The High Performance Half Hour: Recent Episodes
David Osgathorp
Welcome to The High Performance Half Hour. In my weekly show I'm going to interview a number of high performing individuals from the world of sport, business, entertainment and coaching to find out what makes them tick and uncover some of their habits and behaviours that allow them to stand out from the crowd and achieve success in their chosen profession.
On this weeks episode I talk with Efrem Brynin
Efrem is the Co-Founder of Strongmen and he opens up about what he calls his first life and second life. Recalling a time in 2013, sitting with my wife in complete peace, his life was in complete balance. Just six months later everything had changed, that life he had loved was over. His son, James, was killed on his second tour of Afghanistan. In the immediate aftermath and to this day he has, and still experiences, the very worst imaginable emotions. Since James died, he has been diagnosed, treated for and am currently in remission for Prostate Cancer.
During 2016 he was lucky enough to play the part of Recruit #11 in Channel 4’s SAS Who Dares Wins, filmed on location in the jungles of Ecuador. Not only was this a truly unique and incredible experience, it almost certainly saved his life, as he first experienced the symptoms that led to his eventual cancer diagnosis 12 months later. It is also as a result of this programme that he got to know Matthew ‘Ollie’ Ollerton and subsequently Dan Cross, which eventually led them to form StrongMen.
"The never ending process of bereavement of somebody close to you is unique to all who have experienced it. Each of us have different relationships and dynamics, however, much of that experience is shared. To be able to provide the opportunity for people with similar experiences to reconnect with the outdoors, and share the comfort of those that have, and continue to “walk the walk” is something that not only excites me, but also helps me to continue my healing process."
On this weeks episode, I talk to Elite Performance Coach Adelaide Goodeve.
Adelaide shares her incredible story of how within 10 years, she overcam a debilitating condition of Chronic Fatigue Syndrome to become an endurance athlete in her own right and elite performance coach for some of the world’s best companies, leaders, teams and athletes.
She shares her story of not accepting her own diagnosis and immersing herself in a powerful lifelong learning experience to understand neuroscience, brain plasticity and the power of language to change her own life and that of the clients that she works with.
I thoroughly enjoyed the conversation and I'm sure you'll gain some incredible insights about the stories that you are telling yourself and that restrictions you unconsciously place upon yourself - and most importantly, what you can do to change this!
After a break from the podcast we're back with a new series...
In this first episode, I want to pose the question "how are you spending your time"?
We're nearly halfway through 2022 and I think it's a good time for you to checck in with yourself to evaluate whether you feel you're spending time doing the things you want to do, with the people you want to be with?
I've had some time to reflect on the last few years and I want to share some realisations from this time and my plans for how I spend my time going forwards...
Shawn Harper has helped transform thousands of corporate environments, built leadership, trained teams and impacted youth development in schools, and churches with high energy keynote speeches that activate winners.
His unique story is one of really inner belief and never giving up on his dream of reaching the NFL.
Since retiring from professional American Football he has become an exceptional speaker and when Shawn steps on the stage, he delivers strategies and techniques used by professional athletes to compete and win at the highest levels. His unique no excuses approach leaves his audience ready to win as individuals and in teams and I hope that energy comes across in this episode.
On the show today I'm pleased to introduce a good friend of mine, Ian Leman.
Ian spent 12 years in the UK Military, including three tours of Afghanistan leading elite
teams on military intelligence operations. Specialising in influence, he used his expertise
on defence liaison operations in the Middle East and South East Asia, dealing with an
array of influence and security challenges in complex and demanding environments.
Ian demonstrated his abilities to elicit information that unlocked high performance in
individuals at a world leading officer academy, where he quickly became the senior
leadership instructor, earning the trust of his seniors and, most importantly, the trainees.
Ian left the military and co-founded an influence consultancy, helping FTSE 100
companies gain competitive advantages. With a passion for elite sport and high
performance, Ian moved on to found PDP Performance
On this weeks episode, I'm delighted to say that we have sleep and recovery expert Anna West.
Anna has worked in a variety of fields from research to the military, corporate wellness to elite sports performance, - where she has now really found her niche.
Her goal is to pass on knowledge about circadian rhythm, sleep, stress and performance, not through scientific texts, but through implementable strategies, that can help people change bad habits and ultimately make them understand how they can use sleep as a repeated performance enhancer.
Given my own interest in this field, this was a fascinating conversation for me and I hope you enjoy it to...
What's The Story that you are telling yourself right now?
We've all had a crazy experience over the last year or so and as we emerge out of lockdown we've got a number of choices to make...
In this episode I'm going to discuss what I believe is often the single biggest factor in determining success - and that's the story that we choose to tell ourselves.
For some people the pandemic has caused them a lot of stress and discomfort, for others they have come out of this time in a better place.
Whatever may have happened to you, one thing is for sure, you cannot change the events of the last 12 months. But you do have the power to change the story that you choose to tell yourself now.
This little episode is all about being aware of the words that you use and the beliefs that you hold, because ultimately they will determine your success or failure.
As Henry Ford once said "Whether you think you can or think you can't, you're right.
Russell set up CBD performance with his business partner Simon Church, after they both had positive personal experiences with CBD oil.
Through CBD Performance they have create a unique premium brand offering 100% natural & vegan friendly CBD supplements and are on a mission to educate people on the benefits of regular use in the health, fitness & sports industry to enhance performance and wellbeing.
I've personally been a big fan of their products and as I'm often asked about the benefits of CBD for athletic performance and effective recovery, I thought it would be great to get Russell on the show to dive into this subject!
Paul Robinson is a former professional footballer who represented five clubs spanning over 22 years in the Premier League and Football League between 1996-2018 and was also capped three times for England at under-21 level in 1999.
Paul began his professional career with his hometown club Watford, in 1996 making his competitive debut at just 17 against Luton Town and went on to make 252 appearances for the club, winning two promotions, one play-off final, and reaching an FA Cup semi-final.
In 2003 he signed for West Bromwich Albion and went on to make 238 appearances for the club, winning two promotions, one FA Cup semi-final and being part of "The Great Escape" in 2004/05 Premier League season, where West Brom survived relegation on the final day of the season.
He went on to play for Bolton Wanderers, Leeds United before finding himself without a club for several months. Where other players may have decided to throw the towel in at this point, Paul's Never Give Up attitude, self belief and strong resilient mindset enabled him to keep going and led to him signing for Birmingham City in 2012 where he would stay until he eventually hung up his boots in 2018.
Paul Robinson Sports Mindset is a unique service that utilises Paul's natural leadership abilities, and draws upon his own personal positive and negative experiences during his 22 year playing career and subsequent coaching career to enable individuals to cope with the pressures on and off the field, and push themselves to achieve new limits they didn’t realise they were capable of.
This was a thoroughly enjoyable conversation with a great guy!
On the show this week we have Somerset County Cricketer, Jack Brooks.
After coming into the professional game relatively late, Jack has had an incredible career. Starting out at Northants he was fortunate to be mentored by the late, great David Capel and he grew from someone who wasn’t sure if he could make it, into one of the country’s best fast bowlers who was on the fringes of the England team.
This led to a move to the big boys of Yorkshire where he not only starred in their back to back County Championship winning seasons in 2014 and 2015, but became a firm fans favourite in his time in Leeds.
He’s currently plying his trade for Somerset and like any great story that has a beginning, middle and end, he’s thoroughly enjoying this time as the senior member of the squad, the leader and the mentor for others. We discuss Jack’s career, his highs and lows, his future plans and his current recovery from triple surgery over the winter.
This week I'm taking a slightly different route with the podcast as I share the news of the birth of my second child, Oliver John Osgathorp, who was born on 4th February 2021.
You can't really have a more life changing moment than the birth of a child and the last few weeks have been incredible for me and just made me re-assess what I want from life and WHY I do what I do.
Ultimately it all comes down to purpose and I think that anyone who wants a high performance life, needs to align their thoughts and beliefs to a strong purpose. My family is mine.
On the Show this week we have former USA Mens 8 Rower, Hans Struzyna. His 12 year rowing career culminated in him being a member of the 2016 USA Olympic rowing team and in this episode we discuss the highs and lows of his sporting career and the habits and dedication that led to him reaching the pinnacle of his sport.
We also discuss how he dealt with life after the Olympics, and how he found himself without a real purpose until he found real estate.
We talk about the carry over of work ethic and competition to drive success in sport, work and life and the lessons that he has leaned along the way. Hans is also the host of his own podcast, Another Way to Play, which brings inspiration to listeners at their own personal crossroads by interviewing top entrepreneurs.
Nathan Flear is an Ultra Marathon runner. He competes in events of up to 250km, - through the mountains! For most of his competitors this has been a lifelong pursuit, but five years ago Nathan weighed 18 stone, he was drinking and smoking every day and literally decided overnight that something needed to change.
Instead of dipping his toe in with a half or even a full marathon, Nathan decided to go all in on the pursuit of ultra marathons and in particular the Spartathlon. Within weeks he completed his first ultramarathon, in a few months he’d won his first 100 mile race and in just over a year he picked up his first international vest.
This is an incredible story and we were fortunate to be joined by Dr Mark Slaski, a Sports and Organisational Psychologist, who helps to delve into the mind of an ultra marathon runner. We discuss the ability to push through pain, the ability to go all in on your goal and the power of big picture thinking.
This was a fascinating conversation for me and I hope you really enjoy it
Richard Haiduck is a former life sciences executive and mentor, and now has an active retirement. His 75+ retiree interviews are the basis for Shifting Gears; 50 Baby Boomers Share Their Meaningful Journeys in Retirement.
In this episode we discuss some of the great stories he was able to uncover through his 75+ interviews with retirees. We talk about the importance of having a purpose, the freedom to pursue new challenges without expectation and his concept of relaxed intensity.
This interview confirmed to me that anyone can pursue high performing habits at any age or stage in their life, and in your golden years, there's the opportunity to achieve so much and look at life in a whole new way when the pressure is off.
With so much uncertainty out there at the moment, people are understandably worrying about the future.
Whilst it may be difficult to step away from the doom and gloom, all you can ever really focus on are the things that you can personally control.
What can you focus on at this time?
What can you do more of?
What can you stop doing?
In this episode David discusses the concept of controlling the controllable's in order to not just get through the rest of this year, but to set yourself up for success during next year and beyond.
My guest on the show this week is Paul Glezer, a coach, business owner, podcaster and founder of The Hero Programme.
Paul has recently experienced fatherhood and all that it comes with it. He realized that it is a profound shift for many fathers and appreciates that many things change as a result of being a dad.
The first thing he noticed when his friends began to have children was that their health was the first thing to be sacrificed. This inspired him and his business partner Daniel to create Hero, a programme specifically designed to help high-achieving dad’s lose fat and enjoy peak energy levels while giving to their family and excelling in their career.
He has used his 15 years of knowledge and experience in strength and conditioning as well as mobility training and combined them with the teaching of Holistic Life Coaching to guide his clients to overcome limitations and soar.
To find out more about his programme you can visit: https://www.hero.cm/training
Or join his free Facebook group : https://www.facebook.com/groups/artofhealthydads
Enjoy.
Part two of my conversation with Saskia Clark. In this episode we talk about life after her Olympic career and her early steps in the world of coaching.
On this week's show we speak to Olympic Gold Medal winning Sailor Saskia Clark about her Olympic journey.
In this very open interview Saskia talks about the incredible highs and challenging lows during her sporting life.
We've taken some time out over the last few weeks in order to hit the pause button on a number of areas and give ourselves the opportunity to reflect on what's great and what's got to go!
A lot of changes have been made, we've got a new business, a ton of great content and some amazing guests lined up for the podcast.
We'll be releasing new episodes every Friday morning, see you there...
Part 2 of my interview with Motorsport journalist and commentator Will Buxton.
In this episode we take a closer look at some of the greats of Motorsport that featured in Wills' excellent book My Greatest Defeat. We discuss the mindset of a champion, the unbelievable adversity that these incredible individuals faced and how they used it as a motivator to succeed on and off the circuit.
With it being Men's Health Week next week I wanted to take the opportunity to discuss the subject of mental health and what these past few weeks have taught me about my own mental health and also how I've been able to have a positive impact on the physical and mental health of those around me.
I cover six lessons from my experience of lockdown and I would love to hear your feedback or any lessons of your own.
On this weeks show we have Motorsport journalist, commentator and TV and Digital presenter, Will Buxton.
In this episode we get to talk about Will's incredible best selling book, My Greatest Defeat, which is a collection of twenty interviews with some on the most iconic racing drivers from the past fifty years.
Part two of my discussion on everything health, wellness, performance and recovery with Scott Breddy from Celtic FC and David Woolfson from Sleep Angel.
This week I have two great guests, Scott Breddy Sports Scientist at Celtic FC and David Woolfson co-inventor and Chairman of Sleep Angel.
During this episode we discuss the importance of sleep for health and performance and we take a closer look at the impact our sleep environment has on our overall health.
David discusses how his idea for creating the Sleep Angel pillow came about and how his company is now supporting health services, the hotel and travel industry and the world of sport.
Scott talks about his work at Celtic and how he introduced Sleep Angel to the team to enhance the performance and well-being of the team and where he believes this can develop further.
This is a particular area of interest for me and a conversation I was keen to share with you.
I hope you enjoy it!
Undoubtedly the biggest thing that has helped me in both my business life and personal life over the last ten years has been in learning the art of relaxation and meditation.
When we are caught up in our busy lives we think that they only way we can achieve more is by pushing harder and whilst this will often work in the short-term, it will inevitably lead to stress, exhaustion and burn-out.
The art of "stopping before you start" was a concept that my good friend Simon Frost introduced to me many years ago and it is something I still live by today. In my book PERFORM I discuss the importance of winning the morning and each day when I stop before I start, calm my mind, get a clear picture of what I need to do, who I need to be and how I need to act, good things usually happen.
In this interview Simon talks about his work and how he enables people to overcome the thoughts and fears that are holding them back in life. We discuss the current lock down period due to the COVID-19 pandemic and how it can be re-framed as a time to stop, reflect and move forwards in a renewed, positive manner.
I thoroughly enjoyed the conversation and I hope you do to and as an additional bonus, I asked Simon to provide you with a guided meditation which i included at the end of this episode.
Enjoy.
On this episode we discuss the highs and lows of Gail's incredible badminton career. Where her competitive nature came from and how she used the pain of failure to drive her on to amazing success.
After painfully missing out on competing at The Sydney Olympics in 2000, Gail committed to giving her all and "working her butt off" to achieve her dreams. This journey started in 2002 when she won gold in the Commonwealth Games in Manchester. Two years later she did make it to the Olympics winning silver in the mixed doubles. She went on to win Gold again in the Commonwealth Games in 2006 and Gold in the World Championships in Madrid in the same year.
She retired after the 2008 Olympics in Beijing after realising that she had fallen out of love with her sport. In this frank and open interview Gail discusses how she struggled with her mental health in the years following her retirement from sport and how she has used this experience to support other athletes in a similar position to her.
Part two of my conversation with Alex Zane
In this episode we focus on his current projects, his passion for films and how this has become his sole focus for his work.
We talk about his morning routine and his plans for the future.
Stand Up Comedian, TV and Radio Presenter, Actor, Writer, Film critic, podcast host and all round nice guy, Alex Zane discusses his journey in the world of entertainment.
After dropping out of medical school he took the bold move to pursue a career in stand up comedy and after failing spectacularly with his first gig he used the pain and embarrassment to drive him on and prove the critics wrong.
His stand up career took him to The Edinburgh Fringe where he was spotted by MTV producers, and the rest as they say is history...
In this episode Alex talks openly about the successes and failures in his career so far and his ability to continually pivot and pursue new opportunities.
What is the High Performance Half Hour? Where did the idea come from and how can it have a positive impact on you?
In this episode David talks about his original idea for the high performance half hour in his book PERFORM and how the ideas contained within it sparked conversations with other coaches and athletes around their ideas on high performance and how these conversations ultimately evolved into this show.