The Freedom Project

This episode is simply dripping with stories about how Chris has helped train the minds of some of CrossFit's greatest athletes. Mat Fraser, Rich Froning, Julie Foucher, Sara Sigmundsdottir, Kara Webb, Jason Hopper and many more feature in today's show. Today on the Limitless Athlete Podcast, you’ll be listening to a conversation between aerobic coach to the biggest names in CrossFit, Chris Hinshaw, and myself. Amongst many other pearls of wisdom, Chris discusses the Sticking Point - that moment in every workout when you are in the most discomfort and are most likely to quit. It’s these moments, both in workouts and in wider life, where you have the greatest opportunity. If you listen to one part of you, you panic, or you slow down, or you quit. If you listen to the other, probably quieter voice, you’ll confront an inner demon and add proof to the story you need to hear to fulfill your potential. Because of this, we have to predict when we’ll feel at our most uncomfortable, and prepare our minds for that moment. The better prepared you are, the more likely you are to come out on top. Alongside this, we also discuss... How Sara Sigmundsdottirs socks tell a story about mindset and learning The pros and cons of fear for competitors Why Chris made Mat Fraser write down every single workout How anxiety ruins endurance And far, far more.

Today, we search for nuance on subjects which caused some trouble to our previous guest, Khan Porter. We go into depth on whose opinions you should actually listen to, the pillars of mental health, and how to apply this to your athletic pursuit. Especially when you become wrapped up in your external results.

Today on the Limitless Athlete Podcast, you’ll be listening to a conversation between multiple time CrossFit Games athlete, Khan Porter and myself. Khan has always been on my radar since I found CrossFit. Of course, he was a great athlete, but I sensed there was a depth to him you don’t often find. And sure enough,  it’s his conversations around mental health which made him a must feature guest on this podcast. His piece on Morning Chalk Up ‘An Uncomfortable Conversation’ details his experience with a variety of mental health challenges and an eating disorder. It is, as the name implies, an Uncomfortable read. But it’s possibly one of the most important articles on CrossFit and mental health I’ve read. We all have mental health. It’s not a binary thing. Just as our physical health exists on a continuum from sickness to wellness to fitness, so does our mental health. So whilst those who resonate with the idea that they have mental health problems, those who don’t will also benefit from listening to this. We are always conditioning our mentality, whether we’re doing it consciously or not. Khan speaks candidly throughout this conversation and we discuss many things including: The value of writing down your thoughts as a kind of mental purge How basing self-worth on performance, or anything else external, can be devastating to our mental health How we cannot dismiss our subjective experience Exploring the darkness of our shadow self And even Khan’s use of psychedelics and the influence they’ve had on his mental health Unfortunately, we didn’t get around to discussing two topics of much interest to me: craft beer and Khan’s skin care routine. Apparently, there were more pressing topics.

Today, Coach Rachel and Coach Tom pull out the key extracts from Alison Scudds's appearance on The Limitless Athlete Podcast. Our biggest focus in this show is bringing to light the process Alison has used to train her mind - the Mindset Rx'd Method

Today on the Limitless Athlete Podcast, you’ll be listening to a conversation between CrossFit Athlete Alison Scudds, and myself. Alison is another brilliant example of an athlete who on one hand has all the mindset advantages handed down to her - supportive environment, parents who taught her to push hard whilst being kind to herself, supportive yet encouraging community - yet has chosen to work on her mentality because she’s seen that nature isn’t comprehensive. Nurture matters too. The central theme of this conversation is how to learn the ability to drop expectations and focus on the effort we put in. Most of us have been wrongly taught to solely value the outcome of our actions, and not the actions themselves, nor the character skills displayed in undertaking them. Yet it’s those character skills that made the outcome possible. If we exclusively focus on the outcome, we can do everything right along the way and not get the reward. This feels like a failure, when in fact, you did everything in your control. What this does is breed discontent with yourself or the world. Or, you could achieve precisely what you set out to achieve but with a God-awful plan. The nature of positive reinforcement means you will keep repeating this plan to no success. In a world that says never take your eyes off the prize, it takes courage to say “hey, no. I’m focusing on the process”. It feels strange that by taking our focus off the outcome, and valuing the effort we put in more highly, we get to have the cake and eat it too. We are happier, more content, and more motivated, and we’re more likely to achieve the goal we originally set out in pursuit of. In the words of William Irvine, my goal is mettle, not medals. Alongside all this, Alison and I also discuss Putting the fun back into training, despite it being tough Leaning into your strengths as an athlete instead of being like everyone else The basic tools athletes can use to optimise their mental state And preparing effectively for competition Alongside this episode, we’ll also be releasing a partner episode, The Debrief, where Mindset Rx’d Head Coach Rachel and myself help you apply the lessons within this podcast to your training and wider life. We’ll also be pulling out the key ideas you may have missed, and discussing how you can use this conversation, and the wisdom within it, to train your mindset and become a limitless athlete.

Today, Coach Rachel and Coach Tom pull out the key extracts from Justin LoFranco's appearance on The Limitless Athlete Podcast. Most of our time is spent on how to break through our barriers and find new levels of performance in doing so.

Today on the Limitless Athlete Podcast, you’ll be listening to a conversation between founder of the Morning Chalk Up, Justin LoFranco AKA J-Lo, and myself.   The biggest lesson I think the average person can learn from this is how Justin goes out of his way to expose himself to challenge, rather than insulating himself from difficulty.   One certainty of life is that you are going to encounter challenge and strife. Your path through life will be littered with trials and obstacles. That’s one of the guarantees of life, along with tax and death.   This is especially evident in training, but also in our relationships, our careers, and every other area of life.   Look around you, and you’ll notice that difficulty is everywhere. You’ll also notice how some people thrive under it, and others crumble. What’s more, it’s relative: what challenges you and I will be at two different levels.   What prepares us for hardship is hardship itself. When you do difficult things, you get better at doing difficult things. What was once beyond you, is now within your capabilities.   This is not because these tasks become any easier, it’s because you prove to yourself that you are ever more capable.   You and I should not be waiting for challenge to explode into our lives from the unknown, but should be biting off as much as we can chew at any given opportunity.   The path to growth, and to a better life, runs through hardship, not around it.   Alongside hardship, Justin and I also discuss   How you become identified with being a CrossFitter Delaying gratification for the bigger reward in the long run Summiting the US’ highest mountain Dealing with fear And the benefits of solitude  

You’re listening to The Debrief where myself and Rachel Binette, our Head Coach, will discuss the key lessons and insights gleaned from the Limitless Athlete Podcast interview with Zack George. Today's Topics: How to use visualisation in to help your mindset training Using goal boards and goal setting Body image in CrossFit You can listen to this show in isolation, as a kind of distillation of the major points of the interview with George, or you can listen to the interview and follow it up by listening to this podcast. Your choice!

Today on the Limitless Athlete Podcast, you’ll be listening to a conversation between fittest man in the UK, Zack George, and Tom Foxley Zack has an incredible journey of not only physical change, but mindset growth too. As you’ll hear, Zack was overweight as a child, subsisting on a diet comprised mainly of junk food. However, Zack chose the route of growth and challenge in his journey from overweight kid, to one of the best CrossFit athletes in the world. Along the way, Zack’s identity shifted in a deliberately chosen fashion. He discarded the unconfident beliefs which made him feel distant from his childhood and chose to leap into the unknown. As you’ll find out this was far from the easiest path possible, but what helped guide Zack’s journey was his consistent use of future casting - in particular, visualisation. We have to keep our objectives at the forefront of our mind if we’re ever going to achieve them. If we don’t, our old comfortable beliefs will take over. One way of doing this is to refer to your goal as frequently as possible, to visualise yourself achieving it, and to feel those emotions of success along the way. Alongside visualisation, Zack and I also discuss The value of goal boards in goal setting The role of body image in mindset The role shame plays in creating our identity and our behaviours And the value of your environment  

In today's episode, Coaches Tom and Rachel discuss the Limitless Athlete Podcast with Sean Woodland and pull out the ways you can apply this to your own training and life. In particular, they discuss: Gratitude and how to create more of it The full tool box of mindset tools The balance of chaos and order