EP 26 | Chad Coleman: Redefining Addiction & Using Dark Times as Fuel / Hyrox Dad Athlete of 3

The Competitive Edge Podcast: Fatherhood | Fitness | Focus

• Location and age. What do you do? (occupation/business etc)
• Answer: northwest Chicago, 43 years old, entrepreneur, a business owner, European car repair and BMW performance
• How many kids do you have (please include ages)?
• Answer: three kids, Nate 12, Savannah 15, Jacob 20
• What were your biggest accomplishments as a dad athlete?
• Answer: oh, really, the big accomplishment is being an example to my kids. I have the energy, focus, and drive to be at my top potential in parenting, and travel. My family has traveled all over the country to races. We’ve seen so many beautiful places as a family. And won some races doing so!
• What are your biggest accomplishments in business or in your professional career?
• Answer: oh, well, it’s been a long one, but I started my own business in 2010. My wife and I had -$34 in the bank and decided to start an automotive repair business out of our garage. 13 years later it has transformed into a Shop providing service to over 5000 clients, it’s taking a lot of hard work but honesty, caring about people and trust go along way in business. That’s what made us successful.
• What is your biggest accomplishment as a father (in regard to your family members)?
• Answer: just being there for them. Cheering them on, being an example in their lives, and seeing it come to fruition. My oldest Jake, is 20 and just seeing him grow and the man that he’s developed into is amazing. Same thing with our daughter and our 12-year-old. Just having, a relationship with them and being there for them. Teaching them and keeping their influence within the family. I came from a childhood where my father was not around very much. I know that he loved me in his own way, but I did not really have a relationship with him until later in my life. It still hurts me to this day and I’ve had to process some very hard things lately without him in my life. I’m just grateful that it’s not that way with my kids.
• How would you define "Competitive Edge"?
• Answer: well, I think competitive is having something more than your opponent, So I really need to define this in a few different ways. The Lord God, and having a relationship with him is definitely an edge, my family, my wife, that is my cheerleader gives me confidence and a mental edge. Also, I would have to say that I am super consistent to a T. I have the ability to push myself when I need to and to lay off, but I always show up rain or shine feeling good or bad. I’m there ready to work.
• I feel like I’m also able to go to a really painful place during races where maybe others can’t access that amount of pain.
• When did the competitive side of you begin? and please walk us through the sports you may have played as a kid into an adult
• Answer: I’ve always been competitive in the form of needing to feel superior to other people, let me explain that. I really found that a little bit later in life because in my childhood, I was always picked last in sports, my mom raised me, so I really didn’t have someone to really teach me how to play ball sports or really any sport at that. I had to kind of pick it up myself and was really not all that good at anything. I got picked on a lot in grade school, and middle school, and moved to the south side of Chicago at 14-15 years old. Really had to learn how to defend myself, learn how to box. That gave me an upper hand in high school. I started lifting weights in the gym after high school and started putting on some size and muscle. I still never really challenge myself at anything competitive. However, there is a turning point in my life at around 30 years old that changed my life forever, almost lost my wife and family and died to drug abuse. I fell into a deep hole, eventually climbed out of it, and started running. I found running to be relaxing and really gave me a chance to think deeply. It also increases dopamine and pleasure receptors. I have an addictive personality, so finding this piece within really was something that I wanted. Started riding motocross with my son. That it turned into obstacle course racing and competing around 2018. 2019 I did my next race and excelling very quickly at the sports. I was able to run fast and pull my weight around very easily.
• What was the dynamic with your parents? who brought you to sports and etc?
• Answer: my mom and I lived a long growing up. I generally did sports on my own, but my mom would bring me to sports and games when I was a kid.
• What is that quote or saying your parents always told you that sticks with you today?
• Answer: there’s really no quote or saying from my parents, however, something that is strong that sticks out in my mind is my mom would always tell me that she was praying for me and that she was proud of me. To this day.
• What kind of competitive athletic events did you compete in before kids as an adult?
• Answer: in grade school and middle school, I played soccer, and baseball got into track in high school for my sophomore and junior years. Ran the 400 mainly. Ran it pretty quickly, but it wasn’t enough to get me into state or anything. Pretty basic.
• What did your training schedule look like before your kids?
• Answer: basic bro Gym style
• What kind of competitive events do you compete in now as a father?
• Answer: in the last three years, I’ve competed competitively in the spartan OCR series races, and local OCR, events, and OCR worlds, have been training the last six months for a Hyrox. Competed into Hyrox events recently at one doubles in and one open. Next on the list is Hyrox, New York, pro men’s
• What does your training schedule look like now as a father? (hours per week est)
• Answer: 11-12 hours I run a seven-day training cycle. Six days on one day off repeat cycle.
• How have you adapted/adjusted and what changes have you made competing and/or training as a father?
• Answer: a really fine-tuning of schedule. I’m a pretty systematic person so I like things to be organized and grouped and consistent. My kids are a bit older, so they’ve been able to take care of themselves, my oldest even trains with me. Just finding the right time of benefit for the body and life. For me, that is first thing in the morning. wake up take a cold shower get dressed get down to the gym in the basement. Start getting warmed up. Stretching out. I have a coach that programs for me. So just getting the workout, dialed in, equipment, set up, etc. Like cardio and then follow with the prescribed work. I really adapted to this by bringing all of my training equipment to me. I have pretty much everything in my basement that I need to train specifically for the races that I do.
• Being a husband and a father comes first, even though working out usually comes first. If the schedules change, my lifestyle at the current time doesn’t allow me to train the way I want, I adapt, change times, and work out on the road wherever. I can adapt to my environment and make it fun and get the kids and wife Motivated as well. Super proud of my wife too because she has started a training plan and she’s really making some good progress.
• What are some things or ways you stay present as a father balancing training and fatherhood?
• Answer: This is really hard to be a father of three, owning my business 100%, my wife, home schools, all of our children, training, and racing. The kid's events, etc. That’s why I need to get all of my workouts and training done first thing in the morning before anybody else is awake. then I can focus on work and family when I come home and have the weekends basically free. Also, we generally do something as a family or husband and wife run, bike session on Saturday for Saturday’s long run.
• Why do you train and/or compete? What drives that bug in you to compete?
• Answer: yeah, I really was challenged with this question. The why.. I like a challenge, I like to train to be the best. It’s my way of setting an example for those around me. That can be done, also I have an addictive personality, so I feel that I need to feed this monster that lies within me before the things that I did were toxic to my life. This is cleansing and makes me feel like a masculine husband and father that can go to battle if I need to, live a healthy lifestyle, and be around for my family for a long time.
• What are the most notable improvements you’ve noticed from staying fit and/or competing in fitness events? What changes have you experienced that you would most likely brag about to a friend? What benefits do you get out of training and competing?
• Answer: I really just feel alive when I’m competing in training for something. It gives me something hard to work towards. It is meaningful for me. It gives purpose to my life. Not all-purpose, but a certain amount. In the past three years, I look back on pictures of some of the first events and it’s really crazy to see how far I’ve come. What seemed like normal Chad in 2018 was really a very average not necessarily unfit but not very fit person and that’s OK, but I feel that as an athlete training every day my body has changed immensely. There are muscles in places I didn’t even know were possible. very low body fat I’m able to maintain all year around. There’s no loading or cycling that really changes my BMI. I’ve stayed anywhere between 6% and 9% body fat for the past 3 years straight. I eat only Whole Foods, I prepare all my meals the weekend before, I only cheat, maybe once a week, and let myself have a dessert, or a bag of gummy bears, but realistically, the desire isn’t there. The food is good, the protein shakes and the meal prep is great.
• What kind of time management hacks have you conquered? Training in am or pm etc?
• Answer: yeah, I think I went over that before in one of the answers, but I’d like to train in the morning. Train first thing in the morning, and have a cup of coffee. Get the hard work out of the way. Three minute cold shower. Off to work, definitely at your shop and meal prep the Sunday before your work week and bring premade meals with you. You can always eat on time what you’re supposed to and get that nutrition in. I even put a kitchen in at my shop so I’m able to cook myself food there and have spoiled myself a little bit in that area. I built a gym in my basement. I only need to walk downstairs. No driving necessary keeps me more consistent and focused.
• What advice would you have for those men out there that lost connection with their health when they finished competing as an athlete or as first-time dads that lost touch with their competitive edge and respect for the man in the mirror?
• Answer: maybe that isn’t important to them anymore. There has to be a drive and fire that comes from somewhere. If someone is unhappy with their body, but the pain of the unhappiness of the type of body in the way that they feel in the way that people look at them and the lack of energy, etc. isn’t enough to push them to do the even harder thing which is to climb back out of that hole.
• But if that desire is there, and you do want to make a change, you need to make that commitment to change and once you make that commitment, you sign your name on the line. You do it. There’s no turning back it’s OK to be unhappy that you have to get up and do something hard the first few weeks of getting your ass back into gear, but it will slowly start to become beneficial you will start to feel, more alive, your wife or your girlfriend is going to look at you in a way that they haven’t for a very, very long time your kids will start looking up to you. You will be more present and you’ll be more alert. This is going to propel you into taking care of yourself more, it’s like this perpetual mold within yourself that keeps producing. It’s not easy it’s very hard at first to get in the rhythm. I’d say at least a good eight weeks. If you can hold out for eight weeks, you’re gonna start to see some changes but you have to be consistent every day. And you just remind yourself of that commitment you made yourself because if you are gonna let yourself down, you’re gonna let everybody else down too.
• If you were an animal, what animal represents you the most?
• Answer: not an animal but an ant or a bee. Worker! Always moving!
• What big races, or events, coming up for you this year?
• Answer: trying to compete in a Hyrox Worlds 2024. Also would like to do a marathon, and possibly OCR worlds.
• How can everyone find you and follow what you're doing (IG handle, website, etc)? any sponsors or upcoming items you want to share?
• Answer: @dynamicdad on insta