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Fuel Your Body Like World Champion Triathlete Greg Bennett - E3
36 Plays1 year ago
Everyone has experienced setbacks or disappointments in their pursuit of success, and it can be tricky to keep a positive mindset and healthy lifestyle amidst the demands of day-to-day life. It’s easy to feel like you've lost control over your well-being and unsure of how to reclaim the discipline and focus that once propelled. In this episode, we explore the journey of a former Olympic athlete who faced crushing setbacks, only to discover the power of small, consistent habits in transforming his mindset and performance, both in sports and in life. By applying the principles of high-performance training to everyday routines, you too can regain control over your health, productivity, and overall sense of fulfillment, even in the face of life's toughest challenges.
Greg Bennett, a former Olympic triathlete and world champion, has transitioned from his illustrious athletic career to become a highly sought-after speaker, corporate trainer, and entrepreneur. With numerous international titles and multiple Olympic appearances under his belt, Bennett's journey is a testament to the power of discipline, dedication, and strategic thinking. His client list boasts an impressive array of top-tier organizations, including Fortune 500 companies, professional sports teams, and elite educational institutions, all of whom seek his expertise in applying high-performance principles to everyday life. As a thought leader in the realm of health, mindset, and peak performance, Bennett's insights continue to inspire and empower individuals and teams to unlock their full potential, both on and off the field.
“I never won a running race in school or did any of that, but I loved and I was passionate about trying to be better and do better.” - Greg Bennett
In this episode you will learn:
- The lessons Greg learned from his Olympic disappointment and how taking control of sleep, recovery, and mindset led to later success.
- How the high-performance principles Greg applied as an athlete can be incorporated into everyday life, especially for busy parents.
- The importance Greg places on sleep, presence, and enjoyment in balancing health and performance with family responsibilities.
- Greg's transition from a zero-sum competitive mindset to one of abundance, and how he applies this to parenting and work.
- The fitness approaches and routines Greg follows in his post-professional athlete life, including weightlifting and mobility work.
- Greg's emphasis on cultivating social connections, managing time intentionally, and maintaining an element of play and fun in his work.
Resources
- Connect with Greg on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thegregbennettshow/
- Visit the Bennett Endurance website: https://www.bennettendurance.com/
- Listen to Greg's podcast "The Greg Bennett Show": https://www.bennettendurance.com/podcast
- Shop all the products Greg mentions in the episode: https://alively.com/products/gregbennett
This podcast was produced by the team at Zapods Podcast Agency:
https://www.zapods.com
Find the products, practices, and routines discussed on the Alively website:
https://alively.com/
Recommended
Transcript
Introduction and Purpose of the Podcast
00:00:00
Speaker
Time is your number one commodity, taking control of your time. If you can do that, understand how do you want to use it? Do I want to be lazy right now? Fine, but consciously make that decision. yeah Do I want to be present with my kids right now? Consciously, or do I want to work or whatever it is, be conscious, own your time, and then some ease in the layers that will start coming out of that.
00:00:23
Speaker
This is the Home of Health SPAN Podcast, where we profile health and wellness role models, sharing their stories and the tools, practices and routines they use to live a lively life.
Welcoming Greg Bennett and His Active Lifestyle
00:00:37
Speaker
Greg Bennett, it is so good to see you. Thanks for having me on this show. It's such an honor and a privilege. So thank you. The show is about helping and empowering people to have and a lively day every day. And I think about You, not just your career as a professional triathlete, but what you're doing now with your podcast. And you just seem to really embody that life in so many different aspects with your family, with your kids, with how you go after everything. So this is a conversation I've really been looking forward to. So I appreciate you making the time.
Greg's Insights on Sleep and Adaptability
00:01:10
Speaker
Thanks, mate. I do want to preface. Nobody is perfect, by the way. so As much as I can preach, and it's like yeah and even now, i'm like last night, my 4-year-old got me up at 11pm. You'll hear later in the show, we can talk about sleeping things, but you know I go to bed at 7.30, 8 o'clock.
00:01:26
Speaker
So I had a couple of hours, but and then I was just wired between 11 and three. So I stayed up for four hours. I actually got some stuff done. And then I went to bed for an hour and a half and then got back up. you know um I still get up, no matter what, I get up at the same time. And the only reason I bring that up is so people can understand, look, as much as you'll hear me say, yeah, I get a bed at eight and I get up at four and I say, look, sometimes stuff happens, right? And you just got to roll with it. And I've got to the point, even in my own life, I look at Looks like weekly totals of sleep rather than nightly, just to remove the anxiety, right? It's like, it's okay.
Transition from Physical to Mental Focus in Athletics
00:02:00
Speaker
You'll be fine. that That makes a lot of sense. I mean, it's the the idea of strong convictions loosely held, and it's a lot strong routines flexibly adhered to maybe. Well, God, I like it. Yeah, there's something in that. I think we can package that.
00:02:14
Speaker
Well, speaking of packaging, you know, the the idea is to really understand your life, some of your practices, some of the things that you do that you really find helpful. And we typically start with where the guest is most known for. And with you, I had a little bit of a hard time because obviously you had this 27 year career as an athlete. And so you think fitness, right? Like two time Olympian, world number one, like all of this. But now it may be even more of a mindset right, in terms of what you're bringing to the world with your show, how you're profiling us, how how you're having these conversations. So I wanted to give you the option of where you would like to start between those, ah whether you want to start on the fitness side or or more the mindset side. Well, I think they all build upon each other. It's like one of my favorite people on the planet Earth is Arnold Schwarzenegger, right? And what I always loved about Arnie is he just kept building upon himself. You know, he's the bodybuilder and then the businessman and then he
00:03:11
Speaker
then he got you know famous for obviously being the greatest movie star in the world in the 80s. And then he you know married a royalty, an American royalty, a Kennedy, and then he you know ran went on to become governor. But they all built upon them. So it's kind of like looking at myself as a podcast host or entrepreneur or tech space or whatever it is these days. They've all built on the fact of my athletic career.
Greg's Journey in Triathlon and Competitive Spirit
00:03:34
Speaker
And so it probably is good to rewind the clock as what I would say on my show and just give a little bit of background to sort of where my mindset and mental strategies come from. yeah for Just a quick recap. you know I started the sport of triathlon in the mid 80s when I was a teenage kid, you know trying to get through those insecure years. you know
00:03:56
Speaker
And then I found the sport of triathlon. And the triathlon family was just so welcoming. It was so full of like A-type personalities, people just trying to get the most out of life. you know They were trying to squeeze them. like And I just felt like I had a real sense of belonging there. And for me, it was a way to to hang my ah identity onto something that was empowering for me.
00:04:15
Speaker
um I had some ability. I was a reasonable runner. I'd never won a running race in school or did any of that, but I loved and I was passionate about trying to be better and do better. I didn't love swimming, biking, and running, but I loved the sport of triathlon. I loved it being a tool that allowed me to try and become better at something to peer over the edge of where I've never been before. you know and That constant testing and striving for where I haven't been before was I just really gravitated towards that. And the magnetic group of triathletes that were around me, it it fueled you with that same kind of like, this is an amazing group that all want to get the most out of life.
Resilience after Olympic Challenges
00:04:53
Speaker
yeah and And so for me, my passion in the sport was there very early on.
00:04:59
Speaker
i um it was I want to be the best in the world. it wasn't I never liked the saying, i it actually you always made me itch when people were like, I just wanted to be the best I could be. I never loved that saying. i it was like For me, I was very clear on I want to be the best in the world. and And the reason I point that difference out is it's not that I wasn't trying to be the best. There is probably limitations to what you can potentially do physically. you know You can't put in what God left out. but It was also the way I would race um because racing triathlon is not always about you but having your best day. It's trying to make sure that the person you're up against doesn't have theirs. It's a game. you know so yeah Anybody in the world of triathlon, you play the game where you you run the first mile or two
00:05:44
Speaker
off the bike as fast as you can. As fast as you can. ah you you know For me, it'd be dropping a 430 mile for the first mile, even though it's a 10 kilometer, right? But it's not a smart way to race. That's not the best way to run a 10K. But what it does do is make the other person question, oh, Greg can't be beaten today. He's going, right?
00:06:01
Speaker
I don't get me wrong other people did it to me as well like and there's constant games so when i hear people say i just want to be the best i can be like no i won races where i was the second best greg i wasn't the best greg but i made sure that the guy i was up against certainly wasn't the best either and i went back to the third or fourth best and so.
00:06:19
Speaker
That was what I always wanted from the sport. um yeah But it was really in 2000 when Sydney got the Olympic Games. It was the first time triathlon was going to be in the Olympic Games. remember what I was ranked number two in the world. I'd won the Sydney World Cup in the in the lead up to it and and had three podiums leading up to it.
00:06:37
Speaker
And anyway, long story short, was left off the Australian Olympic team. And I was so devastated. I was so like, bitter and doing the whole blame and complain game, you know, and and had lawsuits and everything else. And, you know, now I can sit back and go, no, it was my fault. But with perspective, you go, no, no, no, I could have done better. I could have prepared better. But when I was in that moment, I was very down and and I almost decided to retire at that time. And I'd been a professional for 10 years and I was like,
00:07:05
Speaker
Anyway, a good mate of mine, Simon Whitfield, said, Greg, why don't you come over to Victoria, Canada and help me train? You know, I'm on the Canadian Olympic team and I need a training buddy. And he'd been in Australia a bit and we were good mates. And I said, all right, mate, I'll come with i'll come over to Canada. And we start training together. And his performances just started really going, you know, through the chart. And, you know, he wasn't ranked probably top 50 in the world at the time. And I'd been number, you know, two, three, four for the sort of three or four years leading into the Olympics.
00:07:32
Speaker
And ah credit to Simon, he did some really great recruiting by bringing me over and he he knew what the standard was. yeah And again, I don't want to go on with this story too long, but basically they they saw what I was doing with Simon, how well we were working together. And I thought, well, why don't we um don't we bring a woman in for our Canadian athletes?
00:07:51
Speaker
And they brought in a girl by the name of Laura Reback at the time. Now my wife, you know, we've been together 24 years. ah We have two kids together and she's just the most ultimate gift to my life that the universe could have ever given me. She's just a sensational human being. And um and then my best mate Simon went and won the Olympic gold medal. And so it was kind of like this, you realize that sometimes when you're down and out in life, things are tough, brutal, you want to give up.
00:08:20
Speaker
It's often where the flourishing comes from, where the exciting things can actually come from. And for me, when I got the goal and then my best mate, and this is before 9-11, he got off the podium at the Sydney Olympics and and ran over to the stands and put the Olympic gold medal over my neck and said, Greg, this is yours. And it still gives me goosebumps to even talk about it, right? Like it's like a, it's really cool moment, but you know, and then from that moment on, I remember Laura and I sort of sitting back And we said, look, we need to take more control of the controllables. You know, I'd been putting my life in coaches' hands and Federation's hands and everything else. I was like, no, we can do better. and And so over a period of time, Laura and I built and built and built ourselves. And so by 2002 and three, I was world number one, held that for a couple of years. I did qualify for Athens Olympics, was fourth. ah But still, even after that fourth at Athens Olympics, Laura and I sat back and we can do better. We can be better.
Balancing Family Life with Health and Wellness
00:09:16
Speaker
we can do more. like What can we do? And this is when we really started leaning into sleep and mental strategies and recovery and nutrition and everything else came from that. So we um we became known in Boulder, Colorado as like you don't call the Bennets after eight. We became hyper-disciplined. And both of our careers really took off even more so from that kind of 04-05 period once we really started laying into it more.
00:09:41
Speaker
I want to be conscious a little bit here, because I i can imagine some listeners like, OK, yeah, that that's well and good for someone who this is their job. right They're the best in the world. yeah i'm I'm just someone trying to get through my life as best I can. right like I have seven kids. I have three kids. I have one kid, whatever it is. yeah and And I have a job, and I have to do this. ah But I do think there is something here, because but you made that transition from professional athlete to a civilian, like the rest of us.
00:10:08
Speaker
And just like a lot of what we got with the internet or a lot of the advancements that we have in our day to day lives came from NASA and bleeding edge science. I think that it's very similar to some of the lessons, whether it's mindset, it's the importance of sleep. It's how we actually need to think about fueling our body and nutrition that you can take from the best of the best in high performance sporting world and say, OK, well, then what are the applications to us mere mortals?
Morning Routines for Grounding and Gratitude
00:10:34
Speaker
Yeah.
00:10:35
Speaker
And so I think that's an incredible way to set the table to then maybe dive into today, right? You couldn't call the benefits after eight, but let's talk about today because today it's a similar situation because you have young kids and you've adapted your life to that. So let's talk about sleep.
00:10:51
Speaker
yeah What is your sleep routine? And I know you showed me another time we were catching up, the the Apollo that kind of helps you get to sleep. I got the Apollo in your own right now. It's set to social. okay Yeah, right now, look, and to your point, ah parenting, work and everything else, I refer to being a professional athlete is you could live life without kids. You could live life at a 10 or a zero, 10 out of 10 or zero. You are all in or you could be fully recovered.
00:11:19
Speaker
Parenting, work, and all these other things. I kind of feel like sometimes you're living between a max of seven or eight, but you're never quite 10, and you're never fully off. like is it right You can't. no you know like i started like I was up for four hours last night with a four-year-old. right it's like so I obviously didn't get my proper recovery school, but this is parenting. and you kind of go so You live between a smaller vibration of sort of three and seven or three and eight, you know and you're doing what you can to expand that open more.
00:11:47
Speaker
to allow you to try and get to 10 and try and get to zero. And for me, that's where you go, okay, what can I control? yeah All right, start with sleep. Great place to start. I can start with sleep and go, all right, I put my kids to bed, seven, 7.30, they're asleep. Now, I can either go watch dumb down and watch some Netflix for an hour or whatever. And to a fair enough, some people wouldn't need that and that's fine. Or I can go to bed. And both my wife and I love to go to sleep when the kids do.
00:12:17
Speaker
mainly because then I can wake up at that 3.30, 4 o'clock and those early morning hours for me. Again, I'm not preaching that everybody has to follow this routine, but for me, I am so productive. you know i start I start with my morning. I go outside. I ground myself. I hug a tree and practice my gratitude, and I do some little visualizing and um And that's a massive slap of perspective to start the day. And I always finish that with, you know, today could be your last, how do you want to live it? And that is not just, it could be my last, but it could be somebody that's close to me's last. you know with all We've all had sudden shocks of people so dying around us. and And I often look at death as, as a it's more of a fuel to live, right? It's not to say I'm not sad when I lose somebody close, but I also put an expectation on myself that now I really got to live.
00:13:07
Speaker
To me, death is the ultimate motivator. It's the ultimate energy to go. to go yeah um And so I start every morning as I walk back into the house, all right, today could be my last. It could be my last with someone close to me. How do I want to live that? And that's a massive slap of perspective to just go, right.
Motivation from Mortality and Family Presence
00:13:23
Speaker
And that doesn't mean be a fool. You know, it still means you you're you're a father. you You go to provide and protect and there's responsibilities and all of these kinds of things. But it does make you go, OK, when I'm around certain people, be present.
00:13:36
Speaker
yeah consciously be present. So yes, to answer your question, sleep for us is a non-negotiable. I like how you phrased it too, because you know a lot of people think sleep's the end of the day. yeah But if you say, no, let's actually start with sleep. Sleep is the start of our day because it kicks off everything. And so you know you have certain routines as you start your day yeah that will kind of lead in. Are there any things that you've tried that have worked or have not worked to help with sleep? Like you you showed the Apollo neuro, but are there other things that
00:14:07
Speaker
like Hey, we changed this mattress or we did that you found really, really helpful. We've done all of them. so we you know It's all about being dark, quiet, and cool. right so making making and We've got these beautiful, soft bamboo sheets that Laura's gone and found, which are so cooling that they're really nice. we um we've We've certainly splurged on ah on a mattress.
00:14:29
Speaker
um I don't mind, tell the price, because everybody would fall off their chairs, but it's definitely a nice mattress. What kind is it, can you say? It's Prana, I think. Yeah, it is. It makes a difference. I've done the cooling top mattress, ah you know, the cooler. I've done those, but I was traveling a bit back and forth to Boston, to a mutual friend of ours, you know, Ed Baker, and I had that take away. And because I was traveling a lot, I actually found I felt really uncomfortable on hotel beds because I was so used to the cooling topper that I actually decided to wean myself back off it.
00:14:59
Speaker
i did like it I did like it, but then I'd rather just get cooler sheets, keep the room temperature as cool as we can, but not so cold that kids are getting sick. you know We have wine air conditioning for the whole house. it's kind of just like can show you know We're in Florida, and so you know we live in air conditioning, not my favorite thing in the world. but trying to keep it cool, have a light fan going, very quiet. I've got earplugs in always. um What kind of earplugs? I recently switched to the wax ones myself. Oh, did you really? What do you like? You like those? Yeah, I do. Yeah. And you just kind of plug in, close it off. So I'm curious. Yeah, no, look, I've been just doing the phone ones, but I'll check those out. I haven't actually explored them terribly. Some nights I actually take them off. But if I've been called up with one of the kids to to lie with them, I actually, again,
00:15:48
Speaker
I've trained myself to be if one of the kids wakes me up at 11pm or middle of the night or whatever, yeah rather than being pissed off about it again, I said to myself how fortunate I get to lie with my four year old son right now. And and so I often take my earplugs out just to listen to him and and listen to his breathing and He'll say, Daddy, I just want to snuggle. I'm like, yeah, let's let's do it. Because I know this isn't going to last. This moment where he thinks Dad is awesome, it's like I'm very clear that I've got this little moment in my life and in the next few years, he's going to be like, okay, I'm out of here. so I try to embrace those times, you know even if it does mean I'm going to be in second gear for you know the day or the days ahead. It's worth it though.
00:16:29
Speaker
Do you do an eye mask at all? You said dark. I don't do an eye mask. No, I think ah my my wife does. But I think we've got different. I think my eyes are when I close my eyes, it's really, really dark. I don't know. Maybe my eyelids are super dark or something. But I I've never had to do that. And I find it very hot on my face. So I don't like to wear even the some of the cooling ones we've experimented with.
00:16:49
Speaker
You know, we've spent some money on pillows and beds and non-toxic. We have no electronics in the in the room. We rewired our whole house, so there's no everything we have. We have no Wi-Fi in the house. We only hardwired for everything. um We redid all our electrical cables, so they're all insulated. So yeah, look, we, again, we control the controllables. We do what we can. We keep all electronics out of the room. And I think if I was to design a ah new house, I would put all that stuff front and center. I think the science is still coming out on what these effects are doing, having wifi pumping through, and ah you know, the electromagnetic fields and all
Enjoying Meals and Social Balance
00:17:28
Speaker
of that. And I, I'm not,
00:17:31
Speaker
freakish about it. You know, if I have to go to hotels or the state of somebody's, I don't, um of course, it's not a problem, but in my own home, I'm like, I try and make my home as neutral as I can. Yeah. I think that's amazing. um I'm curious if we could talk a little bit about when you're a professional athlete, you're probably thinking about every single calorie, what kind it is, what's coming in, depending on where you are in your training. But now, right you you have kids, you have to be able to feed them, you're cooking however many meals. How do you think about that? and And I particularly think as it ties to sleep, because I was recently listening to b Brian Johnson, who finishes his last meal at 11 a.m.
00:18:07
Speaker
every day because he says that makes such a difference to his sleep and everybody talks to every as early and early as they go their sleep gets better and better and that was the first I had ever heard that I do notice that I sleep incredibly well when I fast so I but again with kids I'm not going to eat my last meal. I love it. There's a social aspect that I wanted there. So I'm curious how you think. and That's really important. I think you just nailed it. Look, we we can do a lot of these sort of things. But number one, right off to sleep and things for me is socialization and the ability to enjoy what we do. I want to enjoy my sleep. I want to enjoy my meals. You know, and sometimes I feel like we're putting so much data, so much science that we're actually taking some of the joy out of things like ah a meal with friends or a meal with family.
00:18:51
Speaker
And this is why with us, mealtime is really important. You know, we we we might share the kids' homework or schoolwork, not really homework, schoolwork, and we really interact with each other. There's no games at the table. And it's ah very important for us. Now, we eat at 430, so it's still pretty early, but we're going to bed at 730.
00:19:09
Speaker
Um, but again, I'm not struggling with sleep. So I haven't, you know, when I go to sleep, I'm pretty spent yeah and I go to bed at eight o'clock. I'm out. Like I'm out and I'll toss and turn a couple of times during the night, but then I wake up and I'm i'm ready to go.
00:19:25
Speaker
But for me, I don't want to ever overthink nutrition, sleep, physical activity to the point that the joy is taken out of it. For me, doing the sport of triathlon and the coaches would work with me, the number one thing you needed to do for me to perform well is make sure I'm having fun.
00:19:42
Speaker
yeah yeah I'm just a kid that wants to play. and yeah and That to me was always a priority. I like to play. don't If we're going to do science, fine, but make the science fun. you know and ah so that That was always important for me, but in terms of fasting, you know I tend to not eat much until midday, so I'm more the other way around. ah You know, I'll have a coffee in the morning, yeah maybe a mushroom tea or something like that, depending on everything. And then sometimes if I feel like, oh no, I need a gluten-free cookie that's in the fridge, just something to take the edge, I'll take that. i don't I'm not a hardcore donate for 16 to 18 hours. I've done that. yeah But I've realized I don't know that I have to do that to feel better about who I am. um
00:20:25
Speaker
and I have a bigger lunch than I do at dinner. So I tend to have my heavier proteins at lunchtime. And then we've just started transitioning more to that where at dinner, it's more veggies and salads. And if we have a protein, it's lighter. Yeah. Okay. It sounds like very whole food based. So it's yeah it's animals and it's plants.
00:20:43
Speaker
Again, you do the best you can, right? Like you do the best we eat out. I'm not. If you say it's not like I have a beer and and grab some dinner and we're going to this random you know cheesecake factory or whatever, I'm like, whatever. Let's go. But for the most part, we'd prefer to eat in, um cook some good meals at home. Lord does most of the cooking now. um So of course I love it. um yeah Yeah. And is it it sounds like there's a lot of flexibility. Do you have any kind of baseline that you like to get in like for a lot of people, they're vitamin D deficient. You live in Florida, you might not have that issue. so Are there certain things that you say, hey, we eat like this, but to make sure I'm topped up, here are some other things that I kind of supplement with, whether it's protein or anything else. I feel like I've gone on ebbs and flows with a lot of this, to be honest. you know we Laura and I are looking at a supplement cabinet right now, and I'm about to start a whole, all the teachers, that the the herbal
00:21:35
Speaker
you know, taking we're about to go she's working with a herbalist that she's found. and okay So we've been biohacking and trying things for 25 years together. yeah And we've done every blood test with DNA test, everything you could ever imagine to know where we're at. Now that I'm a dad, I actually take this stuff more seriously than I even did when I was an athlete. yeah And the reason I say that is I'm an old dad. I'm 52 and I got a four and a six year old. So I feel very responsible for the fact that I never want my kids to be looking after me on my deathbed. My health span has to be amazing and I i die. right It's like, yeah yeah I don't want my kids in their 20s and 30s looking after me or Laura because we lived our lives and to some degree selfishly because we had kids late in life.
00:22:21
Speaker
you know And so for me, I have a heavy responsibility in the sense I need to make sure that my health span is off the chart. yeah you know That makes sense. I don't need longer years. Longer years would be nice to see my kids grow up. I'll take some more. But I mean, like I i say to my mates that are like, oh, I want more years. I'm like, does the world want you for more years? We live in a narcissistic world. We're like, well, I'm going to live to 150. I'm like, well,
00:22:45
Speaker
ask the world, do they want it? How badly they need you here. Yeah. yeah um So look, ah for me right now, in terms of looking at supplements and and and those kinds of things, I'm trying to get most of it from eating as whole food as we can. yeah
Understanding Ancestral Health and Modern Adaptation
00:22:58
Speaker
Now, yeah you and I both know when we're still missing tons of stuff, we do filter our water through about five different filters, like we and and then we aerate it, and our water is It's, ah we do a lot to our water. okay yeah and I can send you a whole heap of things. I would love to see. all because We don't have, and we have to filter our water pretty extensively here, Rylan, as well. So, knowing some of the extra ones we can do. Yeah, but it's good. it's it's It's become, you get used to it, like anything at first, I'm like, oh, what a chore, having to fill out this huge jug and put it over there and it and then we put it into the,
00:23:35
Speaker
And then we you know we add all, um we we have this thing called Quintons, you know, the basically salt water electrolytes. and And so we take Quintons, I take a strong amount of Quintons every every day. um So our electrolytes are very high. I kind of feel like that's going to be the new trend in nutrition. Everyone's going to be talking more and more about electrolytes, more and more about herbs. I'm somebody that loves to look at ancestral health to understand. The only problem with doing that is like you would you would say, if I'm living in South Florida,
00:24:04
Speaker
Well, hang on, I'm living in air conditioning, so that just screws up everything, right? Because otherwise, if I was just living outside here in Florida, I'd be eating what nature provides you in Florida. So crocodile, alligator meat, coconuts, whatever it is, fish, and that would be the diet that would actually be perfect for my body in these conditions.
00:24:24
Speaker
But because of environmental toxins and the way we now insulate ourselves from the environment and then all these foods are flowing in, it's hard to get to know yourself and what you need. But I love referring to ancestral health to figure out the big questions.
00:24:38
Speaker
Well, it's a tricky one because we might not live where our ancestors evolved, too. That's the other part, the DNA. We might have evolved slightly different. yeah's It's really complicated. 100%. You're right. You're right. It's like the the idea of invasive species. like Well, at some point, we all invaded. Exactly. It's just like where the clock starts. I was talking to a couple of mates at the gym the other day, and they were talking we were talking about training. We were talking about yeah what kind of training we should do. And I said, look,
00:25:02
Speaker
you're about 250 pounds this guy's built. The way you should be training is like think about it if we were going back into our ancestors and we were going out to attack the woolly mammoth. I said you're the guy up front with the spear and you're already in and I said see that little guy over there he's five foot five and he's built like a ah gymnast you know I said, he's the one we catapult onto the back of the woolly mammoth and he's stabbing him. And I said, me, you know with my endurance background, and now i put on a bit of muscle, but I said, I'm the guy that has to run the meat back to the village as quick as possible. The scout that's actually looking at the woolly mammoth and then and running back.
00:25:36
Speaker
And so the way that we all need to train, the way that we need to operate, like when we're fighting the wooly mammoth, you know, these big guys, they need to walk there slowly and then fight hard. Right. And so the way they train should probably resemble the way that they're built.
00:25:50
Speaker
right Again, i'm on this is how I like to look at it. I get it. I guess but my pushback there is that that also you're playing into the average life expectancy was like 27. That was like, live hard, die young, leave a beautiful corpse mentality. but These guys don't talk to it all in their 50s, so you're right. It's a little different.
00:26:11
Speaker
Again, I think I'd just like to i like to refer to ancestral health as a guide yeah to to sort of understand some of the questions that we're looking at and how do we used to live. and And somebody even said to me the other day when we were talking about this and said, yeah.
00:26:25
Speaker
Everybody says we've got to sleep eight hours through the night. If we look at our ancestors, somebody had to be up to keep the fire alight. Somebody was always on lookout. or it's like and i think we can As much as the science is there, David Sinclair and everybody else saying we need to sleep seven or eight hours, I get it.
00:26:43
Speaker
but I think it's also okay to understand that you don't it's not a given and you're not going to have a terrible day if it's not a consistent seven to eight hour. That's true. that It's okay that you were the one that were on lookout and keeping the the fire light one night a week or
Strength-Focused Fitness and Listening to the Body
00:26:59
Speaker
whatever it is. You got to lower the pressure. Otherwise, you're going to have the anxiety of it and be the guy keeping the fire out for seven out of seven nights. All the time. Yeah. So you you actually, you you bled a little bit starting on the fitness side. What is your fitness routine now? Now? How do you go about it? Yeah. It's a funny one. you know I um ah look back on who I was for one, and it feels like a completely different human being. In all honesty, I'm like, I don't remember even that person. I and retired eight years ago, but the kind of training and and what we used to do and the speed in which we did it, it blows my mind. It really does because it's like a
00:27:34
Speaker
and I'm not meaning to pump myself up in this sense. It's just more, wow. but i said humanly possible But now i yeah I remember when I retired, I was like, I really just want to be a guy that puts on some muscle. you know I felt like for 30 years in the sport of triathlon, I never forced myself to be lean. It was lean through the training adoption that you did.
00:27:56
Speaker
But I was like, you know, my brother was a professional rugby player and he was built strong and fast. He was a real athlete. He was actually, you know, his career wasn't very long. It was rugby. But I always looked at him. I was just like, he was powerful. And he was, you know, it just, he could tackle a Samoan head on and just like, just an awesome athlete. Even when and we went to the boat shed when I was young and he was st stroke of the first fall in the boat shed. And I went down there to row like my brother. And, you know, I was made an Elsa coxswain.
00:28:23
Speaker
You know, I was the little guy and I was putting the cocks in seat. And then when we played rugby at school, you know, he was always first 15 and all the way through, he was in the A teams and I was 13 E's. And I love rugby, but I just never grew. and yeah And so I had this life where I'd always wanted to be more of a fast, powerful athlete and strong and almost like a normal guy. So when I retired from sport, I started hitting the gym pretty hard um okay and realized I really love lifting weights, chin-ups and pull-ups are just my bread and butter. And so I've spent the last
00:28:56
Speaker
you know, five, six years focused heavily, more on the gym, doing less aerobic. I do some aerobic stair steppers. When we go to Australia, I bring my running back up because I enjoy running around Sydney Harbour and that kind of thing. But Florida is, I find Florida a little dull for running. I love Florida, um but for running, it's just not my favorite place in the world. And when I used to go up to Boston, I'd always run with Ed along the Charles River and stuff. And it was just those places I'll run that I don't really feel the need to have to run.
00:29:25
Speaker
the The problem is when you're an ex-professional athlete everybody wants to say what what could you run a 5k and now what do what everybody and then they i look i really don't think i could break twenty minutes for 5k like maybe yeah with a month or two training but but no is it something that i want to do like i love now like i like feeling strong.
00:29:44
Speaker
and hitting the weights. Do you have a like a program you follow or do you just design it yourself when you feel it? Design it myself or work out with guys. One area I said I really want to work on in 2024 is my mobility. I think I've avoided mobility more than I should have. It's because it's just in an area I enjoy.
00:30:04
Speaker
and my fascial system is rather tight, which was good for being an athlete. I actually thought think it wound me up, so like I generate a lot of power by having a decent you know decently tight fascial system. um But now, as I get older, and I'm 52, and I see something on the ground, I'm like,
00:30:22
Speaker
be down and get i'm like work I'm like, okay, that is not good. like so My ability is one that I've got to work on. Laura and I play tennis against each other three or four times a week, so that gives me my start-stop training. I found tennis to be amazing for just a good little of workout. We're both incredibly competitive. In in fact, we're embarrassed by almost throwing the rackets and you know we're were terrible our behaviour is terrible. and she's I think she's a little worse than me even, which is hilarious. For everybody listening, you know she's she's also a multiple Olympian and for you know she was world number one for a little bit bit as well. so We love each other dearly, but we don't like the blues.
00:31:04
Speaker
So yeah, look, and then in terms of timing, I used to get up in the morning early, go straight to the gym. I've realised that my brain is mostly on in the morning, so I really enjoy that time between 4 and 6.30 before the kids get up to work. That's when I get, I'm really on. I just, I'm so productive. I can do two hours of work in the morning is worth six hours later. It really is that much better. So then we got to the point where I have breakfast with the kids and after I work, I have breakfast with the kids, drop them off at school.
00:31:32
Speaker
then laura and I go to the gym together from eight and ten and then I have no meetings um until after eleven in case you want to play a bit of tennis so meetings between eleven and three so that's my that's my window of work you know and and then I ah never take a day off so if I'm working like in sport I never like to take.
00:31:50
Speaker
you know a day off, I'd always do a 30-minute swim or a five-day run. And it's a bit like work. I like to just just do 30 minutes on a Saturday or a Sunday morning. it's not and't even It's not work work. It's just staying in touch, keeping the brain, keeping the cognitive function. Somebody was telling me this the other day when they said, yeah, you know my wife wants to go to Europe. and you know She gets upset when we go on trips because I do a little bit of work along the way. and I said, yeah, but you're probably a better man for doing a tiny bit. Don't get me wrong, I think some guys get too... If you can be disciplined and say, look, 30 minutes before the kids get up, before ever
00:32:29
Speaker
quickly go through my Slack messages and emails, get back to people real quick, let them know you're on holiday, but at least just stay, I i like it. I like to just stay there. I would never force a team member to do it that way, but for me, that's just how I like it. So personal thing. I remember reading about Stephen King say, well, what what's your writing routine? is that Well, if I'm writing, I'm writing. It doesn't matter if it's Christmas day, if I'm not writing.
00:32:54
Speaker
I'm not ready. It's either on or off. I get it. You see that productivity. Yeah. Yeah. And I've realized over time, whatever I say in terms of when to sleep or when I'm productive or what works for me, it really is, look, I've just figured out what works for me. In this season of life as well. In this season of life. Yeah, it's a good point. And I remember a good friend of ours from any question, our chief operator, and And he was a creative guy, he was a hustler, great energy. But he'd work off until midnight or whatever, or even later. And then I'd be getting up at 3.30, 3.30, and it was like almost just... 24-7 working. And I was never going to tell him to swap his clock to work the same as me. He was a single guy who was on his own, and that's how it worked.
00:33:41
Speaker
Go ahead. If that's what works for you and where you are in your life. Um, but for me, I, I love the going to bed at eight up at four on the morning, you know, go out first thing in the morning and just walk barefoot on the grass and look at the stars. And, you know, I always start my gratefulness with, you know, just look at this, that having the fresh air and you know I've raced enough in Beijing and places like that in the world where fresh air is not a given. You don't take it for granted. yeah so On the fitness side, so it sounds like it's mostly go to the gym. You can run outside if it's a good environment for it. Are there any particular pieces of equipment or attire that you just, you're like, I love these these shoes.
00:34:23
Speaker
or fantastic, or I'd use my fitness tracker as this. that i yeah no i yeah I've actually stepped away from a lot. I used to live, obviously, with my Garmin and and how far I've run each week and had that all documented. and and I think because I lived a life of such intentional behavior around fitness,
00:34:42
Speaker
I don't even run with a a watch most of the time. ah actually you know I'll just run around. the we We live in a a little community here and it's probably a one kilometer loop or just over a half mile loop. and And I'll just run and then I get tired, I stop. And i' think i I've actually become better at listening to my body. you know like As an athlete, like, no, I've got to run 10 miles or whatever. and And even if you're breaking down, you tend to have this, like, I'm going to keep pushing. and And this is where I would say, look, for some people, they work very well with a lot of data, you know the the the engineering type that love to have that data feedback.
00:35:19
Speaker
I'm more on the creative spectrum, emotional, passionate, and often I find data can be quite, it can work as a negative for me. And and so I've learned to balance it out a little bit of data every now and then, but I never want to take away the joy of what I'm trying to do.
00:35:36
Speaker
It comes back to that playfulness you were talking about, right? And this is really playing into your personality, just like they're the night owls versus the early words. And maybe the swimming side, right? We had to go get to you early in the morning. Yeah, you got swimming as well. That's right. Of course. That's right. So that's- Balls high school swimmer. It makes you a great swimmer, by the way.
00:35:54
Speaker
But it takes you a it took me a long time to realize because I would be similar on that early morning workout because then I could get before going to the office and I don't remember if it was when my daughter was born. It's the same thing. Wait, I'll use these hours because I need to be here with her and I would get so much writing done. wow I'm really productive. like Am I using my best brain power in the gym?
00:36:15
Speaker
Yeah. The same thing. Yeah. And then I started doing the gym in the afternoon and like after lunch where I would normally have this lull post lunch, it was like, it's like two different work days. I get two bursts of this like two hour window.
Simple Activities for Mental and Physical Refreshment
00:36:27
Speaker
That's what I would go for a walk in the afternoon. I love like right around now. So we're recording ah we we start recording two push and around this two o'clock. And this is why I say to people, it's not, don't think of it as exercise or physical training. Just go for a 15 minute walk. I'm telling you,
00:36:43
Speaker
It'll change your life. Go for a 15-minute walk, splash some cold water on your face, and get back to it. and you'll be It's amazing. If you want to medicate in one simple area, don't think you have to drive to the gym, that you must lift massive weights, that you've got to just go for a 15-minute walk, splash some cold water on your face. That little bit It's like, oh, it changes your life. It really does. yeah And don't go with headphones. oh yeah Just walk. Just walk. Clear thought. It's awesome.
00:37:14
Speaker
if If I can, I want to circle back to a little bit where we started um because these two can often slip in the in the five pillars on the the mindset and the social connection and purpose. And so on the mindset, I remember a friend of mine, another bull swimmer, five time Olympian, world record holder, said, you know, all the medals, all the trophies, those were trinkets. The real gift of my athletic career was the mindset it left me with and the mental training that it gave me and going through that transition.
00:37:43
Speaker
Right. And in life is lived in the transition. Right. We have these milestones, but life is lived in the transitions. Tech entrepreneur, I know you're you're working on something pretty exciting right now as well. How do you think about that mental side now, the stress management? I mean, getting up early, having kids. Right. There's a ton of joy there. They're undoubtedly stressful moments as well. I don't know as much about the Apollo neuro. I don't know if that helps. You're like, hey, this is it's on social. So maybe maybe that helps. but you know, you have your grounding and the the prayer in the morning, the the different pieces. How do you think about that? I think you and I are pretty fortunate that we we got to have sport young. And if if you're a parent right now and your kids, if there's one gift you can give them, I do think sport and the discipline, the dedication that comes from it, it really does lay an amazing foundation for success. Like I've had discipline
00:38:41
Speaker
you know I grew up in an all-boy family, and it's like discipline is what it's at our core. right ah and and so I would say discipline is probably the number one thing I got out of sport, where there's discipline around what time I get up, what food I eat, do I go to training. like and The beauty of that is i I don't have to have those debates in my head that often. My debates aren't very loud when the body wants to be lazy or it wants to break or whatever.
00:39:11
Speaker
Okay. If it wants a break and it wants to be lazy, it's very intentional. I take control. And I've got to the point, you know, the last few Sundays, I've started going, I like two hours in the afternoon on a Sunday to watch the final day of golf. I've got a couple of mates that are watching in the golf. And I'm like, there's an intentional regulation of let's go down.
00:39:31
Speaker
And I say to the kids, I don't want to see you. I don't want to play with you. I'm not on. I'm not on for you right now, but it's owning those moments. And I think in sport, we for sure were very intentional about what we wanted, what we were trying to achieve and everything that everything we did mattered. The team we built, how we traveled, how we trained, everything mattered. Right. And, and I think taking that and going into parenting, into the workplace,
00:39:57
Speaker
you know I've still got a lot of learning in the traditional civilian workplace type environment and and and working with people that don't have the same kind of way of doing things yeah because I wasn't in a team sport either, as an individual sport. So that's been ah a shift for me to learn. But I think the greatest gift I have is that I've always asked myself, do I know who I am? Do I know what I want? And am I in control of my own life?
00:40:21
Speaker
Right? The questions you've got to ask yourself constantly, do I know who I am? Who am I today? And after this conversation, you and I are going to be different different men again, right? We're constantly evolving, we're constantly changing. Do I know what I want? Even that is often changing and things. And then am I in control of my own life is the big question to ask yourself. And one thing I've gotten really used to doing recently is just saying it's my fault. It's my fault. It's playing it's so freeing.
00:40:49
Speaker
to one, it stops the whole blaming, complaining. Like ah as a man, I'm like, okay, I refuse to be that man that blames and complains. If I get sick, own it. My fault, I got sick. My wife doesn't need to hear me complaining. I'd rather just front up and go, right, it's man flu, which is way worse than what she ever gets. I know that. stuff But nobody wants to hear me complain. She's got enough on her plate. She's raising a four and a six year old. She's stay at home. mum its That's a tough gig. She doesn't need a third child. And so I think some of those kind of elements that came from sport and going, look, I'm going to front up and I'm going to try and take on 50 of the greatest male athletes in the world.
00:41:30
Speaker
You can't be turning up blaming and complaining. You've got to own yourself. You've got to be intentional. You've got to have discipline. You don't care, right? It's like a mini battle. And I've done 500 plus of these mini battles over time that I think it becomes ingrained that you've got to own yourself more. Again, I say all of this with the, I'm not perfect. But I catch myself going, hey, you're complaining. You're blaming yourself.
00:41:53
Speaker
Bring it back. I am curious on the the mindset side, because you know you were talking about with racing, being the best in the race could be different than being your best self. And and it may take an approach that causes you not to be the best time to actually win yeah and how you compete. And it's a very zero sum mindset.
00:42:11
Speaker
right Like, I cannot be the top of the podium if the three of you are also on the podium. right like It requires the zero-sum mindset. And now as you move into another phase of life where parenting, relationship, much less building companies and and bringing value to society, it's a more a mindset of abundance. it is And how how do you transition that? How do you cultivate that having spent you know nearly three decades in this very zero-sum competitive world?
00:42:41
Speaker
It's a really good question. I think um the one area I always start with again, and like I started this recording, is like, for one, there's no such thing as perfection, which can just work on progress, right? And the process is important. And even in sport, if I think back at my career,
00:43:00
Speaker
Yes, there were a few outstanding wins that really stand out. The outcome things were great, but really the big highlights were often just the process. And and so if there's one advice when it comes to parenting or work is love the process, be present for the process. Your kids aren't going to be perfect and nor were you when you were a kid. i know And I don't want to put that expectation. And this is, as you know, what's funny is my mom and dad used to say to me and the three boys or me and my two brothers,
00:43:29
Speaker
It's like, you know, we just want to get you boys to average. And I never understood it as a high performing athlete. I'm like, oh, that's a terrible thing to say. And now I'm a parent. I get what they were saying. Let's remove this enormous amount of expectation, especially these days that we're putting on kids to go to the right schools, to do the right career, to be the right person, to be the right athlete. And I feel like what we're doing is resume building for our kids to get them to the right universities and And now we're seeing depression and anxiety go through the roof. And I get it more now than ever. um And I'm all about free play for my kids. um There's a great book. Have you read ah The Coddling of the American Mind? No, I'll have to check it out. but Get your readers to listen to that. The Coddling of the American Mind. How ah good intentions and you know led to bad ideas or whatever.
00:44:16
Speaker
it's It's probably my number one book I recommend to parents. And because really what it is about, it's everything I'm saying to you now, it's look, let the kids be kids. Let them b do free play. Cause I'm telling you right now as somebody that went through school doing okay, I was never the best. I never won a running race, but it was my passion. It was my passion and my desire to do something that was far more and the joy I took from what I was doing and I never made Australian junior teams for a triathlon. I made my first world championship team when I was 22. I was I was 30 by the time I was world number one, and I was 35 by the time I was winning the world's biggest prize money events.
00:45:00
Speaker
It took me time, but I loved it. I loved it. And if you didn't, you wouldn't have stuck with it. it wouldn't you wouldn't You wouldn't have gotten to fill those highs. No. And I think we put so much on our kids to get them in the travel teams and all. And they're going to hate the sport by 13, 14 because you've put so much on them. And so for me, and even in the workplace, a bit the same, you know, it's much the same.
00:45:21
Speaker
I want my colleagues to enjoy what they're doing, like they're a kid. ah If you and I work together, I want us to have some laughs. I want us to ah play say yeah and play and and enjoy the the process. um and And I love that quite progress over perfection. you know We try and improve and and that's it.
Maintaining Social Connections Post-Career
00:45:41
Speaker
I love that. But before we wrap, I did want to touch back on the the social connection side because you mentioned, you know, triathlon, it's a solo sport, but it was no doubt much more rewarding when you're training with your wife. it was It's um one of the most gratifying moments of your career was training with your mate that ended up winning the gold medal and and having that. And you talked about the community that really made it it look, I didn't love to run swim or bike, but I really loved the people I was around when I was running, swimming and biking.
00:46:09
Speaker
and it can be really hard. even somebody who doesn't have as long of a career as you to leave that team environment, right? You don't have that locker room anymore. If you play this where you don't have that, Hey, every weekend I'm going to be at this race and now you have a family. And so there's social connection there. Uh, but it, it can be a huge burden to, to put on one person. Your spouse is going to be everything after you've had this whole community. How do you think now about cultivating that social connection? You know, you talked about watching the golf with some of your mates, um, now on Sundays.
00:46:41
Speaker
You're hitting one of my two of my favorite topics in the world. are One, and we've talked about transitions, and we we didn't go too much into that, but how yeah whether it's military you know transition to civilian life or professional athletes or becoming a dad for the first... Whatever it is, like there's big transitions and transitions. it's a professional like telling yeah Transitions is really... Man, we could talk for hours just on that. yeah But in terms of the other topic I love is socialization and and the the fact that we need to be around each other. I'm coming from a man, so I tend to lean on what I'm essentially missing and what I see other men missing. yeah um And I do think men have stepped away more than they should have in terms of embracing each other and
00:47:25
Speaker
and socializing with each other. And when you look at the suicide rates, 80% of suicides are men. And of those suicides, 70% of those, that 80% are men between the age of white men between the ages of 30 and 45, or whatever. It's like ah I'm getting that, but it's... Yeah, directionally correct. That's crazy, right? These are men that have lost perspective. you know The gratitude, the being around their mates, and there's something that we're missing in ah in a society that, one, we're not even talking about that. We don't talk about that because that's not a group that we talk about. And so that one always makes me a bit upset. But ah kind of like for me, on a personal level, what I try to do is two things.
00:48:09
Speaker
One, i like even this year, I started this year reaching out to 25 mates and said, look, we're doing a Zoom call, talk to me in my calendar. One hour, no agenda, just catching up. right yeah and then there's And then I keep trying to keep it ongoing, probably looking at it quarterly, just to keep touching base with them. keep I'll be the one that will take the reins to say, I'll set them up. I'll text them. I'll put them on the calendar. I'll do it.
00:48:31
Speaker
yeah The other one I've done is I've set up a thing called Fireside Fridays with Greg. So anybody listening to my podcast can book in to have a chat, male, female, doesn't matter, like anybody. And and I chat with two people every Friday for any usually about an hour each person. That's amazing. And so what it is, is I'm listening to this. I get as much from it as the the audience or the fans do for my show. yeah But I'm really conscious about the human connection. Now, don't get me wrong, I wish we were doing this podcast in person. There's something way more gravitous about that. But the importance of conversation, listening, you know for me, that's been a big thing I've had to work on, but listening to you know people, what they're going through, their stories, their journeys.
00:49:15
Speaker
um you know Being a podcast host now in my fifth year, I've spent all my time listening to people remarkable people's stories and journeys. and What I've realized during these Fireside Fridays for the last four or five months now is everybody's got a story. Everybody's got an incredible journey. Everybody. I had one guy say to me, oh Greg, it's so great that you know you open this up to talk to us ordinary folk. and I said,
00:49:41
Speaker
mate, what you've just told me and your experiences and what you've done and what your son's doing. And I said, don't you dare call yourself ordinary. You're living an extraordinary life. And I am so grateful to have started this fireside Fridays. I'd love it to almost go viral. It's one of these things where I feel, I don't know if it's an age thing, but if you've been through something and you can be a mentor or if you can just be an ear or a thought board yeah and just open yourself up two hours on a Friday, it's,
00:50:09
Speaker
you'll change people's lives by doing it and they'll change yours.
Time Management and Conscious Living for Fulfillment
00:50:12
Speaker
You know? Yeah. I love that. Yeah. I love the intentionality. I love the impact and and the purpose behind it. right So it's you have that social connection with the the purpose. behind yeah Greg, I want to be respectful of your time. I know I'm i'm encroaching on walking time. This is actually no north this but this was in my calendar. It was all sorted. I'm good. I'm good. I really appreciate it. the Greg Bennett Show, for people who want to hear some of these amazing conversations you've had with people um on the social, it's at the Greg Bennett Show, I believe.
00:50:44
Speaker
and Anything else you want to share? Look, I i think listen to you and and what you guys are building. I think um if there's one thing that I want to leave with is understand that time is your number one commodity.
00:50:57
Speaker
right really control your time. And it's what your TED Talk was all about, which I love. That's why you and I resonated so much. I was like, oh, Andrew, we're going to be great mates because it was understanding, taking control of your time. If you can do that, understand how do you want to use it? Do I want to be lazy right now? Fine. But consciously make that decision. yeah Do I want to be present with my kids right now? Consciously? Or do I want to work or whatever it is, be conscious, own your time, and then some ease in the layers that will start coming out of that. So
00:51:28
Speaker
Mate, this has been really cool, really awesome. Love what you guys are doing, big fan, um and hope we can do maybe one of these again in the future. Yeah, I would love that. Thank you so much, Craig. All right. Cheers, Andrew. Thank you for joining us on today's episode of the Home of Health Span podcast. And remember, you can always find the products, practices, and routines mentioned by today's guests, as well as many other healthspan role models on the lively.com. Enjoy day.