320: How ‘The Fittest Woman’ on Earth Sets and Achieves Unthinkable Goals with Tia-Clair Toomey-Orr

Introduction 

You're listening to Biceps After Babies Radio Episode 320.

Hello and welcome to Biceps After Babies Radio. A podcast for ladies who know that fitness is about so much more than pounds lost or PR's. It's about feeling confident in your skin and empowered in your life. I'm your host Amber Brueseke, a registered nurse, personal trainer, wife and mom of four. Each week my guests and I will excite and motivate you to take action in your own personal fitness as we talk about nutrition, exercise, mindset, personal development and executing life with conscious intention. If your goal is to look, feel and be strong and experience transformation from the inside out, you my friend are in the right place. Thank you for tuning in. Now, let's jump into today's episode.

Hey, hey, hey. Welcome back to another episode of Biceps After Babies Radio. I'm your host Amber Brueseki, and today I am interviewing one of my heroes and a woman that I look up to so much, Tia-Clair Toomey-Orr and if you're not in the CrossFit world, you may not be aware of Tia. If you're in the CrossFit world, you know her because Tia is the most decorated CrossFit champion of all time. She has won six CrossFit games. She did not compete in last year's CrossFit Games because as we're going to get into, she had a baby last year, but she had won the prior 6 CrossFit Games. And like I said, is the most decorated, best performing fittest woman on Earth six times in a row. And she's one of my heroes. I have watched Tia compete every year that she keeps me competes in the CrossFit Games. Since I started CrossFit in 2019. And, I mean, she was an idol before she had her baby. But then when she got pregnant and gave birth and then came back to competition, it was just like a whole new level of respect. And so, you know, because this is Biceps After Babies Radio, because we're talking about fitness even after you have kids. I thought who better to bring on the podcast than Tia to be able to talk about what it's like to be an elite athlete and have a baby and be in the public eye while you're pregnant. We talk about how people love to give you crap when you're exercising while you're pregnant during the episode. So, I was just over the moon, excited to be able to have this conversation again with someone who I have looked up and respected and watched for so long, and this was just, this is sweet and just so excited to be able to have this conversation with Tia. I also loved how this kind of played out.  

Meeting Tia-Clair Toomey-Orr 02:37 

So just a little bit of like behind the scenes for you. So I had a interview scheduled with Tia and she was in Australia at the time. So we kind of got our lines crossed with the conversion between Pacific Time and her Australian time, and so I got on to do the recording and waited. And waited. And waited and waited and she never showed up for it. She ended up emailing me later and saying, Oh my gosh, sorry. We had our lines crossed. I thought it was one time I, you know, it was. I was on an hour earlier than she thought she was supposed to be on. And so we just missed our, we missed our wires and it was totally fine. We rescheduled and this time she got on the call and the very first thing she says to me is, hey, Shane, my husband was supposed to be home from the gym to be able to take the baby. And he's not. So I have the baby right here. I'm trying to be mom and, like, do the podcast. She’s like we can totally reschedule if you want that and I looked over, I said absolutely not what a great experience. And and incredibly relatable for so many of us who are trying to juggle all the things of motherhood and owning a business and, you know, becoming ourselves and our own fitness journeys and taking care of little ones. And I mean all the things that you all are very familiar with, so until we're absolutely not. They are not rescheduling. You can keep your camera off. You can hold Willow. You're going to hear her in the background on the recording. And I'm totally OK with that. And I hope that you are too. Because that is the life sometimes of a mother is. We got to juggle the things that are important to us and who we are as individuals and who we are as people with these little humans that we are also trying to take care of. So I honestly. Just really love how it all panned out because this is real life and this is the real life of even an elite athlete like Tia-Clair Toomey, to be able to get on a podcast and be tending to the baby while you know she's talking to me.  

Preview of Tia’s book 04:31 

One of the things that we talk about in the episode is that Tia just released a new book called The Heart Is The Strongest Muscle, and I honestly love that title and I love what she says about the title. We talked about it during the episode and why she came up with that, that title but if you're like me and you're somebody who loves to learn from people who have done great things, and I love to learn about the mindset. And how someone who's done something great and has done something really hard, such as Tia has of how she thinks about things, how she shows up, how she speaks to herself, how she pushes herself in those moments that are really, really hard. And so, The Heart Is The Strongest Muscles are really fun insight into the way that, you know, an elite athlete, someone who is the best of the best when it comes to what she does, how she really thinks about her training, her body, the way that she shows up on a day-to-day basis and puts in the work in order to be able to get the results that she wants. And I think that's a lot that we can learn from her mindset. And she shares a little bit of that during the podcast episode of how we can sort of integrate some of those mindset shifts and the ways that she sees the world into our own lives to be able to get the results that we're trying to get in our fitness journeys. So, without further ado, ignore my fangirling. The fact that I got to interview the one, the only Tia-Clair Toomey-Orr. Let's roll the interview.  

Amber B 05:55 

All right, I am so excited to introduce you to one of my heroes, Tia-Clair Toomey. Tia, thanks so much for being here this morning. 

Tia-Clair Toomey-Orr 06:04 

Thank you so much and I appreciate that. 

Amber B 06:07 

Yeah, I mean, I have been so excited to be able to meet you and to interview you. I have some questions I'm dying to ask you, so we're going to dive right into this. A lot of my my followers probably know who you are because I've done CrossFit for a long time. I've talked about you for a long time, but in case, maybe someone, you're not as familiar with the CrossFit world, just give us a little bit of background of you and who you are. 

Tia-Clair Toomey-Orr 06:30 

Yes. So I've been doing CrossFit since, Ohh I think it was actually back in 2013 and I actually started. I only just started to actually find some friends because we just recently moved to. We just moved to this new town for Shane's work, who who's not my coach and my husband and the father of our daughter, Willow. And it was one of those things where initially I actually really like the coach to start off with. So I actually didn't really, really like I did one class and then didn't go back for like 2 months and it was almost like a I have to go back for. Hang on, Bubba. I have to go back for just because I felt a little bit guilty. I kept bumping into the owner of the gym, so it's really fun. Like I it doesn't sound important, but isn't it funny like had I never gone back CrossFit, I would never have had the laugh that I had. You know today. So I do think back to that moment quite often and think, wow, like man, how things could be so different. But you know, Fast forward. I I did CrossFit in the hopes to make the Olympics. And then, you know, I happened to make the CrossFit Games as well. And you know honestly, like I was really shocked actually on how well I did at the CrossFit games in my first year. So then I like felt like I had to keep pursuing that and and obviously get better. And then throughout the years I've just tried to to keep pushing the envelope essentially and we were affiliate owners back in 2015, all the way to 2018 and then we had to sell that and we moved over here to the state. And one of the big reasons we wanted to move was actually to capitalize on where we were as you know, an athlete in Australia at the time there wasn't a whole lot of sponsorship opportunities. So to really double down on that and and I guess try and train full time. We made that big move to the States and then since then we, I thought that was only going to be a 12-month thing and that is actually turned into like six years. So here we are in Nashville, TN, you know, just opened up our new brand, new Ophelia, which we're so excited about. And honestly, like everything that we've ever dreamed of is just finally becoming a bit of a reality. And you know we're living our best life. 

Amber B 9:15 

That's so awesome. And you guys might hear Willow in the background. 

Tia-Clair Toomey-Orr 09:19 

I'm so sorry. She’s so good. 

Amber B 09:20 

No, it's only my. I just want I I like. I just want my my listeners to just like know that you're not the only one who like sometimes your husband says he's going to be home and he's not home and you have to, you know, multitask as a mom and so. 

Tia-Clair Toomey-Orr 09:34 

Absolutely and I'm going to totally ring his neck when he gets home. 

Amber B 09:37 

I told. I told Tia was like my audience will get it if anybody's audience will get it. The Biceps After Babies audience will get it. So, Tia. You didn't even talk about your accomplishments, so I'm going to give you a moment to brag about yourself because you don't just, like, compete at the CrossFit Games. 

Tia-Clair Toomey-Orr09:53

Yeah. Yeah, I suppose I'm not someone to. I guess, you know, boast about that. But yeah, I've won the CrossFit Games for that. Yeah, the last six years in a row, I was out last year in 2023 having my baby girl. So honestly, that's probably like my biggest highlight and and accomplishment but. Yeah, I've done that. I've competed at the Olympics. I have also done bobsled and qualified as sled to, for, to represent Australia in the Winter Olympics. What else? Ohh, and I've also competed at the Commonwealth Games. I'm not sure if you're familiar with the Commonwealth Games, but one gold of Commonwealth Games, which was a lot of fun and you know, one of the most incredible experiences in terms of my competitive experience, so yeah, there's there's a few things there that I'm. I'm very, very proud of and you know it's just a representation of all the hard work that me and my team have done, but yeah. 

Amber B 11:08 

There we go now. Now we can. Now we can move forward so that everyone knows how amazing you are. And and Tia has won the CrossFit Games more than any athlete, male or female, which is a pretty cool accomplishment, really excited to see you compete in in this year's games. One of the questions that I had for you and you kind of already started to answer it, but I I'd love to dive in a little deeper because one of my questions was did you like get into CrossFit really like with this vision to like, actually start competing and go to the games and or was it something? And this is kind of what it sounds like where you had you know some level of success, maybe it kind of surprised you realize you were pretty good at it and then you decided that the games were the goal and and the reason I think that this question is so cool and I want to dive into it with you is because I think sometimes we set a goal for something and for you, it sounded like going to the Olympics was the goal and. And it's like sometimes life. It's like this or something better, right? Sometimes life hands you something that you didn't know that you wanted, but maybe a better route for you. And so, you know, kind of talk about that, that decision making process or where where you hit that decision of, like, well, this is actually something I want to go after. This is something I want to pursue. I'm actually kind of good at this. Let's do it. 

Tia-Clair Toomey-Orr 12:25 

Yeah. So it was really interesting because initially when I first started CrossFit like I definitely didn't, I didn't even know CrossFit was like a sport. I I just thought that it was kind of one of those you know, F45s or just like a orange theory thing where you know it was based on community. You got, you know, you got to challenge yourself in so many different ways. But like I I went there like I said earlier to to find friends and also I I am very sporty like I've always done sports when I was young. And I'm very, very competitive. So I actually wanted to get like just improve my fitness. So I only so Shane actually suggested I do it because he was doing it for his pre season rugby training when he played football. And so you know I went and tried it and I really did like it, it's just the coach at the time, he just like, I just didn't really respond well to him, so I just thought, you know, like I'm not going to go back. Really, he, I wanted to try his and push up and he he said no, you know you can't do that. And so when someone tell me I can't do that. I was like how dare you, you know like for me it was more just I wanted to try it because I thought it would improve my fitness and then when I did get into it, I was like wow. Like I'm really addicted to this because of the community. You know, I've made friends in the new location that I've just moved. And you know, I didn't have any family around, any friends. I didn't really know anyone except for Shane. And he had joined, like I said, a rugby team. So, you know, he had friends through that. And I I needed to find my own. So once I started doing that, I was like, wow. Like, this is really great. Like this is challenging me in in a in a way that I've I've been needing it for so long. And you know, I just it it it took me like 6-7 months to really know what a snatch was and you know, I remember I was I was that member that would walk in. And be like, hey, what is that movement that goes from the ground up to your overhead and you know like that. Like I'd have to describe the movement by like physically doing it versus like knowing you know the terminology of a snatch and stuff. And then, you know, not like probably about 12 months into it, I was like, you know what? Like I could like, I'll do the open again because actually like the first open I ever did was actually 2013. And it was like the first week that I officially signed up for a month. And so I'm learning like a snatch in the middle of the workout and everyone's like, and I'm doing strict burpees. So you know, and then everyone's telling me to cheat. And I'm like, I don't want to cheat. And they're like, no, it's just the way we do it here. You want to be more efficient and everything. And I'm like, that's cheating. And, you know, like, I'm that one that was kind of a little bit close minded when I walked in. And then, yeah, 12 months later, I was like, cool. And I'm going to do the open again and see how much better I am and before I knew it, I made it to the regionals and I was the only one in our actual affiliate that had ever made it past that. So that's when like Shane and I, we just doubled down on, you know YouTube and we're like, alright, like, let's just do some extra training outside of the regular class because I think at that time too, they actually released some workouts like maybe a few weeks beforehand. I can't it was like such a long time ago. But you know, we realized that there was like legless rope climbs and I was like, I've never even done a legless road climb, so I need to figure that out and I worked so hard on that. But you know, like little things like that. I never in my wildest dreams ever thought I'd be doing much in the CrossFit space at all. It just it just has naturally progressed the way it has. And you know, I'm. I mean, I I owe it to like. Obviously myself, but I owe it to my husband Shane, who has supported me through every step and it's wild, the year we took over our affiliate was the year I made it to the CrossFit Games in 2015 and prior to that I actually, you know, I got so addicted to training I actually hurt my back and I had to have like basically the whole of 2014 off so. You know, doing that was it was quite an eye opener and then making it to the games. It was just like, wow. Like, you know, here we are, like, representing our new affiliate. And like all of our Members are coming over and watching. And yeah, it was just wild, but definitely not something that I had initially set out to achieve. It's just organically progressed that way. 

Amber B 17:37 

Yeah. And and I think so many like goals happen that way. It's like you just took one step at a time and then it was like, what's the next step and then what's the next step? It wasn't like you started and CrossFit with this dream of being, you know, an all time greatest CrossFit athlete, you just took the next step. And I think we can learn a lot from that of setting goal. It's like sometimes it's just like, what's the next step and then I'm going to take the next step and then I'm to take the next step. We're just going to see where this goes. And you know sometimes it goes amazingly. I do want to talk to you a little bit about you and Shane because I am always just amazed that you guys are able to maintain a marriage and a coaching relationship. Because when my husband and I try to coach each other at the gym. It is not good for our marriage.  

Tia-Clair Toomey-Orr 18:19 

Yeah.  

Amber B 18:20 

So how did you and Shane make it work being married and also having him coach you? 

Tia-Clair Toomey-Orr 18:24 

Girl, we have our days. 

Amber B 18:26 

Yeah, I'm. You have to right like. 

Tia-Clair Toomey-Orr 18:29 

No, honestly, like we, we are very lucky too, I suppose like. When we first started dating and this is like not my goodness like years ago, like we we started dating back in 2008 and. It was funny at the time. You know, we're both in school. And I  did a lot of training for track. And so I did tracking fast country and my dad he would. You know, coach and program for me. So anyway, like I've always had someone like I've always been, I suppose, coachable. So in in saying that like having dad there to you know basically help me. So I'm not there, you know running laps by myself , you know, I had someone there to support me, right, and I appreciate that a lot, but when Shane came into my life, my dad, he was doing, he did shift work and still does. And on the night, on the days where he had night shifts, you know, it was a lot harder for him to make it to my training. So Shane ended up actually like you know, holding the stopwatch and and that was a form of us, like, you know, hanging out before and after school. And, you know, just I guess spending time together and throughout, like our whole life, like I think he's always just been so supportive of what I've wanted to do and and I'd like to think I'm being supportive as well. But if I think back to you know the like over the last 10 or so years, it's definitely been like, you know, my priority has definitely been trying to win and and make a name for ourselves and. And then his goal has been to help me succeed in that, you know. So I think what's really helped us along the way is our goals have aligned in the sense of like you know, he's being selfless in his goal of like trying to evolve as a coach and you know, help program to essentially allow me to win all these titles. And then for me, having the understanding and the respect of, OK. Like when we're in the gym, he may have programmed something that's like extremely hard. And don't get me wrong. Like there are days around. Like, are you freaking serious, Shane? Like. 

Amber B 21:03 

I’m not doing that Shane. 

Tia-Clair Toomey-Orr 21:05 

Yeah. Like, what the heck. But like, at the end of the day, like, I know he's not maliciously doing that to just like he's doing that to make me better and I think just having that, that level of understanding has really allowed us to work really well together. Yeah. The obviously like the more that we have on our plate, the harder it gets. And I think also that is one thing that's being something that we've had to recognize as you know we rebranded our online programming company proven and back in you know 2020 and so when that came into the picture and then you know, employing new people and, you know expanding that that provided like a whole another level of I guess things to focus on, right, so then, like juggling that and having that happy balance of finding time for ourselves as husband and wife, finding time and and making sure we're keeping our priorities right in, in winning the games as coach and athlete, but then also running a business and now with Willow in the mix. I mean, ever since Willow has been in the mix like man, it's sometimes we're like, why didn't we do this earlier? You know it it's one of those things that it's definitely not easy. Yeah, but we might look at her on a daily basis and just like, realize how lucky we are, you know? Yeah. And that's just. It's crazy, like, you know, some people may find, like, I know through COVID was a really hard year for some people and you know, for us it was, it was almost like what our life is always like because we're kind of like, you know, eat, sleep, train, repeat, you know. But COVID wasn't necessarily a huge change for us, but you know, like the amount of people that we were surrounded with were very limited. And, you know, I know a lot of people that were like, you know what, I just couldn't help but just need time for myself. And I was like, man. I think I fell more in love with Shane, throughout COVID. But it's just. It's just one of those things, right, like always being able to communicate. And I definitely let him know when, you know, I'm I'm about to burst.  

Amber B 23:36 

Too much, Shane. 

Tia-Clair Toomey-Orr 23:38 

Yeah. Having that ability to to communicate is really important and I think it's helped allow us to be able to do what we do. 

Amber B 24:46 

That's awesome. That's really great. So I've had four children and you know, I've exercised through my pregnancies and I got a lot of well-intentioned people, you know, questioning my choices to do so. And I have to imagine being an elite athlete and then being pregnant last year. You got lots of more input from people like trying to tell you what to do, like what was that experience and how did you handle it? 

Tia-Clair Toomey-Orr 24:11 

Yeah, I I definitely got a lot of hate, didn't I? 

Amber B 24:15 

Yeah, I can only I cause I got a lot of hate and nobody knows who I am. 

Tia-Clair Toomey-Orr 24:19 

Ohh no, it's it's not nice, is it? And it definitely makes you it does it? It makes you question like. Ah. Who you are as a person and like. You know some some comments can be so nasty. You're like, wow. Am I really like? Am I really trying to jeopardize the life of my being, my baby, you know? 

Amber B 24:43 

Right, yeah. 

Tia-Clair Toomey-Orr 24:43 

Like. That is definitely not my intention, but one thing that you know and I've got to give the credit to Shane as well as like it's crazy because he was like Tia, like, are you happy? And I said, yeah, like I'm I'm the happiest I've ever been. Like when I was pregnant. Oh, my goodness. Like, I was so incredibly happy. I was so relaxed. I was, you know, like, I guess for the first time in in many years is like my whole purpose was, so I guess it was. It was meant to be so intense because I was training to to win a world championship so you know, training like it was so purposeful. I needed to be, like, so dialed in and focused on absolutely everything I did. And you know, when I'm relaxing, I'm I'm resting on rest days, but really, like, I'm still on focusing on, like, my goal. Right. So when I was pregnant, it was like the first time I walked into the gym. And actually like. Ah, this is fun, but this is so enjoyable.  

Amber B 25:51 

Yeah. 

Tia-Clair Toomey-Orr 25:52 

It like moving the body, so I actually didn't really move the body a whole lot purely because a lot of people are like ohh you shouldn't exercise and everything like that. But also you know like the first trimester. I didn't really know I was pregnant at all, but I I thought oh man, I must have like adrenal fatigue or something because I definitely don't feel great. Yeah. And so it wasn't until like I found out I was pregnant. I was like, ohh. Like, that'll make so much.  

Amber B 26:20 

There it is. 

Tia-Clair Toomey-Orr 26:21 

Yeah. Wow. OK. And then you know, I actually didn't really do a whole lot. Like, I went for walks and stuff and I stayed active in terms of like. You know, just just doing everyday everyday stuff. But in terms of exercise, I really didn't do very much. And then it was like maybe halfway through my second trimester that I was like, you know what, like, I think I need to like change things up just to feel something, you know, and I still enjoyed, you know, like my first and 2nd trimester. But it wasn't until I actually started exercising and, you know, going into the gym and doing whatever I wanted. So if I was like, you know what, I just, I wanna just do escorts today and bike. I'm gonna do that like that. It was just so good to move and I felt so good afterwards. Like man, it was. I just. I just thought, you know what stuff these comments and also to share it on social media, it actually got to a point where I was like I'm, I'm going to share more because people are having a go at me more and you know, like of course I'm not out there trying to harm, you know, my child like that is, that's just the fact that people would even suggest or even think that is just disgusting. And so like, I just had to remind myself, like everything that I'm doing is actually for the health of my child has nothing to do with my ego. Like, yeah, I couldn't give two shits about, you know, where I was placing in the open. The only reason I signed up to the open last year is to create point so that this season I didn't have like I wasn't so far down because I, you know, didn't do anything. So like, you know, people just don't know the full story and, you know, make comments about how they want. And I think as a person that's trying to, you know, do the best thing for themselves, I think it's it's important for you to understand, like remind yourself that these people don't know what your goals are. They don't know how you feel on a daily basis and you know, had they realized how great the exercise was making me feel like people would say ohh wait until your last four weeks of your pregnancy and some people, some women, may actually resent me for comment or saying this, but I genuinely got to the last four weeks of my pregnancy. I was like, man, I still feel so great. Like, does that mean, like, I still haven't, like, I'm yet to, like, get to my last four weeks, you know? 

Amber B 29:16 

Yeah, yeah. 

Tia-Clair Toomey-Orr 29:17 

So like, I couldn't have had a better pregnancy and and I get that, like, not everyone has that. Those experiences like some of my best friends in Australia just had their first child themselves and the poor girls like they weren't as lucky as me and didn't have as great of a pregnancy as what I did. So like you know, I'm I'm so thankful and so grateful that like I was able to have such an pleasant experience and I put that down to listening to my body on a daily basis and doing what really made me feel good. And you know, eating. Like I basically like just ate, tried to eat as clean as possible. You know, I still definitely indulged, but I just had such a great time. And really, staying in tune with the body and and giving it what it felt like the first trimester. All I wanted was scrambled eggs. I just didn't really feel like anything else. So I just, I just constantly ate scrambled eggs.  

Amber B 30:23 

That’s crazy. 

Tia-Clair Toomey-Orr 30:24 

And it's just so crazy, you know, like that those those comments, you know, like there's always going to be haters and you know, I sometimes say to myself, ohh, I'm obviously doing something right. If I have haters, you know. 

Amber B 30:35 

That’s right. That's exactly right. 

Tia-Clair Toomey-Orr 30:38 

Yeah, like it. It's just about surrounding yourself with good people too that supports you and love you for who you are. 

Amber B 30:45 

Yeah, yeah. And you said something that's so important and that is that like the best thing for baby is what's the best thing for the mom. And I think that that carries out through throughout your pregnancy, but then also through as you're raising this child and so many moms think that the best thing that they can do for their baby is just like sacrifice themselves and do everything and put them first. And and I really try to help them to understand that like, no best thing you can do for your child is doing things for yourself because then you're a better mom. You're better able to show up happy mom, happy life, right? 

Tia-Clair Toomey-Orr 31:16 

Definitely. 

Amber B 31:17 

It's it's so important. I watched you deadlift over 400 lbs. Beltless at Rogue and I'm telling you that was one of the most inspirational things I have ever seen in like in a long time like the whole beltless thing was just like crazy to me over 400 and and I have to imagine you're having some of those experiences of like there's like you know pre pregnancy PR and then there's like these post pregnancy PR's when you like hit something post pregnancy and what does it feel like to have those like post pregnancy PR's again? 

Tia-Clair Toomey-Orr 31:51 

Well, I think for me right now because I'm trying to get back like I am trying to win the CrossFit Games this season and. 

Amber B 31:59 

Yeah. 

Tia-Clair Toomey-Orr 32:00 

And so, there definitely have been a lot of times where I'm like, wow, like, this is great. Like, this is like the heaviest I've gone. Like I'm seeing progress. And I'm like, so happy and like, I'm just, you know, like. I'm over the moon. Is like the body is finally starting to feel like it's old self, right? But I also need to make sure, like, OK. Like this is not. This is not the the end goal like my. My goal is to to win and you know stand on top of the podium at the end of the season and so, in order to do that I need to be hitting X and and that type of stuff. So a little bit of what I was so happy about. You know, when I was pregnant and, you know, not putting that pressure on myself and everything now I've gone back to having that, you know, pressure that I've put on myself having that expectation. And. You know and. It it's just a part of the job, right? Like, and everyone does this differently. But this is just how I do. Like, this is how I achieve my goals and so. For me, like I am trying to embrace like the process and progress, but I must admit I'm I'm very caught up in. It's it's just not good enough just yet. And so, you know, some people can argue whether or not that's like a good thing or not. But it's just what works well for me because it just makes me check in and ensure I'm not getting complacent you know, and and I'm pushing my envelope a little bit, but it's really interesting, you know, like we're like, I definitely that that was like a really big ask of myself to, like, bounce back back quickly. And you know, in terms of, like, my health, it was fine like I. I was completely healthy. I was completely fine. Was I competition ready? Not at all. And that was that was fine. Like, I knew that going into the competition, but I just had to. I had to be OK with that because I knew that going to Rogue was a part of the process of of setting me up for success this season. 

Amber B 34:19 

Yeah. 

Tia-Clair Toomey-Orr 34:20 

And you know, I really walked away feeling like I had won a lot you know. So the the feeling that I want to like when I finished Rogue is the feeling that you're talking about, you know, like those postpartum PR's and stuff that was like. Heck yeah, I. I fire exceeded my expectations. Is there a lot that I learned? Absolutely. Like I've got such a long way to go. But you know, I I couldn't be more proud. Because not just not just me going out there on the competition floor, but doing a major competition with Willow, breastfeeding Willow, my mum and dad, helping looking after Willow and making sure she was absolutely happy and OK throughout the the weekend staying, you know Shane having to be a dad and and also, you know prioritize me like all just all these things that we we're just learning as we're going throughout the weekend and I just was so excited and proud of of how we went and you know little Willow she just absolutely crushed it. And yeah, it's really cool when she got to come and and, but obviously she's not going to ever remember that. I remember just going out on the floor and being like, wow. She's watching, you know?  

Amber B 35:41 

Yeah, that's so cool. I know mindset and you've kind of talked a little bit about your mindset, so I'd love to like, dig a little deeper with you, mindset is a huge part of what you've been able to accomplish. So when when you think about this word mindset like how do you define that and how do you really train your brain and your mind to have these like peak performances? 

Tia-Clair Toomey-Orr 06:05 

Yes. So basically when it comes to mindset. Like there's different ways to skin the cat. You know, we all we all know that saying. And I think it's really important to understand your why to start off with you know like yeah, why are we doing what we're doing. You know why are we, why are we trying to be the best mum that we possibly can be, why are we trying to go out after that promotion that we've we've been trying to for years now, you know like what are we doing to make ourselves feel fulfilled? Feel happy. You know. What is that why? And and that why changes like you know, sometimes I've had to keep just pushing through the season to understand truly what my why is it has always come to me straight away. But it's also been throughout the years. So when I very first started. And it's quite ironic because we've come full circle now but I I literally said to Shane like I want to pursue this and it was like I want to go to the Olympics. And I want to pursue this CrossFit journey to have memories to share with our future children and now like we have like a little nine months old baby, that is like almost days away from taking her first steps. And I'm like man like. I'm I've literally like created like this. This like little little journal over the last few years that I can show her proof of what's truly capable, what, like what the human can do, you know, and if that's for her, that's. Like being the best pianist like in the world, or, you know, being an artist and you know, doing I don't even know really that well, very well. So like you know, being the best in the world at or whatever it might be like. If I could do what I did then she absolutely can do what she did and like it just it gives you like a little bit more belief because you know you can kind of see it first hand so. I've kind of gone off a little bit of tangent here. I'm so sorry I tend to do that, but basically like understanding your why and doing that and then for me, getting your priorities in check. So you know we all have busy lives. You mentioned you have 4 kids. You know we have Willow now and I'm trying to win the CrossFit Games, but is the CrossFit Games you know, my #1 priority? No. Was it before Willow? Absolutely. And but you know before Willow, I also like love, Shane and. And you know. And number another priority of mine was Shane and my relationship. You know, so there you can definitely have a balance in in trying to be the best in something as well as, you know, maintaining a relationship and so because that's the way I look at it, I definitely think that I can be the best mum that I possibly can be, but also win the CrossFit Games. And I said this to someone the other day, you know, like sometimes I just feel a little bit guilty, but I'm, you know, at the gym all day. And I I worry that, you know, maybe I'm not giving enough time to Willow. So it does that there is a challenge there, but everyone in a way goes through that because, you know, we all have to work. You know, people have a 9 to 5 job, they have to go to job to make a living. So that they can actually you know, pay for things that that kids want to do in the future. And and it was interesting, he said. I don't think it doesn't matter what you do. I think you'll always have that little bit of a parent guilt regardless of what it is, because you know you always think ohh I should be doing more and so that was really fascinating for me to to hear because I was like, yes, that's actually really interesting that you say that because. Like how you. I guess interpret things how you think of things like as long as you get your priorities or you understand your priorities then that allows you to have a better balance and allow you to, I guess will prioritize the the important things in life.  

Amber B 40:43 

Sure. Yeah.

Tia-Clair Toomey-Orr 40:44 

And that helps you not get overwhelmed. And when you don't get overwhelmed, then you can kind of think easier and and you know kind of align yourself. And I do talk about a lot of these things in my book. Like the mere fact of like finding momentum and you know, like motivation. It's it's almost like a temporary thing. You know, you you may listen to this podcast or or you could watch your pipe wheel on Instagram and you know, you get really motivated. And that might motivate you for your your training piece that you have today, but what we're trying to really aim for is creating that momentum to just keep pushing forward and and you know, not just rely on that motivation, we want to create habits that are allowing us to just keep putting 1 foot in front of the other and and knowing like hey, what I do today is going to pay off and and it's going to help me tomorrow, you know. 

Amber B 41:50 

Absolutely, yeah. And you said so you said something so important about the why that I think I I really want to emphasize for people who are listening. And what you said is that like your why has evolved? But it it like sometimes it takes a while to kind of find your why and so for people who maybe are in the process of reaching for whatever their goal is and they're trying to find that why, what advice do you have about about discovering it or about allowing it or or about figuring out what it is that is really driving you? 

Tia-Clair Toomey-Orr 42:19 

Yeah. So I think for me, what I do is I try and think of like, what what's going on in my life, you know, like so for example, like this season. So we just opened up our affiliate and here in Nashville and you know creating like that Community has just been like so exciting and so exhilarating because you know, you got new people coming in to track CrossFit. This is the very first time we've had like, people dropping in. You know, come travelling from all over the the world. And that there is just like it's so great because I mean, I just love meeting people, but I also love seeing people achieve their goals. And and I also love helping them whenever I can. So, you know, having that ability to have that. So for me like I know, like, OK, cool my why? Like amongst obviously having Willow and and trying to be and show her like her mum is freaking a badass, but also is capable of doing some incredible things. I also want to be able to help people around around me too. Like I want to create like an environment that helps people achieve their goals. And so when I'm training, I've literally, like, I'm surrounded by that reminder and and I see people like putting their best foot forward and and kind of struggling along the way and being like, you know what, this is a part of the process. Like I get it. And so when I surround myself with that, I'm constantly reminded of my why? And you know. Every year, like I mentioned, it's it's slightly changed. But so is my surroundings. And so when you when you know what your goal is. And and you know, some people may, it may take a little bit for you to understand what your goal is. You know, once you understand what your goal is. And you know, it could be big. It could be like a 2-year goal. It could be, you know, a next month goal. It could even be simple as like just trying to get find that balance in life. And so you have like, daily goals that you try and hit to win the day.  

Amber B 44:51 

Yeah.  

Tia-Clair Toomey-Orr 44:52 

It really depends on the person, but once you understand that goal then you try and surround yourself with people that are like minded. Because when you surround yourself with people that are like minded like I was saying before. You're constantly reminded about that on a daily basis and then that allows you to really understand and be reminded of what your why is and so for me, like I have a few different why’s that I lean on, obviously and I think it goes without saying like my my absolute why in life is is just to make sure that Willow is always happy, is healthy. You know, and and then like also having like a happy husband, like seeing Shane, you know, happy and and living like the best days of his life is just so rewarding as well. But then walking into our gym. And being surrounded by people that work for proven. But also that come and visit proven and are pushing themselves and learning and you know, evolving as humans like, that's also a really incredible. Like reminder for me as well and so. That's how I've done it over the years is just like surrounding myself in environments that are a constant or a daily reminder, but also that allow you to just. No. Like, hey, you're not the only one in it. You know, like there's everyone else is, like, struggling everyone else is out there giving it their best efforts and if they can. Do it well then. So can you. And that's that's definitely helped me throughout my journey. And it's it's gonna change, you know, like sometimes you you may not have that environment to surround yourself in, but then that's where you pull up little sticky notes around the house to remind you or you know, that's where you can kind of like read some self-help books. Like I I love. Well, I never really loved reading until I realized, like I needed to read to kind of find or. I guess settle my thoughts and it's a little bit like journaling, but I I also found reading really beneficial too to help keep me on track and and, you know, remind me of not things that were like, Oh my God. Like, I've never thought of that. But just like, ah, yes. Like, that is exactly how I felt but I've never really been able to put it in words. 

Amber B 47:31 

Yeah, it's so good. You talked about surrounding yourself with, like, the right people and how it's easier to do hard things when you're surrounded with people who are also doing hard things. And it just makes me think of like the beauty of the open of where we're going through these workouts. Everybody knows it's going to suck. We're all miserable, but we're doing it all together. And so it becomes like a party of miserable people doing really hard things. And it's like it's my favorite thing. And I love that. Tell me a little bit about how you feel about, like, excuses, shortcuts, hacks like procrastination. Talk about your mindset around those things. 

Tia-Clair Toomey-Orr 48:08 

Yes, so. That I mean. Excuses are just ways for people to feel, feel good about themselves and why they're not keeping themselves accountable, right. And that's just that's just the way it is. You know and. Like man, I I even catch myself doing some excuses every so often and I'm like, fire out here like, pull your head in like, that's just an excuse. Like, there's no reason why you can't go and do this or you can't go and. Do that and. You know and. I'm not talking like this. Isn't just in training. This like this is in different facets of my life. Right and so. Like. When you come up with excuses, you you really are just trying to trying to make yourself feel, feel better for why you aren't going out after your dreams and and you know like. It's just the way it is. If you're OK with it then like I think you just gotta ask yourself, like, hey, am I living up to my expectation? Right. You know, am I happy? Like what? What are my goals? Like, what do I want to achieve in life? Am I, you know, financially stable? And am I happy with that? Am I living a happy, fulfilling life like every time like. If I think back throughout my years, you know, there was a period there where financially, we just really needed to like double down and and try and make some money and. You know, Shane, he supported us throughout our first few years of of being a competitive athlete because you know, I just wasn't getting the sponsorships and you need to in order to come over to the CrossFit Games from Australia like it cost thousands and thousands of dollars you. And that's just for the CrossFit games, that's. That's not the like throughout the season, so it's like, OK, yeah, like. A A huge priority had to be like financial and we and we really needed to focus on money. And then like throughout that, of course, like finances are are always going to be a huge portion of people's lives because. in order to like eat and and do all that you need to actually afford your groceries and stuff like that. So that's just like a reality that as I have progressed and also as I've tried to evolve as a as a person and even as an athlete. I've really tried to double down and hey, hey. I really tried to double down and like find cracking it because. It wasn't until I was pregnant and I was like wow. You know, and I've said this before, like I really enjoyed walking into the gym versus like just drag my feet thinking, ohh, great. Like I'm going to have to kill, like, sell myself today and, you know, and there's a purpose behind it. So like. It really does come down to the person and what they want to achieve in their life and and what's really going on deep down inside their life that they have to have that hard, like, have that hard conversation with themselves to determine like, hey am I. Am I procrastinating, you know, like, am I making excuses on why I'm not achieving something. Then even if you have to also talk with a friend or, you know, sit like a a psych or someone to give you that hard talk, you know? Yeah, those people are the people you do want in your life because they're the ones that are gonna give it to you straight and always want to have like yes men in your life. 

Amber B 52:06 

That's right. Yeah. OK, you're super strong, right. We talked about the 400lb dead lift. The beltless dead lift, but the title of your new book, which I love, is that The Heart Is The Strongest Muscle. So as somebody who has very strong muscles in the other parts of your body, why is that the title of the book? 

Tia-Clair Toomey-Orr 52:29 

Yeah. So because the way I see things and the way I I see how people live their life is like you you got, you know the the expression like wear your heart on your sleeve, you know. And you can see someone like when they're really trying hard. Like you can you you'd say like ohh wow like that person you know he he's really wearing his heart on his sleeve you know. And when I was growing up like. My dad would always say Tia. You know you're so fit. You're so you're so ready for this. Like CrossFit competition. Sorry. It was cross country at the time. So you're, you're so ready. You've trained hard. You are. You know, you've done the work. And regardless of the result, I just want to see you. I want to see how big your heart is. So when you know the time is tough and you really you really come to that. I guess crossroad in your life and it comes back to those excuses. You know, like when when you you're making up those excuses, you're procrastinating on something. And you're you're gonna ask yourself, like, do I really want this or you? Know do I really want to dig a little bit deeper just to just to get a little bit further ahead. And I really felt like through that, like, that's where you see how big someone's heart is. And so my dad would always say, like. You know, show me how big your heart is Tia. So when you're like, you know, 3/4 around 3/4 or at halfway on that cross country track and you're like, shit like I've, I've still got halfway to go. Like, I'm really hurting. I know everyone else is hurting, but can I just dig a little bit deeper in, you know, That's that's kind of like the question of like, you know, how badly do you really want it? And and that shows, you know, how big your heart is because the bigger your heart is, the harder you're going to try. And you know, the more you're not, you're not going to create excuses. You're not going to procrastinate over something and. And I thought that that was just such a fitting title for the book because, you know, we can all be strong, we can all be fit, we can all all do that. But not everyone has a big heart. And you know, it's, it's actually about seeing how how good you can really be or you know, just be how, like, see how proud you can really get on trying to achieve something you know, 

Amber B 55:06 

Yeah. That's so good. Yeah. And I'm. I'm super excited to read the book because, like you said, you know, reading about about people you want to become like or reading about people who have been super successful. I'm always curious about how do you think about things? Right. What? What are you telling yourself when you go to the gym? And you don't want to do it. And being able to see that modeled in in this book and be able to help us apply some of those winner mindsets that you have and be able to apply it to our journey. I'm just, I'm super excited about the about the book and what you’ve written. OK. Last question and this is just like a quick question. I want to know if you could program like your favorite workout and a workout that you would look at and be like, yes, I'm so excited to do that workout like what would those movements be? What would that would the structure of that workout look like? 

Tia-Clair Toomey-Orr 55:57 

See, this is a hard one for me because I like a lot of movements, but. You know some of the staples that I've I really like are like double unders, GHD's ring muscle ups. And you know, maybe like a three grounder, like something, something like where you can really just go for it. You don't have to, like, take it out. Yeah, but they're they're, they're probably like, you know, three good movements that I think have nice variety. The GHD's may make the muscles a little bit challenging. But you know you can still push through and I just realized I have a lot of body weight movements there, not no, no lifting. 

Amber B 56:43 

It's so funny because you're so known for your lifting and your snatching. 

Tia-Clair Toomey-Orr 56:50 

I know. Always, always still on the spanner in the works. 

Amber B 56:53 

I love it. Well, this has been amazing. Thank you so much for your time, Tia. Is there anything else you want to say about the book to kind of promote it or help people want to read it? I'm so excited to read it, but just tell us a little bit about the book and we'll find it. 

Tia-Clair Toomey-Orr 57:06 

Yeah, absolutely. So if you guys are on Instagram, you can easily get it through the link in my bio. But yeah, if I guess like the reason I wrote this book is purely to help fast track people in, in their life. And you know, they're there's like 10 chapters where, like, I talk about in depth like basically everything that you asked me and. Like understanding like your why and how you go about this and you know. Like I've put in these. I guess you know tools is what I've I've been calling it is like here are these tools that I've applied and I've learned that have contributed to my success and learning how to overcome adversity and facing these obstacles and you know, kind of embracing them versus like being feed from them and you know how to overcome failure and you know, we get scared about failing and things, but how to embrace failure is is really important and so understanding that being OK with that, serving yourself with good people, like all this, all this good stuff that we we hear about, but we're not sure exactly how to apply it like I I'd go into depth about that. So if you don't like reading, that's fine. I actually did actually read my book on audio so people can actually hear me read it. But yeah it. It's something that I'm very, very proud of and I I have found a lot of benefits from these tools that I've applied throughout my career and I I just hope that they help people regardless of what they're trying to achieve, to to go out there and absolutely smash their goals. 

Amber B 58:57 

I love it. That's so awesome and we will link all that up and the show notes, we'll link out to the book so if you're wanting to pick it up. You can, and you can read all about the tools that Tia uses to be able to be a six time CrossFit games champion, and thank you so much for coming on Tia. Good luck this year with the open. I will be watching the games and I can't wait to see you compete postpartum like you're doing it for all the moms and. I'm so super excited. 

Tia-Clair Toomey-Orr 59:23 

I know. Yeah. So someone messaged me and was like, man, how cool would it be being like the fittest mom in the world, like smells like that's a freaking sic title. 

Amber B 5:33 

Right. That’s what I’m saying. Like, I mean it. Yeah, it's I. I am rooting for you and Willow is rooting for you. And I know Shane’s rooting for you, but I'm very excited to see what you do. 

Tia-Clair Toomey-Orr 59:44 

Thank you so much for your time. And I appreciate you guys having me on. 

Amber B 59:48 

Thanks so much.  

Amazing Interview 59:50 

What an amazing experience for me to be able to speak face to face with someone who I really admire and look up to and have just watched from afar and watched her just absolutely crush CrossFit, absolutely crushed workouts, absolutely you know, do the things that she sets out to do and her mentality, her focus, her drive is unrelenting and it's just just such an honor to be able to interview her and be able to bring her on the podcast and share her with you. Because I know some of you are cross fitters and you probably know exactly who Tia-Clair Toomey-Orr is and some of you are not in the CrossFit world and you may have no idea who she is. But now you've been introduced to her. And like I said, we will link up in the show notes. So if you go to bicepsafterbabies.com/320, then we'll have all the show notes there and we'll link up to her book if you're wanting to dive more into learning about her, about her mindset, about how she thinks about the world, how she trains and how she's gone to the where she is today. That wraps up this episode of Biceps After Babies Radio. I'm Amber, now go out and be strong because remember my friend, you can do anything.  

Outro

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