Grow the Good

After first connecting on Twitter, Sonya was interviewed on Lindsey Hein’s podcast “I’ll Have Another with Lindsey Hein,” where she talks with motivating and inspiring runners. Lindsey aims to inspire and refresh listeners in her conversations with runners of all levels, from your everyday runner to Olympic athletes.  Lindsey is an RRCA Certified Running Coach and coaches runners, writing personal...

Dre Baldwin went from playing NCAA D3 basketball to a nine-year basketball pro. His path to the highest level fo the sport required a level of discipline and toughness that drove him to build his “Work On Your Game” brand to share those tenets with a wider audience.  He is now a full-time entrepreneur who has authored 29 books and participated in TEDxTalks about discipline, confidence, mental toug...

It IS possible to thrive in motherhood and your career! This is the message that Molly Dickens, co-founder of &Mother actively promotes.  &Mother’s vision is a culture where motherhood is not a limiting factor in how women succeed professionally or personally, and where women can openly express their needs and receive support without retribution. It is a working world where mothers are sup...

I've spent well over a decade focusing on peak performance- both athletically in my quest to become one of the world's best endurance mountain bikers, but also in business and brainpower.  I used to think the key to peak performance was the focus on mastery: putting in the work to acquire the skills and wisdom to be a top performer in a given area.  While mastery and work ethic are certa...

As an endurance athlete, nutrition is a critical piece of success. In this week’s podcast, Sonya sat down with Stevie Lyn Smith, a Registered Dietitian and avid endurance athlete, to talk all things sports nutrition.  Stevie Lyn is a sports nutrition specialist, marathon runner, Ironman triathlete and adventurer. She knows a thing or two about preparing your body for an endurance event. She founde...

What happens when you start running for fun instead of a finish line? In this week’s podcast, Sonya sat down with Tina Muir, CEO of Running for Real, an incredible podcast and the largest global community of socially engaged runners, and talked about learning how to run for enjoyment instead of recognition.  Tina hosts the  Running for Real Podcast , a collection of podcasts about running, the cli...

Mindset and performance coach Polly Bateman works with clients to recognize negative patterns in behavior and barriers they reinforce for themselves. By facilitating a shift in mindset, Polly helps her clients progress in life to become more fulfilled and happy. Polly believes that we’re our own problem and solution and that everything we need to lead a fulfilling, productive, and happy life is wi...

Catharine Pendrel, a three-time Olympian and 2016 Bronze medalist mountain biker, became a new mom this year. In this episode, Sonya and Catharine discuss training during pregnancy, process-oriented goals, overcoming adversity during the pandemic, and more. Pendrel grew up riding horses and later bicycles in Canada. In addition to her Olympic appearances, she has two World Championship titles for...

How do you feel in your body when you hear the word stress? I'll give you a second to tune in.  We spend so much time trying to avoid stress, but what would happen if we leaned into it?  What would happen if we allowed ourselves to feel it? How we relate to stress is important to making it work for us in a positive way. Oftentimes, we view stress as a constricting, negative input that we asso...

Experiencing the outdoors in Canada is a must. The gorgeous landscape is prime for all kinds of outdoor activities. But the terrain can be tricky, so It’s important to make sure you’re informed, aware and safe when enjoying nature.  That’s where AdventureSmart comes in. AdventureSmart is a national program dedicated to encouraging Canadians and its visitors to “get informed and go outdoors,” and o...

Leidy Klotz is a professor at the University of Virginia, studying how we transform things from how they are to how we want them to be. He co-founded and co-directs the Convergent Behavioral Science Initiative (CBSI) at the University of Virginia. CBSI works to address climate change, systemic inequality, and other issues that combine the understanding of human behavior and the systems that this b...

Have you heard of Lifestyle Medicine before? Lifestyle Medicine focuses on chronic disease prevention and possibly chronic disease reversal - things like high blood pressure, high cholesterol and diabetes. Lifestyle medicine uses six pillars in order to help patients and individuals optimize their health. The six pillars include: nutrition, movement, sleep, avoidance of risky behaviors, managing s...

Picture this- you just gave a presentation on a topic you're proud of... the hours of preparation and practice that went into creating the presentation, the nerves you had to overcome to stand up and actually give the presentation, and the relief of having it done.  In some cases, maybe you felt that generally it well overall.  If you tend to be more self-critical, maybe you're focused o...

Neal Henderson doesn’t believe FTP-based workouts are enough to train effectively. So what should you do instead? Coach Neal relies on 4-D Power. Want to learn more about what this looks like? Take a listen to this podcast! Neal Henderson began coaching endurance sport athletes in the early 1990’s and founded APEX Coaching in 1999. He has coached several national champions, multiple world champion...

We’re big fans of NoMeatAthlete on this show. Sonya recently had the chance to interview No Meat Athlete Founder Matt Frazier ( you can listen here ) and this week, she sat down with CEO Matt Tullman. Not only is Matt the CEO of NoMeatAthlete, he’s also the co-founder and CEO of 80/20 Plants , Complement , and Plant Bites . His career focus is nutrition-first health companies and driving the movem...

How do you prepare for an Olympics thats already been postponed and still surrounded with so much uncertainty? Sonya and Leah tackle that, as well as Leah's path to cycling, confidence, motivation, nutrition and more, in this week's podcast. Leah Kirchmann is a professional cyclist from Winnipeg, who races for Team DSM and the Canadian National Cycling team. She represented Team Canada a...

On this episode of the Sonya Looney Show, Ethan Kross, one of the world’s leading experts on controlling the conscious mind, best-selling author and a professor in the University of Michigan’s Psychology Department and Ross School of Business, talks self-talk and his book, Chatter . Kross studies how the conversations people have with themselves impact their health, performance, decisions and rela...

No one picked me to become a professional mountain biker or to start a podcast. No one picked me to become a speaker where I've been on stages for entrepreneurs, tech gurus, and other athletes. No one picked me to write for dozens of publications over the years. Seth Godin, an author, marketer, speaker, and businessman said, "No one is going to pick you. Pick yourself." I recently w...

Eliot Jackson is a former Motocross rider and World Cup Downhill bike racer and is now a presenter for Red Bull TV and an entrepreneur. He is a published author in multiple national and international magazines. He is also the Chairman of the Grow Cycling Foundation, created shortly after the 2020 George Floyd protests. With the knowledge that the cycling world is not immune from a culture of exclu...

Can you be plant-based and an elite athlete? Matt Frazier says absolutely yes.  Matt, a vegan ultra marathoner, author, and entrepreneur is a plant-based diet advocate, but he also knows it’s not for everyone. Founder of No Meat Athlete, Matt is all about providing the tools for thriving on a plant-based diet and how athletes can be at their very best with this type of nutrition.  Matt is known fo...

Are you trying to create a good habit or break a bad one? That’s Dr. Jud Brewer’s speciality.  Dr. Jud (MD, PhD) has over 20 years of experience with mindfulness training and a career in scientific research. His interest in how the brain works has led him to work with people to make deep, permanent change in their lives. He has developed mindfulness programs for habit change, including in-person a...

We all have ideas of what we want our life to look like. It could be something like weight loss, improving speed on the bike or running, or even cooking more at home.  When you set those goals, how do you go about doing it? You may have heard of S.M.A.R.T. goals.   Specific Measurable Action-Oriented Realistic Timebound Answering the where, when, and how as specific as possible (and making sure th...

Do you ever feel like you are losing focus and can’t find the energy to do what needs to be done?  Charles Clay is a published author, dynamic speaker, men’s empowerment coach, breathwork facilitator, and more! He joined me to talk about his Laser Focus Method and ways to best utilize your energy. Founder of M Powered Men’s Group Training and Mastermind, Charles helps men and women understand and...

Wondering how to feed your toddler or baby a plant-based diet or if it's even safe? What about how you communicate around the relationship we have with food? Well, the Plant-Based Juniors crew is here to help. Enter Whitney English and Alex Caspero, Registered Dietitian, Certified Personal Trainers, and Moms who founded Plant-Based Juniors (PBJ). Together, they created a community and incredi...

Podcasting is About Loving the Process You can't control the outcome of the podcast. It's well within my grasp to become the best interviewer I can be, do ample research on my guest and their work, put out high-quality content, and do my best to make sure people know about my podcast. I can't control the popularity of my podcast (I wish I could. I would love to be one of the very we...