THE FYX 062: Going ALL IN on Life with Jockey Nik Juarez

When Jockey Nik Juarez sat down with Coach Krysta at The Fort Athletic Club for this special episode, we finished the conversation with a quote that Nik lives by: “If you develop a resentment for losing, you’ll develop a winning mentality," - Devon Levesque: serial entrepreneur, philanthropist, and fitness enthusiast.

Off of the racetrack, Nik is a husband, father, and marathon runner. He is an aspiring ultra runner and tri-athlete, but we've got no doubt he'll have his first Ironman on the calendar within the next 12 months. Nik is also a member at The Fort Athletic Club in Oceanport, New Jersey, where Coach Krysta oversees marketing and one of the Club's boutique fitness studios. Nik calls Monmouth Park racetrack, just down the road from The Fort, his official racing home. He grew up in Maryland, and even though he was quite literally born into becoming a jockey, it wasn't until his first year of college that he took a serious interest in it. Nik is a multiple grade stakes winning jockey: he won his very first stakes race in 2015 on a horse he now owns, Valid, at Monmouth Park. In 2017, he won the Grade 2 Black-Eyed Susan Stakes aboard Actress at Pimlico Race Course.

In this episode we discuss:
- The importance of mindset and having a winning mentality
- The nuances of horse racing and understanding a jockey's racing strategy
- What the day-to-day routine looks like for professional jockeys
- Nik's struggle with his identity when dealing with an injury and the uncertainty of his sport throughout the COVID19 pandemic
- How Nik and his wife, Melissa, manage a long distance relationship with one baby and a second on the way
- Nik's resilience in his profession
- David Goggins' 4 x 4 x 48 Challenge, which Nik will be taking on, beginning at 11 p.m. EST on March 4, 2022.

Nik is competing in the 4 x 4 x 48 to raise funds and awareness for Team Foster, an organization that provides foster animals to retired US veterans, and the Permanently Disabled Jockeys Fund (PDJF), a non-profit that provides financial assistance to thoroughbred and quarter horse jockeys who've sustained catastrophic injuries in racing. If you'd like to donate to Nik's efforts, please visit his GoFundMe page HERE.

Connect with Nik on social media:
@nikjuarez on Twitter
@nikjuarez on Instagram

Fill your coffee cup, sip away, and get your FYX of Coach Krysta on The FYX podcast. Lynk up with Krysta on all of her social channels: @thekrystahuber
@thefyx.officialpod
@fyxstudios

Visit Krysta’s website for more information on her nutrition coaching formula, The Fitness FYX. Create accountability in your life by taking the first step: talk to a qualified nutrition coach who actually gets it. This isn't another quick fix program--it's THE FYX.