Kai Lightner, is a professional rock climber — arguably one of the best in the world — from Fayetteville, North Carolina. Since first walking into the rock climbing gym at age 6, Kai has earned 12 national championship titles, but his story goes so much deeper than the championships. 

We talk about it all, from the why behind how he started in the sport, dealing with ADHD as a young kid, looking for an outlet to channel that energy, and how he feels being the only person of color at his level so to speak in climbing. Kai talks about his relatively new nonprofit Climbing for Change, which aims to help with that by Connecting underserved communities with individuals and organizations that seek to increase minority participation in rock climbing and the outdoor adventure industry.

He also gets super open and honest about a massive hurdle he spoke out about publicly last year, dealing with an eating disorder as a result of the pressure he felt to be the best, and how deciding to take time off of the sport to go to college helped him get in the right mindset. 

WATCH Kai’s Got Milk campaign film “The Wall” here! 

RESOURCES

Contact the National Hotline for Eating Disorder Help by clicking here or calling (800) 931 2237 between 11 a.m. and 9 p.m. ET

SOCIAL 

@kailightner

@emilyabbate

@hurdlepodcast

OFFERS

BaronFig | Go to www.baronfig.com & use code HURDLE20 to receive 20 percent off at checkout

Athletic Greens | Head over to athleticgreens.com/hurdle for a year's supply of vitamin D PLUS 5 travel packs for free with your first purchase. No code necessary.

JOIN: THE *Secret* FACEBOOK GROUP

SIGN UP: Weekly Hurdle Newsletter

ASK ME A QUESTION: Leave me a voice message, ask me a question, and it could be featured in an upcoming episode!