Episode 18 - Lifting Through the Setbacks

This week on catchiNG Up, I'm reconnecting with Zach Nelson — someone I first crossed paths with back at Nike, where our timelines almost overlapped. Zach's now a store manager at a medical dispensary, and we spend this episode tracing the road that got him there. We open by swapping Nike stories — Zach started at the St. Augustine store back in April 2010 while he was still in his second semester at Flagler College, and I share my own experience working the massive Orlando I-Drive location, including my brief career as an in-store "hype man." We compare notes on just how intense Nike's brand culture could get depending on which store you worked, and why the Orlando flagships operated on a completely different level than smaller outlet locations. From there, we dig into Zach's path from retail into dispensary management, what that industry actually looks like day to day, and how a recent promotion has let him start seriously attacking old debt. We also talk candidly about the toll of a demanding pre-IB course load in high school, why he made the call to step back into regular honors classes, and how that decision — which felt like a setback at the time — ended up being the right one. The back half of the conversation turns to Zach's return to powerlifting after years of setbacks from back injuries. He opens up about what it's taken to get back in the gym, the competition he's training for now, and what it means to chase PRs again after feeling like so much time was lost. It's a real look at what patience and rebuilding actually look like. We close things out with our signature growth question — and Zach's answer, that growth is simply being able to look back and honestly say "I'm better than I was," is exactly why this episode is called what it is. Growth isn't always linear, and Zach's story is proof that setbacks aren't the end of the road — they're just part of it. 🎧 New episodes every Wednesday. Clips every Friday. 📲 Follow us on Instagram: @The_catchinguppodcast 🔗 Linktree: linktr.ee/The_catchiNGupPodcast #catchiNGUp #GrowthIsntLinear #Powerlifting