The Opponents

Kit Birks spent 363 days walking the entire length of Europe - all to raise awareness for an important cause close to her heart. 308 of those days were spent alone and often in perilous situations surviving both natural and human dangers. It was an incredibly courageous endeavour all for a very important cause close to Kit's heart and this was her first interview just 4 days after returning ho...

For 17 Years Alexei Janssen was a Lead Learning & Performance Coach at The Royal Marines, Royal Navy and Special Forces. He accidentally fell into the role and ultimately helped to transform the way that Royal Marine recruits are taught. Alexei was known as the ‘nod whisperer’ for his ability to psychologically coach any recruit to success. In this interview Alexei explains how to better under...

Fergus Crawley is an (extreme!) hybrid athlete who survived the darkest depths of depression 10 years ago and recently completed 10 Ironmans in 10 days to commemorate his journey since. In this interview Fergus speaks very openly about his battle with mental health, the important life lessons he learnt coming out of that experience, some of the huge fitness challenges he has done since, the origin...

Leading Sports & Performance Psychologist Chris Bodman shares elite athlete mental tools for handling injury recovery, how ‘realistic optimism’ could be your superpower, building purposeful reflection into your routine, and his ‘react or respond’ framework for handling life's setbacks. Chris also tells the story of his time helping my previous guest, former Team GB cyclist Vic Williamson, reco...

CrossFit Games athlete Harry Lightfoot recounts nail-biting stories from elite competition on his rise to the top of the sport. We also talk about his coaching team’s performance mantras, figuring out his optimal ‘arousal’ state for competing, and how he’s feeling in the build up to this year's Semi Finals at the French Throwdown. In this video: * Building a coaching relationship around data,...

Running coach Chris Taylor is an ex-Royal Marine and the man who organises many of the extreme endurance challenges and world record attempts you may have seen including Spencer Matthews' 30 desert marathons in 30 days and Imo Boddy's 3 Peaks challenge. But before any of that, Chris was battling addiction and depression, planning his training around his drug use, and nearly didn't make it out the...

HYROX Elite 15 Athlete Zara breaks down what really determines HYROX performance - from running, pacing and HYROX race strategy to fitness vs execution, zone 2, threshold and VO2 max training, how to improve movements such as burpee broad jumps and wall balls, athlete mindset, race day nutrition and much more. This is an incredibly detailed HYROX masterclass for anyone wanting to improve their HYR...

Dan Williams, Co-Founder of WIT Fitness, shares his extraordinary story of spotting the rise of fitness as a sport, growing WIT into a global, eight-figure fitness brand in 3 years, losing control of the company through investor and market challenges, and ultimately buying the brand back. We talk about the early days of WIT, the day Dan and his Co-Founder Sam pitched the idea of fitness as a sport...

Snorri and Cooper are top (competing!) Sports Agents and Athlete Managers within the niche sports space, representing athletes in sports such as CrossFit, Hyrox and weightlifting, with a TON of knowledge to share. This interview should be particularly interesting for: - Any young athletes thinking of pursuing a career in a niche sport like CrossFit, weightlifting or HYROX. - Any new brands wonderi...

CrossFit Games Athlete, Lucy Campbell is a former gymnast, long distance open-water swimmer and current 2nd 'Fittest on Earth'. Lucy made the most extraordinary comeback to CrossFit last year having not long before been told by a surgeon to “find another sport”. She didn’t take no for an answer and instead left no stone unturned in her quest to find a solution to her injury and get back to the top...

Jay Morton is a former SAS Operator and current mountain expedition leader who has achieved the extraordinary feat of summiting Mount Everest TWICE….and the second time very nearly killed him. You may also recognise him from the hit UK TV Show, SAS Who Dares Wins. In this conversation we speak about: - What it feels like to summit Everest - The story of Jay's near death experience on Everest - The...

This is one of those stories that puts things into perspective. In 2016 Vic was a bright young talent on the Team GB cycling team. Just months out from the Rio Olympics she suffered a horrific crash at the velodrome which left her with a broken neck, back and pelvis. In this interview, Vic tells the story of what happened that day, and the 752 days of intense rehabilitation and recovery that she w...

Sam King ran an astonishing 80 ultramarathons in 80 days, honouring his Mum after she suffered a bleed on the brain and almost died, and raising money for charity, Headway UK. Furthermore, Sam completely overhauled his health - going from inactive, overweight gamer (number 1 at Call of Duty at one point!) to world record breaking ultra runner. If anyone’s looking for inspiration to lock in this Ne...

Sammy tells her story of growing up in elite gymnastics including shocking weight management practices and the dangers of the sport. We also spoke about the loss of identity that elite athletes often feel when they retire from sport, and Sammy's personal journey finding her place in sport again through CrossFit. I'm hugely grateful to Sammy for sharing her story so openly. In this intervie...

This is a story about finding your purpose, building resilience and…driving a bobsleigh! Adele is a truly inspiring person who sacrificed everything to pursue her dream of becoming an Olympian. From overhauling her whole life, to redesigning her body composition and training regime with no coach and no budget, to racing with a ruptured ankle ligament during her Olympic qualification season - this...

Kelly’s story is an important lesson that you should take every opportunity that comes your way and that age really is just a number. Kelly first walked into a CrossFit box in her mid thirties - a time in life when many people might think it’s too late to start seriously training in a new sport, especially one as complex and physically demanding as CrossFit. Not Kelly. She very quickly flew up the...

Leah is an MMA (Mixed Martial Arts) Fighter and hugely inspiring human. She grew up facing many struggles, including becoming a single Mum at a young age, however she refused to become just another statistic. So, despite (as she very honestly admits herself) having no natural talent, she trained extremely hard and carved out a hugely successful career for herself in MMA, seeing her become the firs...

Weightlifter Holly O'Shea went from beginner to elite athlete in just two years, and she uses some seriously refreshing positive mindset strategies to handle competition nerves. In this interview she shares those strategies including one involving befriending a chair (to be explained)! We spoke about: - How to keep calm and handle nerves on the competition floor - Competitor mindset & self...

Liv is a CrossFit Athlete and ICU Nurse. In this conversation Liv speaks about: her personal story and journey into CrossFit, why women should train and not just for the physical, how to train seriously and consistently without getting burnt out, life as a nurse in the ICU and how Liv used her training to get through the horrors of Covid. If you enjoy this episode, please subscribe to our channel...