1000%. So yeah, that's true. And I have had a lot of people on who have been remarkable in terms of their story, their resilience and their inspiration for sure. But I think, I think she, I think that she right now currently what I saw on the weekend was just so remarkable. And I like I said like I they, I don't know many people. If you think about how hard it is to get into the Olympics on a good day and then qualifying for the Olympics at the at her age and then having an injury and like actually. Too many to still do it. And then like getting getting that horrible, getting to that horrible accident, only like 12 seconds into it, not even because of the injury that you had in the first place. It's so crazy. It's like a fluke that she hit the pool. I honestly, it's kind of surreal to me how different I feel like we view age now than we did way back when I feel like the Olympics are going to start seeing older and older people competing. Like if you look at gymnastics, you used to like retire at the age of 12. You know what I mean? So it's honestly kind of crazy how agiast gymnastics was like you could never do it past a certain age. Yeah. And now I just feel like that doors are opening to things like people like Lindsey are showing the world that you can just you can still carry on. Your world doesn't have to end just because you're kind of a quote unquote expired in some regard. I think also the training systems have probably improved a lot like the technology longevity the hell. Well, I think that's not long. Long Jamie just a buzz word. I'm saying like the training why people are living so much longer now. Yeah, but what I'm my point to what I'm talking about training this way, I think that there's their mechanism. Trariat. We're saying. No, no, no, I'm saying that the training mechanisms that perform how to how to perform at your peak. There's so many new technologies out there that probably can help you speed up the pain and the longevity of your athletic career. Yes, but that's what I'm talking about right now. I'm not expanding that I'm talking about that can help you heal from an injury quicker is what I'm talking about. Yeah, and also train better and train better period to be able to sustain an actual athletic career. Like we used to literally get so injured, you would have nothing to be able to do because the training was shit. They didn't have the same expertise. The recovery was shit. They didn't have the same expertise. And there's now there's like a million things on either end of that spectrum to help with both of them. And also maybe we know more about like the body nutrition, the body mechanics, all these things. Anyway, I just thought that like if you really want a story or if you really want something a story or something that can help really motivate you or kind of teach you about resilience, I really was just really touched and in awe shock about what I saw. So that's really all I wanted to add. I'm all about finding sustainable ways to optimize performance. The kind of work that actually moves the needle and how you feel and function. And that's why I really need to tell you about ProLon's 5-Day program. Most of us are chasing quick fixes that never get to the root of the problem. And the result is sluggish energy, brain fog and bodies running below its full capacity. But ProLon changes that by triggering your body's natural repair and renewal process at the cellular level. It's not a cleanse or crash diet. ProLon is the only patented fasting mimicking diet developed at USC's Long Jevni Institute. It's a plant based program with soups and snacks and drinks that nourish your body while keeping you in a fasting state. The benefits are backed by science, deep cellular rejuvenation, that focus weight loss, no injections, and better metabolic health and energy. Plus, improved skin and even reduced biological age. And here's my favorite part. It's a complete reset in just 5 days. No willpower, battles, no extreme restrictions, just a structured plan to let your body do what it's designed to do. Repair, renew and optimize. And right now, ProLon is offering 30% off site wide. Plus, a $40 bonus gift. When you subscribe to their 5-day program, go to prolonlife.com slash Jennifer Cohen and use Jennifer Cohen to claim your discount and bonus. That's prolonlife.com slash Jennifer Cohen and news code Jennifer Cohen. We have to end this off because you are Canadian, so I have a question for you. What is your favorite winter Olympic sport? There is a right answer. I do like skiing. Oh, okay, fine. That's fair. But I always, you know, I'm going to tell you what I've always loved as a little girl, ice skating. Oh, I love ice skating. Yeah, like you're great answer. Everyone, I mean, like I just think that I'm... Aren't you a pretty good skater as well? No. But I would say that I think that, no, not. But I do think that I think, I don't know, I don't, I think, every girl loves ice skating. Yeah, it is just such a great... It is. It is visually entertaining and feminine and fun and it's beautiful. It looks like you're just hiding. What other ones do you like? Curling. Oh my god, it's the best winter sport. Are you joking? Unbelievable. I know it's like all trendy right now and stuff, but when I was younger... Are you joking? Right now, like 10 years old sitting in Montreal in the freezing winter watching the Olympics on my cruelly. Oh, that's just cruelly. I would always watch the curling because I thought it was so funny and it'd be like... I can't tell if you're joking or... No, I'm not joking it's so weird. Nobody watches the curling. First of all, a lot of people watch curling. It's very trendy in the last few years. People are way more into curling now than they ever have been in the... Are you kidding me? Yeah, I've been waiting for this day. It's like almost going to become mainstream soon. I don't know one person who watches curling. See, our algorithms are so different. Like I know a lot of curling fans. I don't even know if you're joking or not. I don't know one person and I'm Canadian. That's what is curling. No, I don't know what human being is. Fun curling is? People see curling on the TV and they keep on, they keep on, they keep on. No, it's a scroll stopper. Are you love curling? Nobody watches, they do. In fact, that's like the biggest joke of them all. If people are like, what is this boring? It's like watching curling. Like when they talk about how boring something is. No, no. Yeah, maybe they're not looking at the right way. Like watching paint dry. Maybe they're not looking at the right things. You should be watching the facial expressions. You should be looking at the mannerisms. You should be looking at the cheering. The noise is coming out of these people. Maybe they're just not experiencing it right. It's so entertaining. Are you joking? Have you ever seen a little bit curling? Okay, anybody with the things at the party that's absolutely no way. Tell me if who's crazy, me or her. I've never heard. There's no way. Anybody watched curling. In fact, actually, no, I'm going to have to do right now. I'm going to chat to you. No, I'm going to chat to you. I'm reporting you. This doesn't even make sense to me. I'm reporting you. What is the least sweeping the ice, the least popular winter Olympic sport to watch? Guys, the least. Okay, hold on. It's so fun. Why? Okay. Maybe you just need to open your eyes more. You know, a lot of people didn't have hot honey on their pizza until recent years and yet now all of a sudden it's everywhere. Okay. Meanwhile, wasn't even existing. I can't even find it. Hold on. Now it's all over the place. I saw answering the question. Open your eyes. I'm going to ask, is curling popular or not popular as something to be viewed in the Olympics? Okay. Hold on. Let me see. Yes. Curling is a popular sport. It says Google. So let's see what your AI says. Hold on. The Battle of the AI is who's going to get more. No, it's not. It's not. It says during the Olympics, it's quasi-popular. Outside the Olympics, not popular at all. I said Olympic curling. Curling works at the Olympic. I specify. There's a clear objective. Low barrier to entry. Strategy drama on personality show. You've heard the app. Draw a personality. You hear the athletes talk, yell and speak. Yes. Okay. No, you don't understand. It's like the novella of Olympics sports. It's so much fun to watch. Okay. Just like, why do you just think? Wait, why people think it's unpopular? It doesn't feel extreme or athletic to most people. It's very athletic. And the sweeping confuses people at first. Because they're just not smart enough to get the sport. But if you watch it for two seconds, you get some contact. Okay. It says there's plain truth. Curling is the most accidentally popular Olympic sport. Because people mock it, then sit down, then don't change the channel because they're too lazy. And then they fall in love with it because they're like, oh my god. What is this incredible thing? Oh my god. Imagine the injury. Like what would the injuries be compared to other dangerous sports? Oh my god. Listen, there's some injuries. Okay, you ever watched dodgeball with Bachelors? Yes. Of course, I love that movie. Imagine that, but with curling. But that's actually what the sport is like. It's the best thing ever you've got to watch it. I'm sorry, but you have to. And also your Canadian is kind of like weird that you don't. No, it's kind of weird that you do actually. Actually, no, because I know a lot of Canadians and nobody watches curling. I mean, I don't like to shame that you're a mayor of a kid and you watch it. Okay, listen, to each of his own tomato tomato, if you want to watch paint dry, go ahead. Curling up to you. Curling up to you, you know what I mean? Do you watch baseball? No. Horrible, very boring. Okay, but curling isn't? Yeah. Okay, listen, this is what makes the world go round. You have an opinion. I have an opinion. I'll continue watching ice skating and you can watch curling. How does that sound? I think that sounds really great. Together we will definitely still watch Lindsay. Yes, exactly. All right, guys, have a good one and join the book club if you haven't already.