PART 3 - Empowering Youth Through Boxing: The Legacy of Jon "THE COBRA" Crosby

Ever wondered how a small act of kindness could transform an entire community? Join us as we explore the incredible journey of Jon "THE COBRA" Crosby, who has dedicated himself to building a supportive environment for young boxers in El Segundo. Through Jon's inspiring narrative, you'll uncover how his unique boxing style and nurturing attitude attracted kids aged 9 to 15, offering them free training that emphasized both physical and cognitive skills. From engaging in community fundraisers to helping kids showcase their talents, Jon's story is a powerful testament to the impact one person can have on personal and community growth through the art of boxing.

In this episode, we delve into Jon's transition from training youngsters to pursuing his own boxing career, facing challenges head-on, and breaking through barriers of shyness and self-doubt. Hear how he made the bold move from working at Chili's to becoming a full-time personal trainer, quickly building a client base through sheer determination and trust in his instincts. Learn about the pivotal moments that shaped his path, from helping a friend fit into her wedding dress to conquering the chaos of larger gyms. Jon's journey is a compelling narrative of resilience, personal development, and the importance of believing in oneself to achieve both personal and professional success.

Chapters

• 0:00 Fostering Community and Empowering Youth
• 7:33 Overcoming Challenges and Building Connections
• 23:37 Taking a Leap

Transcript

Michelle: 0:00

Welcome to who's your Mama, a podcast focusing on tomorrow's future, which are our kids, educators, teachers, parents, all encompassing with the goal of understanding that our brain is a muscle that we can exercise to control the speed in the direction that we want. Let's go y'all. The time is now. John the Cobra Crosby, welcome back to who's your Mama. Glad to be back. Glad to be back, well, thank you. So this is for the audience. This is part three of four of you taking all of us on the ride of life. Of your journey. Thus far, many more to come. So, just as a quick recap of part two, you were had come up to 2005, and that's when you were training in El Segundo and really were part of a community in terms of investing in kids, young adults and helping them train. Yes, so okay. So I'll let you take it on from there and we'll continue on on the train of life with you.

Jon: 1:12

Okay. So, um 2005, yeah, that's when I started, uh, training kids after school, Cause I pretty much was living inside that gym night and day. I was in there early morning to time. They closed at night so the kids would see me in there already going to work after when they would come in from after school. They come in with their backpacks and change clothes and they would see me in there working out. So they really liked my style and they would see me in there working out. So they really liked my style.

Michelle: 1:45

When you say style, what do you mean by that? What was it that you feel like, felt safe and inviting from these?

Jon: 1:55

kids from that perspective, the style of boxing they really liked my style of boxing and my attitude was welcoming because I was in there so much that you know it was like a second home to me. So I was real like uh, open to uh to help them out if they had any questions. So they, they liked my style and they really really liked uh, my work, that they saw me in there every day. So they started to ask me questions. Then I started to help them out, help them out with little things like on the bag and the speed bag and different things like that. And then I started training, like one of the older ones with the mitts, with the pads and the other ones liked what I was doing with him.

Michelle: 2:42

When you say older ones, how old, roughly.

Jon: 2:50

He had to be like 14, 15.

Michelle: 2:54

I believe you said that you had a range of them for a long period of time. They're from roughly around 9 to 15.

Jon: 3:00

Yeah, yeah, from 9 to 15. So the oldest one in the group, I trained him first because he was the most experienced in boxing, he was coming there the longest. And the other ones was, uh, his two brothers, uh, one of his, um, other friends, which was a girl, and then their younger friend that lived in the neighborhood. He was the youngest one so, yeah, I trained him. They liked what I was doing with him and they started to come every day and we just became really cool and I didn't worry about charging them. I was training them for free after school. And when I knew that they really liked it and they wanted to come every day, I made it a habit to do everything I needed to do, like as far as my workout and any work that I had to do before they get there, so I could be available for them.

Michelle: 4:02

You're creating a whole home away from home, a big brother, big sister type of situation.

Jon: 4:07

mentorship Pretty much, yeah. So I really enjoyed that. I really enjoyed that, and that stuck with me since then. That stuck with me big time, and I always wanted to do that again, but more on like a bigger scale, professional scale, and that's what I'm working on today. But from there, um, we did some fundraisers, um and uh, they was able to show them, to show their skills in the ring while raising money for, uh, for for different things that the gym was raising money for. I can't currently remember, though, but it was fun to be a part of that, because I was training them and they was able to show their skills in front of their parents and friends, and it was, it was big, it was fun, it was fun. So I've always I've always, uh, had a passion for uh, uh, digging back into that, because that's something that I really enjoyed, and I feel like I can do that for the rest of my life Training and just helping the kids, the youth and anybody that wants to just pretty much change their environment and life around for the better.

Michelle: 5:25

Very much the theme that I hear and you and I connected on from the beginning, around who's your mama and kids being tomorrow's future is that sense of community, kids understanding how they are able to exercise their mind which I know from training with you. I know how much cognitive skills are needed to be that fast and what that can exercise in your mind but also for reframing when things are feeling outside of your control in other parts of your environment. And your patience and the quality of which you're invested not just in your skill set from boxing and MMA but also with making sure that everyone's not only their physical health is proper, but also you really do work on brain health too. The combination I definitely can attest firsthand that combination that you provide, and so the giving back the sense of community and the focus on kids, it's a really beautiful thing.

Jon: 6:43

Yeah, yeah, I love it. It teaches people how to be able to be focused on something, really, really that focus on something that's right in front of them and not focus on everything else. So you just block out everything when you come in front of, come into training, block out everything else, all the outside noise, and you just just focus on that. Let it all go while you're there and just have a good time, good workout, and then be able to deal with the world a little bit better when you leave and control the speed on the train of life, so to speak.

Michelle: 7:22

So so, on that note, talk a little bit about, if you're willing to, regarding so from 2005,. Like you were saying, that's when you really got invested in training kids and young adults. The zoning out, or we'll call it the focusing to clear out the noise how did that help you in your journey moving forward on from 2005?

Jon: 7:54

well, 2005, I was training there and um, and then I ended up meeting a trainer I mean not a trainer, a guy that wanted to be my manager and he ended up bringing me to 108th and Broadway. I was there before In-N-Out, but I went back. So that took me from El Segundo to 108th and Broadway to start training. So I was traveling back and forth and by this time the kids was already moving to a different gym and doing their own thing. So I was able to move on to um, pursuing my boxing career and um. So I went to 180, to broadway, and I met this, uh, this trainer and I trained with him and um, all, all at the same time, building up my own personal training business. Because, remember, it started from when I was 19, 18, 19. I trained my mom's friend to get into that wedding dress.

Michelle: 9:15

Yes, I've had just a side note. I've had so many people reach out to me and say how special that was. Not about making it about body per se it's not anything like that, nor was that what you were expressing but just how much that part of well many parts of your journey that you've been vulnerable enough to share was the wedding dress has stuck out with a ton of women.

Jon: 9:45

It's important to be able to fit into something you really want to fit into, even if your body ain't a hundred percent where you want it to be. But to just be able to fit into a dress, or to put on a jacket for a guy, or to be able to button up your pants without taking it, taking the belt to the like, the last loop, and it's important.

Michelle: 10:07

Little things are important, so well, and I think it's about. I think the overall message is it's about feeling good in your own skin, because when we shine in inside, we shine outside and the two are very much intertwined. So that's what the positive comments I I've been it was about. That is about being proactive in your own life for doing things that make you happy, so that definitely stood out with a lot of people.

Jon: 10:37

Yeah, yeah, and that feeling, right, there was something I'll never forget that feeling and seeing the smiles on the kids faces when I'm training with them as they were learning, it's something that I never forget. Um, so, around like 2005, I mean 2006, um, no, 2006, yeah, that's when I went to Broadway, because I already went to Orange County, so 2006,. I was at Broadway and I was training. Then I ended up going from 100th to Broadway and I started training at 24-Hour Fitness on 120th and Crenshaw. Now, that was 2006, at the like the mid day in part of 2006.

Jon: 11:30

And, um, I knew I was going to have to take my cardio to a whole nother level. So that's when I joined 24 hour fitness and, um, I went in there and I started training. Um, and I had the group X room all to myself. The group X room is where everybody does their classes and when nobody's doing any classes it's just straight up empty. So I would go in there because I was used to being in a gym that was like quiet a lot of the times, because the gym was, like the gym I was training at in El Segundo, was privately owned, so at times it would get busy, but a lot of times it wasn't busy, you had to work at 24 Hour Fitness and you had to work harder to clear out the noise.

Michelle: 12:27

Is that?

Jon: 12:29

No, I was kind of shy going into 24 Hour Fitness because it was so big.

Michelle: 12:35

Oh, I see. So that's interesting. So what made it about? What made you feel shy because of the size? What was going through your head?

Jon: 12:44

It was ginormous. It was like five times the size of the gym that I was training in and it was a lot louder, a lot more people looking at me and I was just shy. So I had to go into the group X room so I could just really just focus in on everything that I wanted to do.

Michelle: 13:01

To help you again clear out the noise. So you, even at that young of age still you understood what you needed in that moment in time to find a peaceful place in your head, to get refocused. Is that what I'm hearing?

Jon: 13:19

Kind of yeah In that moment, yeah In that moment, yeah, but it kind of worked against me and I had to reverse it later on. Oh, can you expand on that? When you're in front of a crowd fighting, it's going to be very, very loud, there's going to be a lot of screaming, there's going to be a lot of cheering, there's going to be a lot of noise. So I got used to training in quiet, like little noise, but in quiet, like if I was to gauge it, it would be like a four and a five.

Jon: 14:02

But when you're in an actual arena and fighting, it's like nine, ten plus. So I got used to training in. You're in an actual arena and fighting, it's like nine, 10 plus. So I got used to training in three and four, so I could just really focus in on myself and let it be as quiet as possible, just playing my music and that's it.

Jon: 14:18

But when I would get in front of large crowds I would get kind of nervous. How did you handle that when you were nervous? I'm about to tell you. The trick is to smile in the fire. You gotta get out there and put yourself in uncomfortable situations to get comfortable. And what I did was move outside of that room in 24 Hour Fitness and move directly in front of, in the middle of all of the people. So I trained outside the room.

Jon: 14:57

When I was there, I did all of my jump roping, I did all of my boxing, I did all of my pushups and sit-ups and crazy pull-ups in front of everybody and I got used to people looking at me and it made me want to work harder when people was looking at me, when I noticed people was looking at me. So I had to reverse everything that I was doing. At first I thought it was a distraction to be out there with all the noise, but it's actually a good thing to be able to do both, because if you could train in silence, you got to be able to train when it's loud, which carries over to when it's time to go to work, and you don't want all the noise to be like making you gun shy, making you shy to to to do what you was there to do. So I had to reverse everything.

Michelle: 15:53

I think that's really a metaphor for life and something that it's so great that you're speaking about this area in particular, because there's so many people, regardless of what they do for work or what they do in their personal life I mean, ideally we all want to have balance, whatever that means, but being able to adapt, because life is fluid, is such an important lifeline skillset. It's something that I talked to my 15 year old daughter about all the time. We we need to sometimes change as hard and sometimes it's not, and everything in between, but being able to adapt is a forever life skill. So thank you for sharing that. So continue on on your ride with us.

Jon: 16:37

Adapting is important. I like to take over the gyms that I go to. If I'm not known there, then I like to be known within two months. I'm not known there, then I like to be known within two months. That's something that I've grown to love. To do is to take over the gym and be like oh, you that guy that be doing, oh you, that guy that does this, Yep Also smiles are contagious and you have a big smile, so people are drawn to positivity as well.

Michelle: 17:02

Yeah, so you're pushing through there at 24 hour fitness and then, then, what's?

Jon: 17:11

next I met one of my longtime friends now that I've been friends with since 2007, since I'm in the 24. He saw me in there boxing. His name is damien. He saw me boxing and he came in. He liked my style because it reminded him of my favorite fighter, roy Jones Jr. So he came in there and, you know, introduced himself and told me that he liked the style. He told me that he was training at Broadway as well, but, like in an earlier time, and I said, said okay, all right. So I said you know, we got to start talking.

Jon: 17:55

And then I don't know what it is about me when I, whenever I get somebody that's in front of me that either box or does mma or some type of martial arts, I always feel like I want to show them something that can they can take and learn. Learn there. I teach them that them something that they can take and learn, learn there. I teach them that so they can take it and practice it on their own, to put it in their own little satchel of moves that they can pull out later. So I just showed them that move that day. He went to the gym the next morning, knocked the heavyweight down with it, the same move and came back that evening big smiles, and we'd just been tight since then, super tight since then. He was like I literally did the move you just showed me yesterday. I knocked his heavyweight down. Mind you, he was only like 170, 175. He knocked his heavyweight down. Mind you, he was only like 170, 175. He knocked his heavyweight down, that's two plus some pounds. And he was like I did the move.

Michelle: 18:58

I knocked him down and I was like, see, I told you and then since then he's the D, I'm sure there's tons of teachers out there, and by teachers I mean educators in so many areas of life, but just traditional teachers at school that are like tons of teachers out there, and by teachers I mean educators in so many areas of life, but just traditional teachers at school that are like when they watch their students, that are struggling whatever subject, and then the light bulb, the things finally connect and it's like I've had. I have tons of friends who are teachers and they're like what that feels like and for me as a parent, when I see things connect and whether it's in school or outside with my daughter and what you're describing is is just such a beautiful thing to know that you've had a positive impact on somebody yeah, I'm not, yeah, it's.

Jon: 19:43

It's crazy when, like when you, when you work towards something and you give somebody advice or you help them out with something, and they come back all smiles like I passed or I did it or you know any. That's just, that's a great feeling. So he appreciated me since then and, um, I started training him. Um, I started training him and then um, um, and then, uh, just one, uh, female client came and uh, she was a probation officer, I believe, and she wanted to, um, work on her boxing skills to to make sure she could take care of herself when she's, you know, working with the people, take care of herself when she's, you know, working with the people. So I started training her and, uh, she, she, her women is such fast learners.

Jon: 20:37

Man, jesus christ, you guys can literally block out everything you guys ever learned and just learn from scratch and and it it just it happened so fast. Well, with guys, I gotta break them down, like because if they've been doing street fighting, I gotta tell them that ain't gonna work. You gotta, you gotta strip this down and it sometimes I actually gotta show them physically that it's not gonna work and then get their respect. Then they learn. But women just come in straight like a straight piece, a blank piece of paper, and be like teach me. And I'll be like, okay, let's go.

Michelle: 21:17

So she learned fascinating from a you know. I mean we could probably dive into that to the cows come home, but I I think it's again is a a testament to you that you're able to connect with multiple people, multiple ages, different backgrounds, to let their guard down. And again, I can say from my own personal experience with you, there's some times where it takes longer for me to reframe my mind and focus, especially when you're teaching me new moves all the time. But you're very patient and part of boxing is relaxing and you'll tell me that my shoulders drop, and so that's some part.

Jon: 22:06

It's such a big part of communication is you want to make sure somebody is not just listening to you but they're actually hearing, and you do a really good job of that um energy to where people can release the, release their uh, their their cage that they they put themselves in and uh trust you to uh to give them the right information and and guide them in direction they need to go. So that's why I like to have my energy and we're at a good level all the time when I'm dealing with people, um, and so they won't be standoffish and you know, and I don't want them to be able to take anything that I'm dealing with um with them. I'm there to help them get away from anything and then learn. So I'm not trying to put anything in their backpack of uh didn't learn, so I'm not trying to put anything in their backpack of uh stuff. You know they got to deal with anyway. So, um, yeah, so I I went with her, um, she was training, she was doing really good, I was training both of them and then so this is around, I'm training them down, trained another person, I'm training another person, all while this was like 2006 and 7.

Jon: 23:37

I was 2006, so 2006 and 7, I was working at Chili's right. I opened up the Chili's. That was in off century and close to Prairie in Inglewood. I opened that one up first. One of the first waiters in their first crew and it was fun. I was working Chili's mornings and some nights.

Jon: 24:13

And then when I really wanted to get into training personal training I said the manager, I said I need to customize my schedule to where I only work this amount or this time, because I got to get to the gym and train these clients and at first they said okay, but then they started like messing up my schedule. So that's when I started, when I had to make a decision to right then and there, just bet on myself and just go with training, because I believe that I was making a difference in people's lives and I believe that if I got enough clients that I would be able to sustain in life for myself. So I went all in in 2006, 2007. And I've had a job since. I've done, you know, gigs here and there, gig work. I teamed up with Jim to train there and you know all different types of gig works. But as far as having like a W-2, a 9-to-5, no, I haven't had one since 06, 07.

Jon: 25:39

And I also wanted to move on my mom's house around that time as well. So I had three clients and I wrote down that I was going to have. I need to get 30 clients to be able to get out of this, get out of my mom's house and get my own spot. And when I literally said I need to get 30 clients, I don't know, the universe opened up because I ended up well, I ended up training from morning to night. I had clients up to yin-yang.

Michelle: 26:16

How long did it take you to get up to yin-yang, so to speak? Or, as you first said, 30 clients? So you made that decision, you were all in with yourself, and I think that's another positive message. That decision, you were all in with yourself and I think that's another positive message, like trusting your gut, being able to, you know, channel what you know. A little bit of fear is good, but it can also hold us back. So you use that all in in your gut and you're like I've got me. So how long did it take you to get you to reach that first milestone of 30 clients?

Jon: 26:55

I'd say about two months, two months. You went for it, I went for it because I put myself in a position to go for it, like I was at Chili's and then I would train them. I would train myself and I would leave. But when I quit Chili's and I bet on myself and I wanted to train, I put myself in a position for people to be approaching me more. They always saw me training Because you were more approachable.

Michelle: 27:23

Like you said, the universe opens up. So when we open up, you know universe or God are all-encompassing, when we open up, you know universe or God or all encompassing, and it's having that, which I have no doubt, that boxing was part of that, what you were doing physically, you were investing in yourself, you were investing in others and you could see started to really see a clear path of your direction which, like you said, you haven't had a nine to five since then. I mean, you might be trading nine to five days, but from a traditional standpoint. So, on that note, I I think we'll stop there with, uh, trusting your gut, backing yourself, and we will very much look forward to part four to hear what happened once you started going all in on yourself.

Jon: 28:14

Yeah, we're going to start five, because that's Well, I'm very grateful to have you back and thank you so much.

Michelle: 28:24

John the Cobra Crosby, and let's go y'all. The time is now. Bye, rosby, and let's go y'all. The time is now. Thank you for tuning into who's your mama and I look forward to collaborating from a community standpoint for the next episodes.