How a 17-Time World Champion Built Unbreakable Resilience

L.J. Belcito is a compassionate, mission-driven and resilient nurse.

“A 17-time world champion athlete, Coach,”

patient advocate, retired captain in the U.S. Public Health Service, and the founder of O.T.B. Strength. Through her work, she coaches individuals to adopt healthier lifestyles, mentors those pursuing lasting wellness, and champions quality care for underserved communities. Going through my years of learning how to strength-training, learning how to eat well,

how to take care of myself. It's a process. Being in the gym was another issue that back then,

you know, there weren't a lot of women who were big and strong. So the first thing that we have to

teach them is the mind-body connection. It's changing up your split, a recommendation for people who are plateauing, what's your recommendation. For the way I train people, it's it's fans, the goal, like a super high school, internet helpers. Today, Apple is going to reinvent the phone. It's not over, I'm telling how we're... The living your legacy podcast for those who live to leave a legacy.

In the box, it's not on the planet. You can live your dream. Welcome back to another episode of the Insight Success Podcast. I am your host, Jason Tyler, and I am joined here today by L.J. Bell Cito, Bell Cito Corrects. Correct. Got it. Now, you just finished filming with Kofi, your episode of Operation CEO.

“What can the viewers hear expect to learn about you in your episode?”

Talk to me, talk to me through it a little bit. We talked a lot about my life passion and how that has turned into a career of helping wounded warriors, helping youth struggling, and trying to use strength training as a way to heal and recover. Now, you and I got to have a very interesting conversation before you filmed your episode,

and we talk a little bit about your experiences of first responder. I'm not sure if you guys

got too too deep into that in your episode, but bring me up to speed on that because when we were talking, we were talking about you were some of the first boots on the ground when it came to the pandemic and a lot of natural disasters. Talk to me a little bit about that.

“I've been in nurse for over 45 years. I always was interested in emergency response,”

but my career as a whole was pretty much, you know, floor nursing or ICU things. But my first response was to the Avianca Plank crash in 1996 on Long Island. And then when I went active duty with the United States Public Health Service, I was working three months, 10 days, and seven hours on September 11th. I worked the night shift going into the day shift. And so like being a part of those first response teams, what I got to hear was your response during

the pandemic responding to that the cruise line in Tokyo. Now, a lot of people have a lot of mixed feelings about everything that was going on during the pandemic. I talk about the pandemic like it happened last week. It's been five years, but talks me a little bit about just like there was a protocol created from your team's response and no one passed away at that time. Correct. What was that moment like of knowing like, hey, we got a 100% effective rate of,

you know, keeping everybody safe? Well, our team was one of the first teams sent over to Japan to evacuate 150 passengers. American citizens off of the Prime Minister's cruise ship. And there was another team that arrived prior to us being on the ground to help with the original evacuation. But then the thing was that we had to find all of these passengers. And so our team was tasked with the mission to identify all the American citizens and then find which were

treated and released and then which were evacuated to certain destinations and which were sent to hospitals all over Tokyo. We did know that there were 25 patients or close to that that had gone to local hospitals when we finally found out which patients were in hospitals

in very critical condition. We had to work with the Japanese government to have permission to

on. And so I want to kind of pivot here because, you know, even at the beginning when we're doing

“your intro, you're also into strength training. So I want to talk a little bit about that.”

What got you into it? How does it inform what you're doing today? What's the deal with strength

training? So strength training to me today is is really my passion. When I first started lifting

when I was in my 20s, you know, it wasn't so cool. It wasn't what it is today. And a lot of times going through my years of learning how to strength training, learning how to eat well, how to take care of myself, being a nurse. It's a process. And what I learned was through years of my life when I had mental health struggles and other struggles that doing the strength training or doing some sort of an activity to help me deal with it or manage it in a more healthy way, gave me hope.

And I just had to keep, you know, filling that void, so to speak, because when I was younger, there was really not a lot of people that I felt comfortable talking to about my issues. Being in the gym was another issue that back then, you know, there weren't a lot of women who were big and strong. And would go to a gym who would want to lift weights. So, you know,

it was always a struggle. It was always something that I knew I was going to take the heat for

more or less. But I also knew that I had a goal in my head. And I wanted to achieve something. And I did, you know, I stuck to it. I had good support systems in my life. And, you know, wound up where I am today with 17 moral titles and five hall of fame statuses. So, it can be done. It can be done. It can be done. I, I find that to be, you know, unanimous. I've done so many of

“these interviews. I think I'm up to like 60 or give or take. And one thing I've always noticed”

amongst the high level CEOs that we bring into this network. Everybody's got a thing as in terms of athletics. Movement is a key factor for a lot of high achievers. And it's, maybe it goes to, as you were saying, setting a goal and saying, I want to achieve this. And I'm not going to stop before I achieve that. Right. And I love that strength training is your example. Because I also strength trained myself. I got started with it back in 2020, three of us about

225 pounds, which is big for me. And I just got an out of relationship. And I was like, you know, I'm going to take on the weights. I started training with my cousin. He was my personal trainer. And then he passed actually in 2022. And when Kyle passed, I made a vow to myself. I was like, I'm not going to miss a day of the gym again. And now as I sit with you here, I'm about 195ish. Give her take, but like solid. The goal is to go back up to 205 solid and lean. But we'll get there.

Right. We'll get there one one step at a time. What would you say is like the number one lesson that you learn from strength training from putting your mind to something and just going and

“getting it? What's the number one lesson that you've learned from that? You have to trust the process.”

You have to understand that nothing is going to happen quick. And for people that I work with,

you know, sometimes in daily basis, that's the first thing I tell them is, you know, we have to

take it one step at a time. You've got to be consistent. You've got to be realistic with your goals. You've got to be setting a timeline for when you want to reach that goal. And you have to be willing to put in the work and dedication that it takes to get there. Because if you are consistent with anything, especially exercise, you will succeed. And, you know, as you know from training, you know, you'll have this brief period where things will just keep getting better and

better and better because you're new. And then you sort of reach the plateau. But that's the hard part. Yeah. That's the hard part, but you've got to be willing to accept that. And then figure out, okay, how do we break the plateau? There's a lot of different ways to do that. And it could be the training style. It could be the goal we've set, you know, it can fluctuate. And so it is a science in a way. And you've got to know what your goals are. The trainer isn't the person who sets the goal.

all different abilities and disabilities. You have to take every person as an individual and make sure that you're focusing on that person. And you're doing what that person's ability is right there

“today, not, you know, what? Right. You have to. And, you know, some of the clients that I've had,”

I mean, I've had older clients with severe spinal curvature and dementia and things like that. But, you know, you have to teach them in a way that they can understand it, that they can internalize it so that they can do what you expect them to do. And that goes with any athlete. I often times

work with youth. They don't even understand how their body works. So the first thing that we have

to teach them is the mind body connection. And a lot of times when I'm, you know, I have a few now that are between nine and 16 that we're working with. And I take it for granted sometimes when I talk to them about, you know, make sure your spine is straight, make sure your shoulders are back, or if they're doing a chest exercise. Let's say, I say, you know, make sure you're bringing it down to your sternum and they'll look at you and say, what's a sternum? So so at the same time that you're

trying to teach them that neurological pathway, you're also giving them a little bit of an anatomy lesson. And I love watching whether it's, you know, a young athlete or even an older athlete who's just learning something new where you can go in and you can say, okay, I want you to set up for this

“and they just snap into position and they get it. And then they realize, oh, that's what I was”

supposed to do. So this is how this lift is supposed to feel. I told my little brother when he

start first started going to the gym with me. I was like, you got probably a good six months of

bench pressing ahead of you where it's not going to impact you your chest at all. You're just learning the form because I didn't feel my chest activate on a bench press, probably until I had already bench press like 225 for the first time and I did it completely wrong. And I was getting all, you know, front del activation shoulder activation, just completely out the bat wrong. Right. I actually would love to get your opinion on this because we talked a little bit about, you know, hitting that plateau

stage, right? For me, when I hit that plateau the first time, I think it was around, I wasn't even

that long ago. I think it was like nine months ago where I realized like, I'm not getting any stronger,

like I just keep lifting the same weight in the gym every day. But what I did to break that plateau and I'd love to get your opinion on this was I switched up my split. I went from a PPL split, which is I think most people start on push pull legs. Right. And then I just swapped over to an upper lower and then rest. Okay. So I do a full upper body, full lower body, super high intensity, then take a rest and then just repeat repeat repeat. And that actually broke me past. Right.

That plateau, but is changing up your split a recommendation for people who are plateauing, what's your recommendation? For the way I train people, it's different for every person. So when they reach a plateau, you know, I've got some clients now that have been with me for a little over a year. They've lost lots of weight, gotten much stronger, but now their weight is at a plateau, not necessarily their strength level. But in regards to what you're asking,

“your body is really smart. Our physiology knows what you're going to do. So the best thing that”

you can do is switch it up. Yeah. Change it up, which our bodies are super adaptable. Yes. And, you know, you keep going in, you keep doing the same exercises Monday, Wednesday, Friday, Chest and Bihai, is what ever the break up is. Your body is going to know that. It's sort of like ingrained in your brain. It's a neurological thing that it's going to get used to doing what you do. So if you don't change the rep scheme, or you don't change the days that you do certain exercises, then your body

is not being forced into that adaptation. Yeah. Face. So, you know, I'm kind of going through this myself right now, because I've sort of re-engaged and, you know, getting coached and trying to lose a little bit of weight and trying to be more healthy, cardiovascular. So doing a little bit of different exercises for a little bit of a higher pace for super high intensity. That was a, I don't know if this might be too, this might be too niche of an internet reference. But have you

Okay. And so they have this super, super high intensity like old school J Cutler style workouts that

they do, where it's just, we're going to start this workout out, you know, our first thing that we

do is 100 burpees. Yeah. That's your warm-up. That's before you even touch a weight. And then when you do touch the weights, I don't care if your form is terrible. You go lift the most amount of way you could possibly lift. And I'm surprised nobody really gets hurt in there. But they're bringing back this sort of style of just go at it like an animal. I don't care what your brain is telling you, your body's capable of more. And it's becoming like a really popular thing. What's your sort

of take on that? You know, high intensity is, is definitely a thing. My brother Kenny was one of the first guys into the hit training thing back in the 60s. And, and he used that with us. We would go into the gym and we do high rep squats or high rep deadlifts or whatever. And it makes you brutally strong. The thing is is that, you know, there is a certain point where you have to know when to say when. And I think, you know, firefighters, obviously, they're expected

to do a lot. They are expected to lift their, their uniforms alone, you know, their, their packs, whatever they're doing for their job and response. It's like 80 pounds a gear on them. And then on top of that, they're expected to be able to carry a full human and run for upwards to fall up and down stairs. It's easy. So physically and cardiovascular, they have to be able to do their job. You know, and it's, it's, in a way, it's kind of functional training, which is really what,

believe it or not, the military has shifted a lot of their PFTs to that functional training stuff because, you know, running, swimming, pushups, sit ups. What does that do for you in the

“field or in theater? You know, if you have to be climbing over walls or you have to be lifting”

things or people or whatever. So a lot of the training programs have been switched up to do functional training rather than just, you know, training like three body parts, you know. But I think that for the firefighters who are creating their own little niche, that's great. You know, but, but I think people have to understand that, you know, these are men and women who have probably trained a lot for where they are. And, and sometimes what happens is, you know, you see these things on the internet

and then you have people doing those things. And unfortunately, people do get hurt and they do take things further than they should. There is a way to get into it without hurting yourself. Don't ego lift kids. Yeah. And that's trying not to do that. Yeah. And that's one of the things

“that we, we really teach at my gym is that, you know, you have to leave here you go at the door”

because all of this hope and dreams and goals that you've set for yourselves, we can achieve them. But we have to figure out where you are before we can get there. And then we have to teach you

how to get there. And sometimes it can take years. I remember when I first started Olympic lifting

and my coach was like, you know, you're very strong, but you have no flexibility and you have no experience in the sport. Give it five years. And I did talk to me a little bit about what was getting into that world. Like, because I know we had spoken a little bit earlier about, you know, my dad works with the IOC. He's a part of the Jamaican Olympic Committee. I know that the Olympics is an insane world to be a part of. Do you have any nuggets that you can give to our viewers

about what it takes to be an Olympian? A long time. A lot of years, a lot of sacrifice. I can tell you from a few of the Olympic champions that I've trained with and worked with that you give so much of yourself for so many years to be at that level that when it's over, it's over and sometimes it's over for good. What's the identity switch like? Because I know I've interviewed some athletes that they cannot let it go when it's time. Yeah, because that's all they know. I've got

some athletes that I know personally and that I've worked with personally who've tried to get

“to that level and we've seen how much it takes out of them and then finally you have to make a choice”

that you're either going to continue to dedicate another four years or quad to getting ready for that or you just have to give up or if you know like I had one athlete who was a track hammer thrower

who did make it to the trials but he knew that he could never be some of the people that were at the

you can be the best in your state, in your nation but that doesn't necessarily mean that you

“have what it takes to be on an Olympic stage and that's why my years I've had the opportunity”

to be out of the Olympic training center for my own personal training and learning purposes three times and I've watched the wrestlers, the volleyball players, the swimmers, the waitlifters and how much goes into it's all day every day and it's a big sacrifice coming out of it

you would hope that during all of that time that they've invested in the sport that maybe they

've had another interest in their life and I think for me it sort of was the opposite you know

“I was a jock and an athlete but I was dream that I would be an Olympic champion and quickly”

realize that I was not going to make an Olympic volleyball team because I didn't have what it took in college for the wait training and the strength training for me is where I excelled and although

you know I never got to the Olympics I did get to 16 World Championships and

four master world games so on that note I think I've achieved my goal I would say so I would say so that is a kudos to you because that is that is not for the faint of heart I'll say this before we before we head out I got to interview her angle for legacy makers and first of all incredible incredible guy and he was telling us the story about how he won the Olympic goal medal for wrestling with a broken neck and he really hammered at home like how much of

“an absolute savage you have to be to get to that level in anything at anything in life but to”

his doctors just hit him with two local anesthetics before he was about to go out for a Olympic goal medal wrestling match is insanity right so if you're if you're out there and you're thinking to yourself hey you know what I'm inspired I really want to go out and achieve the level of success of an Olympic and I've gotten to watch my dad is you know a sports psychologist for the Jamaican Olympic Association I've gotten to watch you say in both train I've gotten to watch

Shelley and Fraser oblique civil world champions at the hundred meter and it's not for the faint of heart so if you are making a commitment to yourself that you want to be at that level rest and understand that it is it's going to require something of you you're going to have to go above and beyond it's it's it's all in and nothing all in as we're sort of wrapping up here where can people find you on socials where can people find your gym where can the people look for you

on the internet just go to Instagram OTB on the score strength on the score MD put L. J. Bell Cito in the internet anywhere you'll find me make sure you guys go ahead and check out L. J's episode of Operation CEO I know it's going to be a good one this was a great conversation I'm excited to go and see the episode and learn more about you for us here at Inside Success that's another episode of the Inside Success podcast again I'm your host Jason Tyler and I will

catch you guys on the flip side