Discovering Acrobatics: Tigor Lettsome's Inspiring Journey

This includes , but is not limited to , doing a backflip off an old riding lawnmower . Hello everyone , my name is Jake Bushman and I am the host of Journey with Jake . I am grateful to have the opportunity to speak with adventure seekers each and every week who are on their own path in journey and life .

T Gore Lettsum's path may just be starting , but his outlook and desire to achieve and move forward is something we can all learn from . T Gore was raised in a good family and is pursuing acro or acrobatics at Washington and Venice University as part of the acro heirs .

He wasn't always in a position to perform acro but , as we will learn from this conversation , the desire and discipline is what has pushed him on his journey . Welcome to Journey with Jake . This is a podcast about adventure and how , through our adventures , we can overcome the challenges of life that come our way .

While I expect you will learn some things about different adventures , this show will entertain you . Each episode will feature a different guest or guest , as they share experiences and stories from the different adventures they have been on .

Not only will you be entertained , but you will also hear the failures and trials each guest faces and what they have done or are doing to overcome the hardships that come their way . My goal is to take each of us on a journey through the experiences of my guests , with the hope that you will be entertained and inspired to overcome your day to day challenges .

After all , it's not all about the destination as it is about the journey . Welcome back to another episode of Journey with Jake . This is episode number 58 with Tigor Letzum . As many of you know , who have been following me on my Instagram account and on the podcast , i have just completed my first ever half marathon .

I'm debating in my mind how I want to recap the event . If you want to know a little bit , be sure and follow me on Instagram at Journey with Jake Podcasts . You can see some pictures and some of my thoughts on Instagram . I'll probably dive into a little bit more next week and give a little recap on my journey to half marathon .

For now , let's be inspired by Tigor Letzum as he talks about getting into Acro and his own journey . All right , today I have Tigor Letzum on the show with me today . Tigor , welcome to Journey with Jake .

I wanted to hear about you and who you are and what you're doing , But first , like I always do on the show , if you don't mind , just tell me a little bit about your background and who you are , where you're from . all that good stuff .

My sister and I we did this program called Dual Enrollment where we were able to take college classes and count as our high school credits , so that kind of helped us finish faster And so that's how I got the ball rolling into college . But growing up I played a lot of basketball . I was active . I played basketball for my church league .

They have their own little Pee Wee Varsity , a little thing that they do . But as my friends grew up and they started to do better in their school basketball , they got into the Varsity And they had people who watch recruitment people to come to the games . Their coach was like oh , you can't really play for other leagues .

So because if you get hurt then it's going to hurt your chances in the education and school part of it . So then they started kind of pulling away from the leagues I was playing in because I was homeschooled So I didn't have a school team to play with .

And that's kind of when I just started doing my own journey in fitness and stuff , it blossomed from there . But yeah , a pretty complex coming up .

My grandfather worked there and she did some education , but she moved to the US to go to school , to be a nurse , and so she met my dad at the school , and so that's kind of how they met each other . My grandmother she's actually full of Chinese and she moved to Indonesia .

Now right , and where do you ?

I mean , i mentioned you played a lot of basketball and you enjoyed that , but then it kind of you couldn't get on a team , so you kind of moved away from that . Let's talk about this fitness journey .

What I noticed that you're doing now and we're going to dive into this a lot deeper once we get to it was the whole the acro thing and the cheer stuff that you kind of do , and I want to talk about that . But I saw some pictures of you on Instagram . You're somewhat of a little bit of a chunky kid , so kind of tell us that story .

I was a little heavier when I was growing up , but I think I think it all kind of It made it easier to do the transition because of the environment I was in . I was homeschooled so I wasn't surrounded by just any random kids around the neighborhood and stuff like that . But I did grow up in a lot of church groups .

So I was a part of Pathfinders It's like this huge global , it's like a co-ed boys and girls scout kind of thing for as a religious thing for this some dead Venice community , and they kind of do youth group stuff , camping skills , doing crafts , honors and stuff , and so I was a part of that And so I kind of got out and did that .

Of course I played basketball , so I went to church , so I was around a bunch of kids , but I didn't really find myself getting bullied . So that's kind of something I feel like I would say from , but I feel like most of my insecurities came from adults .

I don't know if that's weird to say , but I'd hear comments like oh , you play football , like you look pretty big , or like , oh , you're getting pretty big or you're a big boy . I think this one lady she called me the Pillsbury Doe Boy Like , looked kind of like that , and I don't know .

Those kind of moments stuck more to me than more of my kid interactions . But of course , whenever we do wrestle or something or play fight , of course I would be called out to be one of the bigger kids , but that was fine . It helped me in playing basketball . I played center , so it kind of had its give and takes .

But there was a moment where I started pulling away from basketball . I realized that I felt my weight . I went on a trip to Indonesia actually , and I feel like that's where my mindset changed , where every day I was outside playing . So when I went on that trip I was there for two months . I came back and I dropped probably like 13 pounds .

Looking back at the photos , there was like a huge difference . And so when I started realizing how me playing every single day and how that kind of helped me in athletically , i was like , ok , i realize I need to start working out at a higher intensity .

So that's when I started messing around with gym equipment bench pressing , squatting , deadlifting kind of stuff like that . That was like the interesting part where I started to explore the gym and that was around , i think like 16 , 16 years old .

There was a 5K race that was going to be at the end of the year , in April , And so all you have to do to sign up is like put in your name and you have to record yourself running 23 miles , which is like just short of of a marathon , But it could be broken up however you wanted .

You just have to record yourself running a total of 23 miles before the race .

So then I signed up and I remember I ran my first mile And I think I ran it at like 13 , like 43 or something , and I was just thinking to myself . I was like I hear , like my friends say , times eight , fifty or eight , thirty , you know , and I was just like I feel like pretty slow .

So then I told myself , you know , if I'm going to do this race , i'm going to try my best and actually try to do well at it .

So that's kind of like where I started adding a lot of cardio and like paying attention to my diet and like how my weight like affected my athleticism , because before I wasn't really checking the scale , i was just trying to put up weight .

And so , like , growing up out of like my high school years , like going through that , like I started to try to branch out more and just try new things . So I think when it came to the running challenge , I was just like you know what , let me just try , Like if I , if I try to do well , what's , what's the give and take ?

So I actually made a bet with my , with my step uncle , my dad's father . He remarried after my grandmother died And so , like I have like my step uncle and I call her my little aunt . She's my aunt but she's younger than me because she was born after I was born , So I call her little aunt .

We all made like a deal where it was like 20 bucks to try to get abs before the date was January 21st . So this was happening like in October and I had like till January 21st . So I was like OK , the combinations of these two like I can make it work . So I took the bet .

And so from that I just started getting obsessed , And so that's why I say , like me being up to the challenge for things , I was just like you know what ? why the hell not ? like , just try . And so I tried hard . And so I remember waking up every single day .

I have videos of me , like you know , like , all right , it's just , it's just 12 minutes , That's all I have to do . I vaguely remember the time where I like the time started getting down to like nine minutes and 30 seconds and nine minutes and 14 seconds . I'm just like , oh my gosh , like I'm actually faster .

And I look at myself in the mirror and I just get so excited . I was just like , oh my gosh , I actually look different . And like , every time I check the way , every time I'm like cooking my meal preps , like I got my broccoli , I got my brown rice , I got my chicken breast . Like I was so obsessed Like I completely cut sugar out of my diet .

I was going to , I was going to put up anything to get this goal . I told myself , if I do well in this race , that's either first , second or third place . You know , I can only be happy to win something , you know . But if I don't do it , you know I walk away with abs and I'm away faster . So you know it's a really a win-win situation .

I was like you know , it's not as complicated as people like make it look , or it's not as complex as people talk about , like when you boil it down to like its baseline , like what , how it works , because you just got to get up and move . You know , you just got to be a little bit more mindful to certain things . I planned ahead .

I just know , okay , for this week , this is what I'm eating . You know it was easy . I put in the fridge . Whenever I get hungry , i just grab it , nothing else .

And then if I have to work out , you know , first thing in the morning , right Before I take a shower , before I do anything , i just got up it in my bed clothes I was just going to throw in a wash later anyways , just go out and run . And so I kind of simplified it in my mind And I saw the results were coming out like way better .

From that moment on I was just like , okay , this is , this is going to be my lifestyle . So I kind of kept it up from there . And it was after the summer from the race . That's when I started getting into Acro .

So when I was in third and fourth grade , my best friend , josiah Meang he was homeschooled too . He lived in our area . He went to the same church as me . We were like womb buddies . His mom and my dad did Acro in high school and in college together .

So since we lived like 10 minutes from each other , we grew up pretty close And so he started doing it And I went to his home show , which is like the biggest show of the year , and so I watched him do it . I was like , oh my gosh , i want to do that too . For third and fourth grade I joined the team And I was messing around .

I kind of didn't enjoy it as much as I saw him enjoy it , because since I was on the bigger side , getting into a handstand that really hurt my wrist , doing certain stuff was just not fun at my weight . But I love hanging out with my best friend . So I kind of stuck it out . But then he moved to Tennessee , to Chattanooga , tennessee .

After that I kind of just left because I didn't really enjoy it for myself . But I kind of got based on what it was .

So when you look at cheerleading , cheerleading is like another form of where they've taken like gymnastics and acrobatics and put it into like a showcase mode for like a big group . Usually in Acro you'll see like groups of four , three , two , five . maybe there's not many of them that I've seen , but you they'll be out there .

But the way that my that we do it at my university is we have like a big version of it . So when we do like baskets or something , we'll have like five on the floor And that's where it kind of gets like in that cheer look .

And that's why I love watching cheer , because it has the same like influences of gymnastics and acrobatics , that like how we do it . The only difference is that we have like different regulations . So it's not a like according to the regulation for to do like double rotation and cheer .

So if you do like a double back out of basket , you don't really see those done in cheer competitions , but in acrobatics competitions you can do like quads and triples , like backflips . It's really close , but there's like a fine line where it like differentiates .

But there is some similarities too and that's why you said you enjoy watching cheer .

It was a huge trampoline and so I just played back there And that's actually where I first like started doing a backflip . I learned it on the trampoline first , and so , as I started losing weight fast-forwarding up into high school , that's why I started taking like my trampoline skills and trying to move it onto the ground .

So we have this little like riding mower tractor in my backyard that like hasn't worked for a couple of years . I tried to like stand on the side where , like the wheel , is the metal piece that covers the wheel And I was trying to do a flip off of it .

And so I just remember , like trying to learn it over and over , because the next day I was actually gonna see my best friend Josiah . We were gonna do this . We're gonna meet up at this . We're doing a Bible competition .

So we're meeting up like where the competition was gonna be held , i think it was in Chicago or something and he knows how to flip off with benches and stuff , and so I wanted to learn it before I went , and because I realized I was like 30 pounds lighter at that point , i was like you know , i can learn it , i'm really close .

So I have like videos of my in my phone , of me just like flipping off the side of the tractor and stuff . Once I learned that , i met up with him And so we were able to , you know , do it next to each other and that gave me like a huge sense of Accomplishment . I don't know why .

It was a lesson , one of my favorite flipping moments of my life , even though I've learned all these other new skills .

I got it to where I could just do it on the ground and I went to my sisters . So this is before I was doing the dual enrollment and taking classes in college and she was already at Washington Adventist University .

So I went to this event they had called like dodgeball in the field , where , like they had a soccer field and they made it into like a dodgeball arena . And So while I was there I did the standing back flip . Someone from the acro team saw me and she was like you should come out to the Trials . I'm like I'm not even in college yet .

I asked one of my friends that that I've known for a long time . He's known me since I was like a baby and he was been on the team , and so I asked him like you know , whatever my chances , like , is that even the thing I can do ? and I knew my sister took classes there .

So I was like you know , if I'm already in college , then it's something that could work . But before I knew if I was gonna try it or not , i started signing up to take classes at Prince George's Community College . That's the community college in my county .

I was taking classes there in the beginning , so for fall semester of that year this is like 2019 to 2020 Yeah , 2019 to 2020 I was there taking classes that first semester and so I realized I want to go try out for this team . So I went to the tryouts . I didn't do much except like push-ups and squats , like they just really tested out my strength .

When I was done , my coach He , he was talking to my dad and I didn't know this before , but the coach that was there at the Trials He's the head coach and he Actually was a student of my dad when he was at the school . So my dad was teaching at Washington events University for respiratory care and he was a student .

So they already knew each other and I was like this is a small world , that's crazy and so . So , because he knew my dad , he was like you know what ? you are a good teacher , i'll give your son a chance , even though he's still a high schooler . So that's kind of like how I got my foot in my dad It was a good teacher .

Through that connection I got a chance and ever since then like I just blossomed in that sport , that's awesome .

So tell me a little bit about the acro errors and what are some of the things you do and kind of where some of the places It's taking you and what are some of the fun things you've done with that .

errors . So I've been on the team for four years now and that's because I started early . So I started in my 11th and 12th grade year . I did all of 11th grade but I started attending the school spring semester of 2020 , 2020 , yeah , so spring semester of 2020 I started taking classes at the school .

But I was on the team and I remember our first show that we do is called college preview and it's where , like , a whole bunch of High schoolers come to the college . We do a show for them . Well , they're like checking out like the different , like classes that we have and stuff like that We did .

We do like local shows , but then also we do like these crazy shows where we do like half-time for , like NBA teams . So we did the wizard's half-time show and then also we did a Pacers half-time show .

We went out to Indiana and Illinois area and we did it like a spring break tour where we did like shows at little high schools around , and then we also Did the half-time for the Indiana Pacers . That's kind of like the cool things that we do . But like trip-wise , we've I went out to Indiana twice and then we also did a trip down to Miami .

Those are the only trips we've done so far . But that's kind of cuz . Covid messed it up . When COVID came around , like all of our touring schedule just got erased . So Trip-wise we I haven't done as much as that . I feel like I should have and that's a big reason why , like I'm choosing to come back to the team Again .

That's yeah , that's kind of the trips you get to do .

I love , like how the support you get from your teammates And I feel like I couldn't survive college , like my college career , without like that support . I'm telling you , man , i cannot do classes . I'm not a class is kind of guy . I hate sitting in those long lectures .

I think Acro makes it worth it because , like at the end of the day , whenever we go to practice , like no matter what we did , all the crap we had to like Go through during the day , we just get to go to practice and like hit moves . It was kind of like my therapy throughout the school year for sure . That's one thing I love about it .

Also , i met my girlfriend through the programs . That's also a great thing that I've experienced . So she got on the team two years ago . So I remember like seeing her in orientation I was just like you look like you could , you could be on the team , like you should just try out , come out to To the trouts .

And so then she did and so like she's really good . Now That's where you see , like all my stunts with and what's her name ? Carla .

You know , because being a kid , there's got to be a moment before , like you become an adult , where you got to figure out discipline And that's like I feel like one of the most important parts in your life , because if you don't find Discipline in your life , things can go sideways because that's like control of yourself , control of your mind , control of your

body . There's just something about having like Demand of Tory practice training helps me with my practice of discipline when it comes to acro , like there's a move you can learn and Like you can be really good with it all all semester long And then you take the summer break and then when you track , you come back and try to do the move again .

It's not the same . Like you kind of lost the grip . You lost like the feel , the push , the like energy to do it .

That's kind of like the same way with your life skills , discipline Whereas like you have to have something that keeps up the practice , you know , if you don't have like a structure in your life that keeps you doing it every single day , periodically , consistently throughout your life . You kind of lose it .

So that's kind of a big Appreciation I have for the sport and it kept up my discipline that I grew through my weight loss journey

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I'm learning things as I sit here and talk to you and you're you could be my son at your age , you know . So , yeah , i love it . I love and that's the thing we learn from other people Discipline's a big thing and I'm thinking about that , my own life like , okay , how can I be more disciplined as you're talking and doing things like that ?

So I appreciate those parallels that you have . And then I kind of alluded to it as well . I'm sure you've had some little goof ups , some mishaps , kind of how do you push through those things ?

But no , i've never had like to have a cast or anything like that . But this past spring break tour We were doing two shows in one day . So basically we got to the school and The school gym .

The school gym , asian , was like kind of smaller than what we're used to performing with , and so we had to Take out some of our masks for the space while we were there . We were there . I don't know how long we were there for , but we were trying to like practice , like real-orient our Show so that it could fit inside the gym .

We were doing a whole bunch of moves beforehand and we had two shows to do . They were supposed to be relatively back-to-back , so we did the first show . It was fine , like we figured it out . We were like we worked together well as a team . Everything worked out in the end . But we had , we were ready . We were gonna get ready to do our second show .

So our second show was supposed to be two hours away . So we get like a quick bite to eat and we're stretching out and so we're warming up for this next show . The people who are supposed to come to the show like they're not here yet . So we kind of prolong our stretching and so we're like trying to stay warm .

And I think it was like four hours later from the last show , so like after we finished the first show , four hours later We start the second show , and so my body is like getting stiff because our shows are like 45 minutes long of straight go-go-go , just non-stop , yeah , non-stop .

And so like my body's feeling stiff and so I go into this next show And we're in this routine called mini tramp routine where we're jumping It's like a mix of dunking and doing flips off the mini tramp . During that routine I Land and my back like clicks . So I land with my feet in front of me and it feels like my spine like sits between My hip bones .

From that moment I'm like I don't know what that click was and so like I'm trying to walk away and I'm like stumbling . My back Starts to feel on fire and I was just like I don't know what happened and I try to finish that routine But like the pain just starts to like pulse even more .

So then I went when we finished that routine , like they have like a talking segment between I start talking to my coach . I'm like like I don't know what I should do . Like I feel like in stand-up straight It hurts to do flips . So then he was just like I rub this on it , stretch it out .

You have like three minutes before you go again , tell me what you think you can do . And so like I rub this thing called tiger balm . It like helps loosen up the muscles and so like I'm stretching on my back , i stand up , and so I guess , from the adrenaline and everything , like I was like okay , i think I'm good to go .

So I start with the next routines and Every basket catch , every stunt that I'm holding , it just feels like I have a timer taking away , like where I'm just gonna like Just flatten out . I was like the pain just started throbbing even more and I'm trying to push through all the .

I'm in the middle Of a show and I'm trying to push through all these moves and so by the end of the show I'm like I'm looking at the ground , sweat is dripping down my face and I just I can't do anymore . I I usually wave , but I think that show I just walked straight to the back , i laid down and I just started crying my eyes out .

My back was about to give out . It was so bad . It was kind of upsetting because I feel like it was just because , like the show got pushed longer .

If we just started an hour before , like when we're supposed to start , i wouldn't have time to like cool down and warm back up and cool down , like at the end of the day I feel like the one thing I learned was that like I can't they just give up with .

The show got to go on , kind of every time I look back at the , the moment is like straight trauma , but Like I'm recovering . It comes back . The pain comes back once in a while , but I'm recovering .

So when they saw that they like a lot of people got concerned , i guess from my teammates they they just wanted to like make sure that they didn't , because on tour life is hard already , like we're sleeping on gym floors and we have to carry our mats all around .

They just helped me make sure that like I didn't put too much stress on my back and also like I got some good elbows And knees in my back to like massage out the knots and stuff . So that was helpful

. I think just like the kind words is what got me through it , because when it comes to To pain , my coach always said pain isn't a direct indicator of injury . So just because it hurts doesn't mean that you can't move anymore .

You'll hear like a lot of stories of long-distance runners , runners , experiencing this , where it feels like the back of their like calves , they're about to pop out , but their body just keeps going and so it's kind of like the same thing when it comes to Injuries in the sport .

Sometimes you've done a lot of repetition and your body's just not used to it So it hurts , or you just over push your muscle and like you just need time to like Recover , but it's not to a point where you just need to stop . We're doing a whole bunch of tests and I felt like I can keep going .

The paying attention to the stretching before shows in between Routine . That was like a primary like source that like kept me alive through the rest of the tour .

The fact that I got accepted onto the team , you know , i have teachers and like I know kind of this , like the feelings I can have towards teachers , even when they're trying their best , and so like the fact that my dad was a nice enough teacher for him to give me a chance .

Like I didn't deserve that , you know , and I and I feel like growing up in the faith , where I believe that Jesus died on the cross To forgive us and save us from our sins , there's a lot of things in my life that I feel like I didn't earn it fully .

I kind of like was put in the situation where I got the chance , you know , and that's the same thing with salvation where we may not have done anything to earn it But it's a free gift for us all , you know , and so that's kind of like the chance I felt like I got when I was accepted onto the Acro Airs team and That's like the same way .

That's the same way I think about , like my homeschooling life . Like homeschooling isn't for everyone , it's honestly there's some families that I feel like would do better if they did put their children through homeschool , just because the environment and like the dynamics of your family and your life has to be just right .

But I was blessed to be in a family where that was possible . Like I didn't do anything to deserve that .

Being in a family that like encouraged me , like physically working out , doing sports , like even though I didn't focus on it in the beginning of my life , like the fact that I was in an environment where I could prioritize you know , cooking all this chicken breast and broccoli for myself and You know , going downstairs and having a gym that had access to making

sure that , like , if I needed to go to another gym , like my dad would drive me like this is the support of my family , like feel like I didn't do much to deserve that . Throughout my journey , he's been the one like leading me along the way , and so I feel like every lesson that I've learned , every wall them .

I've come up across every like battle that I've like or challenge that I fought through . I feel like I can't give myself all the credit , even though I worked really hard .

It doesn't matter how much people work , sometimes it doesn't work out for them , and so I feel like any success that I've had , and even the failures that I've had to endure and lessons I have to learn through , it's because of

him .

You know , you're either learning from your lessons or you're gonna like enjoy your blessings .

I really appreciate that . You have a lot of energy about you and you've got a good perspective . Anything you want to leave us with as far as Acro goes , or just kind of moving forward , what are the plans ? What is T Gore going to do moving forward ?

I'm planning on getting back on the team , you know , supporting whoever comes next . You know , really trying to uphold the legacy that was left from my previous coach , Coach Ben Johnson . And yeah , I'm planning on finishing my business major . I'm a double major business and honors interdisciplinary , So like it's a double major with that .

So I plan on finishing that . And also , you know , if there's any other podcasts , any other people who want to talk to me , like I'm always open to that . But yeah , there's big things happening . You know , this summer I'm trying to like do some traveling . But yeah , I coach at this gym . It's called EAC , EAGC in Laurel , Maryland .

They do gymnastics , cheer and acrobatics there . So this summer , like I'm putting in a lot of time working there . They have summer camps and stuff for kids . So that's kind of what I'm filling my downtime with , Something that I want people to like really learn .

You know , listening to my story is that don't wait , you know , because there's a lot of reasons for you not to do something But , more importantly , you're only going to get a few good reasons that are going to remind you , that make it worth it .

So whenever you feel like there's something you want to do , that you know may take a long time , but in the annual you want to feel its benefits and just go for it . You know , don't wait , because the longer you wait , the slower the process is going to be .

You know , sometimes I think back and I'm like you know what , if I waited another year before I started my journey , You know I wouldn't have been able to grow in the periods of my life in the way I did . If I didn't find like that self improvement , that interpersonal regulation , you know , like learning who you are as a person .

If I didn't do that in the beginning , when I did in my life , I would have missed out on a lot of opportunities and things that helped me grow to be the man I am now .

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It's awesome for someone like me who has children who are of that age , who are in their 20s , to see someone who's got things in order and looking to do things and just really has a good perspective . I think that's awesome . It's exciting to see that generation coming up . Thank you all for listening to Journey with Jake each and every week .

I really appreciate it , really grateful for all that you do And let's hear about your adventures and your journeys . Send me a note , jacotjourneywithjakenet . Tell me about your adventures . Let's get you on the podcast to talk to you about your story . Or , if you know somebody or have somebody that I should talk to , let me know about it .

I would love to talk to them Again . Reach out to me by email , jacotjourneywithjakenet , or you can DM me on Instagram at journeywithjake podcast . Thank you all so much . Just remember , it's not always about the destination as it is about the journey . Take care everybody .