Episode 99: Get Excited About Your Life with Legendary Coach Chip Chilson

Welcome to this episode of the Million Dollar Mastermind. I'm Larry Weidell, and let's get started. All right. I'm really excited to introduce to you the legendary Aspen ski and cycling coach, Chip Chilson. Hello, Chip.

Hey, Larry Waddell. Thank you for having me on your podcast.

Yes, sir. Appreciate you taking the time and you know, Chip has lived the life. He'd be the envy of most male adults, maybe just adults in general in terms of being able to live a life on his own terms, out doing things he loves and the outdoors in the winter. He skis, he coaches skiing, and he's on the mountain. I don't know how many day. We were talking about that at dinner last week, Chip, how many? You know, it's a big thing out here if you get a hundred day pin. And the mountain is only open from Thanksgiving to usually about the second week or so of April, so it's not an unlimited number of days in there. But how many days do you say you, you, you ski on an average year?

The answer to that question is about 130 or 135. But you have to understand that, you know, I'm a full time, you know, ski professional there too, so I'm trying to glean, you glean a living, you know, for family and things like that too. So it's a little unusual, but, but.

It'S still, it's still crazy to be able to be out on the mountain 130 days a year. And you've done that for what, 10, 20 years, something like that?

You know, I'm actually gonna get my 30 year pen this year.

And that's just the scheme part of the program, folks. And the big love, and maybe a bigger love for Chip has been the cycling. And he coaches cycling. He's been all over the United States. He's been on trips, flown over to Europe to spend a week or two weeks or whatever, you know, coaching and training people up for events over there. Probably every event you could do pretty much in cycling. Chip has been there. He know, he's been there, he knows the people there. And no better voice of experience when it comes to athletics. And I thought it'd be interesting just to hear from. He runs, he runs one of the most famous cycling camps in the country to kind of kick off the new year in Moab, the cycling year first or second week of November in Moab, Utah. And he's doing that for 10, 15 years. How many years has it been, Chip.

Running events in Moab? Probably well over 15 years.

So you're outside all year long and you're dealing with people who come to you. What I want to talk to you about is peak performance. You got involved in that, pursuing peak performance in those particular sports pretty much just as you grew up. You know, I've heard about you guys going up at the mountains and creating ramps and you know, all kind of crazy stuff that, not just to do it, but to get really, really good at it. And now you're at a point where you spend a lifetime perfecting those insights, that experience and a lot like what I've done in terms of passing on what I know to a lot of people and have them come up and be incredibly successful and, you know, if I'm honest, become more successful than me, which is the greatest joy of all. And you've had that, seen that happen in athletics. Maybe, you know, maybe not more successful, but you know, you've, you've seen some amazing turnarounds. So talk about what, how you got going on this life of outdoor activity in sports and competition and you know, just what many people would think is a dream, dream life and would trade everything for, you know, and we were talking about the other day, you know, that, that time we were the restaurant and Representative Paul Ryan came by, you know, know, he went on to become the speaker and. But what he.

Great moment.

Yeah, his, his main thing, he what? Before he went to Washington, he wanted, he wanted to be Chip Chilson, you know, he wanted that kind of life. But then he got screwed and his mother got him an internship in Washington and he never left. But you know, there's a lot of people would love to have this is a dream, you know, they'd be the first choice and you've had a chance to live it and have all kind of other experiences to go along with that. But all of that centered around really peak performance and reaching your peak. So how did you, you know, you've had your own gym and give people kind of a quick 60 second run up to how you got where you are today.

You know, I think it's like, you know, first of all, kudos to you, Larry. I mean, Widell, on winning. I mean, I followed your format and your encouragement through the many years. I can't even tell you enough. And it's the same philosophy, you know, it's basically surrounding yourself with great people and wherever you are, whether you're in Chicago on the baseball or football field, you know, being an Aspen as a kid, you know, you deflected the ski club. So, you know, that Was our mountains, were our, our playing field. And growing up in and around great, great athletes at the ski club and then following around on the hill and then pursuing, you know, local level races to Europe and international, and then, you know, it goes on from there. So, you know, it's a product of, you know, growing up here is what it is. So, you know, grateful for that many times over and from, and that environment.

You'Re surrounded with people who, not only do you want to do things, you're surrounded by people who want to do things. They want to get out, they want to move, they want, they, they want to learn how to do it, but they want to just see how good they can get. And that's an intriguing subject, isn't it?

Exactly. I mean, like Larry Wydell, their blood, these athletes, their blood runs hot. And they're looking for excellence all the time. And, you know, it's a matter of getting yourself on board with them, following their path, taking a step back to watch and learn from them, and then seeing if you can parallel their, their athletic talent and even surpass them. And that happens sometimes if you're fortunate to really study the, study the sport.

And the people that you've seen come into town and change their lives. Some of the people have come and they stayed here and they've changed their life. What, what are some of the things that really stand out to you the most?

Well, I, you know, I just think that lifestyle, you know, quality of life is what brought them into the mountains, kind of current what's going on currently with the world in itself and the whole virus pandemic situation. They want be in a better environment for themselves, for the kids, for their family. They may have some health restrictions. They get a little bit of a wake up call. They come here, you know, they found out about my program and then, you know, it's like going to a doctor. Find out exactly where their fitness is at that current time, where their health is, and then give them a prescription for success. So starting out slow, just like we did with you, and you were masterful. You know, you took your time, you listened to, it's not easy. You engaged in the program and, you know, you went through a long periodization to where you got really, really good at it. That's the, you know, small end of the prescription for success. You know, it's been, it's, it's a beautiful journey.

I've asked you before about that. When you put together programs for people, you've got, if you're going to reach your Peak. If you're going to make progress, you've got to be in a program. Is that a good statement?

Absolutely. It's not going to happen with a magic pill. It's not going to happen in, you know, three minutes out of your day. I mean, if you're really serious about this, if you study health and fitness and, you know, excellence, you know, a periodization plan, you know, people start with a full year, you know, for a goal that might be two or three years out. It takes time. It's like life itself. You know, you got to prepare every day with, you know, good planning, meals, nutrition, hydration. You know, your exercise in between, family is important. It's all careful dosage and you have to have a vision. That's going to take some time.

And you do this in stages. You know, I've always thought that life is a series of projects with deadlines. And that's a lot like it is in racing. You get some goal. We're talking cycling now, not skiing, but you get some kind of goal because I don't know that we can all be ski racers. But I know that there's races, cycling races for just about every kind of person, every age, all over the country. And so once you get into the. The sport, you start finding out about these competitions like golf. You know, there's all kind of places you can compete in golf, once you get good, you like to, you know, enter some of these tournaments, you know, and maybe if it's a partnership thing, get a good partner and kind of try and peak your performance where you can go out there and win something. But in cycling, you got to have. It's just like in life or set your business, you've got to have a project, you got to have a goal, you got to have something specific, and it's got a deadline where you are working with a purpose. And how does that play out? Is that. Is that a big, tough thing to get new people to buy into?

No, not at all. I think it's today's world. It's. The opportunities are abound. I mean, you know, the Internet in itself, I mean, there's just so much fabulous information. You know, when people are on social media or Facebook and they see great stories, they are pretty easy to plug into in terms of, you know, whatever. Like, as you said, you know, I want to plan, even if it's just for a healthy living lifestyle. I want to be able to get out and, you know, walk better or run better or ride my bike down the bike path. And then from There if they decide to get into a local cycling event or a charity ride for a great benefit for kids or cancer or whatever it might be, then you can kind of keep building up on their goals. It's fairly beautiful opportunity out there. In terms of what's available to us via, you know, just on social media, on our phones and computers.

How important is that to keep measurements?

Yeah, for me personally, you know, it depends on the, on the level of the person. In the beginning I try to be careful not to overwhelm them with a lot of training data. It's nice to have a piece of matrix like a heart rate monitor that makes it a little bit more fun, a little bit more viable in terms of learning to understand yourself and your body and simple heart rate zones. So, you know, like anything, start slow and then build from there. And as you see their interests start to build, your excitement build and you can add a little bit more and more and more.

What are some of the things that you, you know, is it the kind of thing that you learn something new every year that you're doing this, this thing that you're training other people? Because usually in a teacher, they student situation, the teacher's the one who does the bulk of the learning. What do you find yourself continuing to be fascinated with the sports? Skiing and cycling.

It's incredible. I mean. Yeah. All the time, Every day, All day. You have to be really cognizant of your clients as well because they, they will research, they'll get right on Google, they'll get right on YouTube and they will look at, they'll get right on social media, they will look for great information. So as a coach, I think you have to take a step back and really listen. It is such a fabulous process on both sides. You know, I learned so much every day. You know, the wisdom is, I think and the beauty of it, starting slow, getting to get to know every individual on a one to one basis and then, you know, plugging into their daily life and their habits and then building a prescription, you know, foundation on the fitness side for their success.

Yeah, it is a process. You have to treat people individually. But just to kind of wrap up this introduction here, you have seen people make a amazing turnarounds and it wouldn't you tell people that it's it once it gets in your mind, no matter where you're starting from, you can do amazing things. I know you had me riding up to Maroon Bells and Castle Creek and almost made it up to Independence Pass. So I guess you've seen some People come from basically their deathbed to really amazing achievement without question.

I mean there's so many stories like that. People that came to me and said, you know, a little bit, little bit more about you, Chip, as a coach, what you're doing, you know, I like your philosophy, you know, what you've done with me, you know, in the basic beginning introduction of meeting the people and you know, once that happens, you know, I really try to get into a careful but detailed build in terms of being able to help them out. So many people have problems, major organ function, kidney, liver, heart, past injuries. So you start off slow, very, very slow. And then work on the very basic foundation of introduction, introductory programs so that it's fun, it's easy, it's enjoyable. And then if they give it time, weeks turn into months turn into, you know, a better part of a year, they'll see resounding great effects from that because we started out slow and they were willing to listen.

Yeah. And you, you've got to give it time. And what I'd like to do, we won't start it now, but what I'd like to do is wrap this segment up and then come back and I want to give an, I want to look at, get you to tell us the example of how you've taken some people from, you know, just average fitness and everything to where they're out there competing 100 mile mountain bike races, specifically the Leadville 100 and the ST stages you went up through and the kind of setbacks. But in spite of the fact, you know our two buddies, Mark and Todd, how you there, they had different stories but you know, the advantage of having a training partner and a coach while you're going through these things, just a lot of lessons in that story. So if you're up for it, we will pick a time and we'll come back and we'll go through that. And so thanks for sharing. Anything you want to tell people, say pass along about peak performance before we let, before I let you go on this one.

Yeah. Get excited about your life. Peak performance, it's a big word but it translates into everyday normal lives. You don't have to be a great athlete, you don't have to be an asset. You can just be the everyday person who has, you know, structure, direction, a job, has family, but you know, reach out. I'm happy to, you know, have a phone conference with somebody, do a video conference and take a look at what's going on and view every day as an opportunity. And again, I'm going to deflect to you, Larry Wydell, on winning. You are on our sports performance jerseys. I can't thank you enough for believing in our program and, you know, great things to come from from you.

All right, thank you, Chip. It's been a lot of fun. Thanks a lot.

Thank you, Larry.

Thanks for listening to this episode of Million Dollar Mastermind with me, Larry Wydell. If I've helped you in any way, leave us a five star rating and review on Apple Podcasts. For more information like this, listen to our other Million Dollar Mastermind episodes and check out my Widel Academy YouTube channel and visit us on widelawnwinning.com I'm the million Dollar Mastermind. And until next time, Go, go, go.