Digital Social Hour
Olympic Gold Medalist LaShawn Merritt Reveals His Winning Mindset! | DSH #1201
Mon, 24 Feb 2025
🔥 From Olympic Gold to Business Success – LaShawn Merritt’s Next Chapter! 🏆 In this episode, we sit down with LaShawn Merritt, 3x Olympic Gold Medalist & Track Legend, to talk about his journey from dominating the 400m to transitioning into business and mentorship. LaShawn shares the mindset that made him a champion, his biggest career lessons, and how he’s now helping entrepreneurs and athletes develop a winning mentality with Next Level Pros. We also dive into the science of sprinting, how track athletes are undervalued, and the importance of discipline, gratitude, and integrity. If you’re looking for high-performance insights from an elite athlete, this episode is a must-watch! Key Timestamps 00:00 - Track & Field is a Contact Sport? The Science Behind Sprinting 00:22 - LaShawn Merritt’s Olympic Gold Medals & Career Highlights 01:50 - Retirement & The Challenges of Transitioning from Sports 03:30 - The Power of Chiropractic Care & Holistic Training for Athletes 06:10 - The Hardest Race in Track & Field: 400m vs 800m Debate 07:50 - The Craziest 400m Race & Quincy Hall’s Historic Gold 09:30 - How LaShawn Used Boxing Mindset for Sprinting Success 11:15 - The 2016 Olympic Race That Still Haunts Him 14:00 - The Truth About Track Rivalries – Nike Paid Him to Beat Jeremy Wariner! 16:30 - Can Anyone Break the 43-Second 400m Barrier? 18:50 - The Evolution of Track & Why Records Are Falling Fast 21:10 - LaShawn’s Business Journey with Next Level Pros & Mindset Coaching 24:00 - The Power of Visualization & How He Mentally Prepared for Races 26:45 - Raising Champions: Why Family & Integrity Matter Most 29:00 - The Merit Mindset: How to Win in Sports, Business, & Life 📲 Follow LaShawn & Next Level Pros: ➡️ Instagram: @lashawnmerritt ➡️ Website: Next Level Pros 🔥 APPLY TO BE ON THE PODCAST: https://www.digitalsocialhour.com/application 📩 BUSINESS INQUIRIES/SPONSORS: [email protected]
Chapter 1: What is the science behind sprinting in track and field?
Track and field is a contact sport. The amount of force that we apply through the foot. I mean, sometimes I leave practice and I feel like I got hit by a truck. Damn. Yeah. But the lactic acid and the force application, it's a lot. Did you accomplish everything you wanted to in track?
Whew.
All right, guys, got Leshawn Merritt here, Olympic champ. Brought the medals. Thanks for coming on, man. Yes, sir. I appreciate you for having me, Sean. Absolutely. Brought the 08 and the 16 gold medal. Let's go.
I did. I did. I have the 08 here from Beijing with a little bit of Chinese jade in it. And I also have the last one I got from Rio. This was my 4x4, but the Beijing was my most special one. That was my individual 400. Ooh. I love that, man. Man, the real one's huge. It's like double the size of the Beijing one. It is. More work put into that also.
Later in my career, people always say, man, this is heavy. I mean, that was a lot of years, a lot of work put into that. Did you feel like you lost a step in your later years? You know, I didn't. Well, I felt like I was more experienced, actually. But the guy actually ran faster in 16 than I ran in my 08. Oh, really? Yeah. So this one, the real goal was from the four by four.
Got it. And you kind of retired New York P because you retired the next year after getting gold.
I retired. So after 16, 17, I ended up having a foot injury. And in 19, I ended up having toe surgery. So I was training. I was hurting. I wasn't enjoying it anymore. And then I retired. That's the only job I've ever had. I was a bagger at a grocery store in the 10th grade. But this has been the only thing I've ever done. Wow, so you were all in.
That transition must have been tough, then. Really tough. Because you're so used to having a coach every day, right?
Man, the discipline, the accountability, the purpose that I live for. I was the guy who fell in love with the process. And when I was finished, I didn't have much to turn to. No wife, no kids, no daily responsibility and accountability. And it got tough.
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Chapter 2: How did LaShawn Merritt achieve his Olympic success?
Diet for me, I come from a family that has pretty good DNA. So I never really counted calories. I never really had to lose that much weight. But I stayed disciplined in what I ate. I mean, I knew what to eat before practice, after practice. I ate a lot of the same things a lot, and I didn't mind. Did you accomplish everything you wanted to in Shrock? Whew. Sort of. I didn't break the world record.
That was your goal? My approach was to bring my best self and maximize that sport. And I knew that my runway in life was going to be a lot longer than the sport. So I wanted to get into the sport, dive in, stay in my bubble, take as... much as the mental approach as possible because I knew that would translate to life. I love that.
So I was a runner in high school and I attribute a lot of my success in business to the mindset from running. 800 meters was my event. That's a tough one. It's a tough one, man. That's a tough one.
800.
You know, there's... People ask me all the time which event and which discipline is the hardest. I had a conversation with the 800-meter world champion at one time, and he said the eight. I mean, I respect the four and I run the four, but the eight is hard. But ask the coach. The coach said the 400 by far. If you ask anybody in the sport, they may say the 400.
Because you're on an island for so long, and the eight, the tempo is a little bit slower. Some people say the 400 hurdles. But the 400 hurdles, you can get into a rhythm and boom, boom, boom, jump the hurdle. Not 400, you get on that back stretch and you're on this island, then this electrical fence hits you at 200, then you have 200 to go.
Then you're at 300, then the gorilla jumps on your back, and there's nothing in front of you to kind of pace or calculate, jump in a hurdle or so on. It's a lot. The aerobic and anaerobic system is fired up in the 400. Yeah. I wonder what Rye Benjamin would say because he does both.
He does the hurdles and the 400. That's interesting. He'd be the right person to ask. He would.
And he can run a crazy 400. Yeah.
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Chapter 3: What challenges did LaShawn Merritt face during his transition from sports?
So throughout my years of training, I paid attention to what was going on here because I knew I would have to use it again one day. to become a champion in life.
That's smart you were thinking that far ahead actually, because a lot of athletes, I don't think they think ahead like that. I don't think so either. Yeah, I love how you break down the race scientifically too.
Yeah, it's a lot. I was the most consistent in my years. I ran fast, but I was known for being consistent. You're like a LeBron of track and field. Because I knew what I was doing. I wasn't a guy who just depended on reps for confidence. And I was dialing it in, the muscle memory, being present in the preparation to be able to execute, and that made a big difference. Yeah, man, I love that.
Merit mindset, is that something you coach?
Merit mindset, yeah, it's something I developed. The big question I was asked after my career was, what made me me? And... I had to do some deep diving, some reflection on how I handle things. And it came down to the duty, the responsibility, the discipline. I was a guy who brought my best self.
I was focusing on bringing my best self to training and to life every day, understanding the rest and recovery, being present, but also just having merit, having integrity, doing things with integrity. And that's important. That's important for me to become a champion in life. It's important for humanity and society and to continue to have gratitude and those core values.
And my dad, when I was younger, people would ask him his name. He would say Owen Merritt, but he would spell it M-E-R-R, no, he would say M-E-R-R-I-T-T. Then when I retired, I understand how things aligned, that I had a double dose of merit. And I really embodied that and had integrity and stayed the course and was able to shine.
That's cool, man. Sounds like your dad really played a big role in your life. I love him. I love that, man. Yes. Yeah, gratitude and integrity, that's so important for me. Absolutely. I have a gratitude journal every single morning, non-negotiable. Beautiful. And integrity, that's everything.
In that 400 meter master class, the last 15 meters of that race, I pushed gratitude. Have to have gratitude. Just being grateful for being able to be in that moment. and taking it all the way through the line, not slowing up, not overthinking it, just dropping everything, having gratitude and running past the line. So that's important. I love it.
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