Transcript
Todd Pinkston: All right, welcome Unstuck and Alive. We're here with Charlie Lima, founder BoomFit in College Station, triathlete, Ironman athlete, super athlete. He is a gym owner. He runs the biggest CrossFit competition in Texas. He's a stud.
Todd Pinkston: He's an awesome dude. Look at that smile. Charlie Lima, welcome the show. Excited to have you on, dude.
Charlie Lima: Todd, thank you, man. What an intro. Appreciate it.
Todd Pinkston: You got it. Hey, let's jump into your story, man. I've sat on a mountain and heard you talk about life and life with Jesus. And that's been several years back. So I'm excited to jump back in and just here. So tell us kind of how you've gotten to where you are today. And then we'll dive down into the different areas.
Charlie Lima: Well, if you remember, I'm a little long winded. So anytime we had.
Charlie Lima: Yeah.
Charlie Lima: You're throwing it at me.
Todd Pinkston: Hey.
Charlie Lima: It's like you can't shut this guy up. No, but yeah, man, that's a big question.
Todd Pinkston: I love it.
Charlie Lima: So maybe I'll just pick it up from You know, like that trip was almost 10 years ago.
Todd Pinkston: know, dude.
Charlie Lima: Yeah, but how did get where I am? So I'm 43. I actually turned 44 on Monday. So this is the end of my 43rd year.
Todd Pinkston: Come
Charlie Lima: And I got into working out my senior year of high school. It kind of took over my life. I was really...
Charlie Lima: Lerner, unhealthy, even though I wouldn't have necessarily looked at myself that way just ate a lot of junk food and I didn't like working out and. Jeff M.D.: When you do that combo it you end up overweight, and so I was a senior and I played sports or high school, so that kind of maybe did a little bit of management until I until it didn't anymore, so I.
Charlie Lima: Got into working out and I got into working out so much that it kind of turned into my career. And that's what led me to start personal training. And then I started my gym.
Charlie Lima: And then around that time is when I met my now wife, Alicia. She was actually working at a place next door to where I started out personal training. And so we got married in 2009.
Charlie Lima: We have four kids. So I had my daughter in 2012 and then boys in 15, 17 19.
Todd Pinkston: Hmm.
Charlie Lima: And, you know, just would say that today, you know, always say that the pillars of my life, the
Todd Pinkston: Hmm.
Charlie Lima: the things that basically are, call them like my favorite things to do, but also the things that really define me are my family, my fitness and my faith.
Charlie Lima: And so those are the, the expressions of everything. And so to me, like the gym is just an expression of those things, right? I love, and they all have very different influence in my life because they come together really well, like in the gym, right?
Charlie Lima: That's kind of where the, you know, even the event, it's like a big celebration of that. But you see them every day in my life, you know? And so for me, that those are, those are anchors. Those are things that, uh,
Charlie Lima: you know, we'll say ChatGPT was observing me, it would basically spit that out as like, okay, these are the things this guy's all about.
Charlie Lima: So yeah, you know, family means the world to me.
Charlie Lima: They're everything. Fitness is like my biggest passion on the planet. And the faith is like the anchor of the thing that makes me capable of navigating the highs and lows and the bigger meaning in the, you know, if I'm honest, the, the, the humility and moral compass that I carry. Right. And so, cause apart from that, then, you know, that I don't, I don't really feel like those things would be anchors for me.
Todd Pinkston: Yeah, it's good. You mentioned the event. Talk to us about the BCS Classic. When did it start? Why did it start? What have you seen that evolve into?
Charlie Lima: Yeah, it's actually crazy because what it is today, it's its own thing. Like it's like become, it's really not about me. I'm kind of the person that shepherds it, right?
Charlie Lima: So 2010, I go Austin, Texas and compete at what was at the time called sectionals, which is the precursor to the CrossFit Games.
Todd Pinkston: Mm-hmm.
Charlie Lima: So was like, if you want to go to the CrossFit Games, you do competition one, which was sectionals, competition two, which is regionals, competition three is the games.
Charlie Lima: So I went to sectionals in Austin. I had a blast. I barely made it. They took the top 30 and I 27th. And when I came home, this was like early March.
Charlie Lima: And the regionals was end of May. And I really wanted to bring back something like that College Station. And I threw it together.
Charlie Lima: May 1st was the event. So think of March, you know, whatever to May. And I got, there was only two other gyms in town. I got them involved.
Charlie Lima: And we had 81 participants at a community Lincoln. It was called the Lincoln Center, but think of like a recreational, not even nice. Like there's a community center, like a park.
Charlie Lima: And the person that was running that Lincoln Center, his name was Mr. Lance. He gave me permission to use a space at the time. My wife was doing after school programs with some of the, or some kids that were from the after school programs were part of her classroom because she was teaching Head Start, which is typically demographic that the Lincoln Center would always have at their centers.
Todd Pinkston: Yeah.
Charlie Lima: So we came back, did it again, and we were at the Lincoln Center for four years. And it got a little bigger, but not significantly. Like the fourth year, I think we had 120 people.
Charlie Lima: And I remember the fourth year because we had a rig, which was a big deal. So we had a company, their name was Triton, they might still be around. And they provided us a 10 lane rig. Somehow, I don't know how we got it.
Charlie Lima: And mean, we were hauling equipment from my gym in trucks like a lot of, you know, back and forth just to put this thing on.
Todd Pinkston: Yeah. Yeah.
Charlie Lima: And then 2014, so year five, we went to the NutriBolt facility that was brand new. One of my clients, just built that building. He owned the company. And so we got to basically just put this event on at a new, a nice new place where we were there for five years and then Nutribolt was moving to Austin.
Charlie Lima: And so I needed to find a new venue by this point, we're probably at like 320 participants. And so I needed a space big enough that I could house that many people.
Charlie Lima: And I went to the equine center at Texas A&M and obviously I'm an Aggie. So I'm like, man, I want to keep it. And the equine center was amazing and it looked perfect. I was like, this is it.
Todd Pinkston: Yeah.
Charlie Lima: But it was like me, big vision, big dreams, walking around, you of course not considering the cost at all. And just signed up to have it there basically. There was one lady, she's sweet, her name's Laura, who was helping us.
Charlie Lima: But apart from that, they had no staff, they had no team. So anything we did there, we had to do. And we, that was the year that Rich Froning came. So that was kind of a big year because, and also at that time, 2019, Rich had already won the CrossFit games individually. He already won the team, but mayhem as a brand, he's put a lot more since that year in the last five, six years into building this, you know, army of whatever they are, right?
Charlie Lima: Gym programming, athlete programming his personal brand is even bigger and so i remember the he came and it was actually funny because he posted one time on his social media and it was because he was on the flight home on united mean literally he flew in that morning and flew out that night and he put like a picture of call them showing college football and it was like united for the win you know and like now you know his social media account's huge he's
Charlie Lima: He or his team is very strategic about everything that they do. But the only reason I wanted to bring him in was to share his testimony because he, again, the That year I kind of transitioned the event from being just a CrossFit competition to a Family Fitness Faith Festival.
Todd Pinkston: Yeah.
Charlie Lima: And my idea or what I thought I wanted that to become was like a panel of speakers. And I even maybe nobody remembers this, but I had like Bruce Matthews who was a Hall of Fame offensive lineman from the Houston Oilers.
Charlie Lima: His son lived in College Station at the time and worked out at my gym. And I got Bruce Matthews, who's a very strong believer in somebody who has a very strong testimony. He came and shared his testimony, you know, so I had like seven or eight speakers.
Todd Pinkston: Yeah.
Charlie Lima: A lot of.
Todd Pinkston: And is that about the time your son was born? Okay.
Charlie Lima: That was the year he was born, and that was a combination of what shifted me in that direction for the festival for the event was he was born in February, life flight into Texas Children's Hospital.
Todd Pinkston: Yeah.
Todd Pinkston: Yep.
Todd Pinkston: Yep.
Charlie Lima: were we were there for three weeks.
Todd Pinkston: Yep.
Charlie Lima: came home we were home for a week and then life flighted back to texas children's hospital and in that season and you probably speak to this a lot not only in this podcast but maybe even on the trail it's when these times come that are very challenging trialish frustrating or
Todd Pinkston: Mm-hmm.
Charlie Lima: that you start maybe hearing God clear, maybe having a little bit more desire to hear from him, maybe questioning him.
Charlie Lima: Let's just like call it like that's when that line or channel becomes like very, it's not necessarily always good. It's not you're always going to hear good things or you're always going to feel good things, you know?
Charlie Lima: And I think in that season, One, it was such a spiritual experience for me because when he was born at 442 AM and basically looked perfectly normal, and we've had three kids before this, so I know what they look like and I know
Todd Pinkston: Yeah.
Charlie Lima: I'm pretty familiar with that. It's not like my first child, you know, and within, know, 15 minutes, 10 minutes, they want to take them to the NICU to check on them. And it's kind of odd, but I told my wife, I'm like, we're fine. Like he's just, she held him.
Todd Pinkston: Yep.
Charlie Lima: I'll go. We'll be right back basically. And we go in that, I go in that room and within three hours, the, the doctor, Dr. Getty basically said, things aren't looking good.
Charlie Lima: prepare you for the worst, he's probably going to make it. And dude, you literally, like now I'm exposed because the person who I, in that moment, think can do anything tells me he can't do anything.
Charlie Lima: And that, I say I'm exposed because it just showed like, call it fear, call it worry, call it panic, call anxiety, call whatever you want call it.
Charlie Lima: But I was, uh, terrified. I was distraught.
Charlie Lima: I had no response. And then that was around 7.45. Alicia, who had an epidural, and typically she's had him before, you can't walk.
Charlie Lima: Dude, she walked to the room. Literally, she walked. And now her and are literally looking at her son. He's purple and blue, and he's got things all over And were praying, my pastor calls, he prayed for us, and it was like such, even there's a couple people that we still know who are in that room, I mean nurses and just picture the room, right?
Todd Pinkston: Yeah. Hmm.
Charlie Lima: Just the feeling of despair, and all of a sudden, whether it was A prayer, thought, whatever it was, you know, I remember vividly, you know, my, my prayer personally that I said out loud to God was, if you save him, I'll give you every, I'll give you everything.
Charlie Lima: That was my words.
Todd Pinkston: Yeah.
Charlie Lima: Like, And, you know, it was interesting because three weeks at Texas Children's, you kind of think about a lot of things because you're there. And obviously every day is a new day.
Charlie Lima: And if anybody's ever had a baby in the NICU, they call it like a roller coaster because you get good news and you get bad news and you get good news. And so one things I thought about was that prayer, because obviously it's like at the time I would have said, hey, I'm giving God everything I have to give.
Charlie Lima: But obviously had more to give. And so for me,
Todd Pinkston: Yeah.
Charlie Lima: It was just a cry for help, really. That's what the audible prayer was. Within a short period of time, by 8.15, his oxygen that had gotten down to 48 started climbing and basically, I looked at the doctor, the same one that told me he's probably not going to make it. And he looked, I would say, like he was feeling I could just sense, okay, something's different.
Charlie Lima: And I go, is he gonna be okay? He goes, I'm cautiously optimistic. I'll never forget his words.
Todd Pinkston: Mm-hmm.
Charlie Lima: And literally, that's all I needed, man. I really felt like in that moment, I'm like, wow. And then kangaroo team from Texas Children's shows up. They start basically disassembling, reassembling, doing all this stuff. And next thing you know, he, my son Ames and Alicia on an airplane because they could only take one person. So she got on the plane, life flighted Texas Children's. I'm in my truck driving on 290, just
Charlie Lima: Literally going. And by the time we got there at four o'clock, he was on the 17th floor, which is the cardiovascular ICU at Texas Children's Hospital. They thought it was a heart issue.
Charlie Lima: And remember being in that room at like 530. You know, they had a bunch of people in the waiting room. And I remember telling Alicia right at 4.42 basically, 5 p.m., I was like, praise God, he's been alive 12 hours.
Charlie Lima: Like, I've never praised God for my child being alive 12 hours before that.
Todd Pinkston: Yeah.
Charlie Lima: And any of the, you know, like, just for him to have been alive at the 12-hour mark was – and so all that to say –
Todd Pinkston: Yeah.
Charlie Lima: Coming out of that, going back to the initial BCS classic, like man, that next three months, let's just call it that. Like I had three kids at home. One of them was, you know, by when Ames was born, Chip was like 21 months. So almost two.
Charlie Lima: I had another one that was like almost four and then a daughter that was like six and a half. And so you, Add that I own a gym that I didn't literally go to for a month.
Charlie Lima: All this, you know, you start really analyzing like things that I should be doing and stop doing and, you know, like.
Todd Pinkston: Yeah.
Charlie Lima: Let's call it, let's call it not that I had anything like this, but it was like, let's say it's a Tuesday Rudy's lunch. Well, I'm not doing that right now, you know, like or, you know, so you start filtering. And I had to, well, obviously I gotta work. So I had the gym, I have to do, right? Like I needed to do.
Charlie Lima: Well, the BCS Classic, I started pondering that because all this time, like I'm not doing anything and I'm usually gearing up for the event around this springtime, like registration, sponsorships, all the things.
Charlie Lima: And finally I decided like, okay, I'm going to do it. Like it compliments the gym. It's not, you know, and this has nothing to do with aims. It just has to do with like, you know, what should you be spending your time with and what should you not be spending your time with is the bigger question. Well, in that whole time, going back to just like being in tune a little bit more with the spirit and just, you know, I felt God leaning me towards like, Hey, instead of it just being a CrossFit competition,
Charlie Lima: Let's take it in this direction of a family fitness faith festival.
Todd Pinkston: Yeah.
Todd Pinkston: Yeah.
Charlie Lima: Well, in all that to say, as my wheels start turning, I was like, man, I would love it because I started thinking, oh, worship music speakers like kids zone, like Ninja Warrior course, like we had a bunch of. And I said, dude, if we got rich Froning gear, like he's like the he's like the guy. Right.
Charlie Lima: And so that began. And again, I have a friend who happened to say who I know very well. He said, hey, if you want rich contact this guy.
Todd Pinkston: Hmm.
Charlie Lima: Well, again, I'm Charlie down in College Station putting on this competition that's not as big as it is today, but, you know, it's not tiny. And I talked to the guy, not Rich, the guy that you needed to contact.
Charlie Lima: And I'm sharing with him exactly like I'm sharing with you. And, you know, right, let me throw it to you. Let me see if Rich would be interested. But it sounds like something he'd want to do. And so, uh, next thing you know, dude, he says, yeah.
Charlie Lima: And then he was like, uh, yeah, you got a contract. I'm like, uh, sure. And don't have a contract and I put together something. I asked my friend who's kind of had different things like that before. So sent him over and then he sent it back sign like 1st of July.
Charlie Lima: and then like two weeks later, like mid July, Me and Alicia are actually driving out to one of our friends that used to work for me has like a lake house and we were doing like a coach's retreat or something out there. And I get a text from the guy that was my contact with Rich.
Charlie Lima: And he said, hey, Rich said that if somebody needs a partner, he'll compete. My heart about stopped and I'm like,
Charlie Lima: holy cow because all i wanted to bring him for was like hey like just speak and he didn't want he he doesn't necessarily speak so he was like i'll do a q a so i was like great we'll fly you in we'll fly you out just q a you know and uh like 30 minutes 45 minutes now he's gonna spend the whole day and he's gonna participate so then i started this guy he's like man and here's some ways that some people have done before and so immediately i told my wife i said we're in the car and i said hey babe
Todd Pinkston: Yeah.
Charlie Lima: So first of all, Rich Froning is talking about competing and I think we can raise a lot of money for organization. I go, who do you think we should do it for? And immediately she said, Ronald McDonald House, because we stayed at the Ronald McDonald House with Ames.
Todd Pinkston: Yeah. Yeah.
Charlie Lima: And was like, great. So then we basically announced the fundraiser opportunity and within a month raised $27,000.
Todd Pinkston: Awesome. Yeah.
Charlie Lima: And that's when John competed with Rich. And, that was the, I would call it the beginning of like this new era of BCS classic because it included rich. So it's like before that it didn't.
Charlie Lima: And rich has been a phenomenal, uh,
Todd Pinkston: Yeah. Yeah.
Charlie Lima: part of the event, you know, he and his whole team at Mayhem. And obviously I've, I've grown real close to those guys and working.
Charlie Lima: always say it's not because of them that the event runs and is what it is because we would do it even if Rich said, Hey, I can't make it this year or I want to stop coming.
Charlie Lima: But it just makes it that much better to have him a part of it. And they're so great to work with. And it adds something. And I think that's where the community, the BCS Classic community, has kind of aligned really well with the values of the event.
Charlie Lima: And, you know, I've worked on different ways to infuse that into the event. And sometimes like I've learned, like take, for example, 2019, like I don't have a panel of speakers anymore. I don't have the same vision that I had then because at the core we're a CrossFit competition. So it's like, you know, we're not a Christian concert, you know, or we're not. So, you know, was thinking one year was like, man, I want to bring a,
Charlie Lima: know, like Christian rapper, you know, and like, I wanted to get that year that that song came out. Oh, it's draw my blank.
Charlie Lima: The one the big group out of the Kerry Jobe and You know, you would, everybody would know it.
Todd Pinkston: Yeah.
Charlie Lima: I can't believe drawing the line. I wanted to get them live to sing the song, you know? And so again, but that's not why people are there, you know?
Charlie Lima: And so that's kind of just understanding
Charlie Lima: the lane that we're in. We're a fitness competition, but it's like the gym. Like we're a gym. We're not a church. We're, you know, It's like people are there to work out and but you can still have the family and the faith infused in, and for me, it's just, I don't know any other way to do it, right?
Charlie Lima: This is just how I am, you know?
Todd Pinkston: Yeah.
Charlie Lima: And so, yeah, so that was 2019. We had 480 participants that year. And then 2020 was COVID and we almost didn't have the event, but we did, but we had to limit it. So we did 400. So we had no spectators, just athletes.
Charlie Lima: We were like one of the only competitions that year. and then came back and basically since 21, like we peaked 24 with 1100 athletes and then realized for me, I realized that, you know, at some point more is not better.
Todd Pinkston: Hmm.
Charlie Lima: And for us to run the heats, for us to have the judges, for us to have everything equipment and to put produce what i want to produce the sweet spots a thousand and so last year we had a thousand we introduced the online qualifier which was in 2023 three four five this will be our fourth year The qualifier was really something that other competitions do, but I wanted people to be in the right divisions.
Todd Pinkston: Awesome.
Charlie Lima: So basically it was a way for Todd to not go scaled, you know? So if you, you know, signed up for scaled, I couldn't necessarily say, Hey, you're not a scaled athlete. But technically it's like, if you do the qualifier, well, maybe you're an intermediate athlete. So it better places people. Well, we take 100% of the registration and we give it to Mayhem Mission.
Charlie Lima: And I went on one of their mission trips
Charlie Lima: last year and so just kind of seeing in the front line what they do and they really do a great you know service to the global and domestic and so uh we've been able to give them about a hundred grand and then ron mcdonald like 175 000 and all while not hurting the event because that's always the hard part right it's like
Todd Pinkston: Yeah.
Todd Pinkston: Come on.
Todd Pinkston: Dude.
Todd Pinkston: Yeah.
Charlie Lima: You know, if you're given more than you're actually, if you, if you give more and then you hurt your own personal finances, it's, it's, it's not effective.
Todd Pinkston: Yeah. Dude, that's awesome. Man, something. So I think a couple things that... You've been touching on the intersection of those things, of faith and family and fitness. For you, it's fitness, which is personal, but it's also professional. I think the people that listen to this, they're trying to navigate those three things.
Todd Pinkston: You know, personal, professional, spiritual. Like, how do I get after all three of them at the same time? It seems like, you know, when we when we pull one lever, the others go down. You know, if we want to get after our work life, then it's like our family life suffers or we feel like we can't have a spiritual life.
Todd Pinkston: And, you know, as long as I've known you, you pursue those three things and you do it, you know, at full capacity. Everything you do, you go for something great, whether it's a BCS classic, whether it's, you know, being an Ironman, whether it's the gym and I've worked out at your gym and it's a it's a fantastic place that, you know, facilities, community, just awesome.
Todd Pinkston: How have you, know, when you run after things, you're going to find your limits too. Like, how have you found places where you overdid it or you found yourself stuck?
Todd Pinkston: And what goes on mentally in those times? And how do you find your way through it?
Charlie Lima: Okay, so want to understand the question. So the personal professional and was the third bucket?
Todd Pinkston: Spiritual.
Charlie Lima: Okay, it's spiritual and is the question?
Todd Pinkston: Yeah, for you, you said faith, family, fitness.
Charlie Lima: Yeah.
Todd Pinkston: Yeah.
Charlie Lima: That's right. That's right. So is there a question associated with that or?
Todd Pinkston: No, just as you're running after those three things and running after them hard, where have you found your limits?
Charlie Lima: Gotcha.
Todd Pinkston: Where have you felt like you've gotten overextended, found yourself stuck, and how did you work your way through it?
Charlie Lima: Yeah, you know, think stuck is, you can get stuck a few different ways. I would say, you know, probably the most common form of that I feel like I've gotten stuck in as a business owner is financially, right? Like that's where you, I've kept hitting,
Charlie Lima: a moment where it's like either I overextended and I overstretched and I shared a lot about this in the trail when we went to Colorado, but
Charlie Lima: it's like my vision is so big
Todd Pinkston: Yeah.
Charlie Lima: My desire is so high. My want to in this could also go like even internally buying a home like I want to go so much that it ends up feeling like, oh, you know, because the finances regardless if you make, you know, one hundred thousand dollars a year or a million dollars a year, you can still keep hitting the wall. Right. And so I think that's a place that I would say is easy to get stuck, right?
Todd Pinkston: Yes.
Charlie Lima: In being an entrepreneur because entrepreneur number one, they are an entrepreneur because they believe that they can achieve unlimited potential.
Charlie Lima: Like that's like nobody is an entrepreneur who says like, it's going to be this, I'm going to, I'm going to have this small thing and it's going to know like you become an entrepreneur because You have a vision and an expression of that that's so grand that, well, reality will hit you, right? And that's why we grow at the rate that we grow based on how we handle that.
Charlie Lima: So that's been a stuck area. I think family, and I don't know if this was part of the question, think family, you can get stuck because I guess the three core areas, faith, family, fitness, family, you get stuck is like, man, we added more kids, man. It's like, I do not want to be 35 38 or 40 again.
Charlie Lima: Like, you know, if you, if you gave me, $100,000 to go back and I don't want do it. You know, like I would, you know, because those are those were challenging years for all the reasons that you might think.
Charlie Lima: Right.
Todd Pinkston: Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.
Charlie Lima: So you can get stuck there. I think spiritually you can get stuck because, you know, I would say. Like for me, I'm living in a season right now where it's like I am trying to come outside of the box that I've put God in for the majority of Volcalt my walk with him.
Charlie Lima: The box is cozy, man. It's like, you know, in the box, you know everything. But I believe that there's more outside of the box, that he's bigger than that box, right? So that's kind of stuck, because now it's like, ugh, what does that even mean? Like, you start really analyzing even what you saw in the box so clearly is not it, you know? And so, yeah.
Charlie Lima: think in your fitness, the stuck might apply for some people. Fortunately, I think it's like I've become very aware of my health and fitness to the point where it's like maybe if there's one area that don't necessarily, maybe you get stuck because maybe you're not as consistent. But for me, I feel like since I started, there's probably stuck places along that journey.
Charlie Lima: but, but I've been very consistent, let's just say so. I'm not out there winning Ironmans, you know, I'm not, I'm not out there, uh, beating Todd and workouts, but I'm consistent.
Charlie Lima: And so, uh,
Todd Pinkston: Oh, you would crush me, bro.
Charlie Lima: so, I don't know if that answers your question.
Todd Pinkston: Yeah, speak more on, you were talking about spiritually, like you feel like you've had God in a box and you're starting to think outside of that. What does that mean?
Charlie Lima: Yeah. So I feel like the, uh, traditional call it Christian or Western Christian mentality, right?
Charlie Lima: It's like, accept Christ, read your Bible, tithe, be in a small group, read Christian books, pray like,
Todd Pinkston: Yeah.
Charlie Lima: And just do that as many rounds as possible in your lifetime. And you've basically figured it out. And to me, I'm like, this can't be it, bro. Like God is so much bigger than what we here think it is and what,
Charlie Lima: Even the church on Sunday thinks it is. And, you know, this place been around a lot longer than we've even recognized it to be. And God created it all.
Todd Pinkston: Hmm.
Charlie Lima: So it's like we just feel cozy in our little box. You know, say we, me.
Todd Pinkston: Yeah.
Charlie Lima: And it's like a lot of times it's like you don't want to go outside that because you might get answers that you don't necessarily like or you might come across.
Todd Pinkston: Sure. Sure.
Charlie Lima: So for me, it's like and I'm by no means the teacher in this subject. Right. But but I feel like I'm starting to come into a place where.
Charlie Lima: I'm asking those questions. I am curious in those ways. And by no means, I don't, you know, I've heard of this term deconstruction.
Charlie Lima: That's not what I'm doing because there's no loss of faith and there's no loss, lack of belief in this process.
Todd Pinkston: Yeah.
Todd Pinkston: Yeah.
Charlie Lima: You know what I mean?
Todd Pinkston: Yeah.
Charlie Lima: So to be clear, because I think sometimes that can be confusing. You know, there's an undeniable, conviction associated with my belief in Him, you know, and my desire to know Him.
Charlie Lima: And so it's uh not rebellion it's actually like you know it's funny i went on this men's retreat i just told you about last year and one of the exercises they did is like the wheel of life so everybody's done a version career you career health spirituality this is a non-faith based thing right so family like you know one to ten where you at you know you're
Todd Pinkston: Yeah.
Charlie Lima: You're here and you're here and you're here, the wheel's not going. It was just for the sake of having these men around. And one of the things I said, I'm like, spirituality, right? That was the one that I was talking on. And was for me, I was answering in the small group.
Charlie Lima: And I was like, one to 10, I feel like I'm a four. I said, I feel like I'm a real four. Whereas I used to be a fake nine.
Charlie Lima: You know what I mean?
Todd Pinkston: Yeah, totally.
Charlie Lima: Like if I'm, if I'm at way forward three years ago, if we did the same thing, I'd be like nine or four years ago, nine.
Todd Pinkston: Yeah.
Charlie Lima: Well, I feel like I'm a real four. You know, it's funny because this year we did same thing. like, I feel like I'm a six. So it's like, I'm getting a little more toward, you know, but, but I think so many times like,
Charlie Lima: you know, we want to feel like we have that part figured out.
Todd Pinkston: Yeah.
Charlie Lima: There's an aspect of not having it figured out that's a big part of it.
Todd Pinkston: Yeah. Dude, that's good. You made the statement of like, is this all there is? And I think that statement is made internally by way more folks than those that have the courage to say it externally. Yeah.
Todd Pinkston: And when you look at stuff, you know, on the outside, it's like, dude, you have so much together. Like you've got a thriving business. Like just talked about, you know, the BCS Classic started out as a dream. And then, you know, it's like now it's this massive thing. You're cutting off at a thousand people like It's not like you're wandering around, you know, not finding success. It's more of that you're finding success, you know, professionally, but there's something going on that like when we read scripture, when we look at the intersection of our spiritual life, we wonder like, is this all there is? It seems like there should be more.
Todd Pinkston: And I think that's a courageous question to step into. If you'll go a little deeper, what are you finding? What are you discovering that is there that you haven't seen before?
Charlie Lima: This might, maybe if I talk through it, I'll get to that answer. But I think one thing is, it's definitely not judgment.
Todd Pinkston: Yeah.
Charlie Lima: And it's not assumption. and you know even prior to this particular season of that question or that journey, I was never, or never is a strong word. I was not about judging or assuming, right? So I always did. I never liked making the assumption if somebody was like, they're a Christian or like placing some stereotype on someone or they're not, or they're not a believer. You know, it's just, it's not so much like I can call you like not fit and I can call you fit, but it's like,
Charlie Lima: the heart behind the statement is what I mean, right? Like if I came into a room and I'm like, well, these people are healthy and these people are unhealthy.
Charlie Lima: Like I am essentially defining health by my standard and I personally do not like that.
Todd Pinkston: Yeah.
Charlie Lima: So my discovery is like, that's a very like, I would say part of the discovery is like,
Charlie Lima: You know, if you're doing that, you're still in that box, right? And here I am kind of labeling people. But in my opinion, that's what you do in the box because it makes you feel good because you want to.
Charlie Lima: Another thing that I'm finding is like, you know, Like, I'm not saying this any other way than factually, but I was reading scripture every for a lot of years. I was doing the Bible in a year, multiple times.
Charlie Lima: And part of this, we'll call it transition, is like I freed myself from the obligatory nature of that.
Todd Pinkston: Yeah.
Charlie Lima: It's not a...
Charlie Lima: I gotta do this thing. If I'm not doing this thing, then I'm not something. It's so far from that.
Todd Pinkston: Yeah.
Charlie Lima: And there's elements to that, right? So
Charlie Lima: I would say, off the top of my mind, that's probably couple
Todd Pinkston: How's that, how's it impacting the way that you raise your kids, the way that you love your bride, the way you run your business?
Charlie Lima: You know, my kids are raised in a home. This is kind of one of the big things. They're at a private Christian school until a year ago, two years ago.
Charlie Lima: And so they're kind of raised in that box mentality. And I sent my daughter a text when I was in Colorado.
Charlie Lima: I read a book. At the end of the book was the verse something 117 and I looked it up and it was like all good gifts come from father in heaven who gives gifts writer. And so I sent it to her and I said, you are a gift from heaven. You know, like I love you.
Charlie Lima: And we pray for them every night. And
Charlie Lima: I want to not force them into anything. That's probably the more like I don't want it. over emphasize the faith in my life and the relationship I have with God, but I also, I want them to express it and live it and authentically feel it if they do, you know what I mean? And so, that wasn't the reason we had them come out of their private Christian school, but
Charlie Lima: I think the way it's influencing that is because I want them like I want it to be theirs. Right. I don't I don't want it to be mine, but also I'm not hiding it. It's not like I'm not clear, you know, and they're being raised in environment. We go to church on Sunday. So, of course, the boys like they just go play and at church and they you know, my daughter, she's going to lot of youth groups and she's a little older. So it's like, you know,
Charlie Lima: it's so outside of my ability to necessarily know what their path is going to be. But it is one thing is, I'm not forcing them to do any of it. I'm not forcing them to, you know, pursue that, you know, because I believe that it will be more authentic if it's their path.
Todd Pinkston: Yeah.
Charlie Lima: But I'm happy to, you know, answer it with my daughter wanted a Bible the other day. And, you know, I think that I think the you've heard of personality profiles.
Charlie Lima: I used to have a something I would share a lot of times is you go into a church and during the worship time, like some people's hands are in the air and they're singing, right?
Charlie Lima: Other people are zero to no expression.
Charlie Lima: Well, who in that room has quote, quote, closer relationship or whose relationship with God is more authentic? Well, you know, somebody might say, it's the
Todd Pinkston: Hands up, man.
Charlie Lima: It was like chapel. And it's so beautiful because I'm the dad in the back, like watching my boys. Hey, chapel, you know, so it's like, you know, does that mean that they don't love God?
Todd Pinkston: Yeah.
Charlie Lima: No, it's just their kids. It's like, let them be kids.
Todd Pinkston: Yeah.
Charlie Lima: Like let them fumble into adulthood, not even knowing what this thing means. And I don't want to make you feel like you've got to pray. You've got to read your Bible.
Todd Pinkston: Yeah.
Charlie Lima: You've got to memorize scripture. Like, so if anything, but this is in the after box mentality, because when you're in the box and there might be people listening, you want to essentially control every aspect of their faith and their relationship with God.
Charlie Lima: And you want to make sure that they're you know, pretending to be the perfect Christian kids at church on Sunday and perfect Christian kids that, you know, it's like, dude, just be a kid.
Charlie Lima: You know, it's like no different than somebody who's forcing their kid to play sports, but now they're forcing would be a Christian.
Todd Pinkston: Yeah.
Todd Pinkston: Yeah. Yeah.
Charlie Lima: And so
Todd Pinkston: Well, because it's not about them. It's about me then. It's about how does that reflect me if he's playing well on the field, if he is putting his hands up, then that looks good on me.
Charlie Lima: that's right.
Todd Pinkston: Then they're going to say, Todd Pinkston, Charlie Lima, God, what an all-star dad.
Charlie Lima: Yeah.
Todd Pinkston: Yeah.
Charlie Lima: So a long and a long way of saying that is, man, I'm just letting them, you know, whatever.
Todd Pinkston: Yeah.
Charlie Lima: And again, not but but also it's like, hey, like that, not that doesn't mean I'm not in my own way. You know what I mean?
Todd Pinkston: Yeah. Yeah.
Charlie Lima: And so you know, think you asked family and then you asked marriage and then you asked business, I'll do business and then I'll do marriage.
Charlie Lima: But in the business, you know, even told my team this because our core values at the gym are family fitness faith. And, and I, we had like almost a beginning of year planning, goal setting meeting.
Charlie Lima: And a lot of times when I do that, I like to reemphasize the values. And I even told him, I said, faith, is something I'm pressing into more. And how it applies to the gym, because one thing that I know that Faith has done for me in the gym in terms of how it's complimented that is because it allows me to not try to do it all myself. And that for me has been very healthy because I'm the type of person that takes full responsibility,
Charlie Lima: 100% of the pressure and 100% of the outcome is on me. And faith has been the thing that has taught me, hey, no, like let it go, right? And so for me to press on faith and double down or triple down or give it more to God means
Charlie Lima: don't carry it all. You know, like that's it.
Todd Pinkston: Hmm. Hmm.
Charlie Lima: It's a subtle way of me saying that like, hey, that's how I'm living this out as it applies to the gym. Because hey, to grow this thing or to do this next year or to set these goals, I'm not going to put the pressure on myself.
Charlie Lima: It's like Dave Ramsey. I love when I went to his entree leadership. He says, work like it all depends on you, but pray like it all depends on God. And so it's like, it doesn't mean that I'm just not doing all that I can, but I'm just not like my prayer for myself and my desire for myself is like to truly surrender to God with that and, and
Todd Pinkston: Yeah.
Charlie Lima: And I have to remind, like I'm saying out loud because I'm reminding myself literally right now to do that. Because, you know, when you're growing something, as you're stretching and you're doing what I said earlier that entrepreneurs do, man, it requires an immense amount of stretching and flexing. And, you know, when you put all that on yourself, that's when you end up. And I've been there super stressed, you know,
Charlie Lima: trying to do it all yourself, you know, and, that's not, that's, it's not good for anybody. So, in my marriage, you know, I think the, I think so much of this new season is, and this has been huge for me and I don't know how, if it applies to this spiritual side, but it's like letting her be her.
Todd Pinkston: Oh,
Charlie Lima: And what I mean by that is my nature was to want to help her, to want to
Charlie Lima: fix as much as I could. And I know you're familiar with like every husband that's basically ever just tried to fix.
Charlie Lima: But it wasn't even that. It was almost to a point that was like unhealthy, right? It was like and part of that nature comes with a judgment that you have towards her because you're thinking she needs to be better or take care of things and ways that you would do differently.
Todd Pinkston: Thank
Charlie Lima: And man, I would say like, man, the last three years have really taught me number one, like her growth is on her. It's not on me.
Charlie Lima: And, And that goes in all areas. And to allow her to navigate her own life without
Charlie Lima: coming and fixing everything and trying to worry. You know, it's like, if her and my daughter having, you know, butting heads, I'm out.
Todd Pinkston: Hmm. Mm-hmm.
Charlie Lima: Like when I say I'm out, it's not like I'm leaving. I'm just, I'm not in there. I'm not saying it because it's like, think my nature before was trying to rescue, fix, solve problems.
Charlie Lima: And don't make it, I'm not making it sound like I'm completely absent because obviously, you know, but I think in this and what's beautiful in this new, we'll call it season is I'm just admiring her growth as a person.
Todd Pinkston: Yeah, sure.
Charlie Lima: watching become
Charlie Lima: more of who she is.
Charlie Lima: And it was almost like maybe I maybe all that that I was doing before was actually people would call it not people, but the term would be like enabling, right? Like, you know, there's there's aspect to that that's like, you know, I feel like my new.
Charlie Lima: approach to marriage is like two people walking side by side for a lifetime. And you're not trying to change or fix or tell the person next to you what they need to do or how they need to be.
Charlie Lima: And if they fall, you're not picking them up. You're literally just waiting. You're not going to keep on walking. In other words,
Todd Pinkston: Yeah.
Charlie Lima: because they need to get up. And that's like, my nature was like, pick them up, carry them as long as I had to, because that was the Ephesians five thing to do.
Charlie Lima: And no, it's just wait. And if they say, help me up, grab their hand, you know, like, Not just like, oh, oh, you know?
Todd Pinkston: Yeah.
Charlie Lima: And so it's like, and then when they get up and they start walking, if they walk slow, walk slow. And they'll do the same for you. You know what I mean?
Charlie Lima: It's like, so much of this is like, her taking care of herself, me taking care of myself creates something beautiful together.
Todd Pinkston: Yeah.
Todd Pinkston: Yeah.
Charlie Lima: You know, and we've been married 17 years this month, you know?
Todd Pinkston: Dude, what I hear in that is freedom. Like if Charlie Lima of old had the whole gym on his shoulders, his kids' growth and their success was on his shoulders and his wife's growth was on his shoulders, then all you're trying to do is manage the world.
Todd Pinkston: Like, all you can think about is the weight on your shoulders, the things you have to care for, and that question weaves in of like, is this all there is?
Todd Pinkston: Like, am I just going to carry this weight for 80 years and then die? And it feels like you've shed weight and not in a bad way.
Todd Pinkston: And I mean, you said it a couple times of like, hey, I'm not saying I don't do anything because sometimes it does sound like that.
Charlie Lima: Yes.
Todd Pinkston: But know exactly what you're saying because I have felt that. And whether we hit that end of like, for me, You know, look in the mirror sometimes and I'm like, dude, who do you think you are that you have the answers to all of Aaron's problems? Like, what?
Todd Pinkston: And I'm curious, did jumping into Ironman like kind of another level of like physical training going after something big, did that coincide at all with some of the stuff?
Charlie Lima: So the reason I signed up for the Ironman, which was right a few months before I reached out to was because at that moment, I went through the most trying difficult time of my life. And for me, there were there was a couple guys who had asked me if I want to do that Ironman in June.
Charlie Lima: And I had done a half like 15 years prior or no, I'm sorry, like 11 years prior. And I told them, Oh, no, it's not the right time. And then August of 22,
Charlie Lima: said, going to do it. And mainly because I wanted physical representation of the emotional challenge I was going through.
Todd Pinkston: Yeah.
Charlie Lima: And to me at that moment, the Ironman was the hardest physical challenge. So I'm like, I poured in, I had 12 weeks and dude, there was bike sessions that were like yelling, I'm screaming, crying, running, same. That 12 weeks, man, was just, and so when I did the Ironman and I crossed the finish line,
Charlie Lima: Number one, you're exhausted, but it was, it was, wasn't that I was out of that because that was November. And I think and I were talking about doing something in December because I was still in a very, I was still hurting.
Todd Pinkston: Yeah.
Charlie Lima: That's the thing, right? It wasn't like the Iron Man cured me. And that's the thing about like, you're not gonna externally fix your internal problems. Right. And so, uh,
Charlie Lima: However, what's beautiful about that, and I think this is where the gift of fitness that came way before
Charlie Lima: carried me through that, right? Like, because
Charlie Lima: helped me with my hurting. It helped me with my, like, I needed an outlet. I needed... Away, you know, there's this I have a playlist on Spotify that I made. It's like nine and a half hours of worship music.
Charlie Lima: Oh my gosh, I listened to that playlist every training session and the beauty of worship music is it's just scripture really like if you start listening to songs, they're just singing scripture to you and I remember just so there's still certain songs that basically are like reminders of that season And the next Ironman simply happened because somebody invited me because they were going to with a group of guys to do it.
Charlie Lima: And so I did it because I told myself after Panama City, November 22, I was like, I'm never going like Alicia asked me the next day. She's like, you know, I was like, no, I was like, this is it. I'm like, that's it. One, I'm done.
Todd Pinkston: One and done.
Charlie Lima: And then did the other one in September. And then I found out that there is and I'm getting somewhere this because there is something cool that's gonna come out of There's a program called the Legacy Program where if you do 10 Ironmans in 12 years, you get invited to Kona for the World Championship.
Charlie Lima: So then I thought, man, that's pretty cool. You know, I've done two. I was 40 when I did my first. was like, I'll do one a year. And what I've kind of further learned about this, that next year was something called Misogi.
Charlie Lima: Have you heard of that?
Todd Pinkston: Yeah.
Charlie Lima: It's like a Japanese principle philosophy.
Todd Pinkston: Yeah.
Charlie Lima: And it's like, do something.
Todd Pinkston: Did you learn about it from comfort crisis or where'd you hear about it?
Charlie Lima: No, I heard about it from Jesse Itzler.
Todd Pinkston: Okay.
Charlie Lima: is a guy that, bless you, he was an author, kind of an
Todd Pinkston: Yeah.
Todd Pinkston: Yeah.
Charlie Lima: And I heard him talking about it. And I thought to myself, like, okay, this is cool. And it's do something so hard one time that it influences every other day of your life.
Todd Pinkston: Yeah.
Charlie Lima: And so Ironman has kind of been that for me. So it's like, there's no other day of the year
Todd Pinkston: Yep.
Charlie Lima: that I'm pushing like I am on that day.
Charlie Lima: But it influences every other day because number one, it's like, man, there's like, it's funny, I'll do a CrossFit workout. I'm like, this is nothing like an Ironman. You know, like there's a whole nother way of thinking when you've pushed yourself for that long and you've come to that physical pain and knowing what you have in you that you, you know, are someone that will push through it. And so that's become part of that.
Todd Pinkston: Yeah. That's rich, dude. How do you feel like spiritually, you said, you know, you made the statement, you can't do something hard externally that fixes you internally.
Todd Pinkston: Like we know that. Yet, there is something that correlates between a physical... challenge and what's going on emotionally.
Todd Pinkston: Like something about it brings it to the surface. I don't know what it is like, but what, what have you found? How did the Ironman help in the healing process of what you were going through?
Charlie Lima: I just think it gave me an outlet. Like it gave me a channel to express, you know, I, and I had already built up my passion for fitness, you know? So, you know, I like say it right now, like, you know, I,
Charlie Lima: I'll get ready for an Ironman in like 10 to 12 weeks because I'm in Ironman shape year round, right? Even though not biking and, you know, it's just like, I can just, it's all it is, is more volume, you know?
Todd Pinkston: Yeah. Yeah.
Charlie Lima: And so there, what it did though, is it gave me this channel. It gave me this way to, you know, you can do that channel. Let's be honest, for a lot of people can be a lot of different things.
Charlie Lima: Like when you're going through difficult times. And for me, it just increased the volume on fitness, which was already a channel that I subscribed to and a phenomenal way for me to like, you know, today, like I started doing Sonic cold plunge like year and a half ago. That's like a channel for me to, you know, just to, to manage, not the, not that I'm in that same season, but just as, you know, every day you're going to have,
Charlie Lima: curve balls, you know, you get, you can get 10 guys on the mountain every week if you wanted to, you know, pull 10 strangers, take the mountain, you're going to find out a lot of stuff.
Todd Pinkston: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
Charlie Lima: So it's like, all the Ironman did was it increased the volume and the frequency of that channel that I already subscribed to. you know, you said something that made me think and I don't know if it was a question, but external internal.
Charlie Lima: One thing that I can tell you for certain
Charlie Lima: is you have to explore the depths of who you
Charlie Lima: when you're in those times. And that won't come from an external scripture.
Todd Pinkston: Yeah.
Charlie Lima: That won't come from an external sermon. That won't come from an external person's prayer. Like when you are in the depths of the trial or the stuck or...
Charlie Lima: You have to go internal, like deep in, not your faith, not your God, you. mean, like sometimes you say that and I say that just not again, not because I'm against those things, but you like, hey, I got to get all this out of here and figure out why am I here?
Todd Pinkston: Yeah.
Charlie Lima: Why did I respond the way that I responded?
Todd Pinkston: Yeah.
Charlie Lima: You know, my saying is 10 people go through what I went through. I responded differently than nine why. And why not anything to do with God.
Todd Pinkston: Yeah.
Charlie Lima: It's to do with you. And how you relate to the world, how you relate to people, how you receive, how you give, how you function, how you think.
Charlie Lima: You know, a therapist would call that your... It's a word for basically your orientation, your origin story.
Todd Pinkston: Yeah, for sure.
Charlie Lima: That's what they would say. But when you're in that, you got to work in that. Because again, that's not going to come from like you can pray and ask God to help you find that, but it's like, you know, it's not gonna, you know, so you, that's the stuff that heavy.
Todd Pinkston: Sure. Sure.
Todd Pinkston: Yeah.
Charlie Lima: That is the stuff that's the tears.
Todd Pinkston: Yeah.
Charlie Lima: That is the stuff that, but ultimately, man, when you do that work, you do come out knowing yourself better, loving yourself better,
Charlie Lima: more capable to move on and move forward, right?
Todd Pinkston: Yeah.
Todd Pinkston: Absolutely, dude. Dude, that's rich.
Charlie Lima: Yeah.
Todd Pinkston: And that's powerful. It's like the bumper sticker theology. No bumper sticker is going to go inside and heal your marriage. And if anything, I think it just does more harm because it makes it seem like it should be easier than what it actually is.
Todd Pinkston: And what you're talking about is pulling it back and looking and being honest about what's actually there. Like, dude, I'm pissed off today. Like, dude, I'm frustrated.
Todd Pinkston: Like, man, you know, wish I wasn't here.
Charlie Lima: Yep.
Todd Pinkston: mean, all those things we feel like we shouldn't say, we say them, then there's freedom in it. Then you could start to see like, why is that?
Charlie Lima: Yes.
Todd Pinkston: Like, what is going on that's making me feel that way?
Charlie Lima: Yeah.
Todd Pinkston: And then that's where the Lord comes in can do actual healing work because we're not pretending anymore.
Charlie Lima: Yeah. Yeah.
Todd Pinkston: Dude, that's good. I love it, man. You're in some rich growth times, dude. It's fun.
Todd Pinkston: Tell me what's next. Like, what's on the horizon for Charlie Lima?
Charlie Lima: so I have two, two, two Ironmans this year.
Todd Pinkston: What do you dream about?
Charlie Lima: yeah.
Todd Pinkston: Two in one year? Oh, no, you might have to train for 13 weeks to get ready for that, bro. Yeah. Oh.
Charlie Lima: No, I'm in a season of one. I'm liking to, uh, the physical challenge that just to test my body and to kind of see what it's capable of, because I feel like,
Todd Pinkston: yeah.
Todd Pinkston: Yeah.
Todd Pinkston: Yeah.
Todd Pinkston: Yeah.
Charlie Lima: I already do that, but it's like,
Todd Pinkston: Yeah.
Charlie Lima: you know, I want to walk back to my daughter's bedroom 10% more than I did last year and sit on her bed and let her talk about whatever, right?
Charlie Lima: So it's not like every day and it's like I want to do it 30 times a month or whatever or some quotient. It's just like I already do that, but I want to do that just a little bit more.
Charlie Lima: And,
Todd Pinkston: Yeah.
Todd Pinkston: Hmm.
Charlie Lima: you know, the gym is exciting because It's there's a lot of opportunities there, but, you know, don't necessarily have this like I know kind of what I want to do, but here's what I definitely don't want to do.
Charlie Lima: I don't want to do anything at the expense of my peace and my rest in my stress, you know, like I've done that so many times and that's always been like at my expense, you know,
Todd Pinkston: Yeah.
Charlie Lima: it's just not loving towards myself when I basically set these giant agendas.
Todd Pinkston: Yeah.
Todd Pinkston: Yeah.
Charlie Lima: And so it's like, I don't want the gym or my entrepreneurial nature to essentially grow at my expense from a stress and a piece. Right. And there is a healthy way to do that. Like, you know, I can definitely tell you done it in an unhealthy way, but so those are kind of some big things that I would say are coming up.
Todd Pinkston: That's awesome. Dude, thanks for, uh, thanks for taking some time today to chat, dude. uh,
Charlie Lima: Of course.
Todd Pinkston: Brother, I'm always encouraged by you right now, probably more than ever. I mean, seriously, I admire your drive, the way you get after stuff. You love people really well. Like, dude, I remember going and working out at your gym, just like the way you bounce around and care for folks.
Todd Pinkston: Like everybody feels cared about around you. Everybody feels challenged when you're around you. And also you're living it out. Like you're getting after it. you know, the words that embody your culture at the gym are the words that embody you as a leader. And people see that in you. And so thanks for taking some time today. Thanks for being real here. I know it's a risk sometimes to be real and share what is actually going on beneath the surface.
Todd Pinkston: But I think it's a gift. And that's what I love about you. So thanks for time today, brother. Thanks for being on and sharing.
Charlie Lima: Thanks for asking the questions, man, and caring. appreciate that.
Todd Pinkston: You got it. Appreciate you, man.
