Legacy Through Movement: Why We Train To Love, Persevere, And Grow with Caleb Ross

What happens when a determined teen climbs the Taekwondo ranks while his dad laces up boxing gloves for the first time? That’s the question behind Built For Wholeness—a father–son series about shared practice, honest feedback, and the kind of connection that only comes from showing up together.

Caleb went from white belt to junior red, earning local, state, and national titles along the way. His discipline lit my own fuse for boxing. Now he’s teaching me to block without flinching, I’m coaching him through combinations, and together we’re finding where Taekwondo’s reach meets boxing’s timing—sharpening balance, defense, and decision-making in the process.

This isn’t just about martial arts. It’s about unconditional love, packed schedules, and choosing growth over comfort. A night at an MMA fight planted a new goal for Caleb and reminded us both: the black belt isn’t a finish line. It’s a promise to keep going.

The series launches on YouTube three days after this episode drops, with early access on Patreon and more inside the 523 community. If you’re a parent craving real connection, an athlete aiming higher, or someone ready to move again—your corner is ready. Subscribe, share this with someone who needs a nudge, and leave a review so others can find us.

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Transcript

Introducing Built For Wholeness

SPEAKER_01 0:24

Hello, hello, hello. Welcome to the Summit Podcast. This is your host, Jess Clifton, aka Jess Clifton Jess Clifton Ross, or Clifton Ross Jr. I don't know what I'm saying. Anyway, we are back with another episode. As you know, we are in a series called Sustain Greatness. And look, I am a person that tries to focus on building legacy. And I can't build legacy without having my main dog, my best friend here, my son Caleb. Come on, welcome Caleb to the podcast. Let's go. Let's go. Say hi to him, son. Hello. So we're gonna get this, we're gonna get this podcast started. It's gonna, I don't know what to expect. We didn't rehearse anything. We just want to talk about this uh series that we are putting together. It's called um, what is it called? Built for wholeness. Is a series where Cal or I teach each other. He's teaching me Taekwondo, and I am teaching him different skills in boxing. And I'm looking forward to it. We actually kind of did some pre-recordings already of a couple episodes. We haven't watched it yet, but we wanted to introduce it to Yeah. I mean, we did some clips.

SPEAKER_00 1:38

I mean, yeah.

Caleb’s Taekwondo Origin Story

SPEAKER_01 1:39

Yeah, we did some clips. So, uh, so we're gonna talk a little bit about that. So Caleb, tell the people a little bit about your taekwondo journey so that way we can get a synopsis of what's going on.

SPEAKER_00 1:51

Well, all I gotta say, I got inspired by a um by a movie and it just came to be and plus I wanted to defend myself, so what I w like, what else am I gonna do? Okay.

SPEAKER_01 2:06

So uh what movie was that that inspired you?

SPEAKER_00 2:09

Like Karate Kid.

SPEAKER_01 2:10

Karate Kid. Which one? The original karate karate kid or the one with Jalen? Jalen. Okay. Alright, it's a good stuff. You know, we gotta represent, represent. So that's so it inspired you to do it. So you wanted to do taekwondo. I know your uh your mom and I, we put you in taekwondo many moons ago. You were like, how old were you? Like seven?

SPEAKER_00 2:32

Nine.

SPEAKER_01 2:33

No, it was before. It wasn't nine?

SPEAKER_00 2:35

No, it was nine.

Belt Levels And Progress Explained

SPEAKER_01 2:36

Nine years old. So we put you in Taekwondo when you were nine. You end up getting your white belt, right? And then COVID happened. Shut everything down, right? So we took him out during COVID, and then you end up going back, and you've been doing it for a little over two years now, right? About two years? About two years now. So what actually really um inspired me was your ability to adapt to something new and become great at it. So uh right now you are a red belt. So explain to the people the different belt levels so that way they can understand like how significant being a red belt is.

SPEAKER_00 4:03

And like where you get like that brown is where you're like confident that you can make it to like black belt because you're like so close to it. Even that it's like a longer experience for you at that belt doesn't mean that you're not close to where your goal is.

SPEAKER_01 4:19

That's a whole word. So even though you're close to it, you know, you're getting closer to it that you know you just gotta keep going and keep on persevering. So you explained the belt level. So it's white, yellow, orange, green, blue. No, I forgot purple. Purple. Wh where is purple in there?

SPEAKER_00 4:41

Purple, it it's green, purple, blue. Okay.

SPEAKER_01 4:43

Alright, so white, yellow, orange, green, purple, blue, brown, brown, red, junior red, because you're a junior red now. Yeah. So uh it's junior red, senior, senior red, and then Japan D, black, and then black belt. Yeah. Got it. Alright, so you're literally three levels away from being a black belt. How does that make you feel?

SPEAKER_00 5:06

Excited and very determined.

Competition Wins And Dad’s Boxing Spark

SPEAKER_01 5:09

Very determined. So uh last, this to give you a synopsis. I might even put a clip of it in the show notes of Caleb's experience. He was on competition team this last year, and he got he is a local level champion, a state champion, and a national champion as well. So that, I'm just gonna be honest with you, seeing him compete inspired me to do boxing. Because I'm like, I always always love uh combat sports uh for myself, and I love competition sports as well, because I was a gymnast in high school. But putting all those pieces together really kind of like formulate my love for boxing as well. And also too, you know, back then I needed to blow off a little bit of steam as well, and I, you know, and I wanted to make sure that I was conditioning myself, and that's part of some of the best conditioning to do. So uh your experience being in Taekwondo actually inspired me to my love for boxing as well. So I don't know if you do that or not.

SPEAKER_00 6:17

Actually, I I was going to do boxing instead, but I was like, Taekwondo, I mean, like, either way it's gonna be good.

Blending Boxing And Taekwondo Skills

SPEAKER_01 6:26

Right, exactly, exactly. So let's talk about this. So, built for wholeness uh is a way for me to bond with Caleb. And Caleb is 13 now, um, and we have our experiences. What I mean by that, so like for instance, he has everything that he does, all the activities. So not only is in Taekwondo, he does basketball, he has extracurricular activities. So we tend to have busy lives. I work a lot as well. So Built for Holden's was a way for Caleb and I to spend quality time together, but also have experience with each other. It's a couple of clips. Uh, I think I'm gonna have one of the funniest clips that we have in the show notes so that way you you guys and Kayla get a brief synaptic of the experience that Caleb and I had. Um and it just it just gives you a perspective of our dynamic of our relationship. You know, I I'm not kidding when I introduced him as my best friend, Caleb, uh, and I'm sure he knows this as well. Caleb made me a better man. And the reason why I say that is because uh one thing that I can tell you that Caleb has taught me is what unconditional love looks like, right? And this is what I mean by that, because uh all the mistakes I made, I'm a new father. Caleb still told me he loves me. He still tells me he loves me. As mad as he gets with me, even today, like even it was a couple days ago, he was mad at me, and still he tells me he loves me. And that's something that I don't take for granted because it reminds me of the love of the father for his children and also the love of the children for their father when it's um and when it's needed. So let's uh just jump into it. So we talked about taekwondo, and now that you do a little bit of boxing with me. Tell me about your experience with that.

SPEAKER_00 8:15

I mean, like I already like expected that I was gonna do boxing boxing instead of taekwondo. I was like, well, let's just try boxing. And I think so as like my cup of tea, and plus adding boxing with taekwondo is probably like a good combination because it's like kicking motions and like flexibility merged with like power, precision, and foot and footwork, and it's really like a good combination of like the two.

Father–Son Bond And Life Lessons

YouTube Launch And Early Access

523 Community And Closing

SPEAKER_01 8:48

That's a great explanation. I hope y'all caught that. Uh so one of the things that uh Caleb and I did recently, we went to one of my friends, he's a professional MMA fighter. Uh, we went to one of his matches, and Caleb looks over to me and he's like, hey, I want to do that. So, so that's one of the things that we're trying to build up to as well. Like, so boxing helps with that. Obviously, Taekwondo's tech helps with that. You know, some grappling, wrestling, some jujitsu, all those different things is going to help as he pro as he progressed to uh that combat sport as well. So uh we I'm just looking forward to like this experience that continues to grow with you. Uh I feel like eventually I'm going to, because right now I'm still white belt level and create an R. I'm no belt level, really, right now. Caleb will tell me every day uh when we are doing Taekwondo, like, yeah, you're a no-belt. You're a no-belt. So uh, but I'm excited to learn more about Taekwondo as well as you learn it from me as well. You're excited about it? So, people, I'm gonna tell you, built for wholeness. Because when this podcast drops, built for wholeness will be launching on YouTube three days later. Somebody say three days. Say three days. Three me days. Three me days is crazy. So, in three days after this podcast launch, we're gonna be launching Built for Holeness. It's just a blog of Caleb Bernard interaction as he teaches me taekwondo and I teaching him boxing. The first episode is gonna be him teaching me how to block. Uh, and it's absolutely hilarious. You don't want to miss it. So, uh, more content to follow. If you want early access to it, because when I drop this podcast, I will drop Built for Holeness on my Patreon the same day. So if you want access, early access to that episode, head over to my Patreon, which is in the show notes. Become a part of the middle tier that I have there, and you'll get early access to the episode. Hey, if you want to be part of the 523 community, uh I'm I'm telling you, we are building something special. I have a masterclass that is coming out very, very soon. More information to follow, and it's going to be banana, it's going to be ridiculous. But aside from that, you're going to get other tips that is dealing with the whole man, my body, and spirit, because that's what it's about. And we're going to keep this thing moving. So remember, we're going to be um working on Build for Wholeness and also at the 523 community. If you want to join any of those, the links are in the show notes. And we'll talk to you later. Peace. Say peace to the people, Kim. Hi. Peace out.