Summary
In this episode of the OPD podcast, Joe and Austin welcome Tom Shepherd, a performance coach and author, to discuss the importance of mindfulness in training and life. Tom shares his journey in the fitness industry, emphasizing the significance of quality over quantity in training, the role of suffering in personal growth, and the transformative power of meditation. The conversation explores how mindfulness can enhance performance in sports and daily activities, the flow state, and the importance of creating a culture of self-improvement. Tom also introduces his upcoming venture, Kaizen, focused on constant self-improvement.
Takeaways
- Mindfulness is about channeling attention to what we want in our lives.
- Mindfulness can enhance performance in sports and daily activities.
- Suffering can lead to personal growth and deeper meaning in life.
- Meditation should focus on acceptance and stillness, not just relaxation.
- Finding meaning in suffering can transform our perspective on life.
- Athletic endeavours can provide a safe space to explore suffering and resilience.
- The flow state is where effortless action occurs, enhancing performance.
- Recognising moments of mindfulness can lead to greater fulfillment in life.
- Creating a culture of self-improvement is essential for personal development.
Chapters
00:00 Introduction to Tom Shepherd and Mindfulness
02:37 The Importance of Mindfulness in Performance
04:32 Understanding Focus and Attention
08:48 Quality Over Quantity in Training
12:41 Practicing Mindfulness in Daily Life
15:28 The Impact of Environment on Mindfulness
20:14 Mindfulness in Martial Arts and Training
23:58 Self-Reflection and Mindfulness in Work
30:27 Finding Meaning in Activities
37:33 The Relationship Between Fun and Meaning
40:41 The Balance of Thrills and Meaning
41:28 Mindfulness and the Search for Meaning
42:15 Understanding Suffering and Its Role in Life
43:38 Facing Inner Demons for Personal Growth
45:35 Resilience Through Adversity
46:19 Meditation: Beyond Relaxation
48:53 Cultivating Focus and Mindfulness
51:42 The Importance of Non-Goal-Oriented Meditation
53:45 Finding Effortless Action in Life
55:52 The Flow State and Meaningful Action
58:43 Applying Mindfulness to Everyday Life
01:00:58 Creating Meaning Through Responsibility
01:04:10 The Necessity of Suffering for Fulfillment
01:05:31 Strength Through Suffering
01:06:17 The Future of Coaching and Self-Improvement
Summary
In this episode of the OPD podcast, Joe and Austin delve into the complexities of functional health, discussing the impact of social media on health anxiety, the dangers of fear-based marketing, and the importance of understanding the root causes of symptoms. They explore how stress and anxiety can exacerbate health issues and emphasize the need for mindfulness and acceptance in managing health. The conversation also touches on the unique challenges faced by competitors in the fitness industry and the significance of education in navigating the functional health landscape.
Takeaways
Chapters
00:00 Introduction to the Podcast and Video Format
02:04 Exploring Functional Health and Its Misconceptions
03:28 The Role of Symptoms and Health Anxiety
05:26 The Impact of Social Media on Health Perception
07:52 The Complexity of Health Issues and Treatment Approaches
12:01 Understanding the Feedback Loop of Symptoms and Stress
14:53 The Importance of Systemic Thinking in Health
18:33 The Dangers of Fear-Based Marketing in Health
22:01 Navigating Health Information and Testing
24:49 The Role of Diet and Lifestyle in Health Management
27:55 Temporary Solutions vs. Long-Term Health Strategies
31:04 Navigating Variability in Health
34:15 Understanding Stress and Anxiety Responses
38:16 The Role of Mindfulness and Acceptance
42:04 Breaking Free from Reliance on Supplements
46:04 The Impact of Marketing on Health Perception
50:43 Trust Issues in Health Coaching
54:46 Identifying Stress as a Core Issue
57:07 Functional Health for Competitors vs. General Population
We are honoured to be joined today by the master of the neurosteroid and TRT-realm, Dave Lee, to dig into some of the more intricate discussion surrounding pregnenolone supplementation for mental health, sleep, quality of life & more.
Check out Dave here:
IG: @imdavelee
Linktr.ee/imdavelee
Back for another IG Q&A, today we run through Joe's experience of the Arnold's, autonomic nervous system interactions with chronic illness, and a bunch of listener questions.
In this episode, Austin runs us through his most recent prep in detail, how he added a significant amount of size, how he landed peeled, and how he feels about the placings.
A long-form, open discussion on how we like to handle peak week's for a variety of classes and criteria.
Another instalment of you guys favourite! In this episode, Austin & Joe get caught up on how the competitive season is going, and some fun stuff planned for the rest of this year.
The comeback nobody was waiting for. A little rusty, probably not as funny as it used to be, but we had a blast anyway.
We are honoured this week to be joined by a true veteran of the hypertrophy realm, most well known for his pioneering of myoreps, Borge Fagerli.
In this episode, we dig through the state of current hypertrophy research and how its presented on social media, what occurs in the real world, and how to autoregulate your own programming based on results.
To purchase Borge's new myoreps ebook, follow this link, and use code OPD20 for 20% discount:
https://www.borgefagerli.com/myo-reps-in-english
There has been a great deal of social media discussion on training frequency recently, unfortunately leading to an abundance of confusion as to whether certain higher frequency models will build more muscle than the same volume at a lower frequency, or whether frequency doesn't matter at all. Luckily, Dr Soko joins us today to clear up any and all confusion, to leave you guys with exactly what you need to know to make sure you're not leaving any stone unturned on your hypertrophy programming.
Austin & Joe look back over their careers in this episode at what they've both seen not only grow their client base, but also what has attracted the right clients, and has brought them to most happiness and fulfilment in the process.
In the final instalment of our deep dive into training volume, Dr Soko joins us to give you guys exactly what you need to know to ensure you know exactly what training volumes are best to drive your progress, how to adjust that volume accordingly over time, and how to interpret the research data in context.
Tonnes of topics covered in this one, including liver enzyme escalation in bodybuilders, useless nootropics for bodybuilders to use, increasing dopamine without next day negatives, balancing glutamate & GABA, the list goes on!
This episode, we help you guys to cut through the noise of the current social media craze in the bodybuilding world, training volume.
We cover what some of the new research says, our interpretation of that data, what in the trenches anecdotal evidence tells us, and how to use the whole body of evidence to make a decision on where to set your own volumes on a per body part bases.
Also, some cool side quests regarding effective reps and how to track volume with various RIR and rest pause sets also.
For part 2, Dr. Chester Soko will be joining us to give us his expert opinion on all of the above too!
We kick this one off with a surprisingly scary yet funny story from Joe's travels to Milan, and then some extensive Q&A featuring modafinil recovery and nootropic protocols.
After our brief podcasting hiatus, Austin & Joe get caught up over the Christmas period, with some funny stories from the end of the show season dropped in there too!
This is one from the archives that had not yet been posted, when Austin and Joe get caught up at the tail end of the 2023 season. Considerations for any new competitors to keep in mind when rolling into their first season.
In this episode, Jasmin Jeffery, the owner of UK/EU's largest one stop shop for all of your competing products and resources joins us to give you guys some insight on how to nail the finer details of your contest prep outside of just bringing your best physique.
In this episode, we take you guys through some of the lessons we have learned over the years of working with competitors to help to fine tune your own contest prep programming.
Joe's wife, and the owner of UK, UAE & EU's number one shop for bodybuilding and bikini competition essentials walks us through exactly how to ensure you are nailing the details on your physique that many miss, but will make a difference to your stage look as placing.
