Most people fear change.
Former rugby player and fitness entrepreneur Dave Birtwistle has made it his life’s habit.
From the pitch to Too Hot To Handle on Netflix to studying an MBA at Imperial College London, Dave shares the unfiltered truth about reinvention, ego death, and sustainable growth — in sport, business, and life.
We talk about:
🔥 The ego death that comes with leaving pro sport
🔥 The burnout cycle of strength & conditioning and how to escape it
🔥 Lessons from building a million-follower online fitness business
🔥 What happens when fame hits before systems are ready
🔥 Longevity, identity, and finding meaning beyond sport
🔥 Going back to school at 30 and redefining success
This is one of those rare, mature conversations — two ex-rugby players talking openly about life, purpose, and the long game.
🎧 Listen wherever you get your podcasts.
📲 Follow Dave: @davebirtwistle
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Timestamps:
00:00 – The ego death of reinvention
02:00 – How shared rugby trauma shaped perspective
04:30 – Injury, pain, and emotional numbness from years in sport
06:45 – Longevity vs short-termism in team environments
09:00 – Rugby as corporate entity: replaceable bodies
11:00 – The shift from athlete to coach to PT
13:00 – Why most people don’t care about S&C theory
16:00 – From science to service — how to coach for humans, not papers
19:00 – The ego trap of S&C vs “PT”
23:00 – Starting online coaching before it was cool
29:00 – Pre-2020 online fitness world — the wild west
33:00 – Too Hot To Handle: what fame really did to business
36:00 – The 1,400-lead problem and scaling chaos
43:00 – Building systems that can actually handle success
49:00 – Retention > acquisition: building a business that lasts
53:00 – The modern trust crisis in online coaching
57:00 – How storytelling and authenticity now beat information
1:00:00 – Going back to school and learning humility again
1:03:00 – The freedom in letting your identity evolve