Guido Trinidad – on Family, Fitness and Business

Guido Trinidad is a man on a mission and he has a lot on his plate. My first question to him was how he managed being so busy. He said, “I don’t like to use that phrase, ‘I’m busy.’ I just like to do a lot of things.” He explains that “being busy” can have a negative connotation, but Guido sees himself filling his day with things that are worthwhile.

That set the tone for the interview.

Guido clearly works hard, but above all he came across as passionate about fitness, business and family; legitimately excited about the projects he gets to work on; and grateful for his success to this point.

If you don’t know Guido Trinidad, he’s the owner of Peak 360 Fitness, an affiliated CrossFit Gym in Miami, and is also the founder of Wodapalooza, which is a massive 4-day CrossFit Competition with over 1500 competitors held annually. He also runs a meal delivery service called Perfect Fuel and has six CrossFit Games Regionals appearances under his belt. Oh, and of course, he accomplishes all of that with a wife and young family beside him.

Like many successful entrepreneurs looking to scale up and make a bigger impact, he’s had to find a different way to do things. Learning to delegate and be more effective has been a major transition. Even though we didn’t get into the details, it’s clear that he wants to touch more people. He wants to inspire them, not just in fitness, but to live better.

To do that, Guido has also had to be thoughtful about what he prioritizes. His family has the number one spot. Guido’s very clear on that. Being a business owner comes next, and then being a competitor. If hitting an extra training session after work means less time at home with his family, then it gets taken out of the schedule.

What did you learn in the last year? What light bulbs went off?

Wow, it’s been like a Christmas Tree of light bulbs! The more I learn, the more I realize I don’t know.

But here’s one of the biggest things. I was always big on dreams. I’ve been guiltily of doing things on sheer passion, and things have turned out well! However, the efficiency and trajectory of where I’m going can’t run off of passion anymore. I can’t do more, so I have to be more. Be more what? More efficient. More effective with my time.

I’ve been working on time management, goal setting, being more productive, and being a better leader to my team.

What was your fitness background before CrossFit?

I played football since I was nine years old. And I got into training because of football. As an undersized kid I didn’t always love training, but I loved the results. Eventually I earned a scholarship to play football at the collegiate level. I was a linebacker at Benedictine College, KS.

I still had more in me after college and took advantage of the opportunity to play professionally in Europe. I got to play in Sweden and Spain.

When I finished playing, originally I wanted to continue in football as a coach. But after reading the biographies of the best coaches in the sport, I realized that coaching at a high level and having a family life we’re compatible because of the time commitment.

You could say that it was always a dream to have a family, so setting out on that path didn’t make sense.

Giving up football it was hard though. It was my identity.

How did you get into CrossFit from there?

Eventually I turned my focused on getting training athletes and help them get to the next level. I did finance in school, not exercise physiology, so I started teaching myself and learning as much as I could. In the beginning I was training people out of the back of my car.

But I gained momentum and my gym, Peak 360 Fitness, was born.

When I found CrossFit in 2008, it was like everything clicked. It was such a great fit because it completed my philosophy on training. I always trained myself and my clients for performance. Now I had a complete method for it. And it also gave me something to compete in again. I knew I still had some fire left in me, but after football I didn’t have a place to direct it.

Who do you look to outside of CrossFit for fresh ideas?

We can all improve on technical methods of how to teach a snatch or butterfly pull-ups, and that’s important. But I’ve been training since I was nine. What I’ve realized is this: the skill of coaching derives from your values. Do you strive for excellence? Do you want to get better? Do you take the time to relate to people. These are the things that matter the most.

So I mainly look to people who help me grow as a person. I look up to my pastor. People like Tony Robbins and Jim Rohn have been influential in getting the right mind set.

In some circles, CrossFit has a negative reputation. Is there anything we can work on as a community to improve?

CrossFit itself is great. Sometimes the perception can be negative and some people are intimidated thinking they can’t do it. But when they visit us and try it for themselves, that idea changes. We have to show people that anyone can benefit.

Naturally we get compared to other CrossFit gyms automatically since we all share the same last name. So you have to distinguish yourself from the crowd by following your values and providing an excellent experience. It goes way beyond just helping people PR.

Do you feel any tension between the sport of CrossFit vs. CrossFit as a fitness program for general health and longevity?

For us, the biggest difference is in the volume of training. The amount of reps and contractions is the biggest difference between beginners and advanced athletes. You have to do more to be more. To build more capacity and get better, you have to work hard. But there is a balance. How much is too much? It depends on your goals, lifestyle and how much you can tolerate.

It’s also important say this: there are other important areas in your life outside the gym. In the gym you mainly improve one aspect of your life – being an athlete. What about relationships, spirituality, and all the other stuff? We often don’t spend the time consciously working on those things.

What fitness trends do you see on the horizon, generally or within CrossFit?

One is functional bodybuilding. Within CrossFit, people are training for aesthetics more than they used to. It used to be all about performance.

Some people need more exposure to weights to build muscle and we want to be able to help them. At my gym, we’ve introduced a program called “Build” that’s focused on hypertrophy.

But we still keep the priority on being functional and well rounded. They still do metabolic conditioning two to three times per week and they have to start with regular CrossFit for six to twelve months first.

Another trend is mindfulness.

We help people get fit. But I also want to help them improve their lifestyle, habits, and to live better if I can. Mindfulness and meditation helps with that. The same way you need to spend some time on mobility to keep your body feeling good, sometimes you need take a break spend time on yourself to keep your spirit and mind right.

You’ve launched a meal delivery service. What drove you to do that?

Nutrition is the missing piece for performance and health. But it’s also the thing that we as coaches have the least amount of influence on. With fitness, we give it to them. They walk in the door and they do the workout. It’s easy for the client to get it right. Meal delivery services make eating easy to get right. You have the food you need delivered to your house. You’d literally need to throw it in the garbage to mess up.

Is there anything you’d like to tell our readers?

Yes. I’d tell people that character is everything. Character allows you to do what needs to be done. It doesn’t guarantee success, but it’s almost impossible to be successful without it. Are you willing to work hard? Are you coachable. What’s your mindset? The cool part is that you can learn it and teach it. Character is essential in sport, but it’s even more important for your life, legacy and impact. That’s what matters most. That’s how we utilize fitness for personal develop.