One thing every athlete tries to avoid, no matter the sport or level, is injury. Whether you’re an NFL pro or an ultramarathoner grinding through 106 miles in the French Alps, staying healthy is the ultimate goal. But if you’ve been at it long enough, you know that some kind of setback, big or small, is inevitable. It might not be a torn ACL, but when you’re pushing your body to its absolute limit, something is bound to give eventually.
Celebrity trainer Corey Calliet knows this reality firsthand. After a cycling accident sidelined him, he was forced to face not just the physical challenges of recovery, but the far heavier mental toll of being unable to move his body the way he’s used to. Few people talk about what happens when you tie your worth to your physicality, something that can disappear in an instant. When it’s gone, you’re left staring in the mirror, wondering who you really are.
“Naturally, what happens is when you injure yourself, you feel worthless, you feel like you can’t do anything,” he says. “If I have a body that I’m always training and doing things, that’s what gives me joy. In that moment, it was like, what if that was taken away from you and you couldn’t work out anymore, would you still have joy?”
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But Caillet didn’t let the setback derail his discipline. Sure, it’s easy to lose motivation when you literally can’t move your body, but instead of letting it derail his progress, he leaned into other aspects of his health.
“I started to find joy and discipline in still eating right, still showing up for myself,” he adds. “I say discipline is personal, and it’s a choice. It’s a choice that we get every day. Discipline is the structure that [enables] me to do the things I need to do.”
Now that he’s recovering from his injury, he’s back stronger than ever. That time away from physical training gave him the chance to sharpen his mental edge. When his mind or body tries to make excuses, he leans on discipline—a lesson he also passes on to his clients.
“I choose discipline first because discipline doesn’t come when it’s easy,” he says. “Discipline comes when, like yesterday, I had to cycle three hours, and I got off the bike and I had to go run four miles because I’m training for a triathlon. I wanted to find every reason why I shouldn’t go. I left my goggles, didn’t have my fins. Discipline was making the choice to say no matter what it is, I’m going to do it.”
