Open Book: An Interview with Coach BluOpen Book: An Interview with Coach Blu
Addict II Athlete Podcast
Coach Blu Robinson shares how a childhood of abuse, constant moving and neglect fed his addiction, and how therapy, movement and community helped him rebuild his identity. He talks about founding Addict II Athlete, breaking family patterns, and turning pain into a new life as a husband, father and coach.
48:23•22 Apr 2024
From Chaotic Childhood to Coach: Blu Robinson’s Journey from Addict to Athlete
Episode Overview
- A chaotic, abusive and transient childhood can create a powerful setup for later addiction and lying as a survival strategy.
- Stopping substances without a plan or new purpose can feel like “purgatory”, so recovery needs structure, connection and meaning.
- Therapy helped Blu see that his deepest issue was not knowing who he was, and building a sense of self became the foundation of his recovery.
- Movement and sport gave him a new identity, community and way to process emotions, eventually leading to the creation of Addict II Athlete.
- Breaking intergenerational trauma required firm boundaries, grief, and a conscious choice to parent and partner differently from what he experienced.
“I have no idea who I am.”
How do people find strength in their journey to sobriety? This conversation with Coach Blu Robinson offers a raw, honest look at what it can mean to break a family pattern of addiction and abuse. Coach Blu talks through a childhood marked by constant moves, violent stepfathers, and a mother who married and divorced six times.
Moving 22 times before he was 18 and missing big chunks of school, he explains how neglect and chaos laid the groundwork for substance use and a lifelong habit of lying just to fit in. As he says, he eventually realised, “I have no idea who I am,” and that simple truth became the start of real change.
You’ll hear how teenage house parties and “the unsupervised house” led to using whatever was available, but also how Blu’s rock bottom was less a single event and more an entire childhood. At 19 he stepped away from his using friends, calling it “social suicide”, and slowly built a new life through work, 12-step meetings, and, crucially, therapy.
A huge turning point came when his future wife pushed him into counselling and a therapist bluntly told him he had no sense of self. From there, Blu went back for his high school diploma, became a therapist, and eventually founded Addict II Athlete. He shares how running and movement opened up emotional conversations, how exercise mimics trauma therapy, and why he stopped calling people “addicts” and started calling them “athletes”.
Blu also talks candidly about cutting off contact with his mum for years, breaking intergenerational trauma, and learning to parent from a place of love instead of fear. If you’ve ever wondered whether you can truly rewrite your story after a rough start, this one might have you asking what “erase and replace” could look like in your own life.
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