← Living Your Legacy
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- [00:00]
Gigi Steele
Bruce Lee had this thing said, if you want to learn how to swim, you have to first throw yourself into the water. People say, gigi, what does that mean? It's like, should I just go drown myself? It's like, we both know that's ridiculous, right? But you have to know the water. You have to be the water. And a lot of people spend a lot of energy trying to manage things in the water that you just can't manage. You can't manage buoyancy except with body position. Yeah, it doesn't matter how much effort you put in, you're going to hit a wall.
- [00:28]
Narrator
Gigi Steele is the founder and head swim coach at Gigi Steele Swimming where she comb 50 years of swimming experience with the precision of an engineer to help swimmers reach their full potential. Ranked among the top coaches in the U.S. she's empowered hundreds to build confidence, resilience and excellence in and out of the water.
- [00:45]
Gigi Steele
People that are overconfident, they never have a drive for success. When I look back and I figured, why was I successful? Because I was willing to learn from others.
- [00:55]
Podcast Host
Talking about the success and the mindset side, what do you see in the, the higher end athletes? Is there a common set of denominators of winners that you see in sport?
- [01:05]
Gigi Steele
One would say like, hey gg, is it like, do you have to be this tall to be a swimmer? Or you know, like, what about just innate athletic ability? Well, all the top people that I've worked with, they, they have just.
- [01:21]
Podcast Host
It spans the globe like a super high cold Internet Elvis.
- [01:28]
Podcast Intro Voice
Today, Apple is going to reinvent the phone. It's over until I win. The living your legacy podcast. For those who live to leave a legacy that's extraordinary. The impossible has happened. Oh, that is sensational. Jordan Open Chicago was the lead. You said Paul is the fastest man on the planet. You can live your dream.
- [02:01]
Podcast Host
Hello and welcome back to another episode. Joining me today is Gigi. We have a pretty awesome story here and something that I'm very passionate about, which is sport, athletics and mindset. So we're going to dive into the mindset of success in and out of sport and you know, no one better to do it with. A coach, a philosopher, engineer, many talents. So welcome to the show.
- [02:25]
Gigi Steele
Well, well, thank you so much. Yeah. Greetings everybody. Gigi Steele. Happy to share my story and hopefully help you win on top of your story.
- [02:34]
Podcast Host
So Gigi, let's talk about, you know, engineer, obviously swim expert, swim coach. You know, how have you kind of gone through all these things and how did you Land on swimming.
- [02:46]
Gigi Steele
Well, you know, I was talking to my dad about this the other day and I said, well, you know what, what did you and my mom like, see in me? Was there some innate talent? Was there a magic moment? I said, oh, well, you know, we're going to put Gigi in the pool, you know. Well, my dad says, well, you know, I think it was just a genetic disposition because he talked about when he first met my mom and the first time that he went out with her in a car, she had her surfboard in the car.
- [03:11]
Podcast Host
Oh, there you go. That's the California work.
- [03:13]
Gigi Steele
So even when I was, before I was one year old, my mom had this idea like, well, I'm gonna go get a small baby pool, put it in a sixth floor apartment, fill it with water and put my kid in there. So they said that I was never as happy as I was when I was put in the water. So from then on, I said, well, what do we do with Gigi? It's like, well, just put her in the. So, so water became my thing. So I tell people I'm more comfortable in the water than not.
- [03:36]
Podcast Host
So I hear that with a lot of pro swimmers, they're just, they, as a kid, they were like smiling and always happiest in the water.
- [03:43]
Gigi Steele
Yeah. You know, and, you know, and as when you become an adult and people say, you know, they have a hard time understanding you, they say, well, well, how do I, how do I connect with you more? I said, well, if you swam as many laps between two walls as I am, you, you'd kind of be messed up too, you know, but, but it's, it's about humility. I mean, I, I think it's, you know, people that are overconfident, they, they never have a drive for success. So I think you have to have this mindset that you always are looking for the next adventure, the next learning experience. And, and I think that's, that's when I look back and I figured out why was I successful? Because I was willing to learn from others.
- [04:21]
Podcast Host
Yeah, I love that. I love that. And I mean, that's, you know, why I was a coach and a personal trainer for many years. And obviously you're, you're coaching a lot. I think that's what makes great at athletes and students and even entrepreneurs is the ability to be coachable, you know?
- [04:37]
Gigi Steele
Yeah. Well, and, you know, and that, that's the thing is like, you know, if you, if, you know, I heard this one thing once and it really resonated with me. It Says if you want to, if you really want to know what you know, you first have to teach it to somebody. And so, you know, I, you know, I never envisioned myself as being a swim coach, you know, but, but during my engineering career, you know, I had.
- [04:57]
Podcast Host
To kind of, it was a bit of a difference.
- [04:59]
Gigi Steele
Yeah, I had to, I had to remake myself several times. And then, you know, when I said, well, okay, hey, to be a better engineering manager, I need to understand like organizational theory and all these kind of concepts that go into business because swimming is a business of your own improvement, you know, so it really resonated with me after I finished my MBA and then my engineering career in defense kind of got washed out. And I said, okay, well, what can I do while I'm trying to get back into commercial side engineering? And I said, well, hey, I really know how to swim. So I just started teaching people.
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Podcast Host
Okay.
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Gigi Steele
And it just, I never felt more excited, more valuable because you could get instant results. You know, all my effort on teaching and in the water, working with the person and just see how they evolve it.
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Podcast Host
Yeah, well, and I guess I kind of see the connection. Like, engineering is very detail orientated and swimming, you know, out of every sport, so technique driven.
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Gigi Steele
You know, my, my, my undergrad's in mechanical engineering.
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Podcast Host
Okay, there you go.
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Gigi Steele
So, you know, and I always had an interest in biomechanics and I never really realized that when I was in engineering school. I was always thinking about, well, how does that apply to swimming? But because it was just so natural for me to think about that, I didn't, I didn't even take credit for that.
- [06:16]
Podcast Host
Yeah, yeah, well, I mean, yeah, like, I have a, I have a sports science and a master's degree in sports science and we do biomechanics as part of it. And yeah, you know, I can sketch stuff pretty well and I do a lot of construction because I own real estate. And I think if you have that brain where you can kind of see how joints connect, which is engineering, it helps a lot in swimming too, to know how high your elbows should be. Pull through.
- [06:39]
Gigi Steele
Now it's so funny because, like, you know, through, through even my episode, which I'm sure you guys will really enjoy. And then every student that I've had will tell you, Gigi makes me think about swimming like no one else makes me think about swimming. And so it's funny, people think, oh, Gigi's super technical and she's very deep and this and that, but yet when I teach swimming, I tried to figure out, well, how do I teach this? Infinitely complex.
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Podcast Host
Yes.
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Gigi Steele
Biomechanics to a four year old.
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Podcast Host
Yeah. Very third grade level.
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Gigi Steele
So like the American Red Cross, their swim program, they Recommend Starting at 4 years old. Right. And they have all these different levels, level one, level two. And so. Okay, well, if you learn bad habits that we had talked a little bit before the episode about, you know, habits and how do you actually make improvement? So I tell people, no matter what level they're starting at, let's build a framework that you and I can communicate around. And so that framework starts with Archimedes principle, which is buoyancy. And so everything I do when I'm coaching ties back to buoyancy and body position.
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Podcast Host
Yeah.
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Gigi Steele
And, and so, you know, in my, in my mind, I remember even having this, this metaphor when I was younger, when I was swimming in the pool. I always imagined that a second part of me, you know, my, maybe my, my. I don't know, it's a second, second spirit. Right. Was this owl looking over me, okay. And, and saying, well, is your body position correct? You know, is your head down? Right. You know, you know, where are your hips? You know, so, so I was always my own worst critic, you know, but.
- [08:07]
Podcast Host
Not a bad way. Yeah. Well, it's so technique based. Like even when I swim, you know, you're trying to remember four, I'm trying to remember four or five different things at once.
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Gigi Steele
Well, this is the problem. It's like you, you, muscle memory takes a while to develop and almost an infinite time to correct.
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Podcast Host
Yeah, well, that's why it's so hard for me now because I'm constantly trying to change something I've done.
- [08:28]
Gigi Steele
So that's really the forte, I think, that I bring to my coaching style is drills. And I develop specific drills that are custom made. You can't go find them in other books. They're kind of, you could say, well, that's kind of like this other drill, but I put in a little bit different instruction set. So there's always the use of the kickboard and you know, getting the, getting the body position relaxed. You know, it's, it's all really about, you know, like Bruce Lee had this thing said, if you want to learn how to swim, you have to first throw yourself into the water. And so there's a philosophy for you, right? People say, gigi, what does that mean? It's like, should I just go drown myself? It's like, we both know that's ridiculous, right? But you have to know the water, you have to be the water. And A lot of people spend a lot of energy trying to manage things in the water that you just can't manage. You can't manage buoyancy except with body position.
- [09:20]
Podcast Host
Yeah.
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Gigi Steele
So if your body position is incorrect, it doesn't matter how much effort you put in, you're never gonna, you're gonna hit a wall.
- [09:27]
Podcast Host
Right.
- [09:28]
Gigi Steele
So, so what I look for, even with advanced swimmers is, are they even aware of their body position?
- [09:34]
Podcast Host
Yep.
- [09:34]
Gigi Steele
And if, if they have some major issues with their stroke. Before I start saying, hey, you're not getting enough catch or, you know, your, your shoulder's not upright. First thing is how, how do you think about how you are in the water? You know, and so if you, if, because if you, if they're not aware.
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Podcast Host
Of their body position. Yeah.
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Gigi Steele
Every, everything I tell them about how to correct their stroke is, is, is going to almost work against them.
- [10:00]
Podcast Host
Yeah, I love that. And then talking about the, the success and the mindset side, you know, you've worked with obviously a lot of beginners and then high, you know, also the opposite end. Right. You know, high end athletes. So what, what, what do you see in the, the higher end athletes? Is there a common set of denominators of winners that you see in sport?
- [10:21]
Gigi Steele
You know, one would say like, hey, Gigi, is it like, do you have to be this tall to be a swimmer? Or, you know, like, what about just innate athletic ability? Well, all the top people that I've worked with, they, they have just intrinsic athletic potential.
- [10:35]
Podcast Host
Yeah, right.
- [10:36]
Gigi Steele
Like, they're, they're just like, hey, some racehorses will run fast, some race horses. Well, they should probably not be a racehorse. Right. But you know, everybody can get to a fairly competitive level. You don't necessarily need that athletic prominence. You know, and I would say most of the people that are at the high level is because they were willing to fail. They went through some down periods, they, they missed some trials, maybe they had an injury, you know, whether it was swimming related or unrelated. And they said, you know what? Swimming is the only thing that makes me feel like I'm really myself and I'm going to recommit to that. You know, I was just reading a story the other day. A master swimmer had, was, you know, won a couple events at a master's meet and was later went back and collapsed in his house. And it turns out he had brain cancer. And you know, through the rehabilitation process, he said, you know what, I'm going to swim during my rehab, you know, because swimming is my core swimming. So it brings me back to myself. And then, you know, he triumphed by going back and competing in a meet, you know, So I think it's, everybody has phases. You know, you're like, I mean, you even see this with some people on the U.S. nationals team, some of the top college teams, they'll be off like one season, you know, and then they recommit. They, they said, you know what? I thought I was at the top, you know, so you, I think it's that humility like you and I were talking about that is the hallmark of, of driving you to the highest level.
- [12:11]
Podcast Host
Yeah, yeah. And I think in most sports you have to have that because especially, you know, I'm a triathlete. But swimming, running, most of those sports come down to one of one big event every year, but especially one big event every four years. And you can spend four years of perfect training and get sick the night before.
- [12:29]
Gigi Steele
Absolutely.
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Podcast Host
And it's all, you know, I always say athletics is, it's probably harder than entrepreneurship because entrepreneurship, you can get better every day and make money every day and do things every day. But sport, you can be perfect for months, come to one season, you know, one moment and make a mistake.
- [12:46]
Gigi Steele
Exactly what you're talking about. I think this is something that challenges people as they get up in the sport. You know, it's like when you go from your community, you know, summer swim league to a USA Swimming team, and then maybe you, you get onto a college, a high level college team, and then maybe you, you go to some trials for the Olympics and stuff. So at each level there's an intense amount of preparation, but the, the, the severity of that preparation gets more and more and more. And, and, and as you, I'm sure you're aware if you're, if you're training for a triathlon or you're a competitor on a high level team, or maybe you're even like I was when I was swimming for Navy Junior when I was 9, 9, 10 years old. Swimming's a lifestyle.
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Podcast Host
Yeah.
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Gigi Steele
I mean, and so, so it's, it's, you know, when it's so funny because like, swimmers don't mind being called swimmers, but other people would, would mind being associated with like whatever they're doing in sports. Right. But swimmers kind of like they were as a badge of art, you know, triathletes too, you got green hair, you always smell like chlorine, and, and your, and your car is just filled with swim gear. You got your swim jacket, you got your goggles, kickboards, caps, wetsuits. That's Your choice. Right. And so swim. To really make that choice, if you want to be called a swimmer, you have to decide, yeah, I want to be a swimmer.
- [14:02]
Podcast Host
And what about, you know, one thing you're saying there, that I do think swimming, obviously, triathlon and most sports, but consistency. Swimming's the sort of thing where, like, you know, we talk about the touch of the water. If you get out of it for a while, you lose that touch and feel with the water. So how. How important is consistency and success?
- [14:19]
Gigi Steele
I have this debate sometimes with folks, and I think it's a function of age as well and how long you've trained in swimming. The longer you've trained on a macro level, I think the easier it is to get back into.
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Podcast Host
Yeah. Polytechnic.
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Gigi Steele
But you still need to have, like, some coaches and some others that'll help you kind of like, recover those small skills. Right. Like, you know, it's like anybody can get on a bike. Right. But there's certain techniques on riding, if you want endurance, there's certain techniques. So, you know, there's. There's different frameworks and ideas on swimming. There's. There's different, technically, like, three different styles when it comes to freestyle, mainly in terms of are you a sprinter, are you kind of that intermediate, you know, 200 to 400 kind of person, or are you doing the 8, 800 like Katie Ledecky crushes? Right. So you have to know what you're good at and. And you kind of focus on that. On rare occasion, there's somebody that comes along that. That can do it.
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Podcast Host
Yeah, yeah.
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Gigi Steele
I mean, I'm thinking, like, you know, Biondi, you know, there's a few other swimmers, you know, and Phelps, obviously.
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Podcast Host
Yeah.
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Gigi Steele
You know, and I always get excited in the Olympics, you know, when. When the. The team has had, you know, a lot of good individual stuff and you bring the relay together.
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Podcast Host
Yeah, yeah, the relay.
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Gigi Steele
I mean, I'm getting goosebumps just thinking about relays, you know, because to me, that was, you know, swimming is an individual thing mostly. Like, it's you versus the pool, right? Yeah. It's you versus, like, you know, you know, the weaker side of yourself. And you're trying to say, yeah, I'm going to overcome this, you know, but when you get on a relay team, somehow you take on the personality of your team and even the other swimmers that are in your relay. And I was never so excited as the end of the meet and whatever you had happen in your individual events, you push that all behind you. And I remember when I was swimming For Navy Junior, we would paint ourselves up. Go Navy. And of course, I was the backstroker, so I always was the person who started off. So, hey, I can't mess this up. I need a head start. But it was a joy because, okay, we have three more legs to win.
- [16:22]
Podcast Host
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
- [16:23]
Gigi Steele
But anyway, the teamwork part of it isn't. Should not be overlooked. Okay, So, I mean, think about this. If you're a coach of a community swim team or even a USA Swimming team, you're going to have constantly new swimmers come in on board. Well, that's your future. You know, how do you inspire them? You really need to first inspire them by showing them the value of the organization and how everybody on this team, regardless of their ability, regardless of their speed right now is a valuable person on this team. Because if. If you don't. If you don't figure out how to get them excited about that culture, well, what's the motivation to improve? You know, so I. I've seen a lot of coaches and I've. I've had some interesting conversations. I said, you know, I know it's easy to focus on the superstars, but there's other superstars that could.
- [17:11]
Podcast Host
You.
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Gigi Steele
You could make, you know, so that's. That's humility. I take with when I'm coaching. And, you know, some people, some coaches say, well, I always want to focus on this type of athlete or this type of swimmer. I said, well, you know, you're kind of leaving out your learning curve.
- [17:26]
Podcast Host
Yeah, yeah, yeah. No, I love that approach. So, last question. As we wrap people, maybe they want to, you know, learn swimming for the first time or make their stroke better or follow your journey. Where do they. Where do they find you? What's the best way?
- [17:41]
Gigi Steele
So you can just put GG Steel Swimming or Gigi Steel Coach. Gigi, I'm on Coach Up. Currently. I'm number two in California, number eight in the country on Coach up, and I've done virtual coaching. So even if you're on a team in Michigan or Maryland or Florida, I do. I have a great online program. You know, it requires you at. What really is helpful is you get some videos, ear strokes and drills, and then will re. Will revisit those videos and I'll give you some instructions and new drills.
- [18:10]
Podcast Host
Good.
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Gigi Steele
So we develop a very solvent relationship through, you know, person to person online. Love it.
- [18:16]
Podcast Host
Love it. Well, everyone, that's a wrap. I hope you enjoyed today's episode, talking about the success and mindset of athletes and how it crosses over into entrepreneurship and everything you do. And I hope you enjoyed today's episode. And remember, if you're ever trying to learn to swim for the first time or get a little faster like I'm after, obviously, go check her out and all the stuff and website and coach up and all that.
- [18:37]
Gigi Steele
Great. I enjoyed our conversation.
- [18:39]
Podcast Host
Yeah. Thank you so much. Keep working hard, everyone, and build an impact. Leave a legacy. I'll see you soon. Take care.