How Climber Andrew Alexander King Optimizes His Mind & Body For Peak Performance
An Interview With Edward Sylvan
Daily meditation is key for me. I visualize my routes for climbing, dives, or take-offs before surfing them. It’s a way to make sure my body and mind are aligned with what is about to take place. Becoming calm in those moments as I transition through them.
As a part of our series about “How Athletes Optimize Their Mind & Body For Peak Performance”, I had the pleasure of interviewing Andrew Alexander King.
Andrew Alexander King is an explorer, climber, surfer and freediver. He is attempting to be the first African American to summit the world’s 14 biggest peaks and volcanos and also surf the infamous waves of Nazare this Winter 2022. King created The Between Worlds Project mission to encourage diversity in the outdoors and to create a positive change for tomorrow within nature, while collaborating with local communities to combat racism, sexism, climate change, economic limitations, and any other issues to break the glass ceiling in their cultures. Andrew’s work has been widely covered in respected outlets including CNN, Muscle & Fitness, Outside Magazine, Gear Junkie, KTLA, CBS LA, FOX and more.
Thank you so much for doing this with us! It is a great honor. Our readers would love to learn more about your personal background. Can you tell us the story of how you grew up?
I was born in Detroit, Michigan, raised by a single parent mother and a village of amazing individuals that ranged from my late great grandmother, grandparents, uncles and older brother.
I was adopted by my grandparents to have the opportunity to become the first person in our family tree to go to college. During that time, I had the opportunity to live in Hawaii, go to Highschool in Europe and I was able to attend the University of Maine on a track and field scholarship. Prior to college, I was able to see different parts of the world, thanks to my grandparents’ ability to be working for the military. So, I grew up with a global sense of what humanity meant to me from my perspective vs. one that was only myopic to what I knew only in the United States.
I don’t think I would have found this path to finding peace outside and inside if it wasn’t for mediation and nature, and my family giving me the opportunity to see and live life on my own terms as a minority in society.
What or who inspired you to pursue your career as a high level professional athlete? We’d love to hear the story.
I don’t think I was inspired at a young age to pursue becoming a high-level athlete. If anything, I believe I just did not want my family to pay for college since they already did so much for me to shelter me and give me the opportunity to see the world at a young age. So I always set that goal and told them they wouldn’t have to pay for college and I would train my body and mind to make that goal come into reality.
That meant practicing daily and going for late-night runs followed by studying and being in the gym to train my body to make sure it gave me a chance to get to college.
I took the same framework once I retired from competitive track and field in college and started surfing, climbing and diving.
I take time to study myself on where I am at in life and how I can progress forward not just in nature but as a human along the way. So that others have the opportunity to do the same if they so choose.
The Between Worlds Project formed from wanting to leave a place better than when I found it, in order to do that I needed to understand myself and before I could change anything that I hoped to achieve in this world.
None of us can achieve success without some help along the way. Was there a particular person who you feel gave you the most help or encouragement to be who you are today? Can you share a story about that?
It truly takes a village.
Family — Grandfather/Grandmother — Taught me discipline, He would make sure that if I truly wanted to achieve the goals I wrote down and would read out loud daily, that I needed to be disciplined in whatever I practiced inside and outside to achieve those goals.
Track — High School coach David Brown — I broke my hand my freshman year of track so I had to train and run in a cast all year, but coach Brown really pushed me to really find ways to train and not let a season go to waste. I focused on practicing my steps and learning to use my body fully and not just on a talent level.
Business — Jessica Gelman — Gave me the opportunity to work for the Patriots for a season, and I learned the importance of quality over quantity, and how you treat people says a lot about you and if people will work with you.
Climbing — Melissa Arnot Reid- She took me on a day climb before heading to Denali and really gave me the understanding of controlling what I can control in nature, coming from a high-altitude background. She told me that I didn’t know the ropes, but none of that mattered. What mattered is that I had the strength and stamina to keep up. What mattered was learning to take help from others and learn from the mountain. Learn and fall in love with the process. The process, not the goal, is where one finds peace.
I always say this and I mean it — I learned from many people around the world from villages, and communities to individuals. Thanks to them, I have the ability to evolve into what I am now and understand who and what I wanted to present to this world along my journey.
Can you share the funniest or most interesting mistake that occurred to you in the course of your sports career? What lesson or take away did you learn from that?
I will just say when you go on an expedition to Denali, remember on those days that you are snowed in your tent and not able to move for a few days… Don’t eat all your snacks, I mean you could, but then you will have to go make new friends at camps and hope they give you more snacks. I ate all my snacks before the expedition was over so I had to go around and meet so many (amazing) people between the blizzards and ask for snacks.
What advice would you give to a young person who aspires to follow in your footsteps and emulate your career?
Ask yourself — Who are you? What are you? And what do you wish to leave behind? The world is a reflection of how you see moments that pass by in life. As one grows, that lens changes with learning from moments and others in life. The deeper one understands themselves and takes accountability, the more freedom/space one is able to access along the journey, while relating to others as well.
Everything will not go your way, but it will be key to understand how to use those moments, good or bad, to grow to be the best version of oneself. Compete against who you were yesterday and if it is there, you will unlock the doorway to understanding yourself on a deeper level — beyond “beating” others.
What are some of the most interesting or exciting projects you are working on now? How do you think that might help people?
For this year of The Between Worlds Project:
On the U.S. side for 2022
1. Developing minority youth programs with gyms in Southern California for underrepresented youth the opportunity to learn the fundamentals of rocking climbing and safety, currently working with Outward Bound and Sender One Gyms of Southern California on this program which started in February 2022 at the SenderOne LAX gym.
2. Developing cognitive, body maintenance and injury protection programs with Sports Academy, formally the Mamba academy in Los Angeles/Thousand Oaks. The program is developing the understanding and guidance to help outdoors athletes understand their mental focus while pushing their body to next limits and how to protect their body over time for expeditions outside and beyond their career. Currently working with the staff to give more outdoor athletes the ability to not only access the program, but to be affordable. It currently is using the compensation from partners to have a fund for athletes who are injured to have access to use the program if needed.
Initiative in Europe for 2022
My original intention was to climb the highest volcano and mountain in Europe, Elbrus, located in Russia. However, due to recent events, it was important to me to remain true to the core values of humanity of The Between Worlds Project by donating the expedition cost to those impacted by being displaced from the tension between the two nations.
Climate change
I am working with the local French non-profit Montagne Verte Morzine to understand the impact of climate change to the Alps and the needed sustainability for living positively in tandem with nature to sustain the beauty and integrity of the mountains and environment. While on my way to climb some notable mountains in the alps, including but not limited to Matterhorn, Eiger, Mont Blanc royal Traverse as well other peaks, I plan to speak out on climate change and lack of diversity in the Alps.
This winter, I am headed back to Europe to focus on big wave surfing and work with local Portuguese non-profits and locals on giving the Portuguese community the ability to have funding to get kids into surfing — as well help with sustaining beach and water wildlife cleaning.
OK, thank you for all of that. Let’s now shift to the core focus of our interview. As an athlete, you often face high stakes situations that involve a lot of pressure. Most of us tend to wither in the face of such pressure and stress. Can you share with our readers 3 or 4 strategies that you use to optimize your mind for peak performance before high pressure, high stress situations?
I break moments down into chunks when it comes to a big expedition climbing, surfing or diving. I meditate on my body being in a tough storm or held down underway. I let myself know during this meditative exercise that all the hours of training are harder and more intense than this, and I must trust where I am now and understand that like all moments it will pass.
If I fit in the moment and do not remain calm I will miss the opportunity to see what I need to see, so I can feel and understand where I should be going next in life to grow mentally and physically.
After that meditative practice, I say thank you out loud to show respect for this day as it passed and the gifts it has given me to move forward with the body, mind, soul and opportunities to be standing.
I write my feelings in my journal and create a poem from them to move forward with the day.
Once the day is over, I head back into meditation to reflect on my body and mind to make sure I’m realigned and in peace and not in pieces.
Do you use any special or particular breathing techniques to help optimize yourself?
Daily meditation is key for me. I visualize my routes for climbing, dives, or take-offs before surfing them. It’s a way to make sure my body and mind are aligned with what is about to take place. Becoming calm in those moments as I transition through them.
Do you have a special technique to develop a strong focus, and clear away distractions?
I write down my feelings daily in a journal and then from there, I form a poem about what I feel so that I’m able to read back where I am and let my mind, body, and soul have the space that is needed to move through the moment with peace. That creates a balanced level of peace and focus for me, as well as visualization of understanding what I need to happen in those moments ahead.
Also, meditating and saying thank you to the day once I wake, or when I make it to the top of a mountain, or after getting out of the ocean, gives me gratitude to be ok with whichever way the day goes.
How about your body? Can you share a few strategies that you use to optimize your body for peak performance?
The framework I use now is working with Sports Academy of Los Angeles on developing my cognitive abilities as well as my physical abilities. I work with the staff to develop a program that takes into account low oxygen and high levels of physical endurance. We developed a program that works on isolated muscle groups for climbs as well as recovery needed and a conditioning program used at the conditioning gym of King Harbor fitness in South Bay of Los Angeles.
This program gets me ready or how I like to say, airbags the body for multi-day climbs and then straight into big wave surfing, I truly thank the team for making sure the body and mind are aligned so I can focus on climbing.
I also looked forward for other outdoor athletes having the ability to use the program when they visit Los Angeles.
At this time we are currently developing the program for other outdoor athletes who have the abilities to do use the program as well.
These ideas are excellent, but for most of us in order for them to become integrated into our lives and really put them to use, we have to turn them into habits and make them become ‘second nature’. Has this been true in your life? How have habits played a role in your success?
I would say this is 100% true. Compounding that yields positive impact plays a big part in your development as an athlete or just human. This goes back to understanding yourself and being consistent and listening, and giving your body and mind the space to complete these habits over time so they are able to compound to positive interest in your life.
Can you share some of the strategies you have used to turn the ideas above into habits? What is the best way to develop great habits for optimal performance? How can one stop bad habits?
I believe the best strategy to create new habits is to start small. Habits take time to build and time to break, so I break down the goal into chunks.
I plan to climb the highest volcano and mountain on each continent over the next 10 years while climbing other notable and technical mountains along the way, while speaking out and standing up issues that impact humanity. I know that on the surface and paper this seems massive, but I start with breaking down each mountain for the goal of training to a consistent understanding of what I’m blind spotting to make those actions part of my daily life to work on.
As a high performance athlete, you likely experience times when things are in a state of Flow. Flow has been described as a pleasurable mental state that occurs when you do something that you are skilled at, that is challenging, and that is meaningful. Can you share some ideas from your experience about how we can achieve a mind state of Flow more often in our lives?
Before one can understand flow, one could try to understand their intention and what they plan to do with that intent. Where the mind goes, the body goes, where the body goes, where the heart goes, the soul goes. Being in peace comes with understanding that you are in control of your actions but other actions are out of your control.
Do you have any meditation practices that you use to help you in your life? We’d love to hear about it.
Daily meditation practice for me is taking 10 mins of meditation and intention setting in the morning to outline the three values or lessons I would like to learn throughout the day. It could be listening more, speaking less or other factors that show up on time. It depends, but those answers come from my daily meditation practices in the morning.
Many of us are limited by our self talk, or by negative mind chatter, such as regrets, and feelings of inferiority. Do you have any suggestions about how to “change the channel” of our thoughts? What is the best way to change our thoughts?
First, it’s important to be honest with yourself and know that it is ok to not be ok. Learning to love those moments and let them pass is key. Second, understand that you are the only version of you that this universe will ever see, so make the most of that time big or small that it may be. Final and key is to know you are competing against who you were yesterday, everyone else does not matter.
Ok, we are nearly done. You are by all accounts a very successful person. How have you used your success to bring goodness to the world?
I don’t think of myself as successful, but as someone who is evolving over my once-in-a-lifetime gift in life. I believe in leaving each place, community, culture, or person better than when I arrived or was introduced to them. If I cannot do that then I will remove myself from that environment so that I do not cause harm.
In the society sense of what of my journey of The Between Worlds projects shows is that I am someone who works a full-time job in tech to so that I’m able to have enough to help nonprofits, charities, or individuals along my journey up these mountains.
Can you share your favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Why does that resonate with you so much?
“Where the mind goes, the body goes, where the heart goes, the soul goes” this means to me that if you are truly aligned with who you are and what you do, you are never out of flow with life, but actually in it.
We are very blessed that some of the biggest names in Business, VC funding, Sports, and Entertainment read this column. Is there a person in the world, or in the US whom you would love to have a private breakfast or lunch with, and why? He or she might just see this, especially if we both tag them :-)
This has truly been an honor, and honestly amazing questions that I would love to sit down and chat with Lewis Hamilton, Serena Williams, Chris Paul, Rich Roll, Lewis Howes, Malala Yousafzai, Viola Davis, Mark Cuban, Tom Brady, Rich Paul and Maverick Carter. These would be the people I would ask to lunch for sure to sit and discuss life and what success means to them. They really made that possible for not only themselves but others along the way.
This was very meaningful, thank you so much! We wish you continued success!
Thank you for your time. In peace.
