Fitness and Thinking

Belle Stringer is an assistant gym manager and personal trainer at a Sheffield branch of one of the UK's largest commercial gym-chains. Belle wasn't always interested in being a PT but was spurred onto coaching others when lockdowns hit and she recognised her ability to plan routines that made her and her friends and family feel good, if not better. In this episode you can expect to find out what...

Niell Jordan Jinivon is a senior musculoskeletal specialist physiotherapist and calisthenics evangelist based in London. As a teenager, Niell fell in love with the ways in which our bodies can move through space. As an adult, he's looking to marry his exercise with his profession, becoming the go-to physiotherapist for calisthenics athletes. In this episode, we discuss how a lot of that pain y...

Sid Islam is a champion bodybuilder turning his hand to running and climbing in 2025. More than just his prizewinning physique, Sid's a PT and online coach, a keen learner and a loyal friend, who finds strength in community. In this week's episode we discuss the importance of letting happiness happen, the meaning to be found in the journey, what faith means and how Sid practices, how not k...

Jack Martindale is an exceptional distance runner, clocking in at 1:13:59 and finishing 8th of 2,196 in the Lake Garda half marathon this year. He works full-time and doesn't periodise his training – surely he shouldn't be as effective as he is? In this week's episode we discuss finding balance between competing interests (and income streams), the importance of community and the confid...

Alex Smith is a senior researcher at the University of Bern. "Psychopath" is one of the most misunderstood and so misused terms we might use to negatively describe people in popular culture. And yet the traits of "psychopaths" are often also seen as advantageous if not desirable, given certain contexts. Expect to learn why you can't be diagnosed as a "psychopath",...

Welcome to episode two of Fitness & ThinkingLast week, we discussed the five pillars of fitness: physical, mental, spiritual/emotional, social and financial. In this episode, we bring in an augmenter: creativity. I've had some incredible preliminary chats with potential guests, and in the process of piecing together a plan to catch up with all of them on their experiences and expertise per...

Welcome to the very first episode of Fitness & Thinking. What started out as a weekly newsletter for my online coaching group in January 2024 has become something that my peers, colleagues and friends would like to actively contribute towards. And, as discussed in this episode, builds on the idea of five pillars of fitness (physical, mental, spiritual/emotional, social and financial) and how t...