In this three part series Mariem Dekhili, DET’s Podcast Presenter, talks with Justin Garcia: Calisthenics Coach at Gravity Dubai, International Gymnast, and Mental Health Advocate.
Growing Up Small, But Growing Tall
(00:00) Justin Garcia: Oh man, there’s a lot to unpack there.
So I grew up not being an athletic kid; I was a nerd. I sat on my computer all day, I played games, and I didn’t have a lot of friends.
By the time I was 18 years old, I weighed about 45kg, so I was not in any standard shape looking like a ‘man.’ I also grew up in a Mexican community in Los Angeles where, again, I mean I am not the tallest person either.
(00:29) Justin Garcia: I was built like a 12 year old and I could legally vote and I had a job and I was driving.. so it was weird.
I started trying to, well no, let me rewind. At that time, instead of going to university, I went and taught myself music and I taught myself how to play six different instruments and I started performing and teaching and I was kind of doing it as a way to make enough money to pay my bills and I was happy, I was good.
From the Books to the Gym
(00:58) Justin Garcia: Then one of the lead singers of the band I played for, I had a bit of a crush on her.
I think it was known amongst our group, but like I had a bit of a crush on her. We were all a close knit friends group. There was one day where she was like, oh my God, Justin, this weekend, let’s go run. I was like, yeah, totally. I love running. I don’t, I mean I still don’t.
(01:24) Justin Garcia: But in my head, I was like, oh great, this is alone time, know? Like we can finally hang out one on one.
So that weekend we went to a park, we ran like 400 meters, we did like 10 squats and some, like nothing that I would definitely not consider now as a workout, but I was like, woo, that was great, we should do this weekly.
I was like, oh yeah, for sure. Then that day I went home and spent hours researching, about fitness plans and workout programs and what to do with this and that and this and that.
(01:53) Justin Garcia: I went overboard a bit, for sure. I ended up designing her like a three day a week plan for training for like a month.
I called her the next day and I was like, hey, scrap the weekly thing.
We’re doing this. You’re not eating this anymore. We’re not doing this anymore. And like by no means was she like out of shape or like really bad in any sort, but I wanted to invest time and energy into her journey.
(02:22) Justin Garcia: I was just looking for a way to spend time with her.
This seemed to be the current interest, so I was like, let's go with it, you know? But the people in a circle started to notice her shift, like her energy, her shape, her looks, her performance... everything.
Accidental Career Change: Fitness
Then people would ask like, oh, Justin, know, not Justin, leave her name out. What are you doing? What’s going on? And she was like, oh, I’m training with Justin. And then she would point behind her to the skeleton playing the piano.
(02:49) Justin Garcia: While everybody’s practicing and warming up, and they’re just like, what, are you sure? Like, it was him? And then a couple other people started asking me, and then I was like, yeah, sure, I’ll help you out.
Then they asked me the golden question, which was, "how much do you charge?"
Stay Up to Date with the Latest on DET!
El Fasher in Crisis: Genocide Under the RSF
The Role of AI in a Future EU-GCC FTA
